Did you know that I once was a Playboy Bunny? Well, the bunny part is true—complete with ears, paws, and a fluffy tail. Too bad I don’t have a video of the bunny hop I had to do while dressed like this. What teachers do to first graders in the name of school plays…
In honor of April Fool’s Day, Easter bunnies, marshmallow Peeps, and taxes, your entry must contain all four of the following words:
fool bunny peep taxes
One or more sentences not to exceed eighty words total.
And here is what I wrote:
Betty felt like such a fool. How in the world did she let Jane talk her into applying for a position as a waitress at the Playboy Club? Now here she was, dressed as a bunny, not allowed to make a peep when the clients pinched her bottom! If she weren’t in so much trouble with the IRS over her ex-husband’s taxes, there would be no way in hell she’d ever be seen in public with a white, fluffy tail.
So, how about you? Care to give it a try? The contest is now over, but it is a fun exercise. Write your own ode to fools, bunnies, peeps, and taxes in the comment form below. I’d love to see your take on this challenge.
The Florida Chapter of the Historical Novel Society, of which I am a member, had its monthly meeting yesterday in Citrus County, Florida. The guest speaker for this months’s program was Historical Mystery Novelist, Judith Rock.
Judith Rock is the author of The Charles du Luc Historical Mystery series, which includes The Rhetoric of Death (Book 1) and The Eloquence of Blood (Book 2). A Plague of Lies (Book 3) is due out later this year, and Judith is just now beginning work on her fourth installment in the series.
Judith was a delight to listen to and was a very animated and interesting speaker. She began her presentation by talking about her journey to becoming a published author, which included a myriad of unique life experiences that all seem to have coalesced into fodder for her current novels.
As a young woman, Judith became a modern dancer and choreographer while living in California. She founded and co-directed Body and Soul Dance Company in Berkeley, and toured widely as solo dancer and artist in residence. In addition to her dancing, Judith also studied and earned a Ph.D. in Theology—now that’s a contrast!
Eventually she moved cross-country to New York City and continued to dance and teach. Once her knees “decided they’d danced long enough,” Judith spent several years as a police officer—again, an interesting departure from dancing and theology. Her time as a police officer led her to write a one woman show, Response Time, about a midlife artist hitting the street as a cop. Obviously Judith took to heart the well-known writers’ admonition to “write what you know.”
Judith strikes a ballet pose
This one woman show proved to be a tipping point for Joyce and her future career as a writer, for it was then that she was approached by an agent who wanted to see more of her work. This ‘Cinderella story’ didn’t happen overnight, however, as it took Judith another ten years to work from agent to actual publication.
“The first call from your editor is like being 13 and on your first date,” was how Judith described her excitement with the publication process. She joked that at that point in time, if her editor had told her to make Charles (her protagonist) a vampire in order to get published she would have said, “I can do that,” she was so ready to be in print.
What the editor did tell her was, “Love it! Now cut twenty-thousand words.” Judith said that inside, all she could think was, “Over my dead body,” but that outside, she could hear herself responding, “I can do that.” In the end, Judith cut the twenty-thousand words and found that the novel, “became so much better” as a result, with the lesson being, “you are never the final best judge of your work” and that you need someone to give you honest feedback, “even if it kills you.” With that in mind she added, “Never erase what you cut—save it for something else someday.”
Judith continued to provide advice to the audience about writing and publishing, including, “Write what you love—what sets your heart on fire—not the trend. That’s the only way someone else will fall in love with it,” and “You have to find an editor who falls in love with your manuscript because these days they have to fight for it to be published.”
Judith obviously enjoys talking about her books
Judith was kind enough to participate in a question and answer session at the end of her presentation and it was during this time that she continued to offer insight and advice to the writers present. The following is a sampling of some of the kind of questions that were asked and Judith’s responses:
Where do your characters come from and how do you know if your story is going to work?
“It’s a mix of real and imaginary. A character turns up somehow out of nowhere and you don’t even want them or start to do what they want to do, not what you want to do, and they won’t listen—then you know the story is going to work. When something emerges like this, it means it’s deeply alive and creating its own world. It means it’s becoming a vivid world for your reader.”
When do you know to listen to your characters as they’re changing the story, or when do you ignore them and stick to your plan?
“If your characters are pulling you away from the plot, maybe your plot is flawed. Make sure your good with where you’re going. That first waking moment [after a night’s sleep when you wake up and thoughts are coming to you] is almost always right. Your characters might be telling you something.”
Judith added that she doesn’t have a lot of time to play around with a story and let the characters change it too much. She stated that she used to “write around in circles before KNOWING my plot” but that now as a published writer with expectations from her publisher and her readers as to sequels and when they will be out, she has a limited time for writing, editing, and proofing, and that she generally has only nine months from start to finish for a novel. Though she lets her characters help guide her through the story, now she has to really know in advance what the plot is and not let them run away with the story, as she doesn’t have time to follow their every whim. Good advice for all writers to think about.
Judith also gave her thoughts regarding writing, and writing historical novels in particular. “What fiction writers do is create secondary worlds—worlds that behave coherently, believably, and consistently within its own set of rules. The challenge for historical novelists is to create that secondary world within a real historical setting. [It has to be] vivid and believable so that the reader wants to come in and live there for as long as the reading lasts.”
So how does a writer build this world?
“The tool to build your world is language. It’s the only tool we have—and it’s enough.”
When asked what’s okay to make up and what’s not in historical fiction, Judith responded, “History is the record of what happened—sort of.” She said that all of history is really just different points of view—different people watching the same thing happening. Whoever is reporting it makes it different, based on their perspective. A historical novelist needs to use this to make her novel accurate, but still her own story.
“It’s the whispering of bones.”
Thanks so much to Judith for driving the several hours from her home (and back!) to give the Florida Chapter of the Historical Novel Society an informative and interesting peek into the life of a historical, mystery novelist. I’m sure everyone who attended came away from her presentation with nuggets to use in their own writing. I know I did.
For more information on Judith Rock, and to purchase her books, visit her homepage.
I recently subscribed to Poets & Writers Magazine. I couldn’t resist with an offer that I received in my mail for a year’s subscription at just $9.95. I’m not a poet, but I am a writer, so why not give it a try?
So far I’ve received one issue. It’s good, but not great. There seems to be more advertising in it (especially for MFA in Writing programs) than substantive articles, but it has a lot of listings for contests that will be of interest to me in the coming year, so I’m finding the issue generally useful.
An interesting aside: I’ve also been getting emails from Poets & Writers Magazine since I subscribed, all asking me for donations. If I didn’t know any better, I would think Poets & Writers Magazine was a not-for-profit charity, not a literary magazine.
The money raised is supposed to aid with monetary prizes for their writing contests. I understand the premise, but this seems unusual to me as I receive no such pleas from any of the other writing magazines I subscribe to, including Writer’s Digest and The Writer Magazine.
If you are interested in any of the writing magazines mentioned above, just visit their websites and read some of their online articles. All now offer digital as well as print subscriptions. If you prefer to do your reading on an e-device, as I do, digital editions are a nice plus.
Disclaimer: I receive no compensation for my review of Poets & Writers Magazine or any other magazine mentioned in this post. This is solely my experience with and opinion of my own subscriptions.
As writers, we all know that a cup of coffee (or two, or three, or a constant-drip IV) is what gets us going and keeps the creative juices flowing as we toil away on what we hope will be the next, great, best-selling novel.
Well, writers, rejoice! Today is National Coffee Day, which means FREE coffee!
From what I’ve gathered from my sources, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts are all giving away free or discounted coffee this morning and I’m sure there are more coffee establishments out there that are participating in today’s celebration of our international addiction to java.
Did you know, according to a Dunkin’ Donuts/Career Builder survey, being a writer is included in the top 10 professions likely to “need coffee to get through the workday the most”? So obviously, this day was made for us!
Don’t let National Coffee Day go by without celebrating. Go out, get your free cup of Novelist Fuel, then get back to writing!
Being a dog owner (or do they own me?) and dog lover, I was drawn to this book. That said, I was hesitant to read another book predicated on dogs and what they teach us, particularly when I learned that one of the author’s dogs is fifteen years old, because it always seems that a dog dies before the last page and I’m completely depressed and teary-eyed throughout the reading. Happily, this book was a welcome change from that scenario! Both of the author’s current dogs made it through the entire book, and the book as a whole was very upbeat.
The lessons John O’Hurley learned from the dogs in his life, particularly his present pups Betty and Scoshi, were lessons we all have learned – or should. John O’Hurley is an actor and comedian, and his comedic roots come through in the prose of the novel. Instead of crying my way through another book about dogs and why we love them, I was laughing and nodding my head in agreement.
This was an easy, quick read, but humorous and enjoyable. I would recommend this book to all dog lovers and anyone interested in a light-hearted read with a few life lessons thrown in.
A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
- Thomas Mann
I checked my iGoogle page this morning, only to find this the ‘Quote of the Day’. Twenty days into this year’s attempt at a 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel and I have to say – did they post this quote just for me? It feels like it…
I came across an article today regarding NaNoWriMo and why it’s a great thing for writers (excerpts below). The author makes an excellent observation as to what really keeps someone from writing – NOT writing:
“If I were asked to guess the number one obstacle that stands in the way of a person finishing a novel, I wouldn’t choose writer’s block, a busy schedule or running out of ideas. I wouldn’t choose lack of a laptop or quiet writing space. I think that the main obstacle to a completed novel is simply the act of not writing.”
To me, this sounds like a Zen paradox or koan and what better solution to this Zen paradox than National Novel Writing Month:
“Sure, the above list of reasons will get pulled from, but in most cases they’re just used as excuses to not write. If a determined person wants to, and really tries, I believe that he or she, under almost any circumstance, can write a full novel, simply by sitting down and writing it.
This way of thinking is put to the test every November, during National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo was started by Chris Baty in 1999, with less than two dozen writers, and has taken off like a rocket since.
For the twenty-one participants in 1999, as well as the eighty-thousand in 2006, the goal is simple. Starting November first, write a fifty-thousand word novel in one month.”
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is growing nearer and I have decided to participate again this year. The first time I attempted to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days for NaNoWriMo was back in 2006. I didn’t ‘win’ or finish that year, in fact I quit pretty early in the game with the perfectionist in me feeling that the story I was writing was too cliche’ and not worth the effort. I obviously was missing the point of the whole NaNoWriMo premise.
I tried again in 2009 to write a novel in November for NaNoWriMo and was successful, not only completing my first novel, but in learning a lot about the craft of writing, and about myself, in the process. I think in 2010 I can be even more successful, and instead of using NaNoWriMo as just a learning experience, this year I can use the time and environment to write a novel destined for actual print.
As a full-time RVer, I don’t tend to stay in one place too long, but last year I had an advantage in that I had a whole month in one location and nothing else pressing except working on my novel. This was mostly at my husband’s insistence and he was a great cheerleader for me and made sure that nothing could be used as an excuse for not ‘winning’ the NaNoWriMo challenge. We spent the entire month of November (and part of October and December as well) last year at the Nellis AFB FamCamp in Las Vegas, NV and I had no excuses for not writing. It was great! (Thanks, Chuck )
This year, I’m starting off a little behind. We’ll be on the road for the first few days of November before settling into a semi-permanent location in Florida for the winter. Once there, I’ll be able to stay in one place for the month and focus mostly on writing, but until then, I’ll have to find time to complete my daily word count (1,667 words a day to get to 50,000 by November 30th) ‘on the go’.
I can’t really complain about finding time to write, as so many people have kids, jobs, and other committments that make writing and writing for NaNoWriMo a real challenge for them. I’m one of the lucky ones who really doesn’t have any (legitimate) excuses. However, I am a procrastinator and a perfectionist, so I do manage to find excuses and must work extra hard to force myself to JUST WRITE! With last year’s win and experience under my belt though, I have confidence that this year I will complete my goal.
I plan to blog and vlog (video log) about the experience again. It’s a great way to chronicle the ups and downs of the process. This year I hope to do a bit more of the vlogging. We’ll see how that goes.
Crossing the Finish Line - 2008 Marine Corps Marathon
I’ve been a runner off and on most of my life. Over the years I’ve run a few local races; mostly 5Ks (3.1 miles). A few years ago my daily mileage was averaging 5-6 miles, so I thought it would be easy to do a half-marathon. The first one I did in training made me feel invincible. Then I started training for a real half-marathon – a race – and found out how hard it can be! But I completed it and, as is usually the result for people who do this said, “Never again!” Two days later I said, “I wonder if I could run a marathon?”
Two years ago I trained for, and finished, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. Training was hard, but I really enjoyed it. I find running can be like meditation and the more I do it, the more I crave it. Turns out the actual marathon was a very difficult race for me, as I had injured myself within a few weeks of the race. And as I did after my half-marathon I said, “Never again!” And just like before, two days after that, I said, “I wonder if I could run another one faster and better if I wasn’t injured.”
After taking a very long year-and-a-half off to recuperate from my race (and just being lazy), running is now something I’m doing once again. And I’m training for another marathon. On October 3rd I’ll be running the First Annual Crazy Horse Marathon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Now I’ll include in my blog a little about my training, my general thoughts, and anything interesting I find on running.
I read a LOT. I’m usually reading at least a couple of books at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction. Books are my candy, and I can’t pass a book store or book shelf without stopping to browse.
When I find a well-written story, I like to share it with others. When I find something I can’t believe ever got published, I find the need to let that be known as well. I’ve written a few book reviews for PaperBackSwap.com and Amazon.com. I’ll also begin posting them here as well. Of course, it’s all subjective. What is one person’s caviar is another person’s smelly fish eggs and vice versa. But it’s fun to share and helps me learn the techniques of writing. Hopefully anyone reading will find it helpful, or at least entertaining.
Too bad I don’t have a video of the bunny hop I had to do while dressed like this. What teachers do to first graders in the name of school plays…
I recently subscribed to 
I came across an article today regarding NaNoWriMo and why it’s a great thing for writers (excerpts below). The author makes an excellent observation as to what really keeps someone from writing – NOT writing:
I read a LOT. I’m usually reading at least a couple of books at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction. Books are my candy, and I can’t pass a book store or book shelf without stopping to browse.