Testing...Testing,,

Instead of a post this week, I need to run a test. Somehow or other, I ended up changing my user ID or password elsewhere, and it's ended up changing things on Blogger. Now my default setting is under my main email rather than the account I used when setting up my blog.

As a result of that--which I can live with--the blogs show no traffic since March 31, though by this time I'd usually have hundreds of visits or hits.

So I'm posting this on Facebook and Twitter to see if any hits are recorded or if any suggestions come in.

Let the Lion Roar Some More

Of a sudden, I felt a lion's roar within.

The manuscript for my new book has gone off to five readers. I've run a third of the text through Grammarly, an editorial app, and should have an error-free copy in a few more weeks. I felt good. But then the lion roared and I began to grow hungry for more.

Now that I knew I was on schedule, not late, I sought to emulate my writing schedule of last year, taking notes and outlining for the next couple of months and then starting to write sometime in June. The first thing I needed: a hardback Moleskine-style notebook, the very sort I used last year.

I placed a rush order today, wanting--needing--to put on more speed.

Good, good, very good. And yet the lion roared again. How about the new job search I'd been thinking of for months? I'd acquired a certificate from an online course in medical terminology. Okay, while I finetune and buff my resume, why not take a second course in HIPAA (records privacy)? At two lessons a week, I can earn a second certificate in six weeks. Goal: a better job with a better schedule and more bucks for travel and promotion of my books.

One more roar now, lion, please: bring on the smile power now. A certain procedure that's gone on for months should be a wrap within three-four weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Coming your way soon:

No, wait. That's the great Owen Laukkanen's killer smile!

Let's all roar, once more, for mine by the end of April.

Surprise Yourself With a Staycation

I never thought I'd say these words in such a happy tone:

This sure wasn't what I'd planned. For almost half a year I'd planned on a new cross-country train trip with my arriving Sunday in a town I'd never seen. But for a number of reasons that wasn't meant to be. Not yet.

So, here I was with my time off work request approved...but not the bucks to travel.

I might have canceled the time off from work. But I decided to keep the five days (including my regular weekend). I could get ahead of schedule on my work in progress and see a few things in the city I've never had the time for.

In the first three of five days off, I've logged in three marathon writing sessions and tackled some narrative issues I hadn't known how to fix. I've slept in shamelessly until 7 a.m. each morning. I've taken long walks, exploring my new neighborhood. (Capitol Hill turns out to be much closer than I'd thought: no need at all to take a bus when I can walk there in only ten minutes.) Nights belong to Netflix or Amazon Prime and a little research reading.

Just halfway through my staycation, I feel more rested, recharged and refreshed than I have from a lifetime of travels at home and abroad. There was nothing that special about it. Lord Byron would not have approved.

Not would Hemingway:

Or Jack London:

Oh, I've had my own past adventures and I look forward to more still to come. And some may match, but none will surpass, the quiet joys of an unrushed staycation...and bringing a challenging new book to life.

Tomorrow, as a special treat, I'll take a cross-city trip to an independent bookstore said to be Seattle's best: Third Place Books/Ravenna.

So, remember, if you're in between jaunts to Cairo, Rome, or Katmandu...or if you simply need a break from wrestling alligators or hunting wild boar with a pencil, no gun...consider the alternative.

Something Big is Going Down

A day that might have been like any other day ain't so.

This day's been a long time bornin'. Four days from now, it will arrive with minimal fanfare but high hopes. After all, I dreamed of it for longer than I can remember and I worked like a bastard to bring it about.

But you all know all about that, in terms of your own lives. You've had your share of days like this, when you were on the cusp, at last, of a brand-new amazing adventure, the publication of a book, the start of a thrilling new job, the move to a new city. So you know how diabolically difficult it is to live fully in the present while you're counting down the days. And, of course, it's no less difficult to keep your head on straight: nothing will change completely overnight...no new city will be perfect...

Then again, a little realism can go a long, long way toward making sure our dreams will fail. 

You go, Bertrand Russell!

And you go too, Will Smith!

While March 14 approaches in its own loose, ambling stride, I march through the receding timeline that precedes it. I work daily on my new book and take care of the business at hand. I prepare to start actively seeking a new job. I do all the little things that add up to my life today, but with a little more pizzazz. I go for the gusto now.

So, okay then. March 14 is coming. And--yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah--not everything will be perfect. I fact, one or two things in my life may still suck. But I'm okay with that because I believe in March 14. And I'm telling you, it will be

And I can say that truthfully because I'll make it so.

The Manly Art of Ironing

Has a small decision in your life ever been a real Eureka moment? Say, instead of doing something the usual way you decided to do it another. And then, seeing that the new way was better, you saw a slew of other things that called for changing too. Not just new ways of doing things, new styles of inner architecture.

 

My adventure started with a lovely pre-loved flannel shirt with two pockets whose flaps needed pressing. I'd acquired so many shirts that I'd already started to dread future cleaning bills. Now and then, I'd think wistfully of buying an iron and ironing board--but I was a man. Men don't iron. Yesterday, though, on my way to the dry cleaners, I stopped. How hard could it be to learn the fundamentals of ironing shirts? And what would the cost be, compared to dry cleaning some 65 shirts every year?

I decided to test my ingenuity and skill, starting off with a visit to Target. I found a dozen-odd irons to choose from and an array of ironing boards. My determining factors:  studio-friendly size...a brand name that I trusted...cost.

I left with a small Sunbeam steam iron:

                              
And, to go with it, a countertop ironing board:

                                


My total cost was less than that of dry cleaning just 30 shirts. But I still didn't know how to iron!

Thumbs up to Sunbeam for clear instructions on the use of and care for the iron. And the ironing board mounted flat on the kitchen countertop. I'd learned I could use the steam function with tap water--not distilled, as I'd guessed. Or I could dry iron if I pleased. I pleased, for my initial run at least. And I'd start with the flap-wild shirt pockets and collar.

It sounds silly to make a big deal of this, yes. But as an exercise in mastery, there's nothing silly about it. Next: what were my options for ironing a full shirt? I could fine-tune, as I pleased, but were there agreed-upon basics? Did I need a book to learn this or should I ask everybody I knew? No, I'd learn this privately, with a little help online.

The online friend I've learned to trust for all masculine matters is The Art of Manliness. And there I found just what I needed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpinulvKTA

Now the great ripple effect was in motion. I began to think of other ways and modes of thought that needed changing.

Writing:
1) To gain speed, I don't necessarily need to compose more quickly. I do need, though, to dictate my handwritten drafts into Dragon Naturally Speaking regularly as I go.
2) I need to make better use of the promoting services Amazon offers now that I have a modest hit in The Big Bopper. (50-plus 4 and 5-star reviews.)
3) I should look into approaching Kirkus for a review of my WIP, which is strong and offbeat.

Job search:
1) I need to follow my original plan to sit tight until mid-March when I've made full use of my medical/dental benefits. But instead of doing nothing, I need to prepare.
2) Preparation includes touting the certificate I've received from an online course in medical terminology.
3) I should also buff my resume to justify the higher salary I'm worth.


And so on. You catch my drift. Your own adventure can begin with anything...including a neatly pressed shirt.

Let Your Writer's Bible Save You

Let's begin with the moral, up front: a mountain of knowledge and research are worth no more than a pile of beans if you can't retrieve what you need in a blink. If you've found yourself wondering 'I know I read about this somewhere...but where?', then you know what I mean. You try Googling the subject, finding thousands of related entries...but not the one you want. Then you look at the shelves of books you read for research...but where in those thousands of pages is the one nugget you need? Or--here's something for all series writers--what are the ages/heights/weights/histories of your characters?

Years ago, I'd tried mastering this challenge by using index cards. But a pair of problems bested me:

1) I had to write my entries in longhand, an arduous process often yielding illegible results.

2) The eventual bulk became daunting as the card numbers swelled to a thousand, then five...I'd have needed a team of monks for updating and cataloging. 

Through the years I tried other strategies, none of them truly successful. But last year, when I published the first of the Seattle BOP mysteries, I knew that I needed a Bible. If I intended to write convincing mysteries about insurance fraud, I'd damned well better know my stuff. I faced the same problems I outlined above after reading a shelf filled with pricey, first-class texts over the course of a year.

Here's the strategy I followed as a writer requiring hard vs. digital records:
1) I flipped through every text, tagging with Post-It Notes the passages I'd already checked.
2) I bought a new 5x8 ringed ARC notebook with detachable pages. As time passed, I knew, I'd be adding more pages or shifting some about. I paid more a handsome notebook that I'd take pride in keeping.
3) I put Dragon Naturally Speaking to work.

After selecting the double-page format, I dictated all the passages I'd tagged, careful to list author, book, and page. I dictated in full for three reasons: I couldn't be sure, in advance, how much or how little I'd use. I wanted protection against accidental plagiarising. And I wanted to be able to cite my resources if anyone questioned my research.
4) When I'd finished--at this first edition of my Bible--I had about 10,000 words. I took the flash drive to FedEx/Kino and had them copy and cut the pages for my ARC.
5) After hole-lunching the pages--one page at a time, alas--I mounted them with clear section dividers between. Once again, I needed speed!

Results of my first trial run:
In the third draft of the new series' second entry,  I needed to find two things quickly: information I'd gleaned about 'medical mills', just enough to make my hero seem to know more than he does. And I needed a cool trick I'd gleaned, something or other about office phones. I found my two answers in twenty seconds, total.

What's up next?
I need to add a section for the main series characters.  Luckily, this is a new series, so there's no need to go back through all the Boss MacTacin mysteries. At least not yet. But I do need to re-read The Big Bopper, making notes of all the key characters' data. Readers are right to raise hell over inconsistencies from book to book. (Hey, what about X's green eyes? You said Y was 29!)

The first edition of my personal Good Book has already saved my bacon twice. From here on, the key for me is keep researching--setting my series apart from the pack--then dictating and printing my quotes as I go.

I plan to sin no further now that I've seen the light. Write your own, or keep yours digitally, and I'm certain you'll soon say the same.

It's that time, cat time, again

I adore cats and always have. For ten years, in Atlanta and Portland,  I was blessed with the companionship of a brother-sister pair of cats named Romeo and Juliette. They kept me sane in difficult times. Then, when Romeo died in his tenth year, I took Juliette with me to Charlotte. We formed an especially close bond in the final five years of her life.

After her death, I moved to Seattle, where I've been cat-less for over four years. Here's what those four years have taught me:
1) We can come up with many good reasons for putting off getting a cat: I'm not home enough to take proper care of a pet...I can't afford the food and vet bills...It hurts too much to see a pet die...A cat may destroy my apartment...Etc., etc., etc.
2) If we're meant to have a cat, one day we'll know that the pros outweigh the cons. And we'll begin tackling the cons one by one: pet insurance...a better paying job with a more cat-friendly schedule...a reasonably priced pet supply store with cool toys and scratching posts...a no cat zone, if necessary, for precious clothes or papers.
3)  It isn't a chore and it's more than a duty to care and look after a small, furry friend who wants nothing more than our love in return. Well, that and cool high spots to jump...delightful things to hang from...and ways to drive us delightfully nuts.
4) Finally, it's a lot worse than selfish for us to refuse to recover from the passing of a cat friend. Other cats need loving homes and deserve a place in the procession.

Cat Day will be in March for me. So far, I've found a fine place for adopting and a great pet store for supplies. I'm looking into pet insurance and my apartment building will work will allow me to spread out the pet security deposit. The main remaining task is to make my place cat-friendly, with a few good jumping spots, window seats, etc. My dressing room will be off limits when I'm at work our out.

Gender: I want a female cat.
Age: I think 1-2 years old will be best.
Name: I think I'll go with Nova unless another name comes to mind when I meet the right cat...the just-purrfect cat for a writer.