Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 35

Two-Ton Tommy and his criminal cohorts

I’m not a fan of Gatsby parties and all that, really. But when my favorite pub celebrated its 80th anniversary with a ’30s themed party, I spiffed myself up into my best and joined friends in joining the Cloverleaf Tavern‘s octogennial festivities. The Cloverleaf was opened by George Dorchak, Jr in 1933, after the repeal of Prohibition. It holds the first liquor license in the town of Caldwell, New Jersey, best known to outsiders as the town Tony Soprano lived in. 

I found the ‘Leaf when my Uncle Paul said he heard they had a good burger, back in ’98 or so. The burger was memorable enough that when I began dating my wife Firecracker, I took her there for a burger and a hefewiezen. And a romance was born. (Between us and the Cloverleaf). Now we are both Triple PhDs in their beer loyalty programs, which means every draft we order comes in that bucket in my hand they call a stein:

They had a hand-typed menu that evening with 80 cent sliders and pigskins- pulled pork topped potato wedges- plus $8 Clo-Vermontster burgers (a maple infused burger with maple bacon, which was a tad odd, but tasty) chicken in a basket, fish ‘n chips, and five 80-cent brews: Ballantine, Schmidt’s, Piel’s, Carling Black Label and Pabst, I think… we didn’t get that far! My stein’s full of Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere IPA, great stuff. They also had a cigar roller on the patio, and I partook of a mild one. I haven’t smoked in years, but it felt right. Here are some photos of my friends Kim, Gabi, Mike and Dave hamming it up in their duds.

PS, my criminal nickname is a tip of the fedora to showboat boxer Two-Ton Tony Galento. One of these days I’ll write about him:

Tagged: 30s, Cloverleaf Tavern, Crime, Photos, Two Ton Tony Galento

“Crime is just a word for the human condition.”

“Crime is just a word for the human condition.”
I am interviewed by Dan and Kate Malmon at Crimespree Magazine about Blade of Dishonor, crime fiction, and feeling Minnesota.

Tagged: Blade of Dishonor, Crimespree Magazine

5 Things Every Self-Respecting Man Over 30 Needs… and 40 He Doesn’t

I got ticked off at a Buzzfeed shopping list which claimed that any neckbeard mama’s basement troll can become a man by purchasing a tailored suit, some stocks, and hinged wine-bottle opener.

“5 Things Every Self-Respecting Man Over 30 Needs… and 40 He Doesn’t“ is my rant about men’s magazines and websites convincing men that “manhood” is not earned through behavior, but something gained by collecting crap.

Enjoy.

Tagged: Good Men Project

If you like iced coffee, try it Louisiana style.

I was never much of an iced coffee drinker before I visited Louisiana with my wife. She introduced me to Community Coffee, or CC’s, as they call the coffee shops down there. I’d compare them to Starbuck’s, but CC’s actually makes a good cup of coffee.

They’ve been around since 1919 and import green coffee beans from Brazil to roast locally. My favorite blend is their Between Roast, which is darker than medium but not a full dark roast. Their French or Dark roast works best for iced coffee. When they make it, it has a rich coffee flavor that holds up to the ice needed to keep you cool down there. I searched on how to make my own, and while ordering coffee from the Community website, I saw the Toddy cold brew system. Apparently I was not the only customer who wanted to make their own!

You need 9 cups of water and a pound of coffee to make a jar of concentrate. Good thing CC coffee is still a full pound! This steeps overnight in the cold brewer, then filters into the jar. Then you mix 1/3rd coffee concentrate, 1/3rd water, and 1/3rd milk to make the smoothest iced coffee you can imagine, with a strong coffee flavor. Use half and half to make it creamier. You can also heat the concentrate for hot coffee. The cold brewing removes the acids and will keep you from getting heartburn if coffee upsets your stomach. Of course, CC coffee tastes great made in a percolator or drip machine, and they also sell K cups and pods. In the winter we switch to hot coffee and make in a Bunn brewer that serves it piping hot. I prefer the Between Roast hot, and the Dark for iced.

Community Coffee also has a Military Match program. If you order four pounds of coffee for a friend or loved one on a base, they will match the order.

The Cold brew system costs around $35 and we’ve used ours for years. It will of course work with any brand of coffee you like, but I urge you to try CC’s. They ship, and have a coffee club where they discount a regular shipment for you.

Tagged: Coffee, Community Coffee, Louisiana

The Many Faces of Parker

I watched the latest Parker movie last night. 

It wasn’t terrible.

It wasn’t much Parker, either. But I’m not sure any of the adaptations are. Now now, before the Lee Marvin fans get their dander up, I do like POINT BLANK, the adaptation of The Hunter. And it is quite close, but almost too clever. Have you heard the theory that Marvin’s character is a ghost? 

Then there’s Payback, with Mel Gibson. I liked some of that too, and the director’s cut even more, but no one seems to want to play Parker straight. Statham’s Parker has a “code” to only steal from “people who can afford it,” as if we need to be told. He’s not robbing wallets in a supermarket, it’s a big heist at a huge carnival. Filmmakers feel like they have to make him likable, funnier, with a “code.” I’m sure they have all sorts of reasons. Probably hashed out in a boardroom.

But it’s silly. Did we stop watching Dirty Harry that time he pulled the trigger, not knowing whether he would kill the crook or not? Did we say “Indiana Jones, that was a jerk move when you let the propellers kill that boxer. Or when you shot the guy with the sword.” 

We like Parker because he is a consummate outlaw. Westlake even jokes with this. Parker becomes a monk during a job. He won’t have a woman, like a superstitious boxer before a fight. Parker almost always knows what to do. He keeps moving like a shark, he operates on instinct. And that is why we like him.

He’s the bad guy. 

Not a slavering psycho, just a businessman on the opposite side of the law. He’s not here to fix the sink, he’s here for the diamonds, and he will do that job without fuss or needless cruelty. But the job will get done, so don’t get in his way. He appeals in a backwards way to our work ethic. He does what he says, he doesn’t double cross. His only religion is revenge. 

Just a working stiff who wants to do a job. 

What’s not to like?

Get with it, Hollywood. Or don’t. Parker is still perfect, in our head movies.

If you don’t know Parker, begin with THE HUNTER and you’ll be hooked.

Tagged: Donald Westlake, Jason Statham, Parker, Richard Stark

A Knife and a Quill

Today I am interviewed at A Knife and a Quill (two of my favorite things) by pulp author K.A. Laity, author of the Chastity Flame espionage series.

Check it out, and check out Kate’s novels.

Tagged: A Knife and a Quill, Interviews, K.A. Laity

Who Are You?

Coincidentally, after yesterday’s post they gave me and my coworkers a personality test to identify our strengths. No, they didn’t ask me about a tortoise in the desert. My strengths came out as:

Individualization – I am intrigued by the unique qualities of people and have a knack for figuring out how to make different types of people work together productively. I’ve been told I have good organizing skills but I never saw it. It has been hampered by general introversion, but I have been getting better at this.

Strategic – I am good at planning a course to meet my goals.  That was pretty obvious from yesterday’s post.

Responsibility – I finish what I started. Ditto. I own what I say I will do, and I expect the same of others. That can be a flaw, as I tend to lump people as reliable or unreliable. But it is efficient when you need to delegate or make a team to get something done.

Communication – Well yeah, I’m a writer. I love putting my thoughts into words.

Context – I enjoy thinking about the past and researching history. This shows in everything I write. I almost always focus on what brought us to the story’s present, and the events of the past that make a character behave as they do.

The test can be taken by buying Tom Rath’s book Strengths Finder 2.0, which comes with a code for an online test. The test takes 35 minutes, and was developed by Gallup. I was making fun of the book the other day, because it tells you to focus on your strengths. Which is a great thing to do if you are part of a team, but sometimes your weaknesses must be improved. For example, the author uses the example of Rudy Ruettiger to say he wasted his life training to play a few minutes of football for Notre Dame. Well yeah, when you’re a cog in a machine at a job that’s a waste of time, but there’s something to be said about chasing your dreams. It took me years of training to overcome physical awkwardness and become a decent fighter. 

We do not encourage struggle. We want the easy win, go with your strengths! You’ll never need to rely on your weaknesses, right? How does that make for a balanced human being? When you’re married, or at a job, you can delegate tasks to the person’s strengths, but sometimes you still need to do things yourself. You should concentrate on your strengths, but do not avoid struggles, especially when young. Quitting becomes a habit, as they say. Someday your strengths may not be enough. And then what will you do?

 

Tagged: Rants

Who Asked You? 5 Writing Habits That Work For Me

I do not consider myself a success.

That is not self-deprecation, nor am I trolling for compliments. It is a state of mind, meant to stave off complacency, the enemy of all artists, writers in particular. I resumed writing regularly in November 2010, and three years later I have had 50 stories published, published three anthologies, and written one novel, with another novel and story collection nearly completed. I’ve won a Bullet award, had an anthology nominated for a Spinetingler, I’ve made dozens of new friends in the crime fiction community, and one of the stories I edited- Dave White’s excellent “Runaway” in the Protectors anthology- was listed as a distinguished story in The Best American Mystery Stories 2013.

Not bad. But it’s never good enough.

This from nothing. It began with a big bang of enthusiasm after I was coaxed into writing a novel in one month for NaNoWriMo 2010, which I called “Beat the Jinx.” Two revisions later I call it Bury the Hatchet, and I am about to unleash it into agent slushpiles everywhere.  How did I do it? Same way I went from being a chubby weakling into the man-ape hybrid you see before you, who outwrestles athletes half his age and can lift over a quarter ton.

By observing successful writers I admire and cultivating their habits:

Drive

Friends have called me the most driven writer they know. I  write nearly every day- 3-5 hours, until I feel tiredness at the edge of my eyes, when I know any further effort will have diminishing returns. But in my mind, I’m a slacker. And that keeps me driven.

If writing is a chore to you, perhaps writing isn’t for you. Let’s face it, it is work. But it should be a pleasurable work, like building one of those cakes that look like they require a degree in architecture. There will be failure and struggle as you learn by doing. But you get to lick the spoon. Write every day for a month. Pick a time that works, whether you can devote a half hour or three hours. Say you will write for 5 minutes. You will usually write longer. Force yourself to do it for three weeks to a month and it will become a habit. When you skip, you will feel a pang of guilt. You will scribble things down whenever you can. If you don’t know what to write about, maybe you’re not a writer. Ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s what you do with them that matters. In the beginning, I said “yes” to everything. Guest blog, interviews, anthologies, moderating. It forces you to write and make deadlines. Now I have to say “no” to new projects I want to participate in, to meet my commitments.

Patience

How does this jive with drive? I just told you to get off your ass and do, do, do. But be patient while you improve. Be patient while your stories sit in editor’s inboxes, waiting to be read. Be patient as you get rejections. Be patient as your rejections improve from form letters, to “Best of luck, it’s not for us,” to “we just published one like this,” to “if you edit this, this, and this, we will reconsider.” Be patient with editors. Remember, it is your responsibility to translate your thoughts into words that others can understand. If they don’t “get it” they aren’t necessarily dense; maybe what you wrote is unclear. If you trust the editor–and why else would you submit to a market, unless you enjoyed what they published and think the editors will like your work–you will work with them. You should also sit on a story before editing it, to approach it with a clear head. Don’t ship it off right after you type “The End,” no matter how excited you are about it. In the afterglow, you’re not in a right mind to edit.

Focus

This goes hand in hand with Drive. It is the one I struggled with the most. I am easily distracted, and I love starting new projects. But unfinished projects are nothing. They are a waste of energy. Must you finish everything, even a story you realize is bad? In the beginning, yes. Make something of it. A bad story can be fixed, an unfinished one is useless. No one wants to believe that writing takes practice, despite the mantras of “10,000 hours of practice before learning,” or “you must write a million words of crap before you’re a writer.” How do you expect to improve without failure? I wrote 50 stories, a novel, and edited two anthologies while I was supposed to be revising my first novel, Bury the Hatchet. I have all sorts of excuses for this. My writing has improved due to all those projects, and the novel has benefited, but if I had finished it first, that improvement would still have occurred. Do not let distractions drag you from finishing your work. Starting something new when you are in the middle of the hard work of finishing a story is just procrastination in disguise.

Perseverance

Sometimes, you hit a wall. With deadlines, writers often crash through these walls and finish the story in a way that works, but shows the wreckage. I’ve noticed this in many novels, even stories I’ve enjoyed. “Oh, you painted yourself into a corner there.” Then they cut a window into the wall to escape, and the house is still a house, and pretty from most angles, but there’s a weird window that sticks out. But at least you didn’t have to paint that room twice, right? WRONG! Fix the damn story problem. It will take perseverance. First to finish a story, and again to fix it. Writers have all sorts of vile analogies for revision. You get sick of your own story. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be better than “good enough.” If you’ve read enough good books, you will get a feel for it. If you say to yourself, “No one will notice,” that’s a big hint that it needs work. Or if you skim that part and get to the good bits. With me, I get a queasiness, a desire to shirk. And I bold that section for later, if I have no idea what the hell to do. But I always go back to it. Thanks to my friend Wayne Dundee, author of the Joe Hannibal PI novels and creator of Hardboiled magazine, for “persevere.” That’s how he signs his letters. And it encapsulates everything. If there’s one habit that’s most important, it’s this one.

Enthusiasm

Do you love books? Do you love reading a great story, and wishing you could write it? I hope so. You can’t be driven 24/7.  If you find yourself sneering at everything you read and saying you could do better, you might need a break to recharge your enthusiasm. Ever read something you know damn well you could never have written, and yet feel outrage that THIS won the Nobel Prize/Edgar/Hot Poop Award? While your genius went overlooked? It has been known to happen. It means your enthusiasm level is critically low. Read a book by a favorite writer, for enjoyment only. An old favorite. Or stop reading for a week and watch movies you love. Read or watch the stories that inspired you to be a writer in the first place.

What happened? You may have fallen into a validation trap, where you write to hear the applause of the audience. For a time, I found it easier to write quick stories and get the thrill of an acceptance, rather than buckle down and finish a novel. My friend Josh Stallings had the opposite problem- he loves writing novels, but convinced himself that he couldn’t write short fiction. After several of us cajoled and harried him into writing for us, he wrote several excellent stories, which broadened his audience for the Mo McGuire novels. It also supercharged his enthusiasm. He wrote his breakout noir memoir ALL THE WILD CHILDREN, and Mo #3, ONE MORE BODY, will be out soon.

Yes, “only writing is writing.” But writing takes more than typing, and keeping the brain happy–but just a little bit hungry–is part of the maintenance.

I hope this helps. I learned it by mimicking the writers whose careers I want mine to emulate. People who worked hard and were rewarded. Lawrence Block, who has always been an inspiration. He’s 84 and just hammered out another novel while on a world cruise, just to see if he could do it. Joelle Charbonneau, who juggles three series and still has time to blog, tweet, go to conventions and live a busy life. Joe Lansdale, who says he writes 3-5 pages a day. Last time I checked, he’s written 35 or so novels. Plus he runs a dojo. Perseverance personified. He also posts excellent no-BS writing advice on Facebook. George Pelecanos, another prolific author, said he writes 4 hours in the morning and edits at night. Whatever works- the common element is they go the distance, they write whether they feel like it or not, and get the job done.

Now it’s your turn.

Tagged: George Pelecanos, Joe Lansdale, Joelle Charbonneau, Josh Stallings, Lawrence Block, Wayne Dundee, Who Asked You

Signed Copies of Blade of Dishonor at The Mysterious Bookshop

If you would like a signed copy of Blade of Dishonor, they are available through The Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan. It’s a great store, I recommend dropping by. You can also buy them through their website.

If you would like a personally inscribed copy, and a sweet ninja pencil (which can also be used to assassinate the enemies of the Shogun, with the proper training) you can order them from me using this handy form.

 

Guest Blog at Terribleminds

I wrote a guest blog at Chuck Wendig’s Terribleminds, about how I went about DIY publishing Blade of Dishonor. That’s a bit of a misnomer, as it was a group effort among editors, artists, designers, and myself, and I explain all that there.

Join the discussion!

 

Tagged: Blade of Dishonor, Chuck Wendig