WRITING CRIME WHEN THE CRIME RATE'S DOWN

My love of crime, suspense, and thriller novels comes comes from my past career - nearly a whole lifetime ago - of being a police officer. My favourite themes are redemption, and justice, and my favourite characters are anti-heroes, crusaders, and the flawed/broken/demented.

The cops portrayed on Law & Order, and the old show "Homicide: Life on the Streets" are excellent character profiles of "real" cops. Fontana is my favourite cop on L&O right now, as I knew several "older" cops like him - although not as elegantly dressed in my smaller city - who operated in much the same ways, with the same attitudes and ethics. Unfortunately, I've never met an Assistant Crown Attorney (our version of an Assistant DA) quite like McCoy. But if you're looking for good cops to emulate for character realism, Fontana on L&O, Vincent D'Onofrio on L&O: Criminal Intent, and Mariska Hargitay on L&O: Special Victims Unit, are quite true to life. Fontana is a great "street" cop, D'Onofrio portrays the cerebral cop who uses intuition and education to pick apart a case, and Mariska plays an intuitive, sensitive, but spit-in-your-eye, female cop with baggage who does her job as an equal.

My favourite themes as I said are redemption and justice, because who doesn't need that in their life at some point? Every person I arrested needed it: that second chance to do it over, or not do it, to get back that moment before they got in that car, broke into that building, slashed their wife, left their apartment for two days with the baby in the crib....

Some cops didn't care about the victims, and most didn't care about the criminals. Most criminals are not as smart as they are in the movies, even if they're "career" criminals. They're creatures of habit and that's why they're easy to profile. They're usually grouped into a) opportunists, b) habitual, and they are usually the products of "institutions" such as the foster care/juvenile system, or are sociopathic and living in a family situation, thus the "good boy from such a good family" line. Any cop who "cared" was shamed by their peers into being thought of as a "social worker with a gun". (male or female)

Most cops after they've been on the job 3-4 years see themselves as dealing with the lower echelons of society, if not "hauling garbage". Novels which deal with cops as heros do alot to embrace the ideal of the cop as guardian of society - of being more than just the person who deals with all of the horrible things that normal people do not see and do not want to see - novels with cops as heros are redemptive in themselves.

Writing crime/suspense/thriller novels is giving the public a little glimpse into a world they know is out there, but don't want to get too close to in real life. It's challenging work and invigorating at the same time. The truth is that cops are the guardians of our society - witness this one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the lawlessness that took place when one third of their police force quit en masse - and as I now have the time to write I enjoy putting to paper the real world that I know is out there...to show the public something they don't know about, and tell stories that are fictional while being real life at the same time.

I used to come home off nights and tell my fiance after a short-handed nightshift that if the public really knew what went on all night, they'd never be able to fall asleep!

CRAZY VACATION

In spite of having family here from Ontario, I have been working on my article, trying to layer my characters in BLACK ANGEL and in between loads of laundry and cooking meals, have been thinking about redoing the entire first third of the book.

And I was searching my hard drive for a story that I wanted to post here, but it's on another computer and I don't have it saved to disc. I may have to retype the hard copy, but I'd like to post it just so you, faithful readers of my musings, can see that I really do write in between politics, recipes, and child care! It's my published story from my Anthology and I'd like to share it as I have the rights back now.

Two weeks and school is back in. My kids are literally counting down the days. They're bored stiff and at least the excitement of a family visit has brought them back to life. Once they're back in school I'm going to try and work on both BA and COLD JUSTICE at the same time. See if I can do one on one day, and the other story on the next day.

I thought you might enjoy a typical Saskatchewan sunset.

THE WRITE MINDED BLOG

If you'll check out the link on the right for THE WRITE MINDED BLOG, you'll see what I meant in my post yesterday. These girls really know how to pour on the promotional sauce. They're romance writers but I think we can all take a "page from their book" (cliche alert) and at least see how this thing works for them.

First, they're throwing a two week "Blog Party". They're giving away 5 of their books every day, and at the end of two weeks they're having a draw for the GRAND PRIZE WINNER - who - drum roll please, will receive ***every single*** copy of their combined books published in 2007. Sort of like joining the Book of the Month Club. They're also giving the GPW a gift basket right away for instant gratification.

At the same time during the two weeks, they're having two author guest bloggers, and (and this is what I think is where they're going to get people flocking to read daily) each of them are having interviews with their publishers on the Blog. Every time a person shows up to read, they comment and get their name thrown in the hat for a daily giveaway and the GPW.

Whichever of the ladies, or whoever in their Publicity department came up with this idea, is a genius. They obviously have their publishers behind them, to have them guest blogging too. As I also belong to Romance Writers of America, I'll be over there commenting away, hoping to win a free book, at least once! :)

See what I meant about not being afraid to give away those books? It works, and they already had 22 comments within the a.m. of posting it just on the Kiss of Death writing loop. I encourage you to pop over there to take a look at the Blog. The contest starts on Monday the 14th. Perhaps your wife would like to read something by these ladies. :)

And for those of you on the Killer Year Blog, getting your publishers on there for a week or so would be very interesting for the rest of us....hint, hint.

Have a great weekend everyone!

THE ARMS THAT HOLD YOU UP

Well, I've posted about this on a link or two, and it's for an article I'm doing ("The Arms That Hold You Up") on how our spouses/significant others support us in our writing. I'm excited about it. I've done up a quick 3 page questionnaire (double-spaced and lots of room for your comments) that I can email to you if you'd like to participate in my research. You don't have to be quoted in the article by name if you don't want your spouse to know what you really think of them since your last editor's lunch. I want to find out the real nitty-gritty that goes on behind closed doors. Something behind the romance writers websites that gush about "my loving supportive husband, two children, and our golden retriever Ned." And I even have a golden retriever.

So, email me at ljwood@shaw.ca and I'll send you a copy that you can email me back anonymously, or print out a hard copy and sign it so I can quote you and fax it back to me. The questionnaire explains all. :)

Speaking of websites, I don't have one yet and all the writing gurus I've been reading lately say that even unpubs like me (who keep sending partials out to agents) need one. NEED ONE!
So, I've been whipping around websites the last few days and trying to write things down that I'd like to have on mine, and things I DON'T want to have on mine. Most of my friends waited till they sold before they put one up, so they at least had a book cover and an excerpt for people to read.

I did see one unpub's site that was pages long, quite the take off on Suz Brockmann's Troubleshooters series (helloooo, she did it first!), with pages and pages of the MS up there as excerpts. Everything I've ever read in book or magazine tells you this is a big NO NO. It's already published if you do that - now if she gets a contract for that series she'll have lots of fun rewriting all those chapters.

My website will never have: pictures of my family, my dog, my cats, my quilts, my countries flag, my dh's classic car collection, or my son's patriotic history project. Enough said.

Another irritating point on websites....IF you're going to have a contest, make it for something worth having! Especially if you're expecting people to take time to read through an entire excerpt for it. And THEN, don't say "only shipping in the US" on the page where you enter. How cheap is that? Am I going to buy that writers' books???

And I know this is a promotional thing, and I haven't completely decided on it myself, but those writer's who combine a contest entry with "this entry automatically adds you to my email list/newsletter etc. etc." I think are also cheap, cheap, cheap. Isn't there a better way to put out an email/newsletter list? The only way I'd automatically add myself to someone's email list is if the contest was for a) a new book, b) piece of jewellery, c) some symbol from the book, d) perfume/gift basket etc.

That's going back to my first point re contests - why are writers so bloody cheap? I have a dear writer friend, and I love her to bits, but her accountant told her to *never* give away a book because it was coming out of her bottom line. To this day she's never given away a book. It's ridiculous. How can you build a fan base, without passing out the occasional freebie in a contest?

By b) above, I mean a replica of jewellery that plays a part in the plot of the book, by c) I mean something similar, say Nordic runes, or a rosary, or tarot cards. I had b) bought for my first book, which never sold, but I had a lot of fun wearing that necklace around. And if the book HAD sold, it would've looked stunning on fake velvet in a frame at a booksigning. With contest entries going into a box.....and yeah, I guess I'd be putting them on an email list.... :)

The other thing I noticed is that just about everything's been done already in the crime/suspense/mystery website field. I'll need to hire someone really crafty to make something original enough to satisfy my vision when the time comes. I have my colour scheme in mind, and thankfully, no one else seems to have it yet although I realize I can't have seen every website out there! But it's going to be hard with all the spooky, glittery, bombshell heroine-gun-toting, templates out there already.

Enough about that. All of you who've already taken the website plunge are lucky to have all that behind you! My adventure is just beginning and hopefully this year into 2007 will be my year to see something happen over my keyboard.

And if you disagree with me over writer contests, please say so. I don't think it's as big a crime/suspense thing as it is a romance writer thing. Is this a way crime writers should promote their books? Should we have contests for handcuff earrings, sterling silver charms of revolvers? (sorry, I know we can't get Glocks, but a gun is a gun) With more women writing crime/suspense/romantic suspense, and more women reading it, maybe it's not a bad idea.

Ladies? Any thoughts?

And don't forget to email me for that questionnaire if you're interested in participating in my article. :)

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST?

Mel, Mel, Mel, what happened to you? Why did you have to ruin your fantastic image, your reputation as a superb actor/writer/director, by shooting your anti-semitic mouth off to your Jewish arresting officer?

You weren't even that drunk. Blowing .120 mgs by most police officer's standards, is a "low blow", we used to call it, back when I was a cop. We all vied for arresting "real drunks" who blew over .200 and up. I once arrested a guy who blew over .300, who should've been dead, not driving a car. What by all you hold Holy, were you thinking???

My friend Jason Pinter doesn't think you're going to recover from this public disgrace. He cites the example of Tom Cruise, who didn't survive his very public and stupid TV conversation by saying that there's no such thing as mental illness. But your anti-Semitic remarks at a time when Isreal is fighting for it's very life as a nation - taking on Hezbollah in a David and Goliath war while the whole world watches, wrings their hands, and prays for peace - reveals a man whose private side is lacking in sensitivity at best, and is racist at worst.

Mel, I'm one of your biggest fans. I'm a big supporter of the fact that celebrities are allowed to have their private lives, that they're human and are apt to make mistakes, and am proud that you immediately publically apologized and acknowleged that you've struggled with alcohol for years. I hope you apologized in person to your arresting officer too. Maybe the DA will send you for some "sensitivity" training, or make you do some community service at a Jewish school with kids who need help reading. Who knows?

When I lived in Ontario, we always knew when your families plane landed in Muskoka for your "cottage" vacation. Your marriage is one of the longest standing in Hollywood. You took your whole family to Scotland for the two years it took to film Braveheart. I'll bet you wish you could take those words back with everything you've got.

Now I'm going to play Devil's Advocate.

Will this kill Mel's new movie? Only if the media lets it. Only if people self-righteously say, "I'VE never said a bad word about black people, gay people, Jewish people, disabled people, homeless people, Asian people, Polish people, Hispanic people, French people, the far-Christian right people, the pro-life people, the anti-abortion people, the Catholics, the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, and people dying of AIDS." So, I'M not going to see Gibson's new movie because it'll leave a bad, anti-Semitic taste in my mouth.

Well, if you've NEVER said anything against any of THOSE people, then you can quite reasonably look down your nose at Mel Gibson, trash his new movie and the rest of his career, and get on with your life feeling pretty pleased with yourself. That's why Mel made "The Passion of The Christ", after all. Because he wanted to send out the message that he who sins has to cast the first stone.

QUICK POLL - WRITER CONFERENCES

1. Do you attend a writer's conference to:
a) learn writing craft?
b) network
c) just pitch to an editor/agent?
d) use it as a tax write-off
e) meet all your cyber friends in person?

2) Do you attend a writer's conference within:
a) 50 miles of your home
b) 100-150 miles of your home
c) 200-300 miles of your home
d) only in your own State or Province
e) you'd fly anywhere to get to your favourite Conference

3) Do you believe that writers conferences are essential to keep your writers "tool kit" sharp - one can always learn something, even from other professionals?

4) Do you believe that writers conferences are just for smoozing, drinking, and a cherry at
end of a great publishing year?

5) Is it one of your ambitions to get on an author panel or do a workshop at a conference?

6) Is it part of your marketing plan to do a booksigning at a major conference this year?

7) Is it part of your "writing plan" to pitch to the editor/agent of your choice this year? Have you done so?

8) Do you go to at least ONE conference a year - or do you wait until a conference like RWA Nationals or Bouchercon comes close to where you live and go when it's least expensive?

9) If you could pick only ONE conference to go to - which would it be, and why?

10) Which was the most profitable conference you've been to and why?


Thanks for your input!

AMBER ALERT!!

I have no idea why my Blog won't upload pictures anymore - but the important thing is that you visit http://www.rcmp-grc.cg.ca/sk/MediaReleases/zachary_miller_e.htm to see all of the pictures and information on the Sunday July 30th abduction of ZACHARY MILLER from Whitewood, Saskatchewan.

PLEASE visit this website and take down the information for this little 10 year old boy who is in danger from this 35 yr old pedophile. If this is the only good my Blog does for anyone, it will be worth it! ZACHARY needs our help and prayers. I only wish my Blog was working for a picture of him: he's 4'6" tall, white/blonde hair, slim build.

I'll be visiting Blogger Help to see if I can get my Image Maker restored. Thanks for checking the link.

EDIT: I have no idea why that link won't work, or why I can't upload Zachary's picture. My Images just isn't moving whenever I go to upload a pic so I'll have to present my problem to Blogger. I'll check for another link today. Sorry folks!

HOLIDAY WEEK

This week has been my very own "Summer Holiday". Both our kids have been gone since Sunday to a local camp - it's the first time they've both been gone this long overnight and so far away, so it's been a new emotional experience for all of us. It's a regular camp and they generously provided one-on-one staff for each of the kids at no extra charge. I (being a slightly nervous mom) have phoned down twice to see how they've been making out.

My DD has been horseback riding every day, around the paddock and being led by a staff member. On Tuesday she was trotting, and had her arms out horizontally because she "loved the feel of it", according to the camp director. On Wednesday, she rode bareback, because the other teens were doing it, even though she was scared to do it - she did it. Now, that's my DD for you. :) She's scared of needles, doctors, hospitals - but not of anything else. If someone's doing it, she will do it too. She's always been my little "Xena" - does anyone remember that TV show with Lucy Lawless? DD wore that Halloween costume for three years. My DS was down at the stables every day too, but the camp director couldn't tell me if he'd been riding or not. He has been breakdancing at their evening concerts, and both have enjoyed the campfires before bedtime.

And for my holiday, I've been writing the finishing touches on my new WIP's partial - now called COLD JUSTICE. I've also decided to rework my last MS, called BLACK ANGEL and put to use the rejection letter from the editor who *nearly* bought it, and see if I can place it elsewhere. When you have the house to yourself, it's amazing how much thinking you can get done! The time has flown by and now I have to pick the kids up tonight at the camps' Family BarBQ.

I've also enjoyed reading "The Devil Wears Prada" over the course of the week. Hilarious. I can't wait to see the movie, which I'm sure won't be as good as the book, as Anne Hathaway has been panned. With my DH working till 9 p.m. every night this week, it's been wonderful to have the house to myself to read, read, read.

It's not a glamourous vacation, but it's been fun discovering agent/editor blogs, writing when I want and actually getting words down on paper, and brainstorming with my long distance critique partner Robie Madison. Her new book Love Partner came out last week; if you feel like something futuristic in erotica check out her link at the right.

Here's to a week off, any way you can get it! :)

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

I've skipped a week or two of recipes for backyard summer sipping - or computer sipping, if that's where you'd rather meet your Muse and tell her to hurry up and get something done!

I've fallen in love with Lipton's Green Tea in the can, so I'm sharing two of their Cocktail recipes that you may have already seen in their advertising literature. If not, this is a great way to zip up your Green Tea for company or for yourself when you need a breezer on a hot day.

The Lipton Tea Cosmo
1/4 cup Lipton Green Tea with Citrus
2 tbsp vodka
1 tbsp orange liqueur
1 tbsp fresh lime juice (the bottled stuff works just as well!)
1 tbsp cranberry juice cocktail
Place all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, then strain into a well-chilled martini glass. (Or a normal tumbler, lol, we're not all 007 are we?) Garnish, if desired with a slice of lime. Serves 1.

The Lipton Green Tea Mojito
Juice of half a lime
6 large mint leaves
1/3 cup Lipton Green Tea with Citrus
2 tbsp white rum (or to taste)
Pour the lime juice into a highball glass. Add the mint and crush with a spoon. Fill the glass with ice and add the tea and rum. Stir well and garnish with a mint leaf, if desired.
(you may want to finely chop your mint leaves, puree them, experiment a little to make this more palatable. Crushing the leaves lets out the flavour, but isn't too great in the drink.)

Hope everyone has a great summer weekend. I'm off with my migraine to get groceries and clean house for our 10 dinner guests this evening. No rum cocktails for me tonight! And good luck with getting those pages done. Now that I've managed to create a "fictional" city, town, and reservation for my settings, my WIP is coming along much better. Soon I'll be able to post page progress like Toni Anderson does. =)

A Mystery

Curtis Allan Dagenais appeared in North Batteford, Saskatchewan this morning for a bail hearing. He turned himself in at his home of Spiritwood's RCMP Detachment after being at large for 12 days. He's been charged with murder for the deaths of Cst. Robin Cameron and Cst. Marc Bourdages, and attempted murder for the other nameless officer who backed them up.

When the judge asked him if he understood the charges he answered "no". When she read them out again, he answered "yeah". It took barely five minutes to remand him and whisk him back to a solitary cell to await his next court date. He's a chip off the old block of his father, Arthur Dagenais, who's charged with "obstructing justice". He refused to leave the area the RCMP were searching for his son - the police got a court order to get him out of the area. Arthur's court date is Dec. 5th and he'll be in custody till then.

Both father and son allegedly hate police and have had numerous run-ins with them all of their lives. Both have police records for charges of assault - the father for domestic violence, and the son for assaulting a highway traffic officer. Curtis has had five violent charges against him, and was nearly named a "dangerous offender" by a whisker except that he hasn't done enough jail time to be considered a "dangerous offender".

There were interviews done by The Globe and Mail, Canada's national Newspaper, calling for stricter sentences from judges in handing out even the minimum sentences allowed for assault. While Canada has been much stricter on domestic violence in past years, simple assault is usually passed over with probation and a fine for a first offense, and perhaps a short 30 days and higher fine for a second offence.

I believe I said in another post that criminals are "career" in their behaviour, they are very often narcisstic in personality, not just sociopathic, and aggressive towards those in authority. Paranoid and often loners, they are often unstable mentally which leads them to substance abuse which leads to more crime.

What caused Dagenais to turn himself in, instead of committing suicide as the killer of four Mounties did last March, will be interesting to find out. It's a mystery right now, but points to a self-involved, narcisstic personality disorder. Narcissists don't kill themselves. The world revolves around them. He won't feel any remorse - no doubt he's still thinking he can get his father to change his mind about his will and deeding half of his farm to his mother - after all, that's what started his murderous rampage in the first place.

No doubt his mother Elsie, and sister Grace, are very glad that both husband/father and son/brother are in jail for what will be a number of months.

And if the judges who had had Dagenais in their courtrooms five times previously had been a bit bolder in their sentencing - had paid attention to him, he wouldn't have been out on July 7th in Spiritwood to kill Cst. Cameron and Cst. Bourdages. He would have been behind bars indefinitely as a dangerous offender, a menace to society, and safe in his cell - never to hurt his family or community again.

If you want to know how this ties in with writing - other than my being an ex-police officer - I say take a look at a real killer and follow the story of how this all unfolds.

EDIT: despite my attempts to include a photo of Dagenais in this post, neither would upload properly. Either there's a problem with Blogger or the pictures were protected for copyright, although I have used copyrighted pictures before and given them the proper credit. So I'm sorry that you couldn't have seen his face - it might have inspired some of you for a character sketch.

ANOTHER MOUNTIE TRAGEDY

On July 7th, RCMP Cst.'s Robin Cameron, above, and Marc Bourdages, responded to a familiar house across from their RCMP Detachment for another domestic call. It was fine summer evening in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. The town troublemaker had just found out that his mother was going to inherit half of his father's farm, which he had thought he was going to inherit in full. He and his sister, Grace, were going at it full tilt in the house and Grace was trying to protect her divorced mom from her brother.

The domestic resulted in an armed Curtis Dagenais leading these two officers on a 27 km chase into a swampy, brush-filled area. A third officer pursued them as back-up. The chase ended, so the RCMP say, at 9:15 p.m. with both officers shot in the head, the back-up officer returning fire with Dagenais, and Dagenais making it away into the woods - woods that he apparently knows better than his own living room. He was well-known in town for his hatred of authority, particularly police.

This past weekend, both officers succumbed to their injuries. Cst. Bourdages leaves behind a nine-month-old son, and a widow who is also a Cst. in that Detachment. Spiritwood is a small farming community north of Saskatoon. Cst. Cameron was a single mother of an eleven year old daughter. Her father and uncle are both RCMP officers as well.

In Canada, we tend to recognize our police deaths with large funerals in the same way that we do our fallen soldiers. The shock we feel at their deaths is in large part because of our strict gun control. Also, when they fall in the line of duty in such small towns it seems surreal that the officer you see everyday in the same coffee shop - off duty in the same grocery store, should suddenly be taken from you by the same freak you've known since high school. It doesn't seem right, it's not fair, and nothing can bring them back. Sudden death, graphic death, in real life leaves deep, ravaging holes in the fabric of a community. And it takes time to mourn the dead.

Our RCMP are a Canadian icon. They are seen as the elite among our police forces, although every man and woman who wears any police uniform does the same job, day in and day out.

Curtis Dagenais is wanted on a Canada Wide Warrant. His father thinks he's committed suicide. I think perhaps that's true because no picture has been shown of him on any news station despite of talk of the warrant. If I find a picture of him I'll post it here on my blog.

Robin and Marc, thank you for all the good you've done, for the respected officers you've been, and for the wonderful memories you have given your children. You leave a great legacy.

STORY WRITING SOFTWARE

Has anyone ever tried one of the many types of writing software out there? Did it help or hinder your creative process? Did you find it helped you write faster, if you're the "outliner" type of writer?

If you bought software, which kind did you pick? Dramatica Pro? Story Writer? Any other kind?

Janet Evanovich is selling her non-fiction book, "How I Write", which is coming out with "Twelve on Top". Anybody going to buy it because a) they love Evanovich and buy everything she writes anyway, or b) they want to know how she writes.

Inquiring minds want to know!

THINGS THAT KEEP YOUR BUTT IN THE CHAIR IN SUMMER

We all have a hard time (at least I do) keeping at our writing when the kids are out of school, there're visitors who need attention, the husband has to work regardless of how many other people drop in, etc. Here are some suggestions I've come up with that might help you stay on course with your writing (even a page a day, Bailey!):

1) Keep a large pitcher of California Iced Tea laced with vodka in the fridge at all times. Mix up a new pitcher every night before bed. (Ok, kidding about the vodka - but one can dream!)
2) Do laundry at 10 p.m. at night - it's cooler then - and let the kiddo's take their clean clothes out of the baskets. Who needs to put clothes away? Waste of time! If they need to be put away, kiddo's or dad can do it. :)
3) Do groceries maximum of once a week. Buy for two weeks IF you can get away with it, and DH doesn't faint at the sight of the bill. By this I mean; buy more more food than you need, and you'll make less trips to the store, meaning more time in chair in front of computer.
4) Keep staples on hand such as: LARGE jars of peanut butter and jam, cold meats and cheese, 12 packs of buns, frozen juices, popsicles, at least 3 kinds of pop, pickles, bags of chips, pretzels, cheesies, frozen hamburgers, frozen pizzas, and pre-packaged salads that come with their own salad dressings. Also, pre-prepped stir fry veggies. Slice up 3 chicken breasts and you're done.
5) Hire a teen-age boy to cut your grass. No more nagging DH and you don't have to do it Saturdays when you should be fighting with DS about getting off your computer. :)
6) Back to iced tea laced with vodka :) - it goes well with blueberry pie (or flavour of your choice) so make sure you keep pie or good snacking material on hand for when you're flagging in the afternoon and that scene just won't come out right.
7) Encourage your visitors to nap after lunch when you get just the right inspiration for that love scene in the cemetary, when your H/H finally realize they just *have* to have each other!
8) Take a pad of paper with you to write notes while squiring visitors around town on sight-seeing tours - ok, your butt isn't in the chair right now, but it will be when you get home. :)
9) Get up at 5 a.m. when the sun is climbing over the horizon and you can bang out at least 2 pages before DH goes to work and DS starts bugging you to play Spiderman on computer.
10) If all inspiration fails, go cyberblogging until it's time to replace that great iced tea. Your friends are all creative and are bound to spark something off in your head. Or the iced tea will.
11)Watch reruns of "Comedy Now!" or "Just For Laughs!" to get the right side of your brain working. Tell yourself it's research.
12)Read another Linda Howard book and tell yourself THAT's for research!

I can't believe I still don't have a title for this WIP. Can anybody tell me how titles come to them? I've never had this problem before - this is my fourth novel. And it's not that I'm not enjoying it either.

FEMINISM AND THE '20-somthings

I did blog about Kathy Reich's book CROSS BONES, but it seems to have been lost in the ether, so I'm sorry to have been so long between posts. Summer, with it's blue-bowled skies over the prairies has been a siren call to us, whenever the heat hasn't been 33 degrees. Then the kids and I stay in with movies and the window air conditioner blowing full blast. I just dropped off our golden retriever to get shaved down so she doesn't suffer so much in the heat.

I read a very good article in CHATELAINE magazine by a 22yr old university student about being a feminist, how it affects her girlfriends ("I'm not a feminist but..."), and how she was smart enough to dump a loutish boyfriend who guffawed at her and her friends discussing "women's studies" as the best class they took that semester. He batted her on the behind, called her "wench" and told her to go get him a beer. At least the girl has a sense of self-esteem, never mind being a feminist.

So, why do so many women of all ages, go around saying "I'm not a feminist but..."? She's right; we didn't even get the vote till after the First WW, weren't recognized as persons till (I think - this wasn't in her article) sometime in the Depression, still weren't making a living wage even when we all went to work in factories in the Second WW, weren't on TV as anchors till Diane Sawyer and that's within my living memory when I went to college hoping to break into television in 1977 - told I wasn't good looking enough because I wore glasses - that was Greek for I wouldn't sleep with the Producer who was interviewing, I kid you not, it was 1977 after all and before sexual harrassment was a big thing. When I finally got "a job in TV" I was hired in the Film Department for $7500.00 per year and basically ran the department AND the Newsrooms cameraman/reporter schedule - when I left two years later after complaining of sexual harrassment I was making $8300.00 and got one months wages as a severance. Because this idiot wouldn't leave me alone.

I'd say feminism has brought us a long, long, way from suffragettes, and 1997. If I had a boss who tried that with me now, I'd end up with a nice, fat, settlement. I knew an OPP cop who did, and she went back to work until she got pregnant, took her maternity leave, came back just long enough to rack up the time to get pregnant again, took her maternity leave, and then got out. She told me, "All the joy of police work was lost once he did that too me, and I had to fight so hard for my settlement. So, I just used the system to my advantage. If they didn't like it that I got desk duty for all that time, too bad."

Aside from my basic interest in police work, I swore I'd never earn $8300.00 a year again. I did government work that took me up to $23,000.00 a year but I hit a ceiling when I wasn't bilingual, which in Canada means you have to be French and speak passable English. If you're English and can speak passable French, fuggadaboutit. My sisters were married and had a bright future with double incomes and I wanted a bright future too. Feminism got me that, in an environment where they had to pay me the exact same wages for the exact same job, much as the other cops might not like it.

And it's the "old pioneers" like me and Diane Sawyer who paved the way for the proliferation of female news reporters/anchorwomen on TV, and the 50 policewomen back on my hometown force, when I was the only one in 1984/85 till they hired a second one.

Bravo for that 22 yrs old girl who already knows that a political mind-set, ambition, and willpower will take you a long way in life. Self-actualization is a goal to be reached and some of us never get there. Feminism isn't a bad thing - it doesn't make you a bra-burning, card-carrying lesbian. (unless you already are one, and then, that's ok). It means you're a woman who can take care of herself, believes in herself, can protect herself from scavengers and predators of the male species, and contributes all that's beautiful about being a woman to the world around her.

And doesn't that sound like the heroines we're all trying to write about?

NOBODY TO BLAME

Bailey Stewart left an interesting comment about my last post. She mentioned a father on an Oprah show, who blamed a Spike Lee movie that his 16 yr old kept watching, for the crime this kid committed. Now, who was letting his son watch the Spike Lee movie, in his house? He was, that's who. Of course, Bailey and Sandra are both right about their comments that in our society these days, most people don't take responsibility for their actions. I was merely pointing out the reasons criminals don't take responsibility and where their mind-set is coming from re their actions.

In the two generations since the two WW's, we all know that social mores and attitudes have changed dramatically. The baby boomers were raised by parents who knew the horrors of war, of doing "without", and were only too happy to live in a better world and give everything they could to their children. Then *that* generation gave everything they could to my generation. We are now raising up this generation of youngsters that we complain about the most - no one is responsible for anything and we blame everyone but ourselves.

I'm going to suggest that we can blame two sets of people for this problem (and I'll be ducking tomatoes here, I know it!). First, we can blame ourselves as parents, and second, we can blame lawyers/judges. Whoohoo! There goes the first tomatoe whizzing by now! Parents and lawyers/judges??? What two sub-sets could be more different?

Let's start with the lawyers/judges first. Judges interpret our laws, and lawyers bring ridiculous lawsuits to court. Such as one that happened a few years ago in my home province, where a woman got completely intoxicated at her company Christmas party, had an acccident while driving drunk, and then suied her employer for letting her get that intoxicated. Did her bosses throw that booze down her throat? Of course not. But, she was no disabled and unable to work, so that judge decided her former employer could cough up a chunk of money to take care of her, rather than the government having to take care of her for the rest of her life. No personal responsibility - like having disability insurance, or being smart enough to call a cab, or just not get drunk in the first place.

Judges will make these kinds of rulings against tobacco companies, drug companies, or McDonalds because they will have to pick up the tab, not the government. Lawyers love making money from these kinds of lawsuits. It's at least three years of mortgage payments for them.

Now, parents. (there goes another tomatoe! no I mean really, my DH just came home and found another scratch on the truck, which apparently is my fault). Parents have a four year window with their kids to try and build a foundation of self-esteem, self-sufficiency, a conscientious, and values such as kindness, tolerance, integrity, truth-telling, etc. And I mean this starts from about birth to just around their 5th birthday. After the age of 5 going into kindergarten, they're pretty well set as to what they're going to be like as an adult. Any kindergarten teacher can tell you what kind of parenting a child has had.

When I was Executive Director of a Crisis Shelter for street youth, I really got my eyes opened as to the kind of parenting these kids had and why they were on the street in the first place. The common adage I fought constently in the media was "they could go home if they wanted to - they're welfare bums - they should get a job". The truth was, they had parents who shouldn't have owned a dog, never mind have had a child. These kids were more handicapped then most "special needs" kids I already knew; they were mentally/emotionally crippled, had already been into crime and substance abuse, and were usually so socially damaged it would take years of therapy to get them working again - therapy they weren't going to get.

And there are normal-everyday-parents out there, working, trying-hard parents, who miss that 4 yr window, or parts of it, without meaning to. Somehow their kids miss parts of the wholeness that makes up the total package of a functioning; person who takes responsibility for themselves and their fellow human beings and contributes meaningfully to society. And if these parents have been raised permissively themselves, they'll pass that on to their kids. They take away consequences and don't discipline their kids because it's too much work. So all of a sudden, they have a 16 or 17 yr. old who doesn't listen to them (because they've never had to before), or do anything around the house (because they weren't required to before), and the parents go ballistic. It's like the parents suddenly wake up from some daydream they've been in for the past 15 or 16 yrs and now try to make the kid into something he or she isn't, and fail misterably. So, the tensions mount and the family will break apart.

If you've never taught little Johnny to clean his room at 5, he won't do it when he's 15. Ditto his laundry, washing the car, doing the dishes, or vacuuming. If he's never done chores for an allowance, he won't be motivated to find work for extra money, he'll be hanging out at the mall. If your home was "child-free" all through elementary school to keep it "clutter-free" because you were too tired after work - it'll be "teen-free" now and you'll never know who he's hanging out with.

Parents who let their kid watch Spike Lee movies and then blame their 16 yr old kid's crimes on them, have no one to blame but themselves. It would be nice if the judge would take the kid's pre-court evaluation report into consideration and put some onus on that dad to be part of the reparation for whatever the crime was, because dad was part of the responsibility too. Spike Lee movies are restricted, so technically the kid shouldn't have been watching it, am I right? And, as I said in my last post, watching these things repeatedly is what brings out the need to duplicate something in realitiy to goes beyond the fantasy. So, kid and dad are both to blame.

These are just my opinions on child-rearing from what I saw at the crisis center and on cases I saw in court. Any psychologist will tell you children are highly impressionable and any interaction you have with a young child will leave marks on him/her for good or ill. Something else to think about when we're writing our characters. Not to mention those powerful or dorky lawyers and judges.

POLITICS OF GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE

Sandra Ruttan is one of the Killer Year Debut Authors over at Killer Blog (see link right), and on June 28th she wrote an insightful post called "There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy on the streets?" It's about a writer's responsibility regarding gratuitous violence in his/her books, in a society that blames video games, movies, and our upbringing for the violent acts individuals commit against each other. You really should pop over there and read it in it's entirety - it's food for thought.

As I had too much to say in the Comments Section, I thought I'd post my own thoughts on my Blog.

In a previous career incarnation I was a municipal police officer - one of the reasons I love the above TV shows, and why I love to write suspense and hopefully, thriller fiction. I've seen alot of things that most people just research, or think up. In fact, I had a hard time convincing an editor that I hadn't gotten the idea for a certain book from reading "another book", because it was so realistic...she didn't buy my book "because it's too much the same." I bought the other book, and it was nothing like mine, but convincing her I had the real dope on being a cop was impossible. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. But, as they say, I digress.

Re the idea that people watching violent video games, television, and movies will cause copy cat violent acts. This has been proven in countless studies, and countless courtrooms. Why? Because people (predominantly males 18-24) who have mental problems will watch these addictive items over and over and over again, inciting their fantasy until it becomes real to them. Then the rush it gives them isn't enough and the next thing is to *live out* their fantasy. Video games are especially a problem, which is why several of them, eg. "Grand Theft Auto", (I believe) have been revamped and restricted. An entire new rating system was devised after several copy-cat crimes happened in the States from several high-profile video games of this type.

A prominent movie that had copy-catted crimes in the States was "Natural Born Hero". Does this mean that everybody who sees these movies or plays these games will go out and steal cars and kill people? Of course not - but there are marginalized sociopaths, who will copy something that clicks with them and grabs them as the perfect fantasy. And they don't have to be individuals - there are gangs of kids who find them attractive to play out as role games.

Sandra suggests that everyone blames everyone in society but themselves for their actions - as an ex-cop I can say that that is definitely true. It's part of the criminal mentality that they are victims of the "system"; whether foster homes, criminal justice, family, school, etc. Sociopaths have no concenscious anyway, so they aren't to blame for anything. Sandra is being a bit simplistic here in forgetting who commits crimes out there. It isn't the soccer mom down the street, or the husband who had one too many after work. (although in the right circumstances they can be held up in the criminal justice system). Criminals tend to be lifers: they learn it early, it's a lifestyle, they're not that smart, and they DO blame everyone but themselves.

Sandra's final question was whether anyone had "felt compelled to stop reading a book, stop watching a movie, or change a scene you wrote because you felt it was gratuitous and irresponsible?"

I liked this question. It's great food for discussion - again, do books promote acts of violence the way the above media do? I say no. Most criminals aren't stimulated by the written word the way they are visually. Her earlier question about our responsibility for writing in such a way as to not promote copy-cat killings of vicious murders can be summed up by that answer, I think.

Have I felt compelled to stop reading a book due to it being gratuitous and irresponsible? YES. It was a Beatrice Small historical. I had no idea of how "hot" her medievals were and was completely disappointed in her one and only novel I picked up at a used book store. I didn't get past the second chapter and pitched it. The blurb promised so much, but the sex was so gratuitous...

Have I felt compelled to walk out of a movie? Hmmm......Deep Throat which was shown as part of a Pyschology class back in college in the '70's. You can imagine how much shunning I took for that act. By now, you likely think I'm one uptight Lizzie, but I have an erotica author on my right hand links - Robie Madison - so I'm not that bad! But gratuitous, and plain awful? Yep! And I didn't see how it had anything to do with Pyschology either, except that the prof wanted an excuse to see it himself.

Change a scene I wrote? I did once - it was a rape scene that I decided was too graphic after my sister read it. I figured if she was uncomfortable with it, most people would be too, and what was the point in that - there were better ways of getting my character's suffering across. The final scene worked much better and I learned something - subtlety is far superior to high detail when giving a character's POV in most cases.

When I was a cop I saw some pretty graphic things, even though I was in a small city. I don't think there's anything to be gained by crime writers glorifying the psychopathic horrors visited upon victims of some child murders, sex crimes, or murder/suicides. Most people can get the broad strokes of the thing with plain good writing. Do we have a responsibility not to glorify violence for violence's sake? Yes, I believe we do.

For the sake of the victims of crime out there, who may pick up our book at the airport thinking that it's about some other theme and then realizing it's about a kidnapped teen whose body parts are scattered along a highway. For the rape victim who buys your book not realizing that the heroine gets stalked before the hero Lt. McGregor tracks him down in LA. For the sake of all the parents who have kidnapped children, had their home/business hit by arson, got mugged, or car-jacked. Because for every scenario we come up with, it's happened in some way to somebody out there in the public arena. Maybe they're not going to be reading suspense or thrillers because of what happened to them....but while we do have a responsibility to build suspense for our readers and give them the best story possible, I don't believe we have the right to glorify the horror of what has happened to real life victims.

See why I couldn't fit all this in Sandra's Comments Section? :)

HEY, I DO STILL WRITE!

Unfortunately for my DS, I took my computer back today and managed to work out the backstory for my WIP. I feel much more grounded now, and it's starting to gell together in my mind. Had a brainstorming session with my old critique partner on both my WIP and on her WIP as well. My challenge now will be to work in the back story on all these characters, from their younger days, to present day, and have my heroine find the clues and reveal the story like peeling back an onion. I feel invigorated and finally got rid of my headache. :) It's a great feeling when your writing starts to go in the proper direction and it's not just a pile of notes jumbled up on your desk. It's becoming a real outline on the computer now, and my characters are becoming real people. Still no title though!

AGENTS, EDITORS, AND LADY LUCK

I'm linked to JASON PINTER'S Blog (see right) and I read him everyday. He's an editor who's first book, THE MARK, is coming out in July 2007, by MIRA. Check out his blog and head over to M.J. Rose's Buzz, Ball's & Hype and read his post on ANONYMOUS REX: How to Write Query Letters.

He gives tips like building up your query letter like a resume if you're still unpublished - submit short stories, write amusing stand-out blogs, wear orange pleather or a mohawk, and convince your agent that you're outstanding and worth representing. (I seem to remember being told NOT to send letters edged in lavender, perfumed, or gifts of chocolate, etc. Does this somehow relate to orange pleather and mohawks? Hmm....)

In the Comments Section, I asked him "What's the most memorable first line of a query letter that resulted in your buying a book, Jason?"

Apparently I'd missed the point of the post (quite possible), or he thought I was snookin' him off (also possible), but he gave me a good answer anyway.

Answer: "The best line was for a debut novel which read,'This is the best debut novel I've read in 10 years.' And the letter was written by an agent who represents Michael Connolly and James Lee Burke. Needless to say, that stuck in my head......I can't stress enough how important it is for authors to NOT query editors, but to keep honing their craft until an agent is willing to vouch for them."

Ouch.

He did talk about pitching to agents in the post and I'd missed that obvious clue. However, I also wanted some explanation of *what* constituted a good, if not GREAT query letter, because it's a topic that's talked around and around and around, but nobody ever seems to get down to it.

If you read his post on MJ's blog, you will get some pointers. And his marketing plan is a good one and one I espouse, even though every friend I have since I began writing six years ago is already published and I'm not - yet. I submit to agents, and my friends are published by small presses, with the exception of one friend who kept submitting to 300 agents and editors, until one agent finally picked her up and sold her book to Kensington within 3 weeks. So, persistance certainly pays off.

Given my friend's successes with small presses, I'd have to say that their marketing plan has worked well. They will have those "writing credits" in their query letters as per Jason's post.
But Jason didn't address one thing, and that's the tremendous power of Lady Luck. Yes, it's fantastic when an over-worked and under-paid editor has a pre-vamped book sent to him by a big name agent.

But, in the final analysis of writing your best, unique, cutting-edge, novel that will out-sell the Da Vinci Code - I still say that it's not just who you know in NY, it's a crap shoot. It's a lucky day when that agent you submitted to is having a slow-down in kick-ass heroine books, or finally wants to take a chance on a historical mystery with paranormal elements. Maybe you've written a romantic suspense that *doesn't* end with the hero/heroine together at the end - breaking all the rules, and she knows just which editor to send it to.

And if you're looking to get your romantic suspense/suspense/mystery in front of an agent who's actually looking for new authors (as opposed to looking for authors who're looking for a new agent)...click on the KOD Link opposite, go to the 2006 Retreat page and check out what we're offering in late September. You can pitch, or send in a partial to be critiqued for free. It doesn't get any better than that and there's still some Registration room.

Long post today, so no new recipe. For everyone north or south of the border - have a wonderful and safe long weekend!

PERFECT SUMMER

Here's why I haven't had time to blog all weekend. It was perfect weather all weekend, and Honda just happened to have a sale on down at the shop. We went down for a look-see, and there sat the most beautiful, two-tone firey paint job, 2006 Shadow Sabre, softail-style bike we had ever seen. Classy, sassy, and just begging to be ridden on these ribbon Saskatchewan highways! My DH has wanted a motorcycle for years, and so far I've always said "no" figuring that at some point, his male menopause had to come to an end. (and figuring mine had to begin somewhere, right?)

Short story long, we bought it and he's been having a ball ripping around on it ever since. It's had a miraculous effect on his flying too. :) He's been acing his flights, and his exams. He says it's the relaxation involved with feeling the wind in your face and streaming through your jacket. I can't wait to get a backrest on it and ride with him. It's an 1100 model so there's lots of power for two of us on the highway. He says he wants to get used to it before carrying a passenger.

I haven't been on a bike since I was 26 yrs old, but I spent alot of time on one then as it was my current beau's only mode of transportation. It felt delicious to run the highways around Ottawa in my fake black leather pants, and go to parties on a bike. I'm sure I'll regain some of that feeling of the "untamed" highway. Nothing like bringing back a sense of your youth and fond memories to spike up your writing! Or "fill the well", as one author said in her article in this month's RWA. Guess my DH and I are both reinventing ourselves - or is it just getting back to the things we once enjoyed when we were young and unencumbered with so many responsibilities? I think so. He had a girlfriend in his young "bike" years, too.

Now we can share it together whenever I can get a sitter for the children. There's a Club in town that rides regularly Wednesday p.m.'s and on weekends. It's opened up a whole new world. This has nothing to do with writing, but it's opened my mind to fresh possibilities with my DH and that's a good thing. The more creativity you put into your relationship, the more creativity you'll have in your life as a whole. I believe that - if you feel stifled, you're not going to feel like writing much. I hope to report more on my progress this week. Stay tuned! :)

SUMMER IS HERE

As promised, here is your Thursday recipe to enjoy after a hard day's work writing:

LEMON DROP TEA PARTY

1 bottled Iced Tea or make it yourself
30 ml (2 tbsp) of vodka
30 ml (2 tbsp) of orange flavoured liqueur such as Grand Marnier
30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh lime or lemon juice (be adventurous and try the lime)

Combine all ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice. (any shaker will do). Shake well and then strain into well-chilled glasses. Garnish with raspberries or lemon slices. Great outdoor drink.

Next week, I'll try and have something specific for meat on the BarBQ, for the long July weekend. If you haven't tried these two drink recipes by then, you can give them a whirl on either Canada Day, or Independence Day. :)

Wip Notes:

Ever have a story that would go well from either the hero's POV, or the heroine's POV? Do you try to really "mainstream" it and hope you can land an agent, or do you go with the heroine and hope you can "romantic suspense" it and sell to that market? I'm thinking I should try do write a partial from either POV and see which feels right. Sheesh. Maybe I'm just trying too hard. I keep just deleting pages in frustration and have nothing to show for myself. So much for hoping to be in the Killer Class of 2007. Ha!