Is It Time for Me To Accept the Inevitable?

It was my birthday on Friday. Even though I'm [age redacted], I'm still a fan of my birthday. Heck, I'm a fan of any excuse to throw a party. Plus, today is the American holiday of Memorial Day and it's always neat when my birthday falls in line with a three day weekend.

Why am I telling you all this, you wonder? Is it because I'm an ego maniac? Well, maybe, but I do have a point,I swear.

In my line of work, I have to read a lot of scripts. You have to be up on the latest and greatest if you want to be able to participate in the game and I was starting to fall behind. It wasn't convenient for me to do a ton of script reading. My printer is less than perfect, ink is expensive and it's wasteful to print that much. And you can't exactly cuddle with a laptop in bed at night.

My darling boyfriend (who is also in the industry) recognized this and took pity on me, buying me a Kindle for my birthday. I have been diligently avoiding e-readers for quite some time now. I'm not a techno-phobe, per se, but I truly love books. I love holding them and the way they smell and the rustling sound of pages being turned. I used to work in a library and I could get lost in the stacks for hours.

So, you can see why I approached the Kindle with extreme caution. I mean, it's nice. It really is. It's very light weight and it holds a lot of files. But...it's not a book. It's lacking the soul of the printed word.

Or is it?

As a writer, I have to recognize the value of the e-book. To quote Bob Dylan: the times, they are a-changing. A reasonably priced e-book is a great way to get your work out there and reach a broader audience. Case in point? Amazon has a "deals" page in their e-book section. Lots of things are either free or under $2. So I downloaded a couple of them. I had never heard of any of the authors, but the synopses sounded interesting and, hey, FREE. And, you know what? If I like these authors I will surely go and seek out further works by them. As a reader, it's virtually risk free. As a writer, it's a great marketing tool.

Plus, I gotta say, it's a lot easier to curl up at night with the Kindle.

Am I still on the fence about this? Yes. And I will continue to frequent my local library and buy actual, physical books. However, I think there's a big possibility that there's room for all types of technology in the bibliophile's world.

One thing I'm not on the fence about? This awesome gift from a dear friend.

In case you can't tell, it says "And then Buffy staked Edward. The end." I do love a good literary/Whedonverse joke.

The Agent Mulder of Love at First Sight

If you ever watched the X Files, then you probably get the reference in my title. If not, that's okay too. I'm simply saying that I WANT to believe in love at first sight. It's a nice notion, isn't it? Two people are so completely perfect for each other that they know it even before they speak. You know what else is a nice notion? Unicorns.

Cool, right?

In all seriousness, I was very curious about love at first sight. After all, most of my stories do contain some form of love. I enjoy romance. I've never experienced love at first sight, but I've also never seen an alien and I totally believe those exist.

Luckily, there are people out there who have experienced love at first sight and I'm lucky enough to know some of them. Check out some of their experiences (and some thoughts from naysayers) in my new article at The Zeros Before the One:

Isn't it Romantic?

Go, read, take the poll. Vote with your heart, it's totally anonymous.

Siempre Selena!

We all have our things, don't we? Our "Fandoms," if you will. I have a friend that's completely devoted to all things Star Wars. Another sees every Johnny Depp movie the day it comes out. For me, it's Tejano singer Selena.

Maybe you've heard of her. Selena was immensely famous when she was killed in 1995 at the age of 23. Her death shocked her legions of fans. Her posthumous album "Dreaming of You" went straight to number one and the movie about her live launched Jennifer Lopez's career.

So, today, I remember Selena and all she meant to her fans. To me, she represented all that could be accomplished while still being a good person. Selena was never mean, and always had a smile for everyone. She knew that she was a role model for many young girls and she took that very seriously. She was a bright star that dimmed too quickly. Selena vive para siempre!

The Unbearable Craziness of Being in Love

Sometimes we behave in ways that we're...less than proud of when we're in love. Blame it on the hormones, blame it on the pheromones, blame it on the alcohol. Whatever it is, it can turn normal people into love crazed maniacs! So, of course, I had to write about it. Check out my latest article for the hilarious relationship blog The Zeros Before the Ones.

Crazy in Love or Just Plain Crazy?

It's super fun, I promise. I talk about these two chuckleheads.

And whether or not a pair of these can change your life.

Go on! It's a fun way to procrastinate.

The Best Gift I Ever Received

Confession time: I'm not the most forthcoming person when it comes to my writing. As you may have guessed, Elisabeth Fitzgerald isn't my real name and I'm always hesitant to proclaim "I am a writer!" I don't know why. I AM a writer. There is no question about that. I suppose, when it comes down to brass tacks, I am afraid of judgement. Not necessarily judgement from strangers (please, agents, judge me! Read my work! I'm begging you!) but judgement from people that I consider to be my friends.

You're probably wondering what the heck this has to do with my best present ever. I'm getting to that, I swear. The one person that I was never shy to share my work with was my maternal grandmother. She was SO PROUD of everything that I did. Case in point: when I was very young, probably about 7 or 8, my grandma went into the hospital for a routine procedure and I decided to write her a story to cheer her up (I had already decided that my purpose in life was to write).

Of course, being a child, I had no concept of why people went into the hospital. My mom had gone once and had returned home with my little sister. I was pretty sure that my grandma wasn't going to bring home a baby, but beyond that... So I went with the one disease that every kid understands: tonsillitis. You know, the one where you got to eat tons of ice cream? Okay, that wasn't my grandma's problem either, but it was more interesting than a dumb old baby.

Little Me proudly wrote a story about a girl named Nancy (even at that age I was obsessed with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) who got her tonsils out. It all turned out for the best, because Nancy was super brave and got lots of love and ice cream after her surgery.

That simple little book, written in red crayon and complete with stick figure drawings, hung on my grandmother's wall until she died seven years later. She was proud of my little story and proud of my accomplishments. That, in turn, made me proud.

My grandma was also responsible for my all time best gift. She had the habit of giving all the grandchildren presents on birthdays, even if it wasn't your birthday. She didn't want anyone to feel left out. So, one year for my sister's birthday my grandmother slipped a box into my lap. It was a shirt box, like the kind you'd get from Marshall Field's or Carson's. But it was what was inside that made me so happy...

Writing supplies.

Remember, this was before the age of computers (yeah, I'm the last generation that pre-dates the internet) and I was a child. I wrote by hand. Pen to paper. And that was just what my grandma had given me. A box full of notebooks and pens (blue and black!) not to mention a binder, fasteners and paper reinforcers. It was a simple gift, to be sure. It was also one of the most touching gifts I've ever received and it's only as an adult that I realized why. My grandmother knew the real me. She was encouraging my writing, even with this simple gesture. It's like she said: "Go, create."

So now I shall. Thanks, Grandma.

My maternal grandparents...the most special people a girl could have been blessed with.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, But They're All Dead by February 17th (So Why the Valentine's Day Hype?)

So, it's Valentine's Day. You'd think, as an enjoyer of silly love songs, a watcher of sitcoms and a reader/writer of pink-covered, girly books that I would be all about the V-Day.

You'd think wrong.

Yeah, Valentine's Day just doesn't do it for me. When I'm coupled I feel just as "Meh" about it as I did when I was single. It started out as a religious holiday (honoring a saint that was beheaded, fyi), but the rampant commercialism has made it feel cheap. It seems like a day that's made for us to feel "less than." No boyfriend? LESS THAN! No date? LESS THAN! No flowers? LESS THAN!

Frankly, I've got enough in my life making me feel "less than." I don't need Hallmark to do it, too. That's why I was honored when The Zeros Before the One asked me to write an article about how to make it through Valentine's Day unscathed. It can be done! Read the call to action here:

How to Prevent Your Own Personal Valentine's Day Massacre

Let's avoid this today.

Unless it's in your DVD player, of course.

Not with a Whisper, but with a Shout

I'm not what you would call a religious person. I suppose I'd probably be spiritual, at best, but the idea of God raises a lot of questions for me.

But sometimes there are signs. And I think I've received a few this week.

I've been stalled on my WIP. It's like it ran out of gas. I've tried to work around it, writing other projects, considering scenes from other points of view, etc. Unfortunately, nothing has really jarred my imagination. You know what finally got me moving?

Rejection.

Yup, you read that right. This week I have received 2 rejection letters for my novel BECOMING MAGDALENE, from agents that I queried nearly six months ago. It sparked something inside me. Some little voice said "Oh, hey, remember this! It's called being a writer. You TOTALLY do this!"

And, you know what? I totally do.

Sometimes the best motivation is someone telling you "no."