From the Backlist: The Art of the YES

 

Image by Sabrina Belle from Pixabay

Welcome to another post in the Supernatural Underground Backlist Series. Today's feature is from May 2014 by the wonderful author Amanda Arista. This journey may be about heroes, but we think it might apply to us all!

What have you said YES to recently? 

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I'll have what she's having: The Art of the YES

by Amanda Arista

 

Year of Living Heroically #4: Crossing the Threshold

I've been looking forward to writing this particular step of the Year of Living Heroically and I am so very glad that it fell in this month. 

In YLH #2- I talked about saying 'no' and why it was really all about fear. We refuse the call of adventure because it scares us or we don't feel that we are good enough. 

So this time, I get to talk about saying YES, and the power that it holds. 

When a hero crosses the threshold of their story, they are actively choosing to go on an adventure, do something completely new, or just face what they have been avoiding their whole lives. They have met a mentor who has empowered them or shown them that its not as scary as they think. So they say YES and they start on their adventure. Everything is new and shiny once they say YES. Like a baby starting off in the special world. 

I think we can think of Dorothy putting her first step on the yellow brick road as a good metaphor as to how to say YES. Saying yes is a first step in a longer journey, but your on the road now and you can't go back. 

Just saying YES is empowering. There a certain freedom that comes with shedding off that fear and embracing something totally and wholeheartedly. The saying YES changes you as well. 

Some little questions that change everything in a big way by just answering:

Wanna grab some coffee some time?

Would you like to come work for us?

Will you marry me?

Want to have a baby . . .

 

Read the entire post here:  I'll have what she's having: The Art of the YES 

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Find out more about Amanda Arista

Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther

www.amandaarista.com

 

 

A Writer's Worst Fear

In continuing with our new members theme's of what scares them, I'm going to jump on board and for my Year Of Living Authentically talk about something that scares the hell out of me: writer's block.

And we are not talking stuck in a plot hole or writing yourself into a corner with world canon.

 I'm talking about actually having nothing to say about anything.

Sam Jinks is awesome and creepy and awesome

Which I have been currently wading in knee deep for the past moth.

These are probably the first decent words that I've written in weeks. Everything else has been fluff with no real purpose. Wanderings, but not journeys.

Since I'm not on contract for anything (probably not helping the matter), I didn't realize I hadn't been writing. I only noticed when my hubby was like, "What have you been working on at night?" and the only answer I had for him was "Reorganizing my Pinterest boards and online shopping." But hey, my boards look gooooooood and I am totally ready for winter.

So I tried the normal stuff to get out of writer's block. I went to watch a movie, only to discover that everything I like to watch is totally not kid-friendly.

I tried just being outside to detox from my fluorescent-lit lifestyle, but allergies are terrible right now and I sort of like breathing through my nose and not itching all over.

And so I thought, Reading! I'll read more, only to find that nothing in my library even looked good and I have about 0 hours in the day to read and have recently discovered that audio books put me to sleep. So the normal routes to tempt my muse weren't/aren't an option right now.


So then I was like, Why don't I have anything to say? There is so much crap happening in the world right now. Why don't I have anything to say about it? (Yes, writers talk to themselves this much).

I had to go back and read a few of these posts to get the answer. Writers are hermits, but they need input so they can output. Writers are introverted souls, but they have to say YES sometimes. Writers have to experience things and I was just sitting at home, hiding from the heat and pollen.

So I'm saying YES again. I'm doing a book club tomorrow. I'm hosting parties for good causes. I'm volunteering to help my local chapter of NaNoWriMo with free lectures.

I am starting to Journey again and hopefully in the chaos of teaching and speaking engagement and the Ordeals that are the holidays, I will find something, I will see something. I will feel something that I have something to say about and have the courage to say it.

Wish me luck!

Amanda Arista

How I do it: Equal parts Passion, Truth, Love, and Coffee

Year of Living Authentically #2: How I do it, a quick and dirty delve into the mind of one writer and what makes her tick.

This month I thought I would talk about the question I get most often from mothers: How do you do it? How do you write and have a job and be a mom and still manage to have time for a marriage? 

I didn't have a real answer until recently. I'd joke about my blood stream being equal parts coffee and white wine, but that's just me not wanting to really figure it out, to find out the truth about what makes me tick. 

I was filling out a marriage personality test with my husband when I finally realized HOW I do everything that I do. The scores of the test suggested that I have unnatural combinations of personality traits or that I was double-masked and so distorted by my life choices I didn't know who I was. According to the world, I'm crazy. 

But the truth is: I'm an artist, and an educator, and mother, and a wife. I am The Breakfast Club personified. And here is how my brain works. 

I have a full-time job- I coordinated several student programs at a major university. It is stressful and unpredictable, and I am REALLY good at talking to people, listening to what they need, and helping them. So it increases my confidence. 


I take that confidence and I teach creative writing to adults who have stories brewing in their souls and I get to help them percolate it and I LOVE the light they get in their eyes when it clicks and their story is now out in the world connecting to others. So that increases my passion for storytelling.  

And I take that passion and I write as much as I can because writing is breathing. I have things to say and questions to ask, and pain to experience, and joy to create. I want to know the depth and breadth of love and life, so I write to explore my truth. 

And I take that truth and I express it to my daughter in any way that I can. I know when I smile at her it is out of true happiness, and when I laugh, it is real laughter. When I am with my family, I am with them 100% because I am not longing to be anywhere else but with them. Because I know the work will get done, and the chapter will get written, and it will all still be there tomorrow and who can worry about anything when a block tower must be built. 

There is my circle of life (que Lion King Theme). 

Does it get out of whack: Oh yeah. But now its easier to figure out which wheel needs to be greased. If I'm working too much, I feel it in my QT with the Bean. If I haven't written in a while, I can't concentrate on work. If i don't teach, I end up lecture my husband on Calls to Adventure. 

Does it mean I get less sleep: Oh yeah. But I am happy with my choice. My wheels are greased with coffee and white wine. I'm not denying that. Coffee is the flavor of my soul. But what fuels me is passion, and being true to myself, and family time.

So take that personality test who thinks I don't know who I am- I do. All four of me. 

Authenticity test #2: What fuels your passion? What makes you stay up late at night? When was the last time you treated yourself to it? Don't you think its about time?

Until next time YOLA!!!

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Amanda Arista

Author
www.amandaarista.com

Martyrs and the Mistletoe season

Year of Living Heroically: The Resurrection

Okay folks. We are here. The big moment. The final ordeal. If is sounds like I'm being epic, I am.
Our Heroine has come so far down this journey and yet, she needs to do one more thing: sacrifice herself.

It is the key moment of our hero proving she is a hero. The last step in her journey is to face something she knows will kill her. She knows this because she has lived in this special world for so long that she already knows the dangers she is going to face AND SHE GOES TO FACE THEM ANYWAY.

Why you might ask?  For the greater good.

See, the hero has been through the flames before, the Supreme Ordeal, but that struggle was only for the betterment of her alone. The resurrection of the story is the hero realizing that she is the only person who can do this, and using the knowledge of the world so far, fights an evil that has been plaguing the whole world (or their special world). The resurrection of the story is the hero changing from warrior to martyr and in that change, healing the world around her.

What comes out of it is an elixir that is going to make the entire world a better place. Now, this elixir might be a peaceful nation, a healing potion, or knowledge that the entire village (and the reader) gains for the hero's sacrifice. And if Black Friday taught me nothing, its that everything has a price. The hero's willingness to sacrifice is the price paid. Don't go thinking that she has paid with their life. No! She is still kicking at the end of the book (most of the time).

Now, everyone's dragon/witch/beastie is going to look a bit different. For example: one of the best resurrection scenes I've seen in a comedy is the end of ACCEPTED, with Justin Long and Jonah Hill. Bartleby has to stand up to a school board wanted to shut down his college to defend his right to a passion-filled education and he wins, allowing his school to stay open and for all students to be able to fulfill their own dreams. Its a pretty awesome elixir for a very funny movie.

 Not everyone has to face down Sauron, but there are so many ways to be a hero in today's world, even if your sacrifice only changes a few people's lives, you've done something truly heroic.

I've been watching a lot of John and Hank Green videos and I think this holiday season is the perfect time to throw down a little gauntlet. I challenge you to be heroic and decrease world suck! You can start small, with small sacrifices, even our heroine had to build-up to dragon fighting.

But who knows, maybe this time next year, you'll be writing a blog of your year of living heroically.

Until next year my friends,

Amanda Arista
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Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther
www.amandaarista.com

The Difference between survival and living

Year of Living Heroically: the Road Back.

So you are all rested up after your Supreme Ordeal, you've got a nice shiny object to covet lovingly, you're a hero now, right? You survived your deepest fear and got something amazing as a reward. This is the end of the road, right?

This post got a bit heavy on me-- here's a cute squirrel!

WRONG! Did you think it was going to be that easy? That's not heroic, just giving up in the middle of the journey.

The Road Back is the moment in the journey when the hero hikes up her pants and gets back on with the Journey. She makes a choice to head back to her ordinary world as this new changed person (surviving the SO changes all heroes, for better or worse). Well, it might look like less of a choice and more of a chase from the antagonistic forces that she pissed off in the Supreme Ordeal-- think dragon wanting its gold back. But she makes the choice to go home, to be with her people again.

She has survived; now she wants to live.

For me, this really hits home that our hero is really a hero. Instead of just enjoying the relaxation that comes with the Reward, she gets back on her feet and keeps going. After the Ordeal, she sees the bigger picture of what is really going on in the world and she wants to make it right. She's got this special accessory, or talent, or insight, and she wants to give back.  That for me is a hero. Heroes keep fighting even though they know its not going to get easier.

Helen Lowe in her last post mentioned fashion as an important part of a characters experience, and it is totally true and especially hits home in the road back. The reward was the accessory that you get to take with you that proves you did something amazing.

In the wake of October's Breast Cancer Awareness month, I don't think I need to explain the scars that people carry with them after a major life ordeal. In the light of our veteran's coming home, I don't think I need to mention that all scars aren't on the outside. In the road back, a hero will take those scars and carry them forward as a survivor.

Heroes will make the choice to live and share that life with others.

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther series
www.amandaarista.com

The M&M at the end of this sentence

Thanks for my TWO WINNERS! Ash Wolf and Cheesecake- Email me to get your prizes!
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Year of Living Heroically #8: The Reward.

I love it when great minds think alike. A few days ago, Helen Lowe was talking about rewards and how writing a book is hard work and the  completion of a novel is its own reward. Some days, writing is not about  focusing on commercial success but for the pure art of the novel itself. And on some not as inspired days, writing is just about getting to the end of the sentence so you can treat yourself with an M&M or similarly candy-coated goodness.

This month, our step in the hero's journey is exactly that: The Reward. Our heroine has just confronted a dragon or some other hideous thing and survived. And she's better for the experience. She has gone through the fire of her ordeal and come out a stronger, better version of herself.

Don't you think she deserves something all sparkly and wonderful and preferably made of chocolate or gold? I know I do.

Dwayne Johnson in costume playing with a visitor on set. 

Many of us are tested on a daily basis, and every now and then we experience something that really changes who we are or how we look at life. The reward is not only the betterment of yourself, what you learned from the experience, but also a moment to appreciate that you survived. You are still here to fight another day.

It reminds us that even Hercules got a few moments to stop and play patty cake for a while (The sheer size of Dwayne Johnson's thighs in the most recent version of Hercules is probably a whole other blog post).

I think its something that this fast paced culture doesn't appreciate enough. Stop. Enjoy. Relax for two seconds. Appreciate where you've been and where you might be going. You are not history yet, your story is still being written.

So to help you take a moment to relax, to reflect on the awesomeness that is you, I'd like to give you a small reward. Post in the comments below something that helps you relax, so we all can learn your secrets, and I'll give one lucky comment a gift box of things that help me relax (and maybe a few of your ideas tossed in there too for good measure).

So until next month, don't forget that you are AWESOME!

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther Series
www.amandaarista.com

Holy Smoke: The Supreme Ordeal

Year of Living Heroically #7- The Ordeal

So my lovelies, you might have noticed that I didn't post last month. I'm not going to say that I was going through my own Ordeal, but let's say that I am really glad that August is over. I don't know if I spent the month living heroically, but looking back on it, I should have just stayed in bed instead of choosing to go once more into the breach.

This month, we are talking about the Ordeal, aka The Supreme Ordeal, aka the Dark Moment, aka, Oh-MyGod-Luke-is-Dead-in-a-Trash-Compactor part in the story where our hero dies. But totally comes back. Its okay. You looked a little worried there for a moment.

After our trek with our allies, meeting the foe, and choosing, not quite brilliantly, to go toward the cave with the dragon, our hero has bottlenecked herself into the certain death. One of the reason's it is certain is the hero doesn't see it coming. The certain death is hiding in a blind spot with the hero's flaws. Ex: Luke's need to be a hero like his father and save the princess is his flaw that ends him up in a nasty situation.

The key to defining the supreme ordeal for me has always been that this event fundamental changes who the hero has been up to this point. Even though she has embraced all the things she has learned during her tests and use them to varying degrees of success, this event will break her because it is directly connected to an internal flaw fighting against her, preventing her from being the hero she needs to be. The supreme ordeal will shatter who she thinks she is. It will literally break them across a rack. It is perfectly tailored to destroy that person who crossed the threshold all those chapters ago. And if she survives, she will be purified to continue on her trek, OR she will fail and is doomed to repeat it again.

Think of our hero as a wad of clay who wants to grow up and be a real coffee mug (no personal preference here, a tea cup is perfectly acceptable). The journey so far as molded our hero into a cup, maybe gotten a nice coat of glaze and a handle. The supreme ordeal is the kiln that will change our hero from a mushy, moldable lump into something that is very much like a coffee cup. After this event, the hero can not go back to being an ordinary guy anymore than the newly fired cup can to back into a ball of clay.

So this takes a newly formed hero, this purer form of our main character, one that has been fundamentally changed, back on course to the reason they were on the journey in the first place. Providing that she didn't fail miserably (possibly another post for another time).

Now, what I'm not going to do is mention a movie with an actual dragon, because that would be too easy. I thought I'd mention two not-so magical supreme ordeals that might feel a little closer to home.

Devil wears Prada- Andy's trip to Paris- she really is not the sweet little Andy she was when she gets back from Paris. Though I wish my supreme ordeals had Simon Baker in them.

Dead Poet's Society- When Todd is forced to improv a poem in front of the entire class. Once done, he is a new student full of confidence who will stand up for his friends and teacher at the end of the movie.

Because I write paranormal, there are some teeth and claws in my supreme ordeals. In Diaries, Violet's

flaw was always her low self-esteem. When she is attacked on her first date in years, she is faced with her boyfriend's death or her accepting that she is powerful enough to save him. Violet comes out the other side a stronger shifter, but no longer just that quirky girl with her head in the sand.

In life, I think we all know what our supreme ordeals look like. They are the moments that we look back on and see that's were I changed. That hurt like hell and I'm stronger for it. Ordeals are very internal and person specific. My ordeal could be your Tuesday and vise versa.

So my parting thought to you for this month of living heroically is to realize that you can't know what part of another's journey they are on. For all you know, they just faced a dragon.

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Amanda Arista
Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther
www.amandaarista.com

Just a small town girl, learning in this lonely world

Year of Living Heroically #5: Tests, Allies, and Enemies

It is totally perfect (fated?) that Helen Lowe wrote about Sidekicks a few days ago and here I am talking about the portion of a book where the Heroes meet allies for their journey. She gave great examples of people who help along the way, and frankly, get all the best lines of dialogue.

So, our Hero has said YES to the adventure and is now entering a new world. This could be through starting a new job or, in most of our paranormal stories, the hero has actually jumped through a portal into an actual new world and needs to learn what is going to eat them and what is going to help them.

The Tests, Allies, and Enemies stage in the Hero's Journey is the exploration of the new world by the hero. She is stumbling around, trying to learn new rules, who to trust, what is real. And frankly, the best and most fun way of making a Hero learn is by testing them. Throw something ugly at them that makes them realize how this new world works. Its the Journeying part of the journey as the hero moves inevitably towards her Resurrection.

When I talk about Allies and Enemies, I'm talking about the people the hero meets who test her and who teach her. It is the character the hero encounters that helps her understand herself almost as much as the trials she is going through. And sometimes that needs to be an old-fashion villain.

In Diaries of an Urban Panther, Violet had to learn a lot and very fast. It seemed the middle section of that book was nothing but reading and fighting, learning and protecting herself from this new world and her new power. Finding out about herself, her best friend, and what exactly wanted to eat her for dinner.

In life, it really doesn't look much different. We face hardships every day that teach us something. We encounter people that drive us NUTS but teach us to be better. We meet people whose sole purpose of being is to make our life harder (yes, personal experience here).

I was chatting with a few people at RT in New Orleans (awesome sauce), and we decided we needed more words for 'friend.' There are people who you enjoy hanging out with who share similar interests. Then there are those who you would totally pick to survive the zombie apocalypse with. And then there are those who you really don't even like sometimes, but who have undoubtedly made you better some how. The word 'frister' came up and 'framily" and I couldn't help but think of Christina and Meredith from Grey's Anatomy. All of them help us along this journey, all in their unique way.

So reflections for this month: Are you someone's frister? Are you someones frenemy? Who is your person that helps you through your journey and have you said thank you lately?

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther series
www.amandaarista.com

I'll have what she's having: The Art of the YES

Year of Living Heroically #4: Crossing the Threshold. 

I've been looking forward to writing this particular step of the Year of Living Heroically and I am so very glad that it fell in this month. 

In YLH #2- I talked about saying 'no' and why it was really all about fear. We refuse the call of adventure because it scares us or we don't feel that we are good enough. 

So this time, I get to talk about saying YES, and the power that it holds. 

When a hero crosses the threshold of their story, they are actively choosing to go on an adventure, do something completely new, or just face what they have been avoiding their whole lives. They have met a mentor who has empowered them or shown them that its not as scary as they think. So they say YES and they start on their adventure. Everything is new and shiny once they say YES. Like a baby starting off in the special world. 

I think we can think of Dorothy putting her first step on the yellow brick road as a good metaphor as to how to say YES. Saying yes is a first step in a longer journey, but your on the road now and you can't go back. 

Just saying YES is empowering. There a certain freedom that comes with shedding off that fear and embracing something totally and wholeheartedly. The saying YES changes you as well. 

Some little questions that change everything in a big way by just answering:

Wanna grab some coffee some time?

Would you like to come work for us?

Will you marry me?

Want to have a baby?

So how am I saying YES this month to new adventures: I'm going to RT Booklovers Convention in New Orleans, a place I have never been before, May 14th to May 18th. I'm ready to learn what NOLA has to teach and eat what NOLA has to eat. 

When someone asked if I wanted to be on a conference panel, I said yes. So you can come and see me at the Six Degrees of the Author/Editor relationship with the lovely Karina Cooper. 

When someone else asked if I wanted to be on a romance radio show, I said yes. So you can listen to me at the Worlds of Romance Radio Blog on May 14th at 10 pm EST.  

 And it is exhilarating as hell. I'm totally amped up to go!

So if you see me at RT and you need anything, ask me. I pack like a girl scout and I'm really tall. So if i can help you out with your adventures, I'll more than likely say yes. 

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Amanda Arista

Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther

www.amandaarista.com

"But I don't wanna," said Every Hero Ever

Year of Living Heroically #2 - Refusing the Call

Today is especially fitting to write this post as it is currently 19 degrees in Dallas Texas. If there is anything that will make you refuse the call of an adventure, it is cold feet.

On a hero's journey, refusing the call highlights what exactly the hero thinks about himself. They are not just saying, "No I don't want to," but more along the lines of "I'm afraid because of ..." That dot-dot-dot is the real part of themselves that they will have to overcome in the adventure ahead.

My favorite case in point is our man Luke Skywalker, who refuses to go with Ben Ken-obi by saying, and I'm flagrantly misquoting, "No I can't go with you. I have to stay on the farm with Uncle Owen." He's not really saying that he has to stay on the farm with his Uncle. What he is really saying is that he is afraid that he is not awesome like his father and he's just a lowly farm boy. Once the farm is removed from the picture, literally, he spends the rest of the movie trying to become awesome like his father. Sort of.

In romances, this might look a little different. For Violet, in Diaries of an Urban Panther, her refusal highlighted her fear of getting close to someone, because all of her loved ones had died. So she refused to believe that the boy liked her at all. He was just saving her skin, over and over and over. Violet spends the entire book learning to open her heart to other people.

So to apply this to daily life, its simple: know why you are saying 'no.' No to life, no to helping someone move their couch, no to spending some time reading to the elderly.  When you are called to do something, understanding why you are saying 'no' might help you find a fear you didn't know you had. Perhaps you didn't know you were afraid of loosing your toes to the cold weather (as I am facing today).

Understanding why you are refusing the call might even help you face your fears head on.

But that is another blog post for another time.

Live Heroically People!!

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther series
www.amandaarista.com

Calls to Adventures: Opening lines and the promises they make

This year, I have set it as a resolution to read more. Part of that becoming a Hero thing I mentioned last month. Read more to know more to make better choices. (and yes, I feel that reading fiction helps you discover the depth of the world around you and the depth of you).

In today’s world of insta-nowness, writers no longer have a few pages to hook readers. We have a sentence. And if that sentence is any good, we might have a paragraph. As a consumer looking to delve into different genres, writers have about three sentences to hook me.

So opening lines are key to not only getting readers attention, but letting them know the what and how of your novel. Letting them know exactly what kind of adventure they are promising.

I’ve picked out a few of my favorites that I feel really show the author guiding us into their world, telling us what the book is going to be about, and how they are going to tell us that story.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813).

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. - George Orwell, 1984 (1949).

OK. Don't panic. Don't panic. It's only a VISA bill. It's a piece of paper; a few numbers. I mean, just how scary can a few numbers be? - Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic (2001).

“I’ve watched through is eyes, listened through his ears, and I tell you, he’s the one.”- Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game (1997).

Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying the first step to eternal life is you have to die. -Chuck Palahnick Fight Club (1996).

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Just to make sure I was getting a full spectrum of first lines for new books to sink my teeth into, here are the first lines of the top five current NY Times Best Sellers:

1. While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years. THE GOLDFINCH, by Donna Tartt

2. There was a time in Africa when people could fly. THE INVENTION OF WINGS, by Sue Monk Kidd

3. The found Seth Hubbard in the general area where he had promised to be, though not exactly in the condition expected. SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham

4. I may have found a solution to the wife problem. THE ROSIE PROJECT, by Graeme Simsion

5. It was all because of the Berlin wall. THE HUSBAND'S SECRET, by Liane Moriarty

All of these first lines not only are intriguing, but tell us exactly how the writer is going to tell the story. We know that Palahnick is going to be insane but a different kind of insane from Kinsella’s rampant fast-paced narration about shopping. Though Simsion’s The Rosie Project seems to be about marriage with its very scientific tone, it is strikingly different from the snarky one that Austen presents about the need for a wife.

Opening lines are the promise that writers make to readers that set the tone for the rest of the book. They are the call to adventure for the readers.

What are some of your favorite first lines that have called you to adventure, or heartbreak, or hilarity?

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther Series
www.amandaarista.com

A time for everything and every thing in its time

I was working at a coffee shop recently with a fellow writer. A young man, who was trying to flirt with my fellow writer, asked what we were working on that morning and the conversation lead to us being romance writers. And he said something, between the overt attempts to get my friend to pay attention to him, like wouldn’t it be nice if romances happen like that in the real world. And I, being the curious one, asked why can't they? What is stopping us from making the grand gesture that we love to read about in books? 

He, of course, looked at me like I was crazy and hid back behind his laptop. This guy wasn’t ready to make the gesture and didn’t ask my fellow writer for her number.

But why not? Because he was scared of rejection? Because he was way too busy listening to his Pandora rock mix? Nope. He probably just wasn’t ready to be a hero yet.

Last month in her blog post, Pamela Palmer got me thinking about heroes when she said that “the true mark of character is revealed in how a person lives their life every single day.” She also pointed out that every-day people are presented a choice, and its that choice that creates a hero. In a romance novel, our heroes and heroines usually have to overcome some internal or external fear in order to be even considered heroic when they make their choice. Doing something (making that choice) in the face of fear is courage and courage makes a hero.

But there is also a notion of timing. I like the cookie dough theory from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. People are ready to make the big choices when they are ready, not a moment before and not a moment after. Think: Would Mr. Darcy have been able to brood his way into Elizabeth Bennett’s heart if he was still in university? Nope. (Bet he was still pretty cute though)

So to be a hero, you need to be the right person to make the right choice at the right time. 

I like to think the young man in the coffee shop was still a little cookie dough and not quite ready to take on the mantle of hero. I believe romantic heroes are out there in the real world just waiting for their moment to ask the right girl in the right coffee shop for her number at the right time.

My New Year's Resolution: Be more Heroic. Get over my fears and make the choices, the ones that really matter, to me and to other people. If nothing else, I need to set an example for the new Little Bean in my life. 

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Amanda Arista

Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther

www.amandaarista.com

The Hyper Poodle Incident (aka Keep the Stories Coming)

Hello there,
First let me apologize for missing last month. I was sort of preoccupied with this little angel:

So life has been a little crazy with a new baby and the holiday season on its way. But Helen Lowe got me to thinking what my favorite Christmas traditions are and I've come up with a few that I can't wait to pass along to the little bean. And as with everything else with my life, there are stories that go along with all of them, and I can't wait to tell her.

Number 1: Watching Love Actually. Its just enough of the Christmas spirit, but ultimately, its about all the different kinds of love in the world and I want her to know that. It will probably be a few years before she knows what is going on, but she will be able to sing "Let it Snow" just like Bill Nighy.

Number 2: New PJs on Christmas Eve. We actually didn't do this growing up, but I have always known that I wanted to do this with my kid. Part of it is that every kid needs to have a footed pair of pajamas for cold winter nights with a reindeer tail, but mostly, you have to look stylish for Santa.

Number 3: Box of Queen Anne Cherry Cordials. My dad loved these holiday candies and I remember wrapping them up one year and putting it under the tree. The next morning, we found our poodle very hyper in the middle of the living room covered in cherry goo. The next year, the box of cherries had petrified. Each year something strange happened to these cherries, so I still buy a box every year because I know that something will happen to them.

Number 4: This should probably go first, but decorating the Christmas tree as a family. We are big on ornaments in our family, and each person has enough to fill their own tree. Every year the weekend after Thanksgiving, we would spend hours taking each ornament out of the box and remembering who gave it to us and why. Little Bean already has her first ornament waiting to go on the tree.

Number 5: Driving around to look at Christmas lights. We used to drive around as a family and Mom would make hot cocoa to take with us. Last year there was Starbucks and bicycles, which could be a little more difficult with a little one, but it is something that I always look forward to.

My new writing partner. 

So I know there isn't a lot in this post about Paranormal or Writing (both of which are still brewing in my head at all hours of the morning), but as I reflect on holiday traditions, each has special meaning because they each have a web of stories behind them (except that PJ one: i just really like PJs).

So, in the spirit of the giving season, if you share a holiday something that you like to do and a story
to go with it, I'll give you a Diaries gift set.

Happy Holiday and type at you next year!!!

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther Series
www.amandaarista.com

Tis the witching hour: The one irrational fear of Amanda Arista

As you know, we are a blog dedicated to the sexy things that go bump in the night. So it really shouldn't surprise you that most of us aren't really afraid of the dark. We have demons, vampires, werewolves, and fey running through our heads most of the time. And those are the good guys. Each year, I take months to plan what scary little devil I'm going to be for Halloween.

With this new series that I am still working on, I've discovered that it takes a lot to scare me. If you've read the blog before, I grew up on a steady diet of serial killers and exorcism movies growing up. I'll take a good haunting any day. Doesn't phase me much.

Even it comes to the real world, I'm pretty much the same. No fear of flying. Heights don't bother me. I'm the girl who picks up the bugs in the office and takes them outside. I used to be squeamish around needles, but working in a hospital for eight years got me over that. I love deep water, have no problem with pitch black rooms, and don't mind being in a big crowd.

However, Hollywood has finally revealed to me what I am afraid of:

LARGE HORDES OF FAST-MOVING ZOMBIES

At least I can say it outloud now.

I had nightmares after seeing the first trailers of World War Z.

And its not that I don't love the zombie craze right now. I've watched every episode of The Walking Dead. Seen 28 Days Later. Read a few outbreak books including the book that the movie is named after (seriously, check out Cordyceps by Ian Duncan). Nothing stuck with me like the clip from the trailer of the zombies piling up on each other like ants.

Shivers.

It just freaks me out. And I don't know why. Its not like its actually going to happen. And if it does, I'll be the first to admit that I'm zombie bait. So why worry, right?

I have no idea!!

Just the thought of a horde of them, running after me, filling the street behind me as they stumble and crush others to get at my sweet meatiness just creeps me out!!

So there you have it. Hordes of Fast-Moving Zombies. Thank you Brad Pitt for showing me exactly what I'm afraid of and that even an alpha male like yourself can barely out run the threat (at least according to the trailers, 'cuz I'm never seeing that movie, or even reading the Wikipedia page).

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Amanda Arista

Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther series

www.amandaarista.com