A Pirate Turns 40…ish

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Stalking the Wild Muse, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

Geena Cutthroat Blog

So according to certain friends of mine, since my birthday this past March I am in a full-blown mid-life crisis.  I’ve colored my hair (again), considered getting contact lens (again), pinned pictures of dresses on Pinterest that only someone built like Audrey Hepburn would look good in, and thought about running away to join either a group of itinerant jugglers (a la Lord Valentine’s Castle) or a pirate crew.  And because I’m built like my short, round, buxom Irish ancestors, I’m not sure I could pull off either costume.  *sigh*

It’s been hard coming to terms with the age I’m becoming.  I don’t feel any older (well, okay, my knees do, but they’re considerably older than the rest of me).  I don’t think I act any older.  I mean, just this morning at work I tried to use my Harry Potter wand (a birthday present from my staff) in our morning meeting to make the Director of Creative Services be quiet.  What self-respecting grown-up would do that?  (And no, it didn’t work.  I think I need to work on my pronunciation of “Silencio”.)  And I still think it’s more fun to play with the boxes than what comes inside them.  Especially if they’re really big boxes, like from major appliances.

And yet I have all the responsibilities of a “grown-up”.  I have a spouse, an evil day job where I manage a staff, a household to maintain, errands to run, my 12-year old to grow, feed and water, and oh yeah, novels to write.  Sometimes it feels so overwhelming and mind-numbingly tedious, I want to press the reset button like I do on my MP3 player when it freezes up and start over.  Or have someone hit me over the head so I fall into a fugue state like Jobeth Williams in American Dreamer and become someone completely different – and infinitely more exciting.

Naturally, neither of those things is really an option (unless one of you volunteers to send me on an all-expenses paid trip to Paris, arrange for a taxi ride around the city, hire a pick pocket to steal my purse in front of the Eiffel Tower and have me knocked off my feet by the car of a passing dignitary…).

So I’m left balancing a whole bunch of grown-up stuff when all a girl really wants to do is be a pirate and have fun.  And short of donning a pair of  thigh high boots, buying a sail boat and a hoisting the Jolly Roger flag on Lake Michigan, I think I’m going to have to find a way to add more zing to my life in smaller ways.  Like maybe taking fencing lessons or planning a Girl’s Weekend get-away to Galena.  And practicing my “swish and flick” so that the next time I use my Harry Potter wand in a staff meeting, I actually manage to cast the spell I intended.

How do you shake up your routine to keep things fresh and fun while running on your life’s hamster wheel?  I’d love to hear your stories.  And I’ll let you know about the thigh high boots.  The 12-year old will laugh and roll her eyes at me, but good old What’s-His-Name might approve of the investment.

Illegitimi non carborundum!

 

 

The Reason Geese Won’t Fly And Why Most of Us Never Live Our Dreams

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by in Stalking the Wild Muse, The Writing Journey

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Why don’t we all live our dreams?  I had an inspiration today on the drive in to work.  Here’s how it went (wavy fade to flashback):

So I’m sitting in traffic this morning.  It’s spring (FINALLY) here in Chicagoland.  And that means two things.  One, it’s construction season, so every east-west road across the Fox River is down to half a lane, making my commute ridiculous.  And two, it’s time for all those ex-pat Canadian Geese who never left over the winter to have their babies.  And of course, that means that all the momma geese are herding (can you say herding with geese?) their little fluffy bundles across every east-west road in the area, making slow moving traffic screech to a halt.

And while the rest of the drivers out there curse and scream at the waddling avians, wondering what the heck was wrong with the grass on the side of the road they were originally on and dreaming about Goose a L’orange, I’m thinking completely different things.  Like, given the fact that geese have wings, why don’t they FLY across the road?  It would be so much faster.   And there wouldn’t be nearly as many splatted geese on the pavement.  And it would sure as heck speed up my already stupid commute.

Now, before you go jumping down my throat in defense of the little fluffy bundles, I fully realize that the parents can’t fly with their babies, who don’t yet have wings.  But this slow waddle across the road, (which frequently involves stopping, standing there, staring at my car and honking at me as if I were the one who didn’t belong there) doesn’t just happen in the spring.  It happens ALL YEAR LONG!  I mean, think about it.  If YOU had wings, wouldn’t  YOU fly everywhere you wanted to go?

An ornithologist would no doubt have the scientific answer to this goosey conundrum.  But I’m not an ornithologist, I just played one on TV.  My guess is that, much like people, geese are lazy.  In their little pea sized brain, they’re thinking, “Man, it takes a heck of a lot of effort to run really fast to gain momentum and then flap my wings just to get airborne for a couple dozen feet.  It’s just not worth it.  Just think of all the grass I’ll have to eat to recoup that energy.”

I think it’s the same with most people.  I know for sure it’s the same with me.  It takes a heck of a lot of energy to come home after working a full day at the dreaded day job, after taking care of the family, after doing all my chores to then make the time to work on making my dreams a reality.  Until recently I let myself live on autopilot, waddling across the roads of my life because it involved the least amount of effort – and goodness knows (I justify to myself) I expend enough effort each day just dealing with all the regular stuff.  But I’ve had a re-awakening lately.  Maybe I realize that time is ticking away.  Or maybe I’ve been recharged by reading the blogs of some wonderful people who inspire me to be more.  Or maybe my Muse has come back from her decade long vacation in Bermuda.  But whatever it is, I know that now is the time.  I want to write.  I want to live to my fullest potential.  I want to FLY!

How about you?  Is there some dream you’ve been harboring, while you’ve been waddling slowly across life’s street?  Don’t be a goose.  Run as fast as you can, gain that momentum, flap your wings and take off.  As Mork once said, “Fly, my little hatchling brothers!”.  Cuz let me tell you, the view from up here?  It’s amazing!

Ilegitimi non carborundum!

An Independent Woman

08 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Stalking the Wild Muse, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

It is an amazing time to be a writer. When I was young(er), the publishing world had me by the throat. Find your story (but make sure it fit into the neatly defined categories set forth by the books sellers of the world). Then write it and ship it off to every literary agent worth their salt (but ONLY in the city of New York because they were the only ones that were said to “count”). Then pray that one of them would find you in their giant slush pile and agree to take you on. Then pray that he/she didn’t screw you in your contract. Then pray some more that said agent actually believed in your work enough to sell your work to a publisher over sparkling water and poached salmon. And finally, you got the word that you’d sold something… and started sacrificing teddy bears and Cheetos to the Book Store Gods to ensure your book sold enough to warrant getting a contract for a second book. And so on and so on. The only part that was in your control was the writing.

Today, with the rise of indie publishing, it’s a completely different world. Now, if you choose to go the path of an indie writer, your future is really in your own hands. And while this can be incredibly intimidating (okay, terrifying), it is also extremely liberating. A friend of mine recently published an AWESOME short in a genre that didn’t even exist ten years ago (zombie westerns). Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Massacre-Lonesome-Ridge-Samantha-Warren-ebook/dp/B00IRJ4MBY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1399576383&sr=1-1&keywords=massacre+at+lonesome+ridge
Not only is the genre startlingly non-traditional, but it isn’t a traditional “novel” length piece either. Ten years ago, even five years ago, no traditional publishing house would have considered it. Heck, they probably still wouldn’t. But Ms. Warren is not only a brilliant entrepreneur, she’s an amazing writer. She makes it work. And that, my friends, is the truly amazing thing about this brave new world we find ourselves in as writers. We can forge our own path. Create our own genres. Live our dreams on OUR terms.

In June I’ll be publishing my first novel as an indie author. I’m equal parts terrified and thrilled. But the best part is that I don’t need anyone but me to make this happen. Well… okay, me and a bunch of supportive friends, family members, beta readers…

I’ve known my whole life what my special gift was. Now I can use it – without any “authority” telling me it’s not good enough. And that is the most amazing thing of all.

Illegitimi non carborundum!

Link

Don’t You Hate it When You’re Wrong?!

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in The Writing Journey, Uncategorized, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

So I’ve recently been more diligent about reading all the blogs about writing I follow.  Some are inspirational, some keep me motivated, some are just fun.  Then there are the ones that I actually learn from.  And sometimes that learning is PAINFUL.

I don’t know about you, but I HATE IT when I’m wrong.  I’ve been writing for a long time.  I’ve come a long way from those callow days of my youth when I thought my writing was perfect and editors would swoon reading it.  I’ve made lots of mistakes, learned to identify them, learned to fix them – mostly with the help of other sainted writers who have been gracious enough to give back to the writing community by helping others learn, but a lot on my own (proving, I suppose, that if you bang your head against your desk long enough something positive may come out of it).  So when I read Kristen Lamb’s blog on Flashbacks the other day, I was, in the following order, convinced she was wrong (before I read the post), aggravated, (because I actually START my current WIP with a flashback), infuriated (because DANG, I hate it when I’m wrong), and finally grateful (because I was given a gift I didn’t know I wanted).  Not only was Kristen’s advice about Flashbacks spot on, she really helped me understand WHY.  And that is the mark of a great teacher.  She got past my initial knee-jerk reaction, and in a very entertaining way, worked me round to her way of thinking.  Sneaky, this one.  But so right!

This, my friends, is how we learn.  Now, not only do I have to re-examine how I start my story, but her post also made me realize I needed to examine the story I’m really trying to tell.  And it was NOT the story I thought I was trying to tell.  Fortunately, I’m only 100 pages into it.  So it’s early days, and I have time to go back and reweave the tapestry.  If I hadn’t taken the time to read her post, revising on this puppy would have been H E double hockey sticks.  Cuz you all KNOW how much I despise revisions.

I encourage all of you to read Kristen’s blogs.  She’s amazing.  And the three blogs she recently published related to flashbacks won’t only teach you about the evils of this dreaded writing tactic, but will also give you some hints about story structure and pacing that any writer, no matter how seasoned, can benefit from, if only in the reminding.

So now, back to the slog.  I’m giving myself until the middle of May to get the bones of this current WIP in place.  But come May 15, I need to get back to the final run through of my mystery, so I can meet that June 21st deadline for publication.  Wish me luck and please, if you can spare it, send along more of those vats of butt glue.  I don’t think I used enough the last time, I keep managing to pry myself loose to go in search of Cheetos!

Illegitimi non carborundum!

Link

JM Aucoin, Swashbuckling & A New Hero

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

So I’ve been buried deep in the rewrite of the first book in my new mystery series for what seems like an eternity, but has really only been several months.  I’m so close to being done I can taste it… but I’ve become so sick of the flavor of red pen and dusty keyboard that when fellow writer EJ McFall challenged me to commit to CampNano in April, I jumped at the chance to create new words.

But I had no story… until inspiration hit while sitting on the parking lot that is the Jane Addams during rush hour.  I had a character – a reformed Conquistador, who abandons Gonzalo Pizzaro after the sack of Cusco, and struck out into the mountains, where he finds a shaman who sends him through a portal to another world to heal his soul.

All good.  After a couple of days, I now have the rest of the cast, my female protag (an ex-hippie from the summer of love), a pirate, a museologist from Chicago, a lord of the local constabulary (think Hugh Beringar from Cadfael) and a cocaine sniffing monk.  It’s all coming together in a complicated tapestry that I could not have predicted in a million years.  And I’m LOVING it.  I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a project in… donkey’s years.

But I needed research.  I know very little about the 1400s or the conquest and destruction of the Incas.  So I let myself fall down the rabbit hole and made a couple of really cool incidental discoveries that I thought I’d share here.

First, fellow author and history nut, JM Aucoin, who writes a fab series of pirate stories set in the 17th century. All the swashbuckling you could ask for, fun plots and really great characters to rally round (and maybe even fall a little in love with).  Check out his blog here:

http://www.jmaucoin.com

and definitely pick up the first story in his Jake Hawking series, it’s available here on Amazon. Well worth the read.

Second is a new Spanish Television series about a 17th century swashbuckler called Alatriste, starring the very yummy Aitor Luna (not to be confused with the movie version, starring the not-too-shabby-himself Viggo Mortensen).  Like the movie, the show is based on the series of books by Arturo Perez-Reverte and it airs sometime this spring in Spain. The trailer makes it one of those “have to see” shows.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to stream it or get it on DVD, because it would a shame to miss this much swashbuckling action, romance and derring-do.  Check out the preview here.  I might just have to learn Spanish…

Don’t you just love falling down the rabbit hole? Cheers, folks!

 

 

It Doesn’t Suck!

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

So I spent the weekend with some really wonderful women who are also writers. At a small lake house in southern Wisconsin. In the winter. To say it was an amazing weekend doesn’t seem to do justice to it. But the most amazing part (aside from great company, lots of laughs, scrumptious food and beautiful scenery) was what I managed to accomplish. I got through the first read thru of the first novel in my new mystery series. And I discovered two things. First, revisions aren’t as hard or as scary as I imagined they would be. And second, I don’t suck anywhere near as bad as I thought I did!

Yes, there are some plot holes. So those will need filling in. And yes, there are some pesky little slow points and places that just plain didn’t track with the rest of the flow. And of course, I haven’t even begun to line edit for fun things like word crutches and tightening up passive construction. But I’m just so thrilled to have gotten through the first pass successfully. I had created such angst even contemplating a revision that it had become a process to be avoided at all costs. A fearful, toothsome monster that squatted at the doorway to success, sneering at me, muttering, “You shall not pass”, turning me away every time I dared approach.

But I confronted that monster, and amid the joyous and supportive bosom of my writerly friends, won freedom from it.

Of course, now there is more work to be done. Scenes to write. Passages to cut. Holes to plug. But I can see my way through to it now, and it’s work I understand. And in a matter of weeks, I’ll finally be able to say, yes, truly, this is done.

And then I get to start all over again on something new. But this time, without the fear of being unable to really finish it!

Review of Totally Buzzed by Gale Borger

16 Monday May 2011

Posted by in Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Totally Buzzed (A Miller Sisters Mystery, #1)Totally Buzzed by Gale Borger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a fine first novel from Gale Borger. I really enjoyed riding shot gun along side the main character, retired smalltown cop, Buzz Miller, and her collective family of odd balls, as she works to find the killer of a local greenhouse owner and finds herself embroiled in a case with international criminal implications. Set in the small, southeastern Wisconsin town of White Bass Lake, the story explores such varying topics as horse racing, gardening, and forensic botany, which Borger handles adroitly.

I’ll admit there were a couple of inconsistencies in the quality writing, but nothing that bothered me enough to put the book down. I was a little thrown by the flipping back and forth in POV from first person to third person, and there were some spots where I wasn’t sure what season it was supposed to be (summer or late fall). Borger also hints at some nice dark incidents in Miller’s past (like why she left the force), as well as played up Buzz’s Irish second sight ability, which helps her solve cases. The problem is that at least in this first book, there is too little follow through on the promise of these things. A little more would have done a lot to deepen further Miller’s character and left us teased just enough to want to read more.

On the whole, however, these issues were minor compared to the my overall enjoyment of the story. The plot was interesting and pulled me right along and I developed a real fondness for the characters.

Thanks for a good read, Gale. I’ve already loaded up the 2nd book in the series onto my Kindle and I’m hoping there’s a lot more to come!

View all my reviews

Ideas & Opportunities

04 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in The Writing Journey

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

Seems like every time I get to working on the last little bit of a novel I’m writing, I come up with about a bajillion ideas for new novels. Novels that are ever so much more interesting and saleable than the novel I’m currently slaving over. I’ve heard from other writers that the last few chapters of their novels practically write themselves, that they’ve built up so much momentum that it’s an easy slide to the bottom of the novel-writing hill. For me, it’s quite the opposite.

And today, man, I am on fire. On fire, that is, with at least three great ideas for books I could be writing instead of the beast that I’m trying to finish. For that project, I have no enthusiasm left. It’s as though, since it’s the ending has all been hammered out in my head, it’s already done and thus the chore of putting words on paper has become drudgery. And being an Aries, new is always better. New. Fresh. Exciting. I should be a laundry detergent commercial.

All this leads me to a theory that isn’t really new, but is something I need to remember when I’m down in the writing dumps. The very act of writing itself generates creative energy. Even if I think I’m writing absolute crap, and I’m bored to tears, and I know in my very gut that I’m nothing but a hack, just the act of stringing words together, of putting energy into my fictional worlds, somehow generates enough creative juice to make my Muse sit up from Her langor on that Roman reclining couch She made me buy for my office, put aside the grapes (that She refuses to share with me), and wander over to see what I’m doing again. And bringing with her a whole slew of new and fun ideas. And while I know I have to stay focused on the work at hand (or I’d never finish anything!), I need to remember that the best way to get Her attention, to call Her back from Her self-imposed exile, is to sit my butt in my desk chair and force myself to put words on paper — no matter how much more appealing scrubbing the hard water build up off the toilets might seem at the moment. Writing begets writing. It’s just like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.

So next time I fall into a fallow period, because the writing is just so damn hard, somebody out there smack me upside the head with my old Underwood… or at the very least, re-post this blog, so that I remember the way back.

Meanwhile, back to the slog.

Review of New Blood by Samantha Warren

04 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

New Blood (Jane #2)New Blood by Samantha Warren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I read the first Jane novella (Vampire Assassin), I thought it was a very nice short, and the main character was likeable and made me want to read more. It was a little light on action, being more character set up than anything else. Still, I really liked the character Jane, and as I thought that Warren was a writer worth watching, I promised myself I’d read #2 when it came out.

Boy, am I glad I did. In the second book in the series, New Blood, Warren totally hits her stride. The characters spring to life, the plot, while taking a little bit of time to warm up, definitely delivers some solid punches, and the world of Jane starts to deliver some great twists on the typical vampire metaverse. I read through it in a heart beat, not necessarily because it’s a short (although it is), but because the action kept me riveted. I wanted to know what happened next. And that, for me, is the sign of a good book.

Looking forward to #3, Ms. Warren. Hope I don’t have to wait too long.

View all my reviews

Are We There Yet?

28 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by in The Writing Journey

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Slowly, ever so slowly, the glacier that is my writing soul is melting. Unlike the polar ice caps, which comparatively, appear to be receding at light speed. It’s taken me literally months to lure the Muse back from Bermuda (that’s where She goes when She’s made at me – who can blame Her?) But I’m finally, regularly, getting words on paper again. At least 500 words a day during the work week. It feels reasonably good. But this particular story is still a slog at the moment. I want to be done with this novel. I want to move on to other projects. I have a whole crowd of them milling around like a bunch of needy undergrads with papers due clamoring outside my office door a la Raiders of the Lost Ark. But unfortunately, there is no back window for me to escape through. I must sit here and finish this dang thing.

I’m getting closer. I think. It took months, but I figured out where I went wrong. I went back, I rewrote what needed to be recreated, I figured out that the ending I thought was the ending was really the beginning of Book 2. And last night I think I figured out that the last three scenes I wrote need to be ripped out (again) to make way for what I’m calling “The Final Solution”. And no, I won’t be getting all genocidal on anyone. So now I have the ending in sight, I just have to get my group of adventurers from point A to point B, while making life increasingly difficult for them as we ramp up to the final confrontation. Not sure what that’s going to look like yet and before I write another word, I need to have that fixed in my mind. That’s what I’ll be doing at lunch today, figuring that bit out.

The best news is that I do have a whole ream of notes on revision. All this rework has shown me a lot about what I want my themes, where my character arcs are really going, and all the bits that I should have added but didn’t know that I needed to when I was doing the initial draft. So it’s all good. It’s all part of the process.

And thanks to my great virtual writing group (a shout out to YOU, Word Warriors!) I’ve also gotten unblocked on a fantasy novel that I started a couple of years ago, and have a new idea for a paranormal thriller.

So get ready for the sea levels to rise, dear readers. The ice is melting now. Soon Saskatchewan will be beach front property (note to self: buy property in Saskatoon). And I’ll have my first book published and available on Amazon before the Great Lakes become the Great Inland Sea.

Say… maybe this Global Warming thing isn’t so bad after all…