Movie Monday: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Happy President’s Day everyone! Whoot! To celebrate President’s Day AND Movie Monday, I thought this trailer was totally apropos to post. It looks awesome even though I have not read the book yet. Check it ouutttt!

Writing Wednesday:
Liberty States Fiction Writer’s Conference

So I started using Google Analytics to see what people are searching for to get to my site. I get hundreds, literally HUNDREDS of hits a day because people are searching for Chris Evans pictures. No joke. So I think I’ll put a Chris Evans picture in every blog post. Here is my Chris Evans picture for the post:

Sigh. I should end the post right there on that BEAUTIFULNESS, but I have something awesome to pitch to y’all for Writing Wednesday. The Liberty States Fiction Writers are hosting their annual conference on Saturday, March 17th.

It’s a day long event in Central New Jersey and it’s a fantastic way to meet other authors, and more importantly, meet agents and editors. LSFW also has a great line of workshops (including my fabulous time management workshop, whoot!)

For readers there is a wonderful readers track where you can mingle with authors, have an exclusive party to get to know your favorite faces behind the pages, and it’s all for FORTY BUCKS. Seriously! You get free books with your admission probably worth more than 40$! It’s totally worth it.

Check out the website for attendees and see for yourself. It’s going to be a great event. Looking forward to seeing y’all there!

Cheers,

<3Nisha

Now, for something entertaining…

I am so swamped with school work and the release of my next novella that I haven’t really put in enough time to come up with a fantastically brilliant blog post. Therefore, I shall leave you with a thought about last night’s Grammy performance.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see all of the Grammy awards, only a few were showed on screen. Which was sad. Buuuuttttt, Taylor Swift rocked out with ‘Mean’ which is totally one of my favorite performances of the night (aside from Adele. Woot!)

Here is a look at another Taylor Swift song that I LOVE because it’s so dorky and cute, and reminds me of some of my favorite late 90s movies. Enjoy.

My friend Anna and I made an agreement: we would read all of the challenging, disliked, or highly regarded yet non-romance books in the next five months…TOGETHER. One of the first books on our list was ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

‘The Great Gatsby’ is one of the most highly regarded American Novels of our time…and I hated every moment of reading it in high school. My guess is because I didn’t understand it, the teacher wasn’t that great, or it was too mature for me. After hearing so much praise for it AGAIN almost 10 years later at my MFA program, I figured I’d give it another shot. If people are reading it in their 20s and loving it, maybe there was something to the story that i missed the first time around.

One of the writer things I kept in mind when starting the book was that Nick, the narrator, was incredibly unreliable. An MFA professor at Wilkes, Kaylie Jones, says that an unreliable narrator is believable only if he tells the truth all the time except about ONE thing. My goal was to figure out what that ONE THING was Nick lied to himself about, and lied to everyone else about.

I felt as if his lie became apparent halfway through the book. I may be wrong according to critics and scholars, but I think Nick lied about his affection for Gatsby. He was a jealous guy who didn’t get Gatsby’s facade. And there was a facade.

Let’s talk about that for a second, shall we? Gatsby lived on one of the two eggs out on Long Island. Across the Long Island Sound was the other egg inhabited by old money peeps. Folks still refer to it as ‘the gold coast’. Where Gatsby lived was all nuveau riche (new money). He had an inheritance which he flaunts as an attempt to get into the ‘old money’ crowd, but he lost it all and made it back again in 3 years which means he relies on moola he MADE not INHERITED. Gatsby also had this obsession with Daisy (the ho) because she had this sort of representation of old money he wanted to possess.

I’m going to continue with the symbolism discussion and talk about when Nick talks about Gatsby’s library. Gatsby had been in Oxford for a very short time after the war, but he wasn’t a learned man. His library, however impressive, was another type of facade that he used to put off the appearance that he was incredibly educated. He never read the books, but just used them for show.

This brings me to the use of colors. Green, blue, gold/yellow, and white. Big motifs in the story all around. I remember having a discussion about colors in the story when I was in a college class, but I didn’t associate the discussion with the book until now. This interpretation I have comes mostly from that college class discussion and the application of the discussion to my most recent reading of the book. Here we go: Green, the color of the allusive money, or the light at the end of Daisy’s dock that Gatsby sees from his home. It’s the one thing Gatsby is trying to obtain. Money, money, money. The blue may be, and this is not a firm interpretation or anything, the dreams or the visions of Gatsby’s future that he can’t grasp. Not money per se, but the type of respect and notoriety that he’s determined to obtain. Then there is the yellow/gold which could mean old money, like gold money, not the new green stuff. This color is used to describe the classical music playing at his party. Maybe because classical music is kind of a go-to for swanky cocktail parties that rich people have? I don’t know but it’s something to think about. Finally, let’s talk about the color white. Daisy, of course, is described in her youth as always wearing white. her skin is white, her car is white, and she was a pure as white snow.

The character arcs are brilliantly executed (something that I didn’t really appreciate at 16 at all) and the themes, symbolism, repetition, and dialog really paint a vivid picture without inundating the reader with useless verbiage (something else I didn’t appreciate at 16). However, I have to admit, things didn’t really start picking up until 60 pages through the book (which is a little over a third in my copy). Maybe it’s because of my preconceived notions that I still carry with me from high school, but I’m glad I could shed those notions and really, truly appreciate the book for the first time.

So in the end, I’m happy I decided to read this one over again. I just wont admit it to my high school English teacher.

I swear I’ll be blogging about this from now until May 4th, but can anyone say how AMAZING the male case of The Avengers looks? I mean, hubba hubba, people. I saw the extended trailer last night during the Super Bowl (Go Giants!) and I was blown away by the fabulocity of Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downing Jr., and Jeremy Renner. Sigh.



If you missed last night’s trailer, here it is again. I don’t know about you guys, but after seeing this, I have two words for y’all: MIDNIGHT. PREMIERE. Enjoy!

Happy Book Birthday to me! “The Cowboy and the Rose” by Tess Quinn

Today is the release date for my second novella in the Burdock brothers series published through The Wild Rose Press under my pseudonym Tess Quinn. The book is called ‘The Cowboy and the Rose,’ and it’s available for sale at The Wild Rose Press website here for $2.50. It’ll come up on Amazon and B&N in a couple weeks but right now, enjoy the fabulosity a bit early straight from the Publisher’s mouth!



Here is a bit of information about the book for you to enjoy.

A bond from the past, desire steeped in magic, love forged in passion… Gabe Burdock has two weeks to bond his power with April Willow or lose his magic. As a witch, his control over the earth contributes to the success of his vineyard, and he’ll sacrifice anything to keep it…anything except his heart.To escape her abusive father’s control, April is ready to bond with Gabe, even if it means tying herself to a cowboy who claims he can’t love her. But when Gabe and April touch, their passion explodes, and their magical bond cannot be denied. Can they put aside their fears and risk everything for love? Or will two witches lose their chance at happiness?

“April? What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” she stammered, confused by the overly concerned expression in his face. “I hate storms. The noise frightened me. I’m so sorry. I hate behaving so childishly.” She felt even more ridiculous for goggling at his incredibly bare chest. If she stopped shaking, she could count the definitions in his abs.

Gabe relaxed. “Are you okay now?”

All thoughts of the storm had slipped out of her mind the minute his beautiful body entered her room. “I’m fine,” she said with surprising control. “Thank you for coming.”

“No problem.” He turned to leave when the clock downstairs struck midnight. Her fingertips tingled and her skin flashed hot and cold. Even the storm quieted, as if waiting for the ominous music of time to finish its tune.

“It’s my birthday,” she whispered.

Gabe must have heard her because he whipped around. His face was so expressive. April could see the shock and panic written all over it. She knew he was afraid of the bonding ritual that he didn’t quite believe, and she was slightly amused as she watched the expressions play across his features.

“It’s okay,” she said, leaning back against the headboard. “I’ve read stories about bonding. They’re never clear about what happens directly after midnight.”

Movie Monday: The Hunger Games

I know I’m a little late posting a blog entry that was due yesterday but I was pushing on this book to get finished first. Now that it is, for anyone who hasn’t seen the Hunger Games trailer, enjoy!

Friday Reads: Nora Roberts and Mindy Kaling

For my Friday Reads post, I decided to give you guys a glimpse of my To-Read list. I have two books that I’m dying to get to once I finish up with my crazy long to-do list. Here’s the info:

Back Cover Summary: The historic hotel in Boonsboro has endured war and peace, the changing of hands, and even rumored hauntings. Now it’s getting a major face-lift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. As the architect in the family, Beckett’s social life consists mostly of talking shop over pizza and beer. But there’s another project he’s got his eye on: the girl he’s been waiting to kiss since he was sixteen. After losing her husband and returning to her hometown, Clare Brewster soon settles into her life as the mother of three young sons while running the town’s bookstore. Though busy and with little time for romance, Clare is drawn across the street by Beckett’s transformation of the old inn, wanting to take a closer look…at both the building and the man behind it. With the grand opening inching closer, Beckett is happy to give Clare a private tour — one room at a time, in between blueprint meetings and kindergarten pickups. It’s no first date, but these stolen moments are the beginning of something that could arouse the secret yearning that resides in Clare’s independent heart — and open the door to the extraordinary adventure of what comes next…

And here’s the second book I am really excited about reading:

Back Cover Summary: Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

I’ll keep you posted once I read both of them. Now, back to edits and read throughs and proposals and workshops…etc. etc. Cheers!

Do you love to read? Do you want to write? Are you already published and looking to further your career in publishing? Then join us for the Liberty States Fiction Writers 3rd Annual Create Something Magical Conference being held on Saturday March 17th 2012 featuring New York Times Best Selling Author Larissa Ione as the Keynote Speaker.

The LSFW’s Create Something Magical Conference is the perfect place for writers and readers to share and enjoy their love of books as well as mingle in an after-conference party!

Writers at any stage of their career from Pre-Published to Best Seller will have a choice of a variety of workshops, Editor and Agent Pitch Appointments, lunch with Keynote Speaker Larissa Ione, a Networking Reception as well as the after-conference party which are all part of the Writers’ Track. Published authors in the Writers’ Track will also be able to participate in a book fair that is open to the general public.

Readers can take advantage of this marvelous opportunity to meet and greet some of their favorite authors as part of the Create Something Magical Conference Readers’ Track.

• Participate in a variety of discussion panels that will enable you to get an inside look at the creation of some of your favorite books and what’s happening in the various genres
• Go home loaded with goodies and swag as well as a number of free books
• Sip a libation and snack on dessert while enjoying readings from some fabulous novels at a special edition of Lady Jane’s Salon
• Check off some of those books on your to buy list at our multi-author book signing
• Dance & snack the night away with some of your favorite authors at the after-conference party

Our workshop presenters this year include a number of NY Times and USA Today bestsellers, up-and-coming authors and bloggers, such as Jonathan Maberry, Caridad Pineiro, Virginia Kantra, Terry Kate, Sarah MacLean, Jenna Kernan, Maria V. Snyder, Leanna Renee Hieber, Katharine Ashe, Tere Michaels, Ally Blue, Shelley Noble, Lisa Dale, Lisa Verge Higgins, Maya Rodale, Hope Tarr and more!

All who register before February 1st are eligible to win a Sony e-Reader and get early-bird pricing. Non-Member Writers’ Track registration is $120. Readers’ Track registration is $40 ($55 with the lunch option).

For more information or to register for the conference visit: http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/conference.

We hope to see you there!

Movies Monday: Top Ten Scariest Flicks of ALL TIME

Happy Halloween everyone! For my Movies Monday blog post, I want to share with you the top ten scariest movies of all time! Muahahahaha. Enjoy!

10. 28 Days Later (2003)

9. The Exorcist (1973)

8. Halloween (1978)

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

6. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

5. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

4. The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

3. The Shining (1980)

2. The Ring (2002)

1. Psycho (1960)