Showing posts with label Maureen O. Betita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maureen O. Betita. Show all posts
Friday, September 27, 2013
Last Call at the Bar
Well, I thought about getting drunk and having a blog full
of nothing by self-pity and whining and they’d we’d finally get over the
melancholy and start telling dirty jokes and laughing. But it seems like most
of that has all been done…
I’ve wiped this bar a thousand times, from the first one I
put together, made up of old scraps lying about the deck. Some I fished out of
the water. The Kraken brought me more. I salvaged nail and used my shoe to
hammer it together. Only sat one, but the rest of you were willing to wait for
a turn. Or Hels would come by and kick Jack outta the way so the rest had a
chance.
Then I had the great fancy bar, but it really were a bit
much. And though Hector liked it, he was willing to help me start anew when we returned
to our less grand digs. At least he found me some shelves that weren’t so
warped. And time passed…
Tales we told to each other, and drinks we shared,
friendships were forged and oaths sworn. And now? Now the Revenge prepares for
its greatest adventure…into the unknown depths of the cyberseas. And who knows
what she’ll find there?
I imagine, years from now, we writer selves will meet our
pirate selves upon a sandy beach, still warm from a day’s sun, the sky full of
a million stars bursting so bright one could read by them.
The pirates will step to the beach, eyes telling impossible
stories of where they’ve sailed and what they’ve seen, the creatures they
discovered, the treasures and troubles they earned.
And we writers? We will be wise with the knowledge of life,
friendships and learning. Some with children, some with dogs, cats…partners.
Precious books in hand, read and written. I can see Christie, a kitten on each
shoulder, head shadowed by the deep hood of her jacket, bopping to the music
filling her head from the earbuds. Fran will smack her shoulder, dislodge one
of the kittens and hand it back as the earbuds fall away.
Terri, Marnee and Halleigh… Santa, J Perry, Lisa and Sabrina…Donna
and Leslie…and the familiar visitors, Janga, Quantum, P. Kirby, Irish… What a
grand party it will be!
Off to the side, a fire roars, and two familiar voices call
out. Jack and Hector stop their constant bickering long enough to welcome back
all the pirates, real and cyber.
Me? I’ll be there. I’ll be handing out drinks, all the
favorites. The Glittery Hooha, The Mighty Mast, The Cock & Balls, The
Bo'sun Burner, The Penis Pill, Silent as Sin, The Wild Cock, Hells' Fire, The
Marneasy, The Rum n'Bum, The Seething Passion, The Booty Call, Sandy Pirate Sex,
Wild Undead Monkey Sex , The Captain's Cocoa Puff, The A'moral Compass, The Kraken's Feast ,The
Facegod, The Bombay Bomber, Stephanie's
Flaming Double Stuffed Twinkies, Full Sail Frappuccino, The Double Dori, The
Terrio Speedwagon, and more, or so many more! (If you want the full list, send
me an email, I’ll send it to you.)
We’ll sing all night, swap stories and lies, kisses and
maybe more as I suspect the Bandits will come with the Hotties they employed
who lost their posts when the Revenge went off. The party will never end, and
slowly, the pirates and the writers will remember each other and as the sun
rises, we’ll be taking up the oars and heading for the ship…she waits for us,
just past the horizon.
And I got nothing more to say. 2nd Chance is such a deep
part of myself, and I came to love her and want her and…want to be her. To me,
the Revenge will always be there, on the horizon… The Kraken’s Mirror started on this ship, in more ways then I’ll
ever reveal. And from that first, came the rest. Thank you, Hellion, Terrio,
Marnee, Hal and all for letting me crawl aboard and create my other self. We
have danced, and sung, drank and written, and thrown our critics to the Kraken…
Now, the wind fills our sails and the ship…she slips away.
I’m off to cry. Then get drunk.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Luck – Yup, It’s All About the Luck
What is the one thing that authors seldom talk about when it
comes to being published?
The role luck plays in everything. Good luck and bad luck.
Writers talk about stick-to-itness. About the rules, about
grammar, punctuation, agents, editors, and usually, they won’t mention luck.
Instead, everyone pretends it’s about how hard you work, or
how well you write, or…anything but luck. No one wants to acknowledge luck and
the role it plays.
But, ah…luck. Luck is the wind that pushes one boat just a tad
ahead of another… It’s the ride up the elevator with someone who knows someone
who knows someone who is looking for what you just wrote… Luck is having a
well-known TV personality diss your book and start a sales frenzy that never
seems to end.
That’s not to say that everything else doesn’t play a massive
part and sometimes, one doesn’t need luck, because the rest of life falls into
place to reward your abilities. And sometimes, you have it all, but bad luck
means it takes time…because your dream editor, who probably would have adored
your book…save she was served divorce papers today and you romantic hero has
the same name of her rotten soon-to-be ex.
But for a group that writes so much of luck and chance and
serendipity, it is amazing how many authors won’t acknowledge luck. As if
mentioning it will diminish their accomplishments. But really, it isn’t easy to
court luck. To woo luck and put yourself, constantly, on the road where you
hope luck will pass, see you and take notice. Because there are a lot of times
that luck isn’t on the road, it took a plane that day.
You can’t count on luck, but you can be humble in the presence
of luck. Light a candle to her, or him. However you view luck.
Luck is why I’m alive. If my husband had taken a longer
shower, or fallen asleep with earplugs in…I wouldn’t be here. Luck is why I’m
blogging today… Luck is how I found that swag room at the San Francisco RWA
Nationals and picked up that postcard, left by Terri.
I was lucky to find the Revenge and be part of this wonderful
experience…
And as luck had it, look who sauntered by? It’s Deuce! Or as I like to call him, Ace. And just in time for me and the hubby to leave for Washington DC! "Sweetie, got room on the jet?" (Yes, I'm flying on Friday, the 13th.)
How have
you been lucky?
Friday, September 6, 2013
Dreams…
Yeah, I know we be looking ta go our separate ways soon, and
sail off on new adventures on our own, but I thought today…we could dream a
bit…
About the ideal place to go, and who to go with. But being
writers…where would we go and with what writer…
And to make it extra fun…
1)
Real place, living author as guide/mentor/best
buddy.
2)
Real place, dead author as guide/mentor/best
buddy.
3)
Fictional place, living or dead author as
guide/mentor/best buddy.
Now, what sparked this idea? Terri’s posting of a dream workshop
being offered by Eloisa James. In Italy, ten days long. Yeah, really...go look.
Which, I admit, is tasty sounding.
Got me thinking…where would I go and with who?
Being a big reader of fantas/scifi stuff…I sorta had a
difficulty. Since Middle Earth isn’t real…or the myriad of other worlds I’ve
trod across with a fav author… I had to work my imagination!
So… My picks, and why
1)
Tuscany, with Francis Mayes. Why? Okay, I admit, I
haven’t read the book, but I did see the movie, and it seemed to me that she
would be a fabulous guide to the Italian countryside. And I have a feeling…that
for what I write…I’d get more out of wandering about, talking writing with her
than with Eloisa. (As much as Eloisa is a darling…I don’t write real history.
But I do like to dive into the sort of memoir that Mayes wrote.)
2)
Ah…this was fun… And difficult! Alaska, with Jack
London? New York/New Jersey with Walt Whitman? The South Pacific with James
Michener… The Mississippi with Mark Twain… Ireland with Maeve Binchey… Too many
to pick from! (And yes, all authors I feel I could learn a great deal from!)
3)
Oddly enough, I’m not going to go with the
obvious. Nope, not Middle Earth with Tolkien. I think I’d have to go with the
Foundation Universe, with Isaac Asimov. Though the Chicago of Harry Dresden
with James Butcher is tempting…
4)
And just for grins, I’m gonna add one more…
Fictional place/fictional character. Book or movie!
Commander Taylor and Terra Nova! (Though my
alternate might be the Caribbean, with Jack. Or Hector!)
And with that, I get my hottie of the day in!
Friday, August 23, 2013
Cosplay – Fun or A Playground for Tyrants?
Okay, cosplay. For those of you who are scratching their
heads, I’m gonna try to explain. First, this is what wiki states.
"Cosplay - short for "costume play", is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context."
So, it’s about
dressing a part and playing with it. Fun? Well, I dress up like a pirate, but
no particular pirate so…am I a cosplayer? According to one of my sources, no. I
might be a semi-cosplayer. That’s fine, I’m good with that. I could say I’m
dressing up as Miranda…or if I felt confident enough I could be Jack’s
girlfriend in the last movie. If done very accurately, I might qualify as
cosplay.
Though, since I
am not the slender Penelope Cruz…I would likely be ridiculed and harassed by
the royalty of cosplay.
This is where it
can get nasty.
I’ve been
watching the Heroes of Cosplay on the SyFy channel. It follows several serious
cosplayers all over the country as they compete against each other for prize
money and really nice ribbons. And they are SERIOUS about this. And one judge
is part of this show, and she is radically serious.
Now, I enjoy
watching the costumes put together and it’s entertaining to see the conventions
they attend. (I gotta get to a comicon one day…looks insane! MY PEOPLE!)
But an episode
this last week cast a shadow on the funness. A newbie to the competition, but
not to the idea, came to compete. Chloe Dykstra. She was a kick! And competed
as Lydia Deetz from the Beetlejuice cartoon. Along with a sandworm. (Loved the
sandworm! Made from a bunch of kitty tubes and a lot of foam…)
Chloe is a rail
thin tall woman, who hosts an internet show about all things nerd/geek. And she’s
funny. The night before competition, she joins several serious cosplayers,
along with a judge, for coffee. Where she is informed that it is frowned upon
for someone to attempt a character whose body type they don’t resemble. So…no
fat superman. In fact, if you think about it, no fat anyone. Because let’s face
it, there are no fat characters in fan world. Men or women.
You could cover
yourself completely, try a costume that doesn’t show yourself.
But Chloe
objected, saying ‘what the hell, cosplay should be for fun!’ She was stared
down, and considered a naive amateur.
Ah! Blood rose
across the world and Chloe’s popularity is exploding. She stood up for US! I
liked her on FB…as well as many, many, many others. A question I didn’t hear
posed, which I wonder about…so…can you be a black superman? An Asian Luke
Skywalker?
I don’t know, but
I’m curious.
I could probably
really get into cosplay…if there were someone I could portray realistically. I
asked my source, ‘Bob’, if my lavender wig put in mind someone. He said, yeah,
the female hero in KickAss. Probably with that? She’s tiny, she’s young…not a
chance I could do it.
Maybe I could do
her after she’s retired and taken up eating bonbons for a living?
*snort!
So, what is my
point in this blog. Well, it’s Friday, so why be too serious. At the same time,
I find the idea of being laughed off a stage, no matter how fabulous your
production and creation…because you don’t fit the physical perfection of the
character…disturbing.
Nerd/geekdom is
facing a lot of internal conflict right now. Accusations of sexism run rampant.
And are based on fact, trust me.
Growing times for
the scifi/fantasty world. And it’s about time.
There are the
strict gatekeepers for every enthusiasm. Be it writing historical, or dressing
up like superman.
Do you know anything about cosplay? Have you ever
been part of a group held hostage by the gatekeepers? Anyone else watched this
show?
Friday, August 16, 2013
Las Vegas, Confidence...and Wigs
I love my new wig...and maybe when I'm all silver I will have my natural hair dyed this color... Hee, hee.
What does a lavender wig have to do with anything? Well, it
can spark plot ideas, lift the spirits, challenge my costume shopping gene…
Now, what is really funny about this… I had this hairstyle
when I was in third grade. In fact, this is one of my all-time favorite school
pictures. It wasn’t until I got home from Vegas, where I bought the wig, that I
realized how similar these two hairstyles are.
Third grade was the year the family moved to a new city.
First time I dealt with mean girls who were mean just because they could be.
Which I didn’t understand at all, so I stood up to them, eyes clear and
confident that I was right. (I was.) Ran into a friend I made in that new city
a few years ago, who remembered clearly how I made Debbie stop picking on her.
I don’t remember it. I guess because it didn’t seem extraordinary to me. It
certainly was to L.
I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence lately, as I seem
to be falling in and out of black hole regarding what confidence I have. I don’t
know if a lavender wig will help me, though I do find a pirate hat at
conventions does wonders for my ability to connect with people. (Now, if only
all those compliments about the hat would translate into some of these people
taking a chance on buying a pirate story…)
Do you remember when
you were the bravest kid in school? Or knew the bravest kid in school? Do you
think it was a matter of confidence or ignorance? ;-)
Friday, August 9, 2013
Live! From Las Vegas!
Yeah, I'm still alive. Toasted. Very toasted. Exhausted, hoarse, but content.
I had my big panel today, crew. The one about everything I learned from almost dying...about 7 people there, but it was good.
I was articulate, didn't sweat, never stumbled...
Okay that's all a lie.
I was a wreck, but I think I bluffed through enough to make it work. I know it worked for at least one young woman who came up to afterward and thanked me for being so honest. She admitted she suffered from panic attacks and held a lot of fear of rejection. We sat and talked for a good 15 minutes afterward and ... you know... if you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.
So, even thought I sweated like crazy and wasn't sure of where I was most of the time, because I'd scribbled all over my notes and kept getting lost... It was good.
And if I ever do this again, I will be better organized.
But to top it all off, at the costume ball, I was visiting with a friend I sorta smuggled in with me, and Jennifer Ashley stopped to chat with some other people at the table... I nudged Siobhan and said, "That's Jennifer Ashley." Siobhan had already admitted she was fan... It was great! Siobhan introduced herself, got a picture, was glowing. I stood up and got a picture... and then...
Jennifer said she'd seen the write up for my panel and wanted to go but wasn't able to...had I really almost died? And she asked about it all and I stood there and talked with her...and she remembered who I was from RWA two years ago and ... it was a good night!
So, I'll be on and off the blog today. I have panels to attend and a water slide to ride that takes one through a shark tank... I also hope to do the zipline out at the Fremont Street Experience... And buy a drink with a coupon I got... 24 oz for the price of 16 oz. I really want to see what I get with this! And there is an awesome chocolate store here...must visit!
Anyway, the theme of today's blog, at the heart is what I wrote earlier. If you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.
Can you remember when someone helped you out of a bad vibe? Or a book that helped? A particular thing someone said, or did? Have you ever felt that humble warmth of knowing you did right? Let's hear about it, share the goodness, crew!
I had my big panel today, crew. The one about everything I learned from almost dying...about 7 people there, but it was good.
I was articulate, didn't sweat, never stumbled...
Okay that's all a lie.
I was a wreck, but I think I bluffed through enough to make it work. I know it worked for at least one young woman who came up to afterward and thanked me for being so honest. She admitted she suffered from panic attacks and held a lot of fear of rejection. We sat and talked for a good 15 minutes afterward and ... you know... if you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.
So, even thought I sweated like crazy and wasn't sure of where I was most of the time, because I'd scribbled all over my notes and kept getting lost... It was good.
And if I ever do this again, I will be better organized.
But to top it all off, at the costume ball, I was visiting with a friend I sorta smuggled in with me, and Jennifer Ashley stopped to chat with some other people at the table... I nudged Siobhan and said, "That's Jennifer Ashley." Siobhan had already admitted she was fan... It was great! Siobhan introduced herself, got a picture, was glowing. I stood up and got a picture... and then...
Jennifer said she'd seen the write up for my panel and wanted to go but wasn't able to...had I really almost died? And she asked about it all and I stood there and talked with her...and she remembered who I was from RWA two years ago and ... it was a good night!
So, I'll be on and off the blog today. I have panels to attend and a water slide to ride that takes one through a shark tank... I also hope to do the zipline out at the Fremont Street Experience... And buy a drink with a coupon I got... 24 oz for the price of 16 oz. I really want to see what I get with this! And there is an awesome chocolate store here...must visit!
Anyway, the theme of today's blog, at the heart is what I wrote earlier. If you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.
Can you remember when someone helped you out of a bad vibe? Or a book that helped? A particular thing someone said, or did? Have you ever felt that humble warmth of knowing you did right? Let's hear about it, share the goodness, crew!
Friday, August 2, 2013
Searching Through The Snow
My husband is taking a workshop where he works, called “Search
Inside Yourself” … It seems like a pretty cool class. It’s four hours a week, four
classes. Evidently it began at Google by a guy interested in helping people who
count on moving forward run into different levels of anxiety that stifle the
creative process.
One is called the snowglobe. Deals with calming all that
snow floating around the head. You know what that snow is…it’s the worry, the
things you need to get done, the things you think you need to do, the things
others think you need to do, The things you really need to do, the things that
matter, the things that don’t matter… The stuff that distorts the vision…the
narrow vision that is required to accomplish…well…anything.
I think it’s pretty interesting that his company is
sponsoring this program and he says the class is quite full. Like over 50
people.
I’d actually like to attend! It’s based on the concept of
Emotional Intelligence, something too many people rate a black star for.
Though as a writer, the ability to manage the snowglobe is
more a talent we learn, not…unlearn. (With the business view, they are
attempting to ignore the snow and just keep moving forward. Force a calmness in
the storm. Writers manage the snow.) We write, we promote, we blog, we
facebook, we tweet, we go to conventions, we worry about sales, we worry about
reviews, about not getting reviews, about our readers. If we aren’t published,
we worry about finishing, about what will happen after we finish…on and on and
on. We have so many frigging balls in
the air, it’s like a snowstorm around us all the bloody time.
Save when we write. When we are able to just get lost in the
process and forget we’re surrounded by snow, perched next to that snowman. That’s
when we’re in the groove.
The DH also told me about another aspect in the class…which
said when we are in that groove it means we are confident in our skills. That anxiety
enters when we are scared and uncertain…because we lack a skill. The only way
around it is to develop the skill necessary to bring the anxiety down so that
the challenge meets the skill and you’re back in that groove. (Or lower the challenge to balance with your
skills. I do think this is a viable option, especially when it comes to things
like learning social media. The challenge of being able to use every one of
them and develop and use the skills necessary to be comfortable with them all?
It’s a career all in itself! So lower the challenge expectations and just pick
one or two of them.)
Well, yeah, that makes sense.
But what was interesting was that sometimes we are unable to
find that groove because our skill outweighs the challenge….so we get bored.
And that can fill us with anxiety. (Writing is supposed to be fun, right? Not…boring.
But sometimes, it is. And we feel like something is wrong with us or the
writing if we get bored. But in reality…we are just doing a part of the ‘job’
where our skills outweigh the challenge! Like editing an old manuscript…my
skills have grown, so as I revise/edit, I get bored with the process. Doesn’t
mean it’s flawed. I HAVE to remember this…)
The key is the balance of the two. You increase the challenge so that you, again,
find the groove.
I’m presently revising the last fourth of large book and
struggling. I realized last night that I was struggling because…I’m bored. Now,
I know the story and at first I resisted the idea that the story wasn’t
challenging me. It’s the punctuation fixes and the POV fixes and…not the story!
But…it’s the story. It’s missing something that will challenge me. And I
figured out what it was. I need an external challenge for my couple. So!
Developing that is next on my list…right after I get thru the punctuation/POV/etc.
fixes.
Because I want the groove back.
Personally, I love the groove.
And I hate snow. I’m not a good juggler and I get cold. I
freeze when presented with too much snow. Actual snow and mental snow. Demands
of snow. Some people just rise to the challenge. Or they relish the
organization of all that snow, or they play with it and build snowmen and forts…and…
I’m losing control of this!
Anyway! What do you
think of the things the DH is discovering? Where do you find yourself on the
chart? Or in the snowglobe?
Monday, July 22, 2013
Living on the Fringe
I was recently on FB and commented on something on my
newsfeed. Another author was venting, pissed at finding herself dissed from a
conversation within a group. I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I asked for a bit
of specificity. She said it was a group discussion, where someone walks up and
inserts self, then takes over, dismissing who she doesn’t consider important
within the group.
Ah! I knew what she was talking about. I call it being
fringed.This happens to me. Sometimes it is because of a specific person who deliberately eliminates those they don’t know or consider unimportant. Sometimes, I truly believe people do it without realizing they are doing it. Their energy is so intense or overwhelming, they intimidate and or take over without meaning to. It happens.
Sometimes a group just grows too large and naturally splits.
And people are just shuffled to the outside.
Why do we stay there? On the edge? Well, we are easily shuffled and don’t really
know how to re-establish our position. We might just shrug and leave, it isn’t
worth risking giving the impression of pushiness.
Yup, I’m one of those.
It happens within social groups. It happens within so many
avenues. If we complain, we are told to be more assertive. That we need to
speak up for ourselves. And undoubtedly we do.
Ah, but I am so tired of being told if I were
more…assertive, pushy, confrontational, loud, secure…then I’d be more
successful, more part of, more everything.
The thing is, I’m not a shy person. I am not terribly
reserved. I am sensitive to offending. (Despite the impression I give sometimes
when I blog.) I am sensitive to being rude. I was taught to be polite, to a
fault. If you are dismissed, you go. You don’t impose. You don’t insert.
Yet, I know there are better words for what I should do…and
most of it is my perception of how to define the right thing to do. The right
way to act.
Now, when I put a pirate hat on at convention, I change.
Same convention, I wander without the hat and I’m once more living on the
fringe.
Every situation of being fringed calls for a separate
evaluation. And living on the fringe can be a choice. In fact, it likely is a
choice. I know I’d like to be aware of making that choice.
I’d like to start a movement. The fringed movement. We
count, we are there and we aren’t invisible. We aren’t mice, we aren’t timid.
We are aware, sensitive and polite. We are everywhere. We inhabit the
borderlands. We write stuff that doesn’t quite fit in, (like romantic adventure
featuring pirates.) We are the lady writers of scifi/fantasy, who are dissed by
the great white men. We are the self-pubbed who aren’t best sellers. We are
here. Always have been. And despite my FB manifesto last week, we aren’t
invisible. It just feel that way sometimes.
I think everyone
feels fringed now and then. I need to design some buttons… Any suggestions for
our slogan? Ever felt that way yourself?
(Yes, it was Terri’s turn
to blog today, but she begged off…speaking to me on Saturday of an oncoming
coma she intended to be in come Monday.)Friday, July 19, 2013
Re-Reads and the Desert Island Scenario
I know a lot of people reread their favorites. The crew here
has chatted about that, which got me thinking about what I read again and
again. And I realized, for the most part, I don’t reread anything. My sis reads
the Lord of the Rings Trilogy every year, like a gift she gives herself. I have
read those multiple times, but not with any regularity.
I think, when I was younger, I would reread books. But the
last ten/twenty years? Nope.
Just don’t have time and there are so many new books out
there waiting for me.
There is only one thing I do reread. My own writings. That
is a pretty constant thing. I read something from beginning to end, or think
about a scene I wrote in that alien one or the DBSM (that will never see the
light of day) and I’ll go find it and read it.
Why?
Well, sometimes it’s just about reassuring myself that I can
write.
(Are writers the most insecure people on the planet, or
what?)
Sometimes it’s because I’ve learned something new so I dive
in and edit as I read. (Honestly, I always edit when I read.)
And sometimes? Well, I just want to read the story I wrote
for entertainment value. (Did I say we were insecure? Or was that egotistical?)
Because of my insecurity, there are reams of books I won’t
read, even for the first time. I fear corruption. I fear finding out what I
hack I am. I fear the green eyed monster soaring into the sky and blocking out
my light. And that can be true from books I’ve heard are really good, to books
I’ve heard are really bad and still made the author a fortune.
I’m an equal opportunity non-reader sometimes. I don’t even
reread the books I really enjoyed! Well, mostly. I have gone back and reread
some mystery series. When I’m on a real terror. So, I’ll read all 14 volumes of
the George Chesbro books. Or the 50+ Nero Wolfe books, or the Miles Vorkosigan
scifi saga. I think about reading Asimov’s Foundation series again, or Dune one
of these days… For a geek, those two are bedrock books, especially Foundation.
Also read 2001, A Space Odyssey and a few of the real golden age authors.
Clifford D. Simak and A. E. VanVogt.
And yes, I am a scifi geek. But really only the older
authors, who aren’t around anymore. It’s sorta odd.
For mystery? Well, a bunch I don’t read…because they are golden
era mystery. Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe) and Agatha Christie is probably the closest
I come to those. And Holmes, course.
Fantasy? Tolkien – yup, read him. C.S. Lewis I imagine,
nope, never read him. Marion Zimmer Bradley – some of her. Anne McCaffrey, read.
(But not all.)
I know most of ye pirates are romance readers from a very
early age. I’m not. And I’m not sure I’d want to read the golden age, because
the genre has changed so much, writing style. (Same with the other genres,
trust me.)
You’ve hooked my on Eloisa James. I’ve read a Susan
Elizabeth Phillips, Kristin Higgins, Jill Shalvis and others. Nora, Cherry… But
honestly, nothing I’d reread, as much as I enjoyed them the first time through.
It’s a bit sad, I know. But when you stand in front of a section
at a bookstore, the titles are overwhelming! So many new things! Reread? I
barely have time to read the first time through! Now, I can watch the same
movies over and over again…but it’s more of partial attention. Books really do
require full attention. (Shut up, Terri!) (Yes, I know, I miss things when I
read…) (I know!) (I get the gist of things!) (Oh, that’s right, she isn’t here
today…) (Nevermind.)
Anyway! I could ask
what books you’ll never read again, but I know we don’t like to stir up things
like that on the Revenge. Now, if I was stranded on a desert island and could
only take one book with me… I’d take
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. But I find poetry can be reread and will
constantly mean something different according to the mood. What ONE book would
you take with you?
Friday, July 12, 2013
Rejection is Not an Emotion
So, I imagine the idea that rejection isn’t an emotion might
sound like old news. For others, they are blinking and going…wait! I’ve felt
rejected before! It’s terrible! It made me feel horrible!
Yup, well, horrible is sorta the same as saying I feel
rejection. Horror can be an emotion. But horrible? I’m not sure.
You see, I’m in couples’ counseling with the spouse and we
have a fabulous guy helping us restore lines of communication, etc. I mean,
things break down after 33 years. Just sorta slides into a rut of sameness.
We’re working on climbing out of the rut. It’s a good thing. (Don’t worry about
us.)
The language of communicating emotions is a treacherous one.
My poor husband is floundering like a fish out of water. He’s an engineer. Plus
he grew up with the message that there are bad emotions and good emotions and
that about summed it up. He feels good or he feels bad. That is about as deep
as he goes.
After a particularly difficult session, I told him about the
Emotional Thesaurus, and he asked me to get one for him. (He’s great about
wanting to figure it all out.) Most complex feelings are buried so deep, he
needs a backhoe to find them. If not something bigger.
While me? Oh, I pride myself on expressing what is going on.
I am a word person, right?
Uh, no. I went through an episode a few weeks back that
opened my eyes to how far away I was from actual experiencing my emotions.
The convo went something like this… (I’m also summarizing,
it took a lot longer than this.)
“How did that make you feel?”
“I felt rejected.”
“No, how did you feel?”
I tilt my head, narrow my eyes, my brows knit. “I…I felt
rejected…”
He changed his tactics… “What does rejection feel like?”
BIG LIGHTBULB MOMENT.
“OH. It…hurts.”
BINGO!
It took some digging but I found the base of my emotions
regarding rejection. There are a lot of emotions that can stem from
experiencing rejection, from hurt, to anger, to elation (you sick masochists
out there!)
You never know where a lesson in writing and deepening a character’s
reaction will come from. It might be in the middle of a counseling session! The
word rejection is a distancing method from the actual feeling. It gives it a
label and makes it easy to slot into a category of good or bad emotion. But! It
isn’t going deep enough. Think about that the next time your character knows
rejection. Choose the deeper path or the lighter path and make it feel right
for that character.
I know this now.
Can you think of any
other word we use to create distance from the actual emotion? What else should
I, and others, keep an eye out for?
Friday, July 5, 2013
History, How I Love History
Yup, I bet that surprises most of you. But I really do love
history. Once upon a time, I read a great deal of historical fiction. The heavy
stuff, from Leon Uris, James Michener and Allen Drury to William Manchester.
I devoured American History, Irish History, Native American
History…I just couldn’t get enough. I even thought, at one point, that I would
write tomes such as Uris, Michener and the like. But…I discovered as much as I
enjoyed reading it…I really didn’t want to write it.
I didn’t want to write REAL history. I discovered the joy of
my life…mucking with history, trampling thru the facts, rewriting what happened…
I wanted to write Hollywood history! (Really, Hollywood never gets it right.) When
real history gets in the way of a good story, the solution is simple. Change it.
If you change it a lot, like toss in vampires, zombies or
overt paranormal elements, it isn’t too hard. And it’s easy for readers to see
it, recognize it and know this isn’t about the facts, ma’am.
If you change it a little, add in a new person who meets
famous people, or turn a well-known figure into a solver of mysteries…ala the
ones I read where Jack London solved mysteries in the San Francisco Bay…you can
get away with it. As long as you don’t interfere with what is known as
historically accurate.
But if you claim you’re writing what really happened, you
have to get the facts right. All of them, from dress codes to furniture to
available food items…street names…I mean, be accurate. Because if you aren’t…someone
is going to care and spell out to you exactly how much of an idiot you are.
Now, I write adventures. And in my adventures, I write
deliberately inaccurate history. I know that pirate ships of the 1690’s didn’t
have ship wheels. They had a whipstaff. Tortuga was actually a tiny little
ramshackle town, perched on the rocky shores of a small island, not an
established pirate city, with merchants, a mayor and all. And Port Royal was a
city of great sin, not a calm British settlement, the center of the British
realm in the Caribbean.
Yeah, I know these things. I know chocolate wasn’t readily
available. I know coffee wasn’t available. I know Elizabeth didn’t marry and
leave the crown to her children. I know England didn’t release Ireland as a
possession in the 1700s. I know…well, I know a lot.
But that isn’t fun. And it doesn’t fit what I want my
characters to experience. I do try to make it plain, in my blurbs, in my
blathering about the books…but I still worry someone is going to attempt to
nail me on getting a historical fact wrong. I’m considering a sticker for my
books… Warning: Deliberately Historically Inaccurate.
Yet, I love history. As I sit here, on the Fourth of July,
writing this, the television is playing a series called The Revolutionary War.
A historical step by step of the American War of Independence. Love. It.
What do you say? Do
you have a favorite historical period you like to read? A book? Are you
interested in the books which rewrite or muck about with historical truth, or
does it irritate you? If you could rewrite anything of history…what would you
do?
Friday, June 21, 2013
My Panel!
Egad, I have six weeks to put together and perfect a panel
presentation for the Romance Novel Convention, being held in Las Vegas. Yup.
The one on what I learned about writing from nearly dying. You remember, that
one!
So…the plan…an outline and a panel. Yup. That’s the plan…
And what part do you, the crew of the most fabulous blog in
the entire cyber seas have to do with all of this?
I’m begging you for some information. Because I can only
blather so much and need something to handout… Can ya answer some questions for
me?
1)
What websites do you find the most helpful when
you’re looking for help with formatting, or submitting or writing or any of
that malarkey?
2)
Do you have favorite books on the craft?
Including the ones to help with when you’re just stuck…
3)
Organizations? Conventions? Methods? Classes?
4)
Words of wisdom, from favorite writers, editors?
Yeah, I know…but let’s face it, I’m a rocket in my pants
type of writer and don’t plot, don’t take many classes… I'd just like ta have somethin' ta hand out that can be useful, along with information on the heart, and PTSD and dealing with fear...
So! I need ya, crew! I promise to praise the blog and all of
ye scurvy crew. Hell, already planned ta speak of how my new found bravery
after nearly dying took me ta reach out and crawl aboard the ship…and the rest
be history!
And…share with me what makes a panel interesting for you? So
I don’t put anyone to sleep…
ADVICE NEEDED!
Friday, June 14, 2013
I Have An Idea
I think it’s time for a new genre. Now that New Adult has
hit the big time, hence acknowledging the existence of a group of people known
as out-of-their-teens, and there is Boomer Lit, acknowledging people born from
1946 -1964 still have a life… I want to propose a new group.
Now, I am an advocate of Boomer Lit. Well, I’m advocate of
Boomer fiction. I’m not sure about the ‘lit’ part of the new genre. Sounds a
bit too highfalutin for me. So…since we have New Adult, and Young Adult…how
about Old Adult.
Young Adult celebrates the changes from childhood to teenage
angst. The era of puberty.
New Adult celebrates the social acceptance of teenagers and
twenty somethings being adult enough to have sex, which puberty made fun.
(Hopefully.) And romance, of course.
Old Adult would be a celebration of the second round of
puberty, known as menopause. (And men have it, you know they do. They just
don’t have it to the extent women have it. Men get to call theirs a Mid-Life
Crisis and buy fast cars. While women are pouring pitchers of ice water down
the front of their shirts.) (Life isn’t fair.)
So OA could deal with the challenges presented by this
special time of growth and appreciation. A real hero who is courting in an OA
novel, would need to be strong, with a sense of humor, a truck load of patience
and a heart the size of Alaska. (Texas isn’t big enough.) (Ha!)
The heroine would have more emotional upheaval than an
entire high school, body issues that would look at the average teenage girl’s
insecurity and laugh until hysterical, and with a need for real romance and
massive orgasms.
Honestly, a field ripe for writers!
Am I right?
Okay, I admit the name sucks donkey balls. But I’m floundering
a bit on what to call this genre. Used Adult? Experienced Adult? Adult Adult?
Active Adult? (That sorta sounds like a Depends commercial.)
Put on your Friday
drinking hats and do some thinking…what would you call it?
Friday, June 7, 2013
Two Down, 28 To Go!
And the second book is out!
Yup, Red Sean’s Revenge is available! At the same time, the
kindle version of A Caribbean Spell is on sale for 99 cents and the print is up
on Amazon!
Gods, I’ve been busy. Set up some giveaway on Goodreads, and
one on FreeBookFridays… And I’m still pushing to get the print version of The
Pirate Circus out before the end of the month…
And contracting with my cover artist to work on the cover
for book number three, The French Gambit. Doing first round edits on The French
Gambit and pre-first round edits on book four, which I’ve decided to call Magic’s
Hostage.
And somewhere in here, I want to start working on my Aliens
Just Want Cats story…
You know, life was simpler when I had an agent and let her
do all the work. Having editors give me assignments. A cover questionnaire…yet…this
doing it myself is fun. I like having the final say on things. I like knowing
whatever is out there is on me. I don’t like trying to figure out how to
promote, what to spend money on, what to not spend money on.
Sometimes I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right. I have a feeling I’ll
know in a few years.
Meanwhile…Red Sean! Dastardly man, evil to the core. No redeeming
features. He lives for vengeance, born to it. He thrives on the blood of his
victims painting the deck red. Oh, yeah. This guy is bad. And man, does he
bring darkness to the world of Jake and Miranda.
But you know what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger. It also helps you see what is right in front of you…
This was the second full length book I wrote and I broke so
many rules in it. Because I didn’t know there were rules. Life was easier when
I didn’t know the rules. Writing rules are a PITA. I’m not talking about the
grammarly things, or spelling things right or using the right sort of dialogue
tags.
I’m talking about the other rules. Internal conflict. Outside
conflict. Don’t kill the dog. Don’t go too far with what you do to your heroes.
The black moment…the first act, the second, the third, the HEA… I reveled in
breaking rules…ah, the days of running free and unfettered by the rules, some
written, some simply understood…
Of all the rules,
what would you love to break?
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