The sky is pearl colored and cold weather is on the way. This week has been one of distractions because I needed a bunch of medical tests and as you know, medical appointments steal time from your schedule. Weeks like this make me feel sort of queasy because not enough writing gets accomplished. And then, of course, I needed to surrender a lot of brain power worrying whether Obama was wearing an American flag lapel pin. I mean, like the pundacracy, I’ve got my priorities. Seriously, I’m hoping that the House Democrats can force Karl Rove to testify about a portion of his various crimes, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m still plugging away at reading Frank Delaney’s Ireland. If you’re interested in Irish history, it’s the book for you. However, I’m finding I want more of a storyline to pull me through the book between the author’s dips into various legends and sagas.

So a few more tidbits on books and the blogosphere. You might want to check out Tim Robbins keynote speech to the National Association of Broadcasters at Huffingtonpost on 4/16. It’s so tart and satiric it practically burns your skin. Here is a snippet of his concluding remarks: “This is a nation divided and reeling from betrayal and economic hardships. And you, the broadcasters of this great nation have a tremendous power, and a tremendous potential to effect change. You have the power to turn this country away from cynicism. You have the power to turn this nation away from the hatred and the divisive dialogue that has rendered such a corrosive affect on our body politic. You can lift us up into a more enlightened age. Or you can hide behind that old adage; "I'm just a businessman, I provide what the audience wants." Well, I'm here to tell you that we don't need to look at the car crash. We don't need to live off of the pain and humiliation of the unfortunate. We don't need to celebrate our pornographic obsession with celebrity culture. We are better than that.”

Aren’t we fortunate as a species that each season brings a crop of new books? Karen Joy Fowler's follow-up to her bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club is called Wit’s End. It’s about a mystery writer, Addison Early whose tales come back to haunt her when her goddaughter moves in with her. It’s getting mixed reviews so if anyone has read it, please drop me a line.

Now I haven’t read a Walter Mosley novel in a while, but I was thinking about hearing him speak on NPR’s Talk of the Nation show. He was talking about writing and his book This Year You Write Your Novel. During that program he was so calm and wise and deep about his practice that if I wasn’t a writer, I would have begun that day. Here is a segment of his opening chapter:

"First words

Probably the highest hurdle for the novice novelist (and many seasoned veterans) is writing the first few words. That beginning is a very emotional moment for most of us.

There are all kinds of ways for people to cajole themselves into starting their book. Some get a special pen or a particular desk set at a window looking out on something beautiful. Others play a favorite piece of music, light a candle, burn incense, or set up some other ritual that makes them feel empowered and optimistic. If this is what you find you must do to write — well… okay. Rituals frighten me. I worry that if I need a special pen or desk or scent to start me out, what will happen when I lose that pen or I'm on vacation or a business trip and my window looks out on the city dump?

My only ritual for writing is that I do it every morning. I wake up and get to work. If I'm in a motel in Mobile — so be it. If I am up all night, and morning is two o'clock in the afternoon, well, that's okay too.

The only thing that matters is that you write, write, write. It doesn't have to be good writing. As a matter of fact, almost all first drafts are pretty bad. What matters is that you get down the words on the page or the screen — or into the tape recorder, if you work like that.

Your first sentence will start you out, but don't let it trip you up.

If you are the intuitive type, just sit down and start writing the novel:

Lamont had only enough cash to buy half a pint of whiskey at Bob's Liquor Emporium, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Ragman was dead, and that was at least a quart's worth of mourning.

What does it mean? How should I know? Those were the first words that came out. I'm not going to worry about it; I'm just going to keep on writing until either something clicks or I lose momentum. If it doesn't seem to be working, I'll start with a new first sentence. I'll keep on like that until something strikes my fancy and I have enough of a handle on the story to continue.

The next morning I read what I wrote the day before, making only the most superficial changes, and then continue on my way. This is all you have to do. Sit down once a day to the novel and start working without internal criticism, without debilitating expectations, without the need to look at your words as if they were already printed and bound.

The beginning is only a draft. Drafts are imperfect by definition.

If you are the structured kind of writer, you might start by getting the outline of your novel down on paper. You know the story already, but now you have to get it down scene after scene, chapter after chapter.

Every day, you sit down, just like the intuitive writer, writing what it is you think your story is about. You discover new characters, add little thumbnail sketches of them; you make notes about the feeling you want to get here and there. You create the whole book out of bulleted phrases and sentences, paragraphs and maybe even flowcharts.

Finally the day will arrive when you come to the end of the outline. The story is set, at least theoretically, and now you must follow the road that the intuitive writer takes. You sit down with your outline somewhere in the room and start writing the prose. You begin with a sentence and keep on going. Maybe you will follow the plan assiduously; maybe you will be diverted onto another path that will lead you far from your original ideas.

Whatever the case, the work is the same. Some days will be rough, unbearable; some will be sublime. Pay no attention to these feelings. All you have to do is write your novel this year. Happy or sad, the story has to come out.

Stick to your schedule. Try to write a certain amount every day — let's say somewhere between 600 and 1,200 words. Do not labor over what's been written. Go over yesterday's work cursorily to reorient yourself, then move on. If you find at some point that you have lost the thread of your story, take a few days to reread all you have written, not with the intention of rewriting (though a little editing is unavoidable) but with the intention of refamiliarizing yourself with the entire work.

Using this method, you should have a first draft of the novel in about three months. It won't be publishable. It won't be pretty. It probably won't make logical sense. But none of that matters. What you will have in front of you is the heart of the book that you wish to write.

There is no greater moment in the true writer's life.”

His latest novel is a comedy The Tempest Tales about Tempest Landry who refuses to linger in hell after death because business back on earth still demands his attention.

The morning sky is gorgeous and the scattered clouds are tinged with silver and pale lavender. The morning news is remarking that there is so much snow in the mountains that people might be able to ski through October. I’m still rounding up news about books and the publishing industry, and plan to do so more in the future. Here are a few more notes:

In case you’re not familiar with the story, author J.K. Rowling has been in federal court in New York trying to block the publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon a sort of encyclopedia of all the characters, places, spells and details of the series claiming that it rips off her work and will clear the way for more rip-offs. "I believe the flood gates will open," Rowling said, her voice rising. "Are we the owners of our own work?"

The would-be author is Steven Vander Ark a 50-year old librarian and avid fan who is basing the book on his web site of the same name. Rowling claimed that she was “vehemently anti-censorship” but that he’s plundered her books because he’s simply lifted her work and put it in an A-Z format. I’m with Rowling on this one.

There are so few venerable newspapers left in this country, just as there aren’t nearly enough investigative reporters. One such paper that has been under attack is The Los Angeles Times which has been in turmoil since they were bought out by the Tribune Company. The latest issue of Forbes on-line features an Q & A with David Hiller who has been in the hot seat ever since he was appointed publisher, president, and chief executive in October 2006. Hiller came on board after the Tribune fired his popular successor Jeffrey Johnson, who had opposed further staff cuts at the newspaper and soon more heads rolled. He talks about the challenges facing the Times and the newspaper industry, saying the company's priority is to continue aggressively building its online business. It also sounds like owner Sam Zell won't sell the paper. By the way, Forbes has endorsed McCain. The story is at: http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/04/16/newspapers-latimes-hiller-biz-media-cx_lh_0416hiller.html

Ever since I read Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, I’ve been a huge fan. Now her 2006 commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College has been turned into an inspirational book What Now? (Harper, $14.95) In the book Patchett describes the many twists her life has taken and postulates that sometimes not knowing what is next ain’t so bad. She spoke with Carol Memmett of USA Today. http://www.usatoday/com/life/books/news/2008-04-16-ann-patchett_N.html

In the brief interview Patchett explains her message is “That there are so many things you don't have control over, and that you can't get it all ironed out, that you'll never get it all ironed out, and that's OK.” She claims she has those moments after finishing a book and that she supports Obama. She is also at work on a new novel about two women scientists in the Amazon.

And in case you have the stomach for politics today, it sounds the clear loser in last night’s debate was ABC—in fact, they were booed by the audience who were exasperated with their sleazy line of questioning. For more on this story you can read Tom Shales at the http:www.washingtonpost.com. In his opening graphs Shales writes: “When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.”

Pale gray skies this morning and the rains are supposed to end today. Since it was in the 80s on Saturday, when it crashed into the 50s yesterday the air felt raw and unfair. My pal Stacey and I were eating lunch at a Thai restaurant in her neighborhood and wondering why we can't concoct the sort of curry sauce we were tasting and when we stepped outside again it felt like winter. Since my relatives in Wisconsin are still shoveling winter off their sidewalks, I'm aware this sounds like whining.

Bush is going to meet with the Pope today and 12,000 people are expected on the White House lawn. Last time I visited D.C. the White House looked about as inaccessible as a medieval fortress so I imagine that they’re changing their security measures today and removing some of barricades. Do you know Bush’s hosting a fancy, huge 81^st birthday party for the Pope and the Pope is not going to attend? And that the Pope is going to speak to the U.N. about Bush & Co. leading this country via fear? Isn’t that fascinating?

More roundups on writing and writers Every week storyteller Garrison Keillor writes an essay about some aspect of life that is posted at salon.com. Today it’s about the merger of Delta and Northwest airlines. He describes how when he was a boy in St. Paul, Northwest held a promise of escape and romance.

He writes: “I did not fly in an airplane until I was 28 years old and that was a late-night Northwest flight on a 747 to New York. I sat back in the 30th row, surrounded by empty seats, my nose to the window, and when we came down through the clouds to the great city spread like a blanket of glittering stars and into Kennedy Airport, I felt as if I'd been given a great prize.” The story is at http://www.salon.com/opinion/kellor/2008/04/16/northwest

If you like women’s fiction I want to alert you that Jennie Shortridge has a new novel coming out on May 6, Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe. Jennie’s first book was Riding with the Queen ( I talked about some of her writing techniques in Between the Lines) and her second novel was Eating Heaven. I believe she’s going to become the Elizabeth Berg of the Northwest (she now lives in Seattle, although I met her when she was living in Portland.) Also, if you’re an aspiring or first-time author, you would be wise to pay attention to Jennie’s promotion strategie. For Riding with the Queen her book signings included live music. With her second book which had food themes, she baked cookies for people attending her events. She also talks to book clubs and various groups, teaches at conferences (I recommend her workshop on writing sex scenes) and blogs at http://www.redroom.com/blog/jennie-shortridge

And speaking of blogging. I meet and work with lots of writers who want to get a book published and often my first bit of advice is that they need to start blogging. Why? Because every writer, including those who write mainstream fiction need a platform and a blog is an easy way to build one. The second reason is that even before Julie and Julia became a book (after it was first a blog about cooking Julie Childs’ recipes) editors at publishing houses were trolling the web for blogs that might be translated into a book. A story on this topic is at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/fashion/30web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin I suspect the latest $300,000 advance will make you a believer.
And for helpful information on making your blog readable, check out http://onlineapps.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/24/1387514-how-to-make-your-blog-post-look-more-professional written by techie Andrew (akaonlineapps). As always, happy writing.

Clouds again and more rain in the forecast and snow is falling in the mountains with 7 inches of new snow on Mt. Hood. Happy tax day to all, I hope you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth from this government….. I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to collect news on books and the blogosphere. So here is part 2. Check out http://www.alternet.org which is a terrific one-stop shopping sort of site that features a vast array of voices discussing politics and culture. There logo says “the mix is the message” and you can have it delivered to your email box. Here is a smattering of the stories on today’s home page:

How the Republicans Quietly Hijacked the Justice Department to Swing Elections By Steven Rosenfeld, Ig Publishing Democracy and Elections: The GOP may have committed massive vote fraud in plain sight by encouraging widespread voter purges and restricting registration campaigns.

Wallstreet and Washington are Failing Spectacularly Where Do We Go? Wendy Thompson, Labor Notes Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Workers are fighting two-tier wage system; offshoring at profitable Detroit firm.

There is also a story about Obama by Jane Smiley first written on the Huffington post; a piece titled A Torture Debate Among Healers by Amy Goodman asks why members of the American Psychological Association give the okay for military torture; another by Annalee Newitz,The Queen’s English is Dead which is about how proper English has been supplanted by the language of our times and another piece on my favorite political pundit and Rhodes scholar ;Rachel Maddow. While much of the stories have a political slant you’ll also find a piece about the transgendered guy from Oregon who happens to be pregnant. The site includes blog links, video links, wire stories, and reader comments.

The morning sky is a glorious palette of soft blue and gray clouds shifting colors minute by minute. The weekend was mostly glorious and I was able to spruce up flower beds and start planting. The rains are supposed to return today so it’s back to the computer.

This week I wanted to give a round-up from the blogosphere and web. So here’s a start: At www.readersread.com you can read excerpts of these books: Creation in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam); The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry (Ballantine); Metal Swarm: The Saga of the Seven Suns, Book VI; The Choice by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central); Playing For Pizza by John Grisham (Dutton); Celebrity Detox by Rosie O'Donnell (Grand Central Publishing); Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins); I Am America by Stephen Colbert (Hachette Books) and Dark Possession by Christine Feehan (Berkley.

At the same site they have a nice long list of author interviews ranging from John Irving to Anne Rice to George Pelacanos.

As for politics: Of course a lot of sites and blogs are talking about the latest Obama-Clinton dust up about Obama’s remark that voters are bitter. Of course, the Sunday talk show pundits blasted him. In fact, I hear her campaign has quickly created “I’m not bitter” buttons. However, isn’t this is another no-brainer? Everyone I know who has any gray matter has been bitter (not to mention depressed, frustrated and horrified) since the Supreme Court handed the election to Bush & Company in 2000. And we’ve stayed bitter as he’s invaded a sovereign nation, stole another election and generally flushed this country down the toilet while the oil industry recorded the highest profits in the history of humankind. Bitter? Yeah, we’re bitter as our industries our being shipped overseas and our stores are filled with imports from China. Yeah we’re bitter that our steel mills are being shut down and 47 million people don’t have health insurance. Yeah, we’re bitter that gas is heading for $4 a gallon.

Why is it elitist to call people bitter? Just like when Jeremiah Wright, a Vietnam vet complained that this country is racist, war is bad and this place is run by rich white men and we shouldn’t necessarily be proud of a country run by criminals? So would somebody please explain why that made Wright a racist and bad guy? And didn’t you notice that Clinton was making this charge to distract voters from her husband’s latest gaff about her Bosnia trip? And that the Clintons have raked in over $100 million in the past few years—how does that sort of income make them more in touch with the common people?

But I digress, for more info on this scrap you might want to check out the http://www. huffingtonpost.com and Robert Shrum’s blog Obama’s Not Running for Sociologist-in-Chief and also at www.rawstory.com--a terrific resource .

One of my favorite article titles is today at salon.com by Sidney Blumethal: Dick Cheney was never a ‘grown up.’ The piece is part of a book excerpt The Rise of the Counter-Establishment and begins (oh happy days!) with a comment about Dick’s drinking, I mean hunting accident when he shot a friend in the face. (Makes you wonder what he’s done to his enemies, doesn’t it? ) The story speculates that Cheney might be suffering from vascular dementia (calling John McCain?) The article then goes into the various Bush policies and the cabal of decision-making and skullduggery that featured Cheney at its center. To quote: “The Iraq war was largely a neoconservative production conducted under the guidance of Cheney and Rumsfeld. Cheney took command of the intelligence process, even arranging for Bush to sign Executive Order 13292, written by Addington, giving the vice president the same power over intelligence as the president. The disinformation campaign that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction was a joint enterprise of the Office of the Vice President and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, providing a steady stream of evidence that was later revealed to be false and fabricated.”

Dawn has not yet broken in Portland, so I cannot comment on the sky. However, tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s so I'm going to start planting. Colleen Sell edits a series of books called A Cup of Comfort. I met her last year when we were both teaching at the Pennwriter's Conference and think a lot of her work. So I wanted to pass along information about these upcoming anthologies in case you might be interested in submitting an essay. Here is her message:

We’ve just added 4 new Cup of Comfort books to the development schedule, and I wanted you to be among the first to know. As usual, I’m swamped, so to get word out pronto and to save a little time (and my sanity), I’m sending this as a group email, blind-copied to protect your privacy.

Please note that I’m also still accepting submissions for 3 other Cup of Comfort volumes.

The Cup of Comfort Website will be updated with the new call-outs soon (I hope). Meanwhile, the basics are covered below, and the writer’s guidelines currently posted on the site still apply to all books.

Feel free to forward this to others.

Thanks so much!

Colleen Sell

Cup of Comfort editor

wordsinger@aol.com

SHARE SOME COMFORT

The bestselling Cup of Comfort book series is currently seeking inspiring true stories for 7 new volumes:

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR MILITARY FAMILIES

It has been said that military life is “not for the faint of heart.” But neither is it without its benefits and blessings. One thing is certain: it is an experience like no other—for both the soldiers and their families. For this book, we want positive stories about how military life affects the personal lives of service men and women (enlisted and officers), how family affects soldiers’ on the job, and how military life affects family members (primarily spouses, children, and parents but also siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts/uncles, fiancés, etc.). Any situation or subject that is significant and/or unique to military personnel and their loved ones is acceptable. Our goal is to compile a collection of inspiring or uplifting stories that cover a wide range of topics and reveal a variety of perspectives, experiences, and emotions specific to military families. Stories may be written by the service man or woman or a close family member; military service may be current, recent, or past.

Submission deadline: April 15, 2008 (last call)

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR NEW MOTHERS

Few experiences bring forth as many anxieties, blessings, challenges, wonders, and changes as having a baby—whether it’s your first child or fifth, your birth child or adopted child. And nothing is as miraculous as giving birth to or witnessing the birth of your baby. This heartwarming anthology will be filled with birth stories and newborn homecoming stories as well as a wide range of stories about the various experiences, emotions, and concerns involved in adding a new baby to one’s life and family. Potential topics include but are not limited to: nursing (or not), caring for a newborn, bonding/falling in love with infant, lack of sleep, relationship with spouse, how siblings respond, returning to work, balancing responsibilities, post-partum depression, self transformation, unexpected joys, life lessons, small miracles, etc. The majority of the stories will be about birth children, but the book will likely include a couple adoptive stories as well. Likewise, most of the stories will be written from the new mother’s perspective, but we are open to including a few stories written from the spouse’s or a very close family member’s perspective. All stories will be uplifting and positive, no matter how difficult the situation portrayed in the story might be. We do not want stories that simply recount misfortunes and sorrows and that do not clearly reveal a positive outcome or redeeming result (silver lining).

Submission deadline: May 15, 2008 (last call)

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR ADOPTIVE FAMILIES

The primary purpose of this book is to celebrate adoptive families and to recognize the extraordinary and challenging experiences unique to “chosen children” and their adoptive families. We are most interested in stories written by adult adopted children and their adoptive parents and siblings, but the book will likely include some stories written by members of the extended adoptive family (i.e. grandparent) and birth family members. Virtually any topic relevant to adopted children and their adoptive parents is acceptable—as long as it is authentic, positive, insightful, and uplifting or inspiring. We do not want heartbreaking stories about adoptive or birth families that regret the adoption. All of the stories in this collection must reveal a positive aspect of adoption and must bring comfort, joy, or inspiration to those who have been adopted and/or to the families who adopted them—no matter how difficult the experience and emotions portrayed in the story might be.

Submission deadline: June 15, 2008

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR FATHERS

The connection between father and child can be as deep as the ocean, as strong as a mountain, and as uplifting as fresh air. For all its rewards, though, fatherhood is not without its challenges. And for all the gifts dads bring to their kids' lives, dads sometimes falter and fumble. Yet, the father-child bond forms, holds, and grows. A Cup of Comfort for Fathers will feature inspiring and insight true stories about the life-defining and life-enriching relationships and experiences shared by fathers and their children. These personal essays will be of varying topics and tones (heartwarming, humorous, poignant, provocative, etc.); about fathers and children of all ages and varying circumstances; and written by fathers, daughters, and sons.

Submission deadline: August 1, 2008

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

For this very special collection, we seek uplifting true stories about the ins and outs, ups and downs, blessing and challenges of parenting children with special needs. The stories will cover children of all ages (birth to adult) and a wide range of developmental, physical, and mental delays/disabilities. No matter how difficult the experiences/emotions conveyed in a story might be (we want them to be authentic, after all), the story must reveal a positive aspect, resolution, or outcome and must be of comfort to parents of children with special needs. Stories may be serious, humorous, insightful, heartwarming, or inspiring. The majority of the stories will be written by parents of children with special needs; we will also consider stories written by adult children with special needs. (No articles or commentaries by clinicians, please.)

Submission deadline: September 15, 2008

A SECOND CUP OF COMFORT FOR DOG LOVERS

Oh, how we humans love our canine companions -- for so many reasons and in so many ways that one Cup of Comfort collection of uplifting dog stories just wasn’t enough. So we’re giving all you dog-loving writers another opportunity to share your personal stories of canine comfort with a growing legion of dog-loving readers. This volume will feature both serious and humorous anecdotal stories covering a wide range of topics and perspectives and varying breeds of dogs. We do NOT want sad stories about a dog’s illness, injury, or death, though we will consider stories that weave a beloved pet’s illness or death into an otherwise positive story. The story should focus on the dog’s remarkable attributes and/or actions as well as on the special relationship between the dog and his/her human(s).

Submission deadline: December 15, 2008

A CUP OF COMFORT FOR THE GRIEVING HEART

When a loved one passes away, comfort is often fleeting and hard to come by. Yet, even a small comfort, like a personal story of how someone has faced a similar loss, does help to ease the sorrow. This volume will feature uplifting personal stories that reveal the special relationships and extraordinary experiences shared by the deceased and his/her loved one(s) immediately before, during, and after the loved one’s passing; it will also includes stories about the internal and external processes by which one deals with and heals from the loss of a loved one. The stories will vary with regard to subject matter, circumstances of death, and the relationship of the author to the individual who has passed away. The book will not include eulogies, profiles/memoirs of people who have passed away, or clinical depictions of death and dying.

Submission deadline: February 1, 2009

Please note that deadlines are sometimes extended by one to four weeks.

BASIC GUIDELINES

All Cup of Comfort stories must be original; true; appropriate for mainstream Americans (adult, primarily women); inspiring, comforting, and/or uplifting; and 1,000 to 2,000 words.

Creative nonfiction and narrative essays preferred (that is, incorporating such fictive elements as scene, dialogue, character/plot development, imagery, and literary word usage). Whether serious or humorous, the story should be authentic and engaging.

Electronic submissions preferred. One submission per email. Copy and paste (or type) into body of email. No formatting (no indents, centering, doublespace, bold, underline, etc.). To: wordsinger@aol.com.

Mailed submissions are acceptable. Standard typed manuscript (double-spaced, indents). Send as many submissions per envelope as you’d like, but include one SASE per submission. To: Colleen Sell, 71563 London Rd., Cottage Grove, Oregon, 97424, USA.

Each submission must include: author’s full name, mailing address, email address, phone number, story title, story word count, and theme of volume for which it is being submitted (i.e., Grieving Hearts).

For more detailed writers guidelines: http://www.cupofcomfort.com/share.htm.

The morning sky is the color of the smoke, the radio announcer is predicting another rise in gas prices and since I’m back from the Oregon coast, am trying to adjust to life in town when I really long to gaze out at the vastness of the Pacific. While I was there one storm after another ripped through complete with a huge rainbow, mist shrouding the mountains, brilliants swaths of sunlight, and birds so busy and happy at the feeders that they seem to embody spring in their tiny bodies.

Before I left town I attended a lecture by Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. After Mystic River was made into a movie I saw the main actors interviewed on a television show. I recall them mentioning that Clint Eastwood was the least disappointing icon they’d ever met. So it was with Gilbert who was as witty, wise, articulate, and intelligent as her writing. No, probably more so. Not to mention humble and self deprecating. Most of her talk was about art and the need for artists in our times.

After listening to her amid the throngs of devotees I understand why she has throngs of devotees. The book is based on the notion that a woman can heal herself of a deep emotional and spiritual crisis. While I was at the coast this weekend a friend told me she hated the book, that she found it selfish and self involved. Well, all memoir is self involved. But I found it fascinating that a woman is looking for faith in our pop culture times, that she is a genuinely gifted writer who has paid her dues and wields metaphors with great genius; that she showed a lot of restraint when describing her divorce; that she made me feel like I was along on her journey.

Here is a segment of an interview from the Barnes and Noble web site:

What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
”I can't get behind the ambition to be "discovered" as much as I can get behind the ambition to write beautifully and honorably and steadfastly. Here's what I believe about creativity. I believe that creativity is a living force that thrums wildly through this world and expresses itself through us. I believe that talent (the force by which ephemeral creativity gets manifested into the physical world through our hands) is a mighty and holy gift. I believe that, if you have a talent (or even if you think you do, or maybe even if you just hope you do), that you should treat that talent with the highest reverence and love.

Don't flip out, in other words, and murder your gift through narcissism, insecurity, addiction, competitiveness, ambition or mediocrity. Frankly -- don't be a jerk. Just get busy, get serious, get down to it and write something, for heaven's sake. Try to get out of your own way. Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results -- the only thing it craves is the PROCESS. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless. Just love the work.”

Dawn is breaking on another cloudless day. The news is on in the background and I’m sitting here dabbling away at my first projects of the day. Have you heard that a kidney specialist released a study that says we don’t need to drink 8 glasses of water a day? University of Pennsylvania kidney specialist Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said “We set out to take a look at the eight-by-eight myth, and we were really unable to find any scientific rationale for it." I’m so happy to remove that one from my guilt list…

Now, I am the sort of person who hates it when people e-mail me those “pass it on" messages. You know, the kind that claim that if you don’t pass along this e-mail within the next five minutes to ten friends you’ll be cursed and your toenails will fall out. Grinch that I am, I usually hit 'delete'. But this morning I found a message in my in-box that I like and want to include the link here. You can send a message of peace and hope that is meant especially for the women and children survivors of war. You can find the link at:

http://www.dircksny.com/message_of_peace/

It is sponsored by Women for Women International and at their site is information on how you can support women survivors. The site is at http://www.womenforwomen.org/ and includes a report on the lives of women in Iraq.

There are now about 5 million people or one in five Iraqis who have displaced by the violence in their country. About 2 million have fled Iraq. Not exactly Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn" theory but instead the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world. There are no estimates of the number of women and children who have turned to prostitution in order to survive, but numbers are high. Information about Iraqi refugees is at http://www.refugeesinternational.org At http://www.theIRC.org you can find a number of magazine and newspaper stories detailing the crisis.

Dawn is just breaking in a cloudless sky on a day that promises to be sun-filled and blossom-scented. After a week of raw temperatures, spring has returned and yesterday was so lovely that as I walked along the city streets I felt a restlessness invade me as if I was a kid during the final days of the school year. This morning I’m up early writing and listening to the radio, thinking about a workshop I’m teaching at the Oregon coast this weekend. I’m so ready for a weekend at the coast, ready to fall asleep to the sound of the surf.

The sky is the color of pewter and the forecast calls for more rain. While the blooms continue, yesterday I was running an errand in a small town at about 500 feet and it was snowing. In January when I was visiting Mexico I was struck by how easy it was to be in country not ruled by fear. Now, I’m no Pollyanna, and I don’t think that Mexico is without problems, corruption, or poverty, especially in the border region. I think our government policy toward Mexico shouldn’t involve building walls, but rather figure out how both countries can build more jobs.

But back to fear. Saturday I mailed the final draft of my manuscript for my upcoming book to my editor at Writer’s Digest. It will be published in July and is called Bullies, Bastards & Bitches, How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction. I wrote an introduction that describes the physiological wiring involved in fear and why we capitalize on readers’ fears as writers. It’s something I also talked about in Between the Lines, particularly in chapters on suspense and tension: "Fiction isn’t written to make readers happy. Its purpose is to jangle their nerves, make their hearts race, give them goose bumps, and disturb their sleep. A happy reader is a complacent reader, and a complacent reader is one who nods off instead of turning the pages until dawn. The urge to keep reading comes from many factors, but mostly from suspense. And suspense is a technique that requires sleight of hand and is tied to our reader’s primal instincts and fears. Your job is to unsettle your reader even if you’re uncomfortable being sneaky or sly or if such traits come naturally."

Here is an early version of the opening that describes why we capitalize on a reader’s fears and physiology: "The world is a dangerous place. Or at least that’s what we’re taught as children when we were warned about stepping into oncoming traffic, playing with matches, accepting candy from a stranger, and running with a pointed stick or scissors. But children know that bigger dangers loom because monsters, witches, ghosts, and villains all have more fright power than sticks or on-coming traffic. These creatures invaded our nightmares, were depicted in movies and Marvel Comics, heard in fairy tales and myths, and told around campfires with the flames crackling and licking and a chorus of night sounds adding an extra shiver to the ghostly tale.

In childhood we also first meet real-life bad guys and learn that cruelty is an inescapable reality. These harsh lessons come in the form of the neighborhood or classroom bully, a sadistic cousin, a teacher who seemed to have it in for you, and creepy strangers at the mall. So at an early age we learn distrust and unease because life holds dangers and we realize that it takes resilience and courage to navigate through our days.

This particular legacy of childhood lingers into adulthood and fiction writers can capitalize on this fact, remembering fear’s potent hold on us as children and how difficult it was to feel vulnerable. In fact, it’s a fiction writer’s job to remember childhood’s hard lessons about vulnerability and dangers and stir up those memories and fears in readers. You see, readers are consciously or unconsciously drawn to vulnerable characters in precarious circumstances that are the heart of fiction. We enjoy reading about menace threatening a character in fiction since it’s safely removed from us, yet we can still enjoy the thrill ride because we’re well acquainted with fear and feelings of vulnerability. So in essence, readers tell authors bring on the baddest of the bad guys, the scariest monster, the freakiest sociopath, the most depraved killer—and we’ll flip through the pages, attention focused on the carnage."

While I was working on my chapter on horror fiction and monsters, I came across a terrific interview with Peter Straub at www.darkecho.com that you might want to read because his remarks about fear and how to create horror are fascinating. Straub remarks: “I had a connoisseur's...appreciation of fear. Fear and I were old buddies, despite my best efforts to the contrary. I knew his whole family, his older brothers Terror and Panic, his little sister, Nightmare, their charming parents, Chaos and Destruction, and all their cousins, Rage, Depression, Denial, Guilt, Shame, and the rest of the brood. I had first made my acquaintance with these enlightening folks in my seventh year, about twenty seconds before being struck by a car and at the moment I noticed the proximity of the vehicle to myself and understood that an unhappy collision was in the cards."

In fact, I researched extensively while writing this book, especially when it came to writing about horror and sociopaths. I particularly enjoyed Martha Stout’s book The Sociopath Next Door as a resource along with the research of Robert Hare. Stout, who until recently taught at the Harvard Medical School has written a practical examination of what terror and fear politics have done to our minds and to the very biology of our brains. In this timely book, The Paranoia Switch: How Terror Rewires Our Brains and Reshapes Our Behavior and How We Can Reclaim Our Courage. Stout explains "how terror rewires our brains and reshapes our behavior--and how we can reclaim our courage." It’s exciting to find professionals who can draw the line around fear—who realize that it works in fiction and drama, but should not be the means that politicians use to control a populace.

Here is an excerpt Stouts book posted on the Huffington Post: “When the president of the United States behaves in ways that redouble the population's fears, his behavior is a psychological issue. When the White House uses advertising specialists to instill in our minds terrifying visual images of mushroom clouds above American cities, American psychologists should be concerned, to say the least. When our chief executive dwells yet again on "death and destruction" in a speech he makes as we observe the sixth anniversary of our national trauma--and tells us that if we hinder his war policy, our enemies will "come here to kill us"--it's time for professionals who know about the effects of psychological trauma to speak up. As such a professional, I invite any person of reasonably sound mental health to engage in this brief and illuminating fantasy:

Imagine for a moment that somehow the American presidency falls to you, instead of to George Bush, and that, for reasons known only to you and your conscience, you accept the position. Not long after you move into the Oval Office, the United States is hit by a disastrous terrorist attack. Counterterrorism measures that should have been attended to long ago must now be designed at emergency speed--protective systems for the skies, the ports, the nation's nuclear facilities, its food supplies--but you can see that, just now, your stricken countrymen are scarcely able to think at all. Their physical and psychological landscapes have been disfigured by inscrutable "others" from a distant part of the world, and they are deeply traumatized and subclinically paranoid. The resonance of their fear is almost palpable. In this uniquely vulnerable state of mind, three hundred million people turn to you en masse, and, prepared to trust your answer implicitly--to cling to it, even--they ask you the following question: What should we do now?

I believe that, as you looked out on millions of your countrymen lost in fear and grief, you would experience an overwhelming desire to help them. You would earnestly want to bring them some comfort and peace, so they could protect themselves, heal, and rebuild. And--exiting this little fantasy exercise and returning to the reality of the last six years--perhaps, like me, you've been repeatedly saddened to witness that not everyone in such a rare and influential position experiences a desire to assist his own nation in recovery and real self-protection.

That some of our leaders didn't display this sort of heartfelt reaction has been understandably difficult for Americans to acknowledge out loud.”

Sky is a pale blue gray and today is supposed to be rain free. I returned home last night in time to make dinner, chat on the phone and watch Bill Moyer’s Journal on public television. Last night it was about a documentary film made by Phil Donohue and Ellen Spiro, Body of War about the true cost of war. The story tracks Tomas Young and his family in the aftermath of the paralyzing injuries he received while serving in Iraq. Donahue met Young when he was visiting at Walter Reed hospital. Donahue says, “My inspiration for this film was the naked child running from the napalm. Remember that Vietnam picture? I mean, terrified, this little girl is totally naked... See the pain. Don't sanitize the war. If you're gonna send young men and women to fight for this nation, tell the truth. That's one of the biggest reasons for the First Amendment, and we haven't been. And so I thought 'I will tell the story,' the real story of the harm in harm's way.”

I don’t know about you, but I miss Phil Donahue in our public life and discourse.

Not only does the documentary expose the difficulties of Young’s life now that he’s in a wheelchair and mostly paralyzed, it also is juxtaposed with clips of the Senate and House hearings that were held three weeks before the November 2002 election. You can see how so many Senators and Congressmen and women voted for the rush to war, how they were reading from their notes dictated by the Administration, except for those few votes of dissent. You can see once again Robert Byrd’s heroic pleas to the Senate and the American people to stop the madness. And you can wonder how these supposed leaders can sleep at night. The film will be released April 2 and the web site that lists where it will be shown is http://www.bodyofwar.com. The story is at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal

Meanwhile, Young has turned his energy into producing a CD. He writes: Being an antiwar activist in this day and age is frustrating. You fight and fight and nothing gets done and, when you add the daily struggles I endure just to get out of bed and try to have a normal day, life can be a tiring experience both physically and mentally. Music has helped me find the motivation to not only get up and fight another day but to do it with determination no matter how the frustration may stack up against me. Whether it be a song that is written from the perspective of a soldier confused at being in a position he doesn’t want to be in but has no say in the matter (“Hero’s Song” by Brendan James or “Day After Tomorrow” by Tom Waits), or a song written to inspire a vitriolic anger at the state of the union and inspire the listener to action (“B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down or “The 4th Branch” by Immortal Technique), music like the songs I chose for the BODY OF WAR CD compilation inspired a particular emotion in me that made me want to act towards the goals of ending the war and bringing light to the need for better veterans’ health care. These things are bigger than all of us and need to be paid attention to, so I can only hope that music of any kind helps and inspires you as much as it has helped me.

I’ve woken to a bullet-colored sky with a promise of rain. It’s probably not big news to most people that tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. I could spend many words on the waste and the horrors and the deaths. But please don’t forget about all the Iraqis who have died and about how they still live in a country plagued by violence, shortages and intermittent electricity. Please don’t forget that so many of them are refuges, scattered all around the world. I think it also might be a good time that we focus on the media coverage of these events and perhaps we can ask how our media can do a better job covering the truth. For example check out the story at www.editorandpublisher.com about how five years ago major newspapers opposed the invasion. "The road to imminent war has been a bumpy one, clumsily traveled by the Bush administration," The Buffalo (N.Y.) News wrote. "The global coalition against terror forged after the atrocities of 9/11 is virtually shattered. The explanation as to why Iraq presents an imminent threat requiring immediate action has not been clear and compelling."

Many papers expressed hopes that a better world could prevail. "So the United States apparently will go to war with few allies and in the face of great international opposition," the L.A. Times said. "This is an uncharted path ... to an uncertain destination. We desperately hope to be wrong in our trepidation about the consequences here and abroad."

One thing for sure is that the Bush administration has been good for the publishing industry and I doubt that will never be such a flowering of dissent and truth-telling in the light of such ineptitude and corruption. The latest offering about our ill-fated plunder is So Wrong for so Long by Greg Mitchell. It features a foreword by Joe Galloway and a preface by Bruce Springsteen. Bill Moyers comments: "Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit—and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looks to the press to help keep them separate—should read this book. Twice."

You might also want to read The Three Trillion Dollar War, by Harvard's Linda Bilmes and Joe Stiglitz a Nobel laureate in economics. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Clinton and chief economist and senior vice president at the World Bank. They estimate the economic cost of the war to the United States at $3 trillion, and the costs to the rest of the world to be an additional $3 trillion - far higher than the estimates the Bush administration gave before the war.

And speaking of the media, perhaps it’s time that we demand that the media stops the hate mongering (ala Bill O’Reilly) about 1/3 of the world’s population, Muslims. Yesterday in anti-hate speech mode, there was Barack Obama’s talk about race relations in our country. Imagine that a politician thinks that we can absorb thoughtful discourse instead of sound bites and name calling. Here is an excerpt:

“We have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle—as we did in the OJ trial—or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina—or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.

"We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

"We can do that.

"But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

"That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

"This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

"This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

"This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

"I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation—the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

"There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today—a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

"There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

"And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

"She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

"She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

"Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

"Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

""I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

"But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins."

You can watch or read the whole speech here: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3511

The morning sky is the color of soot and the wind is lashing the trees. Our spring temperatures disappeared yesterday and it felt more like winter was back. I console myself that the blooms will last longer if the temperatures are cool.

I have the author’s proof of Bullies, Bastards and Bitches, How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction sitting here in my office. When I look at that thick stack of pages I understand that it was no wonder I was weary when I finished. So it’s one last bath for my baby. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on editing projects for clients, getting ready to teach a workshop tomorrow in Portland, and I’ve started working on my new book that’s going to be published by Tarcher Penguin in 2009.

This book is based on working with writers for many years, especially my work as a developmental editor and noticing the same mistakes in their manuscripts over and over. It’s also based on my feelings of deep sorrow for these writers that they have often spent many months or years working on a novel or memoir without first knowing about the craft of writing, the three-act structure, or that scenes are built from conflict. So I’m hoping to address the problems I see most often, because frankly, these writers break my heart.

Of course, sometimes they really piss me off. I taught at a conference recently and about a month later a writer sent me several query letters and asked me to think like a publishing exec and let him know if his stories intrigued me. Problem was, the queries were dreadful—riddled with errors, lacking in specifics, but instead full of boasts about how everyone was going to love the story. They screamed “amateur” –I wish it wasn’t true, but alas it was. When I sent him email and explained (and I wasn’t unkind although he deserved to be ripped to shreds) the problems in his queries, he sent me back a nasty, nasty email claiming that I had called him names, insulted him, etc. Which I hadn’t. Although he deserved to be insulted and I’m afraid needed a big wake up call about his skill level.So I'm writing the book for people who want to break into publishing, but might not be able to see the problems with their approach.

If you want to play the game you gotta know the rules and abide by them. You gotta write stuff that is so hauntingly beautiful or clever or potent that I cannot not read it. You’ve got to write something that is going to start buzz about you. The rules for writers who have never been published are different than for those who have. You have lots more to prove, so up your game baby, up your game.

After spending four days in Prince George, B.C. it’s with great pleasure that I’m watching spring unfold here. I flew in late yesterday afternoon and when I stepped off the plane into 64 degree sunshine, felt almost reborn. When I had climbed into the plane in Prince George a bitter wind was blowing snow sideways out of a bullet-colored sky. As we drove to a dinner party Saturday night I felt like I’d slipped back into my childhood because snow plows had piled up snow 10 or 15 feet high and houses were all diminished at the back of the mounds of white. I had threatened the people at the dinner party that I’d write about our dinner conversation in my blog, but I won’t. Except I’ll report that being the only American at the table is always interesting when they demand to know how the hell George Bush won two elections. And I don’t know if they believe me when I tell them he hasn’t won a damn thing in his life, but I do know that Canadians are mad as hell at our government.

I rarely have the stomach for reading apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic fiction because frankly ever since George Bush stole his first election in 2000 and the horrors he’s unleashed on the world, I’ve been expecting the worst from humankind. Or at least the humans running our government. So although several people have recommended Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, I had resisted reading it. After all, McCarthy’s dark visions aren’t for wimps. But while visiting my friend who teaches English to high school kids in Prince George, he drove me to a bookstore in town and bought me the book. We’d hiked up a hillside through snow, sometimes sinking as we trudged along and then looked down at the valley where two rivers met and the city spread below, all winter barren, the sky nearly turquoise.

Driving along we’d talked about what wakes us scared in the middle of the night and one of my big fears is that this country will never right itself, that the sweet promise of democracy has been played out, and we’re spinning into madness fueled by greed. My friend wakes with worries too, but not about his country or his future like I do. There are about six copies of The Road at his school that kids are constantly borrowing and as we drove to the airport, the windshield wipers brushing off the snow, he told me that a senior in his class “a sweet girl” had read the book over a weekend, weeping throughout.

And I finished reading The Road by the time I landed in Portland yesterday. As usual, every one of McCarthy’s words is carefully chosen as if chiseled into stone. It’s dedicated to his son who was about five when he wrote it. And it’s so haunting and profound that this book will always live within me. Part poetry, part horror story, you can scarcely bear to turn each page, but you cannot also not stop reading.

You see, some unnamed horror has changed the world to ash when "A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions" happened ten years before the story begins. Almost no one is left on earth, but those that remain are "Creedless shells of men tottering down the causeways like migrants in a feverland. The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night.”

The story follows a father and his son slogging southward trying to avoid danger, hoping for warmth and life near the ocean in the midst of a nuclear winter. The father is weakened and coughing blood and you’ll never read anything so bleak or tender. The sun and moon and stars are gone and I cannot bear to imagine a world without our skyward companions. "The nights now only slightly less black," he writes. "By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp."

The boy’s most frequent comment is about how scared he is. Little wonder: "The land was gullied and eroded and barren. The bones of dead creatures sprawled in the washes. Middens of anonymous trash. Farmhouses in the fields scoured of their paint and the clapboards spooned and sprung from the wallstuds. All of it shadowless and without feature. The road descended through a jungle of dead kudzu. A marsh where the dead reeds lay over the water. Beyond the edge of the fields the sullen haze hung over the earth and sky alike. By late afternoon it had begun to snow and they went on with the tarp over them and the wet snow hissing on the plastic."

As we were descending over Portland, Mt. St. Helen’s white, scooped-out top filled the airplane window and I was so grateful for the sight of the mountain, for the sense that nature can survive, for a world not covered in ash. After I got home I walked to a neighborhood restaurant for carry-out Mexican food. I passed a bed of jonquils and buds appearing everywhere and spotted a tree that had opened into soft pink blooms and I’ve never seen anything more lovely. So I’ve been thinking a lot about old Cormac and his bloody visions of humankind and how this book is a love letter to his son. In one of his rare interviews when he talks about spending a life writing and the sacrifices it requires he said, "You're just here once, life is brief, and to have to spend every day of it doing what somebody else wants you to do is not the way to live it."

Hundreds of people have written accolades about this prize-winning book already. So I’ll leave you with McCarthy’s comment on what the book means, “Just simply care about things and people and be more appreciative. Life is pretty damn good, even when it looks bad, and we should appreciate it more. We should be grateful. I don't know who to be grateful to, but you should be thankful for what you have.”

Well, a friend just sent me this link. Another memoir has turned out to be a hoax. We live in an age of lies and distortion and craziness. Sometimes I'm so dizzy and sad by all the lies we're being fed daily that I can scarcely stand to listen or read on. Perhaps it's time that writers step up with truth and dignity. Perhaps it's time that publishers investigate a memoir writer's allegations about his or her past. Read it and wonder how so many people were taken in.....

BOOKS | March 4, 2008
Gang Memoir, Turning Page, Is Pure Fiction
By MOTOKO RICH
Margaret Seltzer admitted that the personal story she tells in “Love and Consequences” was entirely fabricated.

The morning sky is the color of smoke and life has been too hectic lately to visit the blogosphere. Yesterday was especially lovely here—sun so bright it would break your heart and buds popping out with wild profusion. As I mentioned, I missed so many movies lately I’m trying to catch them while they’re still showing on the big screen. So I saw Michael Clayton with a friend on Friday night and loved the frame story structure and the tension so thick you felt wound tight as you watched the story unfold.

After the movie we stopped at a wine bar and were talking about this phase of our lives. She mentioned that she believed that most of life was simply fate, that on any day we get to choose the clothes we wear, but pretty much else is preordained. I’ve been mulling this over since—and can’t agree. But then again we hear stories about how fate taps someone on the shoulder and summons them for ruin or greatness. In fact, Oprah has a new reality show the Big Give that is about intervening in fate. I like that this show reminds us that giving needs to happen every day, but why is every part of life turning into a reality show? Isn’t reality better?

But I want to get back to the essentials of writing compelling fiction. Here are some more tips:

Truths about our shared humanity lie at the core of fiction. We read fiction to be distracted from the dailiness of our lives, to be entertained, to walk among a different time and place; but mostly to further our understanding of what it means to be human.

So fiction is one of our best teachers, our easily-loved companion, and it resonates so deeply with the reader since we’ve all heard stories since we were small. And since we were small, stories brought meaning to our lives.

Stories begin at a moment of change or just before the moment of change and the change threatens the protagonist’s well being and sets the story in motion.

All the major players have an agenda.

All the major moments and the ending are foreshadowed.

Characters are developed through action and dialogue.

The situation of the story world is inescapable.

Excursions into the past via recollections and flashbacks exist only to illuminate the front story.

The story is anchored via the theme and premise.

It is written for all the senses and weather, lighting, shadows, seasonal details create a world that breathes.

Know how far your protagonist and antagonist will go to achieve their goals. Also know their emotional range.

Uses emotional moments for impact to reveal truths, realizations, epiphanies, and the like without resorting to melodrama. This is best achieved by slowly escalating tensions and conflict.

The writer pays attention to language to maximize the drama, create moods, and enhance tension while invoking a subtle, lingering resonance.

Scenes are based on a goal or mission meeting an obstacle, but are also embedded with tension. This is often done by finding small ways to make the protagonist uncomfortable or at odds with his environment.

The middle of a novel comprises more than half its length. At about the midpoint of most novels, a dramatic reversal occurs. The hunter becomes the hunted; a second murder occurs proving the detective has been wrong in his suspicions; a former lover arrives in town to complicate a budding romance. This reversal keeps the middle from bogging down and becoming predictable and also breathes new life and often a new direction into the story.