Big things are happening!

Even though I was sick, this weekend turned out to be pretty awesome.

Friday morning, I went down to the local library where they were having a meet-and-greet with the new librarian (her name is Valerie, and she happens to be a friend and a wonderful woman). It was nice- Val talked about herself, her love of books, her experiences, and what she planned to do for the library.

After the introduction, there was mingling and some refreshments. The head of the Friends of the Acton Library committee was there, and she approached me and started talking about upcoming events. Long story short, she asked me to do a book signing at the end of October! I was thrilled.

Then, on Saturday, I had some major story revelations for Resurgence that I am pretty excited about.

Sunday was awesome, too. I discovered someone had posted a glowing review of my novel on a popular zombie-forum website! Here's a screenshot:

Click to enlarge

Also on Sunday, I found out that Silence of Souls has been nominated for book of the month over on a Goodreads group!  Here's the screenshot of that:

Click to enlarge

It's very exciting, and I'm thrilled that Silence of Souls and Resurgence are gaining buzz!

One last thing- the Goodreads giveaway for autographed copies of both the novels is up and running.  Be sure to enter and tell your friends about it!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Silence of Souls

by Stefanie Oberhansley

Giveaway ends December 19, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Knowing Your Place

Everyone always says that if you want to get well-known you need to have an angle, a niche, and a brand.  In the acting word, they talk a lot about "type" and finding roles based on that particular character or personality.

Writing is the same, it seems.  People find one genre or a set of similar genres that they fall into and can write about and build a following around that.

Some say once you find your place and build a foundation on it, then you can branch out to different subjects and new types to make yourself versatile.

I've never been sure on whether or not I wanted to go that route.  It seems like a lot of people who create a place for themselves have a difficult time breaking out of it.  For example, Adam Sandler is known for his over-the-top-often-annoyingly-loud characters and sometimes crude and off the wall humor.  When he did Punch Drunk Love, it flopped.  People hated it.  They weren't used to seeing Adam Sandler in a drama, and because of the expectations they had of him being funny, they had a hard time seeing in a serious role.  Robin Williams is similar- people have grown to love him for his comedy, so when he does a serious role people don't like it as much, even though he has a tremendous talent for drama.  But if he hadn't become known for his comedies, he probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to do the dramas.

Could you imagine if Stephen King suddenly decided to write romance books similar to the works of Nicholas Sparks?  I don't think his readers would know what to do.

If you're looking for fame, I think you need to almost always find a "type" and use that to create a fandom for yourself.  Frankly, some people are just looking to get famous in any way they possibly can- they don't care about what it is they're doing, they just want the following.  That's fine; to each his own, but that's not for me- I don't want to be famous just to be famous: I want to have something I'm good great at, something I can pass down to future generations and inspire them to create something even better.

Realizing that all my best ideas are in a genre I would have never consciously picked for myself made me question where I think I'm going with this.  Do I want to be a horror/thriller writer?  How hard will it be for me to break out of it in the future?  I'm not sure, really.  I don't want to always write horror- I've got adventure, fantasy, romance, and sci-fi ideas that I would love to develop into fruition.

It's also had me asking myself what I want in the long run- do I want fame?  The honest answer is that I have no clue whether or not I want to be famous.  The upside to fame would be having an influence and being able to bring awareness of important issues to fans, but the downside would be losing some privacy, having the pressure to live up to what's expected of you on a much grander scale than most, and being open to criticism (often not constructive) from so many more people.  I'm just not sure I'd want that, really.

What I would like, ultimately, is to be able to write stories that entertain and inspire people.  I want to make people think about themselves and the world around them, ask themselves about who they are and what they would do in certain situations, and create places for people to escape to when they need a break from reality.  And I'd love to make a living doing it, so I could do it all the time.

I admire Johnny Depp- he is entirely devoted to his craft and his family, but never wanted fame.  Often he seems to detest his celebrity.  It wasn't something he ever wanted, and because of his devotion to acting, it just happened.  Some people are like that, and I've met a few of them.  Those are the people who are so good at what they do that you know they're going to be famous whether they plan to or not.

So what's my type?  Where's my niche?  Right now, it seems to be horror/thriller.  After that, who knows.  My goal is to create great characters with depth, interesting conflicts, and the best story I can.  I don't care if I get famous or rich or neither because of it; I just want to be the best me I can.




P.S.- My Amazon Author Page has been updated.

Working for Yourself

The last few days, I've been thinking a lot about who I try to please. I find that, sadly, I tend to get so bent on impressing those who have put me down in one way or another that I don't always realize how many people support me. It's kind of sad.

But I'm done with that. It's so futile and pointless. For example, I wrote something a while back, got tons of positive feedback on it, but there was one person who thought it was terrible. That one person was the one opinion that rang loudest in my ears, even though I didn't have strong emotional ties to that person and they have minimal knowledge of the subject of the piece. So why did I put so much importance on one negative opinion instead of the dozens of positive opinions?

I think that most of us have this unattainable desire to please everyone. We all have a tendency to listen to the naysayers over the YAYsayers, even when the latter far outnumbers the former. I know I sometimes get distraught when I can't please everyone, but why?

Everyone is different, and there's no pleasing everyone. There is nothing that will universally please all people, period. The more people that see your work, the more fans you'll gain, but that also means you'll hear more negativity- it just comes with the territory. If you reach fifty people, you might get one that hates your work; if you reach five thousand people, you might get a hundred people who hate your work.

We shouldn't work to please the naysayers, we should do what we do to please ourselves and the yaysayers. Besides, if we try to please everyone, it'll eventually drive us crazy and burn us out.

Do what you love, and do it for yourself.

According to Plan

It's almost a scary thing, but I have a plan. I know what I want, how I want to get it, and have made a plan to get there. As strange as it is, it feels really great to have a path to follow instead of just walking blindly down a road and hoping it leads to somewhere I want to be. My plan even has details, and is very much within reach!

I've never had a plan before- most of the time, I just jump into things without giving it much thought. I'm kind of the "figure it out as you go" type, and it hasn't worked out all the time. Most of my previous endeavors were unsuccessful because I just dove in without preparation and with false hopes that it would work out practically overnight, which only led to disappointment.

But this time, it's different. My plan feels very grown-up, very doable, and has a realistic timeline. I even have a back-up plan in case this plan doesn't work out (though my back-up is not incredibly hashed-out; it's more of a just-in-case safety net, but I don't think I'm going to need it).

I know that plans don't always go... well, according to plan, but I'm keeping myself flexible enough to adjust to the kinks and bumps in the road. It won't turn out perfect, and that's fine- I think it's part of the adventure to not know what is going to happen all the time.

I feel like I'm on the right path, and it feels like it's taken me a while to figure out where I wanted to go and how best to get there. Let's hope my big dreams will soon become reality.

On the Road

I'm writing this post from a hotel room in Liberal, Kansas, where I'm staying for the night after driving from Lincoln, Nebraska.  I flew in to Omaha, NE yesterday, and what a long trip- left home in California around 7am, plane left LAX around 11am, had a layover in Denver, CO, and landed in Omaha around 6pm yesterday.

I'm out here driving to Phoenix, Arizona, with my grandma.  My grandpa passed away on the 1st, and she was out there for the funeral and burial in Minnesota, where he was born and raised.  She drove up with one of his kids (from his first marriage) and I came to drive her home so she wouldn't have to do the whole trip alone.

This is my first time in this part of the country, and it's a very pretty place.  Not always a ton of things to see, but it's all green and gorgeous.  Being from the desert, it's great to look out and see lush trees and thick, green grass instead of dry brush and brown dirt.  We've been driving in the rain for a lot of the trip, but the overcast sky means no sun in the eyes.

Being on the road with my grandma has inspired a new story; loosely based on the idea of a granddaughter and grandmother traveling halfway across the country together, but not based on my grandma and I.  I like the story, but I'm not certain I'll write it because I always get worried that my family will think it's directly based on them or other relatives and become offended.  But then I think that there's tons of stories based on similar situations to what the author's experience in real life.

I'm exhausted.  Probably an early start tomorrow; the plan is to get to Phoenix by Saturday.  Another 8 hours of driving tomorrow.  So strange how driving can wear you out so much, even though you're just in the car.  I wonder how many calories switching back and forth from the gas and the break burns...

Nurturing Our Nature

There's two sides to people (well, there's several layers, but let's look at these two sides specifically)- a selfish side and a selfless side.  I believe that we were born with both sides, though not all of us keep both.

Both sides have an equal chance when we start out in life, but in nearly everyone one side always becomes more dominant than the other.  Which side will win is ultimately up to us, though.

Whether we become more of a selfish person or a selfless person depends on which side gets nurtured more.  As time goes on, if we only nurture one side the other one tends to fade quickly.

I believe that everyone has selfishness and selflessness in them, and I believe that we need some of both.  I think the selfless side should be the dominant side, but there are times when we should put ourselves first.  Knowing when is an appropriate time to be selfish is hugely important.

Personally, I want to start nurturing my selfless side more.  Sometimes I don't always know how to help or contribute, but I try.  With time, I'll get better at recognizing when a person can use my help.  I think that being selfless more often than not is an important part to finding true, lasting success.  Giving kindness will only bring it back to you again and again.

Many of us say that we'll be more generous when we "get there" and have money to burn.  But if we can't give when we have a little, I don't think we'll want to give when we have a lot.  Giving doesn't have to be monetary- it can be time, items you already have, emotional support, or skills.  I think we need to start looking out more for each other.  If you give, you will receive.

Creating Opportunities

The other night, I was watching recorded episodes of "American Idol" and "The Voice."  When the contestants were being interviewed, I noticed that a lot of them kept saying that this was their "only opportunity to achieve [their] greatest dreams" and that if this didn't work out, they'd give up because then they'd know they weren't cut out for it.

That is complete bullshit.

When it comes down to it, WE decide how many opportunities we get to make our dreams come true.  Especially in the entertainment industries (music, movies, books, etc- all such different worlds), nothing worth doing is done easily.  If you are trying to achieve a career in any of those industries, you WILL be told no, probably often.  You will be told you don't have what it takes, you will be rejected, and you will be passed up.  But to give up on your dreams just because someone has told you that you're not "it" is ridiculous.

If one rejection makes you give up on your dreams, then they probably weren't really your dreams to begin with.  Whether it's one no or 1,000 no's, keep going.  Keep working, keep trying, keep finding and making opportunities to reach your goals.  The ones who never make it are the ones who stop trying, or worse, never really tried in the first place.  If you believe you only have one opportunity to make things happen, then you're not working hard enough.

In all of the entertainment industries, there is a countless number of people who want to "make it big."  In Hollywood alone, there's more than a million actors.  Of the 1,000,000 actors, only about 100,000 are working as actors.  Of those 100,000, there's only about 50-100 that are really considered to be "stars."  Even famous actors still need to get headshots, audition, network, and promote themselves in order to get work, but they keep getting work.  What separates those people from the others, in any entertainment industry?  Working hard and never giving up, creating your own opportunities, and believing in yourself are key to achieving your dreams, as well as practicing and developing your craft, talent, and skills to make them the absolute best they can be, and always aiming to be better.

There will be people, sometimes even close friends and family (unfortunately), who may say they don't think you can do it.  They might not believe in you, but there's only one person that matters, and that's you.  As long as YOU believe in yourself, it doesn't matter if anyone else does.  And no one else will believe in you if you don't believe in yourself first.

Some of the contestants had been working for years to try out for either one of these shows.  Some had been working in the industry before and wanted to achieve more, while others had been singing on the side and had never taken their talents outside the karaoke bar until now.  Both types said that this was their only chance to make it; of course, there were also some that said if this opportunity didn't work out, they would move on to the next one.  The latter is the type that will make it in their career, while the former will probably settle in to some job they happen to fall into and always wonder why it didn't work out in the talent industry.  Which one will you be?

Spare the time to watch this video, it's only ten minutes.  Save it to your favorites and come back and watch it whenever you need some motivation (that's what I do):

The Untitled Zombies Are Coming!!

Sometimes it feels like the more I need to write, the harder it is to get started.  Today, I'm aiming to do 1,800-2,000 words to make up for lost time.  (What am I doing on the Internet??  I should be writing!!)  I'm a week behind schedule, and I'm still aiming for release on April 1st.  If I have to, I'll push the release to April 7th because I don't want to put the novel out there if it's not ready.

The story itself and all the characters are done and hashed out, and the actual writing is coming along well (even though I'm behind schedule).  I'm aiming to be done by the 17th and allow two weeks for editing and proofreading.  I still need a cover and a title.  A few ideas have come about what to title my zombie novel, but none of them seem to fit yet.  I'm hoping it'll just come when it's ready to.  It's currently saved as "Untitled Zombie Apocalypse Novel" but I don't think that title is really catchy enough to use for the finished product.

I'm not re-inventing the zombie genre, but I do think that mine is better than 90% of the stuff already available.  There's so much zombie crap, really- stories with no action, no set "rules" of how the infection/undead mass acts, no realistic or relatable characters, and boring action sequences that seem entirely disconnected from the plot.  I know my novel won't be absolutely perfect, and I know not everyone will like it, but I like it and I hope that others out there will enjoy it, too.

There's two things that have really helped me with this novel (and two things I use for almost all my work):
1. Pages of Notes.  I have sections for characters, events, rules that must be followed (in this case, how the infection spreads, how it affects the body/mind, and how the undead act), things that I have mentioned that are important for continuity, specific pieces of dialogue I think of that I want to use at some point but not at the moment, town names, and anything else that I may need to quickly reference at any point in the writing process.  I keep it very organized so it's easy for me to use so I can find what I need rapidly and get back to writing.  This has helped tremendously on several occasions.  Sometimes when I am stuck on the part I'm writing, I'll pop over into my notes, read a bit, maybe write a few things in there, and usually it breaks the writer's block.
2. Flashcards.  I recently started doing this, but it's indescribably helpful!  I write the main points of the plot (and even minor events that I want to include, or specific character developments that need to occur) on their own card, then I lay out the flashcards on a table and look at everything that will be happening.  Then, I'll arrange the flashcards in the order that I think works best, read through them in that order, and see if it works.  If it doesn't, it's really easy to move around the flashcards again and try out different orders.  It's so interesting to see how just changing the order of things can affect the story so profoundly, and often the order of events affects character motivation for succeeding events.

Time to get back to writing- I'm off again to rendezvous with the undead.

Learning patience.... part 2

My last post I talked about having patience with others (namely, grandparents), but in this one I'm going to talk about having patience with that one person few people ever seem to have patience for: yourself.

When I was in dance class yesterday, there were a bunch of girls that were doing these incredible movies and tricks that I would've fallen on my face if I tried to attempt.  I was trying, but I just couldn't get them close to what they were supposed to look like, and the few I was able to do did not look nearly as graceful as I would've hoped.  I was getting so mad at myself for not being able to do these tricks that I almost wanted to give up... almost, but I didn't.

This doesn't just account for dancing- I'm not very patient with myself in most other areas of life.  I get upset at myself for not being a best-selling author yet, for not having astounding acting credits on my resume, and for not being in the shape I want to be in.

I asked some of the girls how long it took them to do certain tricks and moves.  Most said it took them about 4 months to get to where they felt they could do them correctly, and about 6 months before they could do them correctly and look graceful doing them.  I'm two weeks in, there's no way I'm going to be the same level as them right off the bat.

Gaining and strengthening any ability takes time and nurturing.  With my writing, I've noticed I'm improving drastically as time goes on, and that's because I do it EVERY DAY (with very few exceptions).  Becoming a pro at something takes time and practice; LOTS of practice- if you want to be able to do something well, you need to practice, practice, practice a little more, practice again, do a bit of practicing, and then practice some more.  When you think you're able to do it well, practice again!

Whatever it is, it won't be perfect the first time you do it.  Whether it's dancing, writing, acting, or scrapbooking in a zero-gravity atmosphere while making a loaf of bread with your feet, it will take time before you get the results you want.  Take classes, learn, develop, and (I'll say it again) practice practice practice!  Try doing it a little differently, experiment, and see how you can bring new life to whatever skill it is you're learning (especially if it's in the arts).

But aside from ample practice time, to be able to do something well takes patience with oneself.  If I had let my frustration get to me and walked out of class, I'd never improve my skills.  No one is born knowing how to do anything.  Some things may come easier for certain people and not others, but we can build and improve any skill we so choose.

We may fail from time to time, but the biggest failure comes when we don't even give ourselves the chance to try.

And no matter how well we may do something, we can always get better.  Keep learning, keep practicing, keep your patience for yourself, and keep doing what you love.