The Rockford Files and Simon and Garfunkel

I like ducks.

It's been one of those eclectic weeks, as you can see by the heading for the blog. Before I get into the dissection of said topic, I want to thank Rediscovered Books and Megan for hosting my book signing there last Thursday. Also, thanks to Kathy, another Partner in Crime, and Ashley, a friend and the author of Fins (YA fiction) for helping make the evening fun.

Now. I need to attend to the Middle Portion of the Book. Sigh. It's a great feeling to reach the 100 page mark, but the joy is short-lived. After all, it's about one-third of the way through and the MIDDLE is often the MUDDLE for writers. Stuff needs to happen. So...

I've been recalling what experts have told me. One important thing is to consider what the worst possible thing to happen to your characters might be and then make it happen. So I'm doing just that. Fortunately, I've got the MOB to work with and they do some really bad stuff.

I'm thinking kidnapping, extortion, car chases (that's from Rockford), and some poetic moments (Simon and Garfunkel). Going to work on this now.

This Christmas we got the entire Rockford Files series as a present. I am a serious James Garner fan. The Mob is ever-present in these shows, so I'm taking notes. Have my pen and paper by my side while I'm viewing.

If you're curious about the Simon and Garfunkel connection, I'll get into that next week. Hope your writing is going well. Going to check out some of my favorite writer blog sites tomorrow. Also going to scope out a possible root canal. I hate my hair and my teeth. Grrrr.

The Tally Sheet

Last week I shared my resolution to write three pages a day. With one week gone, here's the tally sheet: 15 pages written. I'm feeling good about that, although realistically, there may be 3 good ones there, 3 that need serious revision, and the rest that need tossing. Maybe. You just never know where one of those off the wall ideas will lead. So, will I toss anything? Not yet.

During the rest of the week:

1. I spent 6 hours in the dentist chair on the way towards spending more hours there before the bridge is complete. Last night part of the temporary came apart - along with some serious pain - so it's back to the dentist for the SECOND temporary bridge today.

2. Spent a couple of hours with Dell support getting rid of three Trojans that managed to sneak past my anti-virus and malware programs. That's what happens when you visit questionable sites, I guess. But I really needed to learn how to break into a museum without tripping the alarms. Sigh.

Off to the dentist (a 120 mile jaunt, but the roads should be clear), leaving husband to hold down the fort. I'll stay in Boise until my Book Signing and Reading at Rediscovered Books in downtown Boise on Thursday night (7:00).

Packing for three days is a pain, especially with a sore mouth. Sipping coffee off to the side. Packing the computer, though, because somewhere along the way, I plan on getting my 3 a day attempted.

Happy writing week, everyone!

Three a Day

That's my goal, now. Write three pages every day. Robert Parker did it - or maybe it was five pages a day - and he was an incredibly prolific writer. I'm no Parker, but it is a laudable aspiration.

So, where am I? In last week's post, I said I was stuck. I'm now unstuck and am moving ahead at my 3 a day pace. What I'm writing is dialogue. I like to write dialogue. It comes easily for me and t also takes up a lot of space. That's nice.

Description is something I have to think about before I can write it. So I'm making notes, highlighting them in yellow, and inserting them in the text as I dialogue away. Stuff like "describe bedroom" or "describe her face" - things like that.

I have to put on a different hat for writing description and I'm not there right now. The conversation is moving along nicely, however, and I'm going to keep at it until I talk myself to the end of the novel.

Hope everyone is writing well this week. Share your own tricks of the trade, if you'd like. I'd love to see them.

Timelines

The New Year is a good time to think about organization. For writers, organization is essential and it's easy to get sidetracked, waylaid, distracted, and otherwise off task, when a plot is plodding instead of prancing along.

That's where I am right now. STUCK. Oh sure, I've been thinking about the wip a lot:

Before I fall asleep
While I'm doing laundry
Making dinner
Driving anywhere
As I'm ripping out inches from my pullover as I find another goof as I knit.

Essentially, my plot is dragging and it's dragging me along with it.

Solution

Going to shorten the timeline. I printed out a calendar and blocked off ten days. That's going to be the extent of the timeline for the plot. Before, it was this amorphous (?) thing with no borders. No sides. No trim edges. Now, at least, I've got some basic outline for the action.

Some authors have all their action take place in one day - Dan Brown's Lost Symbol occurs over the course of one night, for example. Right now, though, I'm feeling better about the shortened timeline.

Next job is to think like the Mafia.

What's going to happen to Frankie? That's today's job.

A True American Heroine

No, this isn't going to be a political soapbox oratory or a resurrection of early American history. Oh no. This is about a woman who is a true heroine of this great land of opportunity. There are many, but I've got a few names that I'd like to throw into the mix and will begin with my favorite of all time:

MARCH FONG EU
(1975 candidate photo)

Yep. Dr. Eu has indeed been a politician - she served as California Secretary of State and if she hadn't been, she wouldn't have been able to accomplish one of the greatest services to womanhood that has happened in the Great State of California.

So, you are wondering by now, just what exactly did this woman do?

She took a sledge hammer to a toilet on the steps of the State Department. Yep. Why? Well, why not? Back then, a woman had to pay to use a toilet out in public. Men didn't. Pay toilets were commonplace and if you had to use the jane (slight modification here to match the gender) and didn't have a dime or a quarter, you were out of luck. Meanwhile, those of the opposite gender who needed to use the john, didn't have to pay this discriminatory poll tax.


March had had enough. This symbolic gesture led to the end of pay toilets for women. In 1973 she made her point and endeared herself to women throughout the land. To this day, I bless her.

Who are your heroes?

On Vacation

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!


I'll be back with the blog after the holidays. Have safe travels.

New Characters

Had a local book signing yesterday and in the vast stretches between selling three books over a two hour period, I took advantage of the time to people watch. This is undoubtedly a writer's favorite occupation when out in public. So, here are the details.

Dazed and Confused

1. Two young women brought their dogs into the drugstore. Now, there's no sign against it, but common sense - what am I thinking here. Common sense isn't all that common. Anyhow, puppy shihtzu (I may not be spelling that correctly) got nervous when Gerard, the poodle, started snarling and growling at him. A puddle ensued. Much chatter from the witless wonders about how this was just what "little what's his name" needed - meeting all kinds of interesting friends. I think the FRIEND would have cheerfully eaten "little what's his name" for appetizers, if he'd been permitted. Meanwhile "little what's his name" is racing all about the drugstore, leaving little shihtzu puddles everywhere. His owner ran for paper towels and dabbed here and there, chattering loudly all the time about the great socialization aspects.

GOOD GRIEF

Finally they left, without having made a purchase. I bet the proprietor was furiously creating a NO PETS except for Guide Dogs sign in the back room. I would have offered to tack it to the witless wonders' backs for free.

Out of the West

2. A cowboy. A real cowboy. This dude was straight out of Lonesome Dove. Ma'am, Honey, and Good Lord Almighty. He bought a book. He was a talker and asked about my politics. I responded "God Bless John Wayne" which went over splendidly. I might add that it wasn't a stretch on my part. Lord I miss The Duke.

Hiccupping through Lit

3. The Serious Non Fiction Browser

This woman took every volume from the Current Best Sellers in Non Fiction shelves and read the covers, the back covers, the first pages, and then leafed through to the last page, which she read before replacing the book. Spent about an hour completing this task before leaving without making a purchase.


What I Learned

To be an Indie Book Store Owner you must have:

1. The patience of Job's wife
2. Excedrin Super Strength
3. Much stock in Pet Deodorizer companies
4. A really, really, really long fuse
5. A relative who has connections with organized crime that will allow you to create a hit list anonymously and give you an alibi when revenge for all you have endured finally comes to pass.

My hat is off - literally, actually, since I wore the 1940s black cloche I got in a heckofa deal on eBay - to these guardians of literature.

Blessings on them all.