Kerrie Droban's Blog, page 7
May 3, 2015
My Writing Essentials
On Writing, by Stephen King
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg
If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit, by Brenda Ueland
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
Story Physics, Larry Brooks
April 12, 2015
On the Set of Gangland Undercover
In July, 2014, I drove out to Gillespie Dam in blazing heat to the set of Gangland Undercover to watch my book, VAGOS, MONGOLS & OUTLAWS: MY INFILTRATIONS INTO AMERICA’S DEADLIEST BIKER GANGS, magically transform into a dramatic six part television series to air on the History Channel. As I pulled into the dusty, deserted parking lot of the dive bar restaurant where many of the indoor scenes were filmed, my heart pounded. And for a split second I debated whether to slide back inside my FJ Cruiser and haul ass out of there. I should have been excited, thrilled (and don’t get me wrong I was) to meet the actors whose real-life characters I captured on paper but instead I felt light headed, sick even, like I didn’t belong. After all I was only the writer.
I felt a little like Alfred Hitchcock who appeared in cameos in his own films like an inside joke. I searched for a producer, director, someone in charge until finally some kind woman with pretty hair and beautiful teeth took pity on me and offered me a cookie and a coke. She told me to have a seat the actors would be arriving soon for lunch. I slid into a booth with a checkered tablecloth, holding the cookie, suddenly ten years old again. After a while she informed me I was in for a treat, “they’re filming a television show, you should stick around, might be fun.” I nibbled the cookie.
Then Charles Falco walked in, waved and introduced me to “Darko,” “Stash” and his handsome double, Damon Runyon. “Hey everyone, I want you to meet Kerrie, she’s the reason you’re all here. She wrote my story.” I never did finish the cookie.
Make sure to check out the book that the Gangland Undercover series was based on:VAGOS, MONGOLS & OUTLAWS: MY INFILTRATIONS INTO AMERICA’S DEADLIEST BIKER GANGS
March 21, 2015
The Power Of One
What makes a person trust enough to risk everything? I never understood the meaning of that word until I applied to law school. I couldn’t afford the application fee or the LSATs (which cost nearly $1000 dollars). But I knew it was my rescue. I was living in a trailer park in South Tucson barely scraping by and too proud to ask for help. The night before, I fell asleep to bullet spray.
This was not my life. This was not my destiny. This was not who I was meant to become. In pouring rain I stood shivering in the Admissions Office at the University of Arizona’s Law School hoping to speak to the director. She didn’t have to see me. She didn’t have to accept my application. She asked me why I wanted to become a lawyer. I thought of my college philosophy class—the professor asked one question of us: “What is Risk?” and the student next to me scribbled on his paper, “This” and handed it in. I handed the Admissions Director my essay. I told her I believed everything happened for a reason, even this. She smiled and I turned to leave knowing she was my last chance. I really needed her to believe in me, a stranger. I needed her to trust me. A clap of thunder rattled the windows. “Are you signed up for the LSAT?” she asked me. With my back to her, I shook my head, ashamed that money could derail me.
“There’s one extra spot, it’s yours if you think you can do it.”
I was about to protest, but I can’t afford it …then I listened to her words. She never asked me if I had paid the fee or if I had studied for the exam. She asked me if I thought I could do it. She offered me a chance to change my life’s direction. She saw something in my eyes—not desperation not sadness, but fierce determination. She believed in me. She inspired me to aim so high it hurt to breathe.
December 31, 2013
Police Biker Clubs: Are they Hurting the Credibility of Law Enforcement
An increasing number of police officers are forming motorcycle clubs, and hundreds now exist nationwide, according to experts on motorcycle gangs. Gang investigators fear that such clubs, some of which have the trappings of outlaw biker groups, can hurt the credibility of law enforcement and undermine criminal cases brought against traditional gangs.
Experts say there are a growing number of law enforcement motorcycle groups. There is a handful in Arizona, but how are they different from the outlaw motorcycle gangs?
There can be a confusing — even blurry — line between the good guys and the bad.
Gangland: Behind Enemy Lines
Gangland takes a look at the notorious biker gang The Hells Angels and their willingness to do whatever it takes or Take Care of Business (TCB) the gang’s motto. This episode covers an undercover operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “Black Biscuit”. The agents testify to the drug abuse and the violence they witnessed while undercover.
December 20, 2013
Shelf-Life, My personal library of crime resources
Shelf-Life, My personal library of crime resources: It would be a crime not to read these!
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled In Death, Judith Flanders
The Illustrated History of Weaponry: From Flint Axes to Automatic Weapons, by Chuck Wills
Understanding Organized Crime, by Stephen Mallory
Life Books: The Most Notorious Crimes in American History
Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, by John Douglas
Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, by Keith Albow
14 ACTUAL ERROR MESSAGES
14 ACTUAL ERROR MESSAGES seen on the computer screens in Japan, where some are written in Haiku.
The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.
Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred?
You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.
Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.
Having been erased, the document you’re seeking must now be retyped.
FAVORITE MEMOIRS
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Night by Elie Wiesel
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
WRITING ESSENTIALS
On Writing, by Stephen King
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg
If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit, by Brenda Ueland
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
Story Physics, Larry Brooks
MYTHBUSTERS
Writer/Fitness, an oxymoron: I’m an avid fitness buff and believe in the idea of healthy body, healthy mind. The writing life is a sedentary one, don’t fall victim to the notion that writers must abuse their bodies to be “creative”. As an alum of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arizona writing programs where I encountered all kinds of lifestyles—I’m here to tell you, good writing does NOT come from alcoholic stupor, drug addiction, sloth-like living, buckets of coffee, cigarettes or mind-altering substances! Best advice I ever got—ASS IN CHAIR!
