Please Don’t Feed the Writer

Well, I’m not going to write much this time they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and if that’s the case I’ll count this as about 6,000 words.

All spic and span on my side… but the work doesn’t end there. Our office is divided into 3 distinct sections. Mine, Hers and the pantry, where the props for my cooking blog and the rest of the items too large to fit in my 65 year old kitchen hang out. so tomorrow, I get to handle this…

This, of course, will get handled when the Mrs. is not here. Otherwise I’ll be in the way.

For now, I’ve got other things to handle, but I can do them in a clean space!

I have to believe I’m nearly half way there.  My desktop is pristine, bookcases empty and a huge stack of crud on the floor, just waiting to go into those bookcases.  A few hours of sorting and I should have this straightened out pretty well.

I’ve just stumbled on a site that I found to be very interesting and full of potential for freelance writers.  The Freelance Writer’s Exchange offers information on freelance jobs, writing, novel writing, and since it’s November, of course NaNoWriMo.

It’s difficult to find sites on writing that actually hold reliable or well thought out information, this is one of the rare gems that does, and i encourage you to check it out.

I may or may not have mentioned in the past that my grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. This condition is debilitating, robbing those afflicted of their most treasured possessions, their memories, their dignity and their self respect.

The Holiday season is not the time most people want to think about something like this. It’s a time for joy, family and togetherness. For some, it’s one of the most trying times of the year, as they watch a loved one struggle to remember the names of the grandchildren seated in front of them, or perhaps even forget that the holidays are here at all.

In this time of giving, there is a way that you can help. I’m not asking you to give of your time or to educate anyone. I’m asking for you to spend a few dollars on something you might have purchased anyway. If you purchase a holiday gift at the AFA store, part of your purchase will go to finding a cure to this disease, hopefully ensuring that there is never another generation of people who forget their loved ones, their families or their past again. If there is nothing at the store you would like to purchase, please consider making a contribution to Alzheimer’s research. You may do so by phone, by mail or online through a secure form.

Every penny counts in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The work done by Alzheimer’s researchers has turned up many clues over the past decade, and all of these are leading to treatments for the condition. One day there will be a cure, and i hope that it is in my lifetime.

I’m not optimistic that anything we can do will help my grandmother, and this is not a plea on her behalf. She will have left us to go to a better place by the time a cure is found. I’m asking on behalf of the generations that follow her, so that no one will ever have to live through the kind of heartbreak that this disease brings to a family.

Please, help if you can.

I always get a little excited when a fellow blogger takes their blog from blogspot and moves out to their own domain. It’s a little silly perhaps, but I really feel happy for them. blogspot, while a wonderful platform for starting a blog off at, is far too restrictive for my tastes. (as a matter of fact, so is this blog template… sigh, I loved it so when it was new…)

Inkthinker’s new look is as vibrant as the writing has always been, and it appears that they’ve moved their entire archive over with them, so you’ll still get the benefit of Kristin’s alder articles as well. Stop on by and pay her new diggs a visit!

I think so. At least if you’re like my wife and I you probably can. If you’re constantly going through a stack of business cards or other documents you picked up on that last trip or convention, I know you could benefit from the convenience that portable scanners have to offer.

Imagine the ability to simply slide a business card through a little slot, and have all of the information on the card automatically placed in your Outlook® contacts. Not only are you less likely to misplace information you’ll need later, but now there is absolutely no reason to hold on to that business card any longer. Just drop it in the hotel trash bin and forget about it.

As a food writer, the ability to simply scan in a menu for later reference is something I could find very useful. ost restaurants offer a menu that can be taken with you, but even then I’d rather just scan it and toss the paper menu. All that’s left from there is opening my documents folder and pulling up the image for easy reference.

If you’re the kind of person that loves to hunt through filing cabinets looking for something, then a portable scanner is not for you. If you’re pushing for as paperless an office as possible like I am, I think a portable scanner is well worth the investment.

Of opening your own restaurant? I think everyone has at one time or another. I have. Cooking is my passion, but the business sense belongs to my wife, not me. Leave me in front of a keyboard or a cook top and the world is happy. Leave me in charge of finances and we’ll be eating Ramen for a month.

If you are in the market to start your own restaurant, be sure to check into the rates on any restaurant loans you may consider. It will save you heartache in the long run.  And remember, since your working capitol is a loan, the interest you pay is tax deductable.

Margaret Atwood’s the Handmaid’s Tale.

Looking back it occurred to me that my English teacher, Mr. Young, had a chortle or two at the expense of “Banned Books” everywhere. As a matter of fact, I clearly remember my Senior year’s book list. We had to have our parents sign off on the list the summer before and everyone’s parents did so. On this list was The Handmaid’s Tale, Grendel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Canterbury Tales, The Color Purple, and several other novels that had made it to the BBL. Genius man that he was, he had us read the stories and then make comments, discuss, and not once did he mention that the US had gone up in flames over this stuff. Tell a teenager it’s forbidden and they may read it, but it will be laced with guilt or adrenaline and you won’t get the full effect. Have them read it and then discuss it among themselves empowers both the reader AND the book.

So for day 1 of Banned Book Week, I want to discuss The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

What was it, I wonder, that got the proverbial panties in a twist? Was it the fact that a man of power, from a fallen USA, could take multiple wives? Or was it the humiliating threesome in which the “new wife” would have to be held down from behind by the “old wife?” Maybe it was the forced slavery of all the women in the US…I’m not sure. While I found that appalling, for the CHARACTER, I remembered it was a work of Fiction. The story left me feeling unsettled. What I do remember is her journey through hell and her rescue from it. I remember being swept away by a fantastic piece of literature. Ban it all you want, America, The Handmaid’s Tale is here to stay. Long live Margaret Atwood.

Let’s face it, we can’t live without them any more. Whether you prefer to hand write your initial manuscripts or not, the computer is where edits and final drafts are done, and if your computer is more than 3 years old, it’s probably time to consider a new machine, and definitely the time to consider a new monitor.

Your eyes are your most valuable commodity and an aging monitor isn’t helping them out at all. Even if you had the state of the art in CRT or LCD a few years ago, and whether you notice it or not, that old monitor isn’t working as well as it used to, and it’s going to strain your eyes.

ABT Electronics can help you here with available free shipping on all kinds of electronics and consumer goodies from Whirlpool trash compactors to computer monitors and brand new computers and PDA’s.

You’re eyes are valuable, protect them with updated equipment and good lighting practices.

Today I’m going to focus on criminology and history.   

In the dark depths of a criminal’s mind there lurks a human being capable of very great and very horrible things.  Every time you write your villain, it’s important to make sure you get it right!  How many times have you read a story in which the hero makes several assumptions with NO CONNECTION or EXPLANATION and you’re left scratching your head in confusion.  Or worse yet, you have a hero in 1795 who deduces who the murderer was based on blood splatter.  What???  <recently read that one *shudder*…went to the author’s site and read up on how they did research…CSI.  Not helpful in 1795 PEOPLE!!!  And if you’re writing a contemporary mystery, expecting your CSI female staff to strut around in cha-cha heels is almost impossible.  Ask my wife, she laments it.>

In history, the theology of criminal motive have taken an amazing ride of theories.  From  motives based on demonic possession (5000 BC-1692 AD), Phrenology (measurement of bumps on the head (1770-1875 AD), to a current theory of family dysfunction (feeding off the neorisis of the family unit: a father who’s an abuser will have a son that abuses), its important to track your villains using the resources available to you in that time period. 

While the internet world of research is full of more holes than swiss cheese, it should be noted that there are several, fantastic places to scope out Criminology history. 

The Criminology Mega-Site from North Carolina’s Wesleyan College

The Crime Library is packed full of articles on the criminal mind and the psychology that makes them tick. 

Wikipedia is another realm of interesting possibilities, if for no other reason than their research links. 

Remember, the villain isn’t always the guy in black.  And the hero doesn’t always wear white. 

Live to Write, Write to Live