F is for Fats . . .

They rolled a beat-up piano
right in the middle of the basketball court
in our tiny high-school gym.
You, Fats, banged out stride while the sweat
rolled down your face. 
We danced white-kids' bop not five feet away
and fell in love with your gravel-voice
and your music -- "Blueberry Hill," 
"I'm Walkin' to New Orleans," 
and "Ain't That a Shame."  
I never knew a piano could sing like that.
I didn't really know you were already famous.
Your hands just cajoled that piano,
making music, crossing over, and 
from that moment, I was a fan.

When Katrina came to New Orleans, 
Rumors swirled that awful night and 
the next long, long morning 
that you were gone. I still remember
the photos of your rescue in that dread time.
We went on down to New Orleans,
cleaned books in a musty basement for a month,
and walked through the city,
sweet dixie and blues spilling into the night,
your city, Fats.
I'm only one of many who remember you
and hold you dear.

Today, Fats Domino remains a permanent resident of New Orleans, where his Tipitina's Foundation raises funds for musicians in Louisiana. Read more about Fats on Wikipedia and about Tipitina's Foundation here.

To read what others have written:
NaPoWriMo at http://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/
A-Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html
A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

E is for Elvis . . .

Elvis 1968 (Wikipedia)

Screaming teen-aged girls 
mobbed him;
Blues-loving fans adored him;
Guys hated him.
Adults were outraged, but 
Elvis was a soft-spoken 
young man from the south,
a bad boy wearing leathers,
a parent's nightmare
with heavy-lidded eyes,
so nervous when he sang, 
he jiggled his legs;
his cross-over music 
a tribute to the blues, he topped
the charts over and over again. 
I only know when his songs came on the radio in Seattle in the late 1950s, 
everything seemed possible, even love,
and we danced holes in the rug.

We're home, exhausted after driving 430 miles, and I'm late with "E" for the A-Z Challenge, but who could forget Elvis, his raucous break-all-the-rules"Blue Suede Shoes," and his contribution to rock and roll?



To read what others have written:

NaPoWriMo at http://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/
A-Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html
A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

D is for Delight . . .

When I write, I relax into almost meditation, a focus on other than myself, the routine of early morning driving the day's writing goals into something that wasn't there before. And so, 

I write in delight,
always somewhat surprised
to see words
arrange themselves
on the page.
Writing drives me to detail
that single, lost Canada goose 
heading south last night in the dusk,
alone, honking, 
as if the sound alone
would bring him back to the flock
somewhere ahead of him,
a plaintive call and yet
spring awaits.
I can see him landing
on a wide, cool pond,
far from human eye,
where there, among the reeds,
he finds his own delight.

Canada geese along the Spokane River (Wikipedia)

Most days I work on editing (and writing) my historical fiction. Only in April do I challenge myself with a poem a day. And now to work! May your week go well.

To read what others have written:
NaPoWriMo at http://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/
A-Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html
A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

C is for Cow-licious . . .

A Swiss Braunvieh cow contemplates nature (Wikipedia)

Let us go to the far hill,
my well-flanked one. 
We'll stand there in quiet.
I'll ruminate.
You'll munch on the grass.
Together we'll watch
the young ones butt heads
and run in circles.
And we'll remember
those long ago days of spring.

Today's poem was inspired by a story we overheard at the T-J Diner just north of Medford, Oregon, as we slowly drive home. A rancher said, "I finally got that motorcycle I wanted. I put four booties on one of my cows and called her a cow-a-socki." 

Maybe some days, it's just OK to have fun with this poem-a-day challenge.

To read what others have written:
NaPoWriMo at http://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/
A-Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html
A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/


ROW80 WEDS UPDATE: Just a quick update. We're still on the road until Friday night. I'm settling in to reading ROW80 as a first-time sponsor and wishing everyone a great Round 2!

B is for Blur . . .

"Blur"

You could not see his face
for you met on the internet.
His words drew you in,
until you were nearly lost in love,
words tumbling between you.
He lived somewhere
between London and Norway;
He searched for someone exactly like you,
offering love, marriage, a new life together.
I broke the bond.
An internet search brought
multiple photos, different names, and
the same fractured syntax, with stories
of other women like you:
One waited at the airport with her three children
for a lover who never arrived; another mortgaged her home.
You are safe for the moment.
Even face-to-face, we do not know each other.
We are but a blur in the cosmos,
vulnerable to our half-articulated hopes and dreams.
We say there are no easy answers, no easy
connections, but one day, you may yet find
that companion of your heart.

Older, newly widowed women who use the internet are particularly vulnerable to such scams. This happened to someone dear to me. If you have any doubts about someone you meet on line, do a key word search on Google, phrases, names, even photos. Check out this background article on Wikipedia which suggests a predictable pattern of establishing trust, 'grooming' the mark, and asking for money. If you are drawn into an online friendship and are asked for money, follow that old truism, "Trust but verify."  Consider checking names, photos, or text on romancescam.com

Today's poem falls under the umbrella of the 'A-Z Challenge' and NaPoWriMo -- to write a poem a day in April, National Poetry Month.

European Bee-eaters (Wikipedia)
Note the female in the front who waits for the male's offering.

To read what others have written:
NaPoWriMo at http://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/
A-Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html
A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

A is for April

A is for April, another round of ROW80 begins today, as does the A-Z Challenge and a-poem-a-day to celebrate National Poetry Month.  So, first the poem:

"Anniversary"

Two camellia trees lean together,

like old friends, like lovers

who put roots down

when the house was new and filled with children.

Blossoms red and white litter the garden

an invitation to stroll here

as spring rounds another year, and

old friends tell stories of long ago.

Even an early morning rain

cannot take away these moments,

now memories, cherished, of a couple

who made a home 

filled with beauty and love.

Two Camilla Trees, Berkeley (Camp 2013)

We visited friends who live next to Berkeley, California, and who introduced us so long ago. We celebrated our reunion with dinner at Zaki's, Mediterranean food and music, haunting eastern style, and the most fabulous chicken/rice dish I have ever eaten -- Malouba (and I now have the recipe) with fresh mint lemonade (still searching for that recipe). The poem is for them.

Now for ROW80 which begins with ROW80 GOALS (April 1 - June 20).

WRITING:

--Write 100 words a day.

--Write a BLOG column once a week.

--Write a POEM a day for National Poetry Month (April).

--Complete A-Z CHALLENGE w/daily post (also April).Theme: Research for Rivers of Stone.

--Write AFTERWORD for Years of Stone and Standing Stones. Work by section to identify historical persons. Maybe use List of characters? How do other writers of historical fiction handle this issue?

--BEGIN research on Rivers of Stone. Read preliminary notes. OUTLINE. Write character sketches of major/minor characters. BUILD a timeline. PULL SCENES together. Make scene cards. Plot character arcs. Create SCHEDULE w/deadlines.

OTHER GOALS are more difficult for me to nail down.

·       

READING/CRAFT: Read at least one book and 2 magazines a month on writing craft. Reread PDF/Research files for Years of Stone and Rivers of Stone. Continue critting other writers at Internet Writers Workshop (NOVELS-L), at least 2 critiques each month and one subbed chapter each month.. Need to read Bound for Australia http://boundforsouthaustralia.net.au/

MARKETING/OUTREACH: 

·        WEEKLY: Use DuoLit daily to get marketing plan organized and to identify ACTION STEPS. Research marketing strategies and update Marketing Plan. Send out press release for Mermaids. Update author bio. Set up author website (Word Press). Pursue readings at Hastings, Book End, Barnes & Noble. Post book club invite/questions to website. Offer Mermaid Quilt freebie on GoodReads. 

PUBLISHING/SALES:  

·         Take Mermaid Quilt to WSQ Yard Sale (April 6). Publish Mermaid Quilt on Smashwords.   Track sales monthly for Mermaid Quilt on Amazon, CreateSpace.   Submit story and poems x 2 each month with new bio that includes The Mermaid Quilt.  Make a final round of indie presses for Standing Stones and Years of Stone (see list of 40 potential indie publishers). Set self-pub plan if no results by June 20. 

I think these goals are more specific, perhaps more measurable than in the past. We're still on the road until April 5, but then I will have an office again, my research materials, and a big screen for my little netbook. Whoopie. May ROW80 go well for you. Be tenacious! Make commitments! Write on!

I

April and poetry, etc, etc.

I write and no matter where I am,
or in which century,
each word builds story
as the doves chitter and sit on the garden wall
in this Tucson morning sun.
Already the mountain laurel and the marguerites bloom,
the wind chime tinkles softly,
and the palo verde glows green with spring.

April promises to be intense. I'm getting ready for the next round of ROW80 (A Round of Words in 80 Days), which runs from April 1 to June 21 by refining and setting my writing, research and publishing goals.

The A-Z Challenge also runs in April. This year my theme will be writing about research for Rivers of Stone. My characters will cross 19th Century Canada and the United States to reach Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Some people write their entries ahead of time, but I like the spontaneity of connecting my writing and reading to the letter-of-the-day. 

April is also National Poetry Month, and it's kind of fun to try to write a poem a day just for April. For me, writing fiction is a way of exploring story, history, characters, ideas, and working out conflicts, but poetry is a way of centering into the present.

Are you in?

Check these websites for more information:

A Round of Words in 80 Days at http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

A to Z Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Ways to celebrate National Poetry Writing Month, started by the Academy of American Poets. See http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41

Scintilla Day 9: Lost

When I was in my early twenties, dreaming of going back to school, my hippie sister came up out of the wilds of Mendocino County, dragging her adorable kids, Chrissy 5 and Dale 6.

"You take them," she said. "You've got a job, you've got a life." And so I became a mom, arranged a babysitter, bought clothes, cooked proper meals, read good night stories, and fell in love all over again. My sister hit the road, alone.

One Saturday, I thought we should have an adventure. I'd been invited to the coast, roughly an hour's drive from Ukiah to near Fort Bragg. I loaded the kids in my car and checked the map. I could have chosen 101, the North Redwoods Highway, the road most traveled, but a thin line traced on the map led over the coastal mountains. "Let's take this back road, kids," and off we went.

Our road that at first wound through foothills and lovely, quiet woods quickly became a one-way dirt road. This old logging road, rarely used, twisted and turned back on itself as it cut through rugged hills. We sang and told stories as I maneuvered my old car past potholes at maybe 15 mph. I was lost. We had no food, no water. Feeling more scared and stupid by the minute, I gained no clues from the road or the map. I drove on. Five hours later, we arrived at the coast. We took Highway 101 home. I hoped the kids never knew how frightened I'd been.

For three months I was a mom, but then my sister swung back through town. "They're my kids," she said. "You can't have them." And then they were all gone. I moved to San Francisco, worked my way through school, and became a teacher. I heard from her occasionally, sometimes by letter, sometimes by rumor.

I never saw the kids again. My sister dropped in, sometimes asking for money, sometimes telling me of her latest boyfriend. Chrissy married at 19, and had two kids of her own. I think she's somewhere in Montana. Dale wound up in jail. Several decades later, my sister died in a crack house in Dallas, lost to us all. But I still cherish those three months of innocence and remember the day we got lost in the woods.

NOTE: I'm joining the Scintilla Project (daily writing prompts for two weeks) while on the road. Read what others have written at www.scintillaproject.com or jump on Twitter at #scintilla13 and read and write on!

Day 9 prompt:  Talk about where you were going the day you got lost. Were you alone? Did you ever get to where you meant to go?

March 20: Scintilla Day 8: It was the best of feasts . . .

Thanksgiving. My sister and I invited eighteen people to gather for an unforgettable meal. We spent hours shopping, cutting, preparing, stewing, boiling, baking. Every special food had been prepared for this four-course Swedish Thanksgiving feast. We took more time in the kitchen than planned. People wandered in and out, encouraging us, for we had prepared no appetizers. By the time we sat down to table, our guests had that lean and hungry look, almost dangerous.

Cartoon from Uffdashop

My sister and I sat at the head of the table, together on this special day. She brought in the first round of salads, all well received, even Sill Salad, a beet concoction my grandmother used to make. I brought in the first platter of lutefisk and politely passed it around. I watched as the platter made its way around the table. No takers. Mutters arose as that platter returned to us untouched. "No turkey?" someone queried. My sister and I dug in; this was a feast: Light, succulent lutefisk made with traditional white gravy. Our guests ate broccoli and corn. They were grateful for pie.

NOTE: I'm joining the Scintilla Project (daily writing prompts for two weeks) while on the road. Read what others have written at www.scintillaproject.com or jump on Twitter at #scintilla13 and write on!

March 19 Scintilla: No Turning Back . . .

Everything changed when I met my husband. He was traveling to Mexico to go to graduate school. I was working at an international bank. He said, "I'm leaving in September, and I most likely won't be back." I said, "I've always wanted to go to Mexico." He was too kind-hearted and too enamoured to refuse me.

Within the month, I quit my job and sold my possessions, except for my sewing machine, a heavily loaded back-pack, and my mother's portable typewriter -- all of which I carried over the border. I didn't speak a word of Spanish, yet somehow, a mere 45 hours on the bus brought me to San Miguel de Allende, a small colonial town just north of Mexico City, a town of artists and writers, and Allen.

He did tell me he wasn't the marrying kind, but I took that as a personal challenge.

Isaiah Zagar's mosaics, Magic Garden,
Philadelphia (Camp 2000)

I never wanted to turn back, for Allen was (and still is) a wonderful teller of tales. Normally one person in a couple has the voice of reason. If Allen or I suggested we should travel some new place, we simply went. We have had outrageous adventures. Once we had our daughter, we learned not to rattle suitcases and settled down, somewhat. In 2004, we spent seven months traveling, a month in each country, beginning in Egypt, then Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and England, an unforgettable trip.

I remember buying a pair of scissors in a Turkish open air market and immediately cutting Allen's hair. A crowd quickly gathered, offering helpful comments, laughing and teasing to see my handiwork.

I still cut his hair. I would not change one moment of our marriage.

NOTE: I'm joining the Scintilla Project (daily prompts for two weeks) while on the road. Read what others have written at www.scintillaproject.com or jump on Twitter at #scintilla13 and write on! To read more about Isaiah Zagar, go here

Scintilla 6: Testing character . . .

Scintilla 6: Describe a time when your character was tested.

Tsunematsu-san was always composed. He was very short, even for a Japanese, yet his air of confident calm meant regardless of the crises that surrounded us, his few words put us at ease. Did I say we were international bankers in a west coast start up? Assigned to our office from Japan, he moved through the day as if he were at home. Occasionally he would talk to me about Hiroshima, where his family lived for generations. I didn't have the courage to ask him why he came to the states or how he felt about America.

Everyone liked Tsunematsu-san. For his 60th birthday, we planned a surprise birthday. Because I worked most closely with him, I was delegated to bring him to the break room. The hour came. I picked up my phone, dialed his number, and said with some urgency, "Tsunematsu-san, please come to the back office. I need you."

He was dutifully surprised by cake and the gathering of office workers and expressed pleasure. "We do not celebrate birthdays in this way in Japan," he said. But after the party was over, he took me aside. "Beth," he said, "you did not tell me the truth when you called me. The words cannot be taken back, even if for this good cause. Now I know I cannot trust you."

I was shocked. I was hurt. But his words forever changed me.

NOTE: I'm joining Scintilla Project (daily prompts for two weeks) while on the road. Read what others have written here or jump on Twitter at #scintilla13 and write on!

Scintilla #1: Morning Commute

We're in Arizona now, 93 degrees today, the land flat desert, rolling hills to mountains as we pass Blythe and stop just over the border, and I drove about 290 miles at breakneck speed. Very few cars followed the 70 mph limit.   So I was a little tired, just checking in on bloggers I like to read.

I found a neat, knuckle-biter of an airplane story from S. C. Morgan and a link to participate in The Scintilla Project. Click here to find out more or click on the icon in the right hand menu. Scintilla provides daily writing prompts for just two weeks. I was tired enough not to reisist, so jump in!  

Today’s prompt: Being trapped in a confined environment can turn an ordinary experience into a powder keg. Write about a thing that happened to you while you were using transportation; anything from your first school bus ride, to a train or plane, to being in the backseat of the car on a family road trip.

I was late. Why was it that when I was on my way out the door, my boyfriend would ask me a question that no one could answer with yes or no? I gunned the jeep just a little. Cold morning, cold car, cold fingers on the wheel. 

The jeep slid over the yellow line. Black ice. My heart jumped. No oncoming traffic. I twisted the wheel one direction. Steer into the skid! That didn't work.

I flipped the wheel to the other side, and the jeep whirled around in a circle. I watched the hills covered with snow float past the window. The jeep continued to rotate in circles, off the road, tilting, sliding. I was weightless. I remember thinking that I had no regrets. 

The jeep slammed to a stop on a dirt embankment. My back crashed out the side window. The jeep tilted on top of me, heavier and heavier. I could take this, and no more. I could barely breathe. I pounded on top of the jeep's green roof and screamed as loudly as I could.

A man ran around the back of the jeep.

"Hello there," I said, breaking off from my screams.

"Don't worry, lady. I'll get this off you!" He strained to push the jeep up and away. But the jeep didn't move. His face crumpled. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll be back. Just stay still."

Was I going anywhere? My head felt heavy. I wanted to sleep; the jeep was a blanket. I couldn't feel my legs.

Two men shoved and pushed the jeep upright. I slithered out the window onto the ground. They covered me with a blanket and waited until the ambulance came. Outside of a dislocated hip, a four-inch gash on my forehead, and a chip out of my spine, I was alive.

Today I am still very grateful for the years since, my only marker, a tiny scar on my forehead.

Of the sea and a ROW80 update . . .

Sea Pen (Camp 2013)

Today, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium  to find the most fantastic creatures, from water dragons to jellyfish to this curious sea pen, called in Spanish, pluma del mar.  I can imagine writing with such a pen.

Were any mermaids there? Yes, indirectly. I spotted a tiny, tough little egg case, also called a mermaid's purse, which a skate will attach to seaweed or sand. Sometimes we writers protect ourselves with such a tough skin.

I was fascinated by the jelly fish for they are so very different, each one independent, yet they float and bump along in a colony of like creatures, their pale, sometimes transparent colors ephemeral. We don't know if or how they communicate (they have no brains), yet they swarm together and have a kind of nerve net in their 'skin'. They were simply beautiful, yet I know their sting can be dangerous.

ROW80 UPDATE/WRITING: Access to internet has been at random at best, but I am writing every day. I'm less confident I'll meet the goals I set at the beginning of this round, chastened by the reality of close revision but making progress. I'm nearly finished with Section 2 of Years of Stone. Ten weeks have passed (the editorial review window) without the indie press saying yes, so I shall go ahead with self-pubbing by the end of the year for Standing Stones and Years of Stone, not a bad goal.

Of found mermaids and ROW80

We're on the road, but I still see mermaids everywhere.

This mermaid perches above two draft beer kegs at the Chart House in Crescent City, right by the sea. Her face is hidden, her delicate hair and fins fashioned of driftwood, a creature reclaimed from the sea, anonymous, maybe even the bones of the sea, here in this town so vulnerable to tsunamis.

Later today I'll go walking by the ocean, feeling again the pull of the waves and the sea, that tension between becoming and being. Perhaps writers are always caught in imagining something else, never quite 'here and now' but always drawn to the possible, the 'what if?' The tide turns and returns, the waves a constant sound of something just beyond my ken.

ROW80 UPDATE: Not much to report this week. I'm reading someone else's novel for quick comments. In the morning, I'm optimistic and writing, but I've set aside other ROW80 goals for now. We are on the road and I'm the primary driver. Is that an excuse? I only know that after driving 200 miles, I feel too tired to do much more than flop. We'll head down the California coast tomorrow and have a rest day today -- so later a walk along the beach but now it's time for writing. May your week go well.

A little about Sister Rosetta Tharpe

From the very first moment that Sister Rosetta Tharpe picks up her guitar and begins to sing, you know a master of timing and passion is at work. Here she is in 1964, singing in the rain to a packed audience. "Didn't It Rain."

PSB American Masters presented highlights from her career and life. We took a break from packing (tomorrow we leave on a 1,400 mile drive to Tucson at the crack of dawn), and we were simply enthralled at this wonderful celebration of her beautiful bluesy voice. Her guitar slides from gospel to early acid rock.

ROW80 Update: In spite of all the efforts we may make, at moments, we lose confidence in ourselves. Listening to someone like Sister Rosetta sing reminds me that we begin with faith and continue with hope. Even the earliest tapes of Sister Rosetta show her singing with power, an inspiration to any creative person. So my ROW80 update is simply that I'm making progress and will persevere.

Writing debate/tip/question: I'm reading two writers now who almost completely dispense with "he said" or "she said," using dialogue tags (also called 'action tags') instead. The resulting pace of the story picks up remarkably. Since a recent critter suggested I use "Deidre said" instead of "said Deidre," I'm rethinking entirely how I use those tags. Anyone have advice?

For more about Sister Rosetta, Wikipedia has a nice overview.

Wallabies, editing and ROW80

Research is absolutely critical to writing good fiction.

I've never seen a real, live wallaby. But I'd read about them, looked at pictures, thought they were very interesting looking with their small, inquisitive faces, busy hands with quite useful claws, and those massive haunches. So I included one that Deidre spotted on the way to the Cascades Female Factory, though I found these animals, about the size of a dog, are mostly nocturnal and hunt for food or graze about at night.

Wallabies don't scuttle, though that's what I wrote. Back came a critique, thank goodness, from Les Denham, a writer in NOVELS-L, of the Internet Writing Workshop fame, someone who has lived in Australia and seen hundreds of wallabies. So I found this four-minute video of a Black-footed Rock Wallaby (by Walkaboutlad) that shows a bit more of how a wallaby moves.

Can I find a video of a wallaby running in the wild? Not yet. Lots of zoo shots of tame wallabies. Lots of footballers. Several fascinating videos of wallabies with babies in their pouches and one wallaby that simply stares at the camera. He looks ferocious. But I did learn that wallabies hop or bound. and so my one sentence is now a bit more accurate.


I still hope to visit Tasmania, otherwise known as 19th Century Van Diemen's Land, before Years of Stone is complete. I'm on my fourth revision, with perhaps a year's more edits to go. The sentence that reverberates for me is mostly attributed to Voltaire, something like: Striving for perfection can be the enemy of the good. I'm also staring the law of diminishing returns in the face.

ROW80 CHECK-IN. Next week, we go on the road, netbook stuffed in purse, on a 1,400 mile jaunt from snowy eastern Washington to balmy Tucson. They say you can drive this in about 22 hours. We'll go more slowly. I'm scampering like a wallaby to organize the packing, finish my volunteer PR work, and yet write every morning.

WRITING/RESEARCH: I still hope to finish my read through of Years of Stone by the end of this Round of 80 Days. I feel pretty good about the editing just now. My revision builds on new research about the Cascades Women's Factory and efforts to rewrite Deidre's character so she's less passive. I'm subbing to NOVELS-L and have gotten insightful and positive responses from Francene Stanley, Don McCandless, Holly Michael, Bob Smith, and Les Denham.

Also got a lovely new book on The Victorian Underworld by Donald Thomas and started pulling library books on the Hudson's Bay Company for Rivers of Stone for the trip across Canada this summer. And the biggest find: this photo from Margaret Muir's research-oriented website on Matthew Brady. This Australian author lives in Tasmania and is currently working on a story about Matthew Brady (1823-1843), a few years before my novels are set, but Brady, a bushranger, hid out in the hills above the Tamar River in Tasmania, exactly the kind of site I was looking for, though I want to find a hideout with caves. Still researching this, but what a picture. Margaret Muir is now on my "to read" list.

MARKETING/PUBLISHING: My first book club discussion for The Mermaid Quilt occurs this Thursday. I'm ready with lots of props and notes. More about that later. Haven't made progress on either GoodReads or Smashwords now that The Mermaid Quilt is off KDP, but it's on my to-do list.

May your week go well. Write on!

Feeling smart?

Too many inducements. I now have an i-phone, one of those smart phones that's smarter than me. At least I figured out how to make phone calls, though the darn thing buzzes and rings at the same time. Probably it knows I need both. The speaker feature is kind of neat. I can put the darn thing down and just wander away.

Here's my Sunday night update for ROW80, A Round of Words in 80 Days, a truly lovely writing community.

WRITING: I'm reminded of the first paint-by-number picture I tried at about age 8. Very quickly, I began  to paint the colors I wanted, not those itemized on that careful list of numbered colors. And then I began to paint outside the lines. The result was impressionistic and not as pretty as my sister's tidy painting. Now I begin writing each morning and nearly straight away begin to deviate from my ROW80 goals. Does anyone else do that?

ROW80 goals are supposed to be measurable, but I can't measure the words I'm editing or the new pages I'm writing. My goal is simply to finish editing Years of Stone by the end of this round.

Since Wednesday, I've been doing a bit more research on several supporting historical characters who appear in my story. What I've found is that letters, newspaper articles, speeches, and portraits help me to visualize these folks more fully. I begin to know their internal worries and hopes, sometimes the formidable obstacles they faced. What spins out next is a mystery but reads true.

Naming characters is always a challenge. So much goes into a name. But to be historically accurate meant one of my major characters had to have a name change this late in the story! Mary was a very common name in the 1840s. But Mary Hutchinson, matron of the Cascades Female Factory, cannot be confused with Mary Dallow, that mouthy, blue-collar lady who has fallen in with a bushranger and most likely slept her way to Van Diemen's Land.

Mary Hutchinson, on the other hand, grew up at Parramatta, a women's prison in New South Wales where her parents worked. She married young to a handsome Wesleyan pastor with poor health. When he left the ministry to become a superintendent at Cascades, Mary became the matron. Beset with overcrowding at the prison and the threat of riots, constant criticism from the local press, and the continued ill health of her husband, how would this mother who had lost several of her own babies react to the rising infant deaths at Cascades? Petulantly says one report. But there's more to the story.

READING/CRAFT: Finally caught up with reading. My office has returned to a semblance of order, and I'm currently reading Jeri Westerson's Veil of Lies (A Medieval Noir). So far I'm admiring her crisp storytelling, evocative settings, and neat plot twists.

MARKETING. Reading some articles, working on Book Club reading/questions. The "event" at a local bookstore has been postponed to April (travel intervenes). Some progress on quilting. OMG, the smart phone beeps me when I get new e-mail. Obviously I need training on how to change the settings! Even my computer doesn't do this.

Karen Huber's latest post , "A Matter of Practice," talks about facing into the "now" by accepting both light and dark sides of your self. We are all in different stages in our lives, but her words always resonate for me. Here, I'm thinking of my characters. Do I allow myself to understand their dark as well as light sides? Something to ponder. I appreciate Karen's vision of practice, her willingness to face fear, and her writing that builds from meditation. That inner stillness, so difficult to find, perhaps comes with practice.

My smart phone now feels like an intrusion. I shall turn it off!

Weds check-in for ROW80 . . .

Just going to jump right in with a quick update. Like a wildabeest, its hoary, hairy beard swaying in the wind as it grazes, one eye out for predators, I hover over my keyboard, balancing writing with all else that intervenes. Some days, I make progress. Less so, this week.

William Buckley (Source: Wikipedia)

Writing: Still working on editing Section 2 of Years of Stone but I discovered some new research on Cascades Female Factory (a women's prison in Van Diemen's Land).

I found a painting of William Buckley in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Buckley, who actually worked as a gatekeeper for the nursery at Cascades, befriends one of my characters. Unusually tall, well over six feet, somewhat ungainly, and pock-marked, Buckley lived with aboriginals from 1803 to 1835. I'll let Buckley explain his history as he talks to Deidre about his life before working at Cascades . . .

“’Twas before I came to Van Diemen’s Land. The high court sent me to the mainland first. I guess you’d call me an absconder, for I didn’t stay there long. Those days was different. Never enough to eat.”

Buckley kept talking like a wagon wheel that once began to roll, couldn’t stop. “I ran away from Camp Phillip with a couple of my mates. I went one way; they went another. I never saw them again. I nearly starved out in the bush, but I managed. Found a spear and that was the ticket. Later I learned it was a marker for a grave. The Watourong saw that spear and thought I was the spirit of the one who’d passed. Those were good years . . .  

In writing about Buckley and the Cascades Women's Factory, my sense of the people and how they interacted is deepening, but sometimes only a phrase guides me. For example, Lucy Frost's very helpful Abandoned Women, describes Ann Hutchinson, the matron at Cascades, as "petulant" in responding to a government inquiry about the numbers of infant deaths there as well as the actual physical layout of the nursery. All useful stuff. And a prisoner who could read could find work at the nursery. What drives me forward is trying to imagine what this prison was really like. Ah, the writer's quest for verisimilitude!

Other goals. Does it count that I did my taxes which required meticulous accounting of book sales, starting and ending inventory, those books given away for promotion, for gifts, and other various expenses? Done! Getting ready for book club on The Mermaid Quilt at the end of the month. Reviewing Smashwords for its conversion requirements. Still don't know if I need another ISBN. Steady progress on reading craft and on keeping the travel blog updated (latest entry tonight re the wildabeest). Does anyone else get seduced into downloading Kindle books to read? No time! But I got to quilt tonight and my desk is ready for writing in the morning.

May your week go well.

It's ROW80 Monday . . .Personality, Pinterest and Oh, My!

Missed Weds check-in and Sunday check-in, but the week ahead is looking good. My office only looks like half a bomb hit it. There's no snow on the ground outside. I survived SuperBowl, a 3-hour dental visit, ferrying folks to doctors, lots of late-night babysitting, and the insidious deadlines of volunteer work, with a little quilting thrown in -- for fun.

Three quick tips for writers this morning which come from circling the wagons -- and not writing.

Medieval Mermaids, France 1450-1470 (Hermitage)

• Read other blogs. Create a folder on bookmark menu bar in your browser. Call it whatever you like, maybe READ THESE BLOGS. Then bookmark other writers' blogs, especially those you find inspiring. Today's suggestion comes from a Write it Sideways! interview by Debra Eve with historical-fiction-with-an-edge writer Jeri Westerson. Her well-designed blog alone is worth the trip,  and she writes 10 pages a day!


• Set up a Pinterest folder just for writing ideas. Many writers are visually oriented. Why not take advantage of what appeals to you. Check out my Pinterest on mermaids or on the 19th Century just for fun. Some of these links take me to very unexpected places.


• Be willing to do research whenever a question arises. Follow your intuition. This week, I found a very useful "idea tree" that describes a range of emotions that far surpass my own. I'll use Parrott's  tree to flesh out my characters (see below). How did I get here? By completing just one more exercise in Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.

ROW80 UPDATE: It's always about the writing, and this week, I've simply not written every day. Hit the wall. So, I worked on Maass' exercise on adding dimensions to characters to realize I don't really understand personality, emotion, character traits, etc.

Thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs may help as well, but I believe that people don't get stuck necessarily at one level before advancing to the next. For example, if I'm concerned about survival, Maslow posits that I can't be worrying about higher level issues (self-fulfillment). But the act of creating something pushes us to self-fulfillment in spite of being stuck elsewhere. Maybe I believe that we need to take risks to create -- nothing is a certainty.

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion, 1980 (Wikipedia)

I was less sure about personality. After some research to define terms (and possibilities),I found some neat charts along the way. Like many other writers, I'm a visual person.

So this first chart by Robert Plutchik helped me to "see" possibilities. Wikipedia's summary suggested other research, but most helpful was the more linear chart of EMOTIONS BY GROUPS by Parrott.

I can use this to work a character through her/his reactions. If Deidre is afraid of something --  maybe something small like a spider, or something more nebulous, like fear of drowning, would she react with HORROR or ANXIETY?

Under HORROR, for example, Parrott lists Alarm - Shock - Fear - Fright - Horror - Terror - Panic - Hysteria - Mortification.  Any of these choices would help me develop a scene differently. And, under ANXIETY, Parrott lists Anxiety - Suspense - Uneasiness - Apprehension - Worry - Distress - Dread. And, I can ask, does this person tend  tend to respond positively or negatively, for each of these affects the character's thoughts and actions. Now, finally, I'm ready to write!

All of these 'categories' take me in far different directions, helping me to understand new depths in my character AND twist the plot.

ROW80 MARKETING UPDATE. Continuing to map out what's needed. Big achievement this week in keeping with that good advice that says to tackle the most intimidating task on your to-do-list, I subbed Years of Stone to the historical fiction category for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association 2013 literary contest. It's not too late. The contest closes February 22.

May your writing go well this week! Writers, write!

ROW80 Check-in and shades of gray . . .

It's not always easy getting reader feed-back. We know that. Today's 'bon mot' came clear from the east coast with a suggestion I should read that 50 Shades of Gray book (classified as erotic porn) to add 'more emotion' to my characters.

Haven't read it. Don't intend to. Not my storyline. The person had read an old version of a story I'm working on. Intellectually, I know not every reader will like my stuff and that my story's a good one.  Best seller? Most likely not. But I was all excited to report in today for ROW80. Now, less so. I'm feeling gray.

In half an hour, we'll walk over to the wetlands near our house (where I caught this picture of a crane last spring), and life will be good.

Meanwhile, here's my ROW80 update.

WRITING: Just finished another round of editing on Section 2, Years of Stone. I'm excited because not only is the sequence tighter but so is the tension. I laughed and cried while rereading Section 2. I'm also excited because Donald Maass' acclaimed Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook just arrived, and those exercises look pretty good. The strategy behind his book is to take a 'nearly finished' book and put it through just one more round of thinking and editing. The first exercise is to analyze your personal hero (someone who influenced you) and identify those attributes that make that person heroic. First two people who came to mind were Frida Kahlo and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, both formidable women who created art/writing in spite of serious obstacles.

My other writing goal -- to begin researching Rivers of Stone sometime in 2013 -- is heating up. Looks like we'll be driving across Canada this summer to follow the trail of the Hudson's Bay Company's fur brigade, culminating at the York Factory in Manitoba (think polar bears). Notes, camera, action!

MARKETING: Even if I was not able to complete daily blogging for the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I learned so much about marketing from participating. My current favorite blogger to read is Rachel Abbott's down-to-earth description about what self-publishing strategies she, at first, bumbled into -- and then improved. And I found her via the Ultimate Blog Challenge AND Twitter.

One example: After reading Abbott, I doublechecked the categories listed for The Mermaid Quilt to find that the paperback version only listed Books > Literature & Fiction while the Kindle edition had four subsets of categories. After searching fruitlessly to find out how to change the categories for the paperback, I wrote to the HELP folks at Amazon's AuthorCentral. They quickly replied. My paperback version is now quite properly listed under Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy and I can add another category through them.

The point that Rachel Abbott makes is if your book is listed under categories that are far too general, people simply won't be able to find your book. Lesson learned with more to come. Because of Rachel's clear discussion of the importance of a marketing plan, my "morass" of information is better organized and far more specific with pre- and post-launch action steps.  Click on the link to read just one of Rachel's blog posts about the marketing plan.

So that's my ROW80 update. I'm already feeling less gray, and it's time for that walk. May your day (with SuperBowl?) and your writing go well! And if you feel so inclined, what marketing tips would you share?

Update: ROW80 Blogs I visited Sunday February 3:
Shan Jeniah writes this week about Truststorms
Annie Gray, A Force of Love
Tia Bach at Depression Cookies
Prudence MacLeod at Valkyrie Rising
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell, writer of historical fiction
R. Scott Steele, A writer in progress

And in case you are interested in joining the April A-Z Blogging Challenge, go here to sign up!