Listening to the Experts
June 10, 2009 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Life Lessons, Nancy Farrier
by Nancy Farrier
Sweat beaded on my brow as I lifted a hand to test the flow from the air duct. No question. Our evaporative cooler was on the fritz. Not only that, but my husband, who usually did all the upkeep, had been working long hours and wouldn’t be home until after dark. That meant I would have to try to the repairs. I could see disaster looming.
I called my husband with the wild hope that my sorry story would bring out compassion in his superiors and he would be allowed to come home early. That didn’t happen. Instead, my sweet man told me exactly what to do. I hung up the phone, knowing we were in big trouble.
After a trip to the hardware store, I fumbled around for the necessary tools and got to work, determined to get the temporary fix in place without tragedy. Everything went more or less fine until it came to climbing the ladder to the roof…in the almost one hundred degree heat…with my fear of heights. After a quick pep talk to self I went up, only to discover that gloves were essential. Why didn’t I know that?
Despite several false starts, numerous trips up and down the ladder on shaky legs, and leaks that had to be fixed, I did manage to get the temporary fix in place. The cool air blowing on my heated face was all the thanks I needed. My appreciation for my husband, who does these jobs without whining, blossomed.
I learned a lesson from this that I thought applied in many areas, but especially in my writing. Had I tried to muddle through on my own that cooler would never have been repaired. We would have been sweltering for days without my husband’s knowledgeable input. The same goes with writing. I have to be ready to listen to experts in many areas and willing to apply their advice, even when it’s hard to do. Editors and other writer’s have many suggestions that are gleaned from years of experience and will benefit me if I listen.
Although I prefer to stay within my comfort zone and not climb a ladder to the roof, I can get a different perspective if I’m willing to stretch. Up on that roof, the view stretched out a long ways while my usual vista in the house is very limited. I also learned appreciation for something someone else does. As writer’s we must be ready to get out of our comfort zone in order to add depth and reality to our writing.
So, I challenge you to step out the next time you have the opportunity and try something new—even if the scent of disaster is in the air. You never know what treasures you’ll glean for your writing from that breath of cool air.
Will Ferrell—Your Hero?
June 8, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Writing tagged as Abby Gaines, moviesLand of the Lost, the movie, not the TV show I used to watch way back when, opened on the weekend and reportedly bombed. In fact, it’s been called “the first bomb of summer.” Ouch. I’m partly to blame, I guess, as I didn’t go. But it’s on my list of “possibles” so if you saw it, let me know what you think.
However, if it’s any comfort to Will Ferrell, he did benefit financially from me over the weekend, because I rented the DVD of Stranger Than Fiction, a movie he did a couple of years ago with Emma Thompson. He must have made at least a penny in royalties off my rental fee…
Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS agent who starts to hear a voice narrating every action in his tedious life. Turns out he’s a character in a book being written by reclusive author Karen Eiffel (Thompson), though his figuring that out takes up a large part of the movie (the audience is clued in from the start). Bad news for Crick, he’s doomed to die at the end of the book, when he realizes that, it becomes a race against time to save his life just as it starts to get interesting.
I really enjoyed this movie, it was so different and quite unpredictable. And quite unexpected to see Ferrell as a romantic hero (in an unlikely romance with a baker played by the very cute Maggie Gyllenhaal), especially if you’re more used to his Talladega Nights-style of character. I must admit, Ferrell’s not the man I have in my head when I’m writing one of the romantic heroes in my books, but maybe I could rethink that…
Dustin Hoffman played a big part in the movie, too, and of course, he was recently paired up with Thompson in Last Chance Harvey, another movie I really enjoyed. I wonder if acting in Stranger Than Fiction together was what sparked their pairing in Last Chance Harvey?
So, did you see Land of the Lost? Love it, hate it? Got any other Will Ferrell recommendations?
Abby
www.abbygaines.com
Grumbling and Conflicts
June 6, 2009 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette Nocturne
As I mentioned in that posting, I won’t see you at OCC this month. Instead, I’ll be at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, a joint program between the local Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime chapters.
The Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting, which is usually the third Sunday of the month, was moved to the same weekend, since it otherwise would occur on Father’s Day. That means I’ll miss another meeting I’d like to attend.
I blogged a few days ago for the Mid-Valley Willamette RWA Chapter’s blog site. My theme was my multiple personalities, which I cultivate because of writing in two very different genres: dark paranormal romance and light cozy mysteries. And then there’s my lawyer side.
There are times, like the second weekend of this month, that I wish I didn’t only have multiple personalities, but that I could clone myself, too, and participate in more than one event that I know I’d enjoy.
Okay, I know I’m grumbling. Part of life is having to make choices, and I’ve done so.
But I’m going to miss my romance writers’ meetings, especially this month when my Silhouette Nocturne BACK TO LIFE has been released! It’s definitely a romance, although there’s a mystery to it, too. And a very special K-9 cop heroine who has Valkyrie powers that allow her to bring some people back from the brink of death… people like the really hot SWAT-team member whose life she saves at the beginning. She becomes romantically involved with him, then realizes she might have inadvertently passed some powers along to him, too.
I’ll be at the July OCC meeting before heading to RWA National in Washington, D.C., and hope to sign BACK TO LIFE and my latest Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery NEVER SAY STY at the meeting.
I won’t be grumbling then!
By the way, today is D-Day. My hugs and kudos to those who were there. My dad landed at Normandy Beach a couple of days later.
Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
Linda O. Johnston is the author of 16 romance novels and several novellas, including a Nocturne Bites, with at least one more Nocturne upcoming. She also writes the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.
Chapter Meeting Information for June
June 4, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Chapter Meeting InformationGeneral Meetings are held the second Saturday of the month at the Brea Community Center, 695 E. Madison Way, Brea, CA 92821. For a map and directions, click here.
Meeting fees are $10 for Members and $20 for Non-Members.
Meeting Schedule for June 13, 2009
- 9:30 am: Doors Open / Ask an Author
Volunteer Ask an Author/s for June:
Susan Squires and Jennifer Haymore - 10:30 – 10:45 am: Announcements
Morning Speaker: JENNIFER HAYMORE: Is E-Publishing Right for my Writing Career? - 11:50 – 1:00: Lunch Break (Lunch Orders available)
- 12:45 – 1:00: New Member Orientation
- 12:30 – 1:00: Book signings
- 1:00 – 1:30 pm: General Meeting and Announcements
- Afternoon Speaker: CHRISTIE RIDGWAY: Beyond the Beach: Using Setting to Create Character and Plot
- 3:00 pm: Meeting Adjourns
Attention: OCC Members Attending the Meeting–Monthly Critique Drawings! Volunteer Critique Author for June: Patricia Wright (w/a Patricia Thayer)
Important 2009 Dates to Remember:
- June 15, 2009 – July 11, 2009—Online Class–Is That Hollywood Calling? with Cindy Carroll. For information click HERE
- July 13, 2009–OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)
- July 13, 2009 – Aug 8, 2009—Online Class—Writing Cozy Mysteries with Cheryl Arguile (w/a Emily Brightwell). For information click HERE
- August 8, 2009—OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)
- August 10, 2009 – September 5, 2009—Online Class—Using Body Language and Vocal Gestures to Create More Believable Characters with Bill Edmunds. For information click HERE
- August 22, 2009—OCC Special Event #2: Character and Conflict; Point of View and Dialogue–An all-day workshop with Debra Mullins and Charlotte Lobb. For more details and registration, visit www.occrwa.org.
For current Online Class Schedule and registration information, please visit http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html.
For more chapter meeting information visit OCC’s website at http://occrwa.org/meetings.htm
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