Miles Davis - Straight No Chaser

The album Milestones is a classic in every sense of the word. And Straight No Chaser, composed by Thelonious Monk has a long and storied background. 

This title appeals to me for several reasons today. One is because I hate it when I don't see (understand) someone else's point - or I cannot adequately express mine to change their stance.

It issue is me having a bartender use the phrase " We have some real whisky from Scotland, Mr. Hannaford."

My writing instructor says if it's from Scotland, it must be real. Since this is circa 1880 I am trying to distinguish that he is being offered "true" Scotch - instead of something brewed here in the US and passed off as Scotch, so I disagree with her interpretation. 

Her next suggestion was that I should then just name the bottler (Glenlivet or whatever), which would indicate it was "real". I have no desire to hunt around and find out who was importing/exporting Scotch into San Francisco at this time, and think it's perfectly reasonable to expect that some sea captain purchased several cases of fine Scotch in Scotland - with the plan to sell them for a profit in San Francisco. 

For the sake of keeping the discussion moving forward, I said ok. But clearly INSIDE I am not saying ok. I think I am going to be petulant and stamp my feet for a little while longer - and inside know I AM RIGHT - while on the outside I am removing the damn word "real". 

Other than that - things are going well with the story. She thinks I am to the point of putting all the bits and pieces together - and then starting to weave in the missing (but known to me) links. In some ways I am excited that I'm to this point - and in others I am afraid to death. I kind of like feeling like I'm only 10% through the first draft - and scared to death to think I am at 60%. There is so much I haven't written yet - and pieces of the story that aren't in there .... and ... and ... well. Then there is the fear that all the little bits don't really work together.

I've now cooked three "real" meals in the last three days. Sunday night I made Chicken Scaloppine (although over yellow/zucchini squash instead of broccoli rabe). Last night I made Spaghetti Carbonara out of my 1962 Italian Cookbook "The Pleasures of Italian Cooking" by Romeo Salta, chef and owner of the famous Southern California restaurant Chianti. This morning I made sausage gravy, biscuits and a sausage/onion/cheese omelet. I'm trying to use (up) ingredients in my house. 

Tonight Dr. Whiney is coming over and we're going to do some career brainstorming, look for trends in my "I Love List" ... and drink some red wine. I'm going to make Fusilli with Roasted Eggplant Sauce from my "Pasta Harvest" cookbook for our dinner. I have eggplants from the CSA - and the thought of frying them is a little overwhelming. But I can start roasting them about 3 pm - and then have the sauce simmering when he gets here and we can eat whenever it fits into the schedule.

Sounds like I'm on an Italian kick, doesn't it?

Finally - I am worried about my cotton growing friends in the mid-south and deep south. Please say a little prayer for the end of the rain - and some kind of miraculous recovery. At this point they estimate they've lost about half their crop to boll rot and boll lock.

There's a job fair tomorrow. I loath the idea of attending one - almost as much as I loath American Cheese. My friend and I have pinpointed 3 companies that we're really interested in approaching despite the masses of humanity that will flock to this event. Since I'm going with someone else, I think I can endure. We're also going to wait until afternoon - so hopefully the crush will be less.

Hope there's some sunshine in your day today - and if not - have a drink, "straight, no chaser" on me!

Buddy DeFranko - Seven Come Eleven

Apparently this title refers to a craps table strategy. Of course, since it is numbers - it makes no sense to me, but I really like the song. It is a Benny Goodman/Charlie Christian original. 

Yesterday - it rained so we didn't walk - but got all my proposals finished plus some supporting documentation completed and turned in. Today it rained, so once again no walk. I have a meeting at 2:00 pm to see where the interest is with the Food Ministry - and what the next steps are/aren't.

I went to another writer's group meeting last night. This was entitled "Writing toward Wellness". It's all about creative journaling and writing about "feelings". *blerg* Although - maybe I can TRANSFER the exercises from ME to a character and not have to identify. 

I don't know - this seems kind of silly - on one hand I "feel" like I talk about my feelings all the time - and on the other, it's the last place I want to go (emotionally) and discuss. So - maybe I should stick this out. As far as the journaling part - and consistent writing goes - well - I have the blog, don't I?  

Today Dr. Whiney, Esq. and I are having lunch before the meeting. He has so much going on in his life too. I worry about him. He works too hard - takes on too many people's problems and is on this cycle of work/crash/work/play/crash/work. He keeps trying to change it, but isn't very successful. I can identify. Change is tough.

Tomorrow around lunch time I'll leave with friends for Atlantic Beach. A trip to the Farmers' Market is in order after the morning walk to pick up the apples. I don't know if I'll have internet down there or not. One trip I did, one I didn't.

See you all tomorrow. Just think, one more day and it'll be Friday!

Here is one of the "free write" exercises I did last night. It was kind of fun, the prompt was "Getting Here". A few people talked about the emotions/reasons that led them to the meeting. Of course me, I focused on the cut and dried issues.

Although I've lived in Raleigh for 9 years now, "Getting Here" is still an exercise in frustration for me. I come from a land with landmarks. A land of open spaces - spread out trees and a mountain called "South Mountain", which is fairly consistently "south" no matter where you are and more importantly VISIBLE.

Here there are trees. And more trees. Trees that hide landmarks, cover up street signs, and obscure physical features.

Of course part of "getting here" is also traveling on roads. The south is famous for their creative writers - I think all of them started out at the DOT - and have decided they can come up with a better name for a street than the previous guy - that's why you'll drive a straight line and be able to travel on Duraleigh, Blue Ridge, and Millbrook without having to take a single left or right turn.

There are these new fangled gadgets called 'GPS'. They're supposed to help you navigate to your final destination. I have one - and it doesn't. Oh I get somewhere all right - just usually not the way it would like me to go. Apparently it's not enough to HEAR the directions, you are also required to follow them. But it seems this is a two way street. Sometimes, even with strict adherence to the directions (a rare, but possible circumstance for me), I still end up somewhere else besides here, because here isn't a location Ms. Gertrude knows about.

Like many things in life - "Getting Here" is all about frequently "recalculating" your destination.

Terry Clark - Mumbles

My brother sent me this piece of music. He saw Terry Clark down at UOP when he was in high school and has always remembered the performance.

Today I am mumbling 'cause of several things I've found out. But they shall remain mumblings. 

The weekend was fabulous. There were so many "highlights" - but I think the biggest for me was meeting Randall Kenan. I had no idea he was at the festival - nor that he'd be speaking at the lecture about "Writing Food". I only knew that he'd written the book called "Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Century" that I'd purchased in 1999 after hearing a radio (or maybe TV) interview with him. It's one of my all time favorites - and I still gush about it to this day. Anyway - he was there to talk about food with Kelly Alexander. Kelly recently published, Hometown Appetites, a chronicle of the columns and life of Clementine Paddleford.  The panel was moderated by Dr. Marcie Ferris who teaches a course at UNC on "Cooking Up a Culture". 

Randall had the FUNNIEST pieces about food. One was about bar-b-que. And you know - as an outsider - I appreciate most styles of 'cue. But when you're from someplace that HAS a style - look out Lordy! There are definite opinions on the animal (beef or pork), the cut of meat, the cooking method, and the sauce. As someone who grew up in Chinquipin, NC, he identifies strongly with EASTERN North Carolina bar-b-que. As a former professor at the University of Memphis he had a lot to say about living among the "heathens". I LOVED IT. He also read a short piece that centered on Howard Hughes eating butter beans and ham hocks for the first time. I could identify!

As I sat there - there were a couple of thoughts that continuously ran through my mind. The main one was, "There are college courses that STUDY FOOD AND CULTURE and writing???" If I'd only known this back in 1984 - or even in high school - I wonder what path I might be on today. 

I also wish that we'd had an author or two come into a Freshman or Sophomore English class back then.  One who would have talked about the link between the passion of reading and writing. And that writing WASN'T about spelling, grammar, sentence diagramming or parts of speech. That those were just the nuts and bolts. But writers - and authors - were people who told stories. Stories that had a purpose. I never got that out of school. I just loved to read - and I liked reading to learn/experience new things. 

And honestly - that's where my love of food and sense of adventure in eating came from. I read about Jews in New York - and gefilte fish, and the south and grits, and Texas and beans, hard tack, and cornbread - and I wanted to taste it all. But I always thought "writers" were English Lit majors who read dusty old "classics" and talked about imagery and subtext - or wrote poetry that was vague and required careful analysis and study to figure out what the hell they were trying to say. (I hold "The Jabberwocky" as exhibit A in this aspect.)

Anyway - besides that little bit of regret - overall the weekend was inspiring, encouraging, uplifting, and thrilling. There were many other great moments - and maybe during the week I'll revisit some of them.

This week is again busy. Writing class tonight. Tomorrow my writing instructor is on a panel discussing the difference between "moderated" critique groups and "peer selected" critique groups - and I'd like to go and hear the discussion and support her. Wednesday night is a "Writing towards Wellness" workshop (free) hosted by another writing group I belong too - and I am looking forward to attending that. Finally on Thursday I turn in the three cooking/food proposals (I have two completed, one to go) - and then Friday I'll go down to the coast with my Sunday Night Dinner Group. We'll spend the weekend at one of the couple's homes on Atlantic Beach. It's a spectacular home - and we always have a great time because there's good food and great wine/vodka/gin/whiskey - and laughter!    

Now I better get busy - lots of writing for class - and resume stuff to brush up on.

Mystery Singer - Accentuate the Positive

So once again the local station didn't go back and announce the signer/band of a song this morning. This particular radio station is also the one that drives me CRAZY with that stupid "I remember when" song sung by Nancy Wilson? EVERY MORNING at 7:06am.

Anyway, I immediately recognized the song. It is a well known lyric written by Johnny Mercer. Here's the

story of how he came to write it. (and now I think I finally found the singer, Monica Mancini).

Anyway, there's this thing about writing a story, which relates (kind of) to the lyrics. By the end of the story, your character has to change in some way. Some profound way. Now normally we think about stories where the main character learns something "meets the challenge" and is a better person. You know, you "Accentuate the Positive". Personally, I think that's the easier story line to write. Of course, we all know I don't do anything the easy way.

I've been struggling for six months now with the story arc and how Josiah changes. Unfortunately I think his story is one about losing faith (instead of gaining it). And that's kind of sad for me. 'Cause I really wanted to highlight how faith supports him and his scientific world. But he doesn't seem to be cooperating.

The other thing, is that although on the surface this story seems to be one about hope/redemption, ie: the need for environmental protection is recognized and the judiciary supports this; and "the little guy" (farmers) win one against "big money" (miners/railroads) - it's really a tragedy because Josiah loses his faith. He's forced to face the fact that his amazing engineering designs aren't going to save the day. This is a difficult realization for him (as it would be for any crusader to realize they can't change the world).

So the question becomes - how is he different after this crisis of faith? Another important part of writing , is you've got to make the change dramatic. So if the change isn't going to be a positive one - then I'm writing to the antithesis of these lyrics,

"You got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

And have faith, or pandemonium

Liable to walk upon the scene"

I don't know yet. It's been suggested the best way to show this change (his internal pandemonium) is to make him materialistic/capitalistic after the lawsuit is over. I'm not sure how that works. I know he'll still be relying on logic and scientific principles. Now though (I think) he'll be out to make money from his ideas - and won't be trying to save people/nature. No joy to the maximum for my guy.

Anyway , at least it's something to mull over while I finish up the webinars - and something to write towards. Which is good - because only after I write it can I see if it works or doesn't work. And although I hate discarding writing - if I figure out what doesn't work, then I'm that much closer to figuring out what DOES work, right?

Yesterday I wrote "Happy Tuesday" -cause at least Monday is in the past."

"You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive

E-lim-i-nate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with mister in-between"

But today I'm going to say, "Happy Food Wednesday" - it's peach season (and NOT a very glorious one at that (compared to the cherry season, at least) ... but I'm makin' Peach Ice Cream for the group dinner tonight. You should make it too!

Dr. Lonnie Smith - Too Hot

Actually it’s cooler today than it was Monday or Tuesday, but this is a nice mellow song. Dr. Smith is well known here in the triangle and an amazing Hammond B-3 player. His funniest song is “Your Mama’s Got a Complex”. Although this album was produced and released in 2005, I think it has a complete 70s sound to it. Is it just that ANYTHING with a B-3 reminds me of Steve Winwood and my first encounters with the B-3? Or does all Soul/Funk have that vibe? You tell me.

Amazingly enough, class went well last night. Seems I did successfully weave some sourdough imagery into the piece. For some reason they really liked these two little sections,

“No – guess you’ll be staying in San Francisco for a while,” said Victor.

I hated the city and couldn't think of any quicker way to ruin the coming fall and winter. “Why don’t they talk to you? You’re the managing partner of the Bloomfield."

“I’m not the water expert, you are.”

"I’m not going to San Francisco – too many people down there.”

I picked up the papers and stacked them in neat bundles, I like to keep my work area clean of flour and other messes. I held them out to Victor. “They should find Colonel Mendel with the Corp of Engineers."

***and this bit too ***

“I've been in the Stewart, Bingham, and Herrin law offices for two weeks now. Seems every time I stretched a leg or moved my elbow I knock a pile of papers off a table or chair. Each day I feel bigger and the offices smaller, I'm afraid if I don't get enough room, I'll bubble over and make this a bigger mess. I hate it when I misjudge my starter and feed it too much. It overruns the holding bowl and puddles on the drain board. Then it dries like plaster and I have to chip away at it to clean up the mess. It's a slow process. I wish I could starve this inquiry of information.

Today Michael Bingham starts right in adding more flour to my already actively brewing starter. “Now Josiah, let’s go back over the brush dams. We need you to be very clear on how much debris they catch.”

***leaving the story behind***

This after noon I’ll go to Chapel Hill and pick up my August wine case. Somehow I managed to miss the notice of the July case. I’m convinced that this $100 expenditure really saves me money – as I’m not stopping by the grocery store to ‘just pick up a bottle of wine’ …. and then adding another five things to the cart. Not to mention the fact that sometimes I throw my budget to the wind and buy outside the price range I’ve established.

Hopefully I’ll get far in the recording today on the Multi-module webinar. If I can get it mostly done, then I just have the last one to worry about – and it won’t air until August 31^st. So I should be ok. Monday begins the two week airing of “live” sessions. There will be two shown on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and two on the following Monday and Wednesday – then we drop down to the last two sessions on the 31^st. I can’t wait to finish this up – but not too anxious to start doing phone support again.

This weekend – I dunno. A little cleaning, cooking for dinner group – and getting ready for class which will now meet on Monday nights.

Hope you have something enjoyable lined up – unless you are Ken, stuck in Iraq where there’s no weekend. An then I’ll just point out it’s two more days crossed off the “days left ‘till you come home” calendar.

Judy Niemack - Bye Bye Blackbird

Striving to be distinctive – is a description of Judy Niemack’s work. In Bye Bye Blackbird, we hear a distinctive jazz guitar influenced piece which contrasts with the trumpet fueled version by Miles Davis. Of course this version has every element of a torch song. Baby it’s hot! (Also? Isn’t Julie London “Nurse Dixie McCall” from Emergency? Who knew she could smolder?)

(ps: See Jason? I DID watch TV at one point in my life.)

Judy’s version of Bye-Bye Blackbird remains true to her own voice. Striving to be distinctive is also important in writing (duh). I think, with a few minor polishes, which I feel competent to complete (!), my short-short story (378 words) is done. (And the angles and I BOTH rejoiced).

I was thinking about the “truth” of my writing on my way to work this morning and came to this conclusion. I really AM a “western” writer – and I think my works will always be tied to themes of land, distance, water, geography, and independence. I’m not sure if that’s part of “voice”, but I’m sure it’s part of my “theme”.

With Jason gone it was kind of lonely last night and this morning. But one of the nice things was the ablity to get back to my “true” routine. The results of Jason’s visit continue to improve my mornings. One of the things I love to do is turn up the music loud, then take my shower. Prior to his arrival I had a bathroom vent whose sound output was equal to a SR-71 prior to take off. Which pretty much rendered “listening to music” as I showered impossible. Unless I chose to wake up the entire neighborhood – or didn’t use the fan/light until AFTER the shower. (which kind of makes seeing in the morning darkness difficult). But now I have a NEW fan – and it is quiet, quiet, quiet. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m hearing the water or the fan. And this morning I could TOTALLY hear my music AND have a steam-free bathroom after my shower. Yay!

On the other hand – we had a HUGE storm roll through last night and being alone wasn’t so great. It started around 1:30 am and lasted for over an hour. It would have been fun to have a guest – to sit and watch the lightening with – and have a co-obsesser over the neighbor’s tree that is leaning towards MY electrical lines. Luckily their tree is still upright and I still have power this morning.

Hey, did you know it’s Friday? For some reason it feels like a Thursday to me. I’m not sure I’m ready for the weekend yet, and I think it’s going to be a busy one. I’m getting the gray out of my hair on Saturday morning. Also– meeting a friend on Saturday for a little wine drinking and “grazing” at dinner time. I have some India Raita sauce made up and Muhammara (roasted red pepper and walnut spread), plus pot stickers to contribute. I also might make up some salsa cruda (but add avocado and some vinegar instead of lime juice). She’s supplying shrimp and other goodies.

On Sunday I’m going to a different church to hear a Sunday School classmate who’s in divinity school preach a sermon. It’s a surprise. I hope we don’t make her nervous!

Plus c-l-e-a-n-i-n-g, c-l-e-a-n-i-n-g, c-l-e-a-n-i-n-g, c-l-e-a-n-i-n-g. What’cha doing?

Donald Fagen - Ruby Baby

This song is soooooo smooth! I think it captures that “hipster” sound of the 50s. Yet it was written and recorded by Donald Fagen – a member of the 70's super group Steely Dan. This music is so “out of place” for the 70s when Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Sex Pistols and David Bowie were pouring out of the radio.

And yet … not. The horns put me in mind of Earth, Wind, and Fire. Maybe Bachman-turner Overdrive.

The guitar though … so “beat”. Can’t you just see the “cool cats” in their smoky lounge hunched over cups of bitter coffee? Definitely an East Village vibe going on here.

My weekend was good. I made lots of progress with the story. If you call spending endless hours putting together timelines and developing great overarching ideas of why the story is developing – only to realize the “bigger influence” the “missing piece” … has been missing all this time – BECAUSE IT WAS THE WRONG TIME, by about 10 years. *sigh*

Here’s the deal. Sometimes it’s hard to sort out our own prejudices from those we imbued our characters with. We also (in historical novels) have to look and see if there are bigger influences pushing and shoving the action.

My intuition (prejudice) is that farmer’s aren’t horribly organized people. I can see them getting mad as individuals at specific events – and seeking solutions. I can even see a group of farmers in one area bringing a lawsuit to reclaim damages to their land. And so it happened. A group of farmers in Butte County - on Dry Creek - brought a lawsuit against the Little York Mine.

This is the first complaint against the mines. It happened in 1872 and it WAS about damages. But the farmers lost. Then – there were another series of other lawsuits culminating in Woodruff v North Bloomfield – and these lawsuits are all based on “rights”. The recent passage of the 14th Amemndment in 1868 highlighted individual rights of a group. (and I am doing a horrible job of describing this in a paragraph. But land rights of one group over another - and how they used resources - and who was effected by the use - had never been part of the legal cannon prior to Woodruff v. N. Bloomfield)

The farmers seem very organized. Indeed, it appears one specific lawyer is always involved. I haven’t been able to find out much about him. His name is George Cadwalader (and I cannot wait to give him a new name, because I cannot spell that last name correctly FOR THE LIFE OF ME!)But he’s got to have some stake in the outcome. Or else why is he ALWAYS the lawyer for the farmers in these lawsuits against the miners?

What's his reason though? I don’t know. I’m hitting a brick wall each time I try to find out something about him.

Then – I discovered a commentary by an environmental historian. He pointed to the San Francisco railroad men – the Big Four – and how it was in their best interest to create a ground swell of negative opinion against mining because they’d decided agriculture was the future of California and the key to prosperity to the railroad system. So he proposes the Big Four contacted a Sacramento newspaper and the newspaper began publishing editorials favorable to farmering and land reclamation and flood control. (Because it is hard to run a RR if the tracks are flooded or washed away.)

Eureka! I went off to the 4^th of July celebration happy – and ready to start researching this connection. It solved so much of my story line dilemma. Cadwalader must be connected to the newspaper and the Big Four!

Only when I started poking around further, I found it doesn’t fit. The transcontinental RR was completed in 1869. The series of lawsuits begin in 1872-1884-ish. I’ll keep trying to follow this lead, but I think the “environmental historian” has scooched things around to fit his own prejudices.

Then there are also three real-life brothers, the Belcher's, in this story. I want to work them in – but they keep ACTING IN WAYS that don’t support my story (how dare they!).

Now my choice becomes: abandon them or mess with the facts? I keep wondering why I’m so tied to preserving the facts in this piece of “fiction”. Is it because I really should be writing a history? I hope not. Is it because I don’t trust my own abilities? YES. What don’t I trust? I don’t trust my understanding of human nature. Or of cause and effect between men and different businesses.

If I loosely follow the Belcher brothers (all lawyers, and involved with these farmer vs miner lawsuits along with Cadwalader) … I’m going to have to change Chadwick (my made up lawyer) a little bit. Right now he's a grumpy, semi-reclusive, fly-fishing, human-disdaining man. He didn't have any family when we first met in my imagination.

Now as I add facts to my fiction, I find he has a brother and a half-brother.

Reading the original legal papers for Woodruff v. North Bloomfield I discovered a Belcher on each side of the suit. (How interesting, eh?). I figured I could handle that. Then I came across the much-younger half-brother and wasn't sure where he fit in. Although it says at one point he sits on a powerful committee for the Hydraulic Mining Association. Still, I thought I was on my way.

I'd have the two full brothers share a practice, the baby half-brother come west, study law with them, then he "goes bad" by accepting a job with a RR company which also has financial interest in the mine ... and story line set! (Especially because it adds the railroads and then the missing link about why all these farmers are bringing suits against the mines using the same methodology.)

But more digging yeilds MORE UNRULINESS and an unwillingness to follow my suppositions.

One of the brothers is a "brilliant anbd flamboyant orator", a member of the California Constitutional Convention, and become a State Supreme Court Justice and takes the farmers side. Clearly "my" Chadwick cannot be this man. This man must be amialble, and social, and interact with people successfully. So I was going to make Chadwick the other brother, who I pictured being the reclusive logician of the family. He'd look up case law, develop brilliant strategies used by the orator brother.

And if those two worked together then it must be the younger, half-brother, who is the rouge working on half of the miners and railroads. Ta-da! Story line straightened out.

But more research leads me to believe the two full brothers had a falling out. Biographical sketches state the brothers practiced law together until 1874. Then there's a split.

It also says the half-brother was the City Attorney for Marysville and he brought a suit against the mines on behalf of the city. That just screws everything up. If he's the city attorney, he cannot also be legal council for the miners in a similar suit two years later (or I guess he can if he isn't emotionally invested in the decision). Then I read the 1872 lawsuit and see it's one of the full brothers working for the defense (also known as the miners.) In 1882 the other brother is legal council for the farmers in Woodruff v. N. Bloomfield.

Clearly this is why the partnership disolved. Over this very issue. Who’s in the right? Farmer or Miner? One stays on the farmer side, becomes a noted jurist, but never leaves the area. This will be Chadwick. So now I have to make him friendly. The other moves to San Francisco, never marries and is equally prominate in society. Clearly NOT Chadwick (although the never marrying part is apt).

The two mining industry supporters, one of the full-brothers and the half-brother, end up in San Francisco. Both working for law firms however, it appears there must be a riff here too, as they don’t work for the same law firm – even though one is a full partner in his firm.

Hmmm – lots of motivation and circumstances to consider. What do I use as spice? What do I use as the main ingredient? And how much do I stray from the recipe?

I guess this is all going to simmer on the back burner. My friend Herman, from The Netherlands, arrives today for a short visit. Jason arrives tomorrow. (He and Herman will have a great time talking cars, cars, cars!) Wednesday Herman will continue onto Kentucky – and Jason and I will attend a Durham Bulls Baseball game.

Doesn’t sound like much time for writing. Hopefully there’ll be some great marinating going on in the back of my mind.

RUBY BABY

I got a girl and Ruby is her name

She don't love me, but I love her just the same

Ruby Baby how I want you

Like a ghost I'm gonna haunt you

Ruby Baby when will you be mine

I guess the Belcher brother’s are my ghosts … story, story when will you be mine?

Alex Skolnick Trio - Goodbye to Romance

Someone asked how long I’m going to keep up this “music thing”. I think for a while. I find so many links, connections, and inspirations between jazz and writing. Lord knows – there are days when I need all the encouragement I can get.

So here are two interesting stories for today.

First – the musical story. Once again, a new sound caught my ear and I wanted to learn more. The name, Alex Skolnick, meant nothing to me. The title of the album was interesting – “Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation”

Looking for “Goodbye to Romance” I kept running into mentions of Randy Rhodes and Ozzy Osbourne. Soooo not the song I was looking for. Doing some more digging I discovered Alex is well known in the rock music world. He played with the thrash metal band Testament. Just clicking on that link should give you a clear indication how far from jazz their music is on the genera scale.

Poking around on YouTube I found his version of “Still Loving You” which is an old Scorpions tune. A billion years ago I actually attended a Scorpions concert at a “Day on the Green – Bill Graham Presents” concert (boy am I dating myself) and I was even more intrigued how his work was linked to these metal bands.

Seems Mr. Skolnick became a guitarist because as a very young teen he was fascinated with the rock group Kiss. Playing lead guitar with Testament led to other gigs with Megadth, Slayer, Judas Priest and White Zombie. Yet all this time – something else was rolling around in the back of his musical consciousness. An encounter with a Miles Davis tune at 19 sent him on a different quest – learning how to be a jazz guitarist. He earned a degree from New York City’s “New School University” jazz program – and that is where the Alex Skolnick Trio began. It’s also interesting to note he’s a member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which I think is a perfect blend of “Metal” stage production and the lush orchestral arrangements you often find in big band jazz standards. If you want to find out more about him, here’s his website.

Why do I find this fascinating? Because to me it speaks about taking a natural talent, guitar playing, and learning how to be a better technician, a jazz guitarist. Kind of like writing. It’s not enough to have natural talent (although it helps) you also have to learn the basics and the building blocks of writing and story telling. I kind of hate having people ask, “How’s the book going?” ‘cause there’s not a lot of volume or progress on the “story”.

Yet I am spending a lot of time learning this craft. I believe it’s showing up in many small ways. When I first started blogging I didn’t understand what other people were talking about when they said revisions took so much time. I thought, "I know what I want to write it, I write it, and I’m done. What the heck are they revising?"

Oh – of course there were, and still are, tons of grammatical and punctuation mistakes in my writing even after I think I've got it right. I doubt any amount of revising will ever rid me of those mistakes. But I’m beginning to see more and more how word choices, usage, and line editing can benefit my writing. I’m also discovering how to line editing for continuity and action development make my stories and characters stronger. What I’ve most discovered is an admiration for editors. Those people who can give specific reasons, not just “I don’t like this” or “this doesn’t work”, as reasons for the changes. And they're not just picking at commas and semi colons and dangling participles. One of my favorite places to learn and see this in action is the Edittorrent page.

Here’s the second story. In the back of my mind I worry that all the little arcane details of my story – the principles of hydraulic energy, the science of mining, irrigation, and flood control – and the federal and state laws that frame my story – are only of interest to me. I worry that because I’m not a lawyer, or an engineer, or a historian I’m not going to be able to bring an authoritative voice to this piece of work. And even if I do, it will be so “text-bookish” no one will want to read it.

Last night, when I went to pick up our CSA weekly share, I bumped into a local author, Scott Huler. I’ve never met him before. Nor even read one of his books. He was just another CSA customer, standing in front of the Celebrity Dairy cheese stand as far as I knew.

Then someone asked him what he wrote about. He started talking about his book “Defining the Wind” which is about the Beaufort Wind Scale. It’s about how this scale is a scientific classification of wind velocity AND a piece of poetry. It was such a relief to hear him talk … I finally spoke up. I voiced my concern about my writing. He said he’s heard that too. From critique groups and from “the cocktail party” crowd. “Who’d want to read that? Who’s your audience?” He says he doesn’t worry about that anymore. He keeps finding topics that interest him and his agent and publisher keep paying him.

I’m not looking for a second career. I’m not looking to earn boatloads of money. I just want to write detailed stories about fascinating events in our history. Little, tiny, obscure parts of our history. I’m feeling encouraged today. Encouraged that obscure can be interesting and learning the craft and taking longer to write something is the right path for me.

Zoot Sims - In the Middle of a Kiss

This has the smoothest sound. Kind of a dreamy quality I think. Can you close your eyes – and see a huge shade tree with green grass? Laying on a blanket – with a great book – maybe a nice chilled bottle of wine. Some fresh berries?

Zoot played with renowned bands, including Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Stan Kenton, and Buddy Rich. Sims was also one of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers", and he was known among his peers as one of the strongest swingers in the field. He gained the nickname “Zoot” while playing with Kenny Baker in California. It’s believed his name became the inspiration for Jim Henson’s sax-playing Muppet of the same name.

They liked the story last night. They said it had more “heart and feeling” than what they’ve seen of Josiah. So – that’s good. It means I CAN write and get there. Maybe it’s a feeling I can try and translate with Josiah. There’s a small section that needs some work. I played around with it after I got home, but what I changed messed up the line that follow. I’m not really sure how to fix the problem. I’ll have to mull on it.

I also told them my two “sensate” ideas for Josiah. One centers on sourdough starter and the other on a “hole”. Next week we’ll see if I’m no the right track.

Big wedding tomorrow night. I’ll wear a fancy dress and everything. Which means I need to go find some strappy sandals. I have a hair apt. in the afternoon at 11:30 – wedding is a 4pm. So I guess I better get the shoes bought, present picked out, and wrapped tonight. I may not get to go hear Big Medicine, unless I do the shopping on my lunch hour. UGGG. Any cleaning, laundry, or writing better be first thing tomorrow morning. My lazy Saturday has just evaporated. *

I kind of changed up the dessert last night. It was good. I got it from here: Instead of strawberries I used a mixture of blueberries, blackberries and nectarines. When it was done I used the topping from the originally planned recipe … just the almonds, turbinado sugar and egg white part. It was good. The tortilla was a hit too.

What are you doing for fun this weekend?

Stacey Cochran & CLAWS

Today I'd like to introduce you to guest blogger Stacey Cochran. He's the moderator and organizer of Raleigh Write 2 Publish. Write 2 Publish, a monthly writing community, meets to learn about the craft and business of writing, publishing, and offer encouragement to its members. He has some exciting news about a just launched e-magazine.

***

Mittany, thanks so much for having me at your place today as a guest blogger. As you know, I am in the midst of a 45-Day blog tour to promote the release of my novel CLAWS. This is the first time that I’ve ever done a blog tour, and it’s been a wild ride.

 

Today though, I’d like to talk about a new website that I’m launching, Online Book Review.

 

Online Book Review (or OBR for short) is the culmination of years of planning and development. It is essentially an online literary magazine, but I would like to utilize video and audio to liven the place up. We are looking primarily for people who will conduct interviews with authors in text or on video (via YouTube) or are willing to write reviews of books. Video book reviews are most especially welcome.

 

One of my goals with Online Book Review is to try and get the site to rank for search phrases like “Online Book Review” and “Online Book” and “Book Review” as these are some of the most popular phrases related to books. If the site ever makes it to page 1 of Google for these phrases, we’ll have a lot of traffic. But the title lends itself to the vision I have for publishing and to names like Kenyon Review or the Georgia Review… only ours is the Online Book Review.

 

For those who are familiar with my website How To Publish A Book you’ve probably seen the explosion in web traffic this past year or two. Online Book Review is my vision for the next phase of growth, and I’ll be able to publish stuff there by contributors in a way that I haven’t been able to at How To Publish A Book (due to the narrow focus of that site’s purpose).

 

So I’m really excited. It’s been an incredible summer so far, and I’ve managed to hit several bestseller lists with CLAWS. I’ve had in the back of my mind for years that once I achieved that level of success that I would launch a small press. The day has arrived.

 

I’m already considering ideas like a poetry contest, yearly anthologies of Best of OBR to distribute to bookstores, and developing “on-air” talent with all the video stuff.

 

It’s just been astonishing to me these past few years that no one has launched Book TV online in a more compelling and interesting way. My goal is to fix that!

 

So come check us out at Online Book Review.

 

Thanks so much, Mit! And thanks everyone for reading!         

Horace Silver - The Gringo

You know, I always seem to pick these obscure pieces of music. But here’s a great video of Horace in 1959. As one of the commenter’s says, horrible, horrible quality and cutting – yet you get the feel for this piece of music – and the style of these musicians – in a way few other clips represent. Wait till you have about 10 minutes of time before you did into this fest of sound – Senor Blues.

Here’s a clip of “The Gringo”. I love the cover of the album. It’s SOOO iconic of that 60s esthetic.

Yesterday I talked about the relationship between Silver and Vincent Gardner's “The African Queen”. It amazes me that jazz is such a small world and how everyone is linked in someway – either by influence, label, or band membership to each other.

With just the two songs, “Senor Blues” and “The Gringo” you can pick up the strong Latin influence in his work. It was his album, “Cape Verdean Blues” where the “The African Queen” came from. You can hear a clear rhythmic link to his childhood where his father and friends played morna and coladeira flavored Portuguese music – and it shows up again in his album “Songs for My Father”.

Tonight is class. I have my homework done – so that’s a relief. I also am excited that a rare-out-of-print volume is on its way to me. Usually I can’t find it for less than $125-150 dollars, but stumbled upon it for $55. It’s by Robert Kelley – and called Gold vs. Grain. Kelley is a California historian – and this book deals exclusively with the North Bloomfield trial and the battle between the farmers and the miners. I’m hoping it will allow me to avoid reading the 14 film reels of testimony from the trail.

Speaking of links between things, the writing community is the same way. Little bonds forged between people who love words and stories and are trying to make them coherent and enjoyable to others. Two fellow authors will be visiting this blog/journal in the next two weeks.

On the sixteenth, Stacy Cochran, will be discussing his suspense novel, "Claws" - and aspects of conducting research, a writers growth, and focusing on character development.

On the twenty-second, Elisa Lorello, author of, "Faking It!", will be talking about her book and thoughts on writing and self-publishing.

I met Stacy and Elisa through the MeetUp Group, "Raleigh Write 2 Publish". Stacy does an amazing job of presenting topical panels with well known authors, publishers, and editors to those interested in writing. Elisa is a fellow blogger and a writing instructor at NCSU.

Please be sure and drop by, I know they'll be hanging around to answer questions during part of the day.

Pat Metheney - I Don't Know Why

What makes a song “yours”? We see this frequently in music. Someone writes/sings a song and it’s associated with them. Later on – another artist comes along and covers the same song. In fact, isn’t that what all the garage bands of our youth did? Perform their favorite artist’s songs?

Some covers are so great – and others – well don’t you just wish they’d never happened? So – why is Pat Metheney playing this song a great rendition of Nora Jones’ original? Surely it’s more than he’s doing an acoustic guitar version – and hers is piano with lyrics. Is it because he’s subtly changed the timing of the song?

In this case I think it’s a successful remake. Yet there are all those “musak” versions of songs that just make you want to put ear plugs in and hope to never ever hear them again.

When you think of Pat Metheny what is your first association? Is it jazz? For me, he’ll always be linked to Falcon and the Snowman. Now that I search for that song I keep coming across the David Bowie version. So why is that song linked to Pat Metheny? A little digging reveals he was backing Bowie. I guess I have a pretty good memory for what the DJs were saying back in 1985 when this movie was released.

Of course – some of you probably saw the movie. Me? Ha! You know I don’t go to the movies.

How is writing different? I read somewhere about a new author who took a Jane Austin book and rewrote it with her own characters. It went on to be a success. (and of course I cannot for the life of me think of the author OR the book title, so perhaps I’m employing a little bit of hyperbole here.) That story sticks with me though. What if I were to take a short story – and copy it scene for scene, but with characters and a time period different from the original? Would I learn something about this craft? Would my characters be rich and textural – or because it was all “planned and copied” would they be a cardboard version – lifeless and dull?

Food for thought over this coming weekend.

Speaking of food – I’m totally going to be brave tonight and go attend this Tacomentary. I don’t know the people behind this blog (although there is a friend-of-a-friend connection), but I love how they write about food. I’m hoping I’ll not be the only over 40 person there – and won’t feel like a complete freak among what I assume to be a Duke University Crowd.

Happy weekend everyone!

Disc Rotation or Word Up

Each morning there are a few people who get an eMail from me. Originally it was just one person - and the subject line was always a car make/model I saw on the way to work. In the body of the eMail was why I did/didn't like the style/color/engine etc. That lasted for about a year. Then there were fewer and fewer "new" cars to comment on.

About that time another friend was added to the list and Hot Sauce and I started car-pooling. He got a Sirus radio - so I've switched to one musical artist/song that strikes my fancy on my way into work. We've been doing songs for over a year now and we haven't started repeating, so that's a good sign.

Many of you may not know this ... but I am beyond a poor speller. I love words - and have a pretty good vocabulary. I ALWAYS use words properly. What I DON'T always do is know how to spell them (which can lead to HOURS of searching for synonyms or antonyms if spell checker or Dictionary.com can't untangle my garbled letters) or pronouncing them correctly.

Like Ogre ... a monster, right? Well in my (dyslexic) world it is an Orge (said Orr-gggg) and it reminds me of the shortened version of "Org" as in "an organization". Which TOTALLY MAKES SENSE ... 'cause organizations (especially volunteer ones) can be very, very, monster like.

So today's eMail was about Tierney Sutton, her album "Desire" and the track "You Give me Fever"

First, I like her vocals. On this one, she’s really extended the traditional lyrics (which I'll quote below). Second, I was TOTALLY shocked that she was a white girl.

Third … I HATE ENGLISH.

See, her name is Tierney … which I thought was Tyranny. And trying to find tyranny took me 20 MINUTES … because you say (or I say) Ter-a-ny when I’m talking about governments abusing power. But when I READ the damn word, I read Ty-ron-y … like Tyrannosaurus Rex. WHICH MAKES A WHOLE LOT OF SENSE, if you ask me. Because don't Tyrannosaurs Rex's abuse their power and storm all over the place eating poor hapless Brontosauruses and crushing buildings?? (oh wait ... maybe some Godzilla got mixed in there. Anyway, you TOTALLY get my point, right?)

Further … I was all in that racial profiling mode when the DJ announced her name and thinking … "Why do people have to name their kids such STUPID things?" The most recent “joke” going around is about a child named la-ah …. and you pronounce it “LaDasha” because the “dash isn’t silent” … excuse me, I forgot to laugh. Maybe you are.

Or there’s Laorgella … kind of like Angela but made "French" with a "La" in front … except HARDY-HAR-HAR …. It’s really “Orange Jell-o”.

So … here I go to look up Tyranny/Tierney on the web, so I can link to her song … and she’s this beautiful blond. And her name has nothing to do with power. Huh.

And while I’m on this rampage … WTF is up with the word FEVER? You say it Fea-ver … like combining the words Sea and shiver. There should be an “a” in there. Just like "travelled" should have two “l's” … because THAT’S HOW SPELLING WORKS!!! Learn the rules people, LEARN THE GOL-DARN-EVER-CHANGING rules.

Anyway ... enough of that ... here's part of the fun lyrics.

Romeo loved Juliet

And Juliet felt the same

When he put his arms around her

He said "Julie baby you're my flame"

Thou give me fever

when we kisseth

a fever with the flaming youth

Fever I'm afire

Fever yea I burn for sooth'

<…>

Now that you've listened to my story

Here's the point that I have made

Chicks were born to give ya fever

Be it Fahrenheit or centigrade

They give ya fever

When ya kiss em

An fever if you live in learn

Fever until you sizzle

What a lovely way to burn

What a lovely way to burn

What a lovely way to burn

Fever

Til ya sizzle

Details, Specifics, and Deadlines

Some of you have been asking how the book is coming along. Well ... it's never far from my mind .... but getting stuff from my mind onto paper is another thing. I think one of the things that surprises me most is HOW SLOWLY it goes (when I actually write.) You see, on my blog - or with other writing projects, writing is quick and easy. (also very informal with lots of mistakes). But writing this story is exactly the opposite. 3k words, which would normally take me an hour or two hours to whip out, take DAYS AND DAYS. It is REALLY kicking my butt. I'm not sure if I'm doing it wrong ... or making it more difficult than necessary ... or have just chosen one of the most difficult genera: Historical Fiction. ... BUT ... I cannot believe HOW LONG it's taking me to write the three pages due today. (also see: Mit is a procrastinator and is now writing HERE instead of there. Not to mention during business hours).

No one seems to understand why it is such slow going. Several writer friends have just said, "Just write it down, then go back and fill in or verify the details." Of course these people write Science Fiction stories - or stories in what I call 'current time'. So they are working from a vast storehouse of personal knowledge or make everything up.

Me? Not so familiar with all the minutia of time from 1820 - 1891.

The other thing you're told OVER AND OVER AND OVER ... is use "details and specifics", "details and specifics!" You cannot be generic or general ... or the story won't resonate. You have to give/show as much (accurate) information as possible. But if you don't KNOW that information, because you have not lived in that time, or in that place, then every little thing your write becomes a huge game of hide and go seek. Or a scavenger hunt.

For example, in these particular pages I am introducing my third major character, the farmer who brings the lawsuit against the mining company. Plus his wife and children. I think the wife and kids will just be background), but I need to decide how many (children, not wives), ages, gender, and names ... because "details, details, details". Anyway that is neither here nor there - but took up about another hour of staring into space.

What I do know this section of the story has to happen in about 1879. See the lawsuit comes to court (hmmm, Federal or Circuit Court??) in 1882. So I have to give enough time before that date for the case to be built and for witness and experts to be rounded up. So I figure '79 is about the right time for the farmer to approach the lawyer. And in this sceen, I want the farmer to be thinking about rain and flooding and what is does/has done to his land and businesses. So there should be a rain storm, right? Right.

Now I have to figure out if '79 was a flood year, 'cause if it was ... then what the farmer says will be TOTALLY different than if it's not. Thankfully it's four years AFTER one of the bigger floods in 1875. But do you know how long it took me to find all the flood occurrences on the Feather and Yuba Rivers??? Trying to find this information I have uncovered web sites for Levee District One in Sutter County, the Yuba County Water Agency, the Sutter Buttes Flood Organization (who give tours of the levees in April and May ... YOU SHOULD GO !) and the Corp of Engineers.

Then I wanted him to have a dog. And I was talking to a friend about the friend's beagle ... so why not a beagle? But then I had to figure out if there were beagles in the US and when they got here. And a NAME for the damn dog. Since the family is Swiss, I looked up Swiss names (which I had to do for his wife, 3 boys and daughter too. They are now named Dania, Remi, Walter, Thierry, and Eilonwy). My original idea was to name all the animals after English Royalty (because wouldn't it be fun to have a dog named King Richard??)... but if the farmer is SWISS ... why the HELL would he be naming animals after the English aristocracy??? So then I looked up Swiss/Danish royalty. The Dane's have queens and kings ...but not the Swiss. *sigh* And the names are all sucky - and no one would get the reference. That was a good HOUR of time wasted. The dog is now named Nillson.

And if he's a farmer, he needs horses, right? Draft horses and carriage horses. So I want the draft horses to be Friesian's ... which means ... yes, you got it. Were there Friesian's in the US? And when did they get here? And then WHAT TO NAME THEM. (Kekke and Karsten).

I've also had to research the Debris Commission and the Anti-Debris commission. The first works with the Corp of Engineers and helps regulate runoff from the hydraulic mining industry and the second one ... is formed by the farmers and clearly OPPOSED to the first one.

Then I had to figure out what the river is named after it merges with Yuba and Feather Rivers. (At this point I am using real river and town names. I might change this so I can have more creative license). Of course, I have these maps AT HOME, but I don't always do my writing/research at home. And GOOGLE maps is NO HELP. (it's the Feather, thanks Original Box Mitter for that piece of information!)

Then add in all the stupid writing/style mistakes that need to be corrected AFTER I finally get something writen and AGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

In other writing related news, Dr. Whiney and I had dinner last night. It was good timing. Although my friend "C. Horsey" is my editor, Dr. Whiney considers himself my “creative muse”. I really value the questions he asks me, because he makes me look at my characters in a fuller manner. The fact that he is a medical doctor AND lawyer is EXTRA helpful with this particular story. Last night he asked me questions about the legal motivations of the landowner/businessman (pointing out that he's NOT "just a farmer" if he's bringing this lawsuit), the judge (because apparently judges have biases - and the fact the ruling ultimately overturns centuries of business law precedent means there must be SOME REASON (besides the facts) for him to rule this way.) (and now my naivety about the law is gone). Plus he wants to know more about the motives of the prosecuting attorneys.

He also wanted to know about the health ramifications of the polluted water on the general population. (to which I replied, "?????") This last question is especially interesting since I have only been focusing on the effects of the flooding on wildlife, geography, and agriculture. I mean ... back then they never would have thought to attribute high infant mortality to drinking the water. Or birth defects .... or other unusual health problems, right? (Talla Paula ... guess what I want you to do?)

So ... THAT'S how the book is coming. Aren't you glad you asked???

The Second Time Around

I’ve always been a voracious reader – yet in High School I took the requisite (back then) two years of English – and then never looked back (as you can tell by my horrendous punctuation skills). Although I loved reading books, I never considered English or literature as a major for college; or writing as a career. Besides my inability to spell made every paper I turned in look something like the survivor of a horrible beating (THANK GOD word processors and spell check was invented). And I never quite “got” classic literature. All those allusions to other things with metaphors – if you wanted to talk about something just come out and say it!! Please don’t ask me to understand references to mythology and allegories.

In 2003 BBC listed Brittan’s 100 most loved books. This list has turned into a meme where people tick off which books they’ve read and those they haven’t. It’s always interesting to see who’s read what, but what interests me more – are those who comment on re-reading a particular book over and over again on an annual, decade, or quarter of a century schedule.

I HATE rereading books. In the beginning, I didn’t think it was worth mentioning. But more and more writers talk about how they return over and over again to certain works – and are rejuvenated and encouraged each time they revisit them.

There are a few books I’ve read over and over and the older I get the more infrequently I read a story a second time. Going back I realize what I choose to re-read was pure escapism. The formula that appealed to me was specific. Either it involved a wealthy young woman living in/around San Francisco and facing a hardship, or it was a cowboy, a “knight of the range”, living life by his own peculiar code of ethics.

Just so you don’t get the wrong idea my book gorging was much broader than Zane Gray, Danielle Steel, and Stephen King. In fifth grade I read my first James Michener novel. Like most, I tore through The Chronicles of Narnia. However, I didn’t “get” the Lord of the Ring and struggled with “The Animal Farm”.

It wasn’t until I joined a neighborhood book group in Phoenix that I realized there was another level of reading, what is considered “literature”. I quickly recognized these books were somewhat related in style to “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Outsiders”, the only two works of literature I understood and remembered from High School.

I’ll never forget the first time it was my turn to recommend a book. I chose “Anywhere but Here” by Mona Simpson. I told the group it was this great story about a young girl and her mom who stop in Phoenix on their way to a new life in Los Angeles. Or that’s how I remembered the story. When the group read it – they were appalled. What a dark and sad story! Did I really like it? And I had to confess, when I’d re-read the book? It certainly WASN’T uplifting or happy – or even the same story I’d so fondly recalled.

Not long ago I started down the path of becoming a writer. It seems no matter where I turn authors list other writers who influence them the most. When I think about the stories I’ve liked the best (other than any book with lots of pages), I mention Wallace Stegner, John McPhee, Ferrol Sams, Wally Lamb, Joshilyn Jackson, and Zane Gray. Why? Because there is something about their writing that calls to me. For Stegner, McPhee, and Gray I’m willing to say it’s because they were teachers. They taught me about geography, geology, and “The West”. Sams and Jackson have introduced me to my southern home, and Wally Lamb … well the power of his characters just grips me.

I’ve become leery about recommending books and authors. You get that way when people screw their face up in consternation when you rattle off a synopsis. “The politics of food?” they say. Or, “A whole book about Brothels in Chicago?” Slowly they inch just a little further away. Talking rapturously about books tracing the Influenza Epidemic or the use of cadavors, is certainly one way to limit your social circle.

So, “where’s all of this going?” you’re probably asking yourself. (Indeed, I am wondering why I’m 650 words in and haven’t gotten there yet.) It’s all about re-reading books. Monday night I was hurriedly trying to finish up my writing homework. I was looking for the perfect phrase for a ranch foreman. I knew Zane Gray had used it hundreds of times in his stories, so I searched the internet. That’s when I stumbled upon an e-copy of “Light of the Western Stars”. Reading part of a chapter I was appalled at the dialogue. I think I was most bothered by Mr. Gray butchering words to make them sound “western”. Things like “Ho-tel” and “I jest am about to give up” raked on my ear so badly I despaired. Not only that … but as usually happens, within a paragraph or two, the whole story line came back to me. (or at least my mal-remembered version of the story)

What’s the sense in reading something again if you remember how it’s going to end?

So here are my questions to you tonight.

Do you re-read books?

If yes, why? If no, why not?

Me? I think I’m tired of being disappointed that the second time around doesn’t live up to my memory.

Ps: The word I was trying to find the “Ramrod”.

God is good, Always

And the people reply: Always, God is good

So Monday … which seems like a lifetime ago, but in reality only three days ago, I was just beginning the HOD (House of Doom) saga. I was shell-shocked, and not feeling my usual sparky self, it was as if all the energy was drained from me. I really wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole somewhere and seek oblivion – yet I had a commitment to keep.

My writing instructor had arranged for Richard Bausch to meet with us over pizza, before he came to talk to our class on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a reading Tuesday evening, of his soon to be released novel, Peace. I sent an e-mail excusing myself, then sent another saying I would attend. I am so glad I did.

One to the anthologies we’ve been reading this semester is , The Short Stories of Richard Bausch. Now you all know me. I read. Voraciously. I know what I like, but I’m not good at saying WHY I like it. There are many times when people go on, and on, about some structural component of writing or a story … and I just sit there, feeling as if people are speaking Mook, and I am hearing Ook.

So off I went to hear Mook,

and try and translate it to Ook …

but not one word of spook was spoke.

...

Instead, a glass of red,

Abated my dread.

...

Near him I stood,

feeling like he was a neighbor from the hood.

...

Along came Gina, practitioner of Lent,

All forms of pleasure she promised to forget.

...

She sang on a dare

“Kitty that Old Cow”,

And “Touch me There”

A vibrator song,

beyond compare.

...

The onset of a duet.

Just met, it was kismet,

...

Blackbird and Landslide

They sang by the hearth-side

...

And should I have declined,

My God could not have shined,

Instead he chose to remind,

He is mine.