Finding Archie Bunker

I have been avoiding one of my characters. He’s a bigot and a racist. He’s the kind of person I choose not to have in my life. I don’t like this character, but he plays a crucial role in my novel so I have to get to know him better.

I was raised by my father to be color-blind so delving into the world of racism makes me exceptionally uncomfortable. It isn’t that I deny it is there. I just don’t want it to be. Of course, I recognize that avoiding or ignoring it does not make it go away. Quite the opposite.

This morning to avoid writing this difficult character, I read some of my subscriptions to writing blogs. They often offer me inspiration when I am stuck. I couldn’t have asked for anything more timely than Chris Hamilton’s post “On writing a bigotted character.”

“All in the Family” was a favorite in our household despite Archie Bunker being the complete opposite of my dad. Thanks to Chris for reminding me of him and for offering a moving clip from the show to remind me that my character must have motivation and experience that back up his belief system. Here’s the clip. (I’m having a hard time embedding the video so please follow the link if that’s all that shows.)

http://youtu.be/1Xej5i4Cos8

Writers: Have you had a hard time writing a character you didn’t like? And how did you get past that to build a three-dimensional believable person that readers could still care about despite his ways?

Readers: What characters have you read that you didn’t agree with but were able to find compassion for?

And finally, for us all: Why is discussing race and racism openly and honestly so difficult for many of us?

Who Knows Where the Time Goes

In a comment to my post Life Gets in the Way and Other Realities of the Human (Writer’s) Condition, a thoughtful writer mentioned Judy Collins and the song “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” written by the incredibly talented Sandy Denny. This song plays in the background of my life constantly. Most of us cannot get enough of the intangible commodity of time. You can’t get time back once it passes. You can borrow time, trade time to do one thing for another, but you can’t make it grow. And you can’t store it or save it. It’s finite. So we have to work with what we have.

Dictionary.com provides 64 entries for time. Twenty-six are definitions for time used as a noun, four as an adjective, six as a verb, and 28 are idioms.

• The first idiom is “against time, in an effort to finish something within a limited period,” such as She works against time to finish her novel.
• Idiom #45: “from time to time, on occasion; occasionally; at intervals,” such as From time to time, her blog diverts attention away from her novel.
• Idiom  #44: “for the time being, temporarily; for the present,” as in For the time being, she is taking a break from blogging to focus on her novel.

You get the picture. Ten to 12 hours a week to devote to writing isn’t much – an hour and a half max each morning before my J-O-B and several hours each weekend day, wedged between the rest of life’s responsibilities. If you had any idea of how slowly I write, you’d realize that I am truly working against time!

Currently, I only post here from time to time, on occasion. I tend to focus my limited writing time on my novel. We have to work with what we have.

So, unable to post on a routine schedule anyway, I am making this temporary break ‘official’ in order to rid myself of the niggling guilt of ‘neglecting’ my blog. So for the time being, my posts may be even more occasional. But I am not gone for good. I’m using my time wisely.

If you aren’t familiar with Sandy Denny, a prolific writer and musician who was lost to us far too early, there are many versions of her singing “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” on YouTube (and lots of mixes), but this one is my favorite for her haunting voice and guitar strumming.

This link is for Sandy’s demo cut of the song. I love this one for the pics.

Nina Simon did her own version as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZa3XsHA6UU

But Eva Cassidy’s rendition is probably the best known currently. She really belts it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xv5t70u-ZI&NR=1

Enjoy them all. Listening will be time well spent.

If you have a favorite Sandy Denny song or a favorite song (or movie or book) about time, I’d love to know about it. Please share any tips or advice with other writers/readers here on how you maximize time or even let us know your favorite ways to kill time.

So until next time…

PS One of my favorite movies is “Somewhere In Time.”

Life Gets in the Way and Other Realities of the Human (Writer’s) Condition

Things happen occasionally that cause us to pause and examine what we are doing with our lives. At least for me – in my little life – I hope they do, because unlike my friend Adrian who keeps her Slow Dance Journal, I am unable to sustain, for endless stretches, a calm attentiveness to my priorities. The thorny brambles of self-imposed gotta-do’s and inescapable obligations grow before me until I can no longer distinguish my path. At least twice a year, I must force myself to retrieve the machete from the shed and whack away until I uncover that path and can again see my way clear. When I neglect to do this of my own volition, life does it for me.

. . . And so it went, two weekends ago, when I rushed my husband to the emergency room with an attack of appendicitis. I can hear some of you: It was only appendicitis! Why the melodrama? Well, while it thankfully never became life-threatening, the surgery was not a ‘normal’ procedure. Those four days in the hospital, I camped out in an abomination of a recliner beside his bed, attempting to sleep when he slept and trying to keep up on work (‘thanks’ to laptop and wifi) – but still I had a lot of time to think.

I am sharpening my machete this weekend. The brambles have been choking me. I am examining the overgrowth to determine what deserves chopping first. Some things I will pull out at the roots and rid myself of completely. Some I will cut back to the ground and allow to lie dormant until a time when I can manage their growth. What I allow to remain must be those things that will enhance my walk through life, not get in my way.

Trying to figure out what to do with this blog has been one of the thorny brambles. If I heed the advice of the social media experts, the efforts they demand would require me to quit my bill-paying-day-job just to keep up with it and do it ‘right’. Not an option, at least not right now.

The publishing industry and the book world in general are experiencing massive transformation on an almost daily basis as bookstores fold, publishers question the need for their existence; writers increasingly keep control of their own material through self-publishing and e-books, and by managing their own marketing and publicity; and agents try to determine where they fit in. Everyone is trying to figure out technology’s role in all of this. It is both the cause and the effect. It helps and hinders. It can either be a guiding element on our path as writers or a brier that trips us up.

The characters in my novel are devoid of technology. An AM-FM radio in the car and a color television (yes, living color!) are the innovations of their day. And they get along just fine.

So how do you use technology? Do you find it to be an enhancement in your life or an annoying distraction? Feel free to share any suggestions you have for how to co-exist with it or survive without it.

And if you have 6 minutes and 10 seconds, check out the You Tube video “you need to get off Facebook.” Pay attention to the dude’s subtle facial expressions and remember who your friends are. Writers also may want to learn How To Stop The Internet From Sabotaging Your Writing Routine.

Till next time!

Developing As a Writer and a Person

I have been remiss in posting lately, primarily because I have been spending my not-working and not-writing time reading “We Are Not Alone-The Writer’s Guide to Social Media” by Kristen Lamb. I mentioned it in a previous post. I want to make sure that I’m doing this right, so forgive me while I take a break and make some modifications to my site and blog. In the meantime, Kristen had a great post recently that I think is a great read for all of us, writers or not. Upon seeing the title ”The Character of the Succesful Writer–A New Level or a New Devil“, I thought it might be about character development , as in fictional characters. But no. It is about each of us developing our own character, not just as writers, but as human beings. Take the time, if you can, and check it out. Over the coming months, I’ll be making a few changes to this site and blog, so please have patience and stick with me! I look forward to your comments and feedback. Thanks!

For Those Who Must Write

As the New Year begins, everyone is posting their resolutions and there are plenty of recent, excellent blogs with specific, timely advice about how to kick-start your writing efforts in 2011. But the blogs that are consistently good, the ones you can count on feeding your creative appetite throughout the year are rare. I found a handful of these inspirational blogs in 2010 that will stay on my writing table through 2011. Some are specifically about writing. Others simply contain creative genius that inspires me.

Here is a sampler:

One of the things I am most grateful for in this life is my serendipitous meeting of Adrian Fogelin. We met at a conference in a far-away town, discovered we lived in the same city, and she invited me into a weekly writing group. After a great deal of resistance, she finally embraced social media a few months ago and started her thoughtful and inspiring blog Slow Dance Journal. Her husband Ray provides the extraordinary photographs. Adrian’s attentiveness to the small things that make life special infuses her writing with a thoughtfulness and serenity that I crave. Her writing settles me, centers me, and when I am flailing in my own work, reading her work helps bring me back to the writer (and the person) I know I can be. She is a friend who makes me a better person and I am proud of her and want to share her with the world.

Chris Hamilton does a bang-up job with the Florida Writers Conference Blog. It is consistent and consistently good. As a new FWA member, I have been immensely impressed with the association’s efforts (especially the recent conference) and am proud to be a member, so I was pleased to find, thanks to Chris’s diligence, dedication, and perspective, that the group posts a blog that is valuable to any writer, not just our members.

Although I only discovered Kristen Lamb’s Blog a few weeks ago, I have already been angry with Kristen several times. Angry, because she speaks a blunt and brutal truth and opens my eyes to things I may not want to see, but must if I am to be a successful writer. So my anger passes and is followed by appreciation for the enlightenment. She has a great series on novel structure and is now doing a multi-part post on blogging. I recently purchased her book We are Not Alone—The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. I bought it in eBook form for my Kindle (listen up Wednesday Night Writers…you need to get this one). I am anxious to apply her advice here on my own blog. Hmm…maybe she’ll consider doing a workshop at the next Florida Writers Association conference.

To me, the best blogs incite some sort of emotion, an action, or a reaction from its readers. These are a few that do that for me. Everyone’s tastes, inspirations, and motivations are different, but if you have a favorite blog, especially about the craft of writing, I would love to hear about it.

Happy New Year and keep writing!

Showing True Colors

My dad says my site needs some ‘gaudy’ orange. We Volunteers will forever have Leigh Anne Tuohy to thank for calling it that (if you haven’t seen The Blind Side, rent it NOW). But this is for him until I find a permanent place on my site to display The Orange and White. The pic of Smokey is just because I love those ears.

The Vast Wasteland

One of my past blog posts included a photograph of Barnabas Collins, the main character in “Dark Shadows,” the gothic afternoon soap opera that aired from 1966 to 1971. One of my characters, 10-year-old Libby Billings is fascinated – just like I was – with the TV show, but – again like me – she can’t watch an entire episode. Even if her mama Gwen would allow her (which she does not), Libby knows she cannot watch or it will give her nightmares.

 The kids of the 1960s and 1970s were the first to be raised on television and, in some cases, raised by television. It was often our babysitter, our near-constant companion. Even as an adult, it was a long time before I could get out of the habit of turning on the television the very minute I walked in my door at home. This also is a part of Libby and her mother’s life. Some of the things Libby, Gwen, and their family would see on television in the late 1960s include:

• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
• Gunsmoke
  

  Goldie Hawn

• Dragnet
• Dinah Shore
• The High Chaparral
• Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color
• Peyton Place
• Green Acres
• Star Trek
• The Red Skelton Comedy Hour
• Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In
• the first Super Bowl (1967)
• the World Series
• the Apollo 7 and 8 space missions
• The Dating Game
• That Girl
• Mannix

 The following television events occurred in 1968, the year that my novel Dancing at The Orange Peel begins:

• the first NCAA basketball game
• Mister Roger’s Neighborhood debut
• debut of the soap opera One Life to Live
• 60 Minutes debut
• Hawaii Five-0 debut
• Walter Cronkite’s reports from Vietnam
• Senator Robert Kennedy’s funeral motorcade from Union Station to Arlington Cemetery
• Richard Nixon is a guest on Laugh-In
• Elvis Presley’s first television special

Were you heavily influenced by what Newton N. Minow called the “vast wasteland” of television? the boob tube? What are some of the shows you remember from the 60s and 70s? And how did they influence you?