What ever happened to...

Morals? Doing the right thing? Just plain, old - fashioned honesty? I guess cheating has become socially acceptable. I hear it's hard to stop it in the schools. I don't want to sound like a little Miss Goody Two Shoes (where did that reference arise?),but if I discover I've neglected to pay for something that was buried in a corner of my shopping cart (as happened last week with a tiny carton I didn't see when pulling stuff out for the conveyor belt), I'll go back into the store and pay for it. No big deal.

So I was totally taken aback while at a big box store today when I saw a nicely dressed, middle aged woman pop open a tube of hand cream and slather her hands with it. Right there in front of everyone, she put the used tube back on the shelf. I couldn't help myself, I blurted out "I hope you're going to pay for that." She gave me a disdainful glare and said "who are you, the manager?"

I almost went to find a manager, but I figured it was a lost cause. This woman was old enough to know better. This wasn't a store that put out samples for customers to try. She didn't give a rip that the person who ended up buying that hand cream was getting shortchanged. Talk about sticking it to the Golden Rule.

I gotta say, I wish shame hadn't gone out of style. That woman sure needed a dose of it.

Writing Business

In this crazy business called writing, there's little certainty and a ton of variables. Money, particularly, is a dicey subject, and one most writers hate, all for various very good reasons. First, the author is normally on the bottom of the money pile. Unless you're Nora Roberts or Stephen King, of course. Most writers don't divulge their advances, which is the only real chance the writer has to make some moulah. A few are amazingly up front about money, and Susan Beth Pfeffer is one of them. There's also a "Show me the Money" list compiled by RWA's Brenda Hyatt, that lists the range for advances for most publishers. Check out her website - it was listed there once upon a time.

If you would like a detailed explanation of how advances and royalties work, check out Susan Pfeffer's blog entry for June 23, 2009. www.susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com. I couldn't have done a better job.

I just read Pfeffer's Life as We Knew it, a YA about a world lost in climatic chaos after a meteor collides with Earth's moon. I loved the book, and it continues my reading streak of YA winners. I declare, YA writers are the best in the business.

Westerns Redux

I'm on an author loop where the discussion recently has been about the status of Westerns. Several of us write, or have written them, and many of us remember, with great fondness, the old TV programs: The Rifleman, Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel (my personal fav), Big Valley, and The Lone Ranger, etc. While some like Bonanza can be found on cable channels in reruns, I find myself not wanting to watch them again. Why, I wonder, since I adored them when they were new?

It's not just me who has matured. I think society has moved forward as well. Though the idea of a Paladin who helps the downtrodden is classic (Have Gun Will Travel), we need to see it within the context of our times. And times have changed. We no longer buy into the myth. Think Wikileaks. Think of political scandals now front and center. Anyone want to read about how a U.S. Senator was raped as a child? Our society can't buy into Good v. Evil and Good always wins. We know better. We lost in Vietnam. And maybe we weren't the good guys after all.

Whenever I catch a few minutes of Big Valley or some other old Western on TV, I try to remember where I was, what I was thinking, and why I liked it. It's a lovely trip down memory lane, but it's not where I want to live today. I'm all for the moment I'm in now, the future, and beyond. I've grown up, and so has our world.

It remains to be seen if it's for the better. I hope so.

Decompression

First of all, let me tell you, getting rid of that awful autocorrect deal on the iPad is the best thing I ever did. Now I can take responsibility for my own errors, thank you very much. No more wondering why or how my typing slid into the Twilight zone. It's never been great, but sheesh! Autocorrect came up with some real lulus.

Speaking of lulus, I've been wiped out since all the graduation melee. I don't know if it's the long hours in the car, the excitement and crowds, or sleeping in a strange bed, or a combination of all of the above. Mostly, I think it's the noise. I've posted before about how much I crave quiet. Even a loud lawnmower can drive me batty when I'm working. Earphones, the sound-deadening kind, are my friend. Best friend, in fact. Now that everyone has gone home and I'm back in the groove, it's getting better. Deep breathing exercises. Total laziness for at least twelve hours. Ignore the house mess. Focus on the WIP. Yes, it's coming around.

But I may have to vacuum the dog fur in the office before I get going this a.m. That white stuff on the dark purple is just too weird. I'm considering dying the dog purple so this isn't an issue anymore. Do you think I could be arrested for doggy abuse?

Graduation Day

It's hard to explain what I'm feeling as I pack to take off for my youngest's graduation after five years in architecture school. Pride, certainly, for she has worked hard and done well. Sadness, in a way, because she's now certifiably an adult. Well, chronologically an adult, but to me, she'll always be my baby. My dad is thrilled because he finally has someone else with a degree from his beloved Virginia Tech. Plus, she's the first person on the family with a Bachelors degree in Architecture. We have a slew of B.S., B.A., M.S. M.A., M.Ed., M.LS, and J.D. degrees. It's nice to have an architect after all the engineers, teachers, librarians, and lawyers.

Education at the bachelors level is less of a ticket into a job than it was a million years ago when I got my bachelors degree. Graduate school is almost a necessity. I always told my children to take a year or two off before starting their post-grad careers. Give yourself a chance to decompress, enjoy life, and figure out what you REALLY want to do.

You never know what path you never saw coming that will rise up and grab you by the ankles. This is coming from the Art History major who went to law school.

Anyway, we're all very proud of her, as we are of all our offspring. They've done remarkably well and turned into lovely young women. We're the fortunate ones, to get to see them blossom and grow up close and personal.

Short Hair

No, not short hairS. Please!

I went through a phase last year where I was tired of my hair looking the same as that of every old lady. You know, short, practical, boring. Well, maybe not every old lady of my acquaintance, but most of the ones I don't know. In line on front of me at the grocery store. At the bank. Etc.

So, I decided to let it grow out. I figured I'd get it to the pony tail stage, and I could thread it through the back hoopy part of my race caps. I'd be cooler, I reasoned, with a tail swinging off the back of my head. So the hair grew, and it grew, and it grew. I was definitely feeling the late sixties, my hippie days with love bead headbands and unimpressive stringy brown tresses. Lots of tresses. I began to remember how hot hair is when it hit in the eighties one freaky day in March. Not groovy by a long shot.

So much for the sixties and pony tails. Found a cool and hip new hairdresser to wield her artistic razor through the minefield on my head, and behold, I'm back to short hair. Edgy, hip, cool short hair. I promise never to grow it out again.

For one thing, my Beloved didn't recognize me from the back. For another, it just wasn't flatterimg for this old broad. And for a third thing, it was too danged hot.

I'm a short hair kind of girl, and that's all there is to it.

What do we really know?

I've debated whether or not to write this post, and the dice landed on this side of the computer. A man died in my neighborhood on Mother's Day.

I didn't know him. I didn't even know he was there. I have wondered who owned the white Highlander in the driveway of a house where I know the owners quite well. At least, I thought I knew them. The Toyota wasn't their car, but I thought maybe one of the kids had returned for a Mother's Day visit. It was odd that the owners' car wasn't there, but maybe it was in the shop.

The couple who own the house are a bit more than acquaintances. I'd ask them for help, and have, and I hope they'd feel they could ask me for the same. Nice people. So when I saw, Sunday evening last, an ambulance, fire engine,and four police cars in front of the house, I was alarmed. Had someone fallen down the stairs? Had there been a heart attack? Who was injured? What could we do to help?

My Beloved called the neighbors between us, and they didn't know much more than we did, except for one crucial fact. There'd been a 911 call, and the responders found a man, deceased, in the house. My neighbor gave the police the owners' cell phone number, but there was no answer. My neighbor had no idea of the identity of the deceased. The homeowners weren't home, and still aren't today.

I feel awful that this unknown person didn't know he could have called on any of us in this subdivision for immediate help. We're a helping kind of folk. That he died alone, waiting for an ambulance that didn't arrive in time, or even with flashing lights, makes me feel infinitely sad. I know more about the characters in my stories than I do about the people who live around me.

Of course, I make up my characters, so they have no secrets. But still, I feel the need to get to know everyone on my street much better. Not just socially, to say Hi, and How are you? How are the kids? They need to know we're here for them, and for anyone else in the neighborhood.

If only. . . . I mourn this unknown man and feel a great sense of "I can and should do better."

Mother's Day

It's been a lovely time, shopping and eating, talking and laughing with the offspring. Clouds gave way to a perfect spring day, and we picnicked after church under the umbrella on Ahi tuna and asparagus cooked on the grill. Artisan sunflower seed bread, salad, strawberries and a chocolate cake to die for have me both sated and lethargic. I feel like a stuffed tick, as we say in the South. What a perfect day.

I hope all of you enjoyed your mothers and children, of the two-legged or four-legged variety. Children, of course. Not four-legged mothers. That would be a bit weird. More than a bit. . . .

Fickle! Fie!

So my elder offspring arrived for Mother's Day weekend. While I was, of course, thrilled to see her, meeting her in the driveway to help her with her luggage, my hugs were nothing considered to the dog's. On the other side of the back yard fence, the canine child tried her best to jump the gate, all the while moaning as if in extreme ecstasies. Upon opening the gate for the fickle critter, I was shoved aside as she leaped, twirled, and generally carried on like an abused child being rescued, licking and pawing her true love. My human child, of course, reciprocated in kind, and the two of them blurred together in this love fest.

Isn't that how it goes? Sigh. Those who feed, water, walk, pet, cuddle, and make adoring noises on a daily basis get ignored. Yes, from the moment she arrived home, my elder child has had a canine bed mate, foot warmer, and general factotum. What am I, chopped liver? Nothing that wonderful, it seems. Another big sigh from my lonely corner. Now I know MY place in the pecking order.

Wait until the four-footed princess wants an extra treat or a longer walk.

Frying pans

When my beloved and I were first married, we never had any real issues. Except for one. As every Southern woman knows, her cast iron frying pan is sacred, and never, I repeat, NEVER, to be immersed in hot water and scrubbed with a Brillo pad. You know what's coming, don't you?

Yes, my Yankee darling just didn't understand the years that had gone into seasoning that pan. Why, I could slide a pineapple upside down cake out with one gentle tap. Its finish had been ten years in the making. Aside from my sterling flatware and grandmother's Rosenthal china, and perhaps my Mikimoto pearls, nothing else I brought to my new marriage of a physical nature was more important to me.

The morning he attacked it with hot water and a scrubber was almost his last. For the first time ever, I threatened him with dire consequences, the least of which was divorce, if he ever touched my frying pan again. I can still see his shocked expression, and I am happy to say, I never had to threaten him again. He will stare at it, in all its glory, on the stove, glance at me as if checking to see if I noticed his hands itching to throw it in the sink, then he walks away. Slowly, to show me he's not scared. But I know he is. No one, I repeat, no one touches that pan but me.

I'm going to leave it to my daughters to fight over when I'm gone. Like all good Southern girls, they understand it is priceless.

Richmond!

Great racing last night! My driver was running well, but his, like many other cars, got caught up in a mess that ruined his night. Sigh. BTW, David Reutimann is a nice guy. Signed our race flag at the MWR trailer, and I teased him about the beard, lol. He pointed out my beloved's goatee and mustache, but as I said, I'm married to my Beloved and don't tell him what to do.

We were parked near nice people, enjoyed chatting with them, and the weather couldn't have been better. If you ever go to one NASCAR race, go to Richmond.

I heard Kyle Busch say you never have a perfect car. I was wondering, does that mean you can never have a perfect book? I can think of books I've read that qualify as almost perfect in my eyes. But I know I always feel that I could rewrite forever. That's why it's so hard to go back and reread my older stuff. My rewriting instincts kick in, and I would kill to be able to start over. I wonder if Dean Koontz ever feels that way, LOL?

Racing!

Tis that time of year. Boxes packed with tailgating stuff (don't you love that word, 'stuff'?), driver and track flags, flag pole, food, ice, drinks, and comfy chairs, oh, and the tent and tables, are coming down from the shed's attic. To be clear, the ice is coming from Kroger, and the food and drinks from the same place, lol. I take perverse pleasure in making hummus, marinated pilaf with pine nuts, and apple tacquitos for snacks. Carrots and celery instead of Fritoes, and lemonade instead of Bud, and our makeshift camp gets plenty of stares. Not many of our fellow tailgaters want to share our goodies, but then again, we're not tempted with their repast either. There's a real hierarchy among tailgaters, and I can in no way compete with the crowd who deep fry turkeys and make margaritas with mixers powered by generators. I just don't wanna work that hard, to be honest.

I'll take the iPad and catch up on some reading, proof the latest WIP, and snooze between trips to the vendor area. We look forward to race day as down time we can't manage at home. The racing is just a bonus. After a day filled with eating, chatting with friendly race goers, and good racing, we feel like new people by the time we finally head home.

Now if David Reutimann won, the weekend would be complete.

Easter 2011

I have always loved Easter. Even if its timing coincides with some pagan rite, I see it as a time to reflect on God and Her relationship with mankind. How wonderful to reaffirm the lesson and promise of the resurrection! It's about living, not dying. The new flowers, the violently green leaves unfurling hourly, the fresh scent of rain and warm earth, are all symbols, for me, of the unbroken link binding us to the Infinite Good.

So much for theology. Peeps rock, as do the bags of jelly beans. May your Easter be joyous and chocolate-stuffed.

Crossfire - Dick Francis' Last Book?

Downloaded Crossfire last night and started reading before I went to bed. It is okay, but not yet the typical enthralling Francis read. To be clear about where I'm coming from, I have not only read every Francis novel in print, I've analyzed some of them down to the last sentence. The man wrote, as I've said before, the ultimate honorable hero. His pacing, characterizations, plotting, and details are the work of a master.

I awoke in the middle of the night, knowing what is missing. Those little details that show, and don't tell, the reader are in short supply. There's a scene in an office, and I remember how Francis has used that same device before, and the room's furnishings tell us what kind of people work here. Is the desk chair a worn, comfy leather armchair, or is a new Ikea utilitarian model? He would, with a few minor details, show us what our hero is facing in breaching this inner sanctum. Not so in Crossfire. The hero enters the office, does his snooping, and discovers instantly what he wants to know. So much for layering the story.

A Francis hero would never admit to casual sex and one night stands on a wholesale basis. Never. But Tom Forsyth, hero of Crossfire, does. This should have been a red flare for the book's editor that Dick Francis' name didn't belong on this book. Because if the venerated and venerable Mr. Francis had anything to do with this book, beyond maybe agreeing to its publication before he passed away at age 90, I'm Angelina Jolie. It's fine by me if his son Felix, whose name is on the book along with that of his father, writes mysteries. But do so without dragging your father into the mix.

I feel cheated. Betrayed. And angry with Penguin Putnam. Shame on them for using their esteemed author, Mr. Francis senior, in such a way. Felix can make it, I'm sure, because of his last name, for a while longer. But it's pretty clear he's not his father.

Hot Day

Everyone seems to have the urge to get outside and do his or her thing. I planted at least fifty new day lilies, Virginia spider wort, and lamb's ear, and I'm about to tackle a raised garden. I have no idea why I've become so industrious, but I think it has to do with a long,cold, dreary winter. Our 19 year old cat was stalking, at a very dignified pace, an imaginary and very slow bird around the back yard while I was busy with my spade this morning. I realized he, like me, felt the need to stretch muscles too long restricted by heavy coats and hands swathed in mittens. His muscles have been draped over every heating vent in the house for nine months.

The dog wants to romp 24-7, despite the gumballs still littering the back yard. I dream of sleeping in the gazebo, and I HATE camping out. Even the gnats aren't driving me crazy, yet. This industriousness gives me a chance to think about my WIP, without that blamed cursor nagging me to get writing. Some of my best work grows out of new plants in the yard and the physical labor it took to put them there.

Organization

It must be spring, because I'm on an organizing kick. The garage and shed were easy - most of the stuff we've been tripping over went to the dump. The bad thing about going to the dump is that other people are tossing away perfectly good junk, and I have to be held back from diving into the pile to drag it out and save it from the landfill. Because if I do, it goes home to the shed or the garage, and we've wasted a perfectly lovely weekend.

Then there are the closets. The fav shoes the puppy, who is no longer a puppy, chewed but I still love them. Gone. The sweaters I haven't worn in two winters because they're too warm and at my stage of life, I'm never cold. I like this being warm thing during the winter. In the South in the summer, not so much, which means those summer outfits that trap sweat get a new home at Goodwill, too.

And finally, I bought new Levalors for the upstairs windows. Fresh, no dust, no sun-fading. Only problem is, the new ones are thicker than the discards, and that means new curtain rods. Once upon a time, I had some that would work with the new shades, but. . . Oh,yeah. I tossed them during some spring cleaning a while ago.

Okay, I'll let my beloved keep some of the garage junk he says he might need "someday."

Restrictor Plate Racing

For those of you who are NASCAR fans, you all understand what a restrictor plate does. It slows the cars down, quite a bit. Talladega and Daytona are the two restrictor plate races, and the powers-that-be have throttled back the cars to keep them below 200 MPH. What does this have to do with writing, you ask.

A ton of stuff works to slow down writers. Real life work, family obligations, grocery shopping, yard work, cleaning out the closets, cooking, clean kitchen floors, I could go on and on and on. Our Talladega is probably any holiday, from Thanksgiving to Christmas to cupcakes for the third grade. Women get the restrictor plate big time if they're caring for kids. So how do we keep ourselves in the race?

It's easy and a bit glib to say " Ignore it all. Let the floors get sticky." As women, we just can't punch through all the restrictor plates that would keep us from getting to the work in progress. The only way I know to do it, is just do it. Tell everyone you are at your computer and you won't answer the phone or any calls for "Mom!" unless there's arterial blood. Give yourself at least four hours a week all by yourself to write. You should be able to knock out at least ten pages in four hours, and if you can't, don't sweat it. The point is, those hours are sacred and inviolate, and you use them however you can to get the book running flat out.

The crazy closets will be there, the cupcakes can be bought at the store, and someone else can cook dinner one night a week. Take off that restrictor plate on a weekly basis for just a few hours, and you'll find your book will, finally, get finished.

Movie Night

My beloved and I have promised each other we'll go to the movies at least one night a week. By happy circumstance, we discovered that Thursday nights we can get an almost private showing of any film, and we're really enjoying it. Since we're usually alone in the theater, we can talk to each other through the screening. Yes, we're those kind of annoying people. But only when there's no one to be bothered.

The movies we're seeing may not win awards or even get good reviews, but we're the type of people who can come up with a good point about anything. Even if we're discussing how the plot veered from the Hero's Journey (ah, Joseph Campbell, how you changed the landscape for writers!)or how the hand-held camera made us dizzy, we have fun. As a writer, I'm always amazed how much visual storytelling can take shortcuts that writers can't. And when my husband complains that a movie chops out too much from a favorite book, I remind him that a 120 page script can't include everything in a 400 page novel. He always brings up a good point, that in a movie you don't have to explain everything, while a novel, especially a mystery, must.

Writer friends of mine build thick notebooks, complete with pictures of movie stars who resemble their characters, to visualize their plots. I'm not like that. I can't see anyone but the character in my head, and that character never looks like anyone but that person. Even their names come with them. That's why I'm amazed at films that cast actors to personify a fictional character. What a talent that is, to pick the right person to bring a role to life. I'm in awe. Mine come to me full blown, which is by far the easier task.

It's a good thing I work with the written word.

VMFA talk on artists marketing themselves

Spent an interesting hour listening to a talk on how artists can get themselves and their work "out there." Many of the tips apply to both visual and print artists. The most important is to believe in yourself. The second is to seek the money. The artist who provides quality, beautiful,and moving work certainly deserves to be paid. Unfortunately, in publishing as in art, the author is the least compensated in most cases. Refuse to accept less than your work is worth. Picasso certainly knew how to go where the money was. And why not?

As with writers, it was recommended that that you have an artist statement. For a writer, this is your theme. What one sentence describes this work? What do you want the person seeing/reading your piece to take away from it? To learn from it? To feel from it? To sense and see in it? Have a friend who won't accept a glib answer pose these questions and write down your answers after your friend does a follow up. Make this as in depth as you can.

Ask yourself how this work differs from your other work, if it does. Why is it better? Give yourself props for growing as an artist and let those who hold the purse strings know you are even better today than you were yesterday. Analyze your art objectively and present it with artist words that cut to the heart of the work.

Don't forget to praise yourself. Art is hard work. Be proud of your accomplishments.

The Gettysburg Address

Sometimes shorter is better. I'm watching Ken Burn's magnificent Civil War program, and was reminded that Lincoln thought the speech was a flop. Although newspapers of the time ridiculed Lincoln's two minutes on the stage, the speaker who preceded him, Edward Everett, who went on for two hours, recognized what Lincoln had done. Praising Lincoln, Everett said Lincoln had, in two minutes, captured what he, Everett, had failed to do in two hours. Lincoln knew the power of words better than most. Why he doubted the effect of his Gettysburg Address is astounding.

Lincoln reminds me that each and every syllable matters. Longer isn't always the way to go. The best ideas can and should be boiled down to their essence, to the finest attenuation we can give them. Let them shine, sparkle, and glitter, and not lose themselves in fluff and feathers.

Think of me fighting the fluff and feathers. It's an ongoing battle.