Jere M. Foley II's Blog, page 2

The Memoir’s a Thing

It’s official. I’m writing my memoir. It feels like a daunting task. The first draft alone involves scraping and fact-checking my own memory, writing events down coherently, and then trying to find a sensible order to it all.

I think I have my themes solid. And I think I have a final outline.

I hesitate because, like cliff climbing, the path you think you’re going to take invariably ends up not being the one that gets you to the top.

And I’m aiming for the top!

Accidental Maverick

I never set out to be a maverick. In truth, I would have avoided it like crazy if anyone had told me I was approaching maverick status. But in those days I thought conformity was the key element of survival. I’m awfully glad I grew out of that mindset. To think I used to idolize Alex P. Keaton! 1

As one often does with an introduction like this, I checked my definition with Merriam-Webster. The second meaning is spot on:

An independent individual who does not go along with a group or party 2

That description is a fantastically perfect portrayal of my life right up until you believe the subtext that it was all somehow planned or intentional.

I did not set out to blaze my own path.

I’m not sure anyone does. Don’t get me wrong, some of the more celebrated rebels sure act like it’s all gone according to plan. Good for them if that’s true, but I cannot take credit for that kind of foresight. Virtually all of my maverick identity can be categorized one of two ways:

An exploration of the world
A steadfast refusal to enter into proscribed behavior simply because I “should”

I’m not a fan of any “should” that is not supported by some level of scientific proof… or at the very least proof of experimentation. I cannot just blindly lemming along, tottering toward the cliff with the masses. In fact, much of my life’s friction has come about because most of my ardent refusal of the “shoulds” qualifies as maverick only through the Magic Lens of Hindsight. Looking back, these stories are also seriously entertaining.

But it’s been during my exploration of the world that I’ve been inspired to try reaching farther and motivated to climb ever higher.

So… welcome to the Accidental Maverick. I do hope you find something here that has a lot of meaning for you. Though in the spirit of owning up to the title of Maverick I’m going to keep going no matter what.

1 – Michael J. Fox’s young Republican character on Family Ties (NBC, 1982-1989)

2 – The first meaning refers to the word’s origin, and I’d just like to clear the air by saying I’m not an unbranded, motherless range animal. I’ve been branded twice and my parents are amazing people!

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing by William ...

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing by William Blake, c. 1786

Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and train

PUCK

      If we shadows have offended,

      Think but this, and all is mended,

      That you have but slumber’d here

      While these visions did appear.

      And this weak and idle theme,

      No more yielding but a dream,

      Gentles, do not reprehend:

      if you pardon, we will mend:

      And, as I am an honest Puck,

      If we have unearned luck

      Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,

      We will make amends ere long;

      Else the Puck a liar call;

      So, good night unto you all.

      Give me your hands, if we be friends,

      And Robin shall restore amends.

– William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Mentioned in Our Lives Magazine

In the awesome category, Our Lives Magazine selected me to be their Featured Entertainer for the May 2015 issue: Food & Dining! So not only do you get a host of great articles regarding local date-night favorites, but updates on the local outreach program LGBT Books to Prisoners, articles on local lesbian farmers and historians fighting for LGBT rights, AND one of our awesome local chocolaterians!

It’s an issue well worth checking out. To add awesome to awesome, both the PDF and a subscription are free!

http://ourlivesmadison.com/magazine/

(Just got yelled at for not mentioning you can read about my journey to becoming an author on pages 20-21.)

Cross-Train Your Writing

Zombie Camp

Are your editor’s fists clenching each time she red-inks the same freaking suggestions on your work? Does your brain have nasty, inexplicable desires to do housework at the same point of every story? Have you locked your shortcomings away in a steel coffer that you’ve buried in a deep, dark, back corner of your soul? For the sake of your career, you should cross-train your writing.

At this point, I should probably bust out a stadium’s worth of sports metaphors and get all Successories on you. Or wave some pompoms and cheer to get you hyped. But I’d hate myself in the morning and you’d never call.

So let’s assume you’re already hyped. You’re a freakin’ writer, dammit! You’ve got the gigantic jewels to face this career head on. That fact alone awards you the “Too Awesome For Shawarma With The Avengers” card in the game of “What the Hell Am I Gonna Do When I Grow Up?” So bear with me while I bust out this little gratuitous definition:

From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-training:

Cross-training refers to an athlete training in sports other than the one that the athlete competes in, with a goal of improving overall performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of each training method, while at the same time attempting to negate the shortcomings of that method by combining it with other methods that address its weaknesses.

I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s totally cliché to have a definition early on. But to give credit where credit is scored over 700, it says some really damned relevant things:

A related activity other than your writing…
Improving overall performance without pills or supplements…
Take advantage of the effective bits of each activity’s training methods…
Patch up those hidden shortcomings with skills learned in the secondary activity.

In other words, to improve your writing, get away from your desk for a refresher course in story and character creation. I don’t care if you call it professional development, or a hobby, or keep it to yourself as a dirty little secret. You owe it to your career to train your writing muscles a new way.

To put my money where my flapping yap is, here are a few that I use regularly:

Take an Acting Class. By far one of my favorite refreshers, acting classes provide a safe place where you can work alongside others to explore character development. The weirder and more emotional, the better! I will never forget the stunned looks on people’s faces after I unleashed my inner werewolf and snarled my pack’s mantra at the other acting students. It was pure storytelling because for five whole minutes I was in the head and body of a tribal werewolf. Plus, can I just say, “Zombie Camp?”If your time is valuable, this option is usually only a couple-hours-a-week commitment. Don’t retreat into the “I’m a shy writer” shell and hire a private coach. The class has zero weeks of rehearsals, zero weeks of performances, and no paralyzing stage fright. You get to play in a safe classroom space with other imaginative people. You know what my writing career loves most about this option? If you talk to the teacher/coach ahead of time, they are almost always willing to consider a custom lesson for the class. If your story needs to explore a non-human psyche, ask the teacher if that’s a theme they’re willing to trot out. Then open your damned mind and pay attention to the other students (as well as yourself) as the ideas blossom. It’s like a bucket of werewolf gold landing at your feet after the full moon.


RUN a Role-Playing Game. Hang up your Judgy Pants. This is a fantastic social experience focused on telling a story in a group. Let’s be real… movie nights don’t help your writing career. Sure, they help your soul when you need a non-productive refresher, but what does your plot get from sitting in silence with other people while watching someone else’s story? Not a kafarking thing.

When you run a role-playing game you help your friends (i.e. “the players”) develop their characters while you write the main plot and protagonists. WHAM WHAM WHAM! Then suddenly your players tell you about their characters’ histories, and SLAM BAM, you’ve got subplots. Suddenly you’re flexing those storytelling muscles weekly. If you’re new to role-playing, find a gaming system that’s light on rules and heavy on telling the story. As an added bonus, you get to spend time with people you like playing Margaritas & Monsters. (Holy crap, I’m going to write the rules for that game.)


Review Someone Else’s Work. I have only just discovered this little gem, but it’s a sparkly one. You see, I’ve noticed that when I open a book with the intent to review it, my mind kicks into full-on analysis mode. I focus on questions like: Why on earth did the author make that decision? Does anybody actually talk like that? Wait, huh? What’s in it for that character? How does THAT work? What the hell does this work’s theme say about our society? What did the book mean to me overall? You get the idea.

On the surface, I get more from the author’s writing. Yay! More importantly, I’m training my brain to think about all of the parts of the story. Woo hoo – Leveling up my brain! But there are under-the-surface benefits too. Like getting my name out in the literary world. If you write a review that helps people, and it gets noticed, it’s really freakin’ flattering when a publishing company sends a review copy of something similar. And, let’s not overlook the dirty little secret: it’s totally a work-related justification for your reading habit.


Travel. When I can afford it, nothing kicks my creativity’s butt into gear like travel. Face it; most of us are shackled by our daily routines. Is there anything that poisons your imagination faster than the morning commute? Don’t drink the bitter almond-scented Kool-Aid! I give you permission to give yourself permission to experience an entire world of new things.

Fortunately, you don’t need to go halfway around the globe to awaken your wonder. How many times have the people in another state (if you’re in the US), province, or territory seemed utterly alien? My quiet little “don’t rock the boat” Midwestern Wisconsin upbringing looks at the sunny Californians and has a little jealous moment rejoicing in their apparent optimism and willingness to try new things. Talk about a no-passport-required journey into the unknown!

There they are – my top personal choices for cross-training my writing skills. Is this your exact list? No. You’re probably totally judging me for the role-playing suggestion. Fine. Don’t roll the dice in order to experience the endorphin rush of leveling up. But dammit, you read this article because your editor has started drinking over that red-ink-resistant habit you aren’t breaking. Yeah, maybe for that reason. Or maybe your plot is so freaking stuck that the Dyson in the corner just proposed a shag in the living room. Most likely you kept reading because there’s a little monster living in that dark corner of your soul, and it keeps digging up your shortcoming and spitting them out into the light.

You should pay attention to that little monster. He may have big teeth and red eyes, but he’s wearing cross-trainers.

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What Recipe Terms Really Mean, or Why You Don’t Let a Linguist Read Your Cookbook

If you’ve ever read a recipe and thought, “I can do this!” then this article is for you. After decades in the kitchen, and a degree in Linguistics, it’s time I share the translations of common terms used in cookbooks.

You’ll Love the Simplicity of This Recipe = Our publishers made us say this. This recipe is a flaming pain in the tukhus. The original manuscript said, “You’ll only love the simplicity of this recipe if you take a swig of vodka or rum every couple minutes.”

Roast Ingredient X Before You Begin = We’ve just told you a bald-faced lie about the estimated time it will take to prepare this recipe. You’re going to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen, sucker.

Chop/Dice/Slice the… = Yeah. We’re still lying to you about that time estimate. Unless you’re a Ninja of the Ginsu Knife Collection you should cancel any plans you had tonight.

(Optional) = It’s totally not optional. Whatever you’re making is going to taste like gremlin poo without this ingredient. But hey, we know you feel better if you think you’re eating healthy. Just… umm… If you leave the ingredient out, you probably shouldn’t feed it to anyone after midnight.

Cream the Butter and Sugar = We know you didn’t for the butter to reach room temperature. You’re probably going to microwave it, and then it’ll be runny instead of fluffy. Best you can hope for is a slimy gremlin sugar-butter.

Gradually Add the Flour = Ha! Right. You’ve got a mixer in one hand and a spatula in the other. You’re totally going to dump all the flour right in. Which means there’s no chance it’s going to mix evenly. If you’ve taken our advice and been swigging rum and vodka while de-gremlin-ing the kitchen, you’d better rehearse the line, “We really love food with a lot of texture, don’t you?”

Score the Top of the… = You don’t own a knife capable of cutting this thing once it’s baked. We don’t know what you thought you were making, but it’s going to be a brick. A plank. A slab. Better make an appointment with that gremlin who dressed as a dentist.

Let Cool for… = Ha! You’re totally burning your mouth “making sure it’s okay.”

There you go. Your cookbook decoded. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear gremlins playing catch with the timer.

Get Loud If You Believe in Love, Acceptance, and Unity

I just spent an hour looking for a recent example of goodness stemming from religion in the United States of America. I wanted to believe that the ideals of love, and acceptance, and coming together in unity were still taught at the altars and in the Sunday schools. But my hour of searching led me to believe our churches have fallen to darkness.

I won’t bother challenging the haters. It’s abundantly clear they won’t listen to me. Hell, they wouldn’t bake me a cake if I paid them.

Instead, I’m issuing a very real call to action for any remaining good-hearted believers. If your worship has grown from the message that we are to love and accept one another so we ca come together in a united understanding, then please hear me.

The haters are winning.

The Adversary, the Lord of Ultimate Evil, uses some very insidious tools to turn people on one another. Fear. Hate. Intolerance. As I look at the religious leaders and their followers who are affecting current state and national governments, I see they’re using the same tools to rile people’s emotions. Fear. Hate. Intolerance.

And they’re so damned loud.

So here is my call to action: If you believe in Love, Acceptance, and Unity it’s time to turn the volume up.

Max out your volume and shout it: LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, and UNITY!!!

Show the media the good side of your faith. I know it’s there. I have come to love and cherish so many good-hearted believers, please don’t let your voices be overshadowed.

Your armor and weapons are in your volume. LOVE. ACCEPTANCE. UNITY.

 

Let’s go big with this. Don’t be silent about good things. If you are part of a group doing something that promotes Love, Acceptance, and Unity, announce it on my wall or yours with the tag #GetLoudAboutLove

** Image courtesy of Alexandra Schaefer Karvala

If You Can Imagine Yourself Doing Anything Else…

Jere Foley

I like acting podcasts. I think what snares my interest is the very real way the podcasters and guests portray how truly difficult it can be to have a career in acting.

When asked for advice in interviews, several veteran actors have given variations on these words: “If you can imagine yourself doing anything else in life, go do that.”

Clarification generally runs along one of a couple lines of thought:

you will put in years of hard work before you’re noticed
it is hard work
and if you are not completely prepared when opportunity knocks then you will miss that opportunity. Would that have been your discovery moment? You’ll never know because you weren’t ready.

As I write Caesar’s Shadow, I’ve been experiencing something they haven’t been saying. “If you love what you’re doing so much you don’t notice that time has passed, then it hardly feels like work.”

Don’t misunderstand me, it is work. I knew when I flew downstairs to make a speedy dinner because Jason was going to be home any minute that I had just ‘worked’ an hour later than I intended. That work consisted of: Grammar. Historical accuracy (ish… I am introducing supernatural bloodline powers). Internally consistent fantasy. And, as my editor loves to point out, whipping my Point of View into submission because it tends to think it’s a camera instead of a person. Thankfully she calls me out every time. All of that PLUS a story that’s so compelling that eight hours whizzed on by and I forgot to make dinner.

Damn. When I spell it out, it sounds like work… But I loved everything about it. Even my pesky Point of View.

So as I nearly tripped on the dog who sees the stairs as his personal playground, I realized today that I can not imagine myself doing anything but writing Nona’s story. Am I ready for a lifetime of this kind of hard work? Hell yes, bring it. Will I be prepared when opportunity arises? You bet your bookmark.

Can I imagine being anything other than an author? Not today. I feel my imagination letting thoughts of other careers fade a bit more with every dialogue I type, every plot I track, and every character I bring to life.

Recently, I’ve added writers’ podcasts to my mix, though I find myself with less time to catch up on them. I realize I’ve started using podcasts more for education than escapism. That makes me happy because it feels like my imagination and my career are finally pointed in similar directions.

Cliffside Workout

Romans celebrated the culmination of the New Year festivals on March 15, referring to it as “The Ides of March.” In addition, the month of March was named for Rome’s patron deity, Mars – God of War. Finally, this day is notorious as the anniversary of the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. My next novel, Caesar’s Shadow, takes place in ancient Rome during the final days of the Republic. So, I shot a quick scene for you!

Cover Unveil for Caesar’s Shadow

“The Ides of March have come,” quoth Caesar.

“Aye, Caesar; but not gone.” The Seer replied.

The Ides of March are upon us, and I’m here to deliver on my promises.

Slumberscythe has dropped to 99¢ in the Kindle store. Over the course of the week it’ll return to its normal price, so grab it while it’s a dollar! Link
It gives me GREAT pleasure to share the cover of my next novel, Caesar’s Shadow. (You probably saw the image long before you got to these words.)
Fall 2015 feels like a long time to wait. So… here are the first four chapters of Caesar’s Shadow put together as a preview PDF. Download here

I would LOVE your feedback, thoughts, and discussion. Please tap any of those social media icons above and let’s talk!