Backstage at the Théâtre Illuminata

Compendium of Shiny

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:59:06 GMT

Happy Book Birthday, SO SILVER BRIGHT paperback! You are... *sniff* the last little bird out of the theater book nest.

Coincidentally, the day after the paperback release, the series got nominated for a Mythopoeic Award for YA Literature alongside talented people like Tamora Pierce and Maggie Steifvater and Delia Sherman and Cat Valente. So I went shopping and bought myself two "award rewards":

HEADBAND OF SPARKLING DOOM:

Here, have a terrible washed out cameraphone pic of me wearing said headband:

And CHUNKY PLASTIC BRACELET OF AWESOME:

*majestic wave of my hand pictured above* AS YOU WERE.

NorwesCon

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:38:33 GMT

A “League of Extraordinary Redheads” informal event will also be scheduled (watch my Facebook page for updates!) If you’re going to be in the Seattle area over Easter Weekend, come see me! :)

Saturday, 10 am
Cascade 5
Writing for the Young and Young at Heart
Writing YA is about more than using small words. What does it take to make your YA story shine?
Lisa Mantchev (M), Dennis R. Upkins, Dierdre Phoenix

Saturday 2 pm
Grand 2
Autograph Session 1

Saturday, 3:30 pm
Cascade 1
Lisa Mantchev reads from the third book in her young adult fantasy series, So Silver Bright. There will also be fairies, mayhem, prizes, and sweets! Rated G

Sunday, 11 am
Cascade 5
Hurt the kids
Why is a child in danger is one of the classic story tools and why it’s often the hardest to use.
S. A. Bolich (M), Peter Dennis Pautz, Lisa Mantchev, Clinton J. Boomer

So I just finished the new book

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:13:19 GMT

And I was going to explain ALL THE FEELINGS, but there is too much. Let me sum up.

Two hours later...

Three seconds later...

Yup. That about sums it up. Minus the hurgle-feeling of emailing it off. :)

FaerieCon West: the write-up!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:29:47 GMT

The short of it: awesomesauce.

The long: There is too much,

let me sum up with some pictures.

Headed out to see Abney Park at the Time Travelers' Ball, a disapproving Bertie played by Deb Harrell in the background:

Next day, with Captain Rob, the lead singer of Abney Park:

Sketch by Tara Larsen Chang of me on a Steampunk panel with assorted awesome people, including Captain Rob:

Sketch by Tara Larsen Chang of me on a "Happily Ever After" panel with CHARLES DE LINT *eep* (I'm the austere one with the ponytail and tiara next to BROM *eep* the fantasy artist):

Headed out to the Masquerade with a Bertie fairy (played by Kiri Callaghan):

Back from the Masquerade, turning into a pumpkin:

With my girls that showed up on Sunday dressed as Bertie (Briana Dyrness and Kiri Callaghan):

With Carolyn Turgeon, author of Mermaid, after the "Winged YA" panel:

Still pulling pictures from various places, and so very tired. I have espresso/Red Bull withdrawal, and so much laundry I want to cry. Need to get back to actual writing. Some day, I will live in a hotel like Eloise.

FaerieCon West

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:36:23 GMT

Thanks to my faerie godmothers (Gwen Hayes and Tiffany Trent) I've been invited to participate in FaerieCon West!

Peaseblossom, Moth, Cobweb, and Mustardseed have already packed their bags, and we hope you'll meet up with us. There's going to be programming, fabulous authors (Charles de Lint! Carolyn Turgeon! Julie Kagawa!) artists (Amy Brown! Brom!) Masquerade Balls, Abney Park...

I may 'splode from excitement before we get there.

Come find me at the event... I'll be giving away theater-themed swag. More information on what else I'll be doing as I get it.

A whole lot of shiny (video and a contest!)

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:59:23 GMT

Here it is... the project that's been simmering on the back of the stove alongside the snozzberry jam!

*drumroll*

The animated book trailer for SO SILVER BRIGHT!

*curtain opens*

Special, special thank yous to Lorena Lopez for the background art and animation, and Jason Chan for the character art. And now, to celebrate, we have a contest! Win one of the following...

Team Nate or Team Ariel t-shirts:

So Silver Bright tote bags that say "Shakespeare, Fairies, Mayhem... AND PIE":

Plus multiple batches of note cards, posters, window decals, and more featuring Jason Chan's fabulous cover art.

UPDATED TO ADD: In honor of Amy Farrah Fowler's reaction to hers, I am adding a tiara to the prize list! :)

The details:
Post the trailer on your blog, Tumblr, Facebook, or link to it on Twitter
Bonus points: Include a link back here to the contest and/or a link to your favorite place to buy the theater books
Email me: lisa at lisamantchev dot com
Subject line "SSB ANIMATED TRAILER CONTEST"
Please include your mailing address and links to your posts
Open internationally
Contest closes at midnight PST on January 31st.

*confetti!* Go forth and post!

Yes, please

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:53:27 GMT

May the powers that be protect me from myself when it comes to musical guys... and artistic guys... and smart guys.

And more of Steven here *swoon*:

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go download everything he's ever recorded off iTunes. (Also, Star Wars fans, he and another cellist have a piece on YouTube you want to see.)

Timey Wimey Ice Cream Sammich

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:54:01 GMT

Addendum to yesterday's entry:

Yes, this is The Boy's homemade vanilla between two of the ginger cookies.

Boozy Woozy Timey Wimey Cookies

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:06:36 GMT

Last year, I gave jennawaterford this:

This year, I am filling it with cookies (she knows this... I promise I am not ruining a surprise!) The Barefoot Contessa's Ultimate Ginger Cookies, with modifications. I started making a test batch this morning, but I questioned my molasses, and the crystallized ginger was hard as rocks.

I remedied the ginger problem by soaking it in warm bourbon. Might have been drunk on fumes when I added too much butter to the batter, then had to compensate with extra flour and leavening.

Worried as I was, the test batch turned out GORGEOUS and ginger-spicy, with a hint of the bourbon in the back.

(not my actual cookies, but damn close. My cracks are smaller. AHAHAHAHAH-my-cracks-are-smaller. *wheeze*)

And I might totally sandwich two of them together with the husband's HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM for the best ice cream sammich evar.

*OM NOM NOM NOM*

*crumbs*

Whoops.

*will be making more batter tomorrow... yanno, for actual cookies to Jennifer*

Buy Indie, Buy Local

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:22:52 GMT

Yesterday, I posted a pic taken from the parking lot of my new, favorite local coffee bar. Not only do they offer a "bottomless" press pot of coffee, they have a "100 mile restaurant" that serves local cheese, butter, jam, bread... it's epic awesome, and the perfect refuge for a writer addicted to coffee and carbs.

I never go in there without buying something else. Yesterday, it was Dry Soda in four different flavors. Last week, it was cranberry syrup:

I'm planning to float on orange juice and champagne at Christmas, like this:

You cannot buy this syrup on Amazon. And even if I could, I wouldn't. FOR REASONS.

Granted, this may not be a big deal to big box stores, but I implore everyone not to do this to your local Mom and Pop. Better yet, I'd like to encourage everyone to show your pride in local stores and products. Buy something, take a picture, post it to your blog or FB or here in the comments. Explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. Tag me in the post or email me at lisa at lisamantchev dot com with a link. Participants will be entered into a drawing to win all three (signed!) theater books, shipping to US and Canada addresses only, please. I'll close to entries next Friday, December 16th at midnight PST.

So post your pride, and consider joining the Occupy Amazon group over at Facebook.

Just added: Michelle Zink, author of the Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy and the forthcoming A Temptation of Angels is going to donate the complete/signed Prophecy trilogy to this contest! So keep the entries coming!

Two favorite words to type:

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:37:28 GMT

THE END.

Oh, it is Tom-Riddled with holes, and I have a LOT of revision coming at me, but I wrote the last chapter this morning at the coffee shop.

Have I mentioned it? They have a "bottomless" French press of coffee for $4. And a TOAST bar. Local cheese, butter, and jam. <3

View from the window:

*will be mentioning them in the acknowledgments, fer sure!*

Winning NaNo

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:39:31 GMT

The steampunk book crossed the 50K threshold this morning, so I've officially won NaNoWriMo. Given that this is my first year attempting this (since it was the first year since I've started writing novel-length fiction that I haven't had a deadline to meet in November) I has some thoughts about this.

1) YAY! I wrote fifty thousand words in twenty-seven days. That is pretty darn impressive. Most mornings, I got up an hour earlier than the rest of the household. This is a habit I plan to continue into the near year, because it made for great production and a happy writer-mom.

2) I am nowhere near being "done" with this novel. I don't write fifty-thousand word novels... mine tend to be seventy to eighty thousand. I figure I have a third of a book yet to write, and the plan is to do that over the next 2-3 weeks. The manuscript as it stands now also has all these lovely, lovely holes of "research this" and "need name here" and "what did I call that earlier???" I was filling those bits in during evening editing sessions, but quickly fell behind given that people around here like to eat dinner on a fairly regular basis and I prefer both the kids be clean and in their pajamas at some point before bed.

3) Even if I'd written eighty thousand words and typed THE END, I still wouldn't be "done" with this novel. It needs major editing. It needs proofreading. I don't have any plans of showing it to anyone anytime soon, and that includes friends, family, agent, etc. Hot copy needs time to cool. You wouldn't eat a cheesecake straight out of the oven, would ya?
.
.
.
Ok, maybe I will share the first few chapters with people via email. But I don't really want notes-notes. (Say that like the :"like yous" in "does he like you, or LIKE YOU like you?") I just need to hear if I've broken anything major and that it's super shiny and keep working on it dammit, it's going to take the world by storm. Notes other than that aren't helpful.

4) At least, they aren't helpful yet, anyway. When I've had a chance to let it cool, read it through, fix the major stuff, THEN I need notes-notes. The kind that make me feel vaguely stupid and want to tear out my hair because I even wrote those words in the first place and what was I thinking and this scene is slow and there's not enough tension here and go back and plant this bit earlier.

5) Even when it goes out on submission, it's not really "done" because the hope is some editor somewhere will like it enough to buy it and make me rewrite it again. Each of the theater books went through two major revisions, not including copy edits and page proofs.

6) So, the moral to the story, kids? That Emerald City is twinkling in the distance. Keep skip-walking arm-in-arm with your wobble-legged Scarecrow story.

And don't stop walking just because the calendar ticks over to December.

Come and get me, Jareth

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:23:24 GMT

Gothic Masquerade Ball tomorrow night!

(Hair is more burgundy than picture, but yes, that's silver flair. *Real Housewife of Sparkletown*)

Metrics of triumph (and evil!)

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:30:32 GMT

One week into NaNo, and I've got 15,477 words down on virtual paper.

In the realm of Don't Eat That and Keep Moving, I have lost a total of 17 pounds.

Both are for happy making (although I really miss candy. And by candy, I mean shoving my head in the bowl.)

The New Regimen

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:31:53 GMT

Get up at five. Sneak out of bed so as not to wake the baby, who has migrated from the cosleeper and into my armpit because he's sick. Throw on clothes and furry boot-slippers. Take the dogs downstairs and let them out. Boot up the computer and make tea (Mango Ceylon, right now.) Let the dogs in and settle down with my open Word windows and Write or Die.

Do not check email.
Do not check Facebook.
Do not look at the bowl of Halloween candy.

Write 1500 words in an hour.

Spend the rest of the day futzing with said words and plotting out what I'll write tomorrow at the crack of dawn.

Also: cook, clean, chase the baby.

#

Day 3, and it's working. I have almost 5K of new material, and I get to spend today pulling bits from the previous draft and shoving them in, in slices and chunks of varying sizes.

It's also Day 31 of Don't Eat That and Keep Moving. I have lost 14 pounds. This is also for happy making. My goal is to be back in my slinky clothes by NorwesCon.

Super Happy Author Announcement

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:27:19 GMT

I am pleased as anything to announce that my literary interests and I are now represented by Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

As the fairies bring in the cake (and pie, and ice cream, and Nutella-filled doughnuts) I would also like to say thank you to all the people I spoke with in emails regarding representation. The YA crowd in an awesome group of people I want to hug and make a giant, Guinness Book of World Records-size cheesecake.

Writing Life, with family

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:35:00 GMT

Welcome to my insanity.

I have unofficially entered in to NaNoWriMo, because I am determined to get a new draft of the steampunk book done by the end of the year. Keeping the characters, setting, and gadgets, I am gutting and rebooting it from scratch. That meant this morning, of my own volition, I got up at five. Stumbled downstairs, let out the dogs, made a cup of tea.

And managed 1400 words in just under an hour an a half. Which is the most New Words I've managed in one sitting in more than a year.

Thus energized, I woke up the family, made breakfast, started cooking food for us and the dog with allergies, washed dishes, made the bed, got the baby dressed...!

The plan is to round out the word count over the course of the day, inserting things that need to be researched or pulled from an old draft, polish a tiny bit, and plan for tomorrow morning. I figure if I can wake up with a mini outline of What Needs To Be Written staring me in the face, I will be able to blunder and bluster and bluff my way through this.

Keep me honest, will ya?

I am the shadow on the moon at night

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:40:21 GMT

Costumes! Candy! Tender lumplings! What's not to like???

Everything's ready... I just need to run four thousand loads of laundry and work on my outline before the festivities begin this afternoon.

Why, hello there

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:13:01 GMT

Box from VistaPrint. Mind if I slash you open with a knife? It IS almost Halloween, after all. Nope? Great! And I'm going to rummage in your guts as well! MWAHAHAHAH.

Why, look what I found! Magnets! They have arriveth! (Would that maketh them Magneths?)

You know what this means... THERE SHALL BE A CONTEST SOON!

Good Reviews Mean Pie For Everyone!

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:36:05 GMT

Just got a note from Lizzy at F&F that the series got a lovely write-up in the Oct/Nov issue of Justine Magazine:

"Open the door to your imagination and set all reality aside when you dive into this glittering and magical fantasy series…There’s something so optimistic and light about these books that it just makes us feel good."

And the Mythopoeic Society has one up for Perchance To Dream:

"Sparkling, witty, warm, literate, and offbeat, Perchance to Dream continues the mix of whimsy and wonder that made Eyes Like Stars a success (and a 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award finalist). Bertie’s quest to balance autonomy and love may strike a chord with many adolescents—and not a few adults."

The fairies are baking... note in the comments what flavor you want, and with or without ice cream!!

Moar Wallpapers!

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:51:13 GMT

As promised, here are two more Bertie-costumed wallpapers to say thanks to my readers! Sketches by the awesome Jason Chan, manipulations by alaskanmermaid. Click through for full-sized pics:

First, Ninja Bertie:

and Harajuku Bertie:

And, in case you missed the other two:

and Steampunk Bertie:

Check out the rack... cards

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:43:47 GMT

Boy, that was bad. I expect the internet police to mosey through and write me a ticket any second now!

ANYWAY... two hours fiddling on Vistaprint, and came up with this design. Rack cards are like super-tall postcards, meant for tourist centers. Yes, I went big! Needed to get all three covers on there.

Fingers crossed, they will be here in time for SteamCon. Yes, I will autograph them for you if you wander past me.

SteamCon Itinerary

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:53:25 GMT

I will be in Bellevue, October 14-16th, with all my shiny gear, my steampunk nanny, and the Doom!

Schedule:

Putting Steam in Steampunk: Making fiction come alive in the imagination relies on the ability to tap into the sensory input of or audience and readers. Learn tested techniques for bringing your work to the next level.
Lisa Mantchev, Ren Cummins
Regency A
Friday, 3:00 PM-4:00 PM

Non-Human Characters: Your character is a human-hating robot; how do you write about it's feelings without assigning gender or other human characteristics?
Lisa Mantchev, Andrew Mayer, Burt Webb
Regency B
Friday, 5:00 PM-6:00 PM

Backstage at the Théâtre Illuminata
Reading from So Silver Bright
Auditorium
Saturday, 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Autograph Session
Autograph Table (Artist Alley)
Saturday, 12:00 PM-1:00 PM

Hero Building: What makes a hero? Is it the villain or rising to the challenges put before him?
Lisa Mantchev, Andrew Mayer, Ren Cummins
Regency C
Sunday, 10:00 AM-11:00 AM

Party Favors

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:25:13 GMT

So Silver Bright is making its way into the world, and I want to say thank you to all of the theater's Patrons and supporters. Below are two (of four) character sketches of Bertie, drawn by the awe-inspiring Jason Chan and crafted into wallpapers by the lovely alaskanmermaid.

First, Steampunk Bertie:

And second, Pirate Bertie:

Just a small gift, from author to reader to say THANK YOU.

And stay tuned... more presents forthcoming in the form of hardcovers, rose rings, and more artwork!

Here There Be Spoilers

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:24:05 GMT

I wanted to do an open mic, ask-the-author-anything, fire the book cannons at will thread for SO SILVER BRIGHT. So, if you have questions, nitpicks, rants, raves, want to share your favorite lines from any of the books or poke me with a sharp stick, the comments section is now open for such business.

THERE WILL (PROBABLY) BE SPOILERS. You Have Been Warned!