ya lit

021. Interview with Dia Summers

021. Interview with Dia Summers

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Hello, Brit Brinson here! I’m lucky to have a special guest on the blog today. Dia Summers, the sixteen-year-old star of the Bixby Network’s Dia of the Dead has stopped by to answer a few questions.

Brit Brinson: Thank you for taking time out of your busy, busy schedule for this interview, Dia.

Dia Summers: No problem. Thank you for contacting my mom about this opportunity.

BB: I guess we’ll jump right into things. Would you like to tell us a little something about yourself? What’s something your diehard fans don’t even know about you?

DS: [laughs] Diehard fans? I don’t think I have any of those yet.

BB: I’m sure there are a few out there.

DS: [laughs] I hope so. That’d be really cool. Now…let me think of something you all may not know about me. I was born and raised in Santa Barbara and have a mini dachshund named Frank. My birthday’s August 16th. My favorite colors are pink and black and my favorite food is my mom’s pancakes. My fans probably know all of that though. Hmmm…let me think some more. [after a pause] I guess one thing that my fans don’t know is that I’m a horrible singer. I can’t carry a note to save my life but I love singing. I do it all the time! [laughs]

BB: [laughing] I’m a terrible singer as well. I guess we have that in common. So, Dia Muerto is your first role, right?

DS: Yep. I’d never acted before landing the role as Dia Muerto.

BB: That’s interesting. Can you tell me how you were cast in the role?

DS: With a little bit of luck I guess. I remember being so nervous during my audition that I was practically shaking. But I gave it my all and it worked!

BB: If you could describe what it’s like to be a teenage actress in one word, what would it be?

DS: One word? Hmmm….I think I’d go with “tough.” But not like in a bad way. Being an actor at any age is hard. You have to know your lines and hit your marks and make sure your emotions are getting across onscreen. And you have to do all of that at the same time. It’s a lot. It isn’t always easy but since I love acting, the pros outweigh the cons.

BB: As I was saying before, you play Dia Muerto, an undead high school student on the Dia of the Dead. Are you anything like the character?

DS: A little but not quite. First off, Dia’s a zombie. I’m lucky to be able to go through a day without an arm or a leg falling off [laughs]. Dia’s also on the school’s spirit squad. I didn’t participate in any sports last year when I was a freshman at SBHS. I was mostly focused on acting and trying to improve on the skill, ya know? Plus, Dia Muerto is a badass paranormal crime fighter. I’m just a regular girl…who plays a badass paranormal crime fighter on TV [laughs]. So I guess I’m not too much like Dia. She’s a lot braver than I am.

BB: It’s funny hearing you refer to the character since you two share a name.

DS: The character’s name was changed to Dia after I got the role. The original name was Ann Dead.

BB: Oh cool. Like “undead.”

DS: Yep! Exactly.

BB: Speaking of the undead, if zombism was suddenly in style, what three things would be your survival must haves?

DS: Lucky for me, Dia Muerto survives on organic brain substitute smoothies so I don’t have to worry about her getting too flesh-hungry. But if people in Hollywood did begin turning into zombies, I think I’d need the following to survive: food, water, a weapon—maybe like a katana or something—and my mom. My mom is like the number one on the list. She could probably survive anything.

BB: We’re coming close to the end of our interview. I know you have some other engagements to get to but I have one more question before you go. There are tons of kids out there who watch The Bixby Network and aspire to become actors and actresses one day. Do you have any words of advice for them?

DS: Never give up. Like I said earlier, acting isn’t easy but if it’s something that you want to do, go for it. If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.

BB: Once again, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions. You can catch Dia Summers in Dia of the Dead, Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm on the Bixby Network. Or you can read more about Dia’s adventures in Dia of the Dead.

019. Honest To Blog

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Nearly everyday I sit down in front of my MacBook and open WordPress with the intention of updating my blog. Then almost immediately, I close the tab and go find something else to do online. It’s as if I’ve come down with a sudden case of writer’s block which isn’t a good thing for a so-called writer.

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why I have so many unfinished blog entries collecting dust in my drafts. And I think I’ve reached a conclusion.

I have no idea if this blog should be about me or about my work.

Something I enjoy doing while avoiding updating is checking out other author’s blogs. I’ve noticed a couple of things. Either their blogs are industry based–containing entries about their current works, the craft of writing and book reviews. Or their blogs are more personal–entries dedicated to personal interests such as TV reviews or things that are on their minds. In the past, I’ve dedicated posts to the latter of the two trends. I’ve shared stories about personal experiences (bullying), beliefs (feminism), favorites (My Mad Fat Diary), and life as a writer (those other sporadic updates). Yet I’m still hesitant when it comes to blogging (and engaging in social media for that matter).

In all the research of the writing life I’ve done over the years, one topic that has come up often is branding. What is your author brand? What can readers expect from your work? From the pieces you publish to your blog to your social media presence–each aspect is important to your brand. While thinking about this, I’ve realized I’ve never sat down and determined what my brand is or what it should be. What can you all as my readers expect from me?

While reflecting on this question, a word that immediately came to mind was “transparency.” I’d like to be transparent with you all. What you see is what you get. In moving forward, I’d like to strive to make online/author presence align with who I am offline, in real life. I believe I will continue to post the types of entries I’ve posted in the past. Just more often. Meaning you will see a lot more posts here about things that tickle my fancy as well as my life as an indie author. This goes for social media as well. I apologize in advance for the abundance of Star Trek-related tweets.

018. I’m Alive!

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Hey guys!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated and I apologize. September and October (so far) have turned out to be crazy busy months for me. Between writing, keeping up with Big Moon Press, and continue to deal with chronic migraines (with the awesome added bonus of focal seizures), I haven’t had a chance to blog much. I do have a couple of updates I’d like to share with you all though.

  • Dia of the Dead is available for purchase!!!!!! You can get a paperback here or an e-book for your kindle here. Support an indie author and buy a copy!
  • Big Moon Press is accepting submissions. For more about our submission process, please click here.
  • I’m working on a cool project with my business partner/writing homie, Cara. I can’t wait to see how it shapes up.
  • I finally have my idea for NaNoWriMo. Hopefully I’m abale to pull it out.

I’m going to try to get back into blogging since I have a shotty track record with it. I think establishing a routine would help me out.

That’s all for now!

016. Dia of the Dead

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September 16th is approaching and if you miss the last post, that’s the day Dia of the Dead–my first novel– will finally be released!

 

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be making Dia of the Dead related posts to get you all as excited as I am about this! Today’s post is all about how DotD came to be.

Dia of the Dead began its life as my 2011 NaNovel. I got the idea on October 17, 2011. I was interested in writing about zombies but I just couldn’t think of how to approach the subject. Many zombie stories focus on average people and their struggle to survive. I wanted to do something different. After about a half-hour of brainstorming the  idea!bulb finally flashed in my head. I was struck with a question that I just had to find an answer to. What happens to the not-so-regular Joes during the zombie apocalypse? I thought it’d be a new approach to a zombie story and decided to focus on a group of teen stars on a channel much like Disney or Nick. Once I got the idea, I couldn’t free myself of it. It plagued me. I knew I had to write it.

Initially, Dia was named “Nia.” Since “Nia” was the star of a show on a tween/teen network I needed a catchy name for it. I came up with “Dia of the Dead” and changed “Nia” to Dia and it all clicked. Dia’s surname, Summers, is a nod to the one and only Buffy Summers. I’m a child of the 90s and I loved how Buffy kicked so much ass. I wanted my protagonist to do the same.

While I started DotD in November 2011 for NaNoWriMo, I didn’t win that year. I had to put the story aside because of life stuff. However, I picked it back up in January 2012 and finished the first draft in May 2012. I had a blast working on the first draft. It was fun to play with ideas and see how the story unfolded. Though it was fun to write, the first draft was an absolute mess. Luckily, I have amazing beta readers. They helped me figure out which aspects worked and which didn’t. I ended up scrapping a lot of the first draft and reworking it. I’m satisified with how things turned out and I hope those who read it are to.

 

014. Part of Your World pt. 2

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My last post ended with a video of “Part of Your World” from my absolute favorite movie, The Little Mermaid. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and I’ve decided that it’s time that I become more like my favorite fiery redhead. No, I’m not about to sell my soul to a sea witch in exchange for legs to impress a prince but I am about to take a risk. A big risk.

I’m about to venture out into the world of self-publishing.

I’m extremely excited about this adventure and hope my migraines won’t stop me from blogging (and maybe vlogging) about it. What has me more excited is that I’m not going it alone. Cara will be joining me. She is the co-founder of Big Moon Press, our indie publishing company. We’ve been actively working on this thing for weeks and have set up an Indiegogo to help with some of the costs. If you’d like to contribute, we’d greatly appreciate it.

I’m really looking forward to this journey. I’m on my way to becoming a part of the world I’ve often dreamed about and hopefully you guys will follow along on this ride.

013. Part of Your World

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Hi Guys!

I’m back! My health is about the same but it seems to be improving little by little. My neurologist has switched up my med routine and I’m hoping that third time’s the charm. I still have headaches and migraines but they mostly aren’t as intense as they were back in the winter. It’s the other symptoms that have been kicking my butt. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m doing better and that’s all that really matters.

I’m actually here to talk about a couple of things that I’ve been working on while I’ve been under the weather.

Over the last couple of months while dealing with severe migraines, I finished the first draft of my second novel! I’m excited about it. It’s a sequel to Dia of the Dead. I’ve decided to make it a series out of my own curiosity. I want to find out what happens to the characters over the course of their journey.

I also came to a decision about what to do with Dia of the Dead. I’ve decided to self-publish. It took me a while to reach that decision because I wanted to weigh all of my options. I queried and realized, what I wrote just isn’t what publishers are looking for right now. And that’s okay. Maybe one of the next ideas I have floating around in my head will be THE ONE that will get me a lit agent and will set me on the path to traditional publishing. If not, that’s okay too. I understand publishing is a business that’s driven by what sells and what can be the “next big thing.”

With this decision to self-publish came some pretty rad things that I’m going to be blogging about in the very near future. I’m teaming up with my writing homie, Cara Davis. Actually at this point, she’s my writing sister to do them. Stay tuned!

This is how I feel about everything: