NaNoWriMo

What the heck is that? NaNoWriMo? A very intense undertaking. Groups of writers, thousands actually, take part in an attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in only one month. I've been doing this for about five years now and it has helped produce two of my four completed books. I've only completed the 50,000 once but the exercise helps me get into an entirely new book. The idea is to start from scratch. A virgin idea and take it to 50,000 words. It's really fun but it gets hectic when you need to write over 1600 words each day. If you miss a day that's over 3000 to write the next day. Now, I normally edit as I write my word and my goal for a week is 2000. That means I must increase my efforts five fold.
I haven't decided to actually do it this year what with other projects pressing in on me. I may use it to help in my work-in-progress. Whatever I decide, it's a daunting task indeed.

Don't Feel Like It

When you get up and get going of a morning how do you motivate yourself? Most will offer up the coffee angle. A cup rejuvenates and jump-starts the body. At times my dog is my motivator. The last thing I want early in the morning is a sloppy French kiss from my dog. I just want to turn over and grab another few winks. Not to happen. This toy poodle with the quickest tongue in the West is persistent. She'll sit as close as possible and tongue jab until her point is over-driven home. I can never say to her, "I don't feel like it."
I know the dreaded winter wake up calls are coming. Ten below and we have to go out and clear an area of the front yard of snow to allow her to daintily add color to the turf.
Don't get me wrong. This ten-pound dervish is as much a part of the family as am I. She rules the household and is fully aware that she does. If I don't have a treat for her at the proper time the whiner queen lets us know. Her favorite is peanut butter. A dollop on the end of my finger is whisked away with the aforementioned mouth tool. My wife and I can never say peanut butter in front of the dog. And even the letters 'PB' are verboten. That tongue flicks out and we are given the sob stare. A stare guaranteed to bring a sob because she looks so forlorn and my wife believes the dog's heart is breaking.
I have to hand it to that dog. She has even survived a death-defying wake-up call at 2:30 am. If ever I would be tempted to do severe harm to her that was the morning. I groaned and whined, but trudged down the stairs half-dressed and grouchy. We returned to bed and I was rewarded with one more thank you. A slobbery good night kiss. She is so precious.

Among the Missing

Yes, I've neglected my blog for a couple of weeks. The first week was because of an online workshop I conducted with an author friend, Pepper Smith. That was intense. I spent 42 hours on the computer that week and my eyes were beginning to roll back into my head. But, it was a great time - we had almost 8000 visits to our sessions. So the next week I chilled and pried my eyes back to their rightful place.
Next year we'll be giving another week-long session on suspense at the Muse online conference in October and then in December again for the Romance Writer's of America, Fantasy and Paranormal group. Looking forward to doing both and hope my eyes can take the strain.
I'm sadly peering out my office window at the almost barren trees. The colors have been beautiful the last couple of weeks, and now all that beauty has provided a blanket for my lawn. I keep waiting for the wind to blow those leaves into my neighbor's yard. Not cooperating so far.
I can't believe it's going to be November on Sunday. This year has flown by. And each year it goes faster. Reminds us to take each day as if it were our last.

Too Many Activities

Had a query by a friend. How do you keep everything straight? You know what? I don't know. I guess if you are passionate about something you keep it in the front of your brain. I seem to be passionate about many things. Church; over twenty yahoo groups; volunteering (see previous post); three novels in progress; promoting my work; talks at various service organizations, libraries, book signings; teaching writing on the Internet; and now as an agent for an author client. Even for me it sounds like a lot. But, isn't the old saying, "If you want something done, give it to a busy person." still applicable? I've always been busy. An unfortunate part of that 'busy' is that I have little time to read for entertainment. I forced myself to join a book club to get in some reading time. (Uh, I know - another activity) But it is a help to my writing as well, so I consider it a part of my work effort.
I feel I function better as a busy person. Keeps the body and mind healthy. I guess I'll continue as long as God allows me.
Hope you have enough activities and not too many.

Too old

We senior citizens are a generational group more cliched than any other group I know. We're all doddering, wheezing, senile creatures who should be put in a home, according to many young people today. Couldn't be further from the truth. I just attended a luncheon provided for the many volunteers of Dove and RSVP. Last year this group volunteered over 97,000 hours of community service. That was done with 571 individuals. These people are vibrant, skilled former professionals or just concerned citizens. And yes, some even motor around in walkers. I met one lady who is 86 years old and has been volunteering for over thirty years. I asked her how she did it. She looked up with sparkling eyes and said, "It keeps me focused and involved." Then she shuffled over to her table and answered her cell phone. Talk about inspirational. And the meal they served was absolutely fantastic.
Think about your own situation. Could you spare an hour a week to help? There is someone out there who needs it.

Jump Start

I was asked a familiar question the other day. Where do you get all your ideas? I always have a flippant answer, but it got me thinking. Where do they come from and I guess the best honest answer is from observation. I watch people wherever I go. I wonder what they are doing, what they do for a living, why they have that expression on their face? I also eavesdrop. I know, that's not polite. I try not to be obvious about it, but I love hearing how conversation evolves. Do you notice how we sometimes change subjects quickly when we have a thought? Can't really do that in writing. The dialog must flow and only add to the plot.
But, back to the point - see how easy it is to get sidetracked?
My ideas come from looking at a situation and posing the 'what if' questions. Take a innocuous scene and make it bad or more interesting. Then take it further with more what ifs. Pretty soon you will have a conflict and some adventure or romance or maybe a murder.
And most important - write down that idea. If you don't, it'll disappear.

Interview With Ferlin

I've created an interview with the "bad guy" from my first novel, Shepherd's Pie. PI Mike Shepherd has a nemesis who is as nasty as he is diabolical. This is what he has to say.

Daddy loved country music. Probably why he tagged me with the name Ferlin Husky to go with the last name, Lewis. Never thought too much about it, though. I was a tough kid. Always won my fights despite being shorter than most of the kids in my grade. That’s cause Daddy taught me how to fight. Kneein’ and scratchin’ is allowed. Also ’cause I had two of the meanest brothers you’d never want to meet. Just to get a meal, I had to out-grab at least one of those two, an’ they had me by at least twenty pounds apiece.
After me, I guess the second-toughest fellow I ever met was Mike Shepherd, the PI who nailed me for a seven-year stretch in the federal pen. Then that SOB had the nerve to come after me again once I got out. I warned him to stay away. Even grabbed that pretty little gal of his, but he wouldn’t stop. And when I began gittin’ rid of his neighbors it sort of ticked him off. I got to admit it; he’s one tough bird. I outsmarted him so far, though, and I can keep up the pressure as long as he wants. I’m not goin’ back to prison. No way.
One thing in his favor, that favorite restaurant of his sure does serve up some great grub. I snuck in and sat right close to him and ate dinner. He had no clue. My disguises are really good. I’m a trained survivalist you know. Got my secret hideout and lots of weapons. He comes my way you can slap a tombstone on his grave.
And I made the Ten Most Wanted from the Feds, thanks to him. I’m kind of famous. Well, even so, I got one thing to say. Just nobody get in my way. Nobody.
Catch up with Mike Shepherd as he and Ferlin chase each other around Chicago and the suburbs in Shepherd's Pie . And check out the recipes from Mike’s favorite place to eat – Rosie’s Home Cookin’ Restaurant.

Online Free Workshop

One of my favorite words is free. If I can get anything free, I try to be first in line. Next week everyone has an opportunity to participate in a free online writing conference, put on by the MuseItUp Club. This will be my fifth, I think. Over one hundred writers, editors and publishers will present workshops and provide handouts. Chats, working sessions and pitches to actual agents and publishers happen all next week. It's too late to sign up for this year, but put it on your calendar for 2010. Always the second week in October. I'll be doing a workshop concerning adding suspense to your writing along with my workshop partner, Pepper Smith. If you've signed up, see you there.

Liar, Liar

Had an interesting discussion with an author friend of mine. I have on several places described myself as a liar. My thought process goes like this: I write fiction. Fiction is not true. I make stuff up. So, in my estimation as a writer of fiction, I am a liar. I separate this author side of me from my personal life where I am not a liar. We won't go into the term two-faced here.
My author friend considers herself a decent and moral person. And I suppose she was offended that I would automatically categorize her as a liar. She writes fiction and makes stuff up.
I hope we are still friends from all this and I think we are. But it begs the question when I sometimes foolishly make a statement and then must back it up if someone is offended.
So if you take offense at the fact that we fiction writers are purveyors of non-fact, which my dad always classified as a liar, I'm deeply sorry. But -- non-facts are non-facts.

Interviews

My novel's characters talk to me a lot. No, I'm not nuts. But it seems that they are giving me words and thoughts while I'm tapping the keyboard. And often when an idea comes, it's from that character's point of view. For example, my work in progress is from an Afghani boy's POV and when I'm writing, the words come in first person. And that's how I started writing this story, in first person. But my writing group suggested it should be in third person - and I agree. So I kind of translate what I'm hearing into third person. Kind of eerie when you think about it. And I didn't, until I wrote for this blog. Now I need to go back and examine that statement about being nuts. What if I really am? And like all writers I know, I must ask the question - is there a book in that thought? Could be. We'll see.
Have an awesome weekend. I'm going to be walking in the CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Walk tomorrow. Its mission is to help feed the world and end hunger. As they say, it takes one step at a time.

Little Things

Don't you get as ticked off by little things as much as the big ones? Seems like those minor annoyances ratchet up our boiling point way too much. Why is that? My wife says that I'm calm in a crisis. It doesn't seem that way to me. It may be that a crisis is over and that's that, but the little things keep popping up. Keep jabbing at you like that little gnat you can't kill. For example, I get irritated at those who use a cell phone while driving. And it keeps happening over and over. Can't those people wait until they are stopped and not tearing down the street in a 3000-pound lethal weapon? Or those who enter a store and let the door close behind them right on the next person who is entering. I know it may not be PC to hold a door for a woman who is offended at male deference (and who can identify that one?), but to let it slam in someone's face seems impolite. Impoliteness is rampant today. Kids are impolite and their parents if you see them are also, so it's not the kids fault if they've never been taught. Thankfully my parents did teach me respect. After all, isn't that what it comes down to? Respect for each other.
So if you see me at the store and I hold the door open for you, you don't have to thank me. I don't expect that. But please don't give me the evil eye. You may wind up as a character in my books and his or her fate may be painful.

Lesson Plans

I'm putting together a lesson plan for a workshop I'm conducting next spring for a chapter of Romance Writers of America. I didn't realize how tough that is. Now I know what teachers go through every day. Whatever we pay them it's not enough. Teachers must deal with not only the screwy paperwork stuff but the undisciplined youth of America.
Pardon me but it seems that there are more unruly thugs in schools nowadays and the parents of these creeps are clueless. I just saw the video of a young man in Chicago being beaten to death by gang members. For once the White House got it right. It was chilling. There were 34 deaths and 290 shootings in Chicago during the 2008-09 school year. Just in Chicago! This is worse than the war zone. That number has escalated each year.
I fear for this country if we continue to let this go unchecked. I'm for strict punishment of trouble makers. I'm talking criminal charges. I thought there were supposed to be guards in place. Where were they?
It just begs for an investigation and some answers.

Was just on a new site for Christians here at home. Got me to thinking. My books are family-friendly. I want my family -even the young ones - to be able to read my books without me being embarrassed by something in it. Excessive language, sex, or violence. I know I could make bundles of money writing erotica. I don't want to go there. Not that I'm a prude. I just think you can tell a good story without all the "extras". It says a lot about the sad moral state of our country that you can earn big bucks writing garbage.
I want to be able to face my Lord and not have him ask why did I write dribble.
Anyway, I want to be be true to my principles.
I hope your day is filled with blessings.

Getting started

The count is now two for blog posts. It's a bit scary to take on a blog. What if I don't have anything to say? What if I have a lot to say and nobody cares? Well, that doesn't bother me. And I've never been at a loss for words. Once I found out if high school that I could make people laugh, I never stopped trying. Always searched for jokes and sayings to relate and watch for reactions.
Everyone blogs these days. Just saw the movie Julie and Julia. It's all about blogging and of course cooking. A good movie and Meryl Streep is an awesome actress. The author of the book had a neat idea that blossomed into a mega hit. If only. I can't cook and don't really know if I can be that dedicated to a task. Now on writing a book, yes I can do that. I can commit to that. Of course I have the time now. I hesitate in my answer when someone asks what I do. I am "officially" retired but I am an author. So that's what I say. I'm on my fifth career and finally got to the one I've longed for. Only took 65 years. So anyone out there who is lamenting (a substitute word for griping) about a job, just wait it can happen. Try to make what you do fun. I know, hard to do in these troubled times. I think the man upstairs really wants us to have fun. Even in church. And I'm glad my church allows that to happen. Doesn't God have a sense of humor? Look at Congress. Don't know who said that but it's true. Probably Mark Twain. Well, I ramble. Story of my life. Come to think of it, we used to have a Rambler. A Nash Rambler. Boy does that take me back.
Check in tomorrow when I may have something important to say. Or maybe not.

One giant leap for Dave

Why did I pick Mikey Spillane? First of all because I'm a big fan of his books. Second that's what a well known mystery writer called me in his review of my first book, Shepherd's Pie. I write mysteries with Mike Shepherd a laid back PI who isn't perfect. He has a sometime fiance who hates his job. Thinks he's wasting his brain and potential on a sleazy profession. So they often have conflict but down deep really love each other. Although that word is hard for Mike to allow to leave his lips.
I've been writing for seven years now and I guess it's just time to get on the bandwagon with a blog. So please check back and leave a comment. Like it or not. As a writer I'm used to rejection. I just love the arrows from whoever. I realize it should be whomever but I have never been one who is totally resigned to perfect English. Oh slap me silly. An author who thinks that way. Shame on me.