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Seven Kinds of Stupid

My spouse is gone away for a week, so I'm doing a lot of channel surfing, reveling in the fact that I can. What I notice is that the commercials for whatever TV shows you watch reveal what kind of stupid the MADmen think you are. For example:



1.Sports-Apparently everyone who watches sports can only think of two things: Will my team win?" and "Can I get a bigger, meaner-looking truck than my neighbor?"



2.Game shows-Obviously a favorite of the idle and the aged, if you pay… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 7, 2009 at 10:10pm — No Comments

If You'd Read This One First, Then What?

I'm reading a book by an author I like very much...today. Since I like her current work, I went back to find her earlier books and, well, the one I bought just isn't as good.



Of course there's a learning curve, and some authors climb to better writing over time while others plummet downward, racing to keep a book a year in the hands of readers. And not every book can be a gem. But this book, unfocused, too cute in places, and unsure of what tone it wants to strike, got me thinking… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 4, 2009 at 10:22pm — 7 Comments

Creative Marketing (R)

Since my new book releases next month, I've been thinking (a lot) about marketing. It seems to me that we must be just as creative in this phase as we were when plotting the novel, just as bold in approaching various venues as we were when seeking an agent. It's a bit daunting.



Here's what I've learned, or at least what I think I've learned.



No book will fit every venue every time. You have to choose where you'll expend your energies and forget trying to sell to every… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 3, 2009 at 10:07pm — No Comments

Reading Straight Through

I'm always flattered when a reader tells me he/she couldn't put one of my books down. It 's a high compliment to be told I caused a person to be so caught up in a story that he couldn't stop until the end. The best books, of course make us rather sad to get to that last page, but we rush ahead to it anyway, accepting the inevitable destination in exchange for the excitement of the journey.



I mentioned that I'm reading THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON by Kate Morton, and I was reluctant to put… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 2, 2009 at 10:55pm — No Comments

Author Friends and Making Friends

I don't mean the people I know who are authors, although they are great friends, great resources, and great fun. I mean the authors whose books you anticipate, whose work you already know you want to read. They won't disappoint you; you'll be lost in their world, making it yours for the duration of the book.



I have a long list of them, and the list keeps growing. I have to remind myself to look for new authors, too, but it's tempting to buy the work of those I trust. I guess that's… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 1, 2009 at 10:21pm — No Comments

Monday, Monday, and Teasing

It's been a frustrating morning, with CS insisting my password was wrong and resisting all attempts to solve the problem. The same with Verizon, which is merging with AllTel and making my life complicated.



As Ellen D. would say...Anyway:



I'm reading Kate Morton's THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON, a sort of classy soap opera. I don't usually like authors who tease the reader continually, "I didn't suspect at that moment what I would soon encounter" can be used once or twice, but soon… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 30, 2009 at 11:35pm — No Comments

Leaping, Solving, and the Hunch

One problem I face as a mystery writer (and reader) is how smart the protagonist gets to be. Even when I was a kid I knew that Sherlock Holmes was often way off in his self-proclaimed "logical deductions". Saying that a man's wife no longer loves him because his coat has a loose button is beyond ridiculous, and such Holmes moments have been spoofed many times by comedians better at it than I.



But here's the thing with mysteries: writers have to make leaps sometimes to make the story… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 27, 2009 at 10:30pm — 1 Comment

Creativity as Therapy

Yesterday I made a crown: four feet at the base, four-and-a-half feet wide at the top, bejeweled, golden, and undeniably tacky. It will definitely be the spectable it's intended to be at the Christmas festivities.



What I always find, no matter what the purpose, is that creating something tangible is relaxing for me. Not that I'm any sort of artist; don't ever think that. I need lots of help to transmit the idea in my head to reality. But I'll work for hours, even days, on such… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 25, 2009 at 10:13pm — No Comments

TDTL

Writers know what it is, and readers do, too: Too Dumb To Live. It's that moment in a book where a character does something so out of logical bounds that we're thrown out of the story while we scream (silently, one hopes) "No sane person would go into that basement/warehouse/alley/crypt, etc. In the book I'm reading, it is the hull of a ship that's aground in the Arctic Circle. The two men (Double TDTL) rappel into the hold in their street clothes, knowing that a) the ship is sliding off the… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 24, 2009 at 10:27pm — 2 Comments

Seeing Double. And Yogurt

I'm not really twice as wordy as usual. I'm getting double postings, and I don't know why. I notice some others are too, and Daniel says it will go away soon. I try to delete one if I catch it.

Today's challenge: explain where the ridiculous names used in ads come from. What scientist, in lab coat and black-framed eyeglasses, proclaimed: "We've found a new yogurt culture, and we're going to call it bifidus regularis!"

Added by Peg Herring on November 23, 2009 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Another Challenge

Here's one I used to use with my students to get past the I-can't-write-poetry defense.

A noun (in this case your current protagonist)
4 adjectives describing the noun
A phrase
A noun related to the original noun

Here's mine:
Simon,
Callow, curious, virtuous, brave,
Loyal as the day is long,
Sleuth.

Added by Peg Herring on November 20, 2009 at 9:33pm — No Comments

I Challenge You

Sixty words to describe your office right this minute. Here's mine:

The chilly room was crammed with books, papers, and the paraphrenalia of two computers, one for standing, one for sitting. Stuck along the wainscot trim were congratulatory cards and letters, and atop a small, music-laden bookshelf lay two naked dolls. A glass of water, going tepid, had a sheet of paper across its top to keep the flies out.

Added by Peg Herring on November 19, 2009 at 10:09pm — 3 Comments

History, and Do You Care?

My aunt, the last surviving member of her generation, is 95. When I asked her about family history so I could write it down and preserve it, her response was, "Who cares? That's the past."



I got a review yesterday from a woman who loved HER HIGHNESS, but she prefaced her praise with the comment that she almost didn't read it (she won an ARC) because historicals are boring.



Obviously, I'm of a different sort. I love history, not so much the sweep of politics and armies and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 18, 2009 at 9:51pm — 1 Comment

Storage-Actual and Otherwise

Don't ask me where these things come from, but I started wondering this morning why we keep the soy sauce behind the dish soap and the teriyaki sauce in a different area, next to the cinnamon. No logic there, merely an unconscious decision at some point in the past that became habit and now is required. I can imagine either my husband or I bellowing to the other, "Where have you put the soy sauce?" if it were to end up somewhere else.



That's how my files are, too. Everything is… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 17, 2009 at 11:01pm — 1 Comment

Answers Will Vary

My mother, an elementary teacher, once had a student hand in homework that stymied her for a few moments. All the true-false, multiple choice, and short answer responses were correct, but all the essay questions were answered with the phrase "Answers will vary." She finally figured out that during recess, while she was on hall duty, the kid had swiped her teacher's edition from the desk, copied what was written there onto his paper, and then put the book back.



What I've been thinking… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 16, 2009 at 10:12pm — No Comments

Writing Funny

I can't do it. I envy those who can.



I will admit that as a playwright, I wrote some things that were funny. But in my novels, nobody's going to laugh out loud.



I note this because I started reading a friend's MS last night and I did...laugh out loud. She has the knack of being funny without being silly, and entertaining without stooping to farce, which irritates me. I was never a fan of the Lucille Ball-type heroine, so overdrawn and asinine that I wanted to slap her. My… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 13, 2009 at 10:44pm — 4 Comments

Tis the Season...to Not (R)

It's time to share what I hate about the Christmas season, and I make no excuses for it.



I hate decorating. In late fall my friends and acquaintances start talking about "doing" the house, some with anticipation, some with resignation. I refuse. I don't like the clutter, I don't enjoy the disruption, and I see no reason to turn my house into a wannabe Wal-Mart.



I realize this might put me in the grinch category, but otherwise I do okay. I arrange and conduct a huge… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 12, 2009 at 9:56pm — No Comments

Tis the Season...to Not (R)

It's time to share what I hate about the Christmas season, and I make no excuses for it.



I hate decorating. In late fall my friends and acquaintances start talking about "doing" the house, some with anticipation, some with resignation. I refuse. I don't like the clutter, I don't enjoy the disruption, and I see no reason to turn my house into a wannabe Wal-Mart.



I realize this might put me in the grinch category, but otherwise I do okay. I arrange and conduct a huge… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 12, 2009 at 9:56pm — 1 Comment

Writer's Glut, The Opposite of Writer's Block

There isn't enough time in the day. You all know I'm hard at work on the sequel to HER HIGHNESS, which is moving at a snail's pace for some reason. But then I get into my old computer files for some reason and stumble onto other projects, some barely started, some almost done.



Gee, that was a good idea. Why didn't I finish it? Oh, right. I was stuck on motive. Oh, and that one's nice, too. I was going to work on the characters, get them some depth. Oh, that clever idea for a plot… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 10, 2009 at 9:27pm — 1 Comment

Feet on the Ground, Ms. Author!

I found somewhere a list of things one shouldn't say to a mystery author, and I got a charge out of it, because I've heard just about all of them: "I don't read fiction" (with nose lifted); "I buy my books at garage sales, but I'll look for yours"; and the most frequent, "Oh. My (son, daughter, granddaughter, neighbor, washing machine repairman, etc.) wrote a book, too." (That one is often followed by, "Would you like to read it?" or "Could you send it to your agent?")



I've added… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 9, 2009 at 10:45pm — 3 Comments

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