Thanksgiving

"Thanksgiving like the Fourth of July should be considered a national festival and observed by all our people." – Sarah Josepha Hale

Did you know if it weren’t for Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879), poet, writer and magazine editor, Thanksgiving may not have been made a national holiday? This author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, used Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine to campaign for Thanksgiving as a national holiday until Lincoln made it official.

What’s amazing to me is that at age 34 she was widowed and penniless. With five small children to raise, she supported herself with sewing and poetry. Then, at 39, her first novel, Northwood, became a huge success. She continued to write and edit for many years. At age 90, she wrote:

“And now, having reached my ninetieth year, I must bid farewell to my countrywomen, with the hope that this work of half a century may be blessed to the furtherance of their happiness and usefulness in their Divinely-appointed sphere. New avenues for higher culture and for good works are opening before them, which fifty years ago were unknown. That they may improve these opportunities, and be faithful to their higher vocation, is my heartfelt prayer.”

Thank you Sarah Josepha Hale! For more about this fascinating woman writer, visit Best Years blog, Women Writers, and Wikipedia.

Now I’ll leave you with this from Inkygirl.com.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Sarah Hale, Thanksgiving, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Mary had a little lamb, inkygirl,

Making Up Words

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;/All mimsy were the borogoves,/And the mome raths outgrabe." From Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

I feel certain authors have been making up words since the invention of writing. Some say Shakespeare alone is responsible for over 3,000 new words. Wikipedia, however, states giving him credit for all these words is a misconception because Shakespeare’s works are often the earliest cited written record. The words may have been used in speech prior to ending up in one of his plays. But whether the actual number is 3,000 or 300, he still made up at lot of words.

Alligator, bedroom and employer, are such common words it’s hard to believe they’ve only been around since Shakespearean times. We seldom hear about the words he made up that didn’t make it, such as attasked, bubukles, relume, and smilets. I like the sound of these words. Maybe someday they’ll get a second chance.

If you’re as fascinated by Shakespeare’s made up words as I am, check out pathguy.com. There’s an extensive list of words and phrases attributed to Shakespeare, along with the play where they can be found. This site is also where I found the list of his words that didn’t work their way into the English language.

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll is a poem full of nonsense words. Chortled and galumphing are now commonly used words, though none from the above quote seem to have caught on. According to Wikipedia the poem has been translated into many languages. This leads me to wonder how it’s possible to translate a made up word. Does anyone know? Maybe that’s a subject of another blog.

Made up words interest me because my own attempts to create a new word have been unsuccessful. I tried coming up with a sound once. I used something like “aaauufff.” My critique partner thought it was a typo even though he didn’t have any idea what I had been trying to type. If someone who knows me and is familiar with my writing style didn’t understand what I was trying to convey, I felt fairly certain other readers wouldn’t either. I changed it to read, “he emitted a sound like air escaping from a sudden puncture in a tire,” or something similar. "Aaauufff" was a much shorter description.

Another attempt to coin a word was one I borrowed from my grandson. (Yes, I am the type of person who would steal a word from a three-year-old.) While playing with his trains one day, he used the word scrumbling. I liked the sound of it and wrote it down. Recently, when trying to come up with an action word, I saw the note I’d written and decided scrumbling was exactly what I was looking for. I was crushed when I checked and found out that scrumbling was already a term used for free-form crocheting. That was not my intended usage. I had to settle for a much-used word like crumpling.

How do you feel when you run across a made up word when reading? Have you created a new word in something you’ve written?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll, Shakespeare, made up words,

Anti-Social Media

“It is only the inadequacy of the criminal code that saves the hackers from very serious prosecution.” – Ken Thompson

The results of the Jung Typology Test that Julie Lomoe mentioned in her guest blog here on Monday, confirmed that I’m an introvert. However, I never considered my self antisocial—until now, that is.

I was just starting to get a little more comfortable using Twitter. I even installed TweetDeck. Then last week, some slimy (I deleted a few adjectives here, but you’re welcome to use your imagination) scumbag somehow hacked into my account and sent out direct mail spam messages in my name. I can’t tell you how angry and upset this makes me.

My apologies to all of you who received the junk messages. I am so appreciative that several people knew I wouldn’t send out that sort of mail and informed me that my Twitter account had probably been the victim of a hacker. I followed their suggestions and changed my password immediately, but it was almost two full days before I could access my account again. I kept getting the message that I was temporarily locked out because of too many failed attempts to enter the correct password. I guess the creep didn’t want to give up too easily.

I know it’s not a serious crime. Nothing tangible was stolen and I wasn’t physically harmed, yet I felt violated. My personal space had been infringed upon and it made me very uncomfortable. Though I have different passwords for various accounts, I felt the need to go into all of my accounts and change my password, just in case. Making the changes didn’t take that much time, but recalling the proper sign-in for each situation taxes my limited memory function. I find myself calling that hacker all sorts of unpleasant names as I fumble with my new passwords.

Closing my Twitter account crossed my mind, but then I felt that would be like hunching my shoulders and fading to the background while letting the class bully get away with being a jerk. Instead, I plan on hanging in there, but I’m doing things differently. I am going to be a lot less sociable on my social Twitter network.

I plan to be much more selective when I hit the ‘follow back’ button. If you do not have any information or a website on your profile, you may indeed be a very nice person with interesting Tweets, but I am not going to follow you. I need to know more.

If I know you personally or if you’re an online friend, don’t worry, you’re safe. Those I don’t know and who have nothing to do with the world of writing, publishing or editing, you’re history—I’m unfollowing. I hope you don’t take it personal. Blame it on the malicious and despicable hackers who are taking the social out of social networking.

In January, I blogged about Hackers and Virus Writers. I didn’t understand the purpose then and I don’t understand it now. I just wish the people who felt the need to do this sort of thing would get a life of their own and quit disrupting others.

Have you had problems with hackers? Do you have any prevention tips?

Thanks for stopping by and letting me rant. I feel much better now.

Tags: Ken Thompson, Jung Typology test, Twitter , tweetdeck, hackers , passwords, antisocial, Julie Lomoe

Introverted Writers

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” – Henry David Thoreau

I am happy to introduce my guest today, Julie Lomoe. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Barnard College, Julie received an MFA from Columbia University and an MA in Art Therapy from New York University. She lived in SoHo for many years, exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, and many Manhattan galleries. She showed her paintings and won a prize at the Woodstock Festival of Music and Art in 1969, an experience she blogged about in a three-part series this past August.

And now, here’s Julie to talk about introverted writers:

For introverted writers: Can you find success by tapping into your inner extrovert? Take a free online test and find out!

I’ve always considered myself an introvert, and I suspect the majority of writers would characterize themselves the same way. How else could we spend countless solitary hours at the computer, spinning tales from our imaginations? Yet sending our creations out into the marketplace in hopes of finding an audience requires a radical change of roles. Now and then, like it or not, we have to don the masks of extroverts.

Tonight I’m psyching myself up to be a raconteur. The Friends of the Albany Public Library have chosen me as Author of the Year for my suspense novel Eldercide, and tomorrow they’ll be honoring me at a luncheon, after which I’ll give a half-hour talk followed by a Q&A and hopefully some book sales. Speaking in public isn’t a problem for me; it’s a skill I’ve cultivated over the years. In my former lifetime as an art therapist, I taught and gave workshops, and for many years I’ve been a member of the Mental Health Players, an improvisatory theater troupe that performs before and interacts with a wide variety of audiences.

I enjoy fielding questions about my writing and tossing off zingy one-liners that make the audience laugh. But I positively loath what follows: sitting behind a table and a pile of my books, smiling, chatting, and hoping my dazzling (or sometimes pedestrian) performance will translate into sales. Even when I succeed in selling books, I generally come home from these events utterly drained, and spend the next few hours vegging out in my trusty old recliner, slugging down wine and watching TV with my two cats on my lap.

The aforementioned dysfunctional behavior is a dead giveaway. We introverts may put on a good show, even genuinely enjoy socializing and selling up to a point, but putting ourselves out in the world saps our energy. True extroverts, on the other hand, thrive on social interaction. It replenishes and energizes them, while what energizes me is creating in isolation, whether it’s writing, painting, or playing the piano.

Our personalities are endlessly complex, of course, and most of us have the ability to shift from one role to another as the occasion demands. The spectrum between introvert and extrovert is only one of many. One way of exploring your temperament more deeply is to take a test based on the Myers Briggs Personality Test, which in turn is derived from Jungian theories. Several are available free on line. I took one several years ago, but I wasn’t sure I remembered the results correctly, so I took it again today, answering 60 yes/no questions at a rapid clip, trying not to overthink my responses. I came out exactly the same: I’m an INFP. Those initials stand for introvert, intuitive, feeling and perceiving.

According to educational psychologist David Keirsey’s widely used Temperament Sorter, I’m an “idealist healer.” My type “can seem shy, even distant around others. . . Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite happily alone. . . They have a natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion.”

Wow, I like that! It’s even better than astrology, and it has some genuine scientific validity behind it. Maybe I’ll enlarge the description and paste it above my computer. What type are you? Why not take the test and find out! Here’s the link: Humanmetrics (Jung Typology Test). To learn more about the four temperaments and the 16 personality types, go to Keirsey. After you have your results, it would be great if you post them here as a comment, and let us know if you think the results are accurate.

I wonder if the Internet will require revisions in these types of standardized tests. For me, blogging and getting virtually acquainted with folks all over the globe without actually meeting face-to-face combines the best of both worlds – I can be an introvert and an extrovert at the same time! But that’s a subject for another day and another post.

Thanks, Julie, for that interesting post and allowing me to be part of your book tour.

Julie mentioned that she has been named 2009 Author of the Year by the Friends of the Albany Public Library, but she didn’t mention that the library’s selection committee for the Author of the Year award chose her especially for her novel Eldercide, because of its relevance to current issues surrounding health care reform and our nation’s treatment of the elderly and of end-of-life issues. The award has been given for decades, but this is the first time the committee has chosen a self-published rather than a traditionally published book. Congratulations and way to go, Julie!

To learn more about Julie and to read sample chapters from her books, visit her blog: Julie Lomoe’s Musings Mysterioso. To buy her books, Mood Swing: The Bipolar Murders (2006) and Eldercide (2008), and support small business, you can go directly to her publisher, Virtualbookworm. You can also order online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Be sure to visit her tomorrow at at Toni Andrews, the next stop on her tour.

I have always been fascinated by personality types so I took the test Julie mentioned. I am an ISFJ; introvert, sensing feeling, judging. According to Keirsey, I’m in the “protector” group. My primary interest is in the safety and security of those I care about and I have an extraordinary sense of loyalty and responsibility. I’d say my results were accurate.

Looking forward to hearing your personality types.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: introverts, Keirsey, humanmetrics, temperament sorter, Myers Briggs Personality Test , Bipolar Murders, Eldercide, Tags: personality types, Julie Lomoe, Thoreau,

Screenwriting

"The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement.” – Raymond Chandler

Before getting to the subject of screenwriting, I’d like to start off by thanking Sharon Galligar Chance for posting such a nice review of The Ride. You can check out the review, plus many others, at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews.

Like many other of the authors I know, I allow myself to occasionally daydream about seeing my book adapted to the big screen. Or, for that matter, I’d be happy with a made-for-TV version. I haven’t pursued this dream because I found the idea of writing a screenplay daunting.

Unlike book manuscripts, screenplays have some precise guidelines. For instance one page of a standard layout (Courier 12 point) for a script is equal to one minute of screen time. Therefore, screenplays need to be between 100 and 120 pages. Action must be written in the present tense; characters names capitalized and centered on the page; and directions on how to deliver a line needs to be in parenthesis.

While at the Florida Writers Association conference, I attended the workshop Get Your Screenplay Noticed in Hollywood led by Chantelle Osman, founder of A Twist of Karma Entertainment, a production and development company. When she mentioned that a book does not necessarily have to be in screenplay format to be submitted, my ears perked up. In fact, she said many places prefer the book over a screenplay because they have their own staff of screenplay writers.

The submission process seems very similar to how you go about submitting manuscripts to agents and publishers—you research the companies to find out what sort of screenplays they want and only submit what they are looking for. Your submission should include a cover letter, synopsis and the script or book.

I’ve used the Internet Movie Database (IMBD) to look up answers to crosswords, but Chantelle suggested buying the pro account which gives you information on producers and agents. There is also a classified section for scripts wanted.

I went to IMBD Pro. For $12.95 you get access to information on 80,000 people and 30,000 companies in the business. When I checked, the site offered a 14 day free trial.

A few of her other suggestions were:

Register your work with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) before sending it anywhere. Some producers insist that writers be a member of the WGA, but low budget producers may not require membership.

Limit your submissions to five or fewer at a time. The reasoning, according to Chantelle, is that Hollywood talks and if producers think everyone has a copy of the same book/screenplay in their possession, they lose interest.

Last but not least, if your search for a producer does result in an offer, have an agent or entertainment lawyer to review everything. She heavily stressed the word “everything.”

I haven’t started the submission process yet, but now that I know I can submit the book instead of the screenplay, I do plan to give it a try at a future date—hopefully sooner rather than later. Have you ever submitted a book/screenplay to producers or a production company? Do you have any advice to offer?

COMING ATTRACTION:

Be sure to drop by on Monday, when Julie Lomoe, author of Eldercide and the Bipolar Murders, will be my guest. Julie is in the midst of whirlwind of a book blog tour. Though I’m not sure of her topic, I am positive that whatever she decides to write will be very interesting, so you won’t want to miss it. In the meantime, to find out more about Julie, check out her blog Julie Lomoe’s Musings Mysterioso.

Thanks for stopping by.


Tags: Raymond Chandler, The Ride, Sharon Chance, Florida Writers Association, Chantelle Osman, Writers Guild, IMBD, screenwriting, screenplay, Julie Lomoe, A Twist of Karma Entertainment

New Read or Reread?

“Rereading, we find a new book.” – Mason Cooley

My wonderful sister, who knows how I panic over coming up with blog ideas, recently forwarded me a Dear Book Lover column by Cynthia Crossen in the Wall Street Journal. It featured a letter from a woman who liked to read the same novels over and over. The woman seemed a bit apologetic about it.

The article states: “And Nabokov wrote, "When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, this stands between us and artistic appreciation."

I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t think of a book I’ve reread (with two exceptions). My own manuscripts are exceptions because the editing process makes rereading a gazillion times mandatory. The children’s books that I’ve read aloud, first to my daughter and then to my grandson, are another exception.

The article goes on to say: “In praise of rereading in the New York Review of Books, Larry McMurtry wrote, "Reversal of fortune can, I suspect, be a spur to rereading; where once one had read for adventure, now one rereads for the safety of the unvarying text."

Looking over the books on my shelves, I spot books that I thoroughly enjoyed and may even appreciate more the second or third time through. But these same shelves also contain many books I haven’t had the opportunity to read yet. Those books look more enticing to me because I don’t know how they end. Besides the books on my shelves, I have a long list of other books I want to buy to read, plus there are new releases daily. In other words, so many books and so little time.

I agree with Ms. Crossen when she says: “If rereading enriches, however, it also lacks the thrill of the chase, the feeling of being mugged by the writer and forcibly hauled into a previously unimaginable world.”

According to an article I found from the American Library Association, the most reread books were (Sorry, the most recent survey I found was from 2004, but my research was limited by some very important factors, such as the rapidly approaching happy hour.):

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Shakespeare's collected works
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series
Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House on the Prairie series
A.A. Milne - Winnie the Pooh
Alice Walker - The Color Purple

What about you? Are you a one-time reader or a rereader? What books do you reread?

Thanks for stopping by,


Tags: Mason Cooley, Wall Street Journal, Nabokov, McMurtry, Tolkien, Rowling, Dickens,

Lose Some, Win Some

"Man, I really like Vegas." - Elvis Presley

Once a year we meet our special group of friends in Las Vegas. While I’m there I make contributions to many one-armed bandits. Just doing my part to keep those bright lights in that city aglow! It’s the least I can do. So while the odds and past experiences tell me I will leave with less money than I start with—also known as losing—I thought I'd share a winning story.

A few weeks ago I learned that my short story, The Communiqué, was selected as the winning entry in the Winter Poetry and Short Story Competition sponsored by The Southwest Florida Women’s Digest. Needless to say, I’m very excited about winning, seeing a story of mine in their great publication, and walking away with a cash prize (which now makes up part of my Nevada investment fund). The story, limited to 500 words, appeared in their 6th Year Anniversary Fall/Winter 2009 Issue. With their permission, I’m reprinting it here. I hope you enjoy it.

The Communiqué

For inspiration John kept a copy of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls on his desk next to his grandfather’s antique pen set. Though his grandfather had been dead for fifteen years, John still missed the soothing sound of his deep voice. He sighed as he ran his hand down the spine of his grandfather’s favorite book. The rush of memories turned John’s frown into a smile.

“That book isn’t suitable for a young boy,” John’s mother used to say.

“It’s literature,” his grandfather had argued. “It’s suitable for everyone. John’s brain will absorb the sounds of great prose. It’ll help him become an illustrious writer someday.”

His smile disappeared. I must be a big disappointment to you now, Grandpa.

John’s thoughts drifted from his grandfather’s gravelly voice to Sara’s angelic face. Engaged to Sara for three years, John worried she was losing her patience. Since college he’d sold a few short stories and articles but his earnings were meager. They wouldn’t come close to covering the needs of a family. How stupid I was to believe I’d ever be a bestselling author.

With that thought, he forced himself to focus on the application in front of him. I have to do this. It’s the only way.

Becoming an accountant at the firm Sara’s father owned didn’t appeal to him in the slightest; however, eating did. He removed the antique pen from its marble holder and began filling in the tedious blanks.

Halfway through the form, the pen began to leak. The ink spread like an incoming tide; the questions and his responses descended to the murky depths of a great black sea.

Horrified by the sight of the ruined application, he groaned, rubbed his forehead, and closed his eyes. What am I going to tell Sara’s father?

“That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out,” he heard a raspy voice say.

Recognizing the quote from Hemingway’s book, John opened his eyes and looked around. He was alone and yet he felt a presence. I’m imagining things.

“Don’t give up so easily on your dream, my boy.”

“Is that you, Grandpa?” John whispered.

The only reply was the puff of air he felt waft past his ear.

“It is you. I know it is.”

John wadded up the ruined application and tossed it into the trash. He cleaned up the ink and carefully placed the pen back onto the marble stand before turning on his computer.

“Chapter 1,” he typed, “Not one to believe in ghosts, Max first refused to acknowledge…”

His fingers were barely able to keep up with his ideas as his hands flew across the keyboard and words filled the screen. After a few minutes, John paused and read what he had written.

He smiled, glanced upward, and said, “Thanks Grandpa.”
***

Thank you for stopping by.

Tags: Elvis, Las Vegas, Women’s Digest, short story, Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Nevada,