Backstage at the Chicago/Doobie Brothers Concert

Ten years ago, my friend Suzanne and I were handed backstage passes at a Chicago/Doobie Brothers concert. It was purely coincidental that the guy had found us to give us the tickets. We had just moved from our spot on the lawn to the back of the amphitheater because people on blankets around us were complaining that we were blocking their view with our dancing. (Granted, it was a Doobie Brothers/Chicago concert. It wasn't like I expected a mosh pit. But, c'mon!)

The guy that gave them to us told us that he worked for the band and that it was his job to make sure that a certain amount of girls were backstage when the bands were done performing.

That should have been our first clue.

But we were young, barely twenty-one, and the thought of going backstage was an opportunity too irresistible to resist.

So after Chicago walked off stage and Suzanne and fought against the leaving crowds, we presented our passes to the security guards who let us through to a secret world of rock stars and magic.

Uh...right. Did I mention I was only twenty-one at the time and maybe a tad bit naive?

I'm not really sure what I expected. Maybe, I fantasized, that the bands would perform an acoustic set behind the scenes. Or maybe they would discuss music and their song writing processes.

What actually happened was, both bands (The Doobie Brothers and Chicago) sat around a table with each other, drinking beer, and ignoring everyone around them, even the girls that were falling over themselves (and out of their clothing) to get their attention.

Oh, and did I mention the grimy stage hands that cornered us like a pack of hungry lines? A paunchy man with a Scottish accent made no secret in bragging to Suzanne and I that he was also Brittany Spear's sound guy and he could get us her autograph. Another guy, a skinny weasel looking fellow, offered me a tour of Chicago's tour bus.

It was at that moment that I had my first telepathic experience. Suzanne looked into my eyes and I could hear the thought she projected my way. You know he just wants to give you a tour of his pants, right? 

Ew.

Disappointed that our star encounter had been less than perfect, Suzanne and I left. I remember feeling deflated as we walked out to the car. Getting to meet a band backstage should have been a dream come true, but the reality had been the farthest thing from it.

We drove home in silence. After a few miles I flipped on the radio and the Doobie Brother's Black Water happened to be playing. Suzanne and I looked at each other, our surprise turned to grins and our grins turned to singing and laughing. It was then I realized that it didn't matter that the band didn't live up to my expectations because it wasn't the men themselves that made me happy - it was the music.

Recently, I've come to the same realization with writing.

When it comes to the business of publishing, I received a backstage pass - I got a book contract. But, little did I know, that when I passed into the VIP section, things wouldn't go like I'd planned. Just like meeting Chicago and the Doobie Brothers, I had lots of preconceived notions on exactly how things would work out. I'd thought that once I signed on the dotted line, things would get easier, I'd have it made in the shade.

And all that hard work and waiting that I did to get my publishing deal? Yeah, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

I'll admit, having the reality of the situation crush my expectations had been a bit of a blow. I had that same deflated feeling, that crushing disappointment that I'd experienced leaving the concert. I had a hard time sitting down to get started on writing now that my blinders had been removed. A lot of pressure, pressure that hadn't been there before my book sale, settled on my shoulders. What if readers hate my book? What if they hate the sequel? What if I never write anything good ever again?

But then I got a story idea and I sat down in front of the computer and got to meet my new characters. I found myself falling inside of my mind, losing track of time, and having fun with words again - just like I had with KATANA. And that was when I realized something.

It doesn't matter what happens backstage. It doesn't matter if it meets or falls short of your expectations. Writing is what made me happy. And writing is still what makes me happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for my backstage pass and I've appreciated every minute and every lesson this experience has taught me. But I'm going to enjoy every minute of this show, even if it means having to move to the back so I can dance to the music.

Calling all Lovers of Writing, Food, and Writing about Food

NEW BLOG LOOKING FOR CONTRIBUTORS

If you love blogging about writing, food, and writing about food, Pots & Pens is looking for you!

This is a start-up blog by writers who will be blogging about writing, their favorite recipes, and interviewing other authors/agents/editors to determine what roll food has on their writing/careers.

My goal is to have enough participants that each contributor would be expected to post no more than 1-2 times a month.

If this is something that interests you or you have questions, please email me at cole@colegibsen.com

Guest post with Matt Myklusch and THE ACCIDENTAL HERO giveaway!

Today is such an exciting day for me because today I am trading blogs with another fellow author, comic lover, and Upstart Crower, Matt Myklusch! And because Matt is made of awesome, he has generously offered to give away a signed copy of his book THE ACCIDENTAL HERO. For details on how to enter, see the end of this post.
And now, without further ado, I'll leave you with Matt. If you want to catch my post on sexism and the evolving female superhero, I'll be over at Matt's blog.

People always ask me where I get my ideas from. The answer is simple really:

Everywhere.

Ideas come from the news, songs, historical events, movies, books, and just plain out of the blue. Life is an inspiration, and I’m easily inspired. I’ve been like this ever since I was a kid. Growing up, I would read comic books and watch movies and TV shows like G.I. Joe or the Transformers and immediately want to create my own characters and stories. I would see something I like and say, “I want to do my own version of that.” I wanted to make my own Indiana Jones. My own Star Wars. My own X-Men.

That was a big one. The X-Men.

When I was nine, I read my first X-Men comic book. It was Uncanny X-Men # 211. I remember the exact issue because it was the start of what is now a famous storyline called “The Mutant Massacre.” There was a badass team of villains called The Marauders that got introduced in that issue. They all had awesome powers and code names.

The X-Men team at point in time was one of their better lineups as well (they have good years and bad years… kind of like SNL casts). Wolverine was even still wearing his far superior brown and orange costume back then.

Bottom line, these guys had the edge on The Marauders, but just barely. It made for some great action, and those first few books I read locked me in as a comic fan for life. This is about the time that I started creating my own superhero universe. Some of my early superhero creations include characters like CRUSHER:

I don’t remember much about this guy, but I expect he was supposed to be super strong. The next few characters have more obvious powers. Meet POWER SAW:

I’m not sure how this character would have ever picked his nose or gone to the bathroom... I guess I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Then, there was FIRESTARTER, who had the worst mask in the history of comics:

It’s funny looking back on these guys now, but when I was a kid, I thought I’d caught lightning in a bottle with these characters. I thought you could get a job selling superhero ideas to Marvel and DC Comics, and planned on making a long career out of doing just that. By the time I got to High School I found out there was no such job, and set my sights on being a comic book penciler instead.

That didn’t happen.

There was actually a stretch in High School where I stopped reading comics and stopped drawing altogether. It lasted at least a year. The reason was because I was “growing up.” I was the only one of my friends who was still into comic books and I figured it was time for me to put childish things aside. Luckily, Jim Lee convinced me otherwise.

Not personally. He did it through his artwork. One day I saw the following X-Men comic book on a shelf in a WaldenBooks (for those of you who remember WaldenBooks):

I was blown away. The detail, action, and pure awesomeness of this image woke me up and got me inspired all over again. It got me reading comics again. It got me drawing again.

It’s a good thing too, because a lot of the characters I created after that found their way into the pages of my book, THE ACCIDENTAL HERO. There are far too many heroes and villains living in the Imagine Nation to list here, but I’ll show you a few of my favorites.

PRIME:

CHI:

REVILE:

Today, I make my living as a writer, but I still think of myself as an artist first. For me, every story starts out with a pencil and a sketch pad. I draw the characters, locations, and anything else that comes to mind. Somewhere along the line, I figured out that artwork was the first step in my creative process. It’s hard to believe I almost shut that process down before it ever really got going.

Matt Myklusch is the author of the JACK BLANK ADVENTURES, a middle grade fantasy series from Simon & Schuster. Book One, THE ACCIDENTAL HERO, is in stores now. Find out more at JackBlank.com









And now for the chocolate on the sundae! Matt is giving away a signed copy of the first book in his JACK BLANK SERIES; THE ACCIDENTAL HERO. Seriously, revel in the cover. Isn't it awesome!

Here's how to enter:

We're not going to make you follow, tweet, or blog about the giveaway (but we sure would appreciate it if you did!) All you have to do is leave a comment below this post with the name of a character from THE ACCIDENTAL HERO along with your email address so we can contact you if you win. And because Matt is so awesome, he's agreed to make this an open book test. If you're looking for the answers, a great place would be to start at www.JACKBLANK.com. A random winner will be drawn from a list of participants who left correct responses. 

Trust me guys, if you're a fan of comics, you won't want to miss out on this book.

Becoming Bellatrix (Stage 4)

So look what I got in the mail today, much sooner than expected! A shiny package all the way from China. I wonder what it could be???

Okay, this was unexpected. When I opened the package up, inside I found the cutest shopping bag that I've ever laid eyes on:

And inside of that was the Bellatrix wig!!!

 Before: Mild-mannered author.

 

After: Psychotic wizard killer. EPIC.

I am such a nerd. :D

Anyway, Alison warned me about the dangers of using spray paint on a wig. So while I considered an alternative solution, Laci gave me a wonderful idea for adding white hair to the wig.

Check out my latest eBay purchase:

Clip in hair! Now, they claim that you can curl this hair (it's synthetic) with no problems. We shall see...

Next up - the corset!

Becoming Bellatrix (Stage 3)

Stage 3 is my favorite stage because it is the SHOPPING stage!!! Yay!

So look what I just bought on eBay:

Now tell me that's not the perfect Bellatrix wig. I'm a little undecided on how to make the white patch. Right now I'm considering actual spray pain. (Don't worry, I'll snip a piece of hair and try it out before I paint the actual wig.) If that doesn't work maybe I'll try that flaky white temporary spray that they sell around Halloween. I'm not sure how well it will work considering the wig is synthetic. We'll see...

Another must have that I found on the internet is this:

Seriously, how cool is that? A temporary Deatheater tattoo. You can buy a pack of six for around five bucks. Not too shabby.

And since I was goofing off anyway, look what I found for my super secret Dragoncon project:

Okay, obviously after seeing this pic, super secret project isn't so secret anymore. :) Let's just hope I can pull it off!

Becoming Bellatrix (Stage 2)

Okay, the movie premier is getting closer so it's time to really buckle down and finish this dress. Today I worked on the arm gauntlets.

So this was tricky. I'm not the greatest at sewing things without a pattern. America's next top designer I am not. So I had to do a lot of guessing. A LOT. Some things worked and some things didn't. But that's how you learn.

For starters, from what I can tell from the picture, Bellatrix's arm gauntlets have individual grommets. Now the tool that you need to do that cost more than I wanted to spend so I bought grommet stripping instead which - as I found out - is a pain in the ASS to work with. Live and learn.

When it came to cutting out the actual gauntlet, I totally guessed. And, in hindsight, I wish I would have made them a little longer and a little wider. If I was taking this costume to Dragoncon or someplace where there would be a lot of professional costume designers and cosplay peeps, I would have scrapped them, but for a movie premier I figured they'd work.

After cutting out one gauntlet, I used the first as a pattern to cut out three more.

Because I don't have a serger, I didn't want to risk major fraying, so I thought it would be best to sew two gauntlets together and flip inside out rather than fold the hem over.

Now I flipped them inside out.

And it was time to sew the seam closed.

Next, it was time to pin the grommet strip to the gauntlets and sew that on. MAJOR PAIN sewing around those little metal grommets even with a zipper foot.

Then I had to do the same thing to the arm holes on the dress. Also a MAJOR pain.

Next came the fun part: FABRIC PAINT PEN!!!

Now it was time to poke holes through the grommets and thread them.

As I was trying the gauntlets on as I thread them, I realized I'd forgotten to remove one of my pins. Ouchy.

After making sure I had given myself enough thread to keep circulation in my arms, I finished threading the gauntlets and tied knots in the end. That's one of the fun things about this dress. If you look at the original image, everything is very raw. The dress is torn, frayed, grommets were skipped in the threading and the actual thread hangs off the dress by a couple of inches. This is all great stuff because it means you can mess up and it looks like you meant to.  Which, *cough cough* of course I meant to.

And, lastly, I had to thread the grommets on the top of the gauntlets to the dress and try the whole thing on to make sure it fit.

Like I said, I wish I would have made them a little longer and a little wider. But, overall, I'm happy with the way they turned out.

Stay tuned for my next Becoming Bellatrix post where I'll be making the corset.

Oh, and I bought some sparkly pink fabric today. I can't wait to tell you what I'm going to do with it. Here's a hint: It will be truly outrageous.

Literary Manicure

 Since it's Friday and it's been such an exciting week, I thought I'd post something fun today.

Without further ado, I bring you the LITERARY MANICURE:

A must have for any writer, don't you think?

I'll show you how to do it. First, gather your supplies.

You'll need:

1. A newspaper
2. Scissors
3. Rubbing Alcohol
4. A small bowl
5. Light-colored nail polish
6. Clear overcoat

To start, paint at least two coats of the light-colored nail polish onto your nails and let it dry completely.

Next, cut the newspaper into quarter-sized squares. When you're finished, pour the rubbing alcohol into a small bowl and soak only one finger in the alcohol for about five seconds.

When you remove your nail from the alcohol, immediately press the square of newspaper onto the entire surface of the nail and hold for about ten seconds.

Make sure not to move the paper or the ink will smear. Wait about ten seconds before removing the paper.

If you didn't have the paper moist enough, some of it may stick to your nails. Once you peel back the paper you'll also notice that the print is reversed. But that's okay - it still looks cool.

After you've finished imprinting all of your nails go ahead and top the ink off with a clear coat to seal it in.

Your finished nails should look something like this:

Cool, right?

Happy Friday!!!

KATANA Cover Reveal!!!

At long last I'm thrilled to be able to share with you the cover for KATANA. I don't think there's anything quite so surreal as seeing the cover for your book the first time. People, I am in love. It's everything I hoped it would be; bad ass girl with swords, cherry blossom, and kanji symbol. Not to mention that this particular kanji symbol is the kanji symbol for katana. How cool is that? *happy tears*

I just don't have the words for all of the emotions running through me. I can only humbly say "Thank you" to everyone who has helped get to where I am today.