Dang-a-rito

Today I'm sad. One of my critique partners is quiting. Not just the group but writing all together so it seems. I hate to lose a valuable crit partner who always offered great insight, but I hate to see a dream die even more. And her departure and decision to stop somehow makes me feel vulnerable because she is every bit as good of a writer as myself. Maybe better.

I've told numerous people that writing is part of who I am. That I will never quit regardless of what becomes of my novels. This morning I find myself wondering if my now former critique partner ever said the same thing. I still view her as a friend and I always will, but I today I feel like a kid who just found the receipts for for the new bike Santa gave him in his dad's wallet.

Reading over what I've written I realize that I have made it sound like rejection and the difficult task of writing has made her throw in the towel. Actually here are many factors such as health and time, that led her to this decision. She never mentioned discouragement as a reason, but every writer has felt the cold shadowy sensation of doubt once or twice. What hit me hardest was the fact that she had simply lost the passion.

Now that I've depressed every one of you let's move on to Two Line Tuesday. First fro my weeks reading ...

Los Chimichangosrolled Skippitoup snung as a bug and began to chant, "Muchas gracias, Skippy-dippy-dango, Bye Bobble-ito, boogie-woogie tango, Muchos poochos, licky-sticky mango, Gozo bozo, chimi-chimi-chango." And they carried the purr-ito all the way back to his room.


That comes from my boys favorite book at the moment Skippyjon Jones in The Dog House by Judy Schachner. If you've never heard of the Skippyjon Jones books they are about a Siamese cat that thinks he is a chihuahua and they are quite hilarious for kids and the adults who read them aloud.

And while I am still tweaking my query letter for Plundered Booty, here is a bit from the way it now stands. Though I am far from satisfied with either the query or the last few chapters.

Plundered Booty is a modern day pirate story that spans from the red dirt of Oklahoma, to the white sands of the Caribbean. Like many a tale it is about love ... love and lust, Caribbean rum and brand new automobiles, blatant lies and plundered dreams.

Don't forget to check out the wondrous Women of Mystery blog since they are the originators of Two Line Tuesday.

So tell me, ever take a closer look at your own dreams when someone else throws in the towel. Ever read a Skippyjon Jones book? Like a a good pirate tale? What about a love story? Are you lusting after somebody or something right now? Inquiring minds want to know.

Man About Town

What do hemorrhoids and procrastination have in common? ... Both will get you in the end.

That is my way of saying there will be no My Town Monday post about Amarillo from me this week. *** EDIT*** After reading Debra's comment I thought I'd better add something to the original post and say there will be no MTM entry do to my procrastination, not the other aforementioned infliction.*** I will still maintain a list of other's My Town posts, so check back here for the updated list of this week's participants.

Meanwhile, please hop over to the Criminal Brief blogsite, where they have graciously allowed me to guest blog for the day. I would love to see you there, so if you get a chance drop a comment over there to let me know you stopped by.

And a special thanks to Leigh Lundin for sacrificing his spot in the rotation and for encouraging me to vent a bit.

Remember, check back here for a full list of My Town Mondayers and in the meanwhile, see you over at Criminal Brief.

LINKS

Debra -- Peninsula, Ohio

Patti Abbott -- Detroit Michigan

Lyzzydee -- Welwyn Garden City, England

Barbara Martin -- Toronto, Canada

Linda McLaughlin -- Camp Pendleton, California

Barrie Summy -- San Diego, California

Laura Curtis (Women of Mystery) -- From an Airport near you.

Clair Dickson -- Brighton, Michigan

Lana Gramlich -- Abita Springs, Louisiana

WordVixen -- Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Mary Nix -- Olmsted Falls, Ohio

PreTzel -- Garden Grove, Iowa

Alyssa Goodnight -- Houston, Texas

Packsaddle -- Uhland, Texas

DebbieLou -- Bishop Stortford, England

Papa Hemingway

This morning on NPR I heard an interesting interview with Patrick Hemingway, the son of Ernest. He talked about his dad and what it feels like to be turning eighty. Today is Patrick's birthday. The whole interview can be heard here, but I wanted to share a quote from Patrick that made me laugh. I'm doing this by memory so it's more of a paraphrase than an actual quote but he said something close to this ...

"Literature is what intelligent people use for dope."

Come on admit it. How many of you are addicted to books? I know I am and I like to think that does make me somewhat more intelligent than the average guy, especially if his dope of choice is crack.

Anyway check out the interview if you get the chance.

A to Z

It had been a long while since I did a meme and Janna Qualman tagged me with this A to Z one so I thought what the heck. Be sure and check out her blog, she has an interesting post up now about Marilyn Monroe's reading habits.

A to Z All About Me

A-Attached or Single? Married for nearly 11 years ans yes, she is up for sainthood.

B-Best Friend? See above, but actually I'm blessed to have many good friends. As far as defining what makes a best friend I like the old story about ... A best friend is not someone who will bail you out a jail, a best friends is sitting int he cell right beside you.

C-Cake or Pie? Coconut Cream Pie

D-Day of Choice? Any I don't have to go to work, but really a day is what you make it and I don't have any preference for one of another.

E-Essential Items? For what? Depends what I'm doing. For life in general I'd say a loving supporting spouse, a good fishing pole, a steady supply of reading material, and plenty of tasty meat to eat.

F-Favorite Color? Black. It does away with all that pesky color coordinating required when you get dressed.

G-Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms. But don't get them confused with the plastic scent impregnated ones in your tackle back. Those things taste horrible.

H-Hometown? Amarillo, Texas. Unless this is your first time here you should know that since I've been doing the My Town Monday thing for months now.

I-Indulgence? Gambling. If I ever end up living under an overpass or holding up a cardboard sign for sustenance it will be because I wagered one too many times.

J-January or July? I'm more of a January guy. You can always put more clothes on but you can only take so much off.

K-Kids? Two boys. 5 and 7

L-Life isn’t complete without… Laughter

M-Marriage Date? October 25, 1997

N-Number of Siblings? One brother.

O-Oranges or Apples? I tend to shun all fruits and vegetables but I can eat an apple if it's covered in caramel, especially if you add pinon nuts.

P-Phobias or Fears? I'm not big on caves. I'm afraid they'll write a sequel to Bog John titled Big Trav

Q-Quote? If we're not supposed to eat animals, how come they're made of meat? ~ Tom Snyder

R-Reason to Smile? My theory is smile all the time, that way no one realizes when you are plotting against them.

S-Superman or Wonder Woman? Those are my only choices?

T-Tag 5 people. I tried to do this but I'm not all that agile and every time I ran after someone they took off and locked the doors. one lady even called the police, but through her screen door she did say, "Aren't you a little too old to be playing tag?"

U- Umbrella or poncho? Poncho. You can't catch fish while holding an umbrella in one hand.

V-Vegetables? Keep the devils away from me.

W-Worst Habit? I'll answer this later ... no seriously it is Procrastination

X-Ray or Ultrasound? I've had both and either is okay. I just can't do the MRI thing since the giant magnet would rip out the metal plate in my leg.

Y-Your Favorite Food? Marinated Elk tenderloin

Z-Zodiac Sign? Sagittarius

Play along if you wish.

A Shoe in My Mouth

You know what I haven't done on this blog in a while?

Simply told a story.

When I first started this blog I thought I would talk exclusively about the writing life, the craft of fiction, and the pursuit of publication, but I soon got bored with that. And to tell the truth not many people read this blog when I tried to make every post a how-to article. It wasn't until I began sharing anecdotes of my crazy life that I built up much of a readership. I will always consider myself a storyteller first and a writer second.

I've told you about my days working for Earl at the Feedstore, my flight on Sasquatch Airlines, my first set of swats at school, and of course my days as a second rate mall Santa Claus. There are others but not lately so I thought today I'd don my storytelling hat and share a humorous tale about one of just many times my wife has contemplated murder. Hey, it ain't easy being hitched to me.

"What was that?"
I wanted to ignore the question and drift back to sleep but my wife's elbow jabbing my rib cage made that impossible.
"Wake up. Do you hear that?"
Wind driven rain lashed at the window and thunder rumbled the panes of glass."
"Yeah, it's raining." I rolled over out of elbow reach.
"The tornado sirens are going off!" Panic filled her voice, but being that she was about five months pregnant I didn't put too much store in that. Only a few night before she'd woken me up in a panic because she smelled ketchup. I had to get up and turn on the lights to show her no evil band of home invaders had stormed our house and began painting the walls with ketchup at three in the morning.

I listened half heartily for a few seconds and then said, "That's not the sirens. it's just a dog howling somewhere."

She flung the covers off and with a sigh headed for the living room. To tell the truth I was just glad that her pointy little elbows were now out of reach.

I heard the TV come on and the first words out of the weatherman's lips, "Their is a possible tornado over the Lake Tanglewood area."

Our property is about a hundred yards from Lake Tanglewood so I knew my night of peaceful slumber was over.

My wife had never been a worrier until our first son was born, but she has made up for that ever since. He was twenty months at the time and she immediately ran to his room at the opposite end of the house. All the while shrieking that there was a tornado and that I needed to get up.

We do not have a cellar but our neighbors across the road do so I swing my feet to the floor and began searching for a pair of pants since I didn't figure they wanted to see me in my boxers. At this point my wife flew into our room with my son in her arms. She barked a few more orders my direction and then grabbed the phone to dial the people across the dirt road to let them know we were headed their way.


As I was dressing the hail began to fall from the sky. The sound of the ice chicks striking the roof drowned out even the thunder, but not my wife when she noticed me lacing up my shoes.

"WE DON"T HAVE TIME TO PUT ON SHOES!" And she ran from our bedroom.

I found her a few seconds later in the living room. She was trying to tie one of the throw pillows from the couch onto our son's head.

"What are you doing?"
Wide-eyed she looked at me, "It's hailing. I don't want him to get hurt."
"Give him to me," I said. Stuffing him inside the flap of the raincoat I'd just put on I turned to my wife. "Follow me. We're gonna have to run hard."

The rain and wind swirled when I opened the door and I leaned forward in an awkward stance to run so that the trunk of my body would shield my son from the rain and hail. By this point the hail as only pea sized.

I slogged through my front door and the ankle deep river of mud that was the road between out house and the safety of the a cellar. My neighbor's wife was on their front porch when I made the fifty yard dash. I handed her my son and turned back to help my wife, but she was no where to be seen. I started across the yard calling her name and then I spotted her on her back in the mud and muck of the dirt road.

As lighting crashed all around I helped her to her feet and we scramble for their house. They brought her a towel and a change of clothes as she explained that her feet had slipped because of her flip-flops.

I shouldn't have, but I did say, "You should have taken time to put on real shoes like I did."

Yep, I was met with an icy glare.

We stayed at the neighbor's for several hours as the storm passed. A tornado never did touch down and as dawn broke the rain had let up to the point that I was more than ready to head home. So our little family started back for home in a slight sprinkle.

My wife took one step onto the muddy road and .. You guessed it fell again.

And of course I said, "Bet you wish you'd have put on real shoes now." She wouldn't even take the hand I offered to help her get up."

A Tuneful Tuesday

It's Tuesday which means I'm supposed to post two lines from something I've read and two from my own work. But I've been reading an unpublished novel from one of my critique partners and since I don't have her permission to post her lines, I'm going to do something else. I'm going to post two lines I heard this week.

My favorite band is releasing a new CD today called Bulletproof. Their name is Reckless Kelly and I urge all of you to give them a listen. You can hear snippets of the new songs via the link to Amazon. I've only heard two of the songs in their entirety, and I like them both, but my favorite takes a hard look at the current war in Iraq. The song is titled American Blood and here are the opening lines as best as I can remember them. There may be a word or two off.

Johnny can't drink 'cause johnny ain't twenty-one, but he's eighteen and pretty handy with a gun. They shipped him off to a foreign land, gave him a new pair of boots and thirteen grand and he came back home with American blood on his hands.



If you'd like to hear a sample of their music check out my MySpace page which has a song from the new CD titled Ragged as the Road. And be sure to friend my while you are there.

And now a couple of sentences I wrote, or at least edited this week. From my novel Plundered Booty ...

Leaning against the right front fender of my truck, he smiled as if nothing had changed. When I didn't return the gesture, the grin slid off his face like eggs from a greasy plate.

Be sure and and check out the gals over at Women of Mystery who originated to Two Line Tuesday idea.

So have you ever heard of Reckless Kelly? Got any other music recommendations? Or if nothing else drop a line and tell me who your favorite singers and bands are.

No Matter Where You're From -- A My Town Monday Post

Grace ... glamor ... timeless beauty.

Those words are not normally associated with Amarillo, but in the case of one of the city's native daughters they fit perfectly.

Tula Ellis Finklea entered the word on March 8th, 1922 in Amarillo, Texas. Her father was a jeweler here in town and he was also an ardent fan of ballet. His daughter was sickly child so after a bout of polio weakened her, Mr. Finklea enrolled her in a ballet class to help build back her strength.

It wasn't long until Tula, who actually went by Sid (a nickname one of her siblings bestowed on her by trying to pronounce sis) found herself studying under a pair of famous Russian teachers in Los Angeles. By fourteen she was touring Europe as a member of a famous Russian ballet troupe.

Within a few years she married, a man named Nico Charisse. The marriage didn't last long but she kept the last name for the remainder of her years. When WWII broke up her ballet troupe, Sid returned to LA and soon found herself dancing in the movies. Sid became Cyd under the suggestion of an MGM executive and the rest is as they say history.

Cyd Charisse passed away this past week, but what a life she led.

One of the few who ever danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly she appeared in more than forty movies over the years. Including Singing In The Rain, Brigadoon, Silk Stocking, and Meet Me in Las Vegas. Asked who was the better dancer, Astaire or Kelly, Cyd said this ...

“It’s like comparing apples and oranges. They’re both delicious."


Fred Astaire was quoted as saying this about Cyd,

“When you’ve danced with her, you stay danced with."


via videosift.com


The video is of her and Gene Kelly from Singing in the Rain.

My Fellow My Town Mondayers

Pattie Abbott -- Detroit, Michigan

Debra -- Peninsula, Ohio

Lyzzydee -- Welwyn Garden, City, England

Linda McLaughlin -- Orange County, California

Barbara Martin -- Toronto, Canada

Barrie Summy -- San Diego, California

Gina Black (Title Wave) -- Westwood Village in Los Angeles, California

Mary Nix -- Olmsted Falls, Ohio

Stephen Parrish -- Bad Kreuznach, Germany

Samantha Winston -- Montchauvet, France

Clair Dickson -- Livingston County, Michigan

DebbieLou -- Bishops Stortford, England

Alyssa Goodnight -- Houston, Texas