Sunday Sundries--That Which Would Be Thrown Away

Or deleted.

When I was doing some serious editing on my first in a series of novels, I took out big heaving chunks of stuff, scenes that were unnecessary, information dumps and awkward construction that was more easily rewritten than edited. It would have been very easy to hit the delete key. However, I channeled my inner hoarder. I cut and pasted into an archive folder that was saved onto a flash drive.

While those electrons may never again be seen, my paranoia would not allow me to let go. I am similarly fighting my compulsions in other areas of my life. Some things are easier to get rid of than others. I am going through my counted cross-stitch projects, so I can reorganize my craft closet in the office. There are a bunch of projects that haven't seen the light of day in over ten years. Here are a couple:

This is the center section (sleeve) from a pattern called Earth Angel. The designer is Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum and the company that put this pattern out is called Lavender and Lace. This is less than one twelfth of a very intense design.

I looked at it long and hard. I sent many other patterns from this designer to be sold on commission. Would I ever finish this piece? Would I ever even want to work on this again considering the hundreds of other patterns I had more to my taste? Finally, I grabbed the scissors and cut around the little bit of stitching. I was left with a large piece of blue linen and several small pieces.

This was my start on Just Nan's Creativity. I started on the wrong kind of fabric and it made it difficult to get some of the bands to come out correctly. This is what it's supposed to look like:

Again, I cut out the bands, giving me two large pieces on either side. I can re-purpose the bit stitched for a bookmark.
There were a few more, but there were still dozens I kept intact. And I still have more to decide about over the next few days. I'm proud of my progress so far, though.

I've also been going through a bunch of pictures. Those are just as hard to delete. I have to admit, I went through Mom and Dad's boxes and gathered a big zipper bag of what I called mystery pictures. I had no clue who was in them, many of them were out of focus or group shots that were at a distance. It was hard, but I gave the bag to some relatives in my home town. They took the pictures around to see if anyone wanted any of them. Here is one of the better ones I did keep:

That's Dad standing. I'm pretty sure it's his high school class get-together at a restaurant in our home town, but the other folks are long gone. Dad passed at age eighty-six eleven years ago. I'll post the picture on the Facebook page for our hometown and I'm grateful I scanned it in, but I doubt I'd put it in an album or anything.
Here's one of my girl cat I took the other day. She was not interested.

That's my husband laughing at her in the background, though, so I may keep it.
Here's one from later that's much better.

These are only a couple hundred kilobytes on a 16 gigabyte flash drive.

I was running into the same problem on my Kindle. It was freezing, taking forever to open and virtually unusable. I saw there were over 1100 titles on it, almost all freebies I'd downloaded whether or not I'd ever read them. The great thing about Amazon is those books are still on their "cloud." I deleted like a crazy person things I knew I'd never read. If I decide later I would like to, it's super easy and quick to download to the device again. Now, my Kindle works like it is intended.

So, there is much editing we can do in every aspect of our lives. Do we really need four ladles and five spatulas? Do we really need that background scene from a secondary character's point of view or can we tell that information in a throwaway bit of action or dialog with a main character? Will we ever do that project we were saving that paper for or should it go into the recycle bin?

What can you get rid of in your life or in your writing?

Sunday Sundries--Get Thee Writing!

I am truly my father's child, this Father's Day. I know exactly how he felt, all those years working on the railroad, when he had to be away from home and alone. There were a few years I had to be on the road for a job where I spent a third of my life traveling. I feel him when we walk into a Rural King or Office Depot. Cleaning out the old house, I saw dozens of folders and organizers he would use for a few months and then abandon.

This one made me smile--you can see Mom in the mirror behind him taking the picture. She had issues getting things done too. I remember her rushing around cleaning before the pinocle club took their turn at our house.

They are laughing at me. Dad passed in 2001, Mom in 2004. They are both asking me:
"Why don't you get to work so you can have the success you deserve?"
"Why are you still putting things off, when it would feel so much better if you do the work rather than sit and play your games?"

Don't have any good answers. It helps me to know they are egging me on in my thoughts, apologizing for bad habits from childhood, confident it can get done and done well.

So, here are a few things to help you and to help me get going. This one is my new desktop background:

Yes, Lord Vader. If you will let me continue to breathe, I'll get right on it.

Right? Keep plugging. Get it done.

I started physical therapy this week for a shoulder injury that involves a schedule of exercises every day. I'm thinking I will put specific times for me to check each email/Facebook/Pinterest account. It's got to help, right?

I know part of my problem is that I want to edit/rewrite as I go. So many professionals say you need to get the story down, then go back and seriously edit. As Christina Dodd says, "I can't edit a blank page."

I had several instances at my job outside the home last week where I had Learning Experiences. Yes, that's where someone points out I was wrong. It's okay. I long ago realized I wasn't always going to be the smartest person in the room. I believe a good part of my procrastination is a fear of making a mistake. I need to get over that, don't I?

This has been a real problem lately. With my shoulder injury acting up, I haven't been able to do even my minimal cleaning and organizing. It means, I have hundreds of magazine articles and pictures I want to scan in boxes in the office. It means, I remember writing that scene in a notebook years ago, but I can't find it in the notes I've transcribed. It means, I get discouraged and end up playing Jewel Quest III instead of recreating the scene and getting on with it.

I did work on about twenty pages of a story about a daughter of the two main characters of my second novel in the series. Reney and Carter's story is basically written, but I have it in third person. I'm putting all my novels in first person, because the stories seem more compelling and cleaner. When I mentioned I was working this other story, my husband gently nagged me to finish the book I'm almost done with first. He's right.

How many of these sound familiar? Number ten is hitting particularly close to home for me.

But this is my truth:

My characters have lived with me for almost seven years now and are as real to me as my local friends. I have almost thirty notebooks and boxes of files of ideas, research and snatches of stories that need to get put in some sort of order. Rather than saying, I'm going to work on something today, I need to break down specific, doable goals. And get writing that story that Mom or Dad would love to read!

Sunday Sundries--Vegas, Baby!

At the beginning of April, my husband and I went to Las Vegas for the third time. We had been there twice before, in 2008 and 2009. There were lots of changes.

While my husband was playing in a poker tournament, I took my Deuce bus pass and started taking pictures. A large section of each of my novels will be set in Las Vegas, so I went up and down The Strip, went down to The Freemont Street Experience and then down to the outlet mall area.

All up and down, there were these mobile billboards for different escort services. Well, and many limos.

This was one of my favorites--the Eiffel Tower reproduction in front of the Paris hotel and casino. We got to go up to the top a few nights later. It was too cold and windy, but still a pretty awesome experience.
I loved the detail on The Flamingo.

Here's a detail from the entrance to Harrah's. We stayed there in 2009 and it was pretty fun.

The bus ended up stopping at The Venetian for a few moments. While I was able to get a few pictures of the outdoor gondola ride (we took the inside ride in 2009), I was fascinated by the fake windows.

This was the fanciest Walgreens I'd ever seen:

We had to go in to get some things earlier.

I took this picture of a display in there, because one of my heroes gets a pair of glasses, thinking they might make him look a little older. I also found this and took it to be a sign:

One of my heroines looks like a blue-eyed Audrey Hepburn.
They moved the Welcome sign when they imploded The Sahara last year to the end of The Strip:

Down on Freemont, I had to take a picture of the Harley-Davidson shop:

One of my characters buys a shirt there. Also, I thought this was kind of weird:

One of the things they have down there now they didn't have in 2009 is a zip line. I wanted to go on it, but was carrying a bag. Can you see the rider on the upper left of the picture?

Finally, Vegas is covered with weird carpets. Here's one in The Tropicana:

Weird, huh?
I had Chris take a picture of me on the walkway over The Strip wearing my Pittsburgh Penguins hat.

The hat was a minor plot point--I get asked when I wear this or my Penguins T-shirt if I'm a hockey fan. Especially funny this year, as the Penguins are playing the Boston Bruins in the finals for the playoffs. One of my other characters is a huge Bruins fan. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I happened to have a layover at the Pittsburgh airport and I love penguins.

So, I hope you like my weird perspective of Vegas. I tried to see details that my characters might notice. Which was your favorite?

Sunday Sundries--Which Sense Is Primary?

I used to run a bookstore. A long time ago, granted, but for almost ten years, every month, I would spend time clearing out over stocked and old titles that hadn't sold. Mass market paperbacks are returned by tearing off the cover and sending it back to the publisher. The trade paperbacks and hardcovers were returned whole copy, of course.

But, as the mass markets originated during World War II to send overseas to soldiers, they were printed on cheaper paper.

They weren't meant to be returned for credit whole copy. Because I was manager and on salary, I got to finish pulling and "stripping" these paperbacks, keeping track of the number of each covers I was sending back and disposing of the books.

Except, some didn't get disposed of properly. I'll admit it. we were supposed to tear out the first bunch of pages and put the stripped books in the trash compactor. Excuse me, but at 3 a.m., it sometimes didn't get done. Also, there were books that I wanted to read, damn it.

So, that is how I ended up spending a summer reading through three grocery bags of stripped Regency romances. Many of the big name authors started out writing for the different series. Signet/New American Library put out four to six a month and there were several other lines too.

One Regency author I got to meet at an early Romance Writers of America event was Alicia Rasley. She was a professor at IUPUI and now has a website: http://www.aliciarasley.com/  It's Alicia Rasley's Writer's Corner, where she offers her expert advice on various aspects of the life of a professional writer.

One thing I remember her talking about in one of her articles was that your character will always have just one primary sense, just like real people. This will help you in your writing, because you can use sensory phrases to describe point of view unique to each character.

I am visual. While I love music, I spent most of my life reading or doing counted cross-stitch or other craft projects that involve color and texture. My husband, on the other hand, can recognize a soundtrack composer from only a few bars of music.

Think about how important that could be in defining your characters. Go ahead. I'll wait for a few minutes. Welcome back.

My hero Will is a sight hound, a medically retired Marine sharpshooter. Even when he's not near the woman he's fallen in love with, he's fantasizing about her in a gold bikini or nothing at all. Later in the series, as motivation, Elizabeth offers to do a Bikini Car Wash if he finishes all of his physical therapy exercises.

This one is by Mileti and is $65.

Elizabeth used to be a DJ and recognizes the song from before she was born on this album:

We were thrilled to see Rush inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. About time.

My other hero, Rob, who is Will's brother, focuses on the sense of touch. I've given his character my occasional Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, where he ends up washing his hands so much they are rough. Rob has several worry stones and has one in his pocket almost all the time. It was warm with friction when he was getting off the airplane to see his brother for the first time in over a year. I recently went to a rock and mineral show and here is one of the displays:

He has an onyx one and a tiger eye one that are his favorites.

Finally, his love, Elizabeth's sister Mary Margaret, loves scents. She wonders if the woman from the jewelry store bathed in her perfume, it was so overwhelming. She spills a little of the shampoo in Rob's bathroom when she checks it out. She notices Will smells like sandalwood and bets Elizabeth does too. She loves the smell of cinnamon and they have a huge tray of cinnamon rolls at their wedding, rather than a cake. I thought these were a pretty idea:

So, which sense do you favor? More importantly, which one does your character favor and how are you going to get that in your novel?

Sunday Sundries--Memorial Day Desserts

I always thought it was weird saying "Happy Memorial Day." I spent several late May days on the Wabash River Bridge and various cemeteries with the Job's Daughters, singing "Nearer My God to Thee."

This was a Masonic organization I belonged to in my teens. The DeMolay (boy's equivalent organization) would have someone play "Taps" and a woman from the VFW Auxiliary would throw a wreath off the bridge. After all:

My buddy, Mark Lipinski, recommended a lovely blog:

From Death to Ice Cream: Ideas for Fully Celebrating Memorial Day

Megan Cox discusses how to celebrate the dichotomy, letting kids visit a cemetery, go to the town parade and then enjoy the cookout.

One part of the holidays I really love is getting together with family and the food. I've been obsessing recently about desserts. When haven't I been obsessing about sweets?

Truth.
I love these things and I want to share with everyone:

One of my characters lives for dark chocolate, as do I. Hubby and I were in Hawaii for our 15th wedding anniversary and I had carefully packed some dark chocolate nuggets. My husband saw them and decided he was going to start eating chocolate again. I was distraught. I didn't bring enough to share. He gave up chocolate for a couple of years. I could never do that:

I do try to stay with the dark chocolate and I gave that to one of my characters.

I do have some Godiva Dark Chocolate Pearls in my purse. I haven't told my husband.....
I've tried to lose weight again. This made me smile:

I tease my husband about looking at other women's, um, assets. I sneak an admiring look every once in a while too. I may be fixated at this, I admit:

He loves horror movies. I have to admit, I was intrigued by this:

Wouldn't this broken glass cupcake be fun for Halloween?
I have some stationery with this on it:

This isn't exactly chocolate, but isn't this cool?

I have a package with two boxes of brownie mix that I got because they promised that for each sale, the company would contribute to the USO. Well and because they are brownie mixes....

Be cool and try not to drool over this one:

I don't know. It's almost too much. Almost.
One of my characters goes to Japan and I'm fascinated by their odd food options.

This display is of all the different Kit Kat flavor options.
Okay, enough talking about it. I'm going in to dig through my secret stash and get something sweet!

Have a good and peaceful Memorial Day--appreciate the sacrifices of those who went before and those you have with you now. And go get some chocolate!