Hart Johnson's Blog, page 49

If It's Not One Thing...

Oi! So I'm not supposed to talk about HWMNBMOTI, right? Sort of by definition... (he who must not be mentioned on the internet, for the uninitiated). HWMNBMOTI is my sweet baboo... 21 years marriage this month. He is a private guy... and an anti-internet guy...



But darned it if he hasn't had a year of health challenges... and while THAT is his business... it affects MY LIFE, too, and my life is YOUR business, right? Erm...



Okay, so maybe that is a BIT of a stretch, but I can't seem to help myself.





So yesterday HWMNBMOTI had his 4th ER visit of 2012... and they checked him in AGAIN... a day or two in the hospital, which means it's not nothin.... And the REALLY wonky thing is NONE of these things has anything to do with the others. He has had 4 DIFFERENT things go BIG WRONG with his health.



And here is where I get whiny... it's HARD to have your partner unhealthy. He can't work. He can't do nearly as much around the house. He has little energy for fun stuff. And some of the lingering stuff makes him not sleep well, so he is ALWAYS tired. (and frequently crabby).



I get it. I study pain for a living, so I KNOW it makes a person crabby and depressed to hurt (I forgot to mention the arthritis diagnosis, didn't I?) and more so if a person can't SLEEP.





I want to go to Richard Dreyfus and have him write me a prescription to take a vacation from my problems.



But see, as the OTHER person in the household... I want him to FEEL BETTER (because I love him), I am terrified there is some huge underlying thing causing ALL of this (though for the life of me I can't imagine what that would be), I feel GUILTY for wanting a break from the health troubles for MY OWN sake as well as his...





For all that, I KNOW I'm lucky. I know most of my life is really good. I just want HWMNBMOTI healthy again. So if you have any spare mojo, karma, prayers or hugs, send 'em my way. We could use em.





And don't forget to come by FRIDAY, as I have a special post from our buddy Jessica, and NEXT WEEK I will have a guest post from Alison... so don't let my whining scare you away...

Mindfulness

So remember my Insecure Writer's post last week on positivity ? The same retreat had a couple other topics, but I am not even going to go in the general AREA of organization. In fact I will go so far as to say when one women was explaining how SHE could be organized, the problem was all the slobs who lived with her (her husband and children) and my friend said, 'oh, I have your problem,' I had the forthright honesty to say, “I AM your problem.” I don't have any delusions of organization. In fact I'd go so far as to say I don't even really WANT to be organized. It looks like a lot of work.



But there WAS another topic that sort of hit home.



You know how writers have all these parties and meetings and relationships between imaginary people in our head? And we can wander through our days perfectly entertained without ever talking to another human being? How you drive from A to B and don't remember ANY of it because you are so engaged in recrafting the scene in your head?



Yeah. That.





Well, see... it turns out it would probably do us good be be PRESENT sometimes in our own life. Not analyzing it or rewriting it as we live it, but just EXPERIENCING it.



And I get the temptation to let your creative mind fly. I LOVE the worlds in my head. But chances are we are missing some real life experiences when we aren't really in the moment. And if we live some real life now and then, our writing can really benefit.



We did a little activity... Laura (the woman who led this part) handed out strawberries to each of us and told us to pretend we'd never encountered one before. She walked us through experiencing it for the first time, even though, presumably, every one of us had had a strawberry before.



The BIGGEST trick was to SLOW THE HECK DOWN.

Use all five senses. More than once even, for something you are going to eat.

Look at it. Describe it in words. What shape is it. What does it remind you of.

Touch it with your finger. How does it feel?

Hold it under your nose. How does it smell.

Touch it with your tongue—how does it feel now?

Take a bite and hold it in your mouth. How does it taste?

Now chew on it. What's the texture? How does it feel now?



Her point was even the simplest experiences can be really rich if we pay attention.



And there are times we should ALWAYS pay attention. Some of these I'm really bad at. Often I feel very interrupted when my family needs me if I'm writing, but for pete's sake, shouldn't THEY be my first priority? But I'm a bad person that way. I need to work on this.



But the exercise... pick something each day and REALLY experience it. With all our senses. With no competing STUFF in our heads... It can be a walk through a park or a meal. Anything. But practice being in the present once in a while. It's good for us!

Nine and a Half Days

Isn't that a movie? No. There was 9 ½ Months... and How many days? There were a bunch of movies with days. And some with hours. Anyway. If this post were made into a movie it would be exhausting and a little bit boring, so you might as well just read the cliff notes.





Can I Just Tell You I'm EXHAUSTED?



No. Being me, I can't. I have to explain why. But I suppose that one line would have seemed measly and pathetic, so it's just as well.







NaNoWriMo in PROGRESS!



I was really really good for six days, and have struggled a little since... Election obsession/fatigue/defense to be discussed later in the specific, but here noted. I just can't obsess about two things at once.



But as this section is about NaNo, I will go with it. Flow has had a few fast, right on spots, but mostly I've just been working at a normal mid-novel pace. Which is a little frustrating in a beginning when it should be flying. My timeline is more detailed than normal, though, so maybe that is it. And maybe I won't slow down in the middle. I can hope. The top right corner uses my BuNo Meter, so you can see where I am if you are curious.



A few of my blogging buddies are really rocking it.



If any of YOU are doing it and want to chat with FABULOUS PEOPLE, BuNoWriMo is using its discussion pages for NaNoWriMo and Writing Sprints R Us does sprints most days. I think you can just join both, but message me if not and I will invite you. I think for that you need to be my FB friend (Hart Johnson[https://www.facebook.com/hartjohnson2...]).





The OTHER One



I am also doing my 'final before first readers' polish of MEDIUM WRONG this month. I am 100 pages in, which is just past 1/3. I will definitely finish the hard copy stuff, but the edits won't be entered until I hit 50K for NaNo...







The BEGONIA BRIBE



Of course day three of NaNo I received the copy edits from my editor... ACK! Copy edits are FABULOUS... somebody has gone through and made sure I was consistent, has pointed out anywhere I was confusing, has checked my facts... this is such a CRITICAL step. But it is one as author I have to then go through and address piece by piece... and my home computer doesn't play nice with Word... thinking on it now, the MAC would—the kids use that more, so I didn't even think of it, but it has word on it. But my OWN computer has Open Office. So I did all my edity stuff... then had to RE-DO it at work where I have Word... *dies *



(yes, you may throw a pity party... or roll your eyes at me, whichever)



But that is DONE... sent it back to Michelle yesterday... and last I heard from her Penguin offices were closed... not sure if they are back or not... poor New York and New Jersey have really had a time of it.





Election Obsession



I honestly couldn't concentrate AT ALL on Tuesday and not much Wednesday. See... I CARE. And I'm an information junkie and a stats nut... and a social scientist.



Even SINCE then, I feel compelled to correct misinformation when I run across it. There are some angry people... I get it. 8 years ago the same thing happened to me. How could we re-elect that nut!? But you know what the VERY BEST thing I've found about it is?



This blog does exactly that... relates 2004 to 2012... because both sides have been on both sides of this... You should read this if you, or anyone you know, is unhappy:



 So Your Nation Has Elected a President You Really Don’t Like



Seriously.  Good stuff, regardless of affiliation.

IWSG: Positivity

So it is first Wednesday! Man, it feels like we had one of these just a month ago... erm... But what it means is today is the day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post. And you know... I'm insecure! And I write! And I like to be supportive! I may not be a group, but three out of four is close enough, yes?



Now I normally take this opportunity to whine and complain, but why not shake things up now and then?



So here goes...







Positivity



A week and a half ago, on a Saturday, my friend Claire hosted an AMAZING women's rejuvenation retreat. It was smallish—a little party, all women, with some great breakfast foods, some get-to-know-you games and three great speakers, one on mindfulness, one on organizing (but not in an anal way) and the last (though she was actually the middle) on positivity.



Mary, the positivity presenter is a psychologist who studies HAPPINESS and how we can all be happier. And one of the strategies she gave—one that I think I can successfully extrapolate on to apply to writing—is a really simple little daily exercise with big results. In fact, she said if a person did this DAILY FOR A WEEK (not so much, really) their improved happiness scores are still present six months later.





So here's what you do... every night write down THREE THINGS that made you happy that day and why.





That's all. That simple.



See... how it works in the long run is you begin to NOTICE things more that make you happy, so you feel happy more often. And if you think about WHY, then those experiences stick with you longer, improving your happiness.





How I'd apply it to writing: When you get done with a sitting, whether it was an hour, a scene, a chapter... however you do it... take note of something you really liked about it. Did you nail the action? Did you give the reader great character insight? Was there ONE DIVINE SENTENCE? Take note of the things you do that really are fabulous. Because YOU DO THEM. I promise. We just tend to notice all the stuff we do wrong. So make a point of noticing something you did RIGHT. It will also reinforce the writing so you want to write more often, so that's a nice little side effect.







And just a brief election wind up (written BEFORE any results are in)--no matter who wins, lets make the best of it. Support the winners and urge them to work with the other side. We are in dire need of cooperation.



Be sure and get around to the other insecure people today!!! (link at top)

Open Letter to Ellen DeGeneres

So Saturday night I was with the Couch to Keg team... there might have been liquor involved... but we engaged in the rare sport of watching television. (I watch a couple shows, but never WHILE they are on the air, though I guess this wasn't actually on either... it aired originally October 30). We stumbled across an award show for Ellen Degeneres who had just been given the Twain Prize. She was the 14th awardee and Twain has been dead at least a hundred, so I don't think he originated them, but the idea is HUMOR. In fact one of the speakers actually SAID, the Twain is to people with humor what the Nobel is to people without humor. I assume he means the Nobel Prize for Literature, as if anybody reads The Giraffability of Digressions, you will know there is quite a lot of humor surrounding the Nobel Peace prize, but never mind. Ellen has definitely been a leading figure in humor.





As I watched people talk about her, and clips of work she'd done over the years, I had an immense braingasm. You see, I ADORE Ellen. And she would be PERFECT for... well I'll just let you read my request...





Dear Ellen,



Congratulations on winning the Twain Award, or is it a prize? Lily Tomlin said something about a fruit basket, but I saw the statue... whatever the case, I got the gist of the thing and think you were well deserving.



Watching people talk about you, and seeing the clips of you over the years, really got me thinking about what I loved about humor—YOUR humor, in particular. I was with two friends (the three of us embody the Couch to Keg team) and all of us laughed through the whole thing. But here's the thing... I've long said I don't really like American humor.



I think you enlightened me as to why. Most American humor is mean-spirited. You, on the other hand, are silly, mock yourself, but the only taunting of other people you do is in silly pranks. You never put people down or try to make us think less of anybody. To your very core you are kind.



This makes me think you'd be the perfect spokesperson for the Naked World Domination Movement. Now hear me out. I'm a writer by night with a day job to support that habit, but on the side, I am trying to get this going: Taking over the world and convincing everyone to get naked. It's not about sexing everything up. Not even a little. It's about COMFORT (and seriously, who couldn't use more of that?) and about the fact that I think it is REALLY HARD to be mean to other people when we are naked.



Naked people are, by definition, vulnerable. So who would chance a rude comment to somebody with their parts exposed? Not a THINKING person, that's for sure. I also think without clothes, a layer of the ridiculous, superficial status symbols falls away. Except, of course, for the people with Calivin Klein tattooed on their behinds. But most of us are brand free when naked. We really have nothing we can be but ourselves.



And who doesn't like a party? A BIRTHDAY party? And if we are all in our birthday suits, we are always ready!





Read this letter with her voice... Pretend it's on the air

So... I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if you'd be my spokesperson. I can't pay you anything at the moment. In spite of stereotypes, only about 10% of writers support themselves with it. I think I've figured out that I am averaging about $0.49 an hour for my efforts. All of writers I know are either kept women (and by kept, I usually mean moms... yeah, like that's easy) or have a day job. But if you want to throw my name around, we can talk about a percent of sales...



I am hoping you will just see the wisdom of disrobing and get behind the movement because it is the right thing to do.



And in all seriousness—you rock. Funny, kind, and with unwavering integrity. Nothing sexier than that.



Hart Johnson





***





Friends... read this in Ellen's voice... pretend she is reading it on the show... Seriously, can't you picture it? I'd love it if the letter could get spread widely enough that she saw it. I think she'd get a kick out of it. I also recommend watching the award show. (and don't tell HWMNBMOTI, but I was reminded that Finding Nemo is the perfect stocking stuffer for him).





And for your entertainment, a couple Ellen clips...



Ellen, Bic for Her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCyw3prIWhc

Ellen on Values: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdkOeCMxb20

Rouge by Leigh T. Moore: A Reveal and Review

So today's an exciting day and thanks to ME, YOU get to participate in it!!! I'm groovy that way.




My good buddy and crit partner, or critters, as she calls us  Leigh T. Moore , who has had such success with The Truth about Faking has a new book coming out this month (November 11) and TODAY is the day we get to share the cover AND.... I've had the good fortune to read an advanced copy, so I am also going to give you a review!




First up...  The GORGEOUS cover for ROUGE!!!!










Isn't it amazing? It was designed by Jolene Perry and I believe perfectly captures the feel of the book.



From Goodreads:  Trapped in the underground theater world of 1890s New Orleans, Hale Ferrer has only one goal: escape. But not without Teeny, the orphan-girl she rescued from the streets and promised to protect.

Freddie Lovel, Hale's wealthy Parisian suitor, seems to be the easy solution. If only his touch could arouse her interest like Beau's, the penniless stagehand who captures her heart.

Denying her fears, Hale is poised to choose love until an evil lurking in their cabaret-home launches a chain of events that could cost her everything.



My Review:



Leigh's talent is clear in everything she writes. Polished, expert. Likeable characters, well-drawn plot. But I have to admit, though I love all her stuff, this is THE BEST ONE so far. It is historic romance set in steamy New Orleans in the early 20th century.



Hale has grown up in the cabaret hall--a place that carefully balances outward glamor and private sleaze. The girls all need to earn their keep... one way or another... and only through a promise by the manager to her dying mother (and a talent that keeps bringing in the crowds), does Hale feel she's avoided 'the back'.  Hale, good-hearted and not understanding the implications, begged to take in a young street girl several years back, and unfortunately, Teeney has the tragic combination of no talent and great beauty--she will never earn her keep legitimately... Hale feels fully responsible for the girl's well being.



I loved how rich this setting was--the combination of beauty, danger, and a sense of family for all these displaced people who are at the mercy of the people with money. The motive was built in beautifully and believably for Hale to feel so torn between duty and following her heart. The characters were well drawn, the tension and romance sprinkled just right. I really think this is a fabulous book. You should all go order it.



Leigh at Goodreads

Leigh on Facebook

Leigh's Blog



Good luck with your release, Leigh!!!

Scare Me!!! (A Blogfest)

So the boys over at Sci-Fi Media are having a scary blogfest today and here is what they have to say about it: The purpose of the Scare Me Blogfest is to write about the scariest book that you have read, Movie you have watched, Ghosts you have encountered, and/or to share your own scary story.



I really love to be a little scared... my tolerance for being REALLY scared is lower than when I was younger, but I still like a fright. So being me... I thought I'd throw together a little hodgepodge of my favorite scares in a couple categories:





*shivers*  This is the sandman

Scariest SONG (who woulda thunk?)



Enter Sandman by Metallica—I was a metal head teen, but honestly, Metallica is a little after my time (I was onto alternative by their time and went to grunge next), but seriously... this song is the stuff of nightmares... and I LOVE IT!



Here is just a bit of it... (Or if you'd prefer to listen) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-E-LDc384



Hush little baby don't say a word

And never mind that noise you heard

It's just the beast under your bed

In your closet in your head



Exit light

Enter night

Grain of sand



Exit light

Enter night

Take my hand

We're off to never never-land





Scariest CD

 

Definitely has to be Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting.



The whole thing is about loss and sadness, but much of it is about
vampires, death or (scariest to me) losing someone to someTHING
(addiction or personal demons) instead of a person or something you did.








Scariest TV Show



I think Twin Peaks gets my vote here, but it only edges out American Horror Story because I don't really feel like 6 episodes was quite enough to really entrench me as a viewer in the 'holy crap, what was that?' thing. There are also a couple episodes of Buffy that get nods—most notably, Hush. Where those creepy dead looking things steal all the voices because they can only be killed by a scream.







Scariest Movie(s)



Okay, now here I am going to cheat a little... Instead of the scariest movie I've ever seen, I am going to give you favorite scare movie. Because some of that crap is too realistic and scares me, but I don't enjoy it. And I really LOVE a good scare... so I am going with a few scary movies I love here...



The Thing (original)

Alien

Blair Witch Project



All of these the 'monster' is mostly (or completely) off screen. I LOVE scary tension. I usually think monsters on screen are cheesy and monsters who are people (meaning criminals) are too realistic. I can live with possessed, the sight, shapeshifty stuff... But it isn't quite as scary to me.





Scariest Experience: There is a haunted coffin factory in Niagara Falls (Canadian side) that almost made me pee myself. Seriously. TERRIFYING.







And best for last... Books and authors...



I was a serious spooky book reader from about junior high to college and I still love to dive in every once in a while. I have a few favorites on books and then a serious case of author love...



Amityville Horror (1st scary book I read and it hooked me)

The Shining (pulled me into Stephen King)

The Talisman , Steven King WITH... (warning: segue here) Peter Straub



But my real and true scary book love is for Peter Straub. I fell in love with him with Ghost Story , but my favorite is probably Mr. X . He admits to heavy influence from HP Lovecraft



TANGENT: I love HP Lovecraft for short stories, but haven't been thrilled with the full books because of writing style--he is sort of clinical. Okay... really clinical. He writes as if he is an academic studying these findings, and for a short story (or 10) it totally works, but it is too detached for novels.



Back to Peter Straub: He is at his best when he is being a generation time jumper—person influenced by evil ancestors and fighting it, or having ooky powers that run in the family.



So there you have it!  How I like to scare myself!  Don't forget to check out the other entries, too (link up at the top)

Nakedness Disrobed

My friend Marian shared a horoscope (of mine) with me this week and it struck me it was awfully darned accurate. The link is gone, as a new one goes up each day, but the gist of it is I am a shameless attention whore and insecurity is the reason. I DID copy the punchline:



On the other hand, if you're attracting attention, even negative attention, maybe you're already winning. It depends on what you're trying to achieve. There's no bad publicity, in some worlds.



So I thought maybe it was time for one of those confessions I'm supposed to be doing around here.



It's true. I'm a shameless attention whore and insecurity is the reason. Lemme e'splain...







My Pre-Online Life



See... I'm shy and awkward, right? I mean I was in my mid-20s before I learned boys were people, so it is worse in mixed company, but I am PAINFULLY bad at small talk. Now with my close friends I was always pretty good at just being silly—silly broke the tension--helped me contribute, even if I had no clue what to say. And I think in late high school I realized that silly went over well with people I wasn't quite as close to, too.



Man, in college I WORKED IT. Because I had LEARNED SOMETHING. The risk of being laughed at is not NEARLY AS SCARY if you are doing something FUNNY. In fact... if you are doing something funny, they are SUPPOSED to laugh at you.



I mean sure, I still had yearnings to be dark and mysterious... sexy... desirable. But it really wasn't happening.



I grew to accept this as ME in my late 20s. I worked with a friend who was just as goofy and he and I used to bounce off each other until we were laughing so hard we were crying.... it was about the time I became a mom, too, so silliness and kids are a good pairing. Why NOT embrace it?







Yes, this is the kind of thing we observed...

Enter the Online Stuff



My first forays online were related to Harry Potter. In fact for a couple YEARS I was really only online in that capacity. The variety of people was big, and I made friends of all sorts, but the tightest friendships were those where a couple people could bounce off each other in sublime silliness—have it build, get the delightful surprises. By the time I was ready for Facebook in 2007, I had honed my ability with the quip. It just felt natural.







I am NOT the first naked writer

Enter my Writing Career



Such as it is... so I was being a goofball online with friends. No harm, no foul. Right? But what the heck was I supposed to do with a BLOG to promote a BOOK and the idea of me as a WRITER? (A public figure? Me? Eeek GADS—do you KNOW the skeletons I have in my closet?) Oh, sure, I'll be all professional, I thought... for about five minutes.



Because it came back to shy awkward me and how well I talk to people if I try to limit the range of the conversation... it stresses me out and shuts me down. Why NOT fall back on all that goofiness stuff?



I mean... who DOESN'T want to be naked all the time?



Because that way if I'm laughed at... at least that's what I was going for.



Erm... and when I looked for the image up there, I googled 'naked writer'... guess who ELSE is there... Me.  So it's working... I guess.





Speaking of... recent nudity success: I am doing NaNoWriMo and my buddy Tonja, in Friday comments, said, “Hey, I listed you as a NaNo buddy. I figured that was you if naked world domination was listed as a hobby. :)”



See—no risk of your friends not finding you if you are always completely yourself and different from pretty much everybody else... But if anybody ELSE doing NaNoWriMo wants to find me, I am hartjohnson. Three more days!

How Many Books?

Next Thursday I will be starting my 7th WriMo. But I will be doing something for the first time... starting a series that is intended to be read in order... a Septology? Anyway... it occurred to me that I've written stand-alones, a trilogy, a series in which each book CAN stand alone, but they also go together... And in each case there are different challenges. I thought maybe I'd talk about that...







Stand-Alones



In most genres, this is what most books are. Each book is its own enclosed unit, telling you everything you need to know (or at least enough you can satisfactorily imagine the rest). There is some tolerance of some loose ends, but the big thing has to be wrapped up. I think the vast majority of authors write mostly these, though there are genre exceptions. But I know of my 13 books I've written, seven fall here (YA and cozy mystery fall into exception categories.)



Series of Stand-alones



I most often see these as mysteries. Same sleuth, detective, or cop. New crime. Though I think there is some YA and a fair bit of middle grade that falls here, too—same characters, new hi-jinx. My Cozy Gardening series fits this and they are tricky—at least the first one was (and by first, I mean second--the first that came after the first *shifty*). The problem is the reader might start anywhere, so you have to give the important details for characters, but you need to do it lightly enough that someone who has read OTHER ones doesn't want to throw the book.



Sequels



See, this is the category I've never done... I think some stories earn an after story and that is fabulous. And other authors fall in love with their characters and sort of fall in a trap. I think it is important to make sure it is the former you are writing. Even great books can have stupid sequels. I was not, for instance, impressed with the sequel to Pillars of the Earth (which was a favorite book until the sequel annoyed me... I'm serious). But if the end of one book is headed off to a new part of life, then sometimes THAT makes a great book, too.





Trilogies



I really love the trilogy, probably because I love a good, long story. The TRICK to trilogies is to, in addition to the long story, have a compelling story within each individual book that completes. I've written one of these. Badly. It may or may not ever see the light of day, but would need a full rewrite. I think these are easiest when the writer knows the whole story at the start (I mean not all of it, but has a plan for where it is going to go). And even then, it can muck up. (Eragon was meant to be 3... I think it will end up 5)



Favorites: Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings





Epic Series



This is the longer set that all go in order... and this is my fear. It is BIG. They do less repeat than those stand-alone series, but the big plot moves forward for a big, underlying thing. Each book still needs it's own plot that completes, but the bigger thing needs to move forward. I've seen few TV series do this really well. Veronica Mars comes to mind. I have to admit, the idea of writing this is intimidating. I could spend YEARS on ONE series... But I think the story deserves it.



Favorite EVER: Harry Potter. Song of Fire and Ice is doing really well as entertainment, but I don't think it does as well on the 'each book has its own plot' piece. Sword of Truth did it well, though I honestly suspect he wrote the first, did well, THEN came up with the rest of the series—the first book isn't connected to the big overarching thing.



So how many of these have you tried?

My Son the Super Hero

So remember Monday when I blogged about BOOing?

Well my minion was spotted... and this led to the cutest story EVER.





Attempted head shot. The boy ducked.



N. (age 4) and his dad spotted the BOO minion and the conversation went something like this:



Dad: I think that was Sam.

N.: No, it was Sworder.

Dad: Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it was Sam.

N.: No, Dad. It was Sworder.



A few rounds of this and the dad decided to leave it. Because do you know who Sworder is?



How could you? He's a figment of N.'s imagination... An imaginary best friend who:



Lives in other countries.

Travels around.

Protects people, and

Does good deeds.



And apparently he looks like this:







I love the minds of 4-year-olds. And I love that he now believes he has physically seen this friend of his. Especially a friend who goes around the world doing good things.