Reflections of the Writer

Thought for the day: One fun thing about being an author: if someone does you dirty in real life, you can turn him into a character in your book and do with him what you will. [Me... not that I'd ever do such a cruel and heartless thing...]

As you can probably tell by that nifty badge on the left, it's that time again.Time for our monthly IWSG posts. As always, thanks to our fearless leader, Alex Cavanaugh, for founding this fine group, and
 thanks to all the other nurturing guys and gals who've helped turn it into the thriving community it is today. To join this super supportive group of writers and to see links to other participating blogs, please go HERE

Okay, so I'd love to say I've churned out twenty thousand or so fantabulous heart-wrenching words on my WIP since last we met, but that'd be a big fat lie. I haven't. I'm pretty sure my mind is still in vacation mode, but on the plus side, I've been editing an excellent book for another writer, so at least I'm doing something writerly. (ish)

Without further chatter, let's move on to this month's question, shall we?

What personal traits have you written into your characters? 

Moi? Insert myself into a story?

Would I do such a thing?

Of course I would! And I think most other writers would have to admit to doing the same thing to a certain extent. After all, those characters are our babies, so doesn't it stand to reason that they'd share a bit of our DNA?

I'm most guilty of doing this in my first novel, Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade, where bits of my personality are scattered as liberally as salt in a bowl of popcorn. (Goes well with lemonade, dontcha think?)

Okay, you want details. The main character Pearl has more of me in her than any of the other characters. She's a bend-over-backwards people-pleaser who's a tad naive and gullible to a fault. But she loves fiercely, laughs easily, and always looks for the silver lining. Her mother Ida has my somewhat irreverent sense of humor and firmly believes that no matter what the situation, there's always something funny to be found in it. Alas, she's much more independent and assertive than I am.  A lot more stubborn, too. The only other character with a teensy bit of me in her is Rose. She and I both tend to be exuberant cooks with an inordinate knack for turning the kitchen into a veritable disaster area.

That's about it. For me, that is. Smarticus identified so much with Pearl's husband George, while he was reading the book, he said, "Hey! I never did that!" [George may or may not have a lot in common with my hubby.]

My second novel doesn't contain much, if any, of me at all. Initially, Samantha was going to be a conduit for telling about some bad stuff from my childhood, but I chickened out. Nobody wants to read that kinda stuff... and it was tearing me up to write about it. So I kinda let the characters take over and tell the story THEY wanted to tell. (Which ended up surprising me as much as it surprised my readers.)

It's hard to believe, but tomorrow is the 4th of July. Independence Day. (Where HAS this year gone?) Smarticus and I will be going to our small town festival (kinda like a big block part) and fireworks tonight. Pearl and I may not care for the noise and smoke, but he loves it, so we'll be grabbing our bug repellent (or in my case, finishing sauce... mosquitoes seem to love the way it enhances the taste of my blood!) and lawn chairs and heading that-a-way when the heat of the day loses some of its sizzle.

To all of you folks in the U.S.,  I hope you have a bang-up day tomorrow. The rest of you guys? You have a great one, too, okay?

                         Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Go, Fourth! (And Have Fun)

Thought for the day: Every day is a rebirth, with new hope.  [author unknown]

[morguefile]

The 4th of July is right around the corner, so how about a rah-rah re-run post about that special day, when more than one and a half million hot dogs are typically consumed in the United States. (Erp! And not all by Smarticus and me, either...)

The following post originally ran on July 4, 2012 with the title Have a Bang-Up Day! But I'm gonna embellish it a bit with a handful of trivia tidbits at the end.

************* 

Thought for the day:  You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies dies from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.  [Erma Bombeck]

Happy 4th of July.

Didja hear what one flag said to another?

Give up?

Nothing. 

It just waved.






Cook-outs.  Parades.  Street parties.  Music.  Patriotic speeches.  Frisbee-throwing. Glorious booms of fireworks. That's what's gonna be happening all over the United States this weekend. Our little town here in Georgia will be holding an all-day street festival, followed by fireworks. Yes sirree, gonna be a real bang-up day.

                                                     Know what?  No matter WHERE you are in the world...

                                   I hope you have a super day! And to you guys way up north, Happy Canada Day!

                                                  Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Wait a minute! Not so fast. How about those trivia tidbits first?

• John Adams thought America should celebrate her  independence on the second of July, because that's when the Second Continental Congress passed its resolution to declare independence.  He wrote to his wife Abigail: The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more. Oh well. So he was only half-right. Because July 4, 1776 is the date on the Declaration of Independence, all of those things Adams imagined have taken place... but a couple days later.  
• Only two people... John Hancock, and Charles Thompson, the secretary of Congress... actually signed the Declaration on the fourth of July.  Everyone else signed on August second.  
• Isn't it ironic that one of the songs the U.S. considers patriotic was first sung by British officers? What's more, they sang Yankee Doodle to make fun of the less-than-fashionable Americans cousins.
• AND the National Anthem is sung to the tune of an old British drinking song.
• In 1778, to mark the fourth, General George Washington gave his soldiers a double ration of rum, so in a way, those who drink a wee bit too much on the fourth are merely following a long tradition. 
• Isn't it also ironic that most of the patriotic decorations and  U.S. flags we'll see waving on the fourth... were made in China? Ditto the fireworks. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of pyrotechnics are imported from China every year to help us celebrate our most iconic American holiday.
• One of the country's most famous 4th of July events is  Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which has been held in Coney Island every year since 1916. Allegedly, the first contest was held to settle a dispute between four immigrants over which of them was the most patriotic. I guess the one most willing to puke for his country was the winner...?
• The most continuous 4th of July celebration is a parade held in Bristol, Rhode Island, a tradition that began in 1785. (Those people sure know how to party!)

                                                       Okay, now I'm done. You can go eat a hot dog now.

                                                                  Take care of yourselves. And each other. 

Freebies and Frisbees

Thought for the day:  If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.  [Albert Einstein]

I CHOOSE not to climb a tree.  [morguefile]

Okay, so there IS the walking catfish, and I've seen pictures of a weird fish-like creature clinging to a tree trunk just above the water, so maybe, just maybe, SOME fish could climb a tree. If they wanted to. If they really really wanted to. Just not enough motivation, I guess. And that whole need-to-breathe thing probably puts the kibbosh on some out-of-the-water fishy endeavors, too.

Of course, Einstein wasn't really talking about fish. He was talking about rash judgments based on arbitrary standards, and how detrimental those unfair judgments can be. Not that any of YOU would make a poor judgment, right? See, that's why I'm gonna tell you about something I think you will all judge to be a good deal. I mean, what could be better than FREE, right?

Check out TB Markinson's blog to read a post about a new feature, which is a big win-win for both writers and readers. Each month, she'll be highlighting a handful of writers, and you, dear readers, can enter a drawing to win an e-version copy of a book written by each of them... plus an Amazon gift card. In this, the second month of this cool giveaway, the  featured books are as follows:

• Immaterial Evidence by Milo James Fowler
• Ocean of Dust by Graeme Ing
• The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear by M. Pax
• Twisted Earths by Untethered Realms authors
• Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade by Susan Flett Swiderski (Woo-HOO! That's ME!)

Good luck, y'all! Oh, and guess what? TB will be releasing another new book in the very near future, too. I'll tell y'all about it next week.

For now, since the 4th of July is right around the corner, how about a rah-rah re-run post about that special day, when more than one and a half million hot dogs are typically consumed in the United States. (Erp! And not all by me, either...) Since fireworks became legal here in Georgia on July 1, I think we're gonna have a much more explosive day than usual around here this year. And not just for the fourth, either, because it is now legal to shoot off all kinds of fireworks from 10 AM until midnight every day of the year... except July 4th and New Year's Eve, that is. Then, it's fine and dandy until 2 AM. Only place you can't use 'em? Within 100 yards of nuclear power plants and gasoline stations. Yowza! Even folks from within the fireworks industry are a wee bit concerned about the instant change from practically nothing but sparklers to virtually anything goes. Let's hope the roll-out is a safe one. (One can only hope...)

Okay, the following post originally ran on July 4, 2012 with the title Have a Bang-Up Day!

************* 

Thought for the day:  You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies dies from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.  [Erma Bombeck]

Happy 4th of July.

Didja hear what one flag said to another?

Give up?

Nothing. 

It just waved.






Cook-outs.  Parades.  Street parties.  Music.  Patriotic speeches.  Frisbee-throwing. Glorious booms of fireworks. That's what's gonna be happening all over the United States this weekend. Our little town here in Georgia will be holding an all-day street festival, followed by fireworks. Yes sirree, gonna be a real bang-up day.

                                                     Know what?  No matter WHERE you are in the world...

                                                                           I hope you have a super day!

                                                  Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Have a Bang-Up Day!

Thought for the day:  You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies dies from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.  [Erma Bombeck]

Happy 4th of July.

Didja hear what one flag said to another?


Give up?


Nothing. 


It just waved.












Cook-outs.  Parades.  Street parties.  Music.  Patriotic speeches. Glorious booms of fireworks. That's what's gonna be happening all over the United States today. Our little town here in Georgia will be holding an all-day street festival, followed by fireworks tonight. Yes sirree, gonna be a real bang-up day.


                                                     Know what?  No matter WHERE you are in the world...

                                                                                 I hope you have a super day!


                                                  Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.