Awesome Movie Alert

My husband and I are movie junkies. We don't discriminate as far as genres go; we love all movies but are particularly fond of period historical dramas (me), sci-fi adventure (him) and quirky comedies (both).

We're too cheap and too bothered by people to go to the movies, so we depend on Netflix for our entertainment. Every Friday and Saturday night is Movie Night at our house. We draw the shades, shut off our phones, cuddle on the couch, and immerse ourselves in a two-hour film fantasy. We do this almost every Friday and Saturday night--unless we get distracted by, you know, real life...

Right now our Netflix queue has 23 movies in it, and another 36 are "saved" for future viewing. This weekend we'll be watching "30 Minutes or Less" and "Margin Call." Have you seen them? Are they any good?

Speaking of good movies, here are three I've seen lately that are simply awesome. You should check them out if you haven't already. You'll be hearing more about them in the coming weeks as award season hits.

Another Giveaway: FREE Copy of The City of Lost Secrets

Starting today, you can enter to win a free copy of my novel, THE CITY OF LOST SECRETS from my writer buddy S.M. Boyce's blog. See all the details and enter to win here. It's ridiculously easy to enter; just give her your first name and email address.

Where you're at it, check out her 31 Days of Giveaways contest that my book is a part of. All month long, she's giving away a book a day from fellow writers she's partnered with to help promote writers and their work.

Also while you're at it, check out S.M.'s website; she's a writer too, and pens fantasy and paranormal fiction. She does a lot to promote her fellow writers and is one heckuva gal! Help support her!

If you've already read THE CITY OF LOST SECRETS (thanks! You're awesome!), enter to win a copy for that special reader in your life! Christmas may be over, but there's gotta be someone you know who has a birthday coming up, right?

Thanks for reading and don't forget, the contest ends next Monday 1/16.

GoodReads Book Giveaway Now Closed

Thank you to the 1,000+ people who signed up to win a copy of my novel, The City of Lost Secrets, on the GoodReads website. I was completely STUNNED by the amount of interest in the book and thank each and every one of you for entering the contest. I wish I had a thousand books to give away to all of you! Seriously, I'm simply amazed and so very grateful. You rock!

Alas, I could only give away two. The winners have been notified (by me and by GoodReads) and the books are on their way. Here's hoping they like the book and are willing to give me a review and/or feedback.

If you didn't win and are still interested in the book, it's available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. If you download it to your Kindle you can get a Kindlegraph.

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

Know Someone With an Unique or Unusual Job? Pick Their Brain, Then Send 'Em My Way

I never thought being a novelist was a particularly interesting occupation. The way I see it, I’m just an average person with a side career as a writer, a job just like any other. I may be writing about extraordinary or unique or unusual people doing extraordinary or unique or unusual things, but honestly, my job as novelist—the process itself--is kinda boring.

So imagine my surprise when a few people told me over the past couple of months, while discussing my debut novel The City of Lost Secrets, that they thought writing was a fascinating career. (It’s not, just ask my husband. But thanks for thinking so.)  These same people went all Freud on me, wondering what motivated me to write about biblical archeology, asking how my husband felt about my long mental absences, and drawing conclusions about the autobiographical nature of the book.

It freaked me out at first. I don’t necessarily want people to know certain personal things about me, and I feared that I unknowingly revealed my innermost thoughts through my fiction. But whatever. What did I expect would happen after “putting myself out there” as a creator of fictional worlds and characters? It’s cool though, because these people are now fans of my work and just want to know more about me and the psychology behind it all, so of course I give them honest answers—and continue to let them think being a novelist is the shit.

So while I think “novelist” isn’t exactly the coolest gig in town, I believe there are plenty of truly interesting and unique jobs out there, occupations you just don’t hear about everyday. Like Industrial Hygienist. And Pet Therapist. And Rag Picker (more on that in a minute). And those people who travel around the country firing other people from their jobs, George Clooney “Up in the Air” style. I think the correct job title is Corporate Downsizer.

You don’t bump into people like that everyday who actually do those jobs for a living. Those are the types of people who show up in novels, right? Because let’s be honest: successful books (and movies and TV shows) are populated with interesting people doing interesting things. Lisbeth Salander, the damaged computer hacker goth girl from Stieg Larsson’s books? Yeah, interesting chic, and a character I would’ve given my left arm to have created. Willy Wonka. Harry Potter. Sherlock Holmes. Hannibal Lecter. Interesting characters with unusual jobs.

I mean, no one wants to read about a copier salesman. He’s boring, right? He’s your best buddy. The guy you play poker with on Friday nights. He may be an upstanding citizen and a great family man who makes an honest living but sorry, that’s boring. He’s just an average guy. Nobody wants to read about the average guy with a boring life.

Now, if your best buddy was a copier salesman who had a secret identity…lived a double life as, I don’t know, an undercover government agent who roughed up Russian gangs illegally importing photocopiers…now we’re talking. That’s an interesting guy with a cool story to tell! I’d want to write about him and you’d want to read a story about him (but not necessarily my story).

The show Dexter works on the same premise: A forensics experts who moonlights as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who’ve escaped justice. Interesting guy with an average job and an extraordinary, um, “side job.”

Now, remember earlier when I mentioned the occupation Rag Picker? I watched a show the other day about 19^th century Parisian “rag pickers,” people who made a living rummaging through trash in the streets of Paris to collect it for salvage. Rag picking was a career most prevalent in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries before organized trash collection came about. Here’s a picture I found of what a “typical” Parisian rag picker looked like:

Looks like a guy with an interesting story to tell, right?

Rag pickers still exist, most notably in India and Cairo, Egypt. What instantly grabbed me was the fact that picking through garbage was and still is a noble and honest occupation in some areas of the world. Who knew? Theirs is a story yet to be told, the plight of the rag pickers, and damnit, I’m gonna tell it. I’m going to write an historical drama set in 19^th century Paris about an extraordinary boy born into a filthy world who must overcome great odds in order to realize his true power. It’ll be Oliver Twist meets Benjamin Button. I’m jazzed about it and have already written the first chapter.

I’ll write the rest of that story later, right after I tackle the ones about the industrial hygienist, the pet therapist, and the copier salesman/government spy. Oh, and the eight other novel ideas that are floating around in my head. (But I’ll let the Corporate Downsizer story die—“Up in the Air” is perfect as is.)

So, if you know anyone who has a unique or unusual job, pick their brains. Talk to them. Engage them in conversation. I guarantee they’ve got some awesome stories to tell. And you just might learn a thing or two.

Once you’re done, you’ll sent them my way, won’t you?

Win An Autographed Copy of THE CITY OF LOST SECRETS

If you're a GoodReads member, hop on over to their website and enter to win a copy of my latest novel, The City of Lost Secrets. I'm giving away two autographed copies to two lucky people! The deadline is next Friday 12/9.  Makes for an awesome Christmas gift for the reader in your life.

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

 
   
   

     
       
     
   

   
   

     

       
          The City of Lost Secrets
       
     

     

       
          by Katie McVay
       
     

     
     

       
         
            Giveaway ends December 09, 2011.
         

         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         

       
     

   

   

   
   
      Enter to win
   
   
 

Does The TSA's 3 oz. Liquid Rule Still Hold Water?

I recently returned from a trip to Ireland, which I find to be one of the easiest European countries to travel to. You can fly there non-stop from Philly and the New York airports in as little as six hours, and because Ireland is a very popular American tourist destination, you can sail through customs without hassle.

Flying home from Ireland couldn’t be any easier either. The major airports in Dublin and Shannon have U.S. Customs kiosks right there in the airport; U.S. officials stamp your passport and essentially welcome you back to the U.S. before you’ve even boarded your home-bound flight, eliminating the need for your travel-weary butt to wait in a long customs queue on the other side.

Because of the ease with which I’ve traveled to Ireland in the past, I didn’t even worry when my father (who traveled with us this time) bought two large bottles of Irish whiskey at the Shannon Airport last minute before boarding our flight. As predicted, airline officials waved him and his Paddy onto the plane with no problem.

Talk about a system that works and is user-friendly. (Now how come the rest of the country can’t get its arse in gear?)

So when I recently read about a woman whose husband had an issue returning home from Rome with a few bottles of wine, it got me thinking a little more closely about traveling with liquids. I’ve flown enough to know by heart the TSA’s 3 oz. rule; I can recite it as easily as the Star-Spangled Banner. But I’m a light packer and try to avoid bringing liquids home with me, let alone booze, so I’ve never found myself in a similar situation. Plus, my father had had no problem with his whiskey. So I was curious: what had gone wrong with this poor sap and his wine?

The husband in the story seemed to do everything right. He’d bought the wine at a duty-free shop after clearing security at the Rome airport; the bottles were sealed in tamper-free, see-through plastic bags; and he carried them on the plane, as Roman officials instructed him to do. His layover in London’s Heathrow Airport passed without incident. But the husband had another layover to contend with, a domestic one in Dallas-Fort Worth. And this is where he had trouble.

TSA agents at Dallas-Fort Worth told the husband he’d have to check the bottles of wine for his final flight home to Santa Monica, California.

Seriously? So he’d flown almost six thousand miles with bottles of wine essentially in his lap, but for the short 1500 mile flight from Dallas to Santa Monica, he’d have to check them? Yes, and all because of the TSA’s 3 oz. rule, which says you absolutely cannot carry any container of liquid larger than 3 oz. onto a plane originating in the U.S., no matter the destination. (As of this writing, baby products and medical supplies are an exception.) That left the poor guy with three options: pitch the bottles of wine, check them, or have one hell of a party at the airport before his final flight home.

The husband chose to check the wine, and to the airline’s credit, they were helpful with his decision.

But still, the TSA’s liquid rule is confusing and maddening. That’s because the rule raises questions that allow for no simple answers,  has rare exceptions that most people can’t utilize, and is fraught with loopholes that make sense only to the TSA’s brand of logic.

For starters, the TSA’s 3-1-1 liquid rule for carry on luggage goes like this: each passenger is allowed one (1) clear plastic zip-top bag, sized one (1) quart, filled with three (3) ounce bottles (or less) of liquid. Sounds simple enough, right?

But what’s your definition of liquid? Hairspray, glass cleaner, contact lens solution? Obviously liquids. But what about toothpaste? Toothpaste is more of a gel, but the TSA considers it a liquid, so into the quart bag it must go. Same with your hair gel, deodorant and fabric stain stick. All considered liquids. And how are you supposed to fit all your “liquids” into one itty-biddy quart bag? Most people can’t. Guess what? More shit for you to stuff into your checked luggage.

(Here’s one “liquid” that you’re banned from carrying on a plane that most people don’t think of: gel shoe inserts. My husband wears these everyday except on days when he’s traveling. Too much of a hassle to travel with, so he goes without.)

Now, if the subject of the story didn’t need to go through security again in Dallas en route to Santa Monica, he would’ve been in the clear; he probably would’ve been allowed to carry those bottles of wine onto his domestic flight. That’s because the 3 oz. rule is a TSA rule, not the airlines’ or airports’ rule. Without a security checkpoint, who’s to stop him? He could tuck those bottles of wine into a carry-on bag and no gate agent, flight attendant, or any other airline or airport rep would even know. But he did have to go through security again upon arriving from Heathrow (as well as Customs), so he was nabbed by agents and told no way, Jose. He’d have to check that wine or throw it away.

And if the bottles of wine were 3 oz. or less per container? Well, that’s perfectly fine, as long as the bottles would’ve fit inside his one-quart bag. He would’ve been able to sail through security because the wine falls within the TSA’s magic 3-1-1 scenario. But if the 3 oz. bottles of wine didn’t fit inside his zip-top quart bag, he’d be back to where he started. He’d have to check the tiny bottles or throw them away; he’d be adhering to one part of the rule, while breaking another, and that’s a no-no. With the TSA, it’s all or nothing.

Confused yet?  I know, I know. See how maddening the rule can be? The TSA claims it’s working on software that will someday make it possible for us to once again carry liquids onto a plane, thus abolishing the 3-1-1 rule that even the organization itself admits it’s tired of justifying. They even want to get to a point where passengers will be able to keep their shoes on. What a happy day that’ll be. But of course that day isn’t here yet, so what’s a weary passenger to do? Whether it’s wine or whiskey, perfume or stain stick, how can you avoid the 3-1-1 madness?

First off, try like hell to get a non-stop flight. That’s tough to do if you’re flying to/from some far-flung or hard-to-reach area, or if you live in the middle of nowhere. But if you live within a few hours’ drive of a larger airport, like Dulles, Philadelphia, O’Hare, Newark, JFK or LAX, it’s decidedly easier, because those large airports have tons of non-stop, round-trip flights all over the world. (My husband and I flew non-stop from Newark to Beijing in 2009; it was a chaotic three-hour drive to New Jersey and then a grueling 14-hour flight, but it was worth not having to layover or change planes.)  Suck it up and drive to/from a larger airport, staying overnight if need be, to reap the benefits of a non-stop flight. You won’t have to worry about missing a connection, for one thing. But more on topic, you’ll be able to bring home larger containers of liquid without worry (if you’re flying home from an international destination, that is.)

If a non-stop flight isn’t an option (and even if it is), consider buying the liquid toiletries you need once you reach your destination, if possible. On the flip side, on the return flight home, throw out any and all liquids you no longer need before packing your bags. Also, if you absolutely must have that bottle of Paddy Irish whiskey (like my dad did, because it’s not sold in the States) consider having it shipped home. And of course, you could always wait until you get home to buy your booze—or not buy any booze at all.

But what fun would that be?

Got a nightmare TSA or 3-1-1 story you’d like to share? Let’s hear ‘em! While you’re at it, sign up to receive all my travel-related blog posts. They’re frequent enough to keep you in the know, but not too frequent that they clog up your in-box. Sign up to the right.

Questions Are More Important To Writers Than Praise--At Least To This Writer

**FIRST, A NEWS FLASH**: I’ve now made it possible for you to buy my novel, THE CITY OF LOST SECRETS, directly from me. Simply click on the "Buy Now" button and use your credit card. The transaction will take place through PayPal, which is completely safe and secure, and you don't even need a PayPal account to make the purchase. In the long run it’s cheaper than buying it through Amazon, because Amazon charges shipping and I won't. The book will come directly from me--no taxes charged, no shipping costs tacked on, no strings attached. Plus, you'll have the option of receiving an autographed copy. If you’re interested, simply click on the link to the right. **END OF NEWS FLASH**

Second, a thank you. I’ve gotten some awesomely positive reviews of the book, and I can’t thank you enough. I’m so fortunate to have such dedicated readers, who’ve taken time away from their busy schedules to read my novel. And I’d also like to give a shout out to my personal “team” of salesman who’ve worked tirelessly to get the word out about the book. You know who you are… Thank you all so very much!

You know, upon the release of the novel, I hoped that readers would be engaged enough to not just say “great job” or “nice book” or “I liked it” and truly give me feedback that I could use for future installments and to make me a better writer. I was fortunate enough to get it, and then some. I received positive reinforcement and critical analysis and even suggestions for the next book in the series. How awesome is that?

And I also got something else that a writer sometimes can only dream of: questions.

You see, all writers want to hear that readers liked their book, thought it was well researched, kept them up all night, yadda yadda yadda. Those kinds of comments give us goose bumps. It means we’re doing our jobs well. Don’t get us wrong—writers love those types of comments! In fact, keep ‘em coming! But you know what’s even better than praise to a writer? Questions.

If a writer asks a reader if they liked their book, and the reader starts asking questions, then the writer knows they’re on to something. They’ve struck a nerve. They’ve connected with that reader somehow. They’ve engaged the reader enough that they’re past the “I liked your book” pleasantries and on to wanting to know more—what inspired the book, who did you interview, what type of research did you do, etc.

I wasn’t so bold as to expect to get questions from readers, but of course I hoped I would. And the top three questions I hoped I’d get asked were:

1. Is the book autobiographical?

2. Who did the artwork?

3. When’s the sequel coming out?

I wanted these three questions most of all because it meant readers were paying attention to the characters as well as the plot, they appreciate a quality book cover when they see it, and they enjoyed the book enough to want to read more. As I see it, those are the three most important qualities in a book. Did you like the cover enough to pick it up, were you invested in the character’s lives and draw possible connections to their creator (the writer), and did you love the book enough to immediately want to find out what happens next? Answers to these questions are like a litmus test for a writer to determine if we’ve done our job. A yes to all three questions is like a goldmine. A no means we have some work to do.

Luckily, those were the top three questions I was asked. Whew! That meant I’d felt I succeeded in giving readers the complete package, a totally-immersive reading experience. What a relief! You liked it! You really liked it!

There are flaws of course, and the book is by no means perfect, but it was as close to perfect as I could make it at the time.

So, was the book autobiographical? Partly. I’ll let you figure out what parts....

Who did the artwork? An awesome dude named Stan Tremblay with FindTheAxis.com.

When’s the sequel coming out? Summer 2012 (fingers crossed).

So while those were the most commonly asked questions, there were three others that were asked frequently enough to be printed here. They were:

Did you travel to Jerusalem for research? 

I wish, but no. But I will get there some day.

Did you interview professors or biblical scholars? 

No, I didn’t interview anyone. I could have spent time tracking down experts, but honestly, I didn’t think they’d take me seriously enough as a writer to want to talk with me. So I did the next best thing: I read every book by key experts in the fields of biblical archeology, the New Testament, first-century Roman occupied Jerusalem, and the life of Jesus.

What inspired you to tackle a controversial subject for your debut novel?

Stupidity? No, seriously. I’ve been fascinated by biblical history since I was a teenager. Don’t ask me why—it’s a long story. I knew tackling a sensitive subject involving perhaps the most controversial figure ever could end my career before it even began. Most writers start off with more commercial fare and build their name to the point where they can publish whatever the hell they want. Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code always comes to mind. That novel was actually his third published book. I did it ass-backwards. I started and stopped three novels—ones I was sure could catapult my career--before starting to write The City of Lost Secrets. The decision quite possibly cost me an agent and a fine career as a traditionally published author, but I got to the point where I didn’t care. The City of Lost Secrets was too deep-seated in my brain to let it go and I believed in it too much. We’ll see if the decision to self-publish pays off. Based on the positive feedback I’ve gotten, I’d say it has.

There ya go, the six most common questions I’ve been getting about the book. Got any other burning questions about the book you’re dying to have answered? What? Whaddya mean you haven’t read the book yet? Shame shame. Hop on over to Amazon, B&N.com or right here on my website and buy yourself a copy. Read it and email me what you think. Better yet, post a review on Amazon.

Got a Kindle e-book version you want me to autograph? Surf on over to http://kindlegraph.com/authors/ktmcvay and send an KindleGraph request. It’s easy and free!

 

This post is dedicated to James Neary, who would’ve turned 101 today. He was a hell of a guy who had a dream to live to be 100 years old. He did, then quietly passed away four months later. You are missed, dear Pop-Pop.