Once Upon A Time

Seriously?

2012-02-09T13:12:00.012-08:00

I'm going to name my next book:

SeriouslyConfusedAtTheShiznitThatGetsPublished-Land.

Weak Sauce!

2009-09-30T18:13:00.002-07:00

Would You Buy a Book from this Man?

Recently, Dustin Diamond of Saved by the Bell "fame" began a press tour promoting his new tell all book about his years on the 80s sitcom. The book, titled Behind the Bell promises tales of behind the scenes sex, drug use, and eating disorders. However, a quick glance at excerpts and listening to interviews with the former child actor is proof that this is just a very desperate, very lame attempt at bringing in some cash.

With books and movies, you put out the tastiest morsels in hope of dragging in an audience who, once they have dropped their hard earned bills and coins can love your product or hate it - as long as you have gotten paid. But when the advertising morsels are flavorless and unsatisfying, how much better can the main course really be?

In his interviews and excerpts, Dustin Diamond eludes to hook-ups between cast members and weed use. The problem is that he's talking about a show that no one cares about anymore and a cast who, though they have moved on and experienced success after the show (with the glaring exception of Screech), it just isn't interesting material. So now you want to tell me that these people I don't care about had sex with one another....oh no! Oh wait...I don't care.

Let's keep in mind that Screech is the same washed up loser who had a sex tape "leaked" with no major financial results, had a stint on Celebrity (a term very loosely used obviously) Fit Club where he acted like a first class jackass, and filed for bankruptcy.

On the one hand, I hope he gets the money he needs from this book to go away and never show his loser face again. On the other hand I don't believe in watching talentless, fame whores prosper, so let's raise a glass to the hopes that this book tanks, sullies his reputation with future potential publishers, newspapers, and reporters, and that he goes away and never shows his loser face again. Either way.

You Just Have to Find THESE People

2009-08-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying that I fault no one who finds a way to be successful with their writing, and this isn't meant to slam anyone. That disclaimer being stated, here's what I was thinking about today:

Watching Tyler Perry's House of Pain on YouTube yesterday, it occured to me how good the writing on that show isn't. Granted, it's a sitcom and not Shakespeare, but you can see the "big message" coming a mile away, it isn't well acted, and each episode grants me more frustration than laughter. But the fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter what I think - Tyler Perry has found an audience for his style of writing, his plays and movies, and there are millions who love his work and devour it in any form they can get it. This is because Tyler Perry found his unique voice, and he rolled with it and found success because he stayed true to what he wanted to write.

It's so easy as a writer to get caught up in trying to satisfy anyone who happens across your work, but Mr. Perry is a prime example of the fact that if you stay true to what it is that you do, then when you find your audience (or they find you) they will embrace it wholeheartedly. Water it down and try to make it too broad in its appeal, and you end up satisfying and drawing in exactly no one. This thought brings me a lot of comfort as I continue to sell copies of my novel and certain people lavish praise upon me while others are uncomfortably silent. Ultimately, I don't need (though my ego would like...tee hee) the approval of everyone - I just need to connect with those who enjoy and share my taste in storytelling.

An Entry for Michael H.

2009-07-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

It started when I was cleaning out the thousand songs in my iTunes library and rediscovered the song that was the anthem to the summer I first fell in love - not my first love, or my most recent love, but the time when it was most real and most mutual and most fluid and most right.

The song is Cry in the Sun by Better than Ezra, and it gets me everytime. Songs are like smells that way; they can trasport you back in time and make you feel everything you felt back then. I'm not a song writer, but if ever wrote one, I would want it to be this good:

You cleaned out your room

And under your bed

Lay a picture long forgotten

With a hand to your head

You sigh out loud

As a memory rushes over

And buries you

A summer rainstorm

But the shed was dry

With a girl from Carolina

And you held her so tight

For the warmth that the rain denied

As the time had slowed to a flash

And so alive

You listen to them when they say

Cry in the sun

When the devil beats his wife

If you cry cry cry in the sun

Hope I never see the price of my freedom

We dance and sing out

And traced the moon

As it crawled across the night sky

And covered in dew

A lover's pact

Well here's to now and don't look back

And oh how I tried to heed the words written here

Cry in the sun

When the devil beats his wife

If you cry cry cry in the sun

Hope I never see the price of my freedom

For everyone

There's a person place or time

That brings you back and makes you feel alive

Before your reason clouds your eyes

You could rule the world

If you wanted to

Well I hear you're living

Far away

And that life's treated you well

You know that we were young and this picture's old

But I still can hear you say

Through the pounding of the rain

And oh, if you try

Tell me can you hear them say

Cry in the sun

When the devil beats his wife

If you cry cry cry in the sun

Hope I never see the price of my freedom

* SIGH*

Sweet Schadenfreude!

2009-07-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

As mad as it can make me when someone who doesn't deserve it gets a book deal (I'm looking at you Heather Mills and Lauren....whatever the heck from that fake reality show), my anger can be appeased when the books by these undeserving "authors" fail.

I love trolling the 99cent store for literary gems which have been unfortunate enough to end up there. Last month I discovered an AMAZING book called "The Best Place to Be" by Lesley Dorman. It was so amazing that it prompted me to send my first ever fan email to the author to tell her that I was a new fan and how awesome her writing style is. But I digress...

Well yesterday I was again pleasantly surprised again...not because I stumbled upon another novel by Ms. Dorman, but because filling three of the shelves, stacked high and wide were endless copies of Paris Hilton's book.....

"No, no we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice frolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

Always a bridesmaid....

2009-07-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

So I've been periodically entering article writing contests on Helium.com, whenever there is a topic I feel interested enough to spend time on, and this week, for the umpteenth time, I came in SECOND PLACE. Second Place is Getting Old.

Now it's not for the prize money (for the most recent contest I entered it was $25 for first prize, then $15, and $10) - it's for the sense of accomplishment and validation that we writers are always in search of.

Best believe that once I get my hands on one of those hardcore $25 prizes it'll be posted ALL OVER this piece, but until then, I'll don my hideous bridesmaid dresses.

2009-06-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T21:21:00.001-07:00

The Secret to a 6 Figure Deal for your First Book; A Famous Relative

(even if you don't know them very well)

Following in the footsteps of Roger Clinton (yes, of those Clintons) in 1995, the president’s 27 year old half brother George is working on a book set to be published in January of next year by Simon & Schuster. The following is from an article by the Associated Press:

“The book, tentatively titled "Homeland" will tell of George Obama's fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing — a passion shared by the president — and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.

"Even had George Obama not been our President's half brother, his story is moving and inspirational," David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement Sunday. "It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage."

Financial terms were not disclosed, but an official with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal was worth six figures. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the contract, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Other Obama relatives are working on books, including a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng; and the brother of first lady Michelle Obama, Craig Robinson. Duke University Press is releasing the doctoral dissertation of the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995.

Barack Obama has written a pair of million-selling books, "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father," in which he describes George Obama as "a handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze."

IT'S HERE!

2009-02-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

A Dream Realized

Those moments in life where a long desired, long worked for goal is achieved and you find yourself living in a moment that was always "in the future".... is there anything better? Well as one who is dwelling in just such a moment, I have to tell you that no, there isn't.

MY BOOK IS HERE!

It's printed, available for sale, and you can get your copy/read more about it on Amazon.com
Just search my name: Charmiane Wilson or go to:

A Series of Prayers by Charmiane Wilson

Found this and loved it

2009-01-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

Ummm...Why Wasn't I Informed of this???

2008-11-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

So apparently there is a kick ass site called Helium.com which is for freelance writers. On this site, editors of major (and some not so major) magazines can post writing assignments along with the proposed compensation amount, and authors then submit articles directly to the editors who choose the one which best fits what they are looking for. Bing bang boom you're published. elium is helping to do away with the old fashioned query letters and other traditional means of getting published.

There are also cash writing contest for articles, short stories, and other writing endeavors.

I have only been a member for 2 days (my page on the site here) but, um, I re-iterate.....Why Wasn't I Informed of This?

Really? A Novel?!

2008-09-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

So I read today that Heather Mills a.k.a the golddigging former Mrs. Paul McCartney is writing a novel. Apparently the courts barred her from writing a tell all book about her marriage to Paul so now she is penning a "fictional account of a woman who marries a rock legend".

There is nothing I hate more than people who don't deserve it getting fame and notariety. Tori Spelling a.k.a. homewrecker has already become a best selling author and now I fear that this horrible Heather woman will garner the same best selling status. Wasn't it enough that she walked off with nearly 50 million that she didn't earn? Why not just take Paul's hard earned money and go hide out in the Carribean? You get to live in paradise and the rest of us are spared from having to look at, hear from, and deal with you.

In a perfect world people would send her a message on how disinterested and disgusted with her and her behavior we are by not buying a single copy, but alas, in this world where the talentless(a.k.a Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears, etc) make a mint just by striking with the right brand of garbage at the right time, can it be very long before Heather Mills is hanging out on the New York Times Best Seller List?

Meanwhile those of us writing novels because it's our call in life, our passion, and the very air we breathe have to struggle to get a publishing break.

Maybe I'm just jealous.....or maybe the world is out of control!

A Thought on Integrity of the Craft

2008-09-09T19:23:00.001-07:00

Got to my story today and found myself almost - almost - changing a part because afterall: what if family or friends or people at church read this and think less of me....maybe I should make it more mainstream and commercial. But then I remembered there's nothing I love more than a book that zigs when I thought it would zag, and which has a voice and tone unlike any other I've read. Yeah.....I'm back on track now.

Is it Writer's Block or a Fear of Succcess?

2008-09-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's both.

Maybe that's why this project I am so in love with remains contained inside my mind right now.

Fellow writer's know the scenario: you sit down to create this masterpiece inside you, and the words just won't come. Even if you get something down it seems lifeless, weak, and forced.

Have you lost your touch? Were the other projects just flukes which drained the whole of the creative gifts God has given you?

Writer's block is especially common when you've completed a huge undertaking: finishing your first novel, having a first work published, etc. The overwhelming thought then rises in you of "Now what?" What if the next one isn't as good? What if I don't have another one in me?
And how am I supposed to take this project - my child - and release it to the world, subjecting it to criticism and giving some of my valued control to some editor who could never love my child as much as I do???

Well, slowly I am coming to the realization that I am not my work. Yes, it is a massive part of who I am, but whether it is critically acclaimed or subjected to scrutiny akin to the attention paid to Britney's every move, I am already successful because I have embarked upon this pursuit. I am successful because I am a good mom and a good sister and friend. Perspective is a great gift to receive, and as mine becomes clearer and I give myself more credit and cut myself more slack, I am able to do the thing I set out to do in the first place, and that is write.

I will try again tomorrow.

2008-09-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

So, yeah, today was a good day in terms of doing things that will promote the things I've already written, but I intended to work more on a new story that is on fire inside of me.....that didn't happen.

Funny how doing the thing you love can lead to doing lots of things you don't love. I look forward to the day I can write and hire people to tend to the advertising, marketing, and promotions.

*Sigh* I will try again tomorrow.

The Pen Meets the Paper

2008-09-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

In even the most passionate pursuits: a man or woman, a goal, an activity, etc., there can come a point where the familiarity of the pursuit can cause the flame of passion to flicker. For those of us who love the written word and aspire to compose it, this is especially true.

There's nothing more painful than taking that perfect idea that lives in your mind and to begin chipping away at it's perfection through the mere act of putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard. So, in the spirit of keeping us all on track, here are a few words of encouragement, inspiration, and reminders of why we love to do what we do.

KEEP WRITING!

The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with. ~ William Faulkner

There are many reasons why novelists write – but they all have one thing in common: a need to create an alternative world. ~ John Fowles

Writing isn't generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we're doing something that we genuinely love. There's no other reason to work this hard, except that love. ~ Melissa Scott

Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up. ~ Jane Yolen