Joel Arnold's Blog, page 10
February 17, 2011
Guest Post - 'The Word Hunter' by Michael Allan Mallory
Joel says: I had the privilege of sharing a table of contents with Michael Allan Mallory in Nodin Press's Resort to Murder anthology, and got to know him a little bit in the resultant book signings/appearances for RTM. He, along with co-author Marilyn Victor, have penned two novels in the Snake Jones Zoo Mysteries, a series which features a unique sleuth in zoologist Lavender 'Snake' Jones. I've read the first of these novels, Death Roll, and aside from being a well-written and engaging mystery, it gives an entertaining behind-the-scenes look at what may or may not be a thinly disguised version of our own Minnesota Zoo.
I asked Mr. Mallory if he'd consider contributing a guest post for my blog, and he sent me this fun piece about something all writers must face; finding just the right word.
Here's Michael:
'The Word Hunter
The rain forest is a living thing that consumes all who enter. Monster trees, poisonous plants and dangerous swamps lay in wait. Yet hidden among the foliage lurks the ultimate prize: the perfect word. For this is the Writer’s Jungle, a place that exists only in the mind of the author, a sometimes forbidding wilderness of language.
The act of writing does not come easily for me. While I can visualize scenes, landscapes, and characters in my head with motion picture clarity, capturing those images into words—the right words---can be a challenge. That’s the struggle of the writing craft, hacking through the undergrowth of the English language in search of the elusive word. And so many words, so many nuances. None of them exactly right. Then, close by, something scampers in the bushes. You catch a glimpse of it: the perfect word! Can you snare it? The prey scurries deeper into the safety of thorn-covered weeds and stares back at you with mocking eyes.
The lexicon jungle is a harsh environment. But the Word Hunter grips his machete and forges on because he must. The perfect word has moved into a clearing.'
Death Roll
Death Roll (ebook version)
Killer Instinct
I asked Mr. Mallory if he'd consider contributing a guest post for my blog, and he sent me this fun piece about something all writers must face; finding just the right word.
Here's Michael:
'The Word Hunter
The rain forest is a living thing that consumes all who enter. Monster trees, poisonous plants and dangerous swamps lay in wait. Yet hidden among the foliage lurks the ultimate prize: the perfect word. For this is the Writer’s Jungle, a place that exists only in the mind of the author, a sometimes forbidding wilderness of language.
The act of writing does not come easily for me. While I can visualize scenes, landscapes, and characters in my head with motion picture clarity, capturing those images into words—the right words---can be a challenge. That’s the struggle of the writing craft, hacking through the undergrowth of the English language in search of the elusive word. And so many words, so many nuances. None of them exactly right. Then, close by, something scampers in the bushes. You catch a glimpse of it: the perfect word! Can you snare it? The prey scurries deeper into the safety of thorn-covered weeds and stares back at you with mocking eyes.
The lexicon jungle is a harsh environment. But the Word Hunter grips his machete and forges on because he must. The perfect word has moved into a clearing.'
Death Roll
Death Roll (ebook version)
Killer Instinct
Published on February 17, 2011 07:22
February 16, 2011
Zach the Mailman
Son Zachary has been having fun playing mailman lately, and doesn't understand why we're not so amused. He likes to go take our mail out of the box and put it in the neighbor's box, and then take their mail and stick it in another neighbor's box, and eventually it comes back 'round to us - where we end up with someone else's mail in our box.
Another thing he's been doing lately is taking a bunch of blankets outside, arranging them into a nest on top of my parked Honda, and sitting up there, pretending he's a pterodactyl.
Another thing he's been doing lately is taking a bunch of blankets outside, arranging them into a nest on top of my parked Honda, and sitting up there, pretending he's a pterodactyl.
Published on February 16, 2011 09:04
Thought I'd share
I received an email about this program sponsored by the Jerome Foundation, and it sounds like a pretty cool deal. It's a week-long residency for Minnesota and New York emerging artists, up at the Tofte Resort located in the Boundary Waters.
From the email:
"Thanks for their generous support of Emerging Artists, Tofte Lake Center at Norm's Fish Camp, a creative retreat center in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, is seeking submissions to our second annual Emerging Artists Program.
In its first year last year, the program served 21 emerging artists over 3 week-long residencies working on their individual and group projects -- playwriting, solo performance, photography, visual art, and more.
The program offers 2 week-long residencies for emerging artists working in any field to work on their current project surrounded by other artists of varying disciplines, and 1 week-long residency for a group project.
For more information about the mission and programs of TLC, please feel free to visit our website at www.toftelake.com
You can download the Emerging Artists Application from there."
From the email:
"Thanks for their generous support of Emerging Artists, Tofte Lake Center at Norm's Fish Camp, a creative retreat center in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, is seeking submissions to our second annual Emerging Artists Program.
In its first year last year, the program served 21 emerging artists over 3 week-long residencies working on their individual and group projects -- playwriting, solo performance, photography, visual art, and more.
The program offers 2 week-long residencies for emerging artists working in any field to work on their current project surrounded by other artists of varying disciplines, and 1 week-long residency for a group project.
For more information about the mission and programs of TLC, please feel free to visit our website at www.toftelake.com
You can download the Emerging Artists Application from there."
Published on February 16, 2011 07:07
February 10, 2011
A Nice Surprise
A received an email notice this morning that led me to The Gatekeepers Post's Ebook of the Year nominations, and was delighted to find that two of my ebooks had been nominated;
Snow Burn
for Best Young Adult Ebook of the Year, and
Northwoods Deep
for Best Paranormal Ebook of the Year!
Published on February 10, 2011 08:03
February 7, 2011
How We Watched the Super Bowl
We're not all that into football. If you had to categorize us, it would be in the fair-weather category - if the Vikings are having a good year, we'll watch some of the games, or at least have it on. And the Super Bowl - well, here's how we watched it last night:
I sat on one end of the couch, watching occasionally while also reading a book. Melissa laid on the couch snoozing with her feet on my lap, and both the dog and cat snoozing on top of her. Zachary played with his dinosaurs while also watching Word World on the iPhone. Paige sat in the comfy chair leafing through her Pokemon Ultimate Handbook while making various Pokemon fighting noises under her breath as she imagined the various battles with different combos of Pokemon.
Suffice it to say, I did NOT have my chest painted in either team's colors.
I sat on one end of the couch, watching occasionally while also reading a book. Melissa laid on the couch snoozing with her feet on my lap, and both the dog and cat snoozing on top of her. Zachary played with his dinosaurs while also watching Word World on the iPhone. Paige sat in the comfy chair leafing through her Pokemon Ultimate Handbook while making various Pokemon fighting noises under her breath as she imagined the various battles with different combos of Pokemon.
Suffice it to say, I did NOT have my chest painted in either team's colors.
Published on February 07, 2011 07:18
February 4, 2011
The Novel I'm Working On
The novel I've been working on for a while is quite a bit different than my others. It involves hikers and stoners and Deadheads and National Park rangers and burned-out has-beens and college students and Navajos and poachers and tourists and the elderly and singers and drug dealers and marmots. But not necessarily in that order.
I hope it turns out well.
I hope it turns out well.
Published on February 04, 2011 13:37
February 3, 2011
Well, holy crap!
I was just posting a couple days ago about jonesing for a road trip, and last night I found out my family and I will be driving down to Florida in a couple months. Although this particular road trip will not be adhering to the road trip 'rules' I talked about - we'll be taking the Interstate the whole way - it will certainly help scratch my itch. Best thing is we have a free place to stay once we're down there (otherwise there's no way we could afford it.) And later this year, I'm also taking my research trip out west (thanks to the Gulliver Travel & Research Grant.) So yay!
But the trip to Florida - we'll be driving past/through cities like Hannibal (Mark Twain's haunts) Nashville, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Marietta, Atlanta, Jonesboro...I'm looking forward to the planning! If anyone knows of any must-see stops between here (Minnesota) and Orlando, let me know!
But the trip to Florida - we'll be driving past/through cities like Hannibal (Mark Twain's haunts) Nashville, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Marietta, Atlanta, Jonesboro...I'm looking forward to the planning! If anyone knows of any must-see stops between here (Minnesota) and Orlando, let me know!
Published on February 03, 2011 12:22
February 2, 2011
Wall Drug - why it's one of my favorite places
Whenever I head out west on I-90, I always look forward to stopping at Wall Drug in South Dakota. A tourist trap? You bet; in fact, it doesn't get much more tourist-trappy than Wall Drug. But it's that excess that draws me to it. It's such an over-the-top tourist trap that I find it impossible to ward off its charms, cheesy as they may be. I always stop in, stroll past the mannequins, wind my way through the multitude of shops to the cafeteria, get my maple-iced donut and 5-cent cup of coffee, meander through the 'backyard' and then head on back out, all the while with a big silly grin on my face, as if I'd just gotten a contact high at a Grateful Dead concert.
It's not just that they've taken kitsch and made it their god; it's because they offer a welcome relief to the same old crap you see in nearly every town - the same fast-food restaurants, the same Wal-marts and Walgreens, the same Starbucks and Ihops...
Wall Drug is its own gaudy entity, transcending its tourist-trap label and shining in the wilderness like a 1970's cop-show hooker decked out in a day-glo tube top, spiked pumps, and a perm bejeweled with faux-diamonds. How could you not walk away with a silly grin on your face?
It's not just that they've taken kitsch and made it their god; it's because they offer a welcome relief to the same old crap you see in nearly every town - the same fast-food restaurants, the same Wal-marts and Walgreens, the same Starbucks and Ihops...
Wall Drug is its own gaudy entity, transcending its tourist-trap label and shining in the wilderness like a 1970's cop-show hooker decked out in a day-glo tube top, spiked pumps, and a perm bejeweled with faux-diamonds. How could you not walk away with a silly grin on your face?
Published on February 02, 2011 14:09
Jonesing for a Road Trip
If I could afford it, I'd take a road trip nearly every weekend. I love planning the trip; studying the atlas, Googling the different points along the way. I'm delighted by little things; stopping at a gas station to stock up on treats, pulling over to read the historical markers along the way, taking pics of whatever giant statue a town might have. I love seeing the old broken-down barns - the ones deemed cheaper to just let sit and decay instead of having them hauled away. I love the old houses, too, the ones now barren and falling apart - I can't help but wonder what went on there. Who lived there? What secrets do they hold? If you listen carefully, can you hear the whisper of past lives long ago absorbed into the yellowing, curling wallpaper?
What is it about a road trip? The farms, the forests, the small towns whipping by...because a proper road trip must be taken on the older roads. Not the Interstate. An Interstate is a tool to get someone from one place to the other as quickly and unobtrusively as possible. On a proper road trip, I want to saunter and soak up the countryside, the kitsch, the uniqueness that is often sorely lacking along the Interstate. I want to be able to pull over on a gravelly, weed-strewn shoulder of a quiet country road if the urge arises and breathe in the air and listen to the chirruping frogs and cicadas.
Besides, what better place to get rid of the bodies? (rim-shot, please!)
But seriously, I think it's because this winter has really tired me out and I'm looking forward to spring like I haven't in a long time. Besides, spring, in my opinion, is the best season for a road trip. We tire of the cocoon of winter and long for the wings brought by spring.
What is it about a road trip? The farms, the forests, the small towns whipping by...because a proper road trip must be taken on the older roads. Not the Interstate. An Interstate is a tool to get someone from one place to the other as quickly and unobtrusively as possible. On a proper road trip, I want to saunter and soak up the countryside, the kitsch, the uniqueness that is often sorely lacking along the Interstate. I want to be able to pull over on a gravelly, weed-strewn shoulder of a quiet country road if the urge arises and breathe in the air and listen to the chirruping frogs and cicadas.
Besides, what better place to get rid of the bodies? (rim-shot, please!)
But seriously, I think it's because this winter has really tired me out and I'm looking forward to spring like I haven't in a long time. Besides, spring, in my opinion, is the best season for a road trip. We tire of the cocoon of winter and long for the wings brought by spring.
Published on February 02, 2011 07:26
February 1, 2011
Snowmapocalyptopalooza
This year has brought more snow than I can remember in a long time. Certainly a good winter to be a kid in Minnesota - huge mountains of snow to climb, plenty of raw material for snow forts, and nearly always a fresh dusting (or fresh dumping) on which to bring another snow angel to life.
When I was a kid, the heaped-up corners on the boulevard at the end of the driveway was often utilized for snow forts. The pile of snow was already there from the plowed road and shoveled driveway, so all you had to do was hollow it out. And when you were done, it was a fine place to hang out. There was a feeling of contentment, just sitting there in the snowy silence as the outside light filtered through the icy walls. It was like having a place of your own for the first time. Remember moving into your first dorm room or apartment? The first time you moved away from home? It was a sneak preview of that; the sparseness, the lack of amenities didn't matter - it was yours.
But that was then and while I hope my kids are having as much fun this winter as I had in the winters of my youth, I'm getting to be a bit of an old duffer, and I'm quite tired of this winter, this Snowmapocalyptopalooza, and I'm ready for spring.
When I was a kid, the heaped-up corners on the boulevard at the end of the driveway was often utilized for snow forts. The pile of snow was already there from the plowed road and shoveled driveway, so all you had to do was hollow it out. And when you were done, it was a fine place to hang out. There was a feeling of contentment, just sitting there in the snowy silence as the outside light filtered through the icy walls. It was like having a place of your own for the first time. Remember moving into your first dorm room or apartment? The first time you moved away from home? It was a sneak preview of that; the sparseness, the lack of amenities didn't matter - it was yours.
But that was then and while I hope my kids are having as much fun this winter as I had in the winters of my youth, I'm getting to be a bit of an old duffer, and I'm quite tired of this winter, this Snowmapocalyptopalooza, and I'm ready for spring.
Published on February 01, 2011 06:18