Darlene's Digest

Image via Wikipedia This was my first day back in the Real World, and I celebrated by dragging myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. to do a stint on WUFT/WJUF FM . Yes, it's time for the Spring Membership Campaign! Unlike last year when we had our record breaking unlikely-to-ever-be-repeated $16,000 morning, we had a more modest but respectable $4,000 morning. I was assured this was very good for a Tuesday in the middle of the drive, and I'm willing to accept that. Today in honor of Earth Day we pushed thank-you gifts like a lovely Florida butterfly gardening book, reusable totes, and a guide to scenic North Florida. We did good and did well. As always, it was fun being back on the air. I miss my radio days. Not the days of sitting through long land use meetings or getting called out in the middle of supper to go to a fire, but being on the air. Let's face it, there's a lot of egoboo in broadcasting and it still tickles me that people recognize me by my voice--just t...

Did you go through withdrawal yesterday because the "Smart Bitches Trashy Books" site was down? I know I did. They're back up and running. Click on their link at the blog and check out their new awesomeness.

Image via Wikipedia I love the serendipitous moments that occasionally fall into your lap. Today I realized that if my WIP's current action is set around autumn 1814, I might be able to work in the burning of Washington and the battle of Fort McHenry. Sure enough, my dates coincided and suddenly I had a whole new scene referencing that action, and the writing of the Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. These may be my favorite moments while I'm writing. When something "clicks" and a scene takes shape and everything makes sense once again.

Image from Wikipedia Go Gators! And here you thought they were for decorative purposes only. Alligators save the world, here.

Image from Wikipedia I was reading a news story today about modern day pirates taking a French luxury yacht off the coast of Somalia. As I scrolled down, this caught my eye: "The U.S. Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region. Last year, the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opened fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker." This made me grin, because Commodore David Porter was the head of the US Navy's anti-piracy campaign of the 1820's, and a character in my novel, Captain Sinister's Lady. I believe Porter would have found it most appropriate that the ship named in honor of him and his naval hero son, Admiral David Dixon Porter, be used in the battle against today's pirates.

Today was my day to blog at the HEA Cafe , so I thought I'd share it here as well: I’m not as far along as I’d like with my WIP (Work in Progress) because I sent a partial to my agent, and he sent back a note saying, essentially, “Kill the backstory and start with someone bleeding.” When I saw this I slapped myself upside the head and said “D’oh!” because it took me back some years to when I worked in news. I’ve been a news reporter, radio news anchor, radio news director and producer of the local TV news. There’s a nasty little saying in broadcasting: “If it bleeds, it leads.” This means if you have a shooting, horrific accident or tornado, it goes at the top of the newscast. In a newspaper, it’s called “Over the fold”. There’s a reason for this: You want to grab peoples’ attention and hold it. A story about the proposed tax hike is important to everyone in the county, but it’s a snoozefest–unless you can tie it to some poor schlub who’s going to lose the little hardscrab...

I was reviewing what I'd written yesterday and realized, once again, I'd spent two pages telling instead of showing. This is one of those basic fiction writing rules that doesn't change--99% of the time, showing your story is better than telling your story. So I went back and I re-wrote it, and it is, of course, substantially better. But dang, this writing stuff's hard work! Why didn't anyone warn me about that?

I ran into our library director yesterday at the garden festival, and mentioned my Estonian editions to him. I suggested, half-jokingly, that maybe he'd like some donated to our library. He said in all seriousness that we might not have a strong need for them in Alachua County, Florida, but there may be Estonian communities in other parts of the US that would appreciate them in their public libraries. I would love to see that happen. Spreading my tales of piratical naughtiness from the Baltics to cities across North America!

I was at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Spring Festival yesterday, and despite the gloomy weather it was a delight. I'm posting a couple pix from last year's festival, when the sun was shining. I ended up spending too much on plants I'll probably kill, as usual, but who can resist an eyepopping orange and gold hibiscus or Reiger begonias that look like they came out of a catalog photo shoot ("C'mon, sweetie, work it for us! Show us those glossy leaves!"). I also bought some wonderful handcrafted soaps and skin creams, and ate too much fair food. But it was worth every calorie to have a scoop of Sweet Dreams honey lavender ice cream. Next week, the Spring Arts Festival!

Last night we went to see the film "Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day" and enjoyed it very much. Frances McDormand plays Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess who's out of work and on the streets. She takes a chance on one last job with glamorous American actress and singer Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams) and in 24 hours has her life turned around. It's a sweet, romantic comedy. McDormand is, as usual, outstanding and Adams plays the ditzy Delysia with a great deal of verve. It also features Lee Pace (le sigh!) of "Pushing Daisies". Part of what I liked best about the film was what one reviewer said: She could have taken her elderly father to see it and they would have both enjoyed it. It was frothy and fun, and not full of nudity, violence or coarse language. I have no objection to those things in movies, but sometimes it seems like they're added in just to make the movie palatable to 16 year old boys. This was more like a film you'd se...

Over at my favorite research site, Compuserve's Books and Writers Community I'm getting help with three phrases I needed translated into Spanish: 1. "Do you charge by the hour? How much for the entire night?" 2. "More rum, and leave the bottle!" 3. "I want a different girl. That one has the pox!" Have I ever said how much I love my job?

I've often said when you're a writer, everything is grist for the mill. Today I wrote an amusing scene for the WIP (work in progress) involving a pirate, a doctor who needs a translator, and a hemorrhoid sufferer. Some of that came from personal experience. No, not that, the doctor part! Not that I am one, but having lived with people who suffer from that all too common medical complaint, I have some knowledge of what effective treatments were in the 19th and the 21st centuries. Good times.

I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey last month, and part of what I felt as I watched it was an aching sadness for the future that wasn't. A future with commercial travel to the moon, and manned missions deep into space. I still believe in space exploration, but one of the greats who also believed in it is gone. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) died today. He will be missed, not only by his legions of science fiction fans, but by all who shared his vision of a better tomorrow, where humanity would keep reaching for the stars.

OK, I don't write these posts just to make those of you in Massachusetts and similar frozen environs feel bad, but today was such a perfect spring day I had to write about it. My task today was to travel to three branch libraries in outlying cities to pick up art that the Alachua County Library District Foundation is having re-framed. It would have been prudent, given the price of gas, to take the hybrid. But the temperature was 81F (27C), the sky was absolutely blue, and there aren't that many days like this left before the heat of summer sets in. I took the convertible. I traveled back roads to get to my libraries, through twisting farmland and rolling hills dotted with oak shaded homesteads. The dogwoods and azaleas were in bloom, and magenta phlox covered the roadside. A trip that would have taken 30 minutes on the interstate took 2 hours and I loved every minute of it. I hope wherever you are that spring comes soon, and when it does, take time to enjoy it.

Not surprisingly, I read a lot of romance novels. Today I want to recommend one that may have skipped by you. It's not filed with the romance novels, but it's one of the best love stories I've read this year: The Wedding Officer , by Anthony Capella. It was fantastic. You'll laugh, you may cry, and you'll remember the characters and their story. A wonderful tale of wartime love in 1944 Naples, Italy. Go read it. You'll thank me later. But don't read it while you're hungry! The food descriptions are practically pornographic!

The Creation according to LOLcats. "And it waz gud. Srsly."

Some minor plumbing woes continue, but we have hot water again. Amazing what a difference that can make in your life.

The Joys of Plumbing I usually save my whining for my personal blog over at another site, but when I was trying to think about what to write today, all I could think about was how I haven’t had hot water in my house since February 20. I’ll spare you the details, but we have a leak that’s resulting in the entire house having to be re-piped, an on-going effort. Now, if I was writing erotic romance, hunky plumbers would show up at my door with tool kits… But this is the real world. I’m getting “competent” over “hunky”, but there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, when it comes to plumbing, electric, carpentry or brain surgery I’ll take “competent” over “hunky” any day. Anyway, it’s made me think about bathrooms and plumbing–a lot–especially since I write historicals. Many of my books are shipboard romances, and the intricacies of taking care of business in the past, especially in the small confines of a ship, fascinate me. Sailors use to have two ways they’d relieve themselves:...

A small change... Every writer has his or her own pet error. OK, some of us have more than others. One of my particular problems is the proper use of the words "might" and "may". So I made a correction at the top of this page, just above my picture. I think it's now correct. If you disagree, let me know.

Help P&E! You know the saying no good deed goes unpunished? Preditors and Editors is a site that helps keep novice writers from being ripped off by scam artist agents and publishers. They're one of the "go to" sites I always recommend to folks wanting to be published. Their services are free. Now they're being sued by someone claiming to have been libeled by them as a scam artist. I believe P&E will be fully vindicated, but they need financial help to mount their legal defense. If you're a writer who's ever used P&E, now's the time to step forward and help them. Go to their website and make a PayPal donation to their legal defense fund. The internet is full of shady publishers and agents. There are few out there protecting the newbie writers, but P&E has been on the front lines for years doing their best.