WWW’s 60 years old

Walt Whitehouse and his wife, Barbara.

My oldest brother Walter turned 60 on June 8th. It is odd, really, because I never think of him as old. He’ll remain forever a college student in my mind, that golden age when we were listening to Simon and Garfunkle, The Beatles; the kind of music I can still listen to today and love. Walter is a musician and a damned good one. But he’s a better brother.

He taught me to play chess, bridge and numerous other card games. He coached me on how to lay down a bunt during a back yard baseball game in the summer with our other brothers. I was hideous at it, but he didn’t seem to mind. He included me in the impromptu winter hockey games, skating on an ice rink our father had made by flooding the same back yard.

In our twenties we shared a few different apartments together because neither of us had much money. I had some rough times and he never criticized or judged me. We both pursued advanced degrees (his much more advanced…that’s Dr. Whitehouse, to you). We each married a bit later than most: I in my late 30′s, he in his early 40′s.

But none of this much captures what I’m trying to impart: the intangible sense that I mattered to him. Important to me then, although I didn’t know it; more important to me now, because I do.

Write-by-the-Lake Day 4

A step at a time

Today after our morning session I decided to take an hour’s walk prior to the afternoon “Open Mike,” where those who had signed up could read their works in progress, poems, rap, or even the grocery list, I suppose. I walked on Park for half an hour, which got me as far as Famous Dave’s. While the lunch bunch slurped down BBQ I turned around and headed back.

Just beyond the bushes in the photo, a young couple sat on a low stone wall sharing a burrito; he’d take a bite, hand it to her, she’d take a bite, hand it to him. They sat next to each other, turned slightly in so their knees touched.

I smiled, mostly to myself since they were wrapped up in each other, and remembered the sweet aura of a new relationship: it didn’t matter where you went or what you did, as long as you were with the person you loved. He or she made the day special, the shared burrito exquisite, the stone bench a private retreat.

My husband Bob and I will be married 20 years at the end of this month. I miss him when I go away for conferences like this one, five days long. It’s an odd kind of missing, though. Not the yearning, longing of a young lover. More like feeling out of sorts, as if I’ve misplaced something and can’t find it. Or I’ve mistakenly put on my reading glasses to read a distant street sign; it’s blurry and I’m still lost. I don’t feel myself again until we’re back together, sharing our mundane but comfortable routine and eating a home cooked meal. We’ve gotten to this place a day at a time.

My roommate in college and I used to joke that the aphorism “familiarity breeds contempt” was an apt descriptor of what happened between us as a result of sharing a 10 by 12 dorm room.

The last twenty years of my marriage has bred companionship and comfort; I can’t wait for the next twenty.

Write-by-the-Lake Day 3

Plot, plot, plot. Plodding plot, perky plot, plotting points, ppppfffft. So many ways to get the story in some kind of structure so the reader closes the book at the end with a satisfied sigh. Rather like pushing away from the table after an enjoyable, filling meal. Lori (www.loridevoti.com) walked us through several options, some short, some lengthy.

The shorty? A two sentence plot: Character ____________ wants ___________, because _________, but _________. So, s/he _____________. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The lengthy? A 12-step (no, don’t think AA) process or road map, based on Joseph Campbell’s famous work, The Hero’s Journey. The hero (or protagonist, if you prefer) starts in his/her ordinary world and receives a call to adventure. S/he may equivocate but eventually does accept the call, meets with conflict taking him/her to a point of no return. The hero endures clashes with the antagonist, culminating in a CRISIS (Lori’s caps, not mine). The protagonist weathers the CRISIS, is rewarded and recommits to completing the journey. This leads to the climax where the hero and antagonist have a final smack-down and the hero emerges victorious.

Are you satisfied with it? As an aging feminist, I was rather put off by all the Conan the Barbarian-ness of the hero’s journey. But I’m nothing if not game, so as Lori explicated the process, I compared it to the most recent book I’ve read, Elizabeth Berg’s The Art of Mending…AND IT WORKED (caps mine).  Cue the Twilight Zone music. Thrilling. Only a writer would find this interesting.

Tonight’s homework is to utilize what we learned today and apply it to what we’re writing. I can and I will.

Fun fact for the day: It is no longer correct to insert two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence and the start of a new sentence. One space is sufficient.

Write-by-the-Lake Day 2

Geraniums--mom's favorite flower

If it walks like a duck…

 

Building Character, the topic for this morning’s workshop…and I’m not talking about Anthony Weiner here. Lori (www.loridevoti.com) took us through several ways to consider writing characters with depth and believability. She has a nine-step process which a writer can utilize when first developing the good, bad and ugly folks in the story. She also covered Enneagrams (see www.EnneagramInstitute.com), which provides a quick and dirty type of “test” to get at various personality types. I took the test and found out I’m #8, “The Challenger”, which among other things notes I am self-confident and assertive but also ego-centric and domineering. At my best I use my strength to improve others’ lives but at my worst have problems with my temper and allowing others in. I thought I finished therapy last year.

But I digress.

The most useful info for me from today’s class had to do with 4 questions a writer should ask about their main characters:
1. What do they love deeply?
2. What haunts them?
3. What do they think they can’t or most don’t want to do (then make them do it)
4. How do they contradict themselves?

Excellent questions all.

Speaking of characters…on my walk after lunch (during yet another spectacular weather day here in Madison) I took some photos, two of which are posted here. Lots of kids, their parents looking on, fed the ducks and frolicked in the shallow end of Lake Mendota. Near the end of my hike I came upon the two planters with geraniums and got a bit teary; they were my mom’s favorite flower. My mom enjoyed simple things like swimming in the lake, reading to us and planting bright red flowers, the same color of the lipstick she loved to wear.

Write-by-the-Lake: Day One

Greetings from Madison (recall Governor Walker), Wisconsin. Day one of the week-long Write-by-the-Lake produced a goodly number of attendees; best rough guess, somewhere between 100-150 people. My cohort is led by Lori Devoti www.loridevoti.com), a published author who also does quit a bit of presenting/teaching/mentoring about writing. Her section is entitled “12 weeks to first and final drafts.” It’s the promised speed which intrigues me. Lori infuses a lot of energy into her teaching and her style seems to put our group of eleven at ease.

Today we also critiqued five pages of each person’s submission, acquired via email prior to the start of the workshop. The critique piece was fairly unsatisfying–not because my work was roundly criticized–but because most people didn’t comment. Made me wonder if they hadn’t read the material or were shy, or didn’t know how to critique? Whatever the case, we will continue to critique each other’s writing each day as part of our morning 3-hour session. Perhaps people are just getting warmed up. It’s hard to put yourself out there (read trust) with a group of people you don’t know. I did get some pointed feedback, felt defensive. Then I mentally knocked myself on the head, remembering it’s information which may or may not be useful, and took notes. After a post-lunch walk around Madison in perfect weather, I decided to completely re-write the opening scene of my first book, Signs of Murder.  And most surprising? I feel excited about it.

Madison’s Write-by-the-Lake Coming Up

I’ll attend Write-by-the-Lake in Madison, WI next week.  It’s an opportunity to work in a focused way on a stand-alone novel I’m writing.  I’m grateful my job as a free-lance Sign Language interpreter allows such flexibility in my schedule, so I can take a week away when needed.  WBTL offers many different options for specific workshops.  I signed up for Lori Devoti’s (www.loridevoti.com) “Twelve Weeks to First and Final Drafts.”  I’m a consistent writer in my writing life, but the speed her workshop promises is intriguing…and welcome.  I’ll blog more about my experience at WBTL as it happens.

This summer and fall offer many opportunities for writers (published and un-) to attend conferences/workshops.  In addition to WBTL, I’ll attend Bouchercon in September (St. Louis) and Murder and Mayhem in Muskego in November (WI).  Karen Burgess, (www.literarylunchbox.wordpress.com) one of the women in my critique group and a sister mystery writer/lover, just emailed she’s signed up for Bouchercon–we’ll go together, which will be fun for me.  I typically attend these conferences alone and tend to be my isolated self, too shy to talk with others while underneath I’m dying to connect.  All in the learning curve, all in the learning curve.

I’m listening to a CD of Elizabeth Berg’s The Art of Mending as I drive around to various jobs in the city and burbs.  This is dangerous.  Berg is such a perfect writer (nothing extraneous, always pitch-perfect in the emotional content).  In the story, the father dies.  I started bawling right there in the turn lane, the green arrow a blur.

 

 

Posting up

The learning curve continues with an attempt at blogging–and wondering whether it’s worth the effort.  Once a week?  Every day?  Who will read it?  Who cares?  I’m intrigued but not exactly motivated.  Slept four hours last night, decided to stay over in Springfield instead of driving four hours home in a sleep-deprived state.  So here’s the blog attempt:  stories about Sign Language interpreting and its attending ethical dilemmas, blurbs about my ongoing foray into becoming a published mystery novelist, reviews of books I read and anything else I can dig up.  Once a week.  Sounds doable.  Now, let’s see if I can push the right buttons to produce an actual post.  More as life continues.