Reading is FUNdamental

A recent article in O magazine listed the advantages of reading-not the joys.  Oh no!  The author was anxious to promote what reading could do for you and how it helped your brain.  And there is a t-shirt for an avatar on Yahoo that simply states Read.

What is wrong with these people?.  Reading is not a cause.  Reading is one of life’s pleasures.  Reading is communication.  Can you imagine having to promote any other form of communication? We’d all have T-shirts that say Watch TV Now.  Or Have You Loaded up your MP3 today?

It would never happen.  And that is exactly what is wrong with making reading a cause.  The job of my generation is to teach reading sure-but it’s more than that. The generations before us were smarter.  Banned books are not a problem.  Banned books are a reason bunches of kids learned to read.  They wanted to know what the adults thought was too much for them. Ditto with comic books.  Junk reading, sure, in its purest most fun form.  And reading under the covers was one of the joys of childhood.  Mom would never know how long I stayed up reading.  Then again, maybe she did.

We should eliminate all the talking on those computer games and just stick with the little lines of text running underneath.  Reading scores across the world would skyrocket-and so would spelling.  Oh, and keep complaining about the kid’s cell phone bill.  Text messaging may be the only thing to keep this generation from being totally illiterate.

My generation has forgotten what the ones before us knew.  Kids want to do all the stuff we don’t want them to do.  Harry Potter was a hit in part because of all the controversy from those who didn’t like kids reading about witches and wizards.  Don’t make reading a cause-make it a privilege like computer time and playstations. Tell them if they’re good, you’ll let them keep the lights on fifteen extra minutes for reading tonight. Read in front of them, but tell them it’s only for adults.  Watch the kids read then.

Books/Movies

. The relationship between books, and their movie adapatations has always been a controversial one. Not everyone is happy with the screen versions. Personally, I’ve never found an adapation of Jane Austen’s Emma that I like, and I always imagined Sirius Black to be a lot taller. But movie adapations do have their good points.

For a start, they can enhance a good book. When I first read Lord of The Rings, I had trouble getting into it, and sorting out who was who – until I saw the first movie. It helped me pin faces to the characters, and work out what was going on (personally, I think LOTR gets better after Boromir’s death, and by the end it’s so exciting I’m sitting up till three in the morning, gripping the book, unable to leave. But I don’t think it starts well). When I read Gone With the Wind, I see Vivien Leigh’s wonderful Scarlett, and when I read Bleak House, I think of Gillian Anderson’s Lady Dedlock.

They also advertise a good book. Books are advertised like movies, unless they’re the latest James Patterson. They don’t have trailers, and they’re aren’t many ‘top ten books you must read!’ magazine articles out there. In fact, you usually only find out about a good book by rumour, or a really good bookshop display. A movie can suddenly make you aware of a book you never heard of before. Inkheart is exactly my kind of book – a dark children’s fantasy based around books – but somehow, it had never come to my attention before. Then I see the movie trailers which have led to this book and all of a sudden I have new great book series to read (btw, did you know that the inspiration for Mortimer in the book was Brendan Fraser – who is playing Mortimer in the movie?). The same thing happened with The Princess Bride. Even the not so great movies can work like this – I don’t much like the recent movie adapation of Pride and Prejudice (much prefer the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version) but I do know it’s led thousands of people to read P + P – and that can only be good.

One Writer’s Christmas Wish List

This time of year we’re all so rushed, I thought about not blogging this week–you know, shutting the place down until the New Year.  Michelle talked me out of it, just by reminding me about  her Christmas story.  It made me realize, I was so rushed, I hadn’t really focused on Christmas.

So this week, I’m focusing.  Beyond the baking and the cooking, beyond the shopping and the cleaning, I’m going to focus on Christmas.  I wish you all, all the relatives you want to visit, all of the friends you want to celebrate with.  I wish you a clear and star filled sky after you come out of the late night service (or the party or the mall)– a sky so clear, so bright, it reminds you of the star that guided the shepherds and the three kings to the manger.  I wish you wonderful Christmas carols that take you right back to your favorite Christmas memories.  And I wish for you peace and joy and contentment in the middle of the fun and the crowds and the noise.

And lots of Christmas cookies.  Merry Christmas, everybody!

Precious Things

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My copy of Wind in the Willows was given to me by my father when I was very young. He loved that story, and soon I did too. When I was young, I could never understand why Toad wasn’t allowed to behave how he wanted. As I got older, I understood, but I secretly sympathized with him. I never understood the chapter ‘Piper at The Gates of Dawn’, and used to skip it, until I got older, ater’s first appearance, and then had to give the book back. I saved up my lunch money to buy my own copy – a cheap, £1.99 copy, tiny, with flimsy pages. I’ve often thought of swapping it for a brand new copy, with an introduction and notes, but there too many memories of escaping into its onion skin pages when the world was cold and dark to get rid of it.

I bought my copy of Danny The Champion of the World at a jumble sale, when I was around 9. It’s not as quirky, or as funny as Roald Dahl’s other books, but it’s my favourite. I read it again and again. It’s kind of gentle and strong, and makes me cry. When I bought a brand new box set of Roald Dahl, I got rid of my tatty copies of James and The Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – but I couldn’t throw away my copy of Danny. I loved it too much. Every time I hold it, I remember running out of the house, finding a tree to sit under – or preferably in – and nd now I think it’s beautiful. I still have the same book. It’s old and battered now, and I think if my house was burning down, that’d be the first thing I saved.

When I was 14, the school offered us a choice between studying Jane Eyre or Great Expectations, and we were offered a choice of books to take home and read for one night. I chose Jane Eyre. I’d got to Mr Roches disappearing into Danny’s world.

I bought my copy of a Christmas Carol a few years ago. It’s bound in faux green leather, with gold tooling. Its pages are facsimiles of the original edition, with the illustrations and page headings. It’s exactly the right size and feel to sit on the sofa with, a cup of hot chocolate by my side, sobbing and laughing my way through, just before Christmas.

Books are precious.

The blank page

Today I’m staring at a blank page and I’m determined not to be intimidated by it. What it is about the proverbial blank page that is so frightening? Nothing of course, it’s my thoughts about it that cause the problem. Actually, I find that if I’m staring at a blank page I must have at least opened Microsoft Word and therefore I’m a heck of a lot closer to writing than if I’m playing on Facebook, trawling through E-Bay or Googling the names of people I haven’t seen for years.

I think my intermittent resistance [read: procrastination] around writing comes from the fact that when I’m on – I’m on. I wrote the first draft of Plan B in 7 months. I would get up at 5:15am, write for a few hours, go to school, teach all day, come home and return to writing after I’d cooked dinner. I was so productive during that time that most of my marital conversations were conducted long distance – Patrice calling out to me from somewhere in the house and me calling back from the office.  A lot of those conversations ended like this, “…yes honey I know and I promise I’m turning the computer off right now.  Ok, 3, 2, 1….”.

While all that productivity felt great at the time, it has sort of set an unreasonable standard that I’m still trying to live up to. The fact of the matter is, I love writing and can do it for hours and hours on end without noticing any time has passed at all. However, not all writing projects inspire that sort of motivation and I don’t need to bring that sort of passion to every project I undertake. And – this is the important part - that’s O.K.  As long as I’m writing and not playing on Facebook, I’m in the game.

So, (and I’m speaking to myself here too) unplug the Outernet and get into Word.  On the first line of your fresh, clean Word document, write one sentence stating the genre, subject and audience of the piece you’re about to create. Then choose one poignant word to work into your piece, set a timer for 15 minutes and go for it. 

So what if it’s not the best thing you’ve ever written?  So what if it’s gibberish?  That gibberish might’ve been smothering your best work - ’better out than in’ as the saying goes.

Chick Lit, Cozies, Women’s Issues

With all that is going on in this old world, it is hard to believe that someone could get worked up about a writing category.  But here I am, and yes, it’s me that is worked up.  It started when I sent Safe House out to review.  Now mind you, I did have a moment’s pause when I heard that the book was going to a male reviewer (who will remain unnamed here.) I’m not here to grouse about the review either.  But the guy called my mystery Chick Lit.

To me, chick lit involves a great deal of Italian shoes that I could never afford and wouldn’t wear if I could since they all have six inch heels.  I’m strictly a flats and sneakers woman.  Chick lit to me, means shopping (Oh God please kill me before I have to hit the mall again.) and sex.  It does not involve a forty-year old single mother of two teens trying to juggle work at a battered women’s shelter and her kids’ needs.  Yet that is essentially the blurb for Safe House.  So you see my dilemma.

So the discussion comes up on Goodreads and a couple of mystery lists I’m on. (Okay, folks, it’s useless to pretend since you all know me by now, I brought the discussion up.)  I asked readers and writers what they meant by the term chick lit.  I got a couple of wonderful definitions from people which confirmed my belief that Safe House is NOT chick lit.  But I’m beginning to wonder if the term might be coming to be used for all women’s fiction now–anything that might loosely be termed women’s issues.  So what are  your thoughts?

Oh and if you want to vote on it– I’ve posted the first chapter of Safe House on my website.  Read it and tell me honestly–is this Chick lit?  I really want to know.

Books in the news

. There were a few news stories about books that caught my attention this week. One was HMV saying it was losing money, and they blamed it on their books division, Waterstones
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7776873.stm. I used to live and work in a town without a bookshop, but now I work in Twickenham, which a lovely, tiny little Waterstones. It’s just the right size for a lunchtime browse, the staff are friendly and helpful, and they have books there I’ve never seen in larger Waterstones. It’s an utter joy for me to be near a bookshop now, as nothing quite beats wandering a bookshop, glancing over titles that catch your eye, and picking up books you’d never have noticed in Amazon. I’ll be heartbroken if HMV closes it, especially as personally, I think their sky high DVD and CD prices are to blame, not the books.

Then there was the article about what people say they read to impress others. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7776046.stm. Apparently many people lie about they are currently reading to impress others, and the most impressive thing to read is Shakspeare. Personally, I’d be impressed by any man who admitted he does read, instead of loudly announcing he’s far too busy to be bothered by such a waste of time as books. (In case you will be impressed – I’m currently reading 3 books – The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory, Sovereign Ladies by Maureen Waller and Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir. I’m on a bit of a Tudor kick at the mo.)

And finally, an interview with one of my favourite authors, Philip Pullman. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7774176.stm. The questions are put by readers of his books, and its a very illuminating and fascinating interview – especially when he is asked about readers intrepreting his books, where he says ‘Once a book is in your hands, ITS INTERPRETATION BELONGS TO YOU. You can read it in any way you like, and take away any meaning that makes sense to you. ‘. That’s exactly what I always thought about books too!

Senior Women Sleuths

By Jean Henry Mead

Because there are 87 million baby boomers nearing   retirement, some 8,000 of them a day slipping into senior citizen status, a growing market for mystery novels is in demand for those who want to read in their own age bracket. Previously called cozies, senior sleuth novels are less violent, devoid of graphic sex and the language usually lacks the F-word. My kind of mystery novel.

Senior women sleuths have been featured in mystery novels for nearly a century, but didn’t occupy center stage until some fifteen years ago when there were thirty of them solving murders. Among them Carolyn Hart with her Henrietta O’Dwyer Collins series and M.C. Beaton whose Agatha Raisin character resides in her native Scotland. Beaton, whose real name is Marian Chesney, describes Agatha Raisin as an updated Miss Marple.

Women over fifty have generally been dismissed as out of touch with the real world, with few notable exceptions, and unworthy of respect. Hart stresses the fact that “Women must be valued not only when young and beautiful but when they age. I wanted a character that didn’t have to pretend. There are more seasons to life than summer.”

I agree with her assessment that anyone who thinks “”women over 60 are fluffy and feeble little old ladies” are dead wrong. I was honestly unaware of either mystery series when I dreamed up my own senior sleuth novel, A Village Shattered. My protagonists, Dana Logan, a mystery novel buff and her friend, Sarah Cafferty, a private investigator’s widow, live in a San Joaquin Valley retirement village in central California, where dense fog hides a serial killer. While the two women sat discussing the first murder of their friend and club member, I realized that Dana resembles actress Gina Davis and Sarah looks like Shelley Winters, a distinct difference in their appearances. But together they have more crime solving knowledge than the newly-elected sheriff.

The two 60-year-old widows are in good physical shape and Dana still jogs and downhill skis. Sarah, on the other hand, loves to eat and is what she calls “pleasingly plump.” They’re not doddering old ladies, but quite capable of solving crimes. In Diary of Murder, the second novel in the series, due for release next spring, I placed both women in a motorhome in the midst of a Rocky Mountain blizzard as they make their way to Wyoming to investigate the death of Dana’s sister, a mystery novelist. Her brother-in-law says it was suicide, but Dana knows better.

I confess that I’ve never had more fun writing as I’ve had with my Logan & Cafferty senior sleuth mystery/suspense series.

About the author: Jean Henry Mead is the author of eleven books, three of them novels. A former news reporter, magazine editor and photojournalist, she now devotes her time to writing the Logan & Cafferty senior sleuth series as well as western historical novels. She’s also working on a children’s book, The Mystery of Spider Mountain.

Her mystery novel, A Village Shattered, released this month
from  Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/5alkkr) is also available in ebook form from Fictionwise-ePress (http://tinyurl.com/6rdzm5), where it is currently #1
on the publisher’s bestseller list. A book trailer is also available at “YouTube:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9mVh6Z6GGg).

Jean’s webpage is: JeanHenryMead.com.

13, unlucky for some & choosing your subject matter

I didn’t want to let OJ’s sentencing pass without comment. Nine years non parole doesn’t sound like much when you consider what he’s actually guilty of but it’s a lot better than nothing. I hope this sentence brings the Brown and Goldman families some peace.

________________________

Back to writing. I want to talk about choosing your subject matter. Specifically, do you choose it or does it choose you? Let me explain.

I had no interest or knowledge of intimate partner homicide until I watched a true crime series which followed the trial of a man convicted of it. What’s more, I didn’t even mean to watch the series. I was channel surfing really late one night and tuned in half way through the second episode. I was so struck by what I saw that I went out and bought the DVD box set the next day. Watching the series led me to writing to the convicted man which lead me to researching the topic. Since then I’ve joined the Domestic Violence Coalition Committee (a group which advocates domestic homicide investigation reform), written an information booklet for the DVCC and published a magazine article highlighting the two faces of intimate homicide.  I can trace it all back to that night in January 2005 when I flicked over to SBS.

My point is, if someone would’ve asked what I’d like to write about, I wouldn’t have said domestic/intimate partner homicide.  Bottom line though, the subject matter resonated with me.  In fact, I couldn’t leave it alone, I needed to know more.

With the holiday season around the corner and the possibility of winding down, can I suggest that you tune in to what lights your creative fire?  Pay attention to whom and what you are fascinated by.  Then, be brave and go with it.  Heck, my family and friends thought I was crazy to become pen pals with a convicted murderer (I can hear you agreeing with them) but I don’t regret it at all.  In fact, it’s been such an enlightening experience.  All I’m saying is…follow your fascination because it could be your next big idea trying desperately to get your attention.

Stop Me Before I Print Again

As many of you know, I am gearing up for the print release of Safe House, the second book in my cozy mystery series.  This past week (month, eon) I have been sending out ARCS.  But first I had to print the darn things up myself, since getting them made somewhere was NOT in the budget especially this close to Christmas.  (If you are at this point in your promo and want directions, just leave me your email addy–I’ll send you the directions.)

Then I had to print up things for the media kit, like the sell sheet (important because it has all the info on the book there such as ISBN, what kind of book–trade paper, hard bound etc, and publishing date .)  I printed out a press release, my business cards, and a bio.  The bio was a real fun project because my husband wanted me to include a sentence that said something like this: Christine Duncan is a Colorado mystery writer whose books are set in a battered women’s shelter, but her husband wants the world to know, it’s not because of anything HE did!

At this point, I have been printing out so much stuff, I don’t know how to stop.  I am looking for another full-time printing project.  I have carefully considered printing out some t-shirts.  This is complicated by the fact that 1. I don’t have the cover art for the print book yet.  (I’ve done a t-shirt for the e-version)and 2. the only place I would wear such a t-shirt is out running, and right now, any shirt I wear running is covered up by a sweat shirt and 2 hoodies to keep me warm in a pretty typical Colorado winter.  Add to that, I usually see more foxes, bunny rabbits, and even deer  in my run through the park, these cold winter mornings than I see people, and you see the usefulness of the t-shirt.   Just about nada.

I would do bookmarks, but oh yeah, see point #1 above.

The other thing that struck me again, this week, is just how much has changed since the last time I did this.  Many places where I sent ARCS for the first book are out now–such as the Drood Review.  Anybody with any suggestions besides the obvious:  Booklist, Library Journal, Foreword,  Mystery Scene? (Oops, violated the rule of three there!)

Apparently some parts of promo could be addictive.  Who knew?