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Spring Newsletter 2012

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by on Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Dear Readers,

Hello and thanks for your patience during this long hiatus. As you have probably noticed, I haven’t been blogging lately. Mostly because I’ve been a little burned out by life in general and don’t really have much news to share. Since I haven’t been updating, I thought it might work better for this front page to become more of a newsletter (that you don’t have to subscribe to or get in your email inbox). Just a little place where every season I can let you know what’s going on.

Currently the answer is… not a lot. If you are a fan of the audio book of MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES and have been waiting for FLIP THIS ZOMBIE and EAT SLAY LOVE, then wait no longer! FLIP THIS ZOMBIE is available now http://www.amazon.com/Flip-This-Zombie-Living-Dead/dp/B007PXLW5C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334635791&sr=8-3 and EAT SLAY LOVE will hit your audio players on April 30 http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Slay-Love-Living-Dead/dp/1452657076/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334635837&sr=1-1

Otherwise, I hope you’ll keep buying the books, including IN THE DEAD: Volume 1. And I’ll be sure to update you on Facebook and Twitter, as well as here, if there is anything new to report on the book front. Either way, look for a new newsletter here around mid-July!

Thanks for reading!

JesseP

Stuff You Never Knew About Me (and Probably Didn’t Care About)

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by on Thursday, February 16, 2012

If you’re here, it’s probably because you like my zombie books. Or my romances and since I no longer blog under my other name, you tolerate my zombie stuff just because you like me. OR you like romance AND zombies. And to you, I say, YAY! But you know, there ARE other things about me. I’m not just queen of the zombie comedy with lots of swears and pop culture references. So here are a few things you may not know about me:

1. I am married to my high school sweetheart. And he’s way cuter and nicer than Dave. And hopefully I’m way nicer than Sarah. Anyway, he’s awesome and we’ve grown up together and we play video games and have fun and generally think that the other is awesome. Super sweet.

2. I scrapbook. Yup, I do. My sister-in-law helped me get into it when I wanted to do something with all of my husband’s running numbers and pictures. And I LOVE it, no matter how terrible I am at it. I’ve always loved paper and glue and pictures and this combines all these things.

3. I love MMA. This one you may know if you ever watch my twitter feed regularly. I do occasionally talk about my love for the sport there. We buy every PPV, I follow several MMA blogs and I can probably give you some kind of run down of strengths versus weaknesses of every fighter in the UFC currently. I love a good muay thai clinch, never boo the ground game and always yell for a terrific knock out. Blood does not bother me. I could go on.

4. In 2008, for our 11th wedding anniversary, my husband and I went to China. We spent our anniversary on the Wall. It was amazing in every way. I loved China and highly recommend a trip to anyone who has an interest and can do it.

5. While living in Seattle, our apartment building came with its own hooker. She was pretty ragged and one time we thought she was dead. But she wasn’t. It was a bad neighborhood.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day… Zombie Style

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by on Tuesday, February 14, 2012

On this holiest of holidays… wait, that’s not right.

On this most commercial of holidays, don’t forget to give your sweetheart a zombie valentine from me and Orbit:

http://www.orbitbooks.net/banners/zombie-cards/

The Geek’s Guide to Being a Newbie

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by on Thursday, February 09, 2012

As many of you know, recently my husband and I moved to Tucson, AZ. We’re lucky in that we have family here already, I’m close friends with my sister-in-law and their friends have embraced us like their own. I’m in a book club and a girl’s group, so it’s not exactly the “welcome to a new place, good luck” feeling I had, for example, when we moved to Illinois a decade or more ago.

But recently, while reading THE HAPPINESS PROJECT (Gretchen Rubin), I started thinking about the concept of Be Jesse. And I realized there was still… something missing for me to be me. I missed my geeks. Seriously, if you haven’t guessed I’m a geek by now, you probably haven’t been here long. Or read my books, which are rife with geek reference.

Anyway, I had had friends in Illinois who could discuss Star Wars or zombies or gaming or… whatever. But here, I have lots of new friends, but they sort of stare at me blankly if I want to talk about the relationship between elf and orc. So after much discussion (and going to a Full Metal Alchemist movie that totally made me want geeks more) I decided to start a meet up.

Meet Up is a website where people who share interests can find each other and “meet up”. There are tons of groups in Tucson from people who want to hike, moms groups, groups for film enthusiasts, people who like jazz, really anything you can think of. And there are groups for geeks. But while there are 3 in Phoenix, there were none in Tucson. So I started one.

Life is so short. If I want to go talk about the dragons in Skyrim or why Christian Bale growls as Batman or how come I still love Princess Leia above all other heroines and still wish I could do that with my hair… I should. Otherwise, what’s the point of being alive if there’s no childlike wonder in the world. That’s one of my favorite parts of being a geek, after all.

5 Writer Resolutions

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by on Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Most people make resolutions in January, welcoming the new year with thoughts of how they’d like to be/act/change/etc. And I make those, for sure. But I also like to check in throughout the year, setting smaller goals and re-evaluating where I stand on the goals I have made already. So here are five of my writer resolutions.

1. Finish the projects I have contracted. Right before Christmas I sold three books under my ‘other’ name. And I have given myself some very tough deadlines, so my priority at this moment is to finish those books. One is done and turned in (YAY), one I just started last week and is due the end of March. The third is due the end of April. It’s a tight schedule, but it’s coming along and I’m happy to be working again.

2. Finish IN THE DEAD: Volume 2. These short stories are something I enjoy working on, plus it lets me give you a little glimpse at Dave and Sarah (“Dave Speaks”) and maybe revisit some of my favorite characters from Volume 1. I’m hoping for an early March release if I can finish everything soon.

3. Look at other projects. I have projects I’m interested in doing for my other names and also there’s always the 4th Dave and Sarah book. Once I’m done with the above projects, it’s all about evaluating my other projects and scheduling time to write them.

4. Read, read, read. One thing that sometimes goes by the wayside when I’m writing up a storm is reading. I have so many fun books and interesting books just waiting for me. So I’m going to try to read more this year. This month, two books. One for my book club (Ann Pratchett) and one other one at least.

5. Be kinder to myself. I don’t know how other writers feel, but I spend a lot of my day beating myself up. Do it faster, do it better, why didn’t this happen, why did this happen… it’s a constant stream of battering myself. And I need to be nicer to myself. I wouldn’t let some other person talk to me that way.

Funny how all my resolutions have to do with doing more and then giving myself a break if I can’t do all those things. Catch-22? Yeah, maybe. But that’s why resolutions were made to change, bend, break and be fulfilled.

Staying Motivated in the Midst

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by on Thursday, February 02, 2012

Right now I have a problem. It’s a problem most writers face in the course of their careers. It’s a problem of motivation. Writing is sort of a tough profession. Yes, you get to do what you love and then people tell you they actually like it, which is very edifying. But it’s also exhausting, frustrating and sometimes even heartbreaking. Things work out and don’t work out, but through it all writers are expected to keep their creative juices flowing and continue to write books. Sometimes that is nearly impossible. So here are a few tips I have for staying motivated in the midst of everything else the writers might face:

1. Identify the Problem: Sometimes it’s professional disappointment or being overwhelmed by projects or not liking the book you’re working on or just being tired. Know what’s sapping your motivation.

2. List the potential solutions: I’m a listmaker by heart (sometimes I rewrite my to do list several times a week just to complete the act of writing the list again). I find that sometimes just writing down everything I could do about something is helpful. So let’s say your problem has been identified as “being tired” in step one. That’s my current problem as I’m writing this blog. :) So your potential solution could be: take a nap, step away from the computer, drink a diet coke, go to bed early, stop playing Skyrim until 2am. And maybe ten or more other solutions. Just seeing them all listed out will make you feel like you can actually conquer this issue.

3. Be realistic: In my other writing persona, I’m in the middle of writing three contracted books in rapid succession and I’ve been listing my page count/word count totals at the end of each day. They’re pretty massive, due to the quick due dates and lots of people have been asking how I do it. I’m realistic. I know what I CAN do and also know that if I have visitors or an appointment during a day, I might not be able to do as much, so I adjust my goals accordingly. Just being aware of what you CAN do as a writer can help keep you from getting overwhelmed by trying to do too much too fast.

4. Be kind: To yourself. Sometimes you need a day off. Sometimes you need a break. Sometimes you need to let go of a project that isn’t working. This one is always a challenge to me (I hold myself to often impossible standards). But I’m learning and I’m working on showing myself a little compassion as a writer. Because there are days I can do it all. And there are days that I can’t. And that’s ok.

So how do you stay motivated as a writer? Or a reader? Or a human?

5 Commercials that make me LMAO

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by on Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I admit, most of the time, I fast forward commercials. What, I have a DVR. This is what God intended us to do with our DRVs. But every once in a while I’m watching live TV or I can’t find the remote or I’m in a hotel and I see commercials. There are a few that make me laugh. Here are some:

1. The Progresso commercial with the guy operator. The commercial starts with a woman calling the “Progresso Hotline” to say, “It fits!” The woman operator is like, “Woohoo!” Then it shows another woman saying, “They fit.” The male operator says, “OK.” She asks to talk to a female operator. Why it makes me laugh: It’s so flipping true. A boy would never totally get why fitting into skinny jeans is like the best day EVER.

2. Little Vader. It’s an oldie but a goodie from VW and last year’s Super Bowl. You’re all geeks, but I’ll remind you. Little boy dressed as Vader can’t seem to get the Force to work. Until Dad “helps” with his starter key fob. AWESOME. I’ve seen a preview for this year’s VW Star Wars commercial. Dogs. Barking. Imperial March.

3. Russian Guy’s Mini-Giraffe – DirecTv’s ad with the Russian “Opulance, I Has It” isn’t that hilarious on its own. Until he sits down next to the mini giraffe on the princess pillow and gives him/her a kiss. I die. Each time. And I want a mini giraffe. Thanks.

4. Seattle Mariners – I don’t live in Seattle anymore, so I don’t know what the Mariners are up to nowadays, but back in the day they had the most hilarious commercials. From players sharing a hotel with the Mariner Moose (who left hair in the drain) to Jay Beuhner’s bald head causing a reflection in the eyes of a batter… every time they made me laugh. Also, they once had a spirited debate on the pitcher’s mound about some classic. Look them up, well worth a chuckle, even if you don’t like sports (and I’m not a baseball fan).

5.Betty White Snickers – I’ll be honest, I think the rest of these commercials have been crap, but that first one with Betty White getting tackled and needing a Snickers to get back to being a guy… yeah. Betty White is awesome.

And now we’re almost to 2012 Superbowl, where a bunch of new commercials will launch. I’m sure most will be silly, but at least one will blow my mind. I can’t wait!

 

Guest Post: Why I Put My Zombies Behind Bars

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by on Thursday, January 26, 2012

Welcome to our first guest blogger, Marty Shaw, who writes about putting zombies in prison (a topic I’m most interested in since I’m currently writing a zombie in prison short WEIRD). Welcome Marty!

To paraphrase Doctor Who, zombies are cool. All you have to do is take a stroll through your local bookstore, click over to Amazon, or switch the TV to AMC for The Walking Dead, and it’s easy to tell that animated, rotting corpses are the ‘in’ thing these days… and it’s about time the iconic zombie shuffled his way into the cultural spotlight.

When it comes to my debut horror short story, Dead Man Walking, I’d like to sound impressive and talk about endless hours of market research and polling readers to discover their interest, but I really didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I simply ran with a thought that popped into my head one night while I was at work.

While I’m a full-time writer these days, I was a correctional officer in a prison at that time, and the nights can be long and boring… and don’t get me wrong because boring can be good. When it comes to being in a prison, boring is great, because the alternative can get messy.

During one of those long stretches of night when the inmates were locked up in their cells to sleep, my mind took a macabre turn and wondered what it would be like have a zombie running loose within the prison walls. Yes, my brain occasionally slips its leash and wanders off into some really strange places. Of course, there’s never just one zombie because one bite leads to another, which then leads to another. Pretty soon, there’s a full-blown zombie apocalypse happening behind the brick walls and razor wire.

After the initial idea oozed into my brain, I started really thinking about how it would work in a location where you can’t even walk from one end of the hall to the other without going through at least two locked doors. Does a lock really stand a chance against the undead? The answer is yes… and no. In the world I created, it all depends on the particular zombie because not all zombies are created equal.

Another reason for Dead Man Walking to be handled the way it was is that I wanted to create a zombie origin story. There are plenty of zombie movies and books out there but the vast majority of them feature a world that has already fallen to the undead. I wanted to back things up and show the beginning; give readers a last look at the world they know before it starts to crumble.

Working in a prison can be quite an educational experience, and there’s one part in the book that always brings up one particular question. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers but the answer is yes, you can use powdered coffee creamer, a 9-volt battery, and steel wool to create a certain effect employed by the main character at one point in the story. I might have taken a little dramatic license to enhance the effect but it’s probably still not something you should try at home.

I’d like to thank Jesse for inviting me over to share my thoughts with you, and I really appreciate the fact that I get to keep my brain in this zombie-infested neighborhood because I need that little piece of gray matter to keep my next book, Little Demons, on track for its February release.

You can catch up with me at my website, www.itsjustmarty.wordpress.com or find me on Twitter @ItsJustMarty. Feel free to stop by anytime. I don’t bite… much.

Ok, this story sounds awesome and thanks to Marty for jumping in to guest! I’m off to buy “Dead Man Walking” right now! You should, too!

11 Favorite Moments of 2011

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by on Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Well, I am just WAY behind the eightball on this one. Most everyone else has come and gone with their “2011″ recap posts, but I’ve never been one to follow trends. Hell, I should put this post off until June and really confused everyone. Maybe not. At any rate, with the New Year just a little while ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite moments in 2011. It was a wacky year, but here are some of my own highlights:

11. Making the decision to move to Arizona/Putting our house on the market/selling our house in Illinois. This one is obviously a very personal moment for me and my family. We lived in Illinois for almost ten years (it was our “three hour tour” turned decade) and had a lot of friends there. But we had family in Arizona and a desire to reset. So we shut our eyes and jumped off the cliff, selling our house. It took forever, we had some stutter-starts and damn, but did we take a bath. But we did it. More on that later.

10. The Walking Dead, Season 2. I loved Season 1 of “The Walking Dead”, I even recapped it for Orbit on their blog. I hesitated to watch Season 2, as I had heard about the drama with writers on the show and honestly… sometimes Season 2s of shows just kind of suck (Heroes, I’m looking at you). But man… it was worth the wait. So good. Yes, I have major frustrations about the writing of the female characters, but I’m so sucked into the world that I can set that aside and just watch, mouth open as the story unfolds. Part 2 of Season 2… is it time yet???

9. Release of Halo: Anniversary and Portal 2. Yeah, I’m one of those. First off, I freaking LOVE Halo. I love that my husband and I can play it in cooperative mode. We have played Assault on the Control room literally a hundred times of more. It’s my favorite. So Halo with upgraded graphics. Yes, please. And Portal 2. I more watched Michael play Portal than played. I’m not big into puzzle games, they sort of stress me out. But he asked me to play Portal 2 to help him get some coop acheivements and I FELL IN LOVE. The story is funny, the music is great and please. Portals. Robots. Apeture Labs. Get me some.

8. Release of Flip This Zombie. January 2011, the second book of the “Living With the Dead” series was released. Continuing the adventures of Dave and Sarah after MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES was a terrifying concept. I had written plenty of books before, but never Urban Fantasy until MARRIED just kind of fell out of me during a blurry 2 week period where I barely stopped writing long enough to eat. Could I do it again? Well, I did. And I loved adding new characters and pushing Dave and Sarah’s relationship along the rocky road of marital discord and zombies.

7. Release of Eat Slay Love. I had already written almost the entire third book in the series when I made a joke about EAT SLAY LOVE on twitter. Orbit ran with it and the book came out in July, capping off the series (at least under Orbit unless some miracle occurs) and leaving hundreds to ask, “Are you going to write another Dave and Sarah book?” Also, there was Russell Brand in it (yes, he’s my coked up rocker, not that you asked).

6. Adele. Adele isn’t a moment, she’s a person. And her debut album 19 rocked my world. Everyone else seemed to figure her out this year. So I salute you Adele, for being the kind of person it seems like it would be fun to hang out with. Also “Someone Like You” inspired the “Crying” sketch on SNL and now I giggle every time it comes on before I sing along. And maybe cry a little.

5. The Royal Wedding. What?? I’m a GIRL. I love that Kate Middleton seems chill. I love that they actually seem to like each other. I liked getting up at 4am to watch the wedding and squeeing over the dress. Now for the Happily Ever After, thank you. And probably some very large-toothed children.

4. Moving into the wild world of self-publishing. Why did I do it? Well, I wanted more choice, I wanted quicker turn around times and I wanted to write more zombie books set in my “Living With the Dead” universe. My first foray under my Jesse Petersen name was IN THE DEAD: Volume 1, a collection of short stories set in the Living With the Dead Zombieverse. The sales have been slower than I anticipated, but those who have read it seemed to have enjoyed it. And I sure enjoyed writing it.

3. Eat Slay Love is a finalist in Goodreads Choice! A totally unexpected honor that I staggered into in November/December. I woke up to an email. And I realized that this award nomination was based on the best reviewed books in each genre. So, hello! HONOR! And then the readers got to vote for the winner. I managed to survive to the very final round, beating out some pretty heavy hitters before the end. Winning would have been awesome, but it really was just an honor to be nominated.

2. Sending out new projects to New York. I do love to publish on my own terms, but I also like having a book on shelves, expanding my readership and getting paid. :) So I’m very excited to have several projects out in the world, including a full book about monsters under my Jesse Petersen name. There might also be a zombie book (not Dave and Sarah) going out soon, too. :) Just saying. Will anyone nibble? Maybe. Maybe not. But I like that I’m trying.

1. Moved to Arizona. So about selling that house. Once we did, we bought a gorgeous new one in Arizona. In August, we packed up my car and our cats and took a very long road trip. Soon after, my husband repeated it and we were… home. My husband has started his own business for runners (www.sevenrunners.com)  and is training beginner triathletes (www.therunningmike.com). We are close to our two beautiful nephews and have a mountain pretty much growing out of our front yard. It is bliss. And it was the best/weirdest year ever.

What about you? Favorite moments now that your hangover from celebrating is long gone?

Don’t be a douche online, kids

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by on Monday, January 02, 2012

So if you’ve followed my twitter or Facebook, you probably saw my update last week about a little customer service problem that was brought to the light by the amazing Penny-Arcade.com here and here. Basically, this douchebag who runs a company called Ocean Marketing that helped with distribution of a cool gaming controller, treated someone who emailed for customer service like crap. Read the article for the big story. Anyway, once this came out on Penny Arcade, the interwebs blew up, people lost their jobs,
someone had to change their twitter handle and all hell broke loose.

The whole thing got me thinking about the internet and how it’s really changed how people are able to treat each other.  It used to be that a guy like this jerk would have done what he did and the poor customer would have been screwed. He might have been able to report the incident somewhere, but what else could he have done? Now he tells a few gaming mags/blogs and all of a sudden we ALL know what’s up and we’re tweeting about it, blogging about it and demanding that someone fix it.

What the douchebag forgot is that he’s a “public person”. Just vaguely mind you, but still. He represents a company (his own now, the controller creator has fired him) and so what he says isn’t just about the fact he’s a bully and a jerk. I sometimes see the same sort of attitude online from other public people. They tweet about situations they’re not informed about, they get into twitter wars over the stupidest crap and they make themselves look sooooo bad. Once that stuff is out there, you can take it back or change it just by changing your twitter handle.

The bottom line is, isn’t it just easier not to be a jerk, online or otherwise? Not to use the supposed anonymity of the interwebs to kick the dog because it makes you feel better. Because the thing is that you never know who the dog is online. And also… you just shouldn’t go around kicking the dog because it’s mean and small and petty and makes you look like a bitch when people catch you doing it.

I am not saying that I’ve never said anything online that I’ve regretted. I’m sure you can find some stuff I’ve written that makes me look… well, probably mostly pathetic rather than bitchy. If I’ve been bitchy, it’s probably in a more generic “snarky” way than specifically toward another human person with feelings and a mom.

Maybe it’s all about entitlement. Jerks on the internet (and in real life) think they’ve “earned” something. Whether it’s your business or your respect they’re going to demand it if you do anything to deny it. Only they haven’t “earned” anything. I don’t think I “deserve” your business or your good reviews or your blogs. Not because I’m just awesome anyway. The only way I “earn” that is by somehow catching your eye with my product, having it live up to your expectations and then the rest is up to you. I appreciate the book purchases and the reviews on Amazon, I might even ask for them. But I don’t think you “owe” me.

But this guy, and others like him, whether they be actors, writers or whoever… they think we all “owe” them just because they think they’re hot shit and we should worship accordingly. But nowadays, the only thing you’re going to get out of that kind of crap attitude is a bad reputation, three pages of “the guy is a jerk” on google searches and a new twitter handle.

I guess what it comes down to is don’t be a douche. Not online and not in life. It doesn’t pay. Just ask the jerk in the Penny-Arcade
story.