December 2010
40 posts
3 tags
Happy New Tea
As I write this, I’m drinking a Ginger Coconut Tea in the middle of the open plaza of a mall. It’s quiet. A few families are around, casually looking at stores where the employees are waiting for closing time. It’s New Year’s Eve here, and in Mexico it’s a bit of a family-oriented night. Before the partying, anyway. I think as a writer and a blogger, I’m...
4 tags
My Turn to Get Interviewed! →
I recently interviewed fellow author L.M Stull and now it’s her turn to ask the questions.
5 tags
Characters (Reprise)
Reposting this because it’s been one of my most positively reacted-to pieces on this site. And because I dig the attention.
This is a writer’s dream.
That’s me in the middle, sitting at a bar with two characters I could not have possibly conceived of on my own, despite my wild writer’s imagination. Please ignore the fact that I am wearing the same shirt I am always...
5 tags
Read the first chapter of Somewhere Over the Sun! →
Here you go, dear readers!
The publisher has finally provided me with an author website. It gives the basic information of my book and provides you with an excerpt of the opening chapter for your reading pleasure. You can also purchase the book directly from that site, if you wish. Of course, I caught a typo in the excerpt, and since I haven’t been able to actually hold my own book in my...
4 tags
6 tags
4 tags
3 tags
3 tags
This Little Box of Life
I spent most of tonight in a room. Granted, it’s larger than most rooms. Not that I know the average size of a room. But still. The walls were farther from each other than they usually are. It’s such a tiny percentage of life, not that percentages are ever completely infallible (business school taught me that numbers are always true, but their context rarely ever is). The front of the...
7 tags
An Interview with Author L.M. Stull
Hello my dear and wonderful readers. Today, I welcome fellow author L.M. Stull for a quick interview. Her debut novel, Memoirs of a Monkey, will be released in the spring of 2011, so be on the look out for that.
Let’s start with a difficult one. What’s your favorite sentence from your upcoming book, Memoirs of a Monkey? No cop outs, you must choose.
“Glowing in the dark was not...
4 tags
6 tags
5 tags
Anthony Reese Stops By
Over the next few days, I’ll be hosting a few fellow writers on my site, as a pay-it-forward kind of move to all the fine authors and book bloggers who have hosted me on my virtual book tour.
My first guest is fellow writer Anthony Reese. He’s working on his debut novel, which is the first installment of a planned four-part YA series. He talks about his inspiration for writing below....
5 tags
Eat with Appetite
It’s interesting to me that the English language doesn’t have a word or a non-borrowed phrase for, “Enjoy your meal.” Instead, it satisfies itself with the famous French expression bon appetite, or simply says, “Enjoy,” as if it meant the same thing. Two out of the three languages I speak have their own words with which to which someone else a pleasant dining...
4 tags
Songs of the Year
There’s little doubt that people are more prone to loving songs rather than albums these days. Attention spans are limited and the shuffle option on MP3 players is valued like nothing else. So, in spite of, or maybe as a response to my posts on the best albums of the year, I present to you with the songs from 2010 that I loved. These are presented in no particular order.
Love is All -...
4 tags
Guest Post: Would I Ever Self-Publish Again? →
I continue my virtual book tour with a stop over at fellow author Jen Wylie’s site. Hope my post is informative to any other young writers out there.
3 tags
“It’s not the kind of book that encourages you to stop and smell the roses,...”
– Mike Ndosi, regarding Somewhere Over the Sun
3 tags
Just Ice Cream
Four more eleven-hour work days for me means not a whole lot of internet presence until the weekend. But no fear, I’ve conjured up an old piece of writing, to entertain you with. Written in high school (and slightly edited since), this is not really a story, just a monologue that I’ve always liked rereading. Enjoy!
i’m sitting here eating vanilla ice cream adorned with streaks...
3 tags
Guest Post: The Editors Behind "Somewhere Over the... →
I wrote a guest post for a website called Unbridled Editor. It’s all about the editing and rewriting of my debut novel, but mostly about the two editors who helped me make my book better.
6 tags
Lock, In Stock and Two Smoking John Darnielle...
Hello there, dear readers. I just wanted to let you know that Amazon has my book in stock again so you can go ahead and buy it! Or if you prefer, order it from Barnes and Noble, cause they put it back on their site again. They’re still showing the wrong cover image, but that should be fixed soon. If not, maybe I’ll get to go on my planned rant of a phone call to the publisher.
...
8 tags
And Now For Something Completely Musical, Part 2
First part of this post can be found with a few scroll downward or by clicking here.
5.- The National - High Violet
Now here’s a band that’s good at making sad songs sound not that sad. Energetic melodies work with the mopey vocals to make music that isn’t instantly recognizable as sad until you catch yourself singing the admittedly sad lyrics. The album’s had to combat...
5 tags
Answers
So, I woke up this morning after dreaming about confronting a Dog Ear rep and that after my rant (I had a whole speech planned, was even looking for a film scorer to bring in an orchestra and play during my phone call/monologue), ten-peso coins started raining down from the sky. Neither of those things happened, since I checked my mail and saw an explanation as to why my book has been pulled from...
5 tags
Updates and a Soon-To-Be-Placed Angry Phone Call
Hi, dear readers. On Tuesday, Amazon.com was showing that my book was temporarily out of stock. It is still available for order, but delivery might take a little longer. Also, the cover image they have up is not the right one. Barnes and Noble’s website, unfortunately, has pulled the entry for my book. I’m not entirely sure why either of these things happened, but I have a pretty good...
4 tags
Otto
The following flash fiction story I wrote a couple years ago and is meant to intrigue you to, of course, buy my book. If you like this story, chances are you’ll like my book. If you don’t like this story, chances are it’s too short and you need to scroll through this site and fall in love with my writing. Please? It’s for my career’s sake.
Otto learned how to...
9 tags
And Now For Something Completely Musical, Part 1
As promised earlier, I want to share with you my favorite albums of the year. Word choice is important kids: favorite not best I do not by any means consider this a list of the best albums released this year. First of all, I’ve heard such a tiny fraction of the albums that have been put out that it’d be statistically irresponsible for me to claim that these ten albums represent the...
6 tags
5 tags
If You Haven't Heard
My book is now available for sale! I’m extremely excited, but have been away from the internet all day so I haven’t had time to express my glee. I’ve added a buy the book! page to this site and that’s exactly what I’d love for you to do. :) Moving on, that means that the first official Somewhere Over the Sun giveaway is over! I’ll record the video of me randomly...
3 tags
Somewhere Over the Sun is Now Available!
Buy it here from Amazon! Buy it here from Barnes and Noble!
The cover image has not been uploaded to the sites, but it should look like the image above. Enjoy, dear readers.
5 tags
Back Home
Good news: despite a pretty silly and unprofessional mistake, the publisher is rushing to fix the mistake and everything should be righted by next week. More good news: Amazon and Barnes and Noble have received my book’s info and Somewhere Over the Sun should be available for purchase in the next few days. There is no exact date, but check back for the next few days, either with those sites...
2 tags
Someone Messed Up
When I received three options for my book cover, I chose option B. They confirmed option B. They used option A. On behalf of Dog Ear Publishing’s stupid mistake, I apologize for the further delay in getting Somewhere Over the Sun into your hands. I’ll elaborate soon, but I have a plane to catch.
5 tags
Another Question and Some Music Talk
“From where/who/what did you get inspiration for writing your novel?”
I’m going to recycle this answer from one of my interviews. Like pretty much everything else I’ve ever written, it started as just a thought while lying in bed one night. I maneuvered through my dark room to turn the computer back on and write down the thought, then left it alone for months. By the time I...
4 tags
The Next Eleven Months
I threw a going away party a couple of days ago. On Thursday, I’ll pack most of my clothing and a few other belongings into the baggage compartment of an airplane and then spend the three and a half hour flight to Mexico either writing, reading, listening to music, or simply enjoying the fact that while a lot of people hate the details of traveling (security lines, waiting times, not knowing...
6 tags
These Past Eleven Months
Eleven months ago, I threw a going away party, packed an apartment into a Nissan Sentra, and drove to California to write a book.
In the next few days, the culmination of that westbound road trip will reach its ultimate goal: to get my novel into the hands of the reading public. In a matter of days, you’ll be able to type in Somewhere Over the Sun into Amazon.com or Barnes &...
1 tag
Follow My Inanities and Links →
Meta! I meant Twitter, not this site, although I can see the confusion.
3 tags
Three Short Stories by Adi Alsaid →
I’ve linked to these before, but in case you’ve missed them. Hope you enjoy, and sorry for never finishing them.
3 tags
Follow My Facebook Author Page! →
My book should be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble sometime next week (no worries, I will make plenty of announcements when it does), so I’m warming you up with some me-related links. Share with everyone you know and maybe even some that you don’t. Like that guy that keeps looking at you funny. What’s his deal?
5 tags
Characters
This is a writer’s dream.
That’s me in the middle, sitting at a bar with two characters I could not have possibly conceived of on my own, despite my wild writer’s imagination. Please ignore the fact that I am wearing the same shirt I am always wearing on this website. It is simply a coincidence. I own other shirts, I assure you. On the left there is Bobby. He says things like,...
3 tags
December Updates
If you’ve been following this site for a while you know I was hoping to put together a little book release party to celebrate, in somewhat obvious fashion, the release of my book. I’ve had to scrap that idea, mostly due to the publisher’s inability to work in terms of specific dates. Beware, self-publishers: 12-16 weeks is more like 15-20ish weeks, kinda, maybe, we’ll see....
6 tags
Live Passionately
My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement. -From Joe vs the Volcano.
Sometimes it takes a movie or another movie or a song or a book or maybe even this other book (if the author knew what he was doing and is lucky) to wake us...
4 tags
iclownfish-deactivated20110117 asked: hi there. i'm working on a book. and...my characters decided they wanted to change much of the plot. what do you do when that happens?