MONICA S. KUEBLER

Announcements

Extra Life 2013 – Details For Tomorrow

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Tomorrow is gaming marathon day. Me + a whole bunch of gamers from around the world will be aiming to play for 25 hours straight to raise funds for sick and injured kids. As promised I will be doing hourly updates on my progress, mental/physical condition, and what exactly I’m up to, but I won’t be doing them here.

The best way to follow along is to subscribe to my Tumblr (http://monicaskuebler.tumblr.com/) or to my Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/deathofcool).

If you’d like to sponsor me  (and help out the SickKids Foundation here in Toronto) – it’s not too late! – visit http://www.extra-life.org/participant/monicaskuebler

This is going to be fun…

 

Extra Life 2013 Update!

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We’re now ten days away from the day wherein I’ll attempt to game for 25 hours to straight in order to raise funds for Sick Kids Hospital. As of this morning, I’m at 49% of my fundraising goal, which means I still need a few more sponsors. Can you help tip me over? It’s a crazy challenge and a darned good cause… need I say more? xoxoxo

My Extra Life participant page can be found at:
http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=58184

Extra Life 2013 – Sponsor Me!

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Each year I attempt to participate in at least one charity event. This year, for the first time, I’ve decided to take part in Extra Life (at the advice of a beloved gamer friend), and will be raising funds for the SickKids Foundation here in Toronto, who do some very good work saving young lives.

On November 2nd, 2013, I’ll be participating in this huge worldwide celebration of the social impact of gamers of all kinds (from video games to board games and tabletop RPGs), and making an attempt to game for 25 STRAIGHT HOURS(!). On that day, I will be posting regular updates and photos to my social media accounts and Tumblr (http://monicaskuebler.tumblr.com/) reporting on my progress, and on what I’m playing hour to hour. Also, in the spirit of fun and getting my sponsors more involved, I’m taking requests! Which means if you want me to play something in particular (fine print: I must already own it or can play it for free), I will do so and live-blog the evidence. I’ve already had requests for “play something scary” and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and Mass Effect.

I have chosen a modest fundraising goal of $500, and it’s my sincere hope that you’ll find it in your heart to support my efforts with a pledge or one-time gift that will go directly to the SickKids Foundation. If you are interesting in sponsoring me in this (admittedly) insane challenge, you can do so at http://www.extra-life.org/participant/monicaskuebler

I’d also deeply appreciate any signal boost that you all could give me and this campaign on social media or otherwise.

Lastly, and no less importantly, the fine print: Your donation is tax-deductible and ALL PROCEEDS go to help kids.

Thanks in advance! And wish me luck!

What I’m Doing in 2012

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I’m probably crazy for even attempting it, but I’m writing a serial YA vampire for the web called BLEEDER. My reasons for doing this are threefold.

One: To force myself to get over my stage fright of sharing my fiction with people, something I absolutely have to do if I am ever to fulfill my dream of becoming a YA novelist. Also, to tame my fear of failure – same reason. I need to learn to be brave.

Two: To give readers a flavour of the world I’m crafting. BLEEDER and THE COLD ONES trilogy are both set in the same universe, as I expect several other stories will be. It’s a place where monsters are monsters and tangling with them is never a good idea. This is a free introduction to it.

Three: To introduce people to myself, or at least my writing. I’m a journalist, a poet, but most of my fiction has remained tightly under wraps, except for the occasional publication in tiny zines and chapbooks. I’m not particularly adept at short stories – probably because even when I read I prefer my narratives sprawling and epic – so this is my way of saying, “Hello, this what I write.”

New chapters will be posted every Sunday at http://www.bleederbook.com and on Wattpad at http://www.wattpad.com/3024545-bleeder.

Bleeder cover

Here’s the official teaser:

What if everything you knew about your life was a lie?
What if the truth was much, much worse?

Mildred “Mills” Millhatten’s life changed forever the day she found out it wasn’t hers at all.

Forfeited as retribution for the alleged crimes of a father she’s never met, she’s cast into a strange, vicious world that she didn’t know existed and has little hope of understanding.

As a Bleeder – one whose lifeblood feeds the Nosferatu – her continued survival hangs ever in the balance. The creatures are keeping her alive because they believe her blood has mystical properties. Mills fears what will happen when they realize they are wrong – or are they?

If she hopes to survive and discover who she truly is, she needs an ally. She needs to befriend a bloodthirsty monster. Because she lives in their world now, and if she doesn’t do something fast, she’s going to die in it too.

Beginnings

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Eight to ten years is a long time in web years, so I was more than due for a new web home – and here it is. It’s also been a training ground. When I was recently faced with updating my web skills – things keep moving at lightning speed, after all – I decided to throw myself to the wolves with an actual project. Hands-on trumps theory any day. And that’s just who I am. I like machines. I like technology. I like to learn. I like a challenge. It’s all still a little bare-bones around here, but things will continue to evolve.

This also marks my return to blogging after a six-year hiatus and one well-intentioned false start. It’s hard to say what this will become. A place to discuss writing and publishing, and to comment on life. To dream and share.

You can subscribe to the blog portion of this site via the RSS Feed link to your left (though I’m still working out a few wrinkles with that). And sign up the (extremely infrequent) mailing list on the lower left.

Feel free to explore while I continue to set up shop.

Life’s all about the journey.