Let me apologize in advance for the wordiness and no pics, but I had to share this.
I never imagined I would be so inspired when I went to my nephew's baseball banquet last night. You see, I was a last minute substitution as Mom wasn't feeling very well. I scrambled to get ready on time, then we got caught by two trains en route and arrived late.
It was a typical South Side affair with decent food, a horrible DJ, whiny sound system and over-priced drinks. We were seated all the way in the back, of course, but hey, it was near the bar. Turned out we had some pretty good table company, too, a teammate of Cameron's, his family and one of the coaches from another team and his little boy. We had a few laughs over dinner, joking that our rather skeletal looking waiter was really a vampire. Finally, the time for trophy presentations came and it was I'm-aging-fifty-years-just-sitting-here long. We could hear about a third of what was being said because the kids were making so much noise. Then came the announcement of something called the Chad Award and silence fell.
Oscar, the manager of the first place team took the mic and started talking about this kid, Chad, he had coached. How this boy loved baseball and was always the first out and the last to leave the field. He lived for the game and could be found at the fields even when he wasn't playing. He was also a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, which is a rarity on the South Side as this is hardcore White Sox country. The remarkable thing is Chad did all of this in spite being stricken with cancer. Through chemo, hospitalizations and various doctor visits, Chad continued to play. He showed up in pain, exhausted and cheered his team whenever he wasn't strong enough to get on the field. One day, after a particularly rough chemo treatment, he came and asked his coach to play. Oscar asked him if he was sure, then looked at Chad's mom, who nodded. Chad played and was so tired by the time the game ended, his mom had to carry him to the car from the dugout. The following morning, she called Oscar with the sad news that Chad had passed away that night. He had given his all for one last game.
I was trying not to cry by this point, then they introduced the winner of the Chad Award, a kid named Justin. This award is given in Chad's honor to the 12 year old who best exemplifies the spirit of baseball and sportsmanship. I have to tell you, Justin blew me away. Like Chad, he's there everyday whether his team is playing or not, cheering the kids on. One time, though, Justin and his team were playing a squad that was clearly not their equal. On that day a young boy named John came to the mound as a pitching substitution. John is slightly behind his peers developmentally and while he plays, he's not very good. In fact, he gets made fun of a lot. He's the worst pitcher on his team. Justin, on the other hand is a pretty good player. During this game, there was only one more out needed to end the inning and John's teammates were getting irritated that he couldn't find the strike zone as usual. Justin stepped to the plate and proceeded to take three swings, striking out. The pitches were so bad all Justin had to do was wait for four balls and he'd be on base, but he chose to take those swings and give John his first ever strike out. Justin's teammates were less than pleased, but he knew that John needed that strikeout far more than he needed another hit.
The depth of character of both of these boys left me stunned to say the least. There was not one adult there who was not blinking rapidly and wiping a tear. I've talked about being inspired by Olympians, but last night I found a great deal to be inspired by close to home.
What are some inspiring stories you've heard? What was the most unexpected source of inspiration for you?
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Plausibility
Plausible: Having the appearance of truth or reason; seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance; credible; believable. (from Dictionary.com)
I know, what a happy post for a Friday. What can I say it was on my mind so I'm writing about it.
As authors, we create stories with characters and worlds, limited only by our imagination. Anything and everything we want happens within the pages of our tales. However, we can get carried away with a story. We envision these mind-blowing scenes that would just be so awesome, but we forget about plausibility. What a pesky little creep! A killer of creativity! Why I've eliminated entire chapters because of this guy. Fortunately, those chapter kills came before publication. Sometimes that doesn't happen and I'll get pulled right out of a story.
Case in point. I just finished reading a historical romance. Not exactly a history lesson, if you know what I mean, but highly entertaining. Anyway, our hero and heroine are kidnapped by the villain, a loathsome bastard of a British East India Company man. Poor hero is whipped, then thrown into the hold while our heroine is enslaved in the captain's quarters. They get only brief glimpses of each other for the next four weeks or so. Until she sneaks down into the hold to get a little something, something. The author writes a very hot scene, complete with heroine running her fingers through hero's silky locks and along his strong jaw. Ah bliss...
Plausibility clobbering time.
We're talking the hold of an 18th century ship. Hello rats, hello other sailors, hello vermin. Not to mention it's been a month. Our silky-locked, strong-jawed hero is going to be pretty scruffy, smelly, emaciated and not to mention probably suffering the ill effects of having his flesh torn by a whip. And considering his condition, I don't think he'd still be able to ride her into the floor. Unless he's really an alien, but that would no longer make it just a historical.
I also recently read a sci fi in which the protagonist and villain were blasting away at each other and one of the many porthole windows on the ship got blown out. They kept fighting. Knock knock. This is outer space. It doesn't matter that the book is a low tech tale, if those windows get blown out, your characters will be sucked out into space, not continue their fight. Unless they are wearing pressurized space suits with gravity boots.
When we're writing we need to keep in mind that we can have happen whatever we want, but we need to make certain it's plausible. Otherwise we risk ruining our credibility as writers. Though I do know there are those readers who don't care one wit about whether something is believable. When I questioned the above historical on another site, I was hammered by faithful readers of the author who told me that I had no sense of drama and romance. I mean, really, who wants to read about scruffy heroes and body odors? It's not sexy.
Now even, though there are readers out there who don't care, I would err on the side of making it believable. You know for the other 99%.
Have you ever had to eliminate something in a story because it wasn't plausible? Have you ever read anything unbelievable that jerked you out of a book? Speak truth, I promise no one will skewer you for your opinion.
I know, what a happy post for a Friday. What can I say it was on my mind so I'm writing about it.
As authors, we create stories with characters and worlds, limited only by our imagination. Anything and everything we want happens within the pages of our tales. However, we can get carried away with a story. We envision these mind-blowing scenes that would just be so awesome, but we forget about plausibility. What a pesky little creep! A killer of creativity! Why I've eliminated entire chapters because of this guy. Fortunately, those chapter kills came before publication. Sometimes that doesn't happen and I'll get pulled right out of a story.
Case in point. I just finished reading a historical romance. Not exactly a history lesson, if you know what I mean, but highly entertaining. Anyway, our hero and heroine are kidnapped by the villain, a loathsome bastard of a British East India Company man. Poor hero is whipped, then thrown into the hold while our heroine is enslaved in the captain's quarters. They get only brief glimpses of each other for the next four weeks or so. Until she sneaks down into the hold to get a little something, something. The author writes a very hot scene, complete with heroine running her fingers through hero's silky locks and along his strong jaw. Ah bliss...
Plausibility clobbering time.
We're talking the hold of an 18th century ship. Hello rats, hello other sailors, hello vermin. Not to mention it's been a month. Our silky-locked, strong-jawed hero is going to be pretty scruffy, smelly, emaciated and not to mention probably suffering the ill effects of having his flesh torn by a whip. And considering his condition, I don't think he'd still be able to ride her into the floor. Unless he's really an alien, but that would no longer make it just a historical.
I also recently read a sci fi in which the protagonist and villain were blasting away at each other and one of the many porthole windows on the ship got blown out. They kept fighting. Knock knock. This is outer space. It doesn't matter that the book is a low tech tale, if those windows get blown out, your characters will be sucked out into space, not continue their fight. Unless they are wearing pressurized space suits with gravity boots.
When we're writing we need to keep in mind that we can have happen whatever we want, but we need to make certain it's plausible. Otherwise we risk ruining our credibility as writers. Though I do know there are those readers who don't care one wit about whether something is believable. When I questioned the above historical on another site, I was hammered by faithful readers of the author who told me that I had no sense of drama and romance. I mean, really, who wants to read about scruffy heroes and body odors? It's not sexy.
Now even, though there are readers out there who don't care, I would err on the side of making it believable. You know for the other 99%.
Have you ever had to eliminate something in a story because it wasn't plausible? Have you ever read anything unbelievable that jerked you out of a book? Speak truth, I promise no one will skewer you for your opinion.
Monday, August 6, 2012
What Was Your Childhood Monster...A Blogfest
And since this is a blogfest, please click here for the other amazing participants.
I know you all who know me are thinking werewolf. And while I admit to thinking my great-grandma's neighbor was a werewolf one summer, no. The Big Bad Monster from my childhood were creatures I believe my Grandpa Bradley made up or maybe it was his grandpa, it's family legend so we can't be sure, really. Anyway, these creatures were called the Hobiats (pronounced HO-BEE-OTS. They were hairy, lumpy creatures with beady red eyes that came at night to steal your toys and bite your toes. Usually it happened if you didn't clean your room, but sometimes they just wanted toys. Not to mention a good snack of little piggy toes. LOL. There was no escape, either. They could get into your room through the closet, under the bed and even scarier, through the vents. Picture this, I grew up in an old Chicago style bungalow with very big, scary vents.
One birthday night, I think I was eight, I had gotten Malibu Barbie (I know, me with Barbie) and my father said those horrifying words, "Watch out for the Hobiats." When my parents went to bed, I got up, grabbed the big flashlight from the kitchen and my little red toy dog Iff-Iff. My canine companion and I went and sat right in front of the big vent in my room. We were positioned just right so between the two of us, we could keep an eye on the closet and my bed, too. Those Hobiats were so not going to get Barbie. After all, Santa was bringing my Barbie Pent House in just ten more days for Christmas. Barbie was staying right here. I also remembered to put on my winter boots so the Hobiats could not bite my toes. I was keeping all of my little piggies. I stayed awake as long as I could staring at that dark vent, waiting for those horrid creatures. My dad found me the next morning curled up on the floor with a dead flashlight and my toy dog. He, of course told my Uncles Dennis and Moose, who proceeded to tease me mercilessly the entire next summer.
What were your childhood monsters? Did you have or were you a cool kid who had no fear?
Saturday, August 4, 2012
She Said, He Said Our 50 Favorite Movies
Happy weekend and welcome to one-half of the dual post She Said, He Said: Our 50 Favorite Movies. I, of course am the She Said while my good friend Brent Allard from the wonderfully brilliant site Criminal Movies is my He Said. Today we are spotlighting our 50 favorite films, well 50 of them anyway. :) These are the films we love for various reasons, not necessarily because they changed the landscape of cinema or won Academy Awards. So here they are in no particular order, just categories for organization. And while I tried to stay at 50, I kinda sorta went over. By a lot. In my defense there are about 500 more that I left off the list. I can't help it, I love movies. LOL And I was never one for rules anyway, even if they are my own. ;)
Click for Brent's List
Horror
The Howling (1981)
The Exorcist (1973)
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Halloween (1979)
Psycho (1960):
The Evil Dead trilogy (1981)
30 days of Night (2007)
Frankenstein (1994)
Dracula (1992)
Silver Bullet (1985)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Sci Fi
Aliens (1987)
Star Wars trilogy (1977-83)
E.T. (1982)
Independence Day (1996)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Terminator (1984)
Serenity (2005)
Crime
Thunderheart (1992)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Zodiac (2007)
The Big Easy (1986)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
The Accused (1988)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
El Mariachi (1992)
Sin City (2005)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Mob
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Godfather (1972)
The Untouchables (1987)
Thriller
Jaws (1975):
Cape Fear (1962)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Comedy
Stripes (1981)
Princess Bride (1987)
Zombieland (2009)
Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)
The Thin Man (1934)
Topper (1937)
Bad Teacher (2011)
Action
Haywire (2012)
Hanna (2011):
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (2003-4)
Gladiator (2000)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Drama
Mask (1985)
Silkwood (1983)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Casablanca (1942)
Whale Rider (2002)
Inherit The Wind (1960)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Hoffa (1992)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
A League of Their Own (1992)
Joan of Paris (1942)
Romantic
Titanic (1997)
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957)
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Somewhere In Time (1980)
Last of the Mohicans (1992)
High Road To China (1983)
War
Glory (1989)
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Platoon (1986)
Casualties of War (1989)
The Longest Day (1962)
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Fantasy
Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-3)
The Crow (1994)
300 (2006)
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
Cargasms
Vanishing Point (1971)
Fast Five (2011)
Bullitt (1968)
Western
Dances With Wolves (1990)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
3:10 To Yuma (1957)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
El Dorado (1966)
The Searchers (1956)
What a long ass list, huh? I'm glad you stuck it out. What are some of your favorites? And don't forget to check out Brent's list.
Click for Brent's List
Horror
The Howling (1981)
The Exorcist (1973)
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Halloween (1979)
Psycho (1960):
The Evil Dead trilogy (1981)
30 days of Night (2007)
Frankenstein (1994)
Dracula (1992)
Silver Bullet (1985)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Sci Fi
Aliens (1987)
Star Wars trilogy (1977-83)
E.T. (1982)
Independence Day (1996)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Terminator (1984)
Serenity (2005)
Crime
Thunderheart (1992)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Zodiac (2007)
The Big Easy (1986)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
The Accused (1988)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
El Mariachi (1992)
Sin City (2005)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Mob
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Godfather (1972)
The Untouchables (1987)
Thriller
Jaws (1975):
Cape Fear (1962)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Comedy
Stripes (1981)
Princess Bride (1987)
Zombieland (2009)
Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)
The Thin Man (1934)
Topper (1937)
Bad Teacher (2011)
Action
Haywire (2012)
Hanna (2011):
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (2003-4)
Gladiator (2000)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Drama
Mask (1985)
Silkwood (1983)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Casablanca (1942)
Whale Rider (2002)
Inherit The Wind (1960)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Hoffa (1992)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
A League of Their Own (1992)
Joan of Paris (1942)
Romantic
Titanic (1997)
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957)
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Somewhere In Time (1980)
Last of the Mohicans (1992)
High Road To China (1983)
War
Glory (1989)
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Platoon (1986)
Casualties of War (1989)
The Longest Day (1962)
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Fantasy
Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-3)
The Crow (1994)
300 (2006)
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
Cargasms
Vanishing Point (1971)
Fast Five (2011)
Bullitt (1968)
Western
Dances With Wolves (1990)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
3:10 To Yuma (1957)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
El Dorado (1966)
The Searchers (1956)
What a long ass list, huh? I'm glad you stuck it out. What are some of your favorites? And don't forget to check out Brent's list.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Friday Awesome Sauce
It's Friday, yeah,yeah,yeah!!! It occurred to me that there is a lot of good things happening around the blogging community so I'm going to give a little shout out to my fellow writers and friends.
Julia Phillips Smith has a new story out, Bound By Dragonsfyre, Book 1 of the Dragonsfyre trilogy. A fantasy epic that you so do not want to miss. I'll be posting my review here soon.
My friend Jeremy from Retro-Zombie has his incredible artwork available on T-Shirts now. Go on and check them out. I collect tee shirts and I can't wait to get some. Yay Jeremy!!
K.C. Kendricks, author of some of the best erotica out there has a new book out, River Walk. It's the third in a series about a shapeshifter named Sundown and his lover, Fallon, a detective. I am addicted to the series.
Need help marketing your books? I know I do. We should head right on over to Gail M. Baugniet's blog. She is hosting author and marketing guru, Phyllis Z. Miller. Phyllis is talking about tips for using Amazon and Facebook to spread the word out about our stories.
You Should Know
I've been so neglectful of this lately, but I'll be getting back to this more frequently. Today's You Should Know is Mina over at Some Dark Romantic. I've just started getting to know her and she is incredibly fun, outspoken and smart. Her tag line is brilliant "...middle-aged Goth Mom whose dreams haven't quite breathed their last." Mina blogs on Mondays and Thursdays. She is very supportive of her fellow writers and dreamers. Go one and check her out, she's fantastic.
Have a great weekend and don't forget to come back tomorrow when I post my 50 Favorite Movies in a She Said He Said dual post with Brent at Criminal Movies. And you know there is going to be a whole host of creatures on this list...Werewolves, Elves, Ax Murderers...LOL
Julia Phillips Smith has a new story out, Bound By Dragonsfyre, Book 1 of the Dragonsfyre trilogy. A fantasy epic that you so do not want to miss. I'll be posting my review here soon.
My friend Jeremy from Retro-Zombie has his incredible artwork available on T-Shirts now. Go on and check them out. I collect tee shirts and I can't wait to get some. Yay Jeremy!!
K.C. Kendricks, author of some of the best erotica out there has a new book out, River Walk. It's the third in a series about a shapeshifter named Sundown and his lover, Fallon, a detective. I am addicted to the series.
Need help marketing your books? I know I do. We should head right on over to Gail M. Baugniet's blog. She is hosting author and marketing guru, Phyllis Z. Miller. Phyllis is talking about tips for using Amazon and Facebook to spread the word out about our stories.
You Should Know
I've been so neglectful of this lately, but I'll be getting back to this more frequently. Today's You Should Know is Mina over at Some Dark Romantic. I've just started getting to know her and she is incredibly fun, outspoken and smart. Her tag line is brilliant "...middle-aged Goth Mom whose dreams haven't quite breathed their last." Mina blogs on Mondays and Thursdays. She is very supportive of her fellow writers and dreamers. Go one and check her out, she's fantastic.
Have a great weekend and don't forget to come back tomorrow when I post my 50 Favorite Movies in a She Said He Said dual post with Brent at Criminal Movies. And you know there is going to be a whole host of creatures on this list...Werewolves, Elves, Ax Murderers...LOL
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Some More Inspiration
I was so fired up by the comments you all left yesterday on my Insecure Writers Support Group post that I wanted to share a song that I have recently begun to listen to as a "Pump Me Up" tune. The song is called "The Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes featuring Ryan Tedder. It's all about digging deep and pressing on against your demons and all other odds.
Here's the video, it features US gymnast John Orozco, who rose to the top of his sport in spite of being a poor kid from the Bronx. Gymnastics is a hell of an expensive sport and to get where he is from where he came from, well that in itself is mighty impressive. He certainly defines fighter.
Thank you, my friends, my fellow writers. Here's to you and finding that fighting spirit no matter what dream you are pursuing.
Stay tuned as this weekend, Brent from Criminal Movies and I will be posting a She Said He Said: Our 50 Favorite Films of All Time. It's going to be really cool.
Here's the video, it features US gymnast John Orozco, who rose to the top of his sport in spite of being a poor kid from the Bronx. Gymnastics is a hell of an expensive sport and to get where he is from where he came from, well that in itself is mighty impressive. He certainly defines fighter.
Thank you, my friends, my fellow writers. Here's to you and finding that fighting spirit no matter what dream you are pursuing.
Stay tuned as this weekend, Brent from Criminal Movies and I will be posting a She Said He Said: Our 50 Favorite Films of All Time. It's going to be really cool.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
IWSG: When It's Toughest, Reach The Deepest
Today I want to talk about that time when things are at their darkest. When schedules have gotten so clogged with family stuff, day job commitments and other non-writing business that there is no time to sit with your stories or edits. That time when you've finished your query, sent your baby out and now the rejections are piling up like sandbags before flood waters. That time when you just can't seem to figure out what to do with the sagging middle and if you look at those characters in that room with the drugs one more time, you are going rip out your hair and run screaming into the night. Those times when you are just burned out with that novel and wonder why the heck you started down this road to begin with.
This is the test for a writer. Do we have what it takes to persevere and cross the line in gold medal fashion? I say...Yes. You. Do. In watching the Olympics, I have seen athletes in complete disarray, shattered by pain and mistakes, rise up and fight for their dream, that Olympic medal, that personal best. You must find it within you to keep going, victory is just ahead. That saying darkest before dawn comes to mind. It's an old cliche because it is true. When we are closest to realizing our dreams, to finally finishing, the demons get bigger, the obstacles seem insurmountable. This is when we must dig deepest and find it within us to forge ahead with that fourth round of revisions we were told were necessary, to send out more queries, though our rejections could wallpaper the entire Sistine Chapel, to find a way to get those characters out of that drug room.
Reaching for the stars is hell, but oh so worth it. You can do it, keep writing, keep fighting, keep sending out your work. You will find your way through these setbacks, this burnout, these rejections...I believe that with all my heart. If I didn't, I would not be published. I would be sitting in a cubicle, stressed out with an ulcer while Maxie, Ryanne, Nathan and my other characters all gathered dust under my bed. Things still get horrible and I still sit in a cubicle, but the walls don't seem so close because every once in a while, I see stars.
Keep on writing!
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