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Friday
Apr192013

Writing the Void

I listen to music while I write. Over the years, I’ve collected an odd mixture of alternative, pop, country, and rock from iTunes. I find I gravitate toward folk songs (whatever the tempo) because they tell a story. You learn a little bit about the human experience from them. 

One of the things I’ve been trying to understand as a writer and a word artist, is how a song can completely alter my mood. Just switch it a 180 degrees. I can be happy or bouncing around in a cheerful mood, then listen to a sad song, and boom! I’ve dipped into an introspective mood. 

Hallmark commercials have the same effect on me. In the space of thirty seconds or three minutes, I jump to a different place in my spirit. Commercials have the additional tool of visual images to trigger that reaction in me. But songs have only music and lyrics.

As a novelist, my job is to have readers to experience the emotions of the characters in my story. Which is why I’m particularly interested in how a three minute song can cause me to experience what it might take me, as an author, an entire chapter to achieve in a reader.

I think it comes down to what I call the Void. That space between where we are and where we want to be (or where the character is and wants to be). It isn’t so much the presence of something sad. It’s the absence of something happy. Sure, it’s sad to hear about a child who comes to school with bruises for half the school year, then simply stops coming to school, because--as her young friend discovers--the kid died of the abuse. That’s terribly sad. And yes it had me teary after hearing it. But that’s an easy one. It’s obviously sad. It’s universally sad.

The harder stuff is in that void. It’s what we gave up or screwed up. It’s our regrets. They’re in the past. They’re done. They can never be changed or undone. And that’s what makes Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Reno” from his Devils and Dust album, the saddest song I’ve ever heard.

Here are the lyrics: 

She took off her stockings
I held 'em to my face
She had your ankles
I felt filled with grace

 

"Two hundred dollars straight in
Two-fifty up the ass" she smiled and said
She unbuckled my belt, pulled back her hair
And sat in front of me on the bed

 

She said, "Honey, how's that feel
Do you want me to go slow?"
My eyes drifted out the window
And down to the road below

 

I felt my stomach tighten
As the sun bloodied the sky
And sliced through hotel blinds
I closed my eyes

 

Sunlight on the Amatitlan
Sunlight streaming through your hair
In the Valle de dos Rios
The smell of mock orange filled the air

 

We rode with the vaqueros
Down into cool rivers of green
I was sure the work and the smile coming out 'neath your hat
Was all I'll ever need

 

Somehow all you ever need's
Never quite enough you know
You and I, Maria, we learned it's so

 

She slipped me out of her mouth
"You're ready," she said
She took off her bra and panties
Wet her fingers, slipped it inside her
And crawled over me on the bed

 

She brought me another whisky
Said "Here's to the best you ever had"
We laughed and made a toast
It wasn't the best I ever had
Not even close
(c) Copyright Bruce Springsteen 

 

And here The Boss is performing the song:

 

"Reno" makes me sigh. You feel you know the man Springsteen is singing about. He had everything, had it all, and he walked away from it. Now the best he can experience is a cheap imitation of what he lost. It’s sexy and gritty and oh so sad. If you ever wanted to know what regret feels like in someone else’s skin, just listen to this song. 

It’s the void brought to life.

Thursday
Mar282013

Looking for a Great Author?

Romance Writers of America (RWA) announced the finalists for their annual, peer-judged literary competition on Tuesday. If you're in the market for your next great book, take a look at the finalists and see if there isn't something for you!

My friend, Pamela Clare's American Colonial, DEFIANT, finaled in the Historical category. She writes both historicals and romantic suspense. If you haven't yet read her, give her a try. You won't be disappointed!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/03/26/rwa-rita-finalists-2013/2019477/

I love seeing good news in this crazy book industry!

Monday
Mar042013

Time for Fun!

 

March Madness Blog Hop

March Madness: That time of year when women across the country are left to their own devices during the NCAA basketball playoff tournaments. Sure we could do some early spring cleaning, catch up on laundry, organize closets, and throw out all the junk in the garage/attic, but where's the fun in that?

So, instead of work, we thought we'd host our version of March Madness: A prize filled hop presented by some of the best names in romance. And we've made it easy for you to join in. Simply hop from blog to blog—the links are below—and “follow”, “Like”, “Friend” etc. the authors' sites then leave a comment on their blog post. Each author is running their own giveaway as well as participating in the Rafflecopter Grand-Prize Giveaway of a Kindle Fire OR Nook Color, A $50 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, A $25 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, and 6 - $10 Amazon/B&N Gift Cards, as well as a “basket” of books.

The event is live from March 5 – March 31st, 2013 to give you plenty of time to tour all the sites. And remember to leave a comment here, too, if you'd like to be entered into a drawing for one of 3 ebooks I'm giving away during this hop (your choice of The Edge of Courage or Shattered Valor). I'll announce the winners when the hop closes on March 31st.

Get busy hopping--and have fun!

 

Rafflecopter: (The entrant counter) a Rafflecopter giveaway Linky: (The list of participants)



Rules: You must be 18 years or older as of 12:01AM March 5, 2013. No purchase Necessary. Avoid where prohibited. This event is open to worldwide participation (basket of books limited to US/Canada shipping address only)You are limited to one tweet, follow, like etc per day, however you can follow one blog, tweet about another, and like a 3rd's facebook page all on the same day. Be sure to follow the rules laid out by the individual authors about their respective giveaways, as they will vary form site to site. Rules and Terms are listed in the Rafflecopter. Grand-prizes will be announced on or about April 5th, 2013 on SnSreviews.blogspot.com. While we will make every effort to contact you, it is ultimately the winner's responsibility to check winning status and claim their prize. Posted winners will have 5 days, from the date of post to contact host and claim their respective prize. If the posted winner fails to contact host, prize may be forfeited and awarded to another randomly drawn entrant and distributed without further notice.
Wednesday
Jan302013

Coming This Summer: Agnes and the Renegade!

Just got the book cover for the 5th installment in my historical western series, Men of Defiance.

AGNES AND THE RENEGADE is Chayton's story. It picks up a few years after the end of LOGAN'S OUTLAW.

It's not written yet--I'll be starting it when I've finished Kit and Ivy's story, HONOR UNRAVELED in the Red Team series.

Just thought you might like a sneak preview...

Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs did this cover. What talent she has!

Saturday
Jan122013

Meet Tank!

Tank is Eden Miller’s drug-sniffing dog in SHATTERED VALOR. He’s a pit bull/bullmastiff mix. I based him on my dog, Hooch (so named because of his drool, as in the movie, Turner and Hooch).

Hooch had a hard beginning in life. He was raised in an illegal fight camp that held little regard for animals. They ran dog fights and cock fights. They raced horses and routinely killed the one that lost the race.

Hooch was kept staked in close proximity to a llama and a goat as a means of heightening his prey drive. The children in the camp would taunt him with sticks and throw rocks at him.

He’s terrified of loud sounds, even now.

He was discovered by a local farmer who found him tied to a fence post on his ranch when some of the men from the fight camp brought him in to work with them. Usually, bully breed dogs like Hooch are euthanized without question, but our local vet is friendly with the police who picked him up from the farmer and convinced them to bring him in to the clinic. His choker chain was too small for his massive neck and had grown into his skin. The vet had to remove it surgically.

The clinic tried for the next two years to find him a home. They saw in him something no one else did. Every family that took him home for a trial adoption ended up bringing him back. No one knew how to deal with his behavioral issues. He hates small animals—well, that’s not exactly true. He likes to eat them. He was very fearful of new people, new experiences. He didn’t even know how to navigate stairs.

My husband and I had rescued five dogs before Hooch came to live with us. Two of them ran away from their families to be with us. All of them were wonderful family dogs who got along terrifically with other dogs, other animals, and people. Our experience with dogs in the past had done little to prepare us for life with Hooch.

After our last pup passed away, I didn’t want to rush into adopting another pet. I wanted to find just the right next dog for us. I’d been looking into adopting a retired service animal, but I hadn’t found a good resource for locating ones available for adoption. We thought we’d do well with another shepherd, but I’d also been curious about bullmastiffs. There are many breed-specific rescue groups around the country—selecting just one dog was difficult because I wanted every single one that I saw.

In the meantime, our house was silent. No waggy tails welcomed us home after work. No furry bodies snuggled with us in the morning while we had coffee. Nobody barked at strangers outside or the ghosts inside. Our house was utterly quiet. And I missed our last dog so badly that I couldn’t quit crying. Even now as I write this, I still tear up. It never gets easier to say goodbye to a companion animal.

My husband, desperate to fill the hole in our hearts, decided we needed another dog sooner rather than later. So we went up to the ladies who run the local vet. Through their rescue work, we knew they had several dogs available for adoption. One by one, one of the owners brought each of the foster dogs in to meet us. If I could have given all of them a home, I would have.

When it came time for a decision, I knew there was still one dog we hadn’t seen. Hooch. I asked what happened to the bullmastiff they’d been fostering. They’d had him for over two years—he was in their care the longest at that point. The woman looked distraught. She glanced from me to my husband and back again, then said that he was still available but that he had issues. He was afraid of men, didn’t adjust well to children, and could not exist in an environment with other dogs or small animals.

That wasn’t entirely a deal breaker. Our children are grown, though we do have our grandkids over often. We do have a parrot, but he stays in his cage.

I really wanted to see Hooch.

She relented and brought him in to see us. The first thing you notice about Hooch is his massive head. Truly the size of a basketball. He isn’t very tall, but he weighs 100 pounds, all solid muscle. He stepped in the room, looked at me sitting on the floor, looked at my husband sitting in a chair, then charged straight toward Barry, his great, yawning maw open. He jumped up on B and licked him. Dana, one of the owners of the vet clinic, was shocked at his reaction.

And of course, just that fast, we fell in love with him.

Dana let us take him home to see how things would work out. She was very hesitant, which we didn’t fully understand. Barry and I are dog people, so the rambunctious behavior of a big dog didn’t worry us. What we didn’t understand, until later when we’d gone through two dog trainers and chatted with some very helpful bully dog owners, is that bully dogs are different from regular dogs. Very different.

When we got Hooch home, we discovered that he had no manners (or had forgotten those he’d learned, a convenient trait of bull-headed bullies). He walked around our house a few times, then caught sight of our parrot, who lives in a large, wheeled cage. For a few minutes, Hooch sat and stared at the bird. We thought he was just curious. We had no idea what “strong prey drive” really meant!

All of a sudden, he launched himself at the cage, body slamming it so hard that he would flip over. Then he’d get up and do it again. And again.

And of course, we looked at each other and worried we’d gotten an exceptionally aggressive dog that wouldn’t be able to adapt to our calm, sedate life. He wasn’t a dog we could trust to leave in the house without us (we never leave our dogs outside when we’re not at home). We couldn’t use the doggie door we had in our kitchen because we couldn’t trust him outside alone. Our HOA requires us to have these ridiculously low, two-rail fences that Hooch could practically walk over—they neither kept him safe in the yard or our neighbors’ animals safe from him.

All in all, it was a bad situation. We had to work the next day, and couldn’t leave him unattended. Barry regretfully returned Hooch to the vet the next day, as every other family who’d ever tried to adopt him had done. The ladies at the vet’s cried. His time with them was ending. We were their last hope. They were beginning to fear, because of his start in life, he would be unadoptable. Of course, they didn’t tell us any of this. Yet.

Once again, the house was quiet. Barry and I moped about the house. We couldn’t get Hooch out of our minds. He’d looked at us with those big eyes of his and asked in his silent dog way if our house was his home now and whether we were his people. It was so sad knowing that we, too, had failed him.

Over the next week, Barry and I talked about Hooch‘s special needs and whether we were up to doing what he needed to provide him with a safe home. We decided we’d give it another go. We arranged to have a trainer meet us at the house the next day we brought him home. She was a border collie expert. Bullies weren’t her forte, but she gave us great advice on how to teach Hooch the basics.

We started walking him around the neighborhood and quickly realized that his prey drive put all of us at risk. He would charge after rabbits, cats, and any dogs out walking with their owners. He hated bicyclists and skateboarders.

So we found another trainer who works with aggressive dogs. After several emails with her and one long session, we learned a TON of information about why Hooch is like he is and what he needed in order to become a well behaved, well adjusted member of our family. It all boiled down to Barry and I being strong pack leaders. That’s it. With him, we had to own his world. He was not to be allowed to bark at the window at anyone because doing so usurped our position in the pack. He wasn’t to be allowed to potty outside our backyard on our walks because only the pack leader is allowed to mark territory on migration runs (which is how a dog perceives a walk). The trainer said we could allow him to potty in one spot on the walk, but it had to always be the same spot. We don’t allow him in the backyard off leash, so one of us has to walk with him as he does his business. He isn’t supposed to be allowed on the furniture, but as you can see from the pics in this post, we’ve relaxed that rule.

It’s been over a year now, and we’ve settled into a comfortable relationship. Hooch loves our grandchildren. When they come over, he follows them around, lies where they’re playing, protects them with everything that he’s got. He’s patient when they hang on him. He rarely notices the bird anymore. When he does, it’s just to calmly walk up to the cage and let the bird come down to greet him.

Napping is his favorite thing. He’s certain he’s a lap dog, which we indulge more than we ought to. He has dog pillows in every room. He gets fed twice a day. I rearranged my work schedule so that I could work from home to be with him. He makes nests of our pillows on the bed. He pulls our clothes off the shelves in the closet so he can lie on them. He drools chronically (hence the name).

He's not an easy dog. With Hooch, we could not be lazy pet owners. He's definitely a project, but none of that matters. We're crazy in love with him. He’s turned out to be well worth the effort.

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