Fourth of July Tribute to Old Glory from Dusty Crabtree

Once a year, Americans celebrate their country. We've had some glorious times and some rough ones, and we're likely to see more of both before we get off the merry-go-round. But even while we might not consciously be aware of it, Americans are patriotic and pull together based on the country they love every time there's a need.

Recently, the storms and winds here in Virginia pulled our flag pole to a 60% angle or so. My husband and son spent last weekend digging out the pole and resetting it so we could fly our flag today.


So, what happens when you get a patriotic Word Wench in a contemplative mood? A poem about a tattered flag, of course. 

"The Tattered Flag"
                         By Dusty Crabtree
 

It flaps in the wind limply at one corner. The other corner is ripped to shreds, caught, hanging on a wire, dejectedly. Unable to break free.

It's been windy. It's raining. It's nobody's fault.
 

And yet…it just feels wrong.  The moment I see it from my car, a whimper escapes my lips.  A pain shoots through my chest.  It aches. I want to cry.  I might as well have witnessed a young kid being pushed down by a bully.  How could someone treat the flag this way?  A sense of injustice burns inside so strong that my world turns upside down.

Such  a strong emotion for such a simple inanimate object. But it's not simple, is it? It represents our country's life. Our freedom. Us. So, I guess...in a way...it isn't just an object treated with disrespect. It's a living and breathing representation of hope. And if that's torn and tattered, then what do we have left?

 

#####

 



I agree with her. Hope is a resilient thing. And sometimes we find it in the tatters.

Dusty is celebrating another big anniversary - the release of her novel Shadow Eyes.  

The idea for Shadow Eyes actually first came to me as a screenplay for a Christian horror movie, if there ever was such a genre. The movie would have been about a cast of intertwined characters going about their lives and making mistakes with dark, creepy shadows (demons) hovering around them, whispering to them, and influencing them to do evil things. Only the audience would see the shadows. The characters would be completely oblivious. A few years after I’d had that idea, my friend suggested I write a novel like the paranormal angel books we’d been reading and loving. I’d always loved the concept of angels and demons in stories and immediately thought back to that screenplay idea. I just continued tweaking it until I had the basic concept of Shadow Eyes – a 17-year-old girl who had this special ability to see the shadows and light figures when nobody else could.

Iris thought she could ignore the shadows...until they went after everyone she loved.

BLURB: Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil. But she is the only one who can see them. She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier. Although she’s learned to cope, the view of her world begins to shift upon the arrival of three mysterious characters. First, a handsome new teacher whose presence scares away shadows; second, a new friend with an awe-inspiring aura; and third, a mysterious and alluring new student whom Iris has a hard time resisting despite already having a boyfriend. As the shadows invade and terrorize her own life and family, she must ultimately revisit the most horrific event of her life in order to learn her true identity and become the hero she was meant to be.

To read an excerpt from Shadow Eye's, please click HERE.
Watch Shadow Eyes book trailer on YouTube.
Shadow Eyes is available at all major online bookstores.

Learn more about Dusty Crabtree on her blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

HAVE A GREAT 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

Stories are everywhere

One of the very best thing about being a writer is that writers tend to notice more. Whether a writer was always more observant or she becomes so to "write what you know", we tend to see what other people skim over. So the scene below caught my attention as I was rushing to the DC Federal Courthouse last week for a contested and likely to be acrimonious hearing:

I snapped the photo for the "what is wrong with this picture" aspect. For me it was that someone who was apparently sleeping on the street had solar panels, a laptop and cell phone. But as I've thought about the picture and the man in it, I find I keep being drawn back to the question of why. Why did he end up this way? Is the apparent homeless person aspect just a front to give weight to his protest? How did he get solar panels? How is he running a computer off them? How is he paying is cell phone bill? If he's really homeless, how is he eating? Why protest in this manner? Why did our society allow him to slip out of the mainstream?

The story behind the picture fascinates me.

The day I took the photo I was rushing between courts. So, even though he was still there when I left the first hearing, I didn't have the time to talk to him without risking a yelling at from the next judge. I also wanted an hour or two to figure out his story. But if he's there when I go back to that court in May, I may have to buy him lunch and see if he'll answer my questions.

If not, I'll just have to find a story for him.

Inspiration is all around us. We just have to keep our eyes open and keep asking "why".

When Inspiration Strikes - Dusty Crabtree Guest Post

It's Awesome When Inspiration Strikes by Dusty Crabtree

The idea for Shadow Eyes actually first came to me as a screenplay for a Christian horror movie, if there ever was such a genre. The movie would have been about a cast of intertwined characters going about their lives and making mistakes with dark, creepy shadows (demons) hovering around them, whispering to them, and influencing them to do evil things. Only the audience would see the shadows. The characters would be completely oblivious. A few years after I’d had that idea, my friend suggested I write a novel like the paranormal angel books we’d been reading and loving. I’d always loved the concept of angels and demons in stories and immediately thought back to that screenplay idea. I just continued tweaking it until I had the basic concept of Shadow Eyes – a 17-year-old girl who had this special ability to see the shadows and light figures when nobody else could.

Iris thought she could ignore the shadows...until they went after everyone she loved.

BLURB: Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil. But she is the only one who can see them. She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier. Although she’s learned to cope, the view of her world begins to shift upon the arrival of three mysterious characters. First, a handsome new teacher whose presence scares away shadows; second, a new friend with an awe-inspiring aura; and third, a mysterious and alluring new student whom Iris has a hard time resisting despite already having a boyfriend. As the shadows invade and terrorize her own life and family, she must ultimately revisit the most horrific event of her life in order to learn her true identity and become the hero she was meant to be.

To read an excerpt from Shadow Eye's, please click HERE.
Watch Shadow Eyes book trailer on YouTube.
Shadow Eyes is available at all major online bookstores.

Learn more about Dusty Crabtree on her blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

My Toolbox Part II

I talked about having a Writer's Toolbox on Monday. A Writer's Toolbox contains, well, everything we know and learn about the people and world around us as well as the books and other reference materials we can consult. It's where we go when we're stuck. When you dig deep, it's these tools you are relying on. So, on Monday I gave you a list of my top 10-6th items in it., and today I round out my top ten.

5. The Three Hs – humor, humility, and hope.

Writing challenges on many levels. You can hit a wall and fight with your characters. You can become despondent waiting for and receiving rejections. Just the opposite happens when you get an acceptance or someone leaves a positive review. You have to take the positive and negative in stride otherwise you’ll give up.

4. On Writing by Stephen King, Million Dollar Outlines by David Wolverton, and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Of the writing books I’ve read, these three were the ones that spoke to me the most. On Writing is less about how to write than the writing life, but it should be a must read for everyone that wants to be a writer.

Million Dollar Outlinesand Save the Cat both focus on outlining to the “Hollywood Formula”. Between these two, I’m making the slow transition from discovery writer to outliner. Applying the structure to Falcon, one of my works in progress, during rewrite/ revision has made it a stronger story. I’m using the method to outline Nocebo Effect, an urban fantasy, and I’ll let you know how that process goes.

3. The Smithsonian Institute and the Library of Congress.

This is a resource I need to take better advantage of. I live a short distance outside Washington, DC. If I want to learn more about ancient Egyptian culture, I can take a trip to the museum. If I’m willing to put the time in, I could probably arrange to interview an Egyptologist.

2. My camera and photo albums.

I’m pretty visual and often have trouble making up features without a template to work from – see tool # 7 from Monday's post. One of the things I’ve done in the past is flip through my photos of people I know, and don’t know and assemble a new character from bits of many real ones. I’ve taken candid shots of strangers with interesting faces. By having this photo library, I’ve been able to add depth and detail to my characters.

1. My friends and family.

I couldn’t do half of what I do without the support of my family and friends. They’ve been sounding boards, alpha or beta readers, and my cheer leading team. Contrary to popular belief, not all of writing is a solitary exercise. To quote the Beatles, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

So, that’s some of the items in my writer’s toolbox. What’s in yours?

Why writing is like farming.

Recently, I've heard writers lamenting about their sales and royalty checks. Some of them have gone as far as saying that the cost of writing a story so outweighed the financial benefit that they have received from that story that they will no longer write.

When I was talking to my husband about this, he said that it seemed to him that "writing was like farming."  I asked him to explain what he meant. It struck me that his analogy was a lot like Kevin J. Anderson's popcorn theory, and like Kevin's also particularly apt. The analogy that follows is Matt's:

Writing is like farming. First, when you start you have to work very hard to clear the land, prepare the soil, and plant the seeds. You work to weed and fertilize the crops. The first harvest is never what you want it to be. But it's a start. Once you've harvested that first crop, you have to work the land and reseed it for your next one. Then the weeding and fertilizing starts again. You have to move sites every once and a while so you don't use up the land and make it useless. And you have to do it year after year never knowing what the sun, rain and pests will do to your harvest.

When you have your very first harvest and take it to market, no one knows you or what you're selling. They don't come and buy that harvest in droves. If your lucky you have a few brave souls willing to take a risk on you. And you spend hours at farmers' markets and other venues trying to get those few precious sales.

After a couple of years, people begin to learn about you and come by to see if they like what you are growing. And if you have a bad year, some of your customers will go away and not come back. But you have to keep putting your harvest out there for sale, and tell people about it at the grocery store, gas station and every other place and time you can.

Then, years and years after you start, people will be coming by regularly for your crops. You will know them, and want to grow better crops for them.

And then a bunny will come and eat your lettuce, but you won't mind so much.

Nancy again -

Our neighbors across the street are farmers. They grow hay, corn and about half a dozen other crops, as well as, hogs, goats, chickens and cows. He and his family perform massive and exhausting labor every day. After Leighton's heart attack, his first question wasn't "should I give up farming" but "how long before I can get on a tractor again?" If I suggested he should stop farming just because his hogs aren't selling well this year, he'd look at me like I was insane. And he'd be right. You don't give up when one crop fails. You have other crops in the works because at some point every crop will perform poorly.

It seems to me that you can substitute the word "book" for harvest, and crops, and the word "writing" for growing fairly easily. Breaking out in the writing industry is hard work.  First, when you start you have to work very hard to come up with the idea and write the first draft. Then, you have to work at editing (weeding and fertilizing) the story. When you have your very first novel and take it to market, no one knows you or what you're selling. They don't come and buy that book in droves. You spend hours in promotions, blog hops and doing everything you can think of to sell that book. The first book is never what you want it to be. But, you keep writing.

Most writers who have "broken out" didn't do it with their first book, or the second. If I recall right, Kevin J. Anderson quit his day job after his tenth published book, and with a year of savings in the bank. A recent Daily Kick from David Wolverton advocated having no back-up plan for writing. If writing is what you want to do, you need to sink your heart and soul into it.

Leighton, Dave and my husband are all right. (Yes, Matt, I said that on the Internet so now you have proof).  If a story isn't performing as well as you'd like, and all your marketing isn't helping, work on your next one. Get more product to the market. Eventually, all your time, effort and energy will pay off.

NaNoWriMo - Status update

I have a love/hate relationship with NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is National Write a Novel Month. Every November, writers, professional and amateur, sign to write 50,000 words or more in the month. So, technically, it's not a full novel. Heck, for epic fantasy, it's a half novel. The point isn't as much as completing a novel in a month as it is to get motivated and write. A lot.

I love the idea and the competition, even though it's just myself I'm competing against. I hate the idea that writers should dedicate themselves to this lofty goal for only one month a year. Evan Braun did a great post on being a professional writer all year-round on the Fictorian's site under the title: The Year-Round Professional so I won't replow that ground.

In it's own way, NaNo teaches us how to be a professional writer. To get to 50,000 words, you have to spend some real BIS (Butt in the Seat) time. Sometimes hitting 50,000 words is easy. Other times, not so much. This is my third year participating in NaNo. The last two times, I hit or surpassed the 50,000 mark. After rewriting, I probably only wrote 30,000 usable words each time. But that's nothing to sneer over.

This year I wanted to take a different approach. I knew I was going to lose five or six writing days because I was attending the World Fantasy Convention. Rather than a modest 1,666 words a day, I need to average closer to 2,000 to catch-up. Every day I missed after, and I've missed some, meant my needed daily word count average is closer to 2,500. Knowing that this year was going to be a challenge, I cheated.

Before you scowl. I haven't really cheated. I picked a story that was almost finished. I need about 30,000 words to reach "happily every after." If I hit that point, I'll consider myself a winner. Even if NaNo doesn't. If I finish New Bohemia: Just One Night, I have another novel that I can work on for the other 20,000. So, I'm not that upset that I'm at 16,000 words. I'm halfway to my real goal.

Okay, back to my point. While I can bust 50,000 words in a month, I've done it before from when I was even further behind, my super secret goal is to write 30,000 words I can keep. The writing is slower for my attempt, which is why I'm hovering closer to 20,000 words than the 36,000 I "should" have. So, no tricks for me. No describing a meal in excruciating detail, a suggested tip for making up word count. Honest words. Good clean words. Well, not "clean" since this is erotic romance, but you get the point. So, how am I doing?

 

“I don’t want to think. If I think, I won’t be able to do this. Please make me warm. Stop me from thinking,” May said.  

"Oh fuck, May.”

When Pete rolled his eyes, she sank her teeth into his neck.“That’s sort of the point." 

But I'm being a little dishonest with you too. I'm a competitive SOB. You don't get to be a good trial lawyer without being competitive. I hate to lose. I'm pushing for 50,000 words across two stories.

There's a point I made that I want to circle back to. I said I "should" have 36,000 words written by now. Why did I put should in quotes? Because "should" means nothing. Writing means everything. NaNo is just one more reason for me to sit down at my desk (or in bed), break out the computer and write.

If you're participating in NaNo, I wish you fast fingers and a prolific muse. You can write 50,000 words in 30 days. See you at that finish line.

What's in a name - part II - odd writer's block.

I've written about the importance of names on this blog before (-> here <-), but in working on my current WIP - New Bohemia - I noticed something else about names.

 Now, a bit about how I write to put this in context. I don't outline. My attempts to do so have failed. When I start a story, I usually know my main characters, their history, and their major story arc, and the ending. While I don't outline, I do a lot of pre-writing (a David Farland term, or at least one I learned from him). I spend a lot of time imagining a scene before it ever hits a page.  When I don't have a character's name or a detail I need to research I use "XY" as a placeholder. During the first round of edits, I search the document for "XY" and fill in the missing information. Using XY instead of a character name has never been a problem. Until now.

But in working on New Bohemia, I had to write a scene where a character (May) gets a phone call that changes the direction of the story, and places another obstacle between her and happily ever after. Now, I knew who was making the call, what her history was, how she was going to impact the rest of the story, the reconciliation needed between the two women, and what she had to say during this particular call. What I didn't have was her name.

The story languished for two weeks without more than a few words being written each time I sat down to work. I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't really writer's block. I knew what I needed to write, and most of the dialog. So why was this so tough?

Turns  out, I couldn't write because the character, who is a fairly major one, didn' t have a name. But I didn't realize that yet.

First, I chalked up the inability to progress on exhaustion. The day job was frantic and the kids were back in school adding another dimension of crazy to my life. Sleep had climbed up higher on the need list after all. Still, catching up on sleep and wrestling control of my docket didn't get me writing again.

Figuring I was missing knowledge I needed for the following scenes, I paused and researched avalanche rescues, and whether an entire town has ever been lost to an avalanche. Turns out there was a large avalanche, triggered by an earthquake, that flowed into a town. Thirty-four people died. It was a horrible, and unexpected disaster. Now, I had a real world basis for my catastrophe. Content, I sat back down at my keyboard.

And. . . still nothing.

Fine. Maybe, I'll flip through Sherrilyn Kenyon's Character Naming Sourcebook and  see if I could fill in some of those XYs while I pondered the full stop in my forward momentum. I knew my character was from Wales but had grown up in the household of Indian natives living in England. So, I flipped to page 381 of the book where Welsh names start. About twenty minutes later, Tegan Brice was born, or at least named.

Guess what? I finished that scene, the first one she appeared in, half an hour later. Having a name let me fill in other details that I hadn't considered yet.

So, what's in a name? Sometimes everything.

The One Reason I'll Never Run Out Of Inspiration

I have children.

Need I say more?

Okay, I probably do. I also have a husband.

I'm never sure which of the three boys starts the mayhem, but they always find it.

This past weekend we escaped for an impromptu and quick family vacation or "vaca" as my youngest says. We spent most of our time at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. Saturday afternoon was on and off raining. Now, we have season tickets to all the Busch parks, so leaving "early" isn't a big deal to us. After the last deluge, we decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel for hot showers. When we got back, Matt took the kids to the arcade so I could get a few moments of quiet. Or at least, that's what I thought the plan was.

They arrived at the arcade only to realize that Matt didn't have any cash. A quick side trip to the ATM solved the money issue. A light rain had started again by the time they were walking back to the arcade. My lovely children then spied the resort's miniature golf course. Suddenly, the arcade wasn't the plan.

No, put-put in the rain was. At least until the lightning flashed.

Then, my very brave teen and tween sons (ages 13 and 11) shrieked like little girls, abandoned their father (who was now holding all 3 golf clubs in a lightning storm), bolted out of the course and ran, not to the arcade directly across from the golf course but across the property to our room. Sigh.

I get out of my nice warm shower to the sounds of my youngest screaming "HELP! Oh God, Help us!" and pounding on the front door. A moment later, my eldest's voice joined the panicked symphony.

They dashed into the house as soon as the door was open. After confirming that they were all right and the Lords of Hell weren't actually pursing them, I asked where their father was.

They responded, "Oh, we ditched him." With a shrug they clicked on the TV and computer, and the conversation was over.

I poked my head back outside the unit to see my husband strolling down the street. Soaked to the skin and wearing a bemused expression, he waited until he reached the house before saying, "Your children . . ." and relating the story.

At some point, this little snippet of family life will make it into a story. But until then, it'll make me smile and shake my head about living in a house full of boys.

Inspiration is all around you. Listen and watch. It will find you.

The Terror of the Blank Screen

All right, it's 100 degrees for the like 100th day (okay, it just feels that way) here in Virginia. So, my brain cells are a bit fried. One hundred degree heat with a "feels like" temp of over 120 means it's even too hot to go to the pool for long. Ugh.

There are times when nothing is more intimidating than staring at the computer screen and knowing I have to get words onto it. It's not truly writer's block since I often know what I have to say, it's often more of an issue of finding the desire to start. Or, as in today's case, an issue of limiting the thoughts running through my head to form a coherent statement.

This weekend's writing to-do list included:

(1) Preparing applications for my new firm to be hired by the debtor in three bankruptcies;
(2) Preparing about 20 new client agreements with the new firm;
(3) Finishing a friend's novel and sending him back comments;
(4) Reading about 60 stories in my slush pile;
(5) Writing 5 essays for a grant applications;
(6) Preparing the regular blog post for this blog and three posts for other sites for Jack Gorman Got Cut By a Girl; and
(7) Write at least 1000 words on my WIP.

It being 100 degrees out meant I could delete my "outside chore" list without any guilt. But the above list was still pretty formidable. About half-way through the list and I hit the "wall." The computer became my enemy. I wanted to go out, but it was too hot. I prowled the living room. Poked into the kitchen looking for something, but not knowing what. Time to try something else.

So, in trying to break through and focus so I could hunker down and finish another section of my list, I turned to James Scott Bell's The Art of War for Writers, as always Bell's little book didn't let me down - Entry 13 - A writer must always be prepared to break through the "wall."

Bell advises against "scotching" it. He uses "scotch" to mean either (1) give it up, or (2) drink it to oblivion. Instead here are some methods (some his and some mine) for getting past the "wall" or the terror of the blank screen:

(1) Write anything
Sometimes the idea of writing X (whether its an appellate brief or a short story) is more than I can bear. Fine. Give heed to that emotion. I hit a point where I'd rather rot than write another word on a particular project. This is not a productive state of mind. Instead of trying to power through and write another essay earlier, I put it aside and drafted another representation letter, a mostly rote process. Having taken a break from the "bad" writing, I was able to clear my head and get back to it.

(2) Write a rant.
A week or so ago I had to write an opposition to another party's request for payment. For reasons I can't go into here, the mere concept that this person had the nerve to ask for money enraged me. Because I had too much emotion tied up in what I needed to write, I couldn't write it. Finally, I gave into the emotion. I spent an hour writing what I thought about the request without censoring. The one page rebuttal violated every rule of civility the courts and legal community impose. But, damn it felt good. Having cleared the emotion out, I could then write what I needed to for my client.

(3) Exercise.
When the weather allows, taking a walk through the woods behind my house is a great way to clear my head. My phone has Dragon Dictation on it so if brilliance strikes, I can still capture it. But getting out of the chair and moving my body does seem to help me hurdle the wall when I resume the seat.

(4) Randomize.
This is a James Scott Bell suggestion that I've yet to try, but am intrigued by. Bell suggests taking a book at random, opening to a random page, and typing the first complete sentence on the left side of that novel into your story. The "borrowed" sentence starts your next scene. Once you finish the scene go back, delete the "borrowed" sentence and substitute your own.

(5) "Behold, _________" it.
This one just makes me laugh. Bell notes that when Ray Bradbury was stuck and facing a deadline for the screenplay version of Moby Dick, Bradbury woke up one morning, looked at himself in the mirror and said, "Behold, Herman Melville!" He then finished the script.
Bell suggests taking an author in the genre you are writing, look in the mirror and then say, "Behold. __________!" Then sit down and write.

So, I'm off to write more for my WIP, The Nocebo Effect.

"Behold, J.D. Robb!"

I feel better already.

Drawing Out The Dragons - Superstars 2012

There are dragons out there if we just believe and search for them.

Yet again, this year's Superstars Writing Seminar (http://superstarswritingseminar.com)  exceeded expectations. Presenters included: Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Eric Flint, Brandon Sanderson, David Farland/ Wolverton, Dean Wesley Smith, and James Owen. James Owen drew the dragon pictured above as part of his presentation - Drawing Out The Dragons. Each year, one presentation inspires awe. The first year, 2010, for me the title went to Brandon and how he was chosen to complete the Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordon. There was no doubt that last year's title went to Tracy Hickman's story about how our writing touches our readers. You can hear that story on the Superstars website. James Owen stole the title this year.

A little about James for those of you who don't know him. He started his writing career as a comic book artist in middle school. His life has been punctuated by moments where most people would give up. He never did. At eleven he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease (read this as "the doctors didn't know what was wrong with him but he was dying.") and not expected to survive. He found the will to do so. As an adult, when it looked like success had finally found him, he was in a car accident. The doctors told him that he was lucky because he'd only injured his right hand (you know, the one he drew with), and that even though that hand would never be 100%, he'd be fine unless he needed his hand for his job. James said that he did because he was a comic book artist. In response, the doctor replied, "Not anymore."

James is a comic book artist.

He has more courage than anyone I know. I hope that if I'm ever faced with some of the choices the was I will have the internal strength to make the choices he did to stay true to what he wanted and not compromise them for the thing he needed at that moment.

Here's the thing: writing is tough. It's easy to give up or compromise.

Indie publishing (whether e-publishing or self-publishing) changed the writing market. Writers can directly interact with readers without the Big 6 traditional publishers. Whether this is a good thing or not is a different issue. What was true before the e-pub world continues to be true - No one can make you an international best seller. Only you can do that.

People will help me open the doors, but I still need to decide to walk through them. I need to live with purpose and make the tough choices. I need to ask for help and be willing to accept it. I have to make things happen for me. I will make things happen for me.

I will draw out the dragons even when everyone else can't see that's what I'm doing.

James Owen can be found at http://www.coppervaleinternational.com and http://coppervale.livejournal.com