Do you remember the movie SHE DEVIL? It had Meryl Streep and Rosanne Barr in it and Meryl is a romance author.
She hits a very low point in her career and writes LOVE IN THE SPIN CYCLE well while I love to do laundry I have to say that writing is a lot like this chore or is it labor of love?
There are days when my writing makes me feel like I'm spinning around and around just like a dryer does or the spin cycle of the washer.
There is something to be said for consistancy and repeating the same thing daily. For authors and writers it's called a routine or a writing schedule. Applying butt to chair is the only way to accomplish your goal of finishing the book.
Again I used laundry as a comparision because the thing I hate about doing the laundry is putting the clothes away. Yet this must happen just like you MUST rewrite, revise and send the book out however just like throwing out your favorite old T-Shirt this can be painful because once it's out there for the world to see then your secret is also out and everyone knows you've written a book. Like the flawed T-Shirt then it is no longer your dirty secret and alas that is why there is stain remover and even bleach. What I mean by this is someone along the road to success in publishing your book is going to want changes and those clever quips you thought were great when you wrote them last year or nine months ago are going to be rubbed out.
In closing what I am saying is that IF you can do laundry then you can write but the writing will not remain the same book that you started writing and thank goodness we can buy new clothes to replace the old ones and by this I mean that once the book is out the door in perfect condition or flawed we can begin again and repeat the cycle. New clothes, new beginning and new ideas, plots and a fresh clean white blank computer screen or blank white paper.
I often think of 'Writer's Block' as having to try many different things to get that particularly hard stain out in my case it seems to be blood stains but you get the the idea....
So the next time you're faced with the task of doing the laundry just think about rubbing someone out and don't you feel better about the postman who brings you a rejection letter with the mail? Maybe it's that particularly annoying character you didn't know what to do with either way the spin cycle must happen in order wring out the manuscript!
Hugs,
Pamela (Who is sure this should have been revised as I never write anything right the first time)
Perhaps anyone who’s been following the saga of the cover art for PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL (Five Star/Gale, January 2011) will be relieved that the saguaro cactus (saguaros only live on the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico, whereas the Pecos Valley is in southeastern New Mexico) has been replaced by a lovely blooming yucca. Yuccas are the New Mexico state flower, which says more about New Mexico than yuccas, I suppose. Here’s the new cover art, and I think it’s gorgeous:
However, that’s not the point of this blog. The point of this blog was suggested by a quotation my daughter Robin put on her Facebook Page, written (or said) by someone named Josh Billings, whoever he is (I write historical novels for a reason, and that reason is ‘cause I don’t know or understand modern culture): “Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist—it reduces him to his fighting weight.”
Well (or whelp, if you’re into breeding dogs, which I hope you’re not), I’ve been going through my share of adversity lately, due mainly to unrelenting poverty and having to get this house in Roswell, New Mexico, in selling shape whilst trying to earn a living and dealing with a back that keeps telling me I shouldn’t be doing stuff like this. The official medical terminology (I know this, because I wrote it down) is spondylosis of the lumbar region resulting in spinal stenosis and prominent severe facet arthrosis. In other words I, like so many other afflicted human beans, have a really bad back. Ow. I wash the car, and I’m flat on my back with my knees propped on pillows for the rest of the day. I wash the windows (which I did this morning) and I’m flat on my back with my knees propped on pillows for the rest of the day. Well, perhaps not the entire rest of the day . . . but you get the picture.
This moving stuff hurts. Literally. This past week, I packed boxes all week long, and then I couldn’t move them once packed because of my blankety-blank back. So my cousin and his wife kindly came over and helped get them out of the house and into the little room next to the garage. The real-estate agent tour is Tuesday, and I still have to dust the hardwood floors, but I’m leaving that until this evening or tomorrow. Maybe Monday. After that, I aim to finish the book I’m writing (ANCIENT SPIRITS, featuring Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist extraordinaire and unsold at the moment) and if anyone wants to see the house, they can see it through dust. Phooey on ‘em.
However, one more or less good thing happened this month, although I didn’t particularly enjoy it at the time. On a recent Tuesday, I left the house, locking my pack of wild wiener dogs inside (otherwise Louie, who can leap small fences at a single bound; it takes some climbing to get over the six-footers) will escape and try to find me, in order to go to a friend’s house to pick up her mail. She was in Amarillo trying to find a house to live in. In other words, she’s got as many problems as I have, if not more. Well, maybe you’ve never been to Amarillo, but trust me on this. I trotted down the back stairs (I may have a bad back, but I try not to let it show), and there was a Chihuahua in my back yard. She was a little, skinny thing, black-and-tan, and looking very nervous. Her state of nervousness makes sense when you realize somebody had to dump her over a six-foot redwood fence in order to deposit her in my yard.
We stared at each other for a few moments, me trying to think of what to do now, she gazing at me as if she was pretty sure she didn’t belong where she was but hoped I didn’t mind. Sure, I rescue wiener dogs—and I’m even getting another foster child on August 1—but this Chihuahua was a bolt from the blue. Or from the street. And she really wasn’t big enough to be a bolt, I suppose. At any rate, after contemplating taking her into the house and introducing her to the herd, I decided to heck with it (actually, I wasn’t that polite) and took her with me to my friend’s house.
There I encountered our mutual gardener, who was taking a tree out of her yard. For form’s sake, I asked him if he’d ever seen this little girl Chihuahua before, and he said no. Then, in a brilliant stroke of something-or-other, I asked him if he wanted her. He tilted his head, eyed her from end to end, which took approximately an eighth of a second, and said, “Sure. I like Chihuahuas.” So there you have it. While the rest of my life wallows in mayhem and chaos, a little bit of magic took place on a hot Tuesday in July. I saw Raul-the-gardener the other day (he came over to fix my sprinklers. Naturally, it rained buckets the next day) and asked him how the little dog was doing, his face lit up, and he said she’s fine. So I kind of feel like I did something worthwhile in July. Even if my back is breaking and my spirits are low. I guess life isn’t all bad. Some of the time.
By the way, in case you wonder what Louie, the Leaping Wiener, looks like, here he is in rest mode. Do you think he might be the least little bit spoiled?
I'm a Nero Wolfe Fan which means I am a fan of Rex Stout the author of the Nero Wolfe Mysteries. Years ago A&E aired the Nero Wolfe Mysteries and while I had a small crush on Timothy Hutton my bigger crush might have been on Maury Chaykin who played Nero Wolfe.
From the first episode I was hooked I not only wanted to live in the brownstone I wanted the Orichids the good food and secretly wanted to change Nero's opinion of women. He really disdained the crying ones.
Fritz was my ideal man a man who can cook and cook gourmet and Fritz knew how to keep his mouth shut yet made such wonderful breakfast and other meals that all you wanted to do was open your mouth. I often thought through the years that if Nero really wanted a confession he should have Fritz cook for killer because I was sure the food was good enough to get a confession.
Archie is smart witty, charming and most of all self assured. Nero completely more introverted I mean the man really hated to leave the brownstone and seldom did unless it was to flee for his life, maybe for an orchid and sometimes for a visit to his favorite chef, but he dressed every day in a very percise way the big man sitting behind the desk.
I feel there will never be another Nero Wolfe who can fill Maury Chaykin's shoes because when I see Nero I see Maury and much like David Suchet in the role of Poirot there can be only one.
I hope Maury rests in peace and I will be netflixing Nero Wolfe Mysteries and of course this means that I will be rereading Rex Stout Mysteries (as soon as I am caught up on book reviews) Sixty One is too young for such talent to pass away. I think in the back of my mind I hoped for a reunion movie or something just so I could see the old cast again. I know Timothy is in Leverage and Lily is on Covert Affairs and goes the cast but I always hoped for a reunion movie of one last case.
My wish won't be granted but I can hope that Netflix will at least ease the pain of losing "The Great Man" A few days ago someone from one of my reading groups asked "If you could be inside an author's head who passed away which author would it be?" I never answered that question but I will now...
"It would be Rex Stout" I hope in the afterlife I might be able to sit down with Rex and ask him what he thinks of Maury's performance as Nero Wolfe. I hope he agrees with me that no other actor could be in that role except Maury Chaykin. Both men were brilliant and dedicated to our our world of mystery and mayhem.
This is just another reminder to never take life for granted as death is a mystery to us all.
It's hot and sticky and my mom'a central air is coming through murky. Frank is out searching for boxes and I am packing for her move with the boxes we brought with with us. Mother is sitting on the sofa watching her favorite shows, drinking iced tea and telling me to be careful with her Angel Collection. I oblige and am very careful with her angel collection, I finish packing her angels go to the kitchen and start packing up her dishes (that she won't be using this week) mom comes in for a coffee refill and says....
"Now don't pack anything I'll use this week." She leaves the room and I pack the dishes etc.....
I go to the linen closet to pack up the linen mom comes in and says "What are you doing?" I remind her that she is moving in a week and I have to pack up her things she says "Oh that's right well don't pack anything I'll use."
And so it goes all day long......but the thing is by the end of the day she it was a toss up on which one of us should needed looked after because yesterday morning I get up and realize that packed all of her teaspoons and had to send Frank out to buy her plastic spoons. So even though my mom's memory is gone she still remembered to remind me not to pack anything she would use and being the child I am I packed up her silverware. I guess my mother still knows best!
Happy Monday Everyone and be sure you know where your silverware is!!!! Hey at least I didn't pack all of her coffee mugs.
When I was a zoo keeper, I wrote scientific papers based on research at the zoo and hand-rearing protocols, such as how we raised a baby hippo. When I moved into technical writing, I wrote software instructions and business processes. I started writing my first long fiction, Night Kill, while I was still in the corporate world. Fiction is so different from all the other writing I’ve done! What a challenge.
Please explain how your writing schedule works?
Short answer: it doesn’t. I write in bursts. Now I am focused on promoting Did Not Survive, so I’m writing guest blogs and letters to book reviewers and emails, not fiction. I miss having my head immersed in a story, but I can’t do it all at once.
This is an age old question but I am going to ask it anyway. How long does it take you to write your books?
The last one took nine months. The one before that—five years. The next one? Beats me!
Let's talk about your zoo mysteries and how you came to write the series?
Zoos have so much going on—people dynamics, animal events, the great American goofy public, and lots of actual or narrowly avoided accidents. I saw plenty of opportunity for a mystery series set in a zoo and, at the time, no one was doing it. (Betty Webb started her zoo series about the same time I started mine.) It’s been great to put my head back into that world. All the fun and none of the exhaustion or back injuries or wet feet!
How much research goes into your books?
I am paranoid about animal experts throwing up their hands at some stupid error I made. So I read books and get on the web and talk to the experts. I try to research every single thing. But zoos are so complex, with such a variety of animals, I’m sure I’ll blow it someday. Zoo professionals have been very generous with their time—they want the information to be accurate. The elephant experts I interviewed for Did Not Survive were fascinating. I love talking with biologists of all sorts. My goal is that the animals have every super-power that nature endowed them with and none that I invented. I’m going for authenticity.
What other books do you have in the works?
I have two rough plots to continue the Finley Zoo series. The next one might focus on orangutans in a thriller plot. Or it may be a combination of parrots and snakes in a more traditional mystery. I don’t know much about parrots or snakes, so that should be interesting to research. Finley Zoo will continue to improve, even as its staff members have their problems. My protagonist, Iris Oakley, will mature and change as she raises her child and gains more experience in the world, but she will remain wedded to her job. As to whether she ends up wedded to another person, we’ll have to see.
Now for a few fun questions. What is your favorite meal, dessert, book, movie place to vacation and your favorite way to spend your nonwriting time?
·Meal: steak, baked potato (none of that foil!) with butter, asparagus, chocolate torte. This is a guilty meal. My real meals feature beans and chard.
·Book: Can’t pin that down to just one!
·Movie: Magnificent Seven or maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—I love that scene with the Bactrian camels.
·Vacation: I would love to see the African game parks. Belize is closer to striking distance, however.
·Non-writing time: I spend most of it reading, of course!
What would you like to tell your readers?
I write zoo mysteries in hopes of drawing people into the natural world and encouraging them to care about it. I hope to motivate readers to protect the world from any more human damage. None of us can fix deforestation, ocean acidification, or climate change, but we can all do our part. So do it! Then do a little more. Any profit I earn from Did Not Survive will be donated to organizations like the ones listed at the back of the book.
Tell us about Ann, the author, the woman and the friend?
I’m a life-long environmentalist with a full life. I engage with an extended family, keep up with a boatload of friends, volunteer with Portland Audubon Society and with a local reading program, garden, teach my dog cute tricks, and read.
Do you have a writing pet peeve?
I do not read mysteries and thrillers about sadistic killers of women. Life is too short to have those images in my head.
Who is your publisher and what would you like us to know about them?
Poisoned Pen Press has won heaps of awards within the mystery community. They are beyond “small press”, more like middle-sized. They do a wonderful job.
What writing words of wisdom would you like to give aspiring writers who want to become fiction authors?
This business is a mix of talent, hard work, and pure luck. Keep learning, keep writing, and be sure to stick your neck out—submit your work, get to know other writers, and socialize. You need to be out in the open for the lucky chance to strike. If you hide, the random lightening won’t find you.
Do you believe in writer's block and if so how do you handle writer's block?
I suffer mightily to outline my books and endure the writer’s (plotter’s?) block then. Once I have an outline, I rarely have writer’s block. I don’t necessarily write what I’ve outlined, of course!
I know you have a book coming out August first and so this must be an exciting time for you. Do you have book signings scheduled?
See the events page on my website for the latest: http://zoomysteries.com/Events.html I’ll be in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona, as well as Bouchercon in San Francisco.
What is it like to be an author in 2010?
Promoting a second book is so much easier than promoting the first one! Authors have an awful load of promotion, kind of like homework or house cleaning in that it’s never totally done. I buzz around, like most authors with a book coming out, aiming for signing events, reviews, guest blogs, etc. This time I even have a trailer, a very cool one! It’s up on my website.
Can you break down for us how you plot, name your characters, how many times you rewrite your book, pacing, background and tell us about the worst and best writing day you ever had to date?
·As I mentioned, I outline the plot and subplots in advance, although that always changes as I write. I try for a dramatic kick-off, a varied pace through the book, then rising tension to an exciting climax, and a quick wrap up. That’s the goal, anyway.
·Naming characters is fun. Iris Oakley, my protagonists, is “Iris” because her mother is a gardener and it is her job to see. The last names of almost all my characters are from famous biologists. The first names are chosen partly so that they are all different enough to avoid confusion.
·I am in a writers’ group and I edit (rewrite) based on the members’ responses to each chapter. I also read the whole manuscript out loud to myself at least twice. I’ve found this to be very helpful. I always run the whole thing by at least two zoo people.
·It’s always a challenge to decide how much background to include, both about the zoo and about the characters. I struggle with it. The detail about animals and their care is fascinating to me, but it slows down the plot. Fortunately, in both Night Kill and Did Not Survive, the behavior of the animals provides important clues for Iris, so I get to leave that in.
·As for the worst and best day writing, all days that I write are good days! I have good and bad days promoting, but not writing. Well, plotting can be gnarly. I have bad days plotting now and then.
Leave us with some words of wisdom from either you or one of your characters.
Next time you go to the zoo or are otherwise near animals, try erasing yourself from the scene. Just watch quietly and patiently. I can almost guarantee you will see and learn things that you would miss if you did the usual thing and tried to get their attention and interact with them. Watching quietly is very powerful.
In closing I hope you will share with us a small passage from your book.
Damrey turned toward Sam and draped her trunk over his shoulder. He rubbed the trunk, his hand moving firmly over the rough, wrinkled hide. It looked like old friends comforting one another in a tough time, trying to get each other through. Would she really turn on a person she knew, who’d been careful and gentle with her? It could happen, I knew it could happen. But this particular elephant? “See?” Sam said. “She hasn’t got a mean bone in her body. Wait till you get to know her.” … I wished he’d get out of her reach.
Okay authors and writers use facebook all the time but how much is too much time spent on facebook and other reading lists? Do you ever use facebook as research? Or do you ever put a poll on facebook when you're having a question about a book, or about writing a book?
Tell us all the ways YOU use facebook and how it helps or hinders you?
Do you have a facebook story to relate to us or tell us about and if you do please tell us.
What do you like the best about facebook?
Also: I know a lot of us are Goodreads fans and readers so tell us about Goodreads and let's get the word out about how great it is and why we like it so much. I know I like to read the reviews and it's insightful to read what other think of a book.
Now going back to facebook for just a moment I want to say if you want me to friend you on facebook please do a profile and tell me who you are?
I would like to add the same goes for my yahoo messenger and maybe especially messenger because I always check the profile page and if you haven't listed your profile and I don't know you I will accept your messenger friend request.
I know for safety reasons and spam reasons I have to be very careful these days.
Okay I know today's blog isn't thrilling but maybe if everyone responds it will be enlightening...
