Vampire with a Soul: April 2008

I was accepted into a writing workshop in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for this summer. I am so looking forward to it, though with some trepidation about being ina new place on my own. I haven't been to Massachusetts since I was twelve, and then I was with my parents and we were in Boston. Not at all the same. Provincetown is a small town on the peninsula (arm) of the state, right at the tip on the inside of the bay. That's one of the reasons I'm so excited; I think the waves and the beach are going to be fabulous. I don't know how inspiring they will be for me, the whitest man on the planet. My skin will turn to lobster flesh, but I think that I will be elated by the sun and the water and the closeness to the ocean. Wee hee!

The teacher is Kathryn Davis. I looked up a few of her books on amazon, and bought one that's called Labrador. I haven't begun it yet, but it should be engaging as the back of the book seems like something I've never read before. Rare thing. If I like it, I'm going to order another. If I don't, I'm going to figure out why and try to learn from her anyway. Just because I don't like a person's writing does not mean I can't learn from her. And besides, I think I will like it for the sheer fact that it seems authentically different.

I wasn't able to get into the housing that they have on the "campus." But they have a number of recommendations of hotels that I can stay at. I don't know whether I need to rent a car or not. I don't want to, since it would be expensive, but I don't know if I'll need transportation at all during the week. I want to find a place that's within walking distance of the fine arts center. That way I wouldn't need a car and I could just take a taxi from and to the airport.

I got my airplane ticket. Holy Jeez! It was $700! I suppose I should just chalk it up to gas prices, but wow! I thought it would be more like $400 or $500.

This is going to end up to be a really expensive week...but I'm hoping it regenerates my writing. I need a bit of inspiration. Dad's death slowed me down and I'm still coming back from it. I want to get my hockey book done and back to the agent. I don't want him to forget about me. Also, I think the hockey book is actually pretty good. At least, if I end up putting it together the way I think it should be.

Blue Bloods

I just finished reading a book I really enjoyed called Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. Even though I don't really like high fashion and raves and all that jazz, I really like what de la Cruz did with this story. She has a complex plot that includes a referene back to Roanoke colony and why everyone disappeared. She even has her own meaning for "Croatan" which comes into play at the end of the book.

The majority of the story is about Schuyler who discovers that she is a blue blood, a vampire. At her age (teens) her blood is coming alive again for her new cycle of life. She is realizing that she has lived before and that she has known the other blue bloods in other incarnations. She has "flash backs" to past life experiences and needs to figure out how to deal with them.

What's cool is the twists that de la Cruz uses. She throws in a number of diary entries from a woman who came over on the Maylower and discovered with her group the fate of the Roanoke colony. She also throws in some folklore about angels and devils and connects it to vampires. What I thought was coolest was her use of Red Bloods, Blue Bloods, and Silver Bloods, and how they are interconnected.

I really look forward to reading the next installment of the series, which is called Masquerade. I ordered it from amazon.com but I can't wait for it to come. I was going to read the first chapter at the end of Blue Bloods, but I didn't want to get my hopes up and have to stop. As it is, I purposely took my time with Blue Bloods so I could have it to read every day. Cool book.