Deborah J. Chavez's Blog, page 7

Summer decor

Summer has arrived. I finally took down the Spring decor on my front porch. It looked a bit like Easter out there, with all the pastel colors. For the past several days, we've had hot, hot, hot weather. The pastels were beginning to seem out of place in the face of that heat wave. I replaced it all with sunflowers and summer greetings. Somehow that fits better. The same thing happens as you craft words on paper. Some of the color, if you will, seems to not fit well. When I'm writing about a particularly pretty trail, it's hard to mesh with some of the grim realities faced by the characters in the book. Sometimes, you want the area dark and creepy. On the other hand, sometimes you want things to be going along quite well, with everybody happy and appreciative of the natural area, before the reveal of the body. It can really be a fun experience to decide how to decorate the pages as you write.

Distractions

In this order: shower, face scrub, treats for the dogs, dog walks, give one dog her early med, hot tea, check Facebook messages, play a game of solitaire, check text messages related to a Fourth of July gathering with family, bike ride with a few brief stops to chat with neighbors, take a call from the vet about an upcoming appointment, filing my nails, check for lizards in the backyard with the dogs, have some juice, give the other dog her mid-morning pill, another backyard lizard check and finally...time to blog. A couple of authors I follow say to spend at least an hour writing each day. Some days, I have so much on my "to-do" list (plus distractions), that an hour is hard to find. But when I find that hour, it usually turns into four hours. Some days, I erase more than I leave on the page, but some days my fingers fly, and I cannot believe it's already time to stop and make dinner. So, if writing is your goal, find an hour each and every day. You might write junk, you might write gold, but you're writing and isn't that amazing?

Purple flowers

The Jacaranda trees in the neighborhood are my harbingers of summer arriving. There are places that have so many purple flowers that it looks like we had a purple snowfall. As the day warms up, the flowers on the sidewalk and streets are also the places the bees hang out. Isn't nature a wondrous thing? These trees provide spectacular beauty, their flowers provide color, and after the flowers fall, they provide a place for the bees to do their thing. There are other signs of late spring...the last blooms on some flowers, the overcast skies, and the days that go from chilly to quite warm in a span of hours, followed by a chilly evening. Nature is something I've always appreciated. I've seen the beauty in mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, deserts, Joshua trees, pine trees, and a vegetable garden. Each are an amazing gift on their own. I find that when writing, it's important to take things that you notice and put them inside a sentence. You tell what they look like, but also how they make you feel. If you've done a good job of writing, people will see and feel your words.

Neighbors

Finally, after more than a year, one local block had a block party. People brought their chairs, plus food and drink to share. More than that, they brought their need to interact with other people. It was a noisy crowd of about sixty people and three dogs. There were a few there who had lived on the neighborhood more than twenty years and some who had moved in during the pandemic. There were stories about children, about grandchildren, and parents. Since there were dogs, there was also talk of all the dogs in the neighborhood and how many people had become walkers, taking any excuse to get outside the house for a while. A few introduced me as an author and recommended my books. That felt so nice. One neighbor had invited people to use her newly renovated pool. As you might guess, all the kids thought that was an excellent way to spend their day. It was just a good day to be outside, surrounded by other people who love the area like we do. We're already talking about the next event.

Optimist or pessimist?

If you read the first novel in the Harley Fremont series, Virginia Rising, you'll know I'm an optimist at heart. One of the main characters reconsiders the path they have taken. We become hopeful for real change in a problem that has plagued us almost since we became a nation. Today is one year since an officer leaned his knee into the neck of a man who could have been you or me. All of it over a questionable $20 bill. Sick. Brutal. Disgusting. Many of us rallied behind Mr. Floyd's family, we marched, we contacted our congresspeople and Senate representatives. It seemed like a turning point. It seemed like the ugly truth of racism, and especially structural racism, was being seen. There was a conviction, but has justice been served? Will we see societal changes anytime soon? The optimist in me hopes so. The pessimist is saying, well, nothing much has been corrected in that year. What do you see in our future?

Tuesday update

Book five is coming along. It's a slow process. Most chapters are taking a day or two to draft, then another day or two to edit. I always try to keep the length reasonable so that you might sit and read a chapter or two, like I prefer to do when I'm reading. I have a good idea about each chapter before I start writing it. Sometimes, as I write, I veer off in some direction I had not anticipated. That can be fun so long as it doesn't then change the entire direction of the remainder of the book. I always have an eye on what would come across as real dialog, what would be reasonable given the external conditions the character is currently located, and what would be interesting for a reader to know. I probably gather five times more research than actually goes into the book. I also like to plan how much suspense to add into each chapter, how much to reveal about each character, and myriad other considerations. As I wrote that, it seems a daunting task, but it usually isn't. You likely have stories to write yourselves. Try it. It's fun!

Overcast Tuesday

I'm miles from the ocean but that doesn't stop the ocean overcast from blanketing our area. We call the days "May Gray" and next month they'll become "June Gloom". Gray and gloom are such negative words for the relief from the heat that the overcast provides. Today we will hit 80 degrees. Without the cloud cover we might be experiencing summer high temperatures already. The overcast helps to keep our spring flowers in bloom. There's so much good that happens from things perceived as negative. It's that way of turning things around and seeing it from another perspective that adds color, life, relief into stories you tell. Stories we tell can help us take things we thought of as "bad" and reconsider them from another perspective. Stories can add depth and meaning that we never considered before. Welcome the overcast and experience life differently.

May the Fourth - Tues Blog

Hello blog readers! Thanks for following me on Goodreads. Feel free to ask questions or comment on my books or my posts. It's good to have you along. Today is May 4th so May the Fourth be with you. Yes, I'm a Star Wars fan. The very first movie came out when my husband and I were living in the Palm Springs area. We went to opening day and stood in line with hundreds of others. Two guys just in front of us started a fight with each other, even throwing punches. They did get removed from the line and thereby pushed up our entry just a bit. I've watched every movie and watched the Mandalorian episodes. Unlike my son, I haven't been keeping up with all the animated series that exist. So, I'm a fan, but apparently not a super fan. Since I'm retired from the Forest Service, I'll also say May the Forest be with you.

Hello Tuesday readers

We're back from visiting friends. It was a nice trip. The campground we stayed in was very well-kept and there were nearby trails plus miles and miles of bike trails. So, lots of hiking done and lots of biking too. Of course, lots of eating and visiting too. An added plus was we got to see the newly purchased home of our friends. I hope they have many great years there. Mostly, we talked as we hiked with the dogs but a few times I turned my thoughts to the next novel. In that novel I'm considering the number and types of trails Harley and Gemma will go on. I considered how much personal trial experience I could bring into that next round of trail hikes. I also passed a few people on the trial and wondered if there was something about them that I could make into a bad guy or a victim. Ha! You'd think it was just a dog walk along a trail. It's time for me to get back to the writing while I have all these thoughts from the tip. Hope you had a good respite too.

Giveaway ends

The book Giveaway for Colorado Searing is closed. Many thanks to the more than a thousand participants for your interest in the novel. I have the names and addresses of the ten winners. Congrats to them! I am waiting a bit to send one each to the winners. A hitch is that one winner is from Canada, while the Giveaway is open in the U.S. only. So the Goodreads support staff will ask the person to provide a U.S. address or another name will be drawn. I have no idea how long that might take. I'm hoping it is soon and I can send these books out in one trip to the post office.
As you've figured out by now, I put aside a bit of time each Tuesday to send out a blog. Next week, however, there will be no blog going out. I'll be spending time with my best friend and away from my computer. We'll be hiking and bike riding, and enjoying each other's company. It's been more than a year since we hugged and now that we're both fully vaccinated, it's time to have some fun! Here's hoping you're able to reconnect with your family and friends.