Let's Go Fly a Kite....

 

This beautiful photo was taken by Nono Fara. Learn more at www.nonofara.blogspot.com

When is the last time you flew a kite?  I did it this weekend with our kids and my husband and it was awesome.  As a child, I didn’t do stuff like that.  My mom was incredible at exposing us to Greek festivals and jazz, art museums and gem shows, but outdoorsy stuff just wasn’t her thing.  I was 19 when I flew my first kite. 

 

At the helm of my son’s Spiderman kite, watching it rise and twirl in the wind, I thought…why don’t we do this every weekend.  This is so much fun!  Simple.Pure.Joy.  Then I realized - this is definitely going on my 40to40 list. 

I am turning 40 years old this November and I have decided that in celebration of this milestone, I am going to do 40 things that mean something to me or make me happy leading up to my 40^th birthday.  The list, so far, includes: visiting a friend I want to reconnect with, seeing a movie by myself, going dancing, having a root beer float at Johnny Rockets, sending a thank you letter to someone who has touched my life in ways they may not realize and taking note of the things I am most proud of accomplishing in my life.  Some of these things may take extensive planning and a plane ticket, others will only require a few minutes of my time, but I am so happy to have been given 40 years on this earth when others didn’t even get 40 seconds.  

My life is a gift and this weekend I was reminded of that…again.  I am planning to post my 40to40 list once it’s finished.  If you are having a milestone birthday and would like to make and share your own list, I’d love to hear from you. 

And don't forget, Order of the Seers is coming out in paperback and ebook next week Tuesday, Sept. 4th.  Mark your calendar!  

As always, if you are out there, thanks for reading!

~ Cerece

Get Your Geek On….

If you’ve never attended a science fiction convention or “Comic con”, you need to.  Even if you’re not a sci-fi lover like me – trust me, it is an experience you’ll never forget.  Let me give you some highlights from my first Shore Leave Sci-fi Convention in Hunt Valley, MD.  

In less than 4 hours I experienced:

1.       a) A fascinating 3-D mini-lecture on the difference between a nova and a supernova and the general bad-assery of the new and improved James Webb Space Telescope that will replace the Hubble in 2018.

NASA – Light Echo from a Star…whoa

 h   b) The waist cinching miracle of an exceptionally hand crafted, steel-bone corset.

 Yeah, there’s more where this came from at Lady Heather’s Fashion

       c) A man who, along with being a talented milliner, is also a Victorian Funk Rapper.  Don’t believe me – go to www.steampunkfunkbizarre.com

 Lord Monty Jacques III aka Victorian rapper LMJ 3

  

d) The bizarre irony of being hit on by a man old enough to be my grandfather as he explained why I couldn’t be a true Amazon because real Amazons only have one breast.  Then he asked to feel one of mine to make sure it was real. I told him if he didn’t back down I would cut him with my light saber. (Did I mention that the moniker I chose for my convention nametag was Amazonian Maiden Jedi - Yeah, I went all the way.)

Plus, I took a picture with an enchanted fairy.

In short, I had so much fun.  I went to the conference on a kind of reconnaissance mission to promote my book and prepare for attending (and hopefully exhibiting) at the NY Comic Con this October, but what I came away with was a deep sense of community as everyone from the event staff in Hawaiian shirts to the exhibitors to the most die-hard Star Trek fans in their full regalia went out of their way to be helpful, share their knowledge and make me feel welcome.

Special thanks to Inge Heyer and the Star Trek Association of Towson, Inc. for hosting this event, Jade of Collector’s Kingdom for her generosity and my best friend, Kisha, for hanging tight even though she had no idea what we were talking about half the time.  I had a ball.

Live Long and Prosper!

(and thanks for reading)

~ Cerece

What’s Your Super Power?

Wonder Worry. Super Hero or Villain in Disguise?

In my family we have a tradition of taking each others' idiosyncrasies and turning them into a badge of infamy known as your super power.  For example, my best friend is Captain Cheap because no matter what it is, she swears it costs too much.  My husband is known as The Number Cruncher because for him, in the end, everything can be broken down into an Excel spreadsheet.  And me, my super power alter-ego is Wonder Worry, because no matter how minor the problem, I can turn it into a potential disaster of apocalyptic proportions in 2.5 seconds flat.  

Now, I thought I had hung up my cape a good five years ago.  My friends had even started referring to Wonder Worry in the past tense.  But with the book release less than 6 weeks away, Wonder Worry is back in full effect, leaping from small setbacks to predictions of impending doom in a single bound.  In fact, I had my first mini-panic attack about 2 weeks ago…over a 4 out of 5 star review for my book.  Instead of being thrilled that someone liked it (or even read it), Wonder Worry immediately started spinning around the room in a tizzy. “What’s wrong with the story?” she cried hysterically.  “They didn’t like it!  I’m missing a STAR!”

Because the reviewer had rated the story with a note in the comment section that read “Review to Come,” Wonder Worry decided that could only mean one thing….the upcoming review would be a scathing rejection.  Faster than Carl Lewis in a 100 meter dash, I began constructing multiple reviews that all started with “This story didn’t suck too bad…” It took my 13 month old daughter’s look of delighted apathy to get me off the ledge.

With 2-weeks worth of distance between me and my meltdown, I am slowly wrestling Wonder Worry back into retirement by remembering that I don’t have to focus on the one star that isn’t there.  I can chose to focus on the 4 stars that are out there shining brightly as a testament to the fact that my story doesn’t suck and that someone besides me may actually like it.   I know I’ve got other super powers somewhere in here, I just need to find a new pair of tights.

So what’s your super power?  Is it lifting you up or weighing you down?

If you’re out there, thanks for reading!

~ Cerece

Shiny New Thing….

Well - for me, the wait is over. I am making the leap from “author in waiting” to “so excited I’m scared and so scared I’m excited author”.  My first sci-fi novel, Order of the Seers will make her official debut on Tuesday, September 4^th 2012 – 2 months from today. 

I chose to announce the book’s release on Independence Day as an affirmation of my decision to publish my book independently.  It’s very nice and very scary to have the full reigns on this baby.  The two months since I decided to stop waiting for an agent and go it alone have felt like a year.  The learning curve has been crazy steep and I am not ashamed to admit that I have been brought to tears several times in the past 10 weeks by the overwhelming length of my things-to-do list, the consequences of choices made without the benefit of perfect knowledge or an institution of experience and the preponderance of conflicting information.  

I’ve doubted myself and my ability to do what was necessary to publish this book at almost every turn.  It’s the reason that I wanted an agent in the first place – to take care of everything and me – to shepherd me through the dark forest of printers, editors and publishers, the foul-mouth monsters of promotion and marketing and the twin witches of praise and criticism.  

Did I mention that I am a proud hermit by nature and a technophobe?  This probably describes 99% of the writers on the planet, so none of it makes me special, but it does explain why more people chose to bury their manuscripts than publish them. 

The fact that I haven’t chosen that path is truly telling.  Despite all my worry and doubt, I have never wavered in my belief in this story.  I wonder if this new audience I’m trying to reach will like it or read it, but I never doubt that it should be shared – that its destiny lies in the light, not under my mattress.  It keeps me going when I feel like I just can’t fit one more thing into 24 hours.   

The other enormously good thing is there couldn’t be a better time to self-publish.  There are so many generous authors who have gone down this road I’m on and are more than willing to share their lessons-learned – for free or very little.  I am privileged to claim some of them as good friends.  Plus, the information (conflicting though some may be) is all out there for you to grab and absorb. And my cup runneth over with facts and figures that have been distilled into actions steps.  

We’ll see how it goes, but go it will.  There’s no turning back now.  For a preview of the book, check out my brand new website www.crmurphybooks.com.  There’s also some video, news on upcoming projects and even a place for you to pre-order a paperback copy.  Sign-up for updates because we’re are off and running and there is so much more to come!

If you’re out there, thanks for reading!

~ Cerece

Free Fallin...

So I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last poured a little bit more of myself out onto this blog.  Sheesh, I’d tell you why, but that’s a story for another day.  Right now, I’m listening to John Mayer play my favorite Tom Petty song…Free Fallin.  And it fits because I was just talking with my friend Kenya about how crazy you can feel putting your art out there, whether it be music, painting or writing.  The overwhelmed factor is pretty high, like standing on the edge of a cliff and knowing the only way out is to jump.  Free Fallin.  So after we finished our musing, I had an idea for a poem that turned into a story in two pages.  I hope you like it.

What the Butterfly Feels

“It is nice and warm in here,” she says as she snuggles deep into well worn places.

“No need to move – at all.”

But the first rip of the cocoon is often ignored. 

She thinks that if she stays really still it will go away, repair itself on its own

Or maybe no one will notice.

But the second tear is longer, louder than the first and she knows,

Something is going to change – forever.

Frightened, she hugs her crumpled wings closer

“I don’t want to leave.  I don’t need to leave,” she tells herself.

“Come out of there,” I say.  “You belong out here.”

But she is not brave; she cowers at the sound of my truth.

And when the twisting starts inside her belly, she hunkers down against the urge to move.

The inertia she’s trying to enforce splits the bottom wide open

Almost

She almost falls down.

She’s only seconds from flying

but she doesn’t know it.

She’s clinging to the sides of a familiar that has grown too small.

“But I was fine.  I was fine,” she insists with wide, disbelieving eyes.

The bottom is so far down

And her fear keeps her attention from noticing the stretching of her wings.

“But, but…but,” she says just as the fiber separating her from pure air pulls apart

One

Last

Time.

And she falls

Into everything that lies beyond

everywhere she’s ever been

“Open your eyes,” I tell her.  “You’re nowhere near the ground.”

As always, if you’re out there, thanks for reading!

Rising to the Challenge

So up until this post, I have been blogging in secret.  No, that doesn’t make any sense, but hey, that’s just me.  Not even my husband had this link until today.

So why am I sharing it now?  In short, I’ve been coerced by this challenge that I entered through Writer’s Digest to do one task a day to help build my author’s platform (i.e. all the stuff that will help me get info out about the books, me, etc.).  The challenge 3 days ago was to write and link this blog to my Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter accounts and I’ve been procrastinating ever since. 

Why is this so hard?  I guess all the usual suspects are at work here…fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of blah, blah, blah.  Even I don’t want to hear my own excuses.  

The point is…HERE I AM! And I’m writing a story or two or more.  First up is Order of the Seers, a sci-fi novel that I am trying to get published right now.  Second is the Seers sequel which is in progress (chapter outline complete, first chapter written).   

In the cue after that is:

           1) The final installment of the Seers trilogy

           2) A children’s book series entitled Enchanted World – 5 Tales of Magic in the Everyday and

           3) A book on deciphering all the relationship and marriage advice I received when I was single 

  (now that I understand most of it) called More than the Ring.

Want to know more?  I hope so.  Subscribe to this blog and follow me on Facebook, Twitter - @cerecermurphy (gulp!) and Linkedin to get updates on my upcoming website, book trailers, publishing dates and other cool stuff that’s coming down the pike.

As always, if you’re out there, thanks for reading!

~ Cerece

High School All Over Again...

I went to my senior prom stag, mostly because I didn’t know any boys to ask.  Lucky for me, I went to an all-girls school, so going solo was taken as a sign of independence.  But now I find that, as an unpublished author-in-waiting, it’s high school all over again.  Except now I’m waiting for someone to ask me to the dance (an agent/publisher to call) and if they don’t, the question is – if I go stag (self-publish) will it be seen by the industry as a sign of independence or a sign that I wasn’t good enough to be asked?

I read a fascinating article by the Los Angeles Review of Books the other day on why self-published authors don’t get reviewed by newspaper papers, trade magazines, etc. In it, a traditionally-published author suggested that before she was established “I didn’t think I could call myself a writer if I paid someone else to publish my stuff.”  I had to read the statement twice, then check it again to make sure it was a grown-person saying it.  When all was confirmed, I sat back and thought, “Wow…what a mind job.” Before she gave self-publishing a try - in her world – you were only a writer if someone else said so. 

*Pregnant Pause*

That’s just way too much power to put in someone else’s hands.  Even if I never publish a thing, I am a writer.  Before, I was sheepish about saying it, but after reading that article I realized that I don’t want to approach my career in writing like a 17 year old girl hoping to be asked to the prom.  Even though it feels like the Wild Wild West in publishing these days and I have no idea how my efforts to publish traditionally will pan out, I know I have to believe in my own work first.  Whatever happens, who I am and what I do has to start and end with me. 

If you’re out there, thanks for reading!

~ Cerece