Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 30

On Getting On

Ancient, hunched, lost. The woman standing next to me in the spice aisle of the grocery store muttered to herself about not being able to find the garlic. Searching out my own exotic spice, I happened upon garlic and pointed it out to her. She thanked me and said “I’m so blind.”

She wasn’t literally blind; her eyes had no problem meeting mine. I made a comment about knowing how she felt. Until I had cataract surgery, I’d been severely near-sighted my entire life. I quickly learned she had not only cataracts but floaters and some type of macular degeneration.

My style is generally not one that includes striking up casual conversation with strangers in grocery stores. But this is Christmas, I am getting older myself, and felt some empathy toward this silver-haired woman. So I tried kindness. “But you’re doing so well!” Cooking for the holidays is a good sign, right?

“I hate it,” she said. “All of the things I used to do, I can’t do anymore. I’m 87. It’s hell.”

She went on to list ways her life had contracted, ways her body had betrayed her. “I’m so sorry,” I said, gently extracting myself from the litany of misery. Despite what her words conveyed, I had a sense that she was a strong person. And there was something about her that drew me in despite my usual grocery store reserve.

I suppose I looked for a possible future self in her. Since turning 60, I have noticed my body doesn’t bounce back from slings and arrows as it once did. Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and bestselling author, says that it’s a fact of life everyone needs to accept: the body will get old (unless it doesn’t, which is perhaps a worse option), the body will break down, there will be pain, the body will die.

Only days after I read this unsettling passage from Pema’s work, I encountered the silver-haired elder. In fact, the grocery store seemed bursting with senior citizens. Far more than usual. Everyone, even the meals on wheels brigade, comes out for supplies during the holidays.

But as I had questioned Pema’s assertion, something she seemed to think was a given, not up for discussion, so too did I reject the spice aisle lady’s premise that aging is something to despise. Perhaps I am being wishful and romantic, but I like to think that every age has its gifts. That moving closer to the end does not have to be painful and fraught with negativity.

Is it possible to grow older with peace? To put the pain of aging bones into perspective, to think of our bodies, even as they fail, as being full of grace? Tis the season for wishes, and this is mine.

 

 

 

 

Tale of Two Books

I have never written this way before. Following a crooked unfamiliar path feels exciting. I’m infused with fresh energy.  This experience of writing two books at once is unlike anything that came in my ten published works before this. Yes, two books at the same time. Not unheard of in the writing world, but certainly new for linear me.

Despite each having their own cast of characters and totally different settings, I at first wondered if they were the same book.  I wanted them to be the same book because then it would make sense to me, it would be more the way I usually work. But no, as it turns out, I’m writing two books. I should have seen it coming when I finished Love and Death in Blue Lake.

Without spoiling the end of that book, I can say that two of the characters went their separate way, immediately demanding their own stories. Before I started either book, I was torn about which to write. I finally began one, then I put it down when I hit a wall that felt a lot like writer’s block but was really just running out of plot ideas. For a scary minute, I thought I wouldn’t write again.

Then I decided I could work on something light and frothy. Maybe a Christmas novel! So I wrote every day for a month and got the book I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. It wasn’t quite as light and fluffy as I had envisioned, but no matter. I finished a draft.

Mistletoe plays a pivotal role in my Christmas story

In all previous books, this is the point at where I would revise. But for some reason the other half finished book started knocking loudly on the writing door. Which is when I wondered if the two books were supposed to be one. But after getting underway again, all plot dilemmas neatly and mysteriously solved while I was writing something else, I finally had to admit it. I’m writing two books at once.

It’s not as confusing as I imagined.

At some point I will have to revise them, and with any luck it will be one at a time.

Tagged: continuing characters, writers block, writing, writing a series

Family Far and Wide

Mom, Mike, Cindy & Tim 1980

I just made up a hashtag. #MWNKIT=Mom With No Kids In Town. I can’t be the only one. In fact I know I’m not as Al and I celebrate Thanksgiving every year with friends who also have two sons that live in other states. Our kids grew up together and none of us ever thought they would leave for good. Raise their families elsewhere.

But they did and we have to live with it. It’s not easy, but it gets less painful every year. There’s still an ache, but FaceTime helps. I got to see my sons with their sons this holiday and it did my heart good. What I would prefer is to move to the west coast where they are, but Al is still working, and also, for him more than me, this is our home.

One way I recently learned to deal with the #MWNKIT feeling is to think of the painful stuff as just part of the ups and downs of life. Include the pain of missing someone (or a bunch of someones) into my idea of “life” and instead of judging it good or bad, just accept that this is how life is. Stop the inner struggle that would wish things were as they used to be. Because they aren’t but that doesn’t mean life can’t be good as it is.

I had to put this to the test when my dad took a fall recently and landed in the hospital in Florida. Many family members here in Detroit, me included, wanted to rush right down there and be with him. We wished he was here, with us. But he’s not. He’s there, we’re here. My dad is 79. He is precious to me. But, as Al reminded me, this is my home. Yes, I get that.

Me, Dad & Owen

Now I just have to convince my dad to get a smart phone so I can FaceTime with him until February when Al and I make our annual visit.

Tagged: #MWNKIT, facetime, family, holidays

I did it!

Very happy and excited to have gone beyond my 50K already:)) It’s a great feeling to finish a book. Never gets old. And to finish a first draft in less than a month? I could not do it without NaNa inspiring me!

This morning before I started writing I had a vague idea of how I wanted my story to end. I knew I wanted to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my characters. I knew I wanted to provide the “sting in the tale” of my murder plot. I knew I wanted to advance the arcs of the main characters. I wanted a happy ending for everyone.

What I didn’t know was exactly how I’d do it. But I had faith. It’s a first draft. It doesn’t have to be the perfect final form the novel will take. So I gave myself permission to write as clumsily as necessary in order to affix my ideas to the page. And then the magic happened.

Structure effortlessly came together for me and I was able to lay my plot out and finish the third act. I didn’t think it would happen today but when you are this close to the end it’s very difficult to stop. I’d given myself permission to stop if I needed to. Take a night to dream it over. But then found to my happiness that I didn’t need more time. The perfect ending (well, perfect for now) wrote itself.

Thanks in no small part to the energy of writers around the world who participated with me in this annual event and for Chris Baty and his NaNo team for the incredible work they do to help us come together this way.

 

Tagged: creative process, finishing a novel

Murder Etc

While writing away on my happy Christmas story, the novel I decided to write when the one I’d been working on got too bloody and I needed a break from the gore so I went to humor and seasonal cheer…

Somebody got killed.

I didn’t see it coming but after it happened I realized how I’d set it up, how it was inevitable, and how there was no turning back. I could not erase it.

I blame Charlaine Harris. I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year (46K out of the required 50K as of today!) and they have famous writers come and give us pep talks every so often. Because we really need them.

This week Charlaine wrote about the middle of the book, where things can get messy. Beginnings and endings of stories are pretty safe bets. You’re setting up your story and characters or you’re wrapping things up. But the middle can be tricky, tedious, swampy, even. So Ms. Harris wrote about how she handles the middle. She kills somebody. I’m apparently quite suggestible. Not a day later and I do the same thing.

But wait. My last three novels have all had murder in them. The first of the murder books, Love and Death in Blue Lake, is now available for pre-order on Amazon and in print through my publisher, The Wild Rose Press. It makes me wonder if I’m transitioning from my contemporary women’s fiction type story into something more along the lines of domestic thrillers. I do like reading those psychological thriller type stories. I’m a fan of aberrant behavior, at least as far as reading fiction goes. So maybe this is finally settling into my writing self as well.

Reading is like the gateway drug for writing. And guess I’ll just accept that writing domestic novels are the gateway to writing domestic thrillers, at least for me.

 

Tagged: genre fiction, writing

Half Way to Christmas

It’s a little early to talk about the C word, but I am very aware that next week, the day after Thanksgiving to be exact, I will be decorating my Christmas tree!!! I can hardly stop myself from doing it earlier than that but I refrain because I love Thanksgiving too much to skip over it. Also, I’ve been really busy writing a book. My first Christmas novel set in Blue Lake.

Sister Issues was my first published novel, also my first effort to write a holiday into a book. I wrote that book during NaNoWriMo and I’m writing my second novel to feature Christmas in an even bigger way during NaNo too. A Blue Lake Christmas kind of announces its intentions, right? I’m up to 32K words today. More than half way through that first draft and I’ve done it by writing 2K every day for 15 days straight.

My publisher contracted this book way back when I started the Blue Lake series with Blue Heaven. Before we signed the contracts, they asked me to write up a little synopsis of each book I envisioned for the series and of course I thought of a Christmas book, even though all the other Blue Lake novels are set in the summer, since Blue Lake is a beach town. I love Christmas and I love reading Christmas novels, so I knew I would eventually write one for the series.

I start reading Christmas stories by my favorite authors who do one annually every October and continue reading them right up through Christmas Day. I like new authors this time of year, too, so if you have a favorite, or maybe you’ve written a Christmas story yourself, let me know. Reading about Christmas gets me salivating for the season. In that spirit, I’d like my Christmas novel to be out in October or November 2016. For that to happen, I have to finish it by March 2016. February is even better, just to be safe, as I usually have at least a few edits.

I love sweet Regency novellas

NaNo has given me the push, like an early Christmas gift, I so desperately needed this year. I have a few tricks, things that have proven to work for me with first drafts like writing first thing in the morning and not stopping to think of the perfect word or if a scene lacks punch or if my plot is full of holes or if I need to add more details. I can do all that in revision. For NaNo, you just keep going.

I also have one new habit that has been incredibly freeing this year: I write three pages in longhand first; maybe I brainstorm about my story, maybe I don’t. (Usually I do.) Then straight onto my laptop in my cozy chair where I pick up where I left off the day before. I snuggle under my Christmas quilt and lose myself in a snowy world of wonder.

News!

From my inbox this morning: “Your print book, Love and Death in Blue Lake, will be available for pre-orders also known as Latest In Paperback through the appropriate Wild Rose store today.” Here’s the link!

The email went on to say Love & Death will be available on Amazon between December 1-18, depending on Amazon’s schedule. Happy dance. Three books in three months is on:)

Tagged: love and death in blue lake, new release, the wild rose press

Rock Star

A package came from overseas. My dear friend Ali sent a stone that came directly from a mountain in Greece. It’s gorgeous! She also sent some other things from England. And it’s not even my birthday! I have so busy with NaNo, typing out 2K per day every day. So getting Ali’s gift was a bit like a reward for hard work done (and lots more yet to do, about 5 days away from half way:) I have to say I was also thrilled with the exotic Royal Mail stamp.

I only thought about this after I received the stone, but Ali has provided me with something I have been heartbroken about missing. Al and I had been planning a trip to Greece in 2016 with a stop in London (and a short train ride to Ali’s village from there for a nice lunch:)) Then the Greek currency crisis happened and we really didn’t want to travel there with the economic flux. So we postponed the trip. I’d built it up in my head, and was so looking forward to it. I’d done a great deal of research and was primed to go. I really thought I’d be meeting Ali IRL sooner than later. And then, alas, fate.

A big part of the trip to Greece, a highlight, was a trek up a mountain on an uninhabited island that was once a spiritual mecca for pilgrims. There are still ancient ruins at the top of the mountain, and in fact all over the tiny island. It’s like a museum on the Aegean sea. Alas, I will have to wait for Greek fortunes to turn. But in her own perceptive way, Ali sent me a piece of a Greek mountain and also something of England too.

Tagged: crystals, gifts, NaNoWriMo

Full Circle

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

Last time I “won” the famous November writing challenge to write 50.000 words in a month was 2005. I had previously published one book, a creative writing text I used in the classroom. I was also teaching college full time and writing reviews for Romantic Times magazine. Ten years later, I have published ten books. Eight of them novels or novellas. But the first novel I published was Sister Issues, the one I wrote during NaNoWriMo, the one recently released in print.

Feels like full circle as I write book #11 this month with the help of the greatest motivator ever. Words are flowing again after a two week writing break and then a week of organizing my thoughts and getting a solid conflict and a couple of characters to start my story. I’ll be working on a Christmas novel, something I have always wanted to write. A Blue Lake Christmas is #4 of six books contracted for the Blue Lake series with The Wild Rose Press.

I’m a believer in NaNo but November has not typically been a good month for me to start and finish a novel. This year, it just worked out. It’s been a while since I pounded out 50K in one month. Feeling a bit like really, can I actually do this? But then I remember I already did. So yes, I’m ready to NaNo and I highly recommend the process for anyone who wants (or like me, needs) external motivation.

Tagged: motivation, NaNoWriMo, writing groups

Fishing for Creativity

I have been searching for something in my writing, even in my life, since they inform each other to an absurd degree only other obsessed writers can understand. And yet, focusing just on writing at the expense of a larger life is limiting. As Julia Cameron says, you can’t spend your entire life fishing in the same pond or eventually it will empty. Creativity needs to be replenished and sometimes that happens in unexpected ways.

Yesterday I did something I always dread. I went into the marketplace and sold my books to real people. This was not a safe writerly enclave of a conference or a workshop but a retail store that sells furniture, candy, and candles. Also gloves and purses and paintings. It used to be a roller skating rink. Something about the charm of Leon & Lulu’s (the young woman who served the writers coffee came to collect our mugs on roller skates) inspired me in ways I was not expecting. It really had nothing to do with selling my books, although I did that too.

There is a sort of electricity in the air when a group of writers comes together, especially when we are placed in an unfamiliar setting. For once, our animation comes off the page and greets other people face to face. We exchange stories and snap photos and, perhaps inadvertently, reveal secrets. Insatiable curiosity about people and the meaning of life is what keeps me writing, and while someone once said a writer has all the experiences she needs by the time she graduates high school, it’s just not true for me. I need to replenish that fishing hole.

And that’s what unexpectedly happened yesterday. Maybe it was the way the shop scattered the writers over the vignettes that make up the store. I was against a wall with a large abstract painting above a sofa, a nicely upholstered chair to the side, and a huge coffee table full of my books. Other writers were just as creativity enfolded into the setting as I was. The store fed us hot dogs and popcorn from the original machines used in the old rink and later came around offering wine for a job well done.

In fact, it was less than work and more like a social occasion as so many of my friends came to see me. Some of them even bought my book. I struck up a friendship with the guy across the aisle and he introduced me to his friend, the star of the show who sold probably as many books as the rest of us put together. His was the fertile story that grabbed me and started an avalanche of ideas bubbling up from my suddenly overflowing imagination.

This star-of-the-day author wrote four books before he hit upon the idea to set one of his mystery novels in Detroit…in Greektown, a popular destination for metro Detroiters. The books prior to the Greektown series didn’t sell like the new books. Not even close. One smart marketing move was using the word Greektown in the titles. I lost count of how many people I saw carrying those books around. Maybe it helped that his was the first display as you entered the front door, but I have a feeling people just gravitate to the familiar and fun.

Which got me thinking about my own books, sales, marketing and more. I started thinking about my life in general, about how I have been coasting as if on roller skates since I retired. I still write, but after a lifetime of fitting writing in I’m finding it hard to transition into just writing, only writing. I need to do more with my life. I wasn’t sure what that could be until this morning when I woke up brimming with ideas like a freshly stocked fish pond. It will take me some time to sort out all of this stuff. I want to carefully consider my next move before I plunge into it, and plus, the holidays are coming!

Still, I’m very happy I ignored my introverted dread of the marketplace and just went ahead and splashed right into the middle of it.

Tagged: creativity, Gossip & Inspiration, Marketing