Postapocalyptic knitting and Robert Downey Jr.

Wut? 2012? What the heck have I been doing since I was here last? Um, knitting a very Matrix-y sweater (okay, a few of them)–you know, the kind in this picture (sans rips). I’m even using a pattern and yarn from the company that did the originals, called Skif. It’s probably no coincidence that I’ve been working on a somewhat postapocalyptic/dystopian Young Adult book. Things in my brain tend to run in packs. It brought out my 90s industrial music CDs and memories of clubs in which I wore unspeakable amounts of black stuff. Can there ever be too much black? Oh, yeah.

In the midst of all this torn and shredded knitting and writing, I went to see Sherlock Holmes II. And that launched me into an intense period of Robert Downey Jr. obsession. Look, it’s Holmes, and it’s Downey. You can only have so much genius in one place without nearly imploding with happiness. I’m not a child of the 80s, so the whole brat pack/John Hughs thing is lost on me. But I’m not dead yet! I stumbled upon this old photo of the aforementioned Downey, and bang! there was my YA hero–a wizard named Jonah. Yeah, he needs scruffier hair and a less 80s look, and should be 18, but crickey…  Anyway… what was I saying? Phew. The whole Holmes thing reminded me that I have this WIP hybernating somewhere? Maybe in the closest with the summer clothes. It tells about a young woman in 1890 NY who fantasizes she’s the daughter of the great fictional detective. I miss that story, and now that I know exactly what Holmes looks like, how he sounds, how he’s really the beautiful RD (track marks and all), it’s time to get back to that story. Isn’t life a jumble of things? Or is it just my strange little brain?

A Midnight Clear

I’ve posted this story two years in a row, but it’s the only holiday story I’ve ever written, so it’s now my signature Christmas card. I’ve made a few new friends in the last year, so perhaps this will be new to you.

That odd looking building in the watercolor is the Phoenix Shot Tower in Baltimore. If it weren’t for that building, I might not have been born. So I wrote a little story for you about how my great-grandfather saved a lot of men and captured the heart of his beloved one Christmas eve. The basics are true, the copy from the Baltimore Fire Dept. is true, the rest is just me adding a little flesh to the bones.

A Midnight Clear By Ciar Cullen
Copyright Ciar Cullen

1878 — December 24. The interior of the Merchants’ Shot Tower, southeast corner of Fayette and Front streets, an old landmark, and the most complete piece of work of that kind in the United States, was burned out entirely. In the darkness of the night the massive column of brick work, 217 feet high, resembled a gigantic torch, for its base was unscathed, while the flames flared out at the top, being visible many miles. While the members of No. 1 Hook and Ladder Company were assisting the members of No. 4 Engine Company with their hose up the steps leading into the tower, Mr. Simon V. Cullen, superintendent at the works, notified the firemen that there was fifteen tons of lead at the top. The men were ordered to run for their lives, and the last man just reached the pavement when this immense weight of lead was precipitated to the bottom of the tower. The absence of Mr. Cullen would probably have resulted in the killing of fifteen firemen. –from the official History of the Fire Department of Baltimore City

Simon Cullen was my great grandfather. I’d heard this story many times from my grandmother, my best childhood friend. I spent every weekend at her Victorian mansion (or it seemed a mansion to me—it was in disrepair and not nearly as grand as it appeared to a child). I’d wriggle on the couch, struggling not to drop a stitch as her blue-veined hands gently guided mine. Her voice would hypnotize me with tales of the family, some true, some partly true. All of them were designed to teach heroism and moral character. I always wanted to know about the “old country”, but Nan insisted that life started for the Cullens in America. In other words, we were poor potato-famine immigrants. So I settled for learning to knit, watching Perry Mason on TV, eating Nan’s terrible cooking, learning to play her tinny piano and listening to her stories.

Flex your point-of-view muscles

I understand that this is a modest offering of help to new writers, that they have a bazillion workshops and primers and mentors from which to choose. I’ve been there, done this–this awful, frustrating, want to poke your eyes out thing called “telling.” And it’s not unrelated to the ever-mysterious to new writers nemesis–point of view foibles. In fact, they are first cousins.

Writers, I’m offering this up because of something a few editors wrote yesterday on twitter. Paraphrasing, “I most often reject a book for a telling voice.” And if you’re new, you’re scratching your head at that one. You’ll probably have to be dragged behind the editor’s horse, through dust and mud and scritchy leaves, to really get what you’re doing wrong. Why you aren’t grabbing an acquisitions editor or an agent by the heart.

So try this to get a jumpstart. Get up from your chair, and walk down the hall. Grab yourself a soda, cup of coffee, or piece of chocolate. Think whatever you normally would think… or think about this excersize. (Yes, I know you won’t actually do this). So I’ll tell you what just happened when I did it.

She got up, her back a little achy from yesterday’s dance class. Was she overdoing it? Mary had already left for lunch. Then it hit her–Moose hasn’t called yet; he should be in Philly by now. That old anxiety rose up–would he be okay? Did he make that call? It almost felt like their whole marriage depended upon it. After grabbing a coke, she went back to work. But the anxiety remained.

Okay, so not great stuff, not meant to be. But THIS is what I’ve been reading a lot of lately, and it’s all sorts of screwed up. Because when you are in your heroine’s point of view, you do NOT think like this:

She rose from her black chair, her jeans making a rasping noise as she did. The office had recently been painted yellow, and it went nicely with the pale oak. Her lush hair fell around her shoulders and swung from side to side as she walked down the office corridor. When she saw Mary’s chair empty, the side of her mouth curled up in a half smile. She might have already left. Her gait was a little off from dance class yesterday, and she limped a little into the kitchen. She opened the door handle of the refrigertor, which was a gleaming white, and her hand reached for a soda. The mailroom is right off the entrance to the office suite, and it has all of the office machines, as well as the refrigerator. She came back to my office, her wonderful hair still carressing the swell of her ample breasts.

 Stupid example, but I hope you can see that one is internal, although it’s not told in the first person. The second is external, and is. not. the. way. we. think. about. ourselves. or. the. world. You are the center of the universe, and that center is internal–your mind, your conscious thoughts, your feelings, your reactions. Your protagonist is also human (usually), and he or she is the center of their own universe. It doesn’t matter that you are telling their story. You must go inside of them.

This is my favorite so far…

 I’d like to believe it’s one of these guys who calls me “dear” and is so concerned for my financial well-being. Sigh–probably not.

Welcome to Western Union Send Money Worldwide EcobankWestern Union Department. Location Address; NEGOCE AFRIQUE SEGBEY, Contact Person: Mr. John Omeh Phone Number:+229-9930-8457 Western Union  office Website: www.westernunion.comHello dear I have been calling you for some days now and your line is not going. Listen  dear you don’t have to be upset with me  because am trying everything to see that you receive your fund,And I went to the inland-revune office this morning to confirm if this fee will be the last and final fee that you need to pay and you will start receiving your daily payment and the director of inland-revune office  promised me that he will release your fund to you the same day you pay the last fee which is $189.00 and I asked him three good times and he said the same thing that he will release your fund without any more payment,So am here to advise you to go and send the needed fee for you to start receiving your daily payment today for you  and your family to enjoy what you have toiled for, and I also want you to be over sure that you will start receiving your fund the same day you pay the needed fee and nothing will ever stop you again ok Thank you for your understanding.Here is the information of your fisr payment but was put on hold until you come up with the needed fee ok. MTCN :# 8222623510 Sender’s Name: ozekwe lawrence, Text Question: Trust, Text Answer: Trust, Amount : USD $5,000.00: Country: Benin-Republic You can track it online to be sure and it will be rleased immediately you send the fee. Track it now online with www.westernunion.com as our official website. Contact us back with email information. Email western1111@yahoo.com Phone +229-9930-8457 Use this information and send the last fee Receive s Name OKEKE HYCENT Country:………….Benin Republic City:…………Cotonou country code…..00229 Quetion:………A Answer:………B Amount……..$189.00 us-dollar Sender’name…. MTCN……. NB: DO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU GOT THIS EMAIL FOR RECORD PURPOSES ONLY. THANKS FOR OUR PATRONAGE, YOURS SINCERELLY MR. John Omeh, OPERATION MANAGER WESTERN UNION OFFICE BENIN REPUBLIC FORIGN OPERATION MANAGER YOUR PAYMENT INFO MTCN :# 8222623510

Victorians to Vipers

It was my childhood park. I’ve been away a long time, but nostalgia kept pulling me to find photos of the places I remember. Perhaps they’d end up in a story. I love writing about Baltimore. But I have to stop with the Baltimore of my ancestors. Because of what drugs, mostly, and the people who sell them, have done to Leakin Park. 

I remember tombstones deep in the woods that fed my imagination, woods with little bridges (complete with trolls, of course), and this big wheel. No, that’s not me posing there. Somewhere in my deceased mother’s attic is a photo of me in front of that water wheel. I wanted to go back and see it again, until my brother told me it wouldn’t be the best idea, and I stumbled upon this image–dead found in Leakin park (all but one since the 60s). Some domestic disputes, one suicide, but mostly gang/drug-related. They weren’t necessarily killed there, but evidently it’s incredibly easy to dump a body there. Astounding, really. This place is NOT the size of Central Park. Amist tombstones from the 1700s and the foundations of Victorian mansions and farms, scattered amongst the trees (many of the same ones that I marveled at as a child)… it’s simply horrifying. I’m afraid I may becoming one of those fringe types who thinks it’s time to legalize heroin and crack.

Meet Rebecca Royce and The Outsiders! Win a $50 Amazon GC!

I love Rebecca Royce’s writing, having become a fan while editing her amazing YA series at Decadent Publishing–Initiation, Driven, and *taps foot impatiently*…the next in the series. Lo and behold, an adult romance hit my inbox shortly thereafter, and I really wondered if there was anything she can’t do! Great imagination, great voice, stupendous characterization! So I wondered, since Rebecca’s characters are so strong and three-dimensional, how she felt about her covers? Specifically for her series The Outsiders.

Her answer: Let me start out by thanking you for hosting me! I’m so glad to be here. The amazing artist Reese Dante has done the Cover Art for my series, The Outsiders.  It’s always amazing to me how these talented artists can take some very basic instructions and somehow come up with exactly what it is that I imagined. For example, in the Love Beyond Time cover, I told Reese that the characters were in their thirties with dark hair. That the hero, Kal, was very intense and his heroine, Isabelle, was curvy.  I also let her know what the theme of the book was about.  And boom. She came up with this absolutely perfect representation of Kal, Isabelle, and the book.  (The hero, by the way, is portrayed by cover model Jimmy Thomas.)

In Love Beyond Sanity, the second book in the series (releasing October 1) the characters look very different. First of all, I told her that Charma, the heroine, needed to be a Kate Bosworth type with pixie hair. The hero was also blond and kind of shaggy because he’d recently come out of a magical coma. 

I really think that Reese nailed it.  To me, she perfectly captured Charma and Jason.  From now on, when I think about Kal, Isabelle, Charma or Jason I will think of them as these people.  It’s really amazing how a cover artist can do that—even for the author of the book. 

I can’t wait to see what she does with Love Beyond Loyalty, the third book in the series, which has been contracted by Silver Publishing as well.  I think that covers do sell books. I have certainly bought some based on the design on the front.  In my case, I’ve been very lucky because the artists who have designed my covers have done such an incredible job for me. I do love the collaborative feeling that comes when they e-mail you the cover and you realize they have given you just what you imagined it to be.

Comment to be entered to win a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate! And check out the rest of Rebecca’s Blog Tour dates .

Read a wee excerpt of Rebecca’s newest release and a bit about the author!

Help Save History By Reading Cool Stuff.

I know times are so difficult, but I stumbled upon this really righteous endeavor that struck such a chord for me. I’m from Baltimore, and I have visited the Edgar Allen Poe House. He wasn’t born there, and the museum is in a crummy part of town, but it’s a wonderful town that has barely clung on with bloody fingernails to a semblance of its earlier glory. Some very cool writers and editors have put together an anthology that is available here http://www.fictitiousmusings.com/2011/09/12/you-can-help-keep-edgar-allan-poes-house-open-to-the-public/. I’m going to go order my copy now!

Writerly Types and Bullies

You’d have to be a hermit not to know what a hot topic bullying is these days. I’ve thought back to my school days often, and realized that being a rather nondescript, heterosexual female growing up in the sixties, I maybe lucked out. I don’t remember even knowing a bully.

That changed a bit when I entered the workforce, and a mild, consentual form of bullying became part and parcel of a paycheck.

Now, as I write mostly romances and mostly in a vacuum, I  understand that my isolation is largely a reaction to what I’ll call Romance Bullying. I’m sure it happens in every genre, and probably in every interest niche. I used to visit several blogs, groups, etc. A few were wonderful collegial spots to network and get support. But at some point–each became an incubator for bullies. Those (mostly female) know-it-alls who have something to teach, some axe to grind, some trouble to start. Boil it down to the simplest element, and I’d say it’s insecurity made brave by the electronic distance. Heat-seeking unguided missiles of anger.

When I stopped visiting sites that once interested me, including Dear Author, SBTB, Writer Beware, to avoid the noise that was sucking up my time and energy, I was down to Twitter and Facebook. Not great places to get support and give it.

So it’s struck me that I’ve gone to my corner to write in silence and peace, and that I’m giving up a lot in isolating myself. I think the next step is to find three-dimensional humans, locally. Because while it’s pretty easy to bully in the schoolyard, it would be very hard to look me in the face and push me around. And truth be told, it would be hard for me to do the same back.

Allstate is zombiefying me

So the conversation today went something like this:

Me: This is the third time I’ve called.

Her: I can help you with that. What is your claim?

Me: My car got flooded in Irene.

Her: Where was it, blah, blah, blah…

Me: It’s driveable. It just won’t dry out because the padding under the carpet is wet; I think the carpet must be replaced. It’s starting to get moldy.

Her: So when did this happen exactly?

Me: Hurricane Irene.

Her: What was the date of that?

Me: You haven’t had any claims surrounding Hurricane Irene in New Jersey? Really. Okay, wait, let me google the date. Okay, it was August…

Her: What time?

Me: Silence. Thinking about what to say…. Tick…tick… The hurricane lasted a while, so I guess sometime in the night.

Her: Maybe 2 am?

Me: Yes! That’s it exactly, 2 am.

Her: And what was the cause of the flooding?

Me: That would be the hurricane.

Her: Where did the water come from?

Me: Underneath my car. In the parking lot. From the sky originally.

Her: So the hurricane caused the flooding?

Me: Are you shitting me? (Okay, I didn’t say that.) Yes, the hurricane caused the flooding which made water go into my car, soaking the carpet so that it won’t dry out and is now starting to mold over.

Her: I’ve heard a lot of similar stories. Okay, I can help you with this claim. Can you take it to an inspection station today?

Me: No, I can’t get away. Do you have any appointments early next week?

Her: I can only see two days’ appointments at a time. Call on Monday and I can help you. Do you want to hold on for a survey of how I handled your call?

Me: Sure. (Hangs up).

 

 

I Bought Your Book: Ready! (King of the Marshmallows I) by Lydia Ondrusek

This is quite a departure from my previous review, but I adored Ready! as much as anything I’ve read recently. I suppose I need a disclaimer: I do not have children, I don’t know much about Asperger’s. That aside, I think this is a book I’d give to my child with or without Asperger’s if I had one. It’s certainly one I’ll recommend to my friends in martial arts who have children (or who just want to read it for themselves). I do know a little about martial arts, having earned my second Dan years ago. The lessons one learns in martial arts are the same for children and adults—too many to enumerate here, but very hard to describe.

Back to Lydia Ondrusek—I am biased towards a woman I’ve never met in person, coming to respect her via social networking as a kind and generous person. I was so hoping this short from Echelon for youngsters (middle grade/teen, depending upon the child I would think) would be great. It is. I intend to purchase the rest of the series.