Rebecca Forster's Blog, page 6

Albanian Diaries #3: The Road Well Traveled (more or less)

sharing the onramp

Since it’s not everyday a body has time to spend in the Balkans, my husband and I decided to see as much as we could before he settled down to work in Albania. To that end, after we landed in Tirana, we rented a car to drive to Dubrovnik, Montenegro and then back to Tirana. Simple enough, you say? Point A to point B and C? Not if you’re driving in Albania.

The first mistake we made was not reading the guidebook. Tirana in Your Pocket is one of the best I have ever, ever – and I mean ever – read. Not only is it full of great information about restaurants, museums and hotels, but whoever wrote it is hilarious and, above all, honest. Take this bit on driving in Albania, for instance.

DRIVING & ROADS:

The roads may be improving rapidly, but Albanians remain the worst drivers in Europe. Easily distracted, always using one or two hands for talking on the phone and smoking, eager to honk, disrespectful of speed limits, ignorant about the merits of seat belts, stopping in the middle of the road to chat with a pedestrian relative, and inconsiderate of other road users, they overtake in corners at high speeds in their Mercedes as if they were still riding donkeys. . .

Before 1991, only Party (communist) officials were allowed to own and drive around and there were only about 600 cars in Albania. When restrictions lifted, Albanians brought thousands of cars into the country. At the time there were no traffic regulations, no driver’s license requirements, no traffic enforcement officers and no traffic lights. Much of this has changed (really?) but driving requires nerves of steel and a good map…

Drivers should have a fire extinguisher, yellow vest and first aid kit in the car.

Ignorant of all this, we had a baptism by fire. The first thing we learned about was the Albanian third lane. That simply meant if a car wishes to pass another car they do so. At any time. Anywhere. Any conditions. The problem with this is that passing is done from both directions, around corners and hairpin turns, in the face of giant trucks bearing down on you, and multiple cars ahead of you. Think of any movie you have ever seen with an improbable car chase and that is nothing compared to the antics of Albanian drivers.

We soon learned how to navigate, though. My husband’s job was to keep his hands on the wheel and his eyes not only on the road but on the following: cars ahead of and behind him, motor bikes with trailers on the front end (hence they don’t trail but lead), bicycles on which up to three children without helmets were riding, horses pulling carts, carts carrying loads of hay that obscured traffic, goats, sheep, dogs and, yes, pedestrians who wait until the last minute to walk into traffic (even on the freeway). My job was to white knuckle the dashboard and scream, “GO!! GO!! GO!!”

We made it to Dubrovnik. We made it back to Tirana. The way back was much easier because we had both become philosophical about the situation. All would not be lost should be bite the big one on an Albanian road. We had seen enough to know that someone would erect a lovely memorial to us and the memory of our courage would last forever.

We can now drive anywhere without blinking an eye. I walk a lot in the city. I step off the curb into oncoming traffic and find myself nodding in appreciation of the fine quality of the brakes on Albanian cars. I have a horrible urge to pound on the hood of a car and yell, “Hey, I’m walking here!” ala Midnight Cowboy. I have restrained myself because a) no on would understand what I was saying and b)even if they did I doubt they would be amused and they might hit the gas.

I, however, continue to be amused by the marvelous copywriter at Tirana in Your Pocket. There is truth in humor and the truth is if you don’t laugh when you take to the streets and roads of Albania you will find yourself indulging in a primal scream in the middle of a round about.

Eventually, I’ll be home. One of the first things I’m going to do is take a restful drive – on the Los Angeles freeways at rush hour.

P.S. The part about nerves of steel and a good map? We’ve got the nerves but still haven’t found a good map. But navigating in a city without street signs or numbers is for another day.

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This article is copyright ©  Rebecca Forster

Albanian Diaries 2: My Shqip (ship) Has Come In

Albania has a unique and intricate language. Shqip (ship) has umlauts above and below letters, curlicues, little tiny arrows pointing upward and an elegantly, maddening way of stringing consonants together that make it impossible for my tongue to wrap around anything other than three words: falemenderit (thank you), po (yes), and shu mire (very good). I don’t count tualet because that’s pretty much the same in any language.

They say language is like math and music and that might account for my limitations. I can’t balance my checkbook and you don’t want to hear me sing. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Sign language. A smile. A shrug. Of course we can communicate with one another even if we don’t speak the same language. Take, for instance, my encounter with the bryek man

Bryek is a to-die-for flaky pastry that comes straight out of a hot oven and onto a paper towel for you to take away. The storefront just outside the door of my apartment is packed from early morning to mid-afternoon. One day, I joined the crowd at the bryek store. There were people in front of me, people behind. Finally I made my way to the counter, money in hand.

“Misch,” I said, asking for meat bryek. Unsure if my pronunciation was correct, I pointed at the little sign on the wall for emphasis.

Fifteen heads turned to look where I was pointing. I assume I didn’t massacre the word since more than a few heads nodded before swinging back to the man behind the counter. He yanked open the heavy oven door, flipped my bryek onto a paper towel, and handed it to me.

I slid my coin across the counter and waited for my change.

“Euro,” he mumbled.

I nudged the coin a little closer, unsure of what he wanted me to do. The hungry crowd behind me pushed forward. Someone whispered:

“Euro,” someone behind me said.

I was so flustered that I all I heard was human static. The Bryek man was stone faced. The people around me moved and swayed, politely frustrated. The few whispers started to sound like a chant:

“Euro. Euro.”

Suddenly a young girl was by my side. Struggling with English, she said:

“That is a Euro. Do you have Lek?”

I blinked. OMG! The wrong currency. I had Lek. Yes! Yes! I had Lek. I fumbled and apologized and fumbled with my hot bryek and cold little change purse. That’s when the Bryek man wiggled his fingers. The girl beside me said:

“He says it’s okay. Take the bryek.”

I knew what he was really  saying. He was saying ‘good grief’, he was saying ‘I have a zillion customers’, he was saying ‘please lady, just move aside’. Just then I found the right coin (Cut me some slack. I’ve been looking at those two coins for days and they look exactly alike). I gave it to him. He took it. I left. The crowd filled the void.In that instant I realized my Sqhip had come in and we had communicated perfectly. They were very happy I was leaving, and so was I.

The bryek was still hot.

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A World Away

This is a picture of restaurant where my husband had lunch on the one day we were in Montenegro. This place is idyllic. It is romantic. It was also lonely for my husband because I was in our hotel room reading Gone Girl.  At that moment, that book was more intriguing than a lunch overlooking the Adriatic.

I know. I’m nuts. I also know that if you’re reading this, you are probably thinking deep in your heart that I’m not crazy. Reading time for me is a precious and hard to come by. Like many authors, when I am writing I don’t read. It’s an occupational hazard.

I sit at my little table at my coffee shop for eight hours at a time when I’m deep in the process. I edit, and input, and edit some more.  When I stop typing, stop thinking from the point of view of my characters, stop pounding out fictional dialogue that to me is as real as if I am saying the words, I don’t relax with a book. Instead, my free time is spent indulging in something physical. I play tennis. I clean the house. I cook. I sew. I lose myself in television, movies, and music. If I were to read during the process of creating a book, I would second guess every ‘stroke of the pen’. When I finally finish writing a book, though, reading is what I crave.

I finished writing Dark Witness three days before we left for this trip. I filled up my Kindle with books from all genres – especially books people had been talking about that I hadn’t had time to read. I chose traditionally published authors as well as independents.  I started Gone Girl in Dubrovnik. By the time we reached Montenegro I was half way through and oblivious to everything: the beautiful hotel room, the lovely weather, and my poor husband. Luckily, we’ve been through this before. He doesn’t understand the draw of fiction anymore than I understand how he can read book after book on the same period in history. The good news is, we both understand one another’s passion for reading.

That afternoon, while he had lunch and lingered over a glass of wine, I lost myself in a story about the most amazing couple in a most unamazing town in Missouri. The skill of the author was intense. I was a fish on a hook and being expertly reeled in. It was as if there was a boulder blocking the only exit in my room. I was under a spell and I was powerless to break it. When I finished that book, I joined my husband at the beautiful little restaurant. I had a glass of wine. I told him about Gone Girl and he listened. I’m not sure if he really heard the story, but I know he heard how much I had loved the gifts I had been given: time, a book, and a husband who had taken me half way around the world and still understood when I wanted to take one more journey.

 

 

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The Albanian Diaries: An Excellent Adventure (So Far)

There are two movies everyone should see: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Even before I saw those films I longed for an excellent adventure. Whisk me into a spaceship in my bathrobe! Let me open the door to a phone booth and find myself in medieval England! Heck, just land a strange package on my doorstep and I’d probably be happy. None of those things have happened to me. In fact, for all the adventures I have had, none of them has reached the epic excellence meter – until now.

A phone booth wasn’t my time machine and it was not a spaceship that gathered me up and took me away to the stars. It was my husband, awarded a grant as a Fulbright Specialist, who packed me up and dropped me in the Balkans. We have been to Dubrovnik and Montenegro but it is in Tirana, Albania where my excellent adventure begins and will end in a month’s time.

I have been to Tirana before – not to live but to transit to see my son, Eric, who served with the Peace Corps in the north. I fell in love with the country. The food, the people, the stones (so many stones), the history – I can’t get enough of any of it. Tirana is not Paris or Rome or Los Angeles or New York yet it is cosmopolitan – in its own way. It is not China or Japan but it is exotic – in its own way.

Perhaps what I love most is that there is a national consciousness to treat guests well. The only danger for visitors in Albania is that they might kill you with kindness. I imagine I feel the way a baby does when someone nuzzles its cheeks and smiles and says, “I could just eat you up.” Okay, it’s not quite that overt but it is pretty darn cool to have people genuinely glad you’re an American in their country.

Tirana has change a little since I was here two years ago. It is a bit more sophisticated in some ways. There will come a day when Tirana will explode and become a cosmopolitan center. It is inevitable because Albanian hospitality is boundless and their desire to know the world after a decade of isolation can’t be contained.

I have only been a week away from home. There are four more weeks to go but I already know this is what I have been waiting for. This is an adventure and this is excellent.

Next: The Albanian Diaries: My Shqip (ship) Has Come In

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This article is copyright ©  Rebecca Forster

Resources

IF YOU’RE NOT A LAWYER OR COP…

One of the questions I’m often asked is, “How can you write a legal thriller if you’re not a lawyer?” The answer is, I have a passion for the law. I am a legal voyeur, a court watcher, and I happen to be married to a man who made the law his career. However, having an in-house research department isn’t enough. The only way to write a procedural when you are not part of the system is to research, study, and embrace the challenge. To help you get started, I’ve listed some of the agencies that have been helpful to me.  Choose one or explore them all. Don’t forget local colleges and extension programs also offer a wealth of information. One of the best classes I ever took was given by the head of the sheriff’s crime lab in Los Angeles. It was called, Crime Scene Investigation for the Writer. Priceless.

And, if you want your work to be authentic, don’t forget the details. Procedures, titles and jurisdictions change from city to city so make sure you visit the website or contact the agencies in the city you’re writing about. For example:

In Los Angeles check:

Los Angeles Police Department

Los Angeles County Sheriff

California Highway Patrol

Los Angeles Superior Court

For Federal Law Enforcement Questions:

U.S. Marshals

U.S. Attorney

Federal Bureau of Prisons

U.S. Courts

FBI

Other Legal Resources:

Bar organizations(ethnic,city,social)

Legal secretarial organizations

Legislative codes

All of these resources have websites to get you started. If you contact the public information officer, an attorney, judge, or police professional make sure you have your questions ready. They’ll recognize your professionalism and your book will be the better for it.

 

 

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Official Bio / Profile for Rebecca Forster

Rebecca Forster started writing novels on a crazy dare.

Now she is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of 29 books which the CBS Legal Correspondent calls, “Perfect. . .impossible to put down.”

After earning her MBA, Forster spent 14 years as a marketing executive before taking the leap from a corporate to a creative career. A fulltime author, speaker and teacher, Rebecca focuses on legal and political thrillers but is known for bringing an uncommon sense of character and compassion to her work. Her Witness Series, featuring attorney Josie Bates, has resided on the Amazon bestseller lists for over three years in both the U.S. and U.K. and is a featured series at Audible.com. Before Her Eyes, a cross genre thriller, captured the winning votes for Reviewers Choice for Best Mystery.

Rebecca teaches the craft of writing and the cultivation of creativity at programs that have included the acclaimed UCLA Writers Program and as a guest speaker at legal associations, writer’s conferences, women’s symposiums and philanthropic groups across the U.S. She has made repeat appearances at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and volunteers at Southern California middle schools to bring the excitement of writing into the classroom. Appointed to the Patient/Family Advisory Board at Torrance Memorial Hospital, Rebecca advocates for closer relations between patients, families and medical staff to improve care.

Rebecca lives in Southern California. She is married to a prominent Los Angeles Superior Court judge and is the mother of two grown sons. Travel is a passion and when she is not writing you can find her on a tennis court, in front of a sewing machine or on the couch with a book in her hand.

 

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Talk Topics

WRITING, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION:

Embrace Your Creativity: Why Some of Us Are John Grisham and Others Dr. Suess
Inspiration: Where to Find It and What to Do With It.
Modern Publishing: Traditional to Indie Publishing
Practical Creativity: Five Things Creative People Must Do to Succeed

THE LAW AND ENTERTAINMENT

Why Lawyers are so Appealing: Lawyers as Entertainment
What Characters: Literary Lawyers – Do They Exist Today?

SOCIAL JUSTICE:

 Bearing Witness: The Witness Series Exploring or Exploiting Ethical Challenges
 Ethics and Inspiration: Turning Social Conscience into Effective Entertainment

SECOND CAREERS:

 Corporate to Creative: 5 Steps to a Happy Transition
 Second Chances: Bringing your ‘A’ Game to Your Next Career
 Second Careers: What You Know, What You Don’t, and What You Should

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This article is copyright ©  Rebecca Forster

SPEAKING, INTERVIEWS, TEACHING

Rebecca has been honored to be a keynote speaker, panelist or lecturer in venues as diverse as middle school classrooms and judge’s conference. Here are just a few of the venues around the country in which she has appeared.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
South Bay Bar Association
Santa Clarita Bar Association
Los Angeles Civil Judge’s Seminar
Assistance League (multiple chapters)
Palos Verdes Women’s Club
SEAK, a Writers Conference for Judges and Lawyers
Monterey Writer’s Conference
RWA (multiple chapters)
Sisters in Crime
Philips University Writers Conference, Oklahoma
UCLA Writers Program, instructor and conference panelist
UC Irvine, instructor
California State University, Long Beach, instructor
Young Writers Conference (middle school program)
Association of University Women (multiple chapters)
Ability First
Palos Verdes Women’s Club Author Day, featured speaker
RomCom, Denver
Write America
Surf Writers
Southwest Manuscripters
PV Men’s Club
Palmdale Women’s Conference, keynote

 

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This article is copyright ©  Rebecca Forster

For Writers: “Where do I start?”

“Where do I start?”

A lot of people tell me that they want to write, but don’t know where to start. Everyone has heard, “write what you know,” but I say, “write what you love.” Here’s a great exercise for finding out the kinds of stories that you want to approach.

-Write down a list of all of books, movies, and stories that you absolutely LOVE. Think of those books that you’ve read again and again. Think about the movies that you couldn’t live with out. Write down as many as you possibly can!

-Now, circle the titles that you wish that you’d written yourself, or been involved with. Sometimes those stories hit closest to home, and sometimes they’re just so innovative that you’ve always remembered them. Circle only the ones that you are most passionate about.

-Find the themes. What is similar between the pieces that you’ve chosen? Are they about unrequited love? The strength of family bonds? The betrayal of a friend? The journey of a nation? All of these are themes that have been explored through out the ages. This exercise is all about finding the theme that speaks to you.

-Once you find the theme, distill it down to one sentence. “These stories are about…”

(Example: These stories are about sacrifices made for freedom.)

-Now, write a fictional monologue where your character expresses their thoughts about the theme. Try and find a CONFLICT that is involved with this theme. Once you have a conflict, your story can grow from there.

The point of this exercise is to find something that you are passionate about. If you’re passionate about your story you are more likely to keep writing it. So many writers abandon their work because they forget why they’re writing what they’re writing.

We all started writing because a work moved us so much that we wanted to move others. Some themes speak to us, and others don’t. If you find a theme that moves you, you’ve taken a great first step towards creating something incredible.

-Keep writing. Just keep writing.

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The WITNESS series

Rebecca Forster brings the very heart of politics and the law to life in the pages of her best-selling Witness Series.

Once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, Josie Bates abandoned her fast-track career when her spectacular Los Angeles courtroom win became a devastating personal tragedy.  Now, working at a small practice in Hermosa Beach, Josie cautiously rebuilds her life, opening her heart to Archer, an emotionally vulnerable ex-cop, and Hannah, a troubled teen. But the tranquility of the beach life is no guarantee of peace and Josie rises to meet the challenges of a world where the stakes are high and to lose is lethal.  With twists and turns, cliff hangers and red herrings, this suspense-filled, seven-book series explores the dark side of the law,  the strength of real love, the intrusion of politics, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the immense power of the righteous few who stand strong in the face of pure evil.

Hostile Witness, Book #1: Josie Bates faces more than a legal challenge when she agrees to defend sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton against charges of capital murder – she faces personal demons that are more deadly than she ever imagined.

Silent Witness, Book #2:  Josie has more on her plate than coming to grips with being the guardian of a teenager when her lover, Archer, is accused of murdering his stepson. Love isn’t blind when the evidence is in.

Privileged Witness, Book #3: Josie’s past comes back to haunt her in the form of her first, true love who is now poised to become a U.S. Senator – if only Josie can defend his sister from the charge of that she murdered her sister-in-law.

Expert Witness, Book #4: Josie isn’t proud of her past, but when it comes back it does more than haunt her in this book about the last thing a victim and their family have to cling to: reputation.

Eyewitness, Book #5: The murders are gruesome. The suspect is a kid. Josie’s world is turned upside down  – and those she loves are defenseless – as a code of ancient justice is carried half way across the world to battle with modern law.

Forgotten Witness, Book #6: The most surprising and personal of the witness books, Josie comes face to face with the one person in the world who can bring her personal peace only to find herself locked in a life and death struggle with the most ruthless opponent of all – the government.

Read all about them here.
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This article is copyright ©  Rebecca Forster