Too much Merry Christmas?

Yes, I'm afraid so.  Even for a Christmas Crazy like myself.

When my daughter was about three, we had a birthday party for her.  And another one.  And another one (think friends, Mom's side, Dad's side).  This in addition to a smaller family celebration.  I'll never forget by the time it was over she was clinging to me and crying "No more happy birthday."  Too many parties.

That's kind of what it feels like this year.  With the kids getting older, they have significant others to spend family time with which multiplies the number of times we all have to celebrate Merry Christmas, not wanting to leave anyone out on our list of loved ones, and I have to tell you, I've had too many celebrations.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family - ALL of them, but kids who have already celebrated several times are anxious to get back to their own lives, rich food settling heavy in my stomach - yeah.  I'm done.

On to New Year's.  One party (can't prolong New Year's Eve, now can we?).

Do I sound like a humbug? 

Oh well.  Happy New Year, everyone :-)

The Snow Lay on the Ground

Watching the pictures of the storm that blasted through the East Coast (much more interesting than watching the Bears - they might have been better off to miss their flight after all), its a sign that winter has arrived.  Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, which means the days are getting longer now.  Can I get a yippee?  Some friends of ours throw a solstice party every year, but since they live 200 miles away, we don't usually have the opportunity to go.  Maybe next year . . .

Lots of druidic rituals attached to the solstice times of year, which reminds me to sharpen my research there.  Always wanted to write a druid book.  On my list for the New Year, but for the moment, I think I'm going to take that leap and try my hand at a Christmas story.  Of course no one will want to read a Christmas story in February, or July, but by next Christmas.  Considering the time I will have to polish it up, maybe it will be a welcome relief to some of the drivel I've seen this year.

Already the stores are stocking up for Valentines Day, and Christmas isn't over yet.  A sure sign of the times when they start skipping over Christmas to get to the next holiday.  I thought Christmas was THE holiday to market.  And the news markets are starting to revisit the year 2009 as it comes to a close.  The most fascinating people, the biggest news stories, etc.  For me?  I'm going to enjoy today.

My own pace of life tends to be way too fast so while I have a break from the day job, I'm going to watch the snow fall.  I'm going to bake some bread.  I'm going to watch yet another Christmas movie (because that's what I do this time of year - but I'm going with the classics today).  And then I'm going to watch the snow fall some more as a backdrop while I transcribe the story that is building in my imagination.

Next week I'll set my New Year's goals - after Christmas.  In the meantime, enjoy the peace and love of the season. 

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays

Happy Hannukah to my Jewish friends, and Merry Almost Christmas to my Christian friends.

Today is decorating day.  Finally making festive around the house and doing some holiday baking.  With Thanksgiving falling late this year, I feel a little behind, and yet, not.  We have snow on the ground (it came early this year) and the temperatures have been plummeting.  Yes, it definitely feels like Christmas.  Now if I could just get my shopping done . . .

Haven't started watching Christmas movies yet.  DH has been humoring me since I don't have my children around to help me celebrate the coming of the season (isn't he wonderful?), but not sure how many Christmas movies he can stomach.  And we have shopping yet to do.

Every year at this time, I'm sure I want to write a Christmas story, and yet it seems they've all been written.  How many variations on a theme can you do? - but they still keep coming.  It seems almost as if its getting so diluted now that the stories aren't very imaginative any more.  Do I want to add my name to that list?  The trend this year seems to be single mothers catching new husbands that bond instantly with their kids.  Seems a bit of a stretch, but I suppose there's always hope, and isn't that what Christmas is all about?  I'm sure one day I'll try my hand.  Last year I had a decent idea, but I never sat down to compose it into a story.  Keeping my options open.

Catch me if you can

I am an animal lover.  To that end, I am the proud adoptive parent to two cats.  The one (my old guy) is so well behaved as to be boring.  I've never had a cat that got into so little trouble in all my life.  Then there's the "blonde" cat.  She learned her manners from the old guy, but she is much more mischevious and also a lot more cuddly.  She's also a psycho cat. 

The blonde cat came to me at 6 weeks old, near death.  A feral cat, she had a horrible upper respiratory infection that lasted the next three months of her life.  My opinion is that had a lasting effect on the development of her lungs, because through the years, she's continued to have sneezing and breathing issues, although never very serious.  Lately, she's sounded more and more like a snufflupugus, to the point of my calling the vet to make her an appointment (she's now 10 years old).  This little psycho cat is accustomed to hiding from everyone, only making herself known in small groups of people (one or two is her preferred "crowd" size), and although she's very affectionate, she's also very skittish.  Easily spooked.  The old guy cat used to sit at the bottom of the steps and wait for her, then jump when she rounded the corner.  That gave her fits for a week, where she was afraid to move.

But I digress.  I made the vet appointment for her, concerned that her wheezing is somewhat worse than usual.  So I came home from work.  Who says cats don't understand?  She kept her distance from me, led me on a chase around the house for 45 minutes before she finally threatened to go to her hidey hole where no one can get near her in any way, shape or form.  So I called and rescheduled with the vet.  I had the last appointment of the day and I was already late.  Funny thing.  The minute I hung up the phone, there she was. Standing at my feet.  She knew it was too late to go.

Tonight, I figured I'd just grab her and go - no chasing her around the house, no offering her treats or trying to get her into a kitty carrier of any shape.  But guess what?  She was already in her hidey hole when I got home and 3 hours later, she still hasn't come down. {sigh}  So I've rescheduled with the vet yet again.

After our skirmish last night, once I settled in to watch some television, she showed up and curled up beside me very close (as if to apologize for her bad behaviour).  Something tells me she won't be coming out to cuddle tonight - and she didn't even have any advance warning tonight.  But tomorrow, there will be no saving her.  Once I catch sight of her, I'm going to corral her where I can get to her easily.

Reminds me of when I fed vegetables to my son.  You'd think I was trying to poison him!  At least with children you can explain the benefits of what you're trying to do, even if they don't appreciate it. (He eats his veggies now, but such a fuss when we was growing up!).

So still playing catch me if you can with the blonde cat.  I imagine she'll surface at some point later this evening. 

And the old guy cat?  He'll go.  He was jumping into the kitty carrier last night, following me around.  "I'll go.  Look Stupid (speaking to the blonde cat), it's not so bad.  C'mon.  It'll be fun."  Yeah, but this from the cat that used to jump out of hiding and scare the fur off her!

Fun and games.

Routine

Routine - it's something we all need in our lives in some way, shape or form.  For a writer, its essential to keeping his/her skills sharp.  As with anything, the more you do it, the  better you are at it, like playing the piano or competing in sports.

I always love the stories at writer's conferences, and Nora Robert's comments always surface about when she's writing and her kids used to call for her.  Her response was that unless the house was on fire or someone was dying, writing was HER time and she shouldn't be interrupted.  That reflects her dedication to her craft and certainly she has a routine.

When I first started writing seriously, and I hear this from many people as the way they start, my kids were young and my husband worked a third shift job.  So from 8:00 pm on, I had the run of the house to myself, and my love for writing kicked in with the free time.  The kids grew, the husband changed and routine changed, but the writing remained.  The important part was that it remained.  I continued to make time for it and to fine-tune it.  The difference is in altering the routine - the when part of writing.

We all live by a circadian rhythm.  We go to bed at a certain time, we wake up at a certain time.  Our pets expect to be fed at a certain time.  These are all routines that we live our lives by.  Even the homeless on the streets find their haunts at certain times of the day.

While there's something to be said for spontaneity, routine is inescapable.  And as a writer, it is essential.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone enough food, friends, family, and a holiday to remind us all how fortunate we are to have what we do - sparse or surplus.

Making it to the end of a novel

As I sit struggling to complete my current novel, and as I reflect on Diana's novel, it occurs to me that "The End" is a difficult piece of the writing.  For Diana, she didn't end.  She ran out of pages.  The story just stopped - until the next one.  I don't mind that quite so much as, say, Anne Rice, who leaves you hanging at the end of her stories.  I'll never forget reading the Vampire Lestat and at the end of the novel, the Queen of the Damned climbs into Lestat's coffin.  What??  That's the end??? What happens then?  YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME!  She has done that in several of her books, in fact in The Witching Hour, I swore I wouldn't read another one of her books because of the fast switch at the end of the novel and the hanging ending.  That novel was too long not to finish (but I did read Lasher, the sequel).

For my part, I can finish the story.  I can wrap up the loose ends, but it's difficult to get to that point because you become so involved in your characters, your story.  The end means a parting of the ways.  They move away to a different state, in a manner of speaking.  You can revisit, and sometimes they come back to star in a subsequent novel, but it still marks the end of an era.  Bittersweet.  Some friends do that when they read.  They don't rush through a book, they read as slowly as possible to savor every word, every moment with the characters because the end is . . . well . . . the end.

Another reason writers postpone "The End" is that it means then they have to move on to the next one.  Generally I have the next one sketched out - a very rough outline on one page, of characters, motivation, general plot lines, and quite often I'm already putting down rough chapters.  But if that subsequent story isn't flowing, there's a certain amount of "I can't finish this one until I have somewhere new to go."  It's an excuse, and a classic case of procrastination, and yet it is what it is.  Outside distractions can also keep you from putting down that final chapter.

One of the girls that babysat me when I was growing became an author - Mary Doria Russel, The Sparrow.  She came "home" last weekend and one of the things she said was that it made a huge difference to have a husband who could support her so she could spend her time writing (reminder:  being an author is NOT a lucrative careeer, unless you're JK Rowling).  For those of us that are still in the working world, we have those other responsibilities that fight for our time, and that creates one more excuse not to finish a novel (although a much better one than the ones previously outlined).  I tell you what - a contract in hand would be a mighty strong motivator! 

But until then, I just plod along, setting a more leisurely pace.  My current work in process, tentatively titled Giselle, will be finished, and the next one will get started.  I'm still shopping Epitaph around and with the positive feedback I'm getting, I feel pretty good that someone will like it enough to take a chance with it, and when that happens, my pace will pick up again with renewed vigor and interest, like a new relationship, until I reach the point where I don't want to stop again, and postponing The End means I'm still writing, and still living with my characters - for a little while longer.

Coming up for air and a review of Echo in the Bone

I've been working too hard again.  A necessary evil.  This is the point where we (my coworkers) and I say to each other, "well, at least we have a job."  But the stress levels are intense and the work load is heavy.  Nevertheless, I take great pride in my work and continue to strive to be better, even after 23 years. That's the whiny part of my post.

I finished Diana Gabaldon's new book!  Yes, I borrowed it from the library, and it's on the "maybe I'll buy it" list.  I generally only purchase books that I know I will read again, and I do read them again.  I have all of Diana's previous works, and after the last one (which is, coincidentally authographed), I decided I would read this one first, buy it later (which I have now done, the read it first part).  I like Diana Gabaldon.  I enjoy her books (mostly).  This one (An Echo in the Bone) is long, like the other ones.  Outlander I never noticed the length.  A Dragonfly in Amber I never noticed the length.  Voyager got a little long and actually dragged through a couple of spots, although I still enjoyed it.  The Fiery Cross was the first of her books that I can't say I liked all that much.  I enjoyed Roger Mac, but I still don't like Brianna.  She was tolerable in A Breath of Snow and Ashes, although that book was VERY long and hard to slog through (at least for me).  In this latest book, I enjoyed it (but I still don't care much for Brianna and her whole story could have been left out), but having finished it just tonight on my train ride home, it ended rather abruptly.  Kind of like "I'm only allotted 800 pages, and this is it.  Guess I have to stop the story now."

An Echo in the Bone doesn't really have a beginning and a middle and an end.  For devoted readers who are in love with Jamie and Claire (raising my hand), it was a warm, endearing family chronical, much like we've come to expect.  I'd read reviews about how these aging characters are still too adventurous for their ages considering the times they lived in.  That may be true, but I was able to buy into it, and there are references to their aging (which were notably lacking in the last book).  I still love Jamie and Claire and it was like visiting old friends to read their story.  The whole Roger and Brianna portion of the book seemed superfluous to me.  Not necessary and could have cut out a whole bunch of pages.  The William subplot was integral, and I enjoyed that, and then there's the Ian thing.  Ian is integral also, and I enjoyed reading his story, but it ended with the Ian story, which was a minor subplot, not the major focus of the book, which brings me back to what was the major focus of this book?  It's a tender rendering of the life and times of Jamie and Claire, which remains an ongoing saga, but there's no real plot, per se.

For 800 pages, there is an awful lot of information that could have been cut - including the obligatory trip home to Scotland.  Not a necessary trip, in my estimation.  Don't get me wrong - after reading the first two in the series, I made a trip to Scotland to experience the wilderness first hand (I loved it, by the way).  In this book, it's an easy edit out without losing anything in the story.

One gets the sense that Diana is trying to wrap up all the loose ends from all the characters that you meet along the way, but there are so many scattered so many places that it just isn't necessary.  We've moved on.  Let's keep focus.

There will obviously be another installment in this series, and I will read it when it comes out - probably another three years by Diana's reckoning.  Hopefully she will be able to conclude the Revolutionary War by then.  As to Roger and Bri - I'm thinking she ought to just give them their own series, the way she has with Lord John (I haven't read any of the Lord John books).  Then those folks that care about those characters can have their fill (and I can skip over them).

One person's opinion.  Now, from a writer's perspective, Diana has broken so many writing rules.  Again, I enjoy reading Diana's books and if she wants to break the rules, she has gifts that counterbalance, so far be it for me to criticize the writing.  Her ability to bring her characters to life far outweights wondering which point of view you are reading because she hasn't identified the speaker in a chapter.  Her overuse of "ten dollar words" doesn't bother me, I have a ten dollar vocabulary.  I can only hope I write well enough for people to overlook the rules I break!  In the meantime, I'll have to try not to break the rules.

Cheers.

Really? It's like just great already

Yes, I've posted on "crutch" words before, but I guess I'm tuned in to some more than others.  I was in a training session today where they overused the word "really."  I also listen to a radio station where I hear "really" and "just" in every sentence (and sometimes twice)!  It's quite annoying, and the more editing I do, the more I recognize these things creeping into my writing.  Talking to my DH, his favorite word is "already."  He pops it in everywhere, even when it isn't appropriate.

Am I on my high horse?  Heck no!  I have my own share of personal crutch words.  It just makes me smile when I hear them and recognize them for what they are.  Like when a teenager like you know uses like every other word, you know?

Conversely, I'm reading Diana Gabaldon, whose vocabulary is immense.  I have a large vocabulary.  My son inherited that gift.  But as I read "An Echo in the Bone," these words are jumping off the page for the same reasons - there's such a thing as writing over a reader's head.  Don 't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the book so far (more than I expected I would, but I'm only 250 pages in to an 800 page epic).  The large words are conspicuous, however.  Also noted by me after having this pointed out in my own writing, that although you don't want to "dumb it down," you also want to take into account the words that the average Joe doesn't know.

So for now, I'm going to really make an effort to just catch up on some of the things that, like, I've been behind in.

Anon.

Influenza

What I'm reading:  Echo in the Bone -Diana Gabaldon (yes, I told you I was going to read it).


Isn't it something how a pandemic can send everything into upheaval?  The stuff stories are written from :-)

People I meet on the street are asking me to weigh in on the whole "did you get a flu shot?" question.  For my part, no.  I'm a healthy woman (blessed with good genes).  My husband tells me I'm a carrier, which means I don't get sick, but I carry it to other people to get sick.  I don't like to think of myself that way, but I suppose choosing between the two, it would be my preference.  Either way, I am not at high risk, even if the flu should strike me, so no, I'll save the vaccines for people who need it more than I do.  I'm sure my day will come.

The other thing that I marvel at is the way people are describing this pandemic as a killer flu.  Sadly, I think these people are grossly misinformed.  The data that I've seen shows that the chances of getting the flu or greatly increased this year, but the chances of it becoming more serious are still less than one percent - those instances being the high risk factor that is exacerbated by the flu.  So again, I'm not panicky.

So what's your take on this whole pandemic thing?  Is it the end of the world as we know it or is it just he flu, like every other year (or somewhere in between)?  Did you get YOUR flu shot?

Cleveland Rocks

This has been a busy week for me.  In addition to my regular job, I've been training and traveling.  I did a whirlwind visit to Cleveland - first time I've been IN the city.  I've driven BY it before on the expressway (is it the turnpike through Ohio?) a number of years ago.  Props to the office there - they have a beautiful location on Lake Erie, overlooking the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and Browns Stadium.  (They're also very friendly folks :-) )

My cabbie asked me how it compared to Chicago.  Keep in mind, I only saw it through the window of a cab and the window of the office building, but as I told him, it looks "clean" compared to Chicago.  In MY big city, we have tall skyscrapers crowded together that take on a dirty kind of look.  Don't get me wrong, I love Chicago, and there are magnificent buildings in the city, but Cleveland, by comparison, looked shiny and new.  I'll have to go back when I'm not buzzing in and out so quickly!

The traveling has put me behind with my home life again (of which my writing is a part).  It took me the rest of the week to catch up with myself, but here I am (and a cat helping me with my post, just to make sure).  My inclination tonight would be to post about efficiency, and hard working people versus slackers, but I'm not wanting to dwell on the troubles of the week, so I'm just going to keep it short while I take a deep breath now that I've caught up to myself and maybe my creativity will spark better tomorrow and I can blog something more fun.

Anon

Is everything about writing?

Believe it or not, the answer is more yes than no (but I'll agree to not always).  To illustrate my point . . .

Last night (and today) we had family visiting from out of town, which delayed my blogging, and while I was feeling guilty about not posting, I asked my DH what he thought I should blog about.  He said, "traffic."  You see, all the east/west highways in our area are under construction, so there's no easy way to get from Point A to Point B, unless you are only travelling north to south, and even some of those roads are under construction.  Our commute times have doubled travelling only a very short distance.  "You'd think someone would have planned this better," he growls.  But I can't post about traffic.  Everyone has to deal with traffic.  Unless . . .

You can imagine all the possibilities bad traffic can add to a plot.  Babies being born, road rage waiting to explode.  Traffic can bring on major conflict.  So is it just something wrong with me that I start imagining all the stories for people in their cars stuck in traffic?

It's in every day events that people relate to your stories, like getting caught in traffic, or meeting someone for the first time.  There is commonality in these things, and there is uniqueness to them.  The way someone greets you, the car you let into traffic who only moves half into your lane to block the people behind who didn't move over soon enough, the idioms and idiosyncrasies.  These are the things that I see that stick with me, like hiking and encountering a woman with a small dog who jokes that it's a pygmy albino coyote (see my Sedona post - still one of my favorite encounteres that will likely creep into a story). 

So yes, most often, everything relates into my writing.

Books and favorite authors

Do you have a favorite author - every time they put out a book you can't wait to buy it?  There are those we watch for, anticipating their next release.  It's been a long time since I was that excited about new arrivals.  Walking through the airports, I did see Dan Brown's new book on the stands, I'm interested to read that, and browsing around, I saw Diana Gabaldon has a new book out.

This post might offend some of Diana's die-hard readers, but when I saw she had released the next installment of the Outlander series, I wasn't as excited as with previous works.  I will probably still read it - but this time I'll probably get it from the library. And here's why.

After I'd had my first child, I was watching an exercise program to get back into shape (a program I still do now!) and one of the commercials was for "A Dragonfly in Amber," by Diana Gabaldon.  Good marketing - getting the female audience.  So I went to the library and checked it out. I was absolutely mesmerized by the story.  Then I discovered it was the second in the series, so I couldn't wait to read more.  I picked up Outlander and was even MORE mesmerized.  These books were so spell binding that I actually took a trip to Scotland (Karla's Big Adventure) by myself because I wanted to experience the haunting mountains and meadows for myself.  I wanted to stand in an outcropping of stone circles and travel through time to a cold, dark place where the food was sparse and unflavored (on a side note, I was also going through a very difficult time personally, so the escape had even MORE allure for me).  Then came the third in her series - Voyager.  Another good novel, but now the pace had sped up so that I was getting whiplash keeping up.  An interesting read, and I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't the same experience as the first two had been.  Where could she go from there?  Well she brought the characters from Scotland to the "New World" as refugees.  But in Book #4, I was a bit put off by their daughter.  And they were getting older, but the adventure continued.  Well written?  Yes.  But again, the magic wasn't there for me anymore.  I still enjoyed it and when Book #5 came out, there I was buying it.  Book #5 was a stretch for me.  The main characters, the ones I had grown to love and admire, were aging, and yet they weren't aging.  Some of their antics were a stretch for me, and the story moved much more slowly.  Her 1,000 page epics, which I easily read through previously, were becoming more difficult.  Could it be my own aging process and inability to keep up?  Maybe the plot was a little thin.  She's moving in a direction, has a vision of where she wants these books to take us, but the individual installments were losing momentum for me.  So now, with the latest, I read a review first.  I read MANY reviews first.  They all read like the fan that I am - I love her work, but it's getting hard to continue on this same road, and the daughter, whose task it is to step into her parents' footsteps, doesn't have the personality her mother and father have.

Will I read the book?  Yeah.  Most likely.  But I didn't pick it up at the Poisoned Pen (Diana's home book store) when I was there, and I'm not inclined to put out the money for it.  I don't feel the excitement of picking it up immediately now that it's on the stands and I won't sacrifice three days of my life rushing to get through it, on lunch hours, after work, before I go to bed, into the wee hours of the night. 

This is disappointing for me.  I miss having an author I can't wait to read.  There have been several through the course of my lifetime, and one by one I've fallen away from dedicated fan status.  Maybe it's just that life gets in the way, or maybe it's pushing your characters too far, beyond the point of suspended belief.

I still enjoy Diana Gabaldon.  I'm still going to read the next installment, the characters are "old friends."  But I guess the honeymoon is over.  Maybe that's just one of the pitfalls of writing a series.  You get comfortable with the same old characters, but if they don't do anything different, there isn't anything to keep you engaged, just comfortable.  Another sad commentary on today's society, I suppose. 

Which authors do you hang on waiting for to release a new book?

A Trip to Paradise, or the Land of the "Woo-Woos?"

Destination: Sedona, Arizona. Home of the Red Rocks and Vortices. There is no doubt about the fact that this is a beautiful place. You drive down the main drag and the mountains stare you in the face. Big, red mountains that look like cathedrals, and bells, and lizard heads, and coffee pots. The landscape is stunning. For some, this is a spritual retreat - that's where it gets tricky - the spiritual part.

I like unusual things. Supernatural. Preternatural. Things just beyond explanation. Do I buy into these things? Sometimes. Probably not to the extent of blind faith. But it spurs on my imagination to think about what they might be or might represent. For example, at midnight,

December 31, 1999, a congregation of people gathered at Bell Rock in Sedona to wait for the rock (an alien space ship in resting) to take off and carry them back on a journey through the stars. Would I join that group? Nope. Not even a slim chance. But watching the "woo-woos" is interesting. Understanding what they believe is interesting. I am a spiritual person - I have faith in God. There's a whole other realm of folks in Sedona.

I went to visit friends. {waving to J and J} We had a great time, and while we were there, I told them I wanted to visit a vortex, since that is one of Sedona's great mysteries. Did I expect something transcendental? Not really, but it would have been interesting to see what someone might have interpreted as something supernatural or spiritual. My analysis is that the sensations are probably adrenalin rushes attributable to the spectacular landscapes in those locations.

Certainly I don't want to discount another person's experience and I am fairly receptive to thoughts and ideas, but when I see a circle of crazies (sorry) chanting and scattering something to the four winds, I'm a little leery. No offense to other religious sects, but these folks were more than a sect. Bordering cult. In fact, my girlfriend and I looked them up when we got back to her house and one of the "prayers" (yes, in quotes) was the Diva's prayer that made the rounds on email jokes a while back. I'm sorry, but if you're serious about your religion, you don't put a joke prayer on your website. I have the utmost respect for Native American customs and tradition - and I get the tribute to the four winds (this is not unique to Native Americans). These folks were imposters, pretenders, and what they were doing was, in my eyes, irreverant to those traditions and customs. I have no doubt they were serious in their endeavors, but again, where is the respect when you post a joke as a prayer?

As to the vortex hunt, we searched out the twisted juniper trees (isn't it funny that juniper trees tend to be twisted anyway?) and certainly I was in awe, but that would be attributable to the surroundings more than to some mystical experience. I was looking for inspiration for a future novel. I got it, but not because of the vortex sites. Truthfully? I was hoping for something along the lines of what Diana Gabaldon wrote in Outlander when Clare goes through the standing stones. A rushing of wind (there was that!), a sense of vertigo (not so much), visions of generations past, present and future whizzing by (ummm, nope). Did I expect to actually feel that? No, but I have an excellent imagination and I was hoping to envision it. Sorry folks. I came up empty. Like Ms. Gabaldon, I'll have to invent an experience at the vortices if I want to incorporate them into a future novel.

Maybe I should interview one of the "Woo-Woos."

In the meantime, I've got other ideas that I can incorporate into a story (after all, I DID meet a pygmy, albino coyote on one of the hiking trails!), and I had an excellent vacation in a unique location with good friends.

Adding soundtracks to our lives

I walked into work today with a fellow employee and, knowing he had two small children, asked after the family.  His children are small, 3 and 1.  He talked about the challenges of two small kids running around the house, throw in a dog, throw in a busy work schedule.  I smiled, remembering my own house at that point of my life and now that I'm empty nesting, I have a different view of that particular brand of mayhem.

My daughter has become a fan of country music.  As a result, during the summer months I saw many country music videos and one day, one of them caught my attention.  Trace Adkins, singing "You're Gonna Miss This."  It's one of those sentimental pieces that tugs at your heart and has become one of my favorites.  As I listened to JayZee talking about his family, this is what prompted my smile, and I told him so.  I asked if he was familiar with the song and he seemed to be aware of it, if not familiar with it.  And I told him (wise old woman that I am - HAH!) You're Gonna Miss This. 

Originally the song struck me in that my daughter is moving fast forward into her future.  She's a smart girl and has a lot of common sense.  Sometimes life shows you dreams of what might be and you leap toward them.  You have two options when this happens.  Take that leap and 1.  Find out you've found the frying pan or 2.  Find out you've found the fire.  For each of us, these are learning experiences - life experiences.  That's why the song touches me - it reminds you to enjoy today for what it is, because once you take that leap from today, its gone and you have to readjust to the heat you find you've leapt into.

Music has always added a soundtrack to my life, as with many people.  You can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you hear a song on the radio.  There's a song that puts me in my car, driving to work, 9 months pregnant every time I hear it.  There's a song that puts me in a "lay by" in England at 3:00 in the morning, trying not to fall asleep and yet soaking up the *perfection* of the moment.  There's a song that will forever be the reason I'm in the job I'm in now - and so many people have been able to apply it to so many different situations in their lives (the chorus is . . ."It Feels Like Chaos/But Somehow There's Peace").

So while I continue to adjust to my empty nest (and yes, I'm adjusting just fine), this Trace Adkins is the song that sticks with me now.  The chorus is more true now than ever.  I miss it.  I'm so proud of my kids and the adults that they have become/are becoming, but in my eyes, they'll always be adorable little cherubs, full of smiles.

One parting thought for balance (since this post is so sappy).  I have an English friend.  One Christmas, she asked me about the holiday Stateside and, being the Christmas crazy that I am, I gave her my sappy, sentimental view.  She laughed at me - not expecting to hear such "drivel."  Yes, folks, I try not to take myself too seriously, but authors?  they have to be dreamers to weave the spells that they do.  I've always said that artists of any sort have to be at least slightly eccentric.  I guess sentimentality is my eccentricity.

Wait - is that Brigadoon rising out of the mist?  Just WAIT until I post about Vortexes! (or is that vortices?)

How do you start a novel?

People often ask where I get the inspiration to write, and then, when I get the idea, where do I start.  For me, I start with my characters.  It starts with a name.  For one of my books, I had a hard time coming up with names, but I already knew I was going to write about a woman who walks through cemeteries (Epitaph).  As part of my research, I did a cemetery walk figuring I could read all the names on the tombstones to get ideas.  I took lots of notes that day, but ultimately, Amy Benson's name didn't come from a tombstone.  But I digress. . .

{ahem} It starts with a name.  Then I have to know everything about that character.  Their hair color, their eye color, their body type, their personality, their family history.  This is what makes your character who he is.  There are times I don't get to know my character very well until I'm into my third chapter in the story.  In fact, for the story I'm writing now, I'm half way through and I've realized the characterization has been a little uneven, but now I know my character much better so I can go back and edit out the inconsistencies.  One of my writing buddies "interviews" her characters at the start of a novel.  It's a similar process, but even with an interview, many times you don't really get to know this person until you've spent time with them (on paper/computer).  Once I have my main character developed, I work on the other characters based on his/her personality.  The type of friends they have, the type of person they attract, the type of person that would frighten them, the type of person that should frighten them but they fail to notice.

Once I have the characters outlined, for my part, setting inspires me. (It's kind of like playing dolls {grin}).  You start them into the place that they fit, but I'm easily touched by a beautiful house or a particularly interesting landscape, or an unusual place.  Things that stand out of the ordinary. That's what starts my engines running (for example, a cemetery - again using Epitaph as my example here because most people don't throw their main characters into a graveyard).  Another example - I'm taking a trip to Sedona, Arizona to learn more about vortexes, a topic on my hit list for a story.  Click here to learn more

Okay, now you have your characters and you have your setting.  Unless you have a plot, your story isn't going to be very interesting.  There are many different approaches to plotting a novel.  One of the workshops I attended at a writer's conference showed a grid that shows the best way to maximize conflicts.  If you put your protagonists in direct competition or opposition, that's a good start.  Give them different goals in life, and have one stand in the way of the other.  I think the example the workshop leader used was to have the heroine predisposed to hating policeman based on a previous encounter and the hero is a cop.  There's no way the heroine would even want to talk to this guy based on her predisposition and even if she did, her immediate reaction would be negative.  Then, say, the cop's goal was to raise enough money to buy a house that he could turn into a safe haven for troubled youth, and the heroine wants that same house to turn into a nail salon because that's her dream job, and she has a lot more money to front.  Well, you get the idea.

Personally, I've gotten off to many false starts.  I get the characters set, I get the setting lined up.  I start the story and discover that it's BORING.  They're not going anywhere or doing anything, they're just walking along, having a nice time.  Nobody wants to read about walking along, having a nice time.  People need conflict to be interesting.  When I realize that during the writing process, I stop writing and go back to outlining.  These characters need goals in life and they need obstacles to overcome. 

Way back when I first started writing, I took a "Sol Stein" course.  At that point of "serious effort" in my writing career, I didn't understand all the ins and outs of the process, but looking back on that now, it was a good primer.  The things that I remember most from that were:  #1 Make your main character stand out.  Give them a strong identifying feature, whether it be a unique look or personality trait (In The Treasure of St. Paul, my hero had a nervous habit of ticking off his fingernails against his thumb, one by one).  #2 Put your characters into a stressful situation that throws them off their game.  Add some unbalance to their lives, and do it quickly to draw your readers in.

There are lots of tools out there these days to get you started and help you.  There are enneagram programs to help you develop your character's personality.  There are writing programs to give you ideas.  There are storyboard and outlining programs to keep you on track.  The most important part to writing a good novel, however, is strong writing skills.  Even with all these aids, the bottom line is that you have to have a firm grasp of the English language.  You have to to know/learn how to tell a story in an interesting fashion.  You have to understand the basics of showing and not telling.  Even after years of practicing, I still make *stupid* mistakes, but at least I think I've learned how to turn a sentence, and when someone tells me a sentence is boring, I know that they aren't just being mean.  Now I understand why. :-)

September 11

This is one of those questions, like where were you when Kennedy got shot.  I'm sure everyone remembers where they were when the twin towers went up in smoke.  Me?  I was on my drive to work.  They were talking about the first tower and while they were talking, the second one got hit.  That was the defining moment, when they realized this wasn't just an accident.  We've seen a lot of differences in our country since that time.  I don't think I can *not* blog about the event, and I'm sure I'm in good company.

Along these lines, I remember during one of my research sessions that I looked up Nostradamus.  There are those of you that would say he was lucky, there are those of you that might think he's a prophet.  Whatever he was, I find it interesting, but that's just me.  I like things that seem to reach beyond explanation.  The uncanny coincidences in some of his quatraines cannot be denied.  One of the more compelling things for me is that people try to interpret to suit their needs.  For instance, it's easy to look back on history and point out the references to "Hister" in place of Hitler and the World Wars.  What I don't understand is why, if they see Nostradamus as a predictor of war, they aren't making more of the 10 years' war that he predicted starting around the year 2000 that would involve the world power and an Arab state with a devil in a blue turban. (My facts may be a little off here, but that was the gist.)  For those people that try to promote Nostradamus, it seems to me that he hit another one on the head, and yet the documentaries I've watched seem to skip over that part.  And haven't we been at war for . . . do I have to do the math?  (Does this mean we have two more years of war?).

I'm not acknowledging or denying these "prophesies," I'm just noting that I find them interesting.  I'd thought to include them in one of my stories, once, but it seems one would have to be a dedicated scholar to sift through all Nostradamus's works.  The subject became to broad and the concepts too obtuse and far-reaching in some instances.  Not something that would lend itself easily to a passing reference, and too much to take on (in my opinion) for a work of fiction.

Whatever your take is on the matter, whether it was predicted or not, the events on this date 8 years ago did happen and they will leave their mark on our nation for many years to come.  The first time I traveled to England (before 9/11/01), they'd had their fair share of terrorists attacks with the Irish Republic Army and other assorted bogeys.  Heathrow Airport impressed me deeply because of the tight levels of security.  Leaving from Chicago-O'Hare, where my family came to the gate to see me off, I was unaccustomed to having to pass through three separate security checks at Heathrow where no one was allowed at the gates other than ticketed passengers.  It was a little unnerving at the time - something I hadn't encountered before living a sheltered life in the U.S.  Of course, that time has passed.  Our security is greatly enhanced since that experience.  Now, although most travelers find it inconvenient, you won't find anyone arguing about the necessity of such measures.

Where were you on 9/11?

Happy Labor Day

This holiday is a little different for me.  I'm glad to have the day off, but my house is just a little emptier than in prior years.  I'm now officially an empty nester.  My children are intelligent, responsible young adults.  I know they still have mistakes to make, but hopefully they'll learn from them.  And now it's time for me to recapture my own life!  Doesn't stop me from being just a little melancholy.  For this past week, every time I look at my son I see a blond little boy full of smiles and giggles always ready for a cuddle and a lullaby.  My mother says that's how it works.  She still sees a little girl with curls every time she misses me.  Those are the best times of our lives, lessons my children will learn one day.

And more nostalgia.  The road trip to deliver One Young Son to college pointed out all the songs I have yet to transfer from vinyl to digital.  Today's line-up?  Led Zeppelin and Loggins and Messina (along with Kenny Loggins solo).  I did tell you I had diverse musical tastes, didn't I?

Also spending time writing today now that some of the crush to prepare for college is over.  That's exciting! My latest story has been suffering from divided attention.  So back to work!

Keeping my fingers crossed!

First for the good news - I had another request for a partial of Epitaph! 

And now onto the day in the life.  On my morning commute this morning, I realized how much of a community train riders are.  For instance, there's the couple that just had a baby - I first noticed her when she wore brightly colored rubber snow boots.  Then, as I looked up to see who it was that was wearing these boots (and the man next to me was sniggering when he saw them), I noticed the baby bump.  Winter turned to spring and the couple disappeared, recently to rejoin the commuting crowd.  Then there is another couple - they're French.  The man makes me extremely uncomfortable.  He seems to have a temper, and he displayed it in the direction of his wife one day.  He speaks perfect English to some of the other riders, but to his wife, it's always French.  Recently, I noticed that she is pregnant.  Then there's the woman on the scooter, the gamblers that invite the conductor to join their pools, and a host of other miscellaneous personalities.  The thing about these people is that they follow routine.  We normally ride the same trains, in the same cars, usually the same seats.  We travel into the city and we travel home.  Same cars, same seats, same train times - for the most part.  Fodder for another story at a later date.  This is where writer's differ from the rest of the world.  We advance that step past people watching into imagining the lives we don't see.

For those of you asking, the door to the wild kingdom seems to be closed for now (finally!).  No more friends for the two furry beasts that I've invited to live with me.  Which reminds me - I watched a special last night on a man who had BEARS for pets.  Real live bears.  Black bears and Grizzly bears.  Interesting show, but really? 

Before my random thoughts continue to generate, I think I'll close out for today.  Otherwise I imagine people will have a hard time keeping up with my rapid fire topic changing this evening!

Anon

Nostalgia

I bought a new toy.  A USB turntable (and about time!)  I grew up with music and as I got old enough to buy my own, I did.  Probably more than I should have.  I have lots of vinyl, some of which has not been replaced on CD or iTunes.  As I begin to digitize my collection, I'm trying to start with some of the records you can't find anymore.  For some of them, this is a good thing (that you can't find them anymore).  For instance, I have Rick Springfield records from 1972.  That's pre-Jessie's Girl and General Hospital for anyone who even knows who Rick Springfield is.  Some of these songs are HORRIBLE.  I'm sure even he would agree, and yet some of them I still like.  It doesn't hurt that the man is very easy on the eyes :-)  His music has improved over the years, although I stopped buying his albums long ago.  I read in the paper the other day that he's 60 now (yes, that's older than I am). 

Other "ancient" music I'm doing today - Queen (A Night at the Opera, Jazz, A Day at the Races), and the New Seekers (yes, they did more than commercial jingles - Pinball Wizards).

All this while I slave away with my latest book.  Did I mention it has a lot of pop culture written into it?  Hence the connection with old songs and the drive to convert them to digital media.  The soundtrack to the story (no these albums don't apply to the story, they're just the ones I picked to go first).

In the meantime, DH has found the hole the critters made to gain entrance into my house.  YAY!  It's hard for human folk to get to, however.  BOO.  But he's my hero, doing his best to save me from the wild beasts.

Do you have "guilty pleasures" in music?  Those old songs that maybe aren't so good, but you still love them?

Animal Kingdom

And the critter adventures continue.  For those of you with dogs, I'd like to sing the praises of cats at this point in time.  Of course my older "grandpa" cat has always thought he was a dog (does that count as a dog?), so he assumes that role since the dog he grew up with died.  But on with my story.

Some of you have probably seen my post on "Squirrel Wars."  I'm going to do a prequel to that story.  When we first moved into this house, a chipmunk went running through the empty rooms.  We were able to corral it in a carpet roll and take it outside.  After we moved in, I pointed out to DH that we also had mice moving in (and again, DH never believes me when I notice these bothersome things).  I knew this by the things they left behind - if you know what I mean.  So he put out mouse bait and guess what?  He caught a mouse.  Now that the house was occupied, they didn't seem as interested in sharing space, so we haven't had a lot of trouble with the little varmints.  However, we did manage to find one more chipmunk that had invaded the basement - cat territory - and it didn't survive the experience.  All has been quiet since then until the Squirrel Wars began.

There was the squirrel in the attic (I think I blogged about that).  Then last week we had the squirrel in the basement.  You'll notice that the critters are getting progressively larger.  LAST NIGHT (and of couse DH swears he blocked the access point for these guys) I'm working on my web site (I even blogged last night!) and I turn around to find . . . are you ready for this? . . . an opossum staring at me from the top of the basement steps.  So I let out a little yelp of surprise, and my son (I'm so glad he was home with me last night!) says, "I wish you'd quit doing that."  And then I told him WHY I did that.  Well obviously, the possum was as surprised as I was and took off, so I finished what I was doing, having no idea where this thing took off to, and then went on a critter hunt.  Did it go back in the basement?  Good luck finding it down there.  Did it go behind the couch in the living room?  No . . . and the two cats?  Sleeping on the sofa in the living room.  No chase being given, no acknowledgement of intruders.  But wait, didn't I tell you I was going to sing their praises?

Old Grandpa cat gets up off the couch (he's still pretty spritely for an old man) and walks to the laundry room.  Yeah, yeah.  Like the possum is going to hide in the smallest room in the house.  Even still, I follow with a flashlight, to illuminate any dark corners, and there's nothing there.  I went to the basement, and no sign of life down there.  Did that "tip toe" thing creeping around my own house, peeking around corners, and checked all the rooms on the main floor.  Nothing.  But Grandpa cat insists I check the laundry room.  He paces back and forth, following me, then goes back to the laundry room like a hound dog - nearly pointing the way tracking dogs will.  Okay, okay.  I'll look again.  So armed with my flashlight, I check the dark corners again, only this time, I look behind the appliances.  Darn if that cat wasn't right!  Cowering in the corner, I see a tail.  Round up One Young Son, block off the access, open the back door.  Maybe it will just walk out, you think?  HAH.  After several of minutes of banging on the walls and throwing shoes to scare it out, One Young Son picks up a broom and goes on the attack.  Fortunately, he can sneak up behind it.  He brushes it toward the door, but the possum is too scared!  It doesn't want to go anywhere.  One Young Son keeps sweeping and eventually it gets the hint and scampers out the door.  YEAH!

It was raining last night.  Naturally.  I've already been walking around outside the house to open/close doors for this critter.  On my way back in, I check the access point and guess what?  There's a new tunnel where DH filled in the old ones, even through the barriers he built. {sigh} Do I feel bad that the critter had to run out in the rain?  Kinda.  But not enough to let it bunk inside with us.  Sorry.  The only critters in my house are those I invite in - the guardian type.

This morning, Grandpa cat complained about his living quarters early (they live in the basement when we're not home/are sleeping), so I gave him the roam of the house early.  Immediately he took up guard cat duties.  Instead of looking for a quick snuggle before I got ready for work, he posted himself to watch for dangerous varmints lurking in the shadows.  (He let me know he loved me last night after we flushed the possum out.)

When we moved into this house, there was a prairie and woods a block away.  Urban sprawl cleared that away in favor of more housing (I have a soapbox in the corner for these occassions).  So where are these critters supposed to live?  A couple of years ago we even had a deer find its way into our back yard, and we're miles from their remaining habitat.  I mean really.  If we take over all the woods and fields, there is no place else for these animals to go.  But please, not in my house.

Widget, widget, who's got the widget

Part of writing is marketing, and part of marketing is creating a web page.  Once upon a time, web pages were fairly simple matters, created using HTML language, but as time passes and software evolves, so has programming language, and I'm falling behind the curve.  Enter a web designer (nice to have one in the family!)  While my nephew is busy working for his paying clients, I've been hounding him for a widget.  Seems like a straightforward enough thing, and he keeps sending me development notes which actually make sense to me!  Unfortunately, I'm one detail short of where I need to be, and it's taking away from my writing time!  Finally, success!  Visit the new website at www.KarlaBrandenburg.com.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, erm, computer, I have a character in my latest book who is arguing over her trials and tribulations.  This is making it hard to move forward.  One of those situations where I know what I want to do and I know where I want to go, but I can't seem to get it on paper with this character putting up a protest.  She's going to lose, mind you.  Some folks might describe this as writer's block, so here's my advice on moving past writer's block: Keep plodding along. Write something. Anything. Skip a chapter if you have to, just keep writing. Likely that's the direction I'm headed this week - skip a chapter just to get down what I know is going to happen. Once you have "something," you can always go back and edit it, but if you have nothing, you've still got nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I'm done playing with my web page for this week (unless you find errors!) so now I have to get back to the reason for the website.

Harry Potter

We finally made it to the movie!  I'm not sure that people who haven't read the books can follow these movies quite as well.  As it was, there were some things I double checked with my son that didn't seem to make sense.  Obviously, they can't cram the entire book into a 2 hour movie (okay, it was more than two hours), but there were some critical plot points that I felt were missing.  That didn't stop me from enjoying the movie.  Nice mix of teen angst, coming into responsibility, etc.  Two things that bothered me - what happened to Dumbledore's hand? (they tell you in the book, but not in the movie) and if there are seven horocrux, why are they only searching for one?  They could have made a movie about the seven horocrux, I realize, but a quick rundown would have been nice so we don't think only one of them matters.  They showed two of them, but without explanation.  Again, I did enjoy the movie.  Lots of action, a little bit of sweetness, a touch of dark.  And, best of all, some mom/son time before he leaves for school.

My week of staycation is coming to an end.  Still have lots to do in the new book.  I'm better than half way through the writing, but there is a lot of editing already waiting for me.  A first draft is often a very detailed outline for me.  I like to get it all down, but often leave out critical details.  Pushing forward, I'm finding some of those details that need to be inserted/ corrected.  Working on a major plot point right now, and I've been procrastinating to make sure I get it right.  The closer I am to what I want it to be, the easier it is to edit later.  I've also noticed that some of my characterizations and themes have fallen out somewhat in an effort to get the story down.  I'll need to insert a few more of those fun little bits, although this story has a bit more pop culture to it, so I'm concerned about borrowing rights to songs and lyrics and other pieces of trivia that have woven their way into the story.

So much for procrastination.  It's time to eat some lunch (or is that procrastinating again) and then I have another chapter to complete!

Anon

Migration

As surely as the birds fly south for the winter, my blog is moving from "where it was" to here.  To read old posts, Click here.  Future posts forthcoming!