Remember our four-legged friends!

My heart goes out to the people of the Gulf Coast. Katrina was a huge storm, and its impact is even bigger. I can’t even imagine the nightmare the people of the hurricane-hit areas have already been through and what they’re facing in the next months.

I know lots of folks are donating to the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies. Consider making a donation to one of the many agencies that rescue, house, feed, and treat pets and other animnals affected by disasters such as this. They will need all the help they can get in the weeks to come.

Janet - No power in the 'verse can stop us...

The Great...Romance?

Got some good news on the writing front—Polkadots & Moonbeams is a finalist in a contest. Yippee and hooray and all that, but the thing that I’m most excited about is that my MS will be seen by an editor from a pretty big publishing house. So far P&M has been looked at (and courteously rejected) by agents but no editor has eyeballed it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and what place the MS will take (of course I have to wait 3 months, but I guess that’s fast in the publishing world!).

Went to see a good movie over the weekend. No, not the “Dukes of Hazzard.” I said a good movie, not a cinematic crapfest. The movie I’m talking about is “The Great Raid.” Now, anyone who knows me knows if it’s got WWII in it, I’m there, so when I heard about this movie, I had my ticket and popcorn money ready. Dragged my oldest son along, too. Well, didn’t have to drag actually. He’s a bigger WWII nut than me (yes, I created a monster!).

Anyway, “The Great Raid” is based on a harrowing TRUE event in the Philippines near the end of the war. Faced with the real fear that the Japanese would execute POWs, the US sent a squad of Rangers in to liberate Carbanatuan POW camp—deep behind enemy lines. A suicide mission that turned out… Well, I won’t give it away, only to say the story is TENSE.

I read an interview with “Raid’s” director who said he tried to keep true to the story instead of “Hollywooding” it up. He failed in only one aspect—a female character who risks her life in a city near the camp to smuggle food and medicine to the prisoners is motivated in great part by…love. Yup, a pre-war romance with one of the prisoners. Now, I read one of the books the story is based on, “Ghost Soldiers,” and though the brave heroine was real, and even got captured and tortured by the Japanese, there was no love story involved. She did it because she was, well, brave. Courageous. And knew what had to be done. Like the soldiers.

But Hollywood can’t have a woman whose actions are motivated by anything but her heart so… In one ludicrous scene, after she’s been chased by the enemy, seen her comrades murdered, and been tortured in prison, she tearfully confesses to a priest, “I can’t stop thinking about him…nothing else matters.” With the Japanese breathing down your neck, suspecting you’re a spy? I don’t think so.

Why was this bullcrap introduced in what was already a pretty riveting story? Is it because Hollywood doesn’t think women will go see a movie like “The Great Raid” without some romance? Probably—Hollywood doesn’t think women will go to ANY movie without romance. Maybe there’s some truth in it for some, but take it from someone who reads and writes romance—a good story is a good story whether there’s nooky involved or not. So, go see “The Great Raid” for a good story.

Janet – No power in the ’verse can stop me! (Only 44 days until Serenity…)

Just keep writing...

Took some badly needed time last week to…write. I had something I don’t usually have during the summer—several free days with no kids. The boys were at Boy Scout camp, and to take my mind off the myriad bee stings, sudden tornadoes and electrical storms I worried might befall them, I decided to try writing a “Book in a Week.” I already had an outline for my historical, “Cole for Christmas,” with about three chapters written, so Monday morning I hunkered down with copious amounts of iced tea and went to work. Except for the occasional phone call, email, and frequent visits to the bathroom (see aforementioned “copious amounts of iced tea”), I did nothing but write.

For anyone who’s thinking of giving this insane writing exercise (or it’s less “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” sister, Book in a Month) a whirl, here’s what I learned from the experience:

° DO lots of finger/hand/arm stretches, body stretches, too. Typing as much as you can in a week will be taxing!
° DO check your writer’s ego at the door—it ain’t gonna be pretty. Don’t expect Shakespeare from this speed typing, mental diarrhea exercise. It’s going to be messy, with lots of tell-don’t-show and choppy narrative void of verbs but heavy on adverbs.
° DO remember YOU WILL BE THE ONLY ONE TO SEE IT. It’s okay if it sucks—I have whole paragraphs that read, “She goes up stairs, he goes, ‘where you going?’” For now, just write.
° DON’T rewrite. My favorite movie line is from an obscure 1976 film about a cross-country race called “Gumball Rally.” At the start of the race, one of the drivers rips off the rear-view mirror and tosses it out the window saying, “What’s behind me is not important.” In this first pass, that’s true. I know it’s hard, but RESIST the urge to go back and fix things until you’re done.
° DON’T worry about snappy dialogue—in one scene my Regency period hero calls the heroine a “Dame” (in 1940s lingo, not some reference to peerage) and later suggests they “get it on.” I wanted to get the gist before moving on, can always fix it later.
° DON’T forget you let the dog out into the blistering late-July heat—three hours ago.
° DON’T worry about Research. At this point, research doesn’t matter (unless you’re planning to have a nuclear bomb go off at Waterloo, then you might want to see if that’s feasible). If you head to the Internet to find the right kind of carriage the hero might drive—a barouche or a phaeton—the next thing you know you’ve lost precious minutes and even hours clicking around in the wondrous playground that is the World Wide Web.
° DON’T imbibe copious amounts of iced tea—go for something less diuretic.
° DON’T forget to eat, lest you keel over onto the keyboard and accidentally hit “Delete.”
° DO remember you WILL rewrite (after you complete the first draft). You WILL fix all those irritating problems, the grammar boo-boos, the research faux pas, the anachronistic language, etc.
° DO keep typing. To paraphrase Dory in “Finding Nemo,” “Just keep writing, just keep writing…” Before you know it, you’ll have a chapter, three chapters, half a book, and maybe even a complete first draft—in a week.

The week was exhausting but rewarding—for both the boys and me. They earned merit badges and my youngest a rank advancement; nobody got lost or electrocuted, though one scout cut his finger and needed stitches. I plowed through about 35,000 words and came about two chapters from completing the entire first draft. I’ve got the leg cramps and stiff fingers to prove it—and a satisfied smile! Now, if you’ll excuse me, the iced tea is kicking in again…

Janet—No power in the ’verse can stop me!