Proceeding Titles

Welcome Writers! And a Happy Great Outdoors Month to everyone! 

There is so much to celebrate this month, and not the least of which is today, and here’s why:   Take a look around our awesome group by clicking the links below and check out the extensive list of writing tips and resources offered by the Insecure Writers Support Group, founded by Alex Cavanaugh, right here and right now on this first Wednesday of the month, when IWSG members convene through blogging, Facebook, and Twitter to talk about whatever is on our writing minds and agendas. See what we’re all talking about here. 

As for me:

I’ve chosen to answer the optional question of the month: “What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?”

When you think about it, Titles are pretty important. In describing your status at work, a title can inspire you to strive for a higher position. Along with a registration, a title will prove that you own the car that might have traveled a half-mile over the speed limit.  If not for titles, can you imagine having to search for the exact piece you’d been working on in an endless succession of unnamed “documents”?  

In fact, I usually have a title in mind whenever I begin a new manuscript, though I know it’s only temporary. For instance, The Lawn Mower Wheel sounds like an absolute yawn of read until you consider the hilarious chain of events that occur after one (wheel) shoots across the lawn on an otherwise ordinary afternoon. Add to that the unfortunate concussion incurred by an over-zealous developer intent on mowing down a picturesque neighborhood for the sake of a glass-walled high-rise and the finished story might well be called “The Mower”; a title more likely to pique a reader’s interest. In relation to books, titles aren’t simply important; they are highly potent marketing tools.

I love naming Characters! I’ve actually named a few who went unnamed in a story, if only for my own reference. On occasion (when it fits) I’ve named a menacing rabid dog Sweet Pea while her diminutive mild-mannered owner went by the name Thor.  In my experience, the perfectly normal propensity to discover and use the most unique, and therefore memorable, character names can backfire.  If the name is too long, too unusual, or frankly, forgettable, so becomes the character to the reader (also my experience). It can be challenging at times, but in the interest of keeping a reader’s interest, it’s worth considering 😉

So, how’s your journey? What will you write this summer? What was the last Drive-In movie you went to see?

Happy Writing!

A Dream or Two Ago

June is so full of celebrating the act of not working, i.e., Leave Work Early Day, Take a Hike Day, or Please Take My Kids to Work Day, the urge to enjoy might be too much to resist. So why not revisit or begin journaling? Or write an article, an essay or a trailer for your next bestseller? You could also sharpen your writing skills with any of the many great resources offered by the Insecure Writers Support Group, founded by Alex Cavanaugh, right here and right now on this first Wednesday of the month, when IWSG members convene through blogging, Facebook, and Twitter to talk about whatever is on our writing minds and agendas. See what we’re all talking about here.

A dream or two ago I had one in which I desperately searched, sometimes found and chased - my own creativity. Distracted by the ring of a telephone, I stepped into a phone booth and answered a busy signal. “All circuits are busy now,” a recorded voice droned as I awoke with a hammering heart and added one more line to my eleven page To Do list: Try Again Later.  Yeah, life is like that sometimes. No worries.

Funny, the things you think of while climbing shelves in a grocery store… Benjamin Franklin evidently had the same problem reaching books in 1786 and proceeded to invent what he called the Long Arm: a long wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end. I could have used that invention that day at the store. Or, the tall woman who asked me to get my cart out of the middle of the aisle could have just reached what I was climbing for. If there is a “Be Kind to Short People Day” I’d sure like to know about it.  Have you ever had a Long Arm moment?

They said it couldn’t happen; that one could not survive. But here, my friends is proof that while not the fittest, my Jacaranda is alive! Wish I could say the same for my house plants. 

Over time, the ritual of hanging our flag as soon as we arrive at the cabin has become the self-appointed responsibility of our grandson. He even retrieves my little solar-powered Honey Bear from the closet and sets it on the porch rail. My heart swelled as I watched him go about these tasks (oblivious to the nearby gaping car doors with bags and boxes still inside), for as soon as he’d placed the flag just right he proceeded with a hand over his heart, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Had I even had a camera, tears might have bungled the shot, but the memory shall always remain etched in my heart. What’s your ‘etching’ moment?

The Cup Cafe'

Two years and 4 days ago, I wrote about a debonair outlaw named John Dillinger and his infamous misadventure at the landmark Hotel Congress. I was woefully remiss not to have mentioned the legendary Tap Room bar and its devoted bartender, Tiger. Having taken the job back in 1959, I can only imagine the captivating conversations he must have had over the years with iconic leaders and western legends alike. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame still calls the place his favorite bar.  Thomas “Tiger” Ziegler turned 84 last month and still works at the Tap Room!  Next time I’m having a cup with friends at the iconic penny-floored Cup Café, I think I’ll sneak across the hall and see who Tiger might be talking to these days ;-)

Odds and Endings

Hi, Everyone! Now that it’s “National Get Caught Reading Month,” can anyone recommend a good mystery to read beneath a full Flower Moon next week? I’m guessing there are a lot of A to Z Challenge Survivors out there – Congratulations! If you find your muse has left you without a word or ransom note, you can always sharpen your writing skills with any of the many great resources offered by the Insecure Writers Support Group, founded by Alex Cavanaugh, right here and right now on this first Wednesday of the month, when IWSG members convene through blogging, Facebook, and Twitter to talk about whatever is on our writing minds and agendas. See what we’re all talking about here.

I’m taking full advantage of the (optional) uplifting question of the month, “What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for a story?” because who wants to dwell on rejections, right? Besides, this question calls to mind all the fun of the writing journey!

Since I’m one to wander off the beaten path, it’s no surprise I tend to do that in research as well. So once upon a quest for knowledge of how to handle being lost at sea (terrifying, isn’t it?) I came across the true story of a family on a dream vacation voyage in the Bahamas during which the Captain, having been caught in the act of murdering his wife (for the insurance policy he’d recently purchased), then proceeded to end the lives of all but one of the family who'd been alerted to the scene of the first crime by the screams of the Captain’s wife. It was nearly fifty years before (then eleven years old) Terry Jo, the only surviving family member, was able to tell her harrowing story in a book entitled “Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean.”

For another story I was writing – and researching, I was checking out hypnosis. Since there are quite a number of characters (in my story) under the influence, I wanted to know if there could be adverse reactions. And sure enough, there could. It’s called “Inadvertent suggestion acceptance”; sometimes concretely, sometimes literally. For example, You can dance your feet off, or You can eat anything that moves…oh, the possibilities!

Not that I’m a fan, but one story led me to a most disgusting insect called a Tumblebug. Not even my cat would go near it. Out here we call it a Turd Roller because that’s what, and all, it does. Scientists, on the other hand, are quite interested in the only non-human ‘animal’ known to be in existence that uses the Milky Way for nocturnal orientation.

So, what’s in your notebook? On your agenda? Have you ever been lost at sea, hypnotized, or seen a Tumblebug?

F is for John Fogerty

Lines of Inspiration

 Melodious expressions, Enduring Truisms

F

John Fogerty

“Rode in on a Greyhound, I’ll be walking out if I go…”

Song Title:  Lodi

 

Songwriter: John Fogerty

The Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival

This four member band out of San Francisco blazed themselves a notable trail through the Roots – or Swamp – rock genre.

At the impressionable age of 11, when ‘Lodi’ turned up on the flipside of “Bad Moon Rising”, I interpreted the song title ‘Lodi’ as a state of mind; “Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again,” Apparently I wasn’t far off the mark, since Fogerty says his inspiration for the song was a downtrodden elderly man he’d seen on a street corner (before ever setting foot in the town Fogerty simply liked the name of). “At the beginning of a good career,” Fogerty went on, “I was hoping that wouldn’t happen to me.”

With that, I offer a piece of a 17^th century phrase my grandma wrote on one of the back pages of my teenage journal:

“Remember me as you pass by,

as you are now

 so once was I”

And just to get your toes tapping:  Traveling Band

So, how about those lines? Do they call to mind a memory? Instill a sense of wonder? Are you familiar with the song, phrase or band?

There’s a whole lotta blogging going on right here!