Kyle Kerr

How Long Has It Been?

06/22/08 | Awesome, Books, My Writings | 3 Comments

It’s been a month since my last update.  Why?  Because I don’t really have anything to say.  The writing honestly hasn’t been going very well, and I just haven’t wanted to talk about it.  It’s not that what I’m writing is bad, but the fact that I’m NOT WRITING.  I’ve tried to figure out what my problem is, but the truth alludes me.  I don’t know what’s wrong.  Hopefully, it’ll correct itself soon, and I can finish my book at some point.

One of the things keeping me sane in my little bout of no writing is my work on the film news site, Filmonic.  It was actually an outlet I never knew I needed, not until I had it.  I love movies, more than any person I know.  I’d go to the movies several times a week if I could afford it.  I’ve even watched the special features on some movies MORE TIMES THAN I’VE WATCHED THE ACTUAL MOVIE.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have ambitions of writing a screenplay.  It sounds hokey, but I love everything about writing, and most forms of it.  I’ve written a novel, many short stories, and even a short screenplay.  They are all satisfying to write, and immensely challenging in their own rights.  With a novel, you have to have a good storyline, intriguing characters, and sustainability for 80,000+ words.  A short story needs the same first two characteristics, but you need to do it in a much more condensed form.  Screenplays, along with all of the characteristics of a novel, coupled with a little shorter format (about 90-110 pages) and more of a visual impact, has its own challenges.  Challenges I’m very much willing—and eager!—to undertake…!

All of that being said, I love movies.  I love finding out little tidbits about movies in production, all of that behind-the-scenes stuff, and I’m a self proclaimed Movie Trailer Whore.  The day I set foot on a movie set is the day my life is complete.  (Well, I’m assuming that I would have already published a novel by that point! )

What’s cool is that the site has already been recognized by IMDb and PerezHilton.com (whose plug sent so many viewers to the site that it crashed our server!).  It’s on its way to becoming a great site, and that’s a good thing.  I’m hoping that, once the site gets big enough, that I can apply to the Broadcast Film Critics Association (since I do all of the movie reviews for the site), which would bring a great credibility to the site!  We just have to hope that the site continues to grow as rapidly as it has been!

IN OTHER NEWS:

On July 10, I’m heading to NYC to attend ThrillerFest. NO, it’s not a Michael Jackson gathering, but a convention for thriller writers!  Now, I’m not a thriller writer, but I do read thrillers.  Plus, why would I give up the chance to rub elbows with some of the best known authors in the world?  Some of the people I’ll be meeting?  Maybe you’ve heard of them: JAMES PATTERSON, SANDRA BROWN, JAMES ROLLINS, STEVE BERRY, DAVID MORRELL, LEE CHILD… the list goes on.  If I don’t die on the spot, I’ll have to work on my vocal skills… ie, making sure I can talk, and not simply squeak or drool at them.  I’m sure they’re used to that reaction, but I’d rather avoid it if I could!

There are going to be two days of sessions, ranging in all topics about writing, storytelling, and publishing, and then an awards banquet at the end of the second night (which I’ll also be attending)!  I’m super excited about it!

I’m actually reading my first ever James Patterson book right now, and it’s really good!  It’s called When the Wind Blows, and it’s about genetic experiments on children that turn them into super smart halfbreeds.  You heard right, they’re half human, half bird (they have wings).  About 100 pages in and it’s got me hooked.  And, it’s a pretty quick read!

Also, Entertainment Weekly has released a list of 100 Best Books Published Since 1983.  You’ll find that list below, but I have to say… I’ve only read EIGHT of the books!  Well, eight and a half (I never finished William Gibson’s Neuromancer).  I’ll highlight my pitiful reading list in bold.  How many have you read?

1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984) (never did get to the mancer part! LOL)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000) (This is technically THREE books!)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr