True Blood Work
September 10, 2008
In all of my blustering about politics, I’ve realized that I kind of pulled a Bush recently, when I declared I’d finished writing my 2nd book…
Mission not accomplished on that front. And there will be no time tables for completion, either.
On the plus side, I won’t be blogging about the writing process, because that is boring. I won’t even mention “it” on here until I have a word on whether it’s going to be published. All I can say is that after a summer break from the book, I was very happy to pick it up today and I liked what I read.
Or at least the parts that didn’t, er, suck.
The timing of returning to the bloody book was perfect- today I went to the hospital to get labwork done in anticipation of Thursday’s appointment with Dr. Greg. They drained four small tubes worth of plasma, then I went to a coffee shop to refuel with an iced mocha before reading about vampires.
All in all, a really good day for a thinblood like me.
It’s after 3 a.m., and as the creatures of the night stir outside my home, I am about to add the final point to today’s vampire trifecta: I’m going to watch True Blood on Tivo. It’s the new vampire series by Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under, one of my favorite TV shows… I gotta admit, I’m nervous because the previews looked cheesy. I hope it rocks like American Teen did.
I will report back soon with lab results. And whether or not True Blood tested positive or negative on the Suck-o-meter.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Check out my memoir, My Pet Virus, and click to read a sample. Video of reviews.
Give a listen to "Sign", one of my songs from Synthetic Division’s Get with the Programs (co-written with Kyle Wiggins):
Get the song here on iTunes! Or watch Synthetic Division discuss Rory Gilmore.
Be sure to visit ShawnandGwenn.com, where you can see clips of our educational work at colleges and universities, as well as media clips from MTV safe sex programming and a Dr. Drew talk show. 2006 video of me and Gwenn, when I was finishing up My Pet Virus.
Haven’t seen a real blog in a day or so? Follow my cellphone micro-blogging at Twitter.com.
New Book “Finished”
June 17, 2008
A few weeks ago I finished my second book, which means that- if it’s ever published- you’ll get to read it sometime in the future. Pretty vague, huh?
Finished, of course, is a relative term. If the publisher picks it up, it will go through editing, which is a process that can take time, but is one that I really don’t mind at all. The feedback is good, and in the end I really want to produce something that connects with the reader. As a writer, I think proof-readers and editors are essential.
As of now, the new book hasn’t even gone to the publisher, who will yay or nay the idea. With My Pet Virus, I’d written a good portion of the text before submitting to a publisher, but with fiction (the next book is a vampire story) you have to write the whole thing first, unless you are Stephen King.
For him, a text message to his publisher is probably enough to get the green light: “Got this idea about a haunted boat…” “GREAT! Let’s do it.”
In closing, I have never worked so hard on something in my life. My Pet Virus was written over the course of four years, with lots of breaks which gave clarity to some of the stories within. This time, I wrote and edited for nines months, non-stop. And I’m really happy with how the story turned out.
Of course, all updates about the journey to publication will be chronicled here. Hopefully that story, like My Pet Virus, has a happy ending.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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