I admit it, I let the holiday blues overtake me. Those who know me know that I battle depression. Over the years I've learned how to recognize it and deal with it. This, unfortunately, was one of those times. Instead of wallowing though, I shut off my phone, kept my internetting to a minimum, and settled into some movies and books.

The best movies I saw were 500 Days of Summer (so cute and true!), Zombieland (awesome), Jennifer's Body (not the Megan Fox boobfest I'd expected), and then cried my way through Bridge to Terrabithia. Oh, and I saw The Hangover, which I've decided is really just Dude, Where's My Car for 30 somethings. It was funny though.

Now that I'm free of the depression, I've been taking the time to look at the good things. Like, I may not be able to move this year like I'd wanted (still crossing my fingers for next summer!) but I get Rach and Graeme and Daniel for like 3 whole months! That's like winning the lottery.

Let's see. My mom's health is somewhat stabilized. The $1500 I had to spend on my car means I can't go to TN for Christmas, but instead I've gotten tickets to see Amanda Palmer in Orlando. Also, I have my San Diego Comicon tickets. I finished a book! A freaking whole book! This was a rough year for finishing, but I'm finally starting to find my balance. I finished UNDO Button, a really fun MG novel, and I'm working on a proposal for a wacky road trip book for my editor. Both, really awesome things.

Um, I'm healthy, and getting healthier. Today I began a 30 week program to prep me to run a marathon. The last time I tried this, I had no plan, but this time I've got a plan created by a professional. It's challenging but easy enough that someone as out of shape as me can do it. By the end of this I'll be able to run 26 miles! So there's that. Maxx is awesome. A little neurotic and a lot crazy, but good. I'm seriously thinking about getting him a cat for companionship. But I'm not really a cat person so I have to think about it.

So, yeah. I'm thankful for lots of stuff. Especially all of my friends.

So now that the Thanksgiving depression is over and I can get back to normal, I wanted to let everyone know that Sunday, December 13th, Amanda Palmer (for whom I've declared my love of many times on the blog) is playing a how in Orlando at The Social. It was a last minute addition to appease her Florida fans. The venue is supposedly very small and it's at 4 in the afternoon (which works for me since I have to work Monday morning!). Anyway, tickets were only $15 so I bought two. If anyone's going to be in Orlando and/or wants to go with, let me know. It promises to be insane.

I was going to do this post about all the things I was thankful for, but then I saw this and well, I'm thankful for this:

So I'm totally ecstatic.  I got the final cover and permission to show it off.  Here it is:


 

Hey all! If I owe anyone a reply to a post or a post or anything, I'm really sorry! I only have internet at work right now and things are busy, so I'm super-behind.

I'll be back on the internets next week so until then I'm sorry if I'm a little quiet :)

S.

So this was my first Dave Matthews concert and it didn't disappoint. It was freaking fantastic. It was a cool mix of old and new songs. I went with Angie. She isn't a huge fan and got annoyed when they jammed for fifteen minutes during Jimi Thing, but I just ignored it and soaked up the songs. Really great stuff. The two highlights for me were when they covered Burning Down the House, and when they closed the show with Grey Street. It was really special. Here's the set list and some video and pics.

Funny The Way It Is
So Damn Lucky
Why I Am
You Might Die Trying
Crash Into Me
Typical Situation
Spaceman
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads cover)
Seven
Squirm
Jimi Thing
Shake Me Like a Monkey
Alligator Pie
#41
Dancing Nancies
You & Me
Time Bomb
Encore:
Sister
Little Thing (tease)
Grey Street










The apocalypse refers to the two tropical systems that may or may not be bearing down on me later this week. As of now we're in the cone of death, but Ana and future Bill may peter out. I could stand a nice cat 1 hurricane. It would give me some nice writing time :)

This post might get long. It's going to be about how I'm going to change my life and start living the life I want to live. It's the first post of the beginning of a long journey. If you want to follow along, hit the cut.

I'm just going to cut to the chase: I'm not living the life I want to live.

( Read more... )

Originally Posted at Deathday Letters

Book Review: Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner.

The first thing I have to say about this book is that I'm glad I didn't read it prior to writing The Deathday Letter, because I might have decided not to. Not that the plots are similar, but in the character of Shakespeare Shapiro, Wizner has managed to capture the soul of being a teenage boy and distill it into the first book this year to make me really laugh out loud.

That said, I'm glad I finally read this. It's the story of Shakespeare Shapiro, a young man who hates his name. It follows him through his senior year of high school as he tries to write his memoir (a school project that all students have to do) and get laid. There's a lot to love about this book. The fictional memoir reminded me a lot of David Sedaris, as Shakespeare tells the gruesome stories of seeing a porno with his grandmother, being stoned in front of his parents, and having his mother guilt trip him into giving up his dog.

The writing is sharp and funny with only a few spots that feel like an adult trying to write a teenager. For the most part it's authentic, which is why it's so great. You cringe for poor Shakespeare and I couldn't help being reminded of my own teenage years. At times the plot felt a little thin, like maybe it was there just to prop up the next horrifying thing to happen to Shakespeare, but toward the end Wizner pulled Shakespeare up by the bootstraps and did a nice little bit of character growth.

Not for the faint of heart, there is a lot of swearing, alcohol use, talk of bowel movements, drug use, and sex...of course. The alcoholic best friend feels a little wedged in but having known someone similar growing up, it wasn't a big deal.

My only real complaint is the title. I didn't feel it fit the book and I even felt like it might be off-putting to its target audience (teenage boys). I think the title of the fictional memoir inside of the novel (17 Down) would have been a better title. But that's simply a minor observation from me.

After reading Spanking Shakespeare, a friend of mine put it best. She said that upon hitting puberty, every boy on the planet should be given a box of tissues and a copy of this book. Not to be used at the same time, of course.

Next week: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Originally posted at Deathday Letters

I listen to a surprising amount of Pat Benatar when I write. Pat, Aimee Mann, Dave Matthews, and The Kooks. Those are my go-to bands for writing. I'm not sure why. Probably because I've been listening to them so long that they sort of become white noise and let me focus.

Whew. Well that was fun. I got the first major revisions done to The Deathday Letter and turned them in. I feel really great about it. The people who have read it so far have really liked it. My friend Pam said she can't even remember what the old version was like. Which is a great compliment. My super-agent started reading it on the subway and cracked up, getting tons of weird looks. YAY!

So now I'll be catching up on blogging and fixing up my website (notice my new header!), getting author photos taken, and getting back to writing my next book.

I'm taking a cue from the awesome fellow Firebrander/author Shannon Morgan over at daily pie, and creating a format for the blog. So here goes:

Monday: Funnies. I hate Mondays so I'll be using Monday to post videos, websites, and anything else that made me laugh.

When you see this, take a minute and share five good things of your day with the world, uncut.

1. Writing a scene in my book this morning that I neither planned for nor saw coming in any way, and realizing it kind of ties everything together in a really unexpected way.  

2. Amy's gluten free mac and cheese.  Num.   

3. Getting a book I ordered from England 10 whole days early!!!

4. Ripe, delicious watermelon.

5. Realizing that by the end of the year, I will be able to live 100% debt free.  No car payment, no credit cards.  

Hi!  This is my LJ.  It's kinda private.  I have a regular open journal at shaundhutchinson.blogspot.com if you want to check out info about me or my book The Deathday Letter.

If you want to be my friend here, leave me a comment!  I get really crazy in this journal and talk a lot about my dog.