Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Good Stiff One

I'm somewhat of a contranarian. Rarely do I get caught up on the current "IT" thing. Matter of fact whenever something becomes wildly popular I tend to shun it altogether.

I have not read the Da Vinci Code, seen Avatar, or attempted to adopt a baby from a foreign land.

I even avoided the Harry Potter books until some crazy preacher from a neighboring town was on the news one night urging people to burn the books. To my contranarian mine his telling me not to read them opened the door for me to actually sit down and crack open The Sorcerer's Stone.

So having said that I've never watched a single episode of Dangerous Housewives, Lost, or those crazy reality shows about people with more kids than a Haitian orphanage. (Maybe we need a reality show where Hollywood starlets can win one of the Dugger's or Jon and Kate's offspring.) And before you cry out, "Travis how the hell do you know so much about these shows if you've never seen one?" let me pint out I do still read lots of blogs.

I've rambled on about all of this to point out that for the first time ever I've been watching American Idol this season.

All because of this girl.


No I haven't suddenly developed a fetish for red-headed pixies though Lacey Brown is pretty in an exotic fairy kind of way. I began watching the show and rooting for her simply because she is a hometown girl from right here in Amarillo and it is not often that one of us gains national attention. Sadly the Texas Panhandle is not a hot bed for talent agents so I tuned in hopeful that Lacey would shine.

Truthfully her performances were hit and miss. She wowed me int he auditions with her rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow but then nerves appeared to get the better of her once she made the Top 24. Somehow she survived her shaky performances and made the Top 12 but her ride ended this last week when she failed to garner the vote necessary to stay in the competition. And I can't help but wonder if she didn't alienate some of her fan base when she described Amarillo as a place where not much exciting happens.

To be fair to Lacey I read an interview where she said the Idol producers edited the clip to make it sound that way. Lacey said they deleted all of the positive comments she made about the city.

Either way I'm glad to see a hometown girl make a few waves nationally anyway and I wish her the best. Here is a clip of her on David Letterman if like me, you tend to avoid such popular phenomenons as American Idol. She seemed to perform much better without the pressure of the competition around her.




And Lacey is not the only Amarilloan hopeful of beating the odds and winning a large competition chocked full of talented competitors. Yours truly had once again entered the annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. Last year I made the Top 500 out of something in the neighborhood of 10,000 entries with my comedic novel Plundered Booty. This year I entered my women's fiction novel A River Without Water. the 10k entries this year were split between YA and general fiction but I am proud to announce that today I made the announced Top 250 in the general category. that means very soon you will be able to read and comment on an excerpt of my novel at Amazon. I'll post a link when it becomes available. making the Top 250 also means I'll get a complete read and review by Publishers Weekly. The Top 50 in each category will be announced in late April so I'll keep y'all posted as the competition advances.

Update. You can now read and comment on the excerpt here.

Good thing authors are not judged on their looks as well as their talent because I'm in no way as cute as Lacey.

25 comments:

Naomi Johnson said...

Travis, that is fantastic news! Congratulations! Man, you've already beat out a ton of competition and you should be so proud of yourself. Dammit, man, go have a Shiner Bock, or three, in your honor.

wordvixen said...

Wow- she's funny! And has a great voice. Not a lot of presence, though.

Congratulations, Travis! When you get that contract, I want a review copy. :-)

Man, just the PW read alone is beyond awesome. Rare opportunity indeed.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Way to go, Travis! Got my fingers crossed for you!

Lyzzydee said...

Whoop Whoop Travis Well Done!!!!

the walking man said...

2 years running means you don't have to be cute Travis.

Monnik said...

Wow - two years in a row! Great job, Travis!

I love how you tied the AI contestant's success with your own. Let's hope that you take your competition all the way to the top!!

Bubblewench said...

You're a sell out. Idol. ppphhht.

NICE JOB with the Amazon thing! So happy to hear that! WOOHOO! Can't wait to read the excerpt!

Crystal Phares said...

Congratulations Travis! I'm so excited for you. Someday I will be brave enough to enter the Amazon contest.

Eric said...

Congratulations Travis! That is awesome dude. I wish I was as far along in the process as you are. I'll get there though.

I really liked that girl's voice. I do admit that I used to watch AI, but after last season I decided I'd had as much of it as I could stand. I'm surprised she got kicked off though, because I didn't detect any problems whatsoever in her performance there. I like the sultry tone to her voice too. Anyway, hope she goes on to more successes - just like you Travis.

Jenn Jilks said...

Congrats, Travis. Can't wait to see YOU on Idol, although you have your fans...!!!!

Suzanne said...

Travis that is awesome! You need to let the rest of PPW know about this so that we can all help root for you.
As for Lacey, this is the second time that an Amarillo person has made it to the top 24. That's the only time I watch these shows. When Last Comic Standing was on I watched a native Amarilloan on that show too.
I hate what editors do with soundbites. That's so unfair to the contestant and to the Amarillo Area. I don't care what they think, Amarillo is a great place to live because you get to know people like you!
BTW, coming from a woman old enough to be your mother, you're pretty darn cute!

Tana said...

HUGE congrats! I made it too which blows me away since it wasn't that edited. (oops) Looking forward to reading your excerpt!

sybil law said...

Congratulations! That IS a big deal!!!

Sorry - don't watch AI at all. :)

jerseygirl89 said...

You rock! Even if I'm a little concerned about the American Idol thing. I watch a lot of TV, but I still haven't stooped to Idol. :P

G. B. Miller said...

Congrats on making such a fantastic cut!

As for local, we got a gal from Connecticut who is still in the running on AI as well...

Thumbelina said...

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Caron Guillo said...

Travis, Travis, that's our man
If he can't do it, no one can!

Proud of ya! (Have I said that yet?)

SandyCarlson said...

That's great the way you showed your support for the local girl. We have a local on Idol this season, too--Katie Stevens. The connection is nice. I think they're all winners if they made it to TV.

Cloudia said...

Yer cute enough, Trav...LOL!




Aloha from Hawaii my Friend!


Comfort Spiral

stu said...

Congratulations on getting that far.

SOCCERMOM said...

First let me say we are somewhat the same. I too am not a follower so to speak.

I am estatic that YOU a writer would visit my lowly soccermom blog. Thanks Man!

As for Amerian Idol, I am not a watcher, but have wondered how "real" it truly is.

I guess it's all about whatever sells. Right.

Junosmom said...

Looks fade. Brilliance doesn't. The written word - stays on after you're long gone.

Junosmom said...

Travis, can this only be viewed with a "device"? I don't have any e-book device.

Clare2e said...

Yay, Trav!

Bella Sinclair said...

Dangerous Housewives...heeheeheee

I don't follow Idol, but she's charming!

And YOU! Wowie, that's exciting and impressive! Congratulations! Loved reading your posts. Now I'm off to read your excerpt. Good luck!