Author: Jonathon

It was a rabbit hole. So I threw out a days work(albeit a small amount) and started the scene over. Works better and it doesn’t derail the main point of the scene. I find it very difficult to blog during the process of a book without giving too much away, or being accused of teasing with hints. I’m not teasing, I’m simply working under the burden of keeping surprises secret. I’d love to be able to talk plainly about the book and plot, but people just can’t keep a secret, or worse yet, begin to pick the book apart on the internet before I’ve even finished the bloody thing. I actually received cover copy for DANSE MACABRE already. I hate getting cover copy before I’m finished with a book. Years ago I got the cover flat, a flat cover, for the one Star Trek Next Gen book I did. I had not even gotten half way through the book. I was ahead of schedule, but they worked even faster. I remember holding that cover flat and thinking wow, the artist really did use what I suggested. In fact, if I’d known he’d give me everything I asked for in the picture I’d have asked for more. This was like my second or third book, but I already knew that no one listens to writers about covers. I have more clout now, but for years and years, like most writers, I was at the mercy of others. But I held that cover flat, and measured the spine of it with my fingers, because I knew that my book, still not finished, had to fit within that spine room. By doing the cover first, they had dictated the size of the book. It costs money to redo covers, and I was a very new writer, filling in for another writer that had missed a deadline. They would not redo a cover run for me, just because I got long worded. I held that pretty cover flat in my hands and thought well, it’ll be this long and no longer. I had some unbelievably short period of time to finish the book, like I said, I took the opportunity to fill in for another writer who’d dropped the ball. I couldn’t afford to let the spine size weird me out, but I never quite forgot that the book had to fit within that space. It left me with a permanent dislike of getting pieces of the book, like cover copy, before the book is finished. Once upon a time I was ahead of schedule, but that was long ago when the books didn’t come so damn close to a thousand pages. My goal next book is to try and figure out how to make the books shorter. I’m not Dickens, I don’t get paid by the word. Most best selling writers average around four hundred pages per manuscript. Mine are double that, and with two series going at once, well, you do the math.
I hear that Grisham takes six months off between books, must be nice.
(Truthfully, I’d go mad if I didn’t work for six months, but a month off would be nice.)

Tantalizingly close to the end of the book. But close is still between a hundred and three hundred pages away. I used to be better at judging how many pages a certain scene or plot would take. I seem to have lost the ability.
The heat has finally broken. Last night’s storm blew in with rain and wind and moved the jet stream around for us. It’s been nearly ninety every morning before eight o’clock. This morning it was not quite seventy. Yea.
Rifling through my old pug desk calendar pages, found a quote I’ll share, then I got to get back to work. Here’s the quote, and no, I have no idea where it’s from, only who the calendar attributes it to. “When the aliens come, I hope they bring their dogs,” Dan Moore. And one more quote from the calendar for I cannot keep all the little pages. “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace.” Milan Kundera.
Okay, I really am going to get back to work now. I’m delaying because I can’t decide if the scene I just started is a rabbit hole (as in Alice in Wonderland) and is leading me astray, or if it’s a plot point I’m going to need later in the final parts of the book. I need to decide and either erase it and stay on track, or embrace it and see where it leads. I’ve found that the difference between a rabbit hole and a brilliant idea is damn small. One often masquerades as the other.

Some days I listen to Christmas music because I’m feeling down, or the book has hit a snag. Today, I’m playing it to try and feel cooler. It was a hundred and four degrees yesterday, no heat index, actual temperature. Forecast today, hundred and seven, again straight temperature. Plus the humidity is like trying to breath plastic. As soon as Trinity headed out the door for school, we put up our hair, put on some wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, a bottle of water, and walked the dogs. One neighbor stopped her car on the way to work, to tell us, “You must love your dogs to walk them in this heat.” Yeah, we love our dogs. Aren’t you supposed to? (By the way, Pippin is a boxer mix. We are constantly being asked if he is a pit bull. If we lived in Denver, Colorado, he could be siezed and killed just because he looks like a pit bull. Don’t believe me, read Darla’s blog entry entitled, “They are Doing What?.)
I’m off to turn my long hand notes I got this weekend into actual pages. It was a very relaxing weekend. Jon and I got to do a lot of things we’d been wanting to do; none of which involved leaving the house. Not only was it a Trinity free weekend, but Sunday was a just us day. I think we haven’t had enough alone time lately. We love our friends and family, but sometimes you just need to crawl into your den and pull the covers over your head, and not have to deal with anyone else.

When you read this, don’t think you cannot do anything about it. You can! And not only am I going to tell you the problem, I am also going to make a suggestion on what you can do to help, because I don’t believe in complaining if I cannot offer a suggestion on how to improve something. So here it goes, the problem and suggested solutions, even if you don’t live in Denver. Yup, Denver Colorado.
Did you know that everyday dogs are being killed just for being or even resembling a pit bull? (Please do not get me started on how poor most people are at recognizing a breed of dog, especially if it is a mix). Yes, they are. The goverment of Denver has decided to wholesale ban and slaughter of dogs. They are conducting searches and destroying dogs for no good reason! It has to stop.
There is no evidence that breed specific legislation stops dog bites. None! Nada! Yet a few politicans in an effort to look like they are doing something enacted this stupid law! And it has to stop, quickly. Today it is pit bulls, and don’t you believe it won’t spread. Some idiot will take it into their heads to start banning other breeds and more dogs will die a needless and senseless death simply for having the misfortune to be a specific breed or look alike. It is bad owners that usually result in bad dogs. Lets start by aiming at the right place instead of enacting foolish laws that are wrong.
So you are wondering what can you do? First of all vote. You would be surprised how many people don’t. Your voice does make a difference. I wish I had kept the article someone sent us on a town in Indiana. The City Council and Mayor had passed an ordinance that allowed the shooting of cats on sight. Feral or not! I so want to applaud the people of that town. They voted the whole group out and voted more sensible and thoughtful people in and the ordinance was recinded. Instead, they opted for a management program for the ferals. Lets hear it for the good folks of Indiana!
So to the folks in Denver, vote em out! You can do this. Politicians should know better than to embark on a stupid course of action that has no logic. Help get better folks elected. Even if you do nothing more active than maybe stuff envelopes for a canidate, every little bit helps! At the very least, vote!
A better strategy would be to first educate people, especially children, on what NOT to do. Do not approach strange dogs, do not run from dogs. When faced with an aggressive animal, stand still, do not look them in the eye instead stare at their front feet, slowly cross your arms over your chest and then slowly back away. Running is the worst thing you can do. This could be taught as part of safety week in schools. It would take what, twenty minutes?
Second, a low or no cost spay/neuter program would be a benefit, and there is scientific evidence to suggest that altered animals are less aggressive. Make it a mobile van and people flock to em. Check out www.bestfriends.org for info on theirs. They will even give you info on how to start one in your own community.
Third, and this is for politicans, try thinking and doing a wee bit of research before you legislate. You got staffs, they should be able to find you info on any topic. Ask an expert in the field for information. Try getting facts and being intelligent rather than reactive and ignorant.
Third, work harder at eliminating bad owners, which is where most bites occur! Heavy fines and jail time will do more to deter someone from mistreating an animal than anything else. Require vets to report suspected animal abuse. How about a nice anonymous hotline for citizens to report too? And there is evidence, that animal abusers are often child abusers. So it might just save a child in the process!
If you don’t live in Denver you can still help! Write the mayor of Denver! Let him know how wrong you think this legislation is! Here is his info: E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Address: Mayor John W. Hickenlooper Denver City and County Building1437 Bannock Street, Suite 350 Denver, CO 80202 . Tell them the truth. You will not move to Denver. You will not be coming to Denver. You will not visit that area and will encourage everyone you know to boycott it until a more sensible legislation is enacted. Your money speaks, so make it speak in a good cause. It is often the only thing politicians listen too.
There are things you can do in your own area too! www.aspca.com lists by state, laws that are being considered and will tell you whom to contact to make your voice heard, heck they even automated the process so you can email in a letter to the correct politican. So does www.bestfriends.org make available information on animals and proposed legislation.
For those who think I don’t know what it like to bit by a dog, I do! When I was a child my friend Donna’s dog bit me in the face. My mother was not very sympathetic. She is the one who taught me how not to approach a dog. I got bit because I scared the dog and she reacted like a dog does. She bit me. It was my fault, not the dogs. The next time we met I was more careful and we eventually got to be friends too. (And I too have bitten someone who scared me, so I know it from that side also. Next time someone is overly aggressive physically towards you and tries to kiss you, bite em in the lip. It works.)
And I have been bitten by my own dog. Fred, who has been gone many years now, was acting sluggish. So I bent down to pick him up and got bit through the hand for my trouble. I didn’t realize he had a blocked intestine and was in pain, so he let me know the only way he knew how when I squeezed his tummy. I don’t blame him a bit! He got to go to the doctor before I did. It was a simple fix for both of us fortunately. So I do know what it is like to be bitten.
Lastly, I am tired of seeing the same things over and over. Really! We hash and rehash old issues in new ways. I can remember when it was Doberman Pinschers that were getting all the press and German Shepards for bites. We seems to go around and around on the same issues. The reason you hear more about one breed than another is the breeds popularity and how slow a news day it was. (I will save my rant on news and profits for another day).
And did you know that most dog bite statistics include police dogs who are doing what they are trained for? They don’t seperate them. So numbers on bites may be inflated. There should be a more logical breakdown. Police dogs in one category, a second for human stupidity (the neighbor kid who is poking a dog with a stick and gets bit type) and those where it is dog aggression that was not initiated by a person. That would be a true picture of what occurs.
And for those who say we are not rehashing old issues I can prove that too. Did you know when movies first came out people were convinced there would be an upswing in crime and sex because people could see it on screen? The same was said when handheld cameras, VCR’s and Polaroid cameras came out. People would be commiting obsenities in their homes. The Internet is the current target.
Ggay marriage. But I can remember the arguements over interracial marriages in the 1960’s. How it would erode the fabric of society. How it was wrong and God never meant it. Think I am kidding? Try your libraries archive of old newspapers. States actually had laws banning those marriages.
Music is ever a perenial target. In the 1920’s it was Jazz that was going to be the ruin of the world. Rock and Roll had it’s turn. Now it seems to be rap music. Didn’t you know it is corrupting? It was then and is now apparently.
Drive by shootings in the 1800’s. Or I should say ride by shootings. Seems drunken teenagers on horse back would ride into town and shoot randomly. Sound familar?
Bombings of schools. Someone upset with taxes in the early 1900’s threw dynamite into a packed school house here in St. Louis. So it is old issues again and again. And unfortunately, people do not seem to learn enough from history to not repeat it. There really is nothing new under the sun, unfortunately.
What did they blame it on then? Before penny dreadfuls (inexpensive fiction books for those unfamiliar with the term), movies, television, the Internet, comic books and video games? Whom or what was responsible for the supposed fall and decline of society? It wasn’t moral decadance that cause the old Roman Empire to collapse. It was actually taxes, ignorance and foolish laws. As the middle class was taxed out of existence the whole thing crumbled. Read How The Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill for more on that.
So the real whole point of this rant was to save some dogs. I still hope you will help save them. Please, spare the ten minutes it will take to write a letter. Help influence society for the better, not the worst. See your voice make a difference. Then pat yourself on the back for me.
Darla
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you want to tell me how wrong you think I am.

The last three blogs I tried to put up I couldn’t put up. They turned into rants so impolitic for subject matter that all of us, Darla, Jon, and I, vetoed actually posting them. I am in the home stretch, last third, for the book and that’s taking all my concentration. So unless Darla or Jon start helping with the blog entries apparently I’m not going to be posting much until Danse Macabre is done.
Richard overheard me read this to Jon, and he made a good point. I don’t mean impolitic about politics, though that was in one of the nonposted blogs. I mean impolitic as in covering topics as wide ranging as child care, sex education, people’s attitudes towards the police, and fan reaction. Anyway, we’re off to have lunch. It’s the first Trinity free weekend in about three weeks. Love my kid, but a little alone grown-up time is nice, too.

Ten pages yesterday, but got up from the computer feeling like I hadn’t done enough. I think mainly because it was finally time to call Edward, something I’ve been looking forward to for ages, and I was too tired to continue from that point. My friend, and fellow writer, Rett MacPhearson, asked if I was at a good stopping point. I couldn’t seem to remember. I wondered through the house, and Darla remarked, “You look lost.” I felt lost. I want to play with Edward but latter on it occurred to me that when Anita calls him Peter will answer the phone. Home for a parent teacher conference day. Heaven knows we seem to have gobs of them here in St. Louis. So Peter answers the phone and he’s full of how well he did in his karate tournament, and that he’s the youngest ever to be accepted to the local shooting team. (What has Edward been teaching him. You really don’t want to know.) But somewhere in the conversation Anita will realize that it’s not just Edward she’s asking to come hunt monsters, but in a way the whole family. She’s asking Edward to come back her up against the vampire’s equivalent of spies/assassins, the best warriors they have. What if she gets him killed? What would Peter, and Becca, or Donna do? Instead of it being just fun and let’s all go chase monsters, it’s what would his family do without him? It was a sobering thought. Anita is actually going to hang up without talking to Edward. He’ll call her back, and she’ll tell him truthfully that she’s worried about what his family would do without him. He’ll tell her, “I can’t stop being who I am just because I love them, Anita. What do you need? It must be bad for you to call me, and be this worried.”
See, even monster hunting with Edward isn’t as fun as it used to be, because we all have responsibilites and people we care about. People who would be lost without us. It takes some of the fun out of the risk taking stuff. People ask why my series is so popular. Why mine and not someone else’s? I don’t know exactly, but I do know that I worry about my imaginary friends. We’ve been together for over a decade. I cry when they hurt. I worry over their personal lives. I grieve when they loose someone. I cannot imagine actually loosing one of them at this point. I think it would break my heart. My imaginary friends are very real to me, real enough that their moods and emotions can effect mine. Real enough that I’m worried about what my imaginary friend’s imaginary family would do if I got him killed. Weird, but true.

Did seventeen pages yesterday. Thought I was over the hump. Nope. Today new characters bubbling in my head like water on high boil. Too hot. I’m having trouble settling down. A deep bass growl of thunder just rolled overhead as if to point out that it’s not just my energy that’s on high boil. The thunder is just above the house, hot spatters of rain hitting the earth, but not cooling anything. Humidity is so high, breathing is like drinking stale water. The storm’s been threatening all day, but never actually materializing. I know the almost storm is part of what’s making me anxious. Storms do that sometimes. It’s like when you have an important but troubling decision to make, and you fret and fume, then finally you let go and do it, and once the storm is over, well, it clears the air. You can think again. I need to do something to clear my own mental storm. To clear the way so I can keep moving and not get bogged down again. Sigh.

So much has been happening here that I’m like back-logged with ideas for the blog. It’s like all the ideas are getting in the way and I can’t settle to one idea. I’ve had this happen with books and fiction before but never with nonfiction. I guess it’s a good sign, but it means that I won’t be blogging much until my mind clears, and decides what to do next. I’ll leave you with a quote, that I just rediscovered.
Never explain: your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it.
Victor Grayson
I would indent the above quote, but I just don’t remember how to do that without asking for technical help. The last time I just started punching keys assuming that keys meant the same in blogger as it did in my word program I accidentally deleted most of a post and posted the rest. Jonathon helped me rescue the posted part, but the deleted part was lost, and the posted part was incomplete without it. My love/hate relationship with technology continues.

We got the news bright and early about the bombings in London. All day we’ve wondered what to say here. Finally, I come to the only things I can think of. To all those in London, to all those personally effected by the terrible events in England today, our prayers go out to you, our thoughts are with you. I do not understand the people that did this. I do not understand what they hoped to accomplish unless grief and terror is all they want. In that I’m sure they have succeeded. But the world is hard enough, full of enough grief that cannot be avoided, why would you create more? I stand as most of the world will stand befuddled, lost, because what happened today, makes no sense. If there is logic to it, I cannot see it.
Again, our thoughts are with you, and if it is any comfort to anyone touched by this tragedy, we will burn a candle, and say a prayer.

Rules for throwing things out of the Fridge:
You should throw it out when you ask any of the following questions.
1. What color is (insert any food item)supposed to be?
2. Does this smell funny to you?
3. Do you remember how long ago I made this?
4. Does this taste a little funny to you?
5. I didn’t know we had raisins. (We didn’t.)
6. What did this use to be? (If you can’t tell, then it must be thrown away.)
Just a few useful tips from us, to you. What prompted this blog? Remembering the time my husband gave himself food poisoning by breaking rules 2 through 4. On the day before his birthday. We were only dating then, but it was a memorable moment.