8 Writing Lessons from Supernatural (Part 1 of 2)

by Misha Crews

I was first introduced to Supernatural by my friend Michelle Carlbert, who I met at Comicon in 2010. If you're not familiar with it, the show is about two ridiculously handsome brothers cruising around in a vintage car slaying demons. (I write this with tongue firmly planted in cheek: that's pretty much the premise of the show, but it transcends that shallow description.) The brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, are played with heartfelt authenticity by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Although the concept seemed fun, I kind of doubted that there would be much artistic merit in the show itself. I was wrong about that (first time for everything) and I've made up for that error by talking about Supernatural at pretty much every available opportunity to anybody who will hold still long enough to listen.

After reading Nicole Christoff's post Muppets and More, and  Evie Owen's post on the movie It's Complicated, I started pondering the ways in which popular television and movies have influenced my writing. And since I'm going to my very first Supernatural convention in May, this seemed like the perfect time to dive into the lessons I've learned from a show which has become an unexpected source of inspiration.

1. The core is in the classics. In the case of Supernatural, this means urban legends and religious mythology. And in modern popular fiction, we've seen a huge resurgence in mythologies over the past few years: vampires, super heroes, werewolves. We've also seen the classics being resurrected over and over again: especially with books like Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice, and A Christmas Carol. And of course, how many times have we read modern versions of Shakespeare? Not just Romeo and Juliet, but Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and too many others to mention? Incorporating the classics allows an artist to touch a nerve that resonates on many different levels with her audience, whether that means viewers or readers.

In this clip from the show, Sam and Dean slay a dragon. It doesn't get much more classic and mythic than that!

2. Don't be afraid to go deep. Over the nine years that Supernatural has been on the air, Sam and Dean have been to both Heaven and Hell – literally. And they've saved the world on at least three occasions (probably more – apologies to the superfans out there for not knowing the exact number!) In a show where the protagonists have battled every type of entity, from angels to demons and back again, you'd think that their interior highs and lows might not be that important for the writers. Not so. One thing that this show definitely demonstrates is how the plot's external ups and downs are mirrors of the characters internal ups and downs (and vice versa).

3. Conflict, conflict everywhere. Writers are always taught that conflict is the fuel on the fire of any great story, and Supernatural knows how to work conflict into their plots. Personalities clash at the least convenient times, and old hurts are woven seamlessly into new plot twists. In this clip from Season 1, Sam and Dean have an argument that encapsulates their entire history up to this point. As a result of the argument, the brothers split up for the remainder of the episode, and that period of separation has ramifications which we're still feeling today, nine seasons later.

 

4. Family is not just the heart of the story, it's also the bones. The heart of this show is the relationship between Sam and Dean. The family bond is is both their greatest strength and their most dangerous weakness.

And in addition to influencing the characters, the individual episodes and season-wide story arcs are also built around family. The brothers are together, then apart. They're at odds, then in accord. In fact, the entire first season was structured around the two of them reuniting after a long rift and looking for their father. So family is not just the heart, it's also the bones: it's the structure around which the framework is constructed.

Here's a video that emphasizes the importance of family in this show. And it's interesting to note that the family isn't just restricted to blood relations. As Bobby Singer (the wonderful Jim Beaver) so eloquently says, "Family don't end with blood."

On Monday, April 7, we'll be back with lessons five through eight. In the meantime: are you a Supernatural fan? In what way do you think the show has influenced your writing?

Muppets and More: Childhood and the Stories Grown-Ups Crave

Kermit the Frog is the reason I became a broadcaster. In his tan trench coat, with his microphone in his long, green fingers, Kermit popped up all over Sesame Street, getting to the bottom of stories such as Humpty Dumpty’s demise. And on The Muppet Show, Kermit kept his cast of Muppets from galloping toward chaos as the ultimate stage manager, producer, and director.

As a result, my brother and I made up our own radio broadcasts and styled our own variety shows, recording our work on a General Electric tape recorder that was so old, Ray Dolby’s ideas about noise reduction and chrome alloy cassettes were a distant dream to us.

When I was five, one of my mother’s friends gave me my very own Muppet. I can’t remember his name, but he was purple and he wore a striped sweater and he came in a box. He came with a wardrobe of facial features, too, that stuck to his face with Velcro. I loved his glasses and his squishy orange nose. Soon, he began starring in the variety shows we recorded on those old GE cassettes which, come to think of it, were a lot like the tapes Mr. Rogers later showcased on his show and in the recent PBS video, “Garden of Your Mind.”

With all this, then, is it any wonder that I’m a veteran of broadcast news or that the heroine in my latest novel wears glasses?

Nope!

In fact, the books, songs, movies, and TV shows that touched us when we were kids continue to shape us as adults, too. They influence what we value in the stories we encounter today. But to paraphrase LeVar Burton of that childhood staple, Reading Rainbow, you don’t have to take my word for it. Chris Carter, creator of the 1990s runaway hit, The X-Files, said he wanted that show to recreate the feelings he had a as a kid in California when he watched Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Kolchak quit investigating the weird and the wonderful in 1975, but during the height of The X-Files’ popularity, a short-lived reincarnation starring Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union came to life and you could even catch the original episodes on some cable channels. Sure, those old episodes seem a little campy by today’s standards, but to a child of the ’70s, they were probably as thrilling as The Twilight Zone was in the ’60s or Fringe has been recently.

 

The bottom line is that Carter carried Kolchak with him into adulthood--and into what it means to have a great story. And I've carried the Muppets, Mr. Rogers, Nancy Drew, and even Remington Steele with me. With that said, I'm excited to see what stories may come from generations moved by Veronica Mars, Firefly, or Pretty Little Liars.

And I'd love to know what favorite childhood books, songs, movies, or TV shows have stayed with you. Which ones taught you what to look for in a story today?

 

I Can't See You

Last night I got together with some writer friends and we analyzed a movie. We've done this every year for five years now. This year we analyzed "It's Complicated."  

I can't speak for all of us, but for me, personally, I'm fascinated by structure, and since I (nominally) lead the movie discussion, structure is always our jumping off point.

Over the years I've collected several structures for us to look at. Michael Hauge's Heros Journey; Blake Snyder's Save the Cat; the fabulous Leigh Duncan's plotting arch; and this year we added Victoria Lynn Schmidt's heroine's journey from her book,  45 Master Characters, Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters.

Every year it gets easier to pick out the different elements (e.g., Theme Stated, Turning Points, Dark Night of the Soul). I like to think I'm learning these elements along the way. I'm not a detailed plotter, which is to say that I don't sit down and plot my story out scene by scene, turning point by turning point, before I start writing. So my hope is that by going over the structure this way in other stories, these elements will come out more naturally in my own stories.

One of the most fascinating twists in our yearly movie discussions is the question of whether or not the things that work in a movie can work in a book. And of course the answer is often no. Movies are visual. Books are internal. But sometimes you can achieve the same effect using a different technique.

The thing that stood out to me this year, in "It's Complicated," was the way that Meryl Streep's  character, Jane, couldn't see Steve Martin's character, Adam.

Michael Hauge calls it "the journey from identity to essence." According to Hauge, in most good stories, a character starts out fully rooted in their identity and ends up fully in their essence. He often uses the movie Shrek as an example.

In "It's Complicated," Jane's journey is kicked off by her youngest daughter leaving for college. As for many women, the empty nest has Jane questioning her identity. One of the ways she addresses this is by starting the process of getting her kitchen renovated. Adam is the architect assigned to the project, but until Jane has started to progress from her "identity" toward her "essence" she overlooks Adam. The way he has to keep re-introducing himself to her is a running joke and it was, for me, a lovely element of the story and an elegant way to show Jane's progress along the way to her happy ending. 

I've been trying to think of a book that uses a similar device but it was a long weekend and my brain is tiiiired, so I'm throwing it out to YOU, dear reader. Can you think of a story where the hero/heroine overlooks somebody/something important until they change enough to be able to recognize what's good for them?

What about Marianne and Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility?

The Writing Process Blog Tour: One Writer's Way

This week I'm part of a Writing Process Blog Tour, so I figured I'd share my post here with our R8 audience as well as on my own blog at www.mackenzielucas.com/blog-2/. At the end of this post, you'll see that I tag three other authors who will post about their writing process next Monday on their own blogs, thus continuing The Writing Process Blog Tour! Please follow them as they tell their tales.

A   T H A N K   Y O U  T A G

Thank you to the talented Evie Owens for tapping me for The Writing Process Blog Tour, a tour where authors talk about their process and why they write what they do. Evie Owens writes paranormal romance set in the real world. She likes to create worlds where you actually believe the hot guy next door can speak to dead people. And she does it oh so well with a twist and flare all her own. Believe me, you don't want to miss her hot stories! The Psychic Detective, a novella that's part of the Once and Forever anthology is available now, and her YA paranormal, Witch Boy, will be out soon.

To learn more about Evie, read her post from last week at: http://www.evieowens.com/

M A C K E N Z I E   L U C A S

What am I working on? 
I'm always working on multiple projects, because I get bored and need to switch gears often. However, since Essence my contemporary romance published with Soul Mate Publishing debuted in January, I've been focused equally on writing and promotion. Last week I completed a month-long virtual book tour. It was a fun tour, where I interacted with readers at every stop. And a few days after I finished that blog tour, I hopped on another to promote my Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy series. The newest book out is From This Day Forward, also released in January.

As far as new writing projects go, I just finished final edits on an anthology piece called Matchmaker's Moon about a matchmaker who doesn't really believe in love but who is given a second crack at finding true love when her ex comes back to town.

I'm also editing my next full-length contemporary romance novel, called Every Heart Sings. It's the story about a rock star who's lost his way and the small-town community that helps him find his way back to the heart of his music. Bring in one heroine with an aversion to anything that smacks of the entertainment business and who is determined to run interference for her music-crazy nephew and you have enough trouble to keep everything hopping on this small North Carolina island.

I just started writing the first draft of my next category length (50,000-word) contemporary romance, Tricks. This is the story of a national snowboard champion who must face her biggest fear to qualify for the next Winter Olympics. Sparks fly when she encounters small-town police chief and SAR first responder, Eli Scott, when he's forced to rescue her during a freak blizzard.

Finally, I'm working on a new adult erotic romance called The Boy Next Door. When twenty-one-year old Gwen Sanders comes home, she wants only one thing . . . to get the attention of Brody Thompson, the boy next door, who she's secretly loved since she was sixteen. She'll do almost anything to find out what the sexy recreational sports tour guide does with his clients at his clandestine monthly Barn Bash. She's about to find out. One way or another.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
There's a lot of excellent contemporary romance out there. I love writing stories set in small-town communities where a quirky cast of characters gets involved in bringing two people together. My stories are also hot. I don't close the bedroom door. I love lots of sexual tension and steamy sex in my books. And, there's usually one protagonist who is trying to overcome or heal a past wound. Often, that protagonist's love interest is integral in helping him/her complete that process.

The tagline I've claimed for my brand is "contemporary and paranormal romance with heart and passion." Even in my paranormal romance, you'll find the same familiar contemporary romance tropes I employ in my contemporaries. There's a huge overlap. The only difference is that in my paranormal romance you'll find a touch of magical realism along with the small-town contemporary romance.

Why do I write what I do? 
I'm a small-town girl. Born and bred. I now live in the suburbs of Washington, DC. I miss the small-town way of life. It's amazing to me how much we crave community today. And I think that's why lots of readers love small-town-based contemporary romance. I know it's why I read it. I'm looking for characters who connect with their neighbors and learn how to navigate the sometimes sticky ties of dysfunctional family life. As always, I'm writing stories I want to read, because I always run out of titles and good authors to read.

How does your writing process work?
I’m what they like to call a Plan-ster. I do some initial planning, then I’m a pantser--I wing it. I know at least one character when I start out. I know the opening scene, and I know the ending. I usually plan a few high points between, but other than that, that's all I know when I get started. I enjoy the discovery process that comes for me during the creative writing of a story too much to worry about planning out every little detail of my book first.

So what I usually do is I come up with the core concept of the story and write a little blurb about it, combining a Michael Hauge and a Bob Mayer type of process. Once I have my short paragraph--maybe twenty-five or so words. I’ll come up with a list of plot points. Things I know need to happen in my story from beginning to end. It’s everything I know about the story. It can be in order, or it can be out of order, it doesn't matter. At times I've done this on the computer then printed the plot points out and taped them onto individual index cards. That way, I can shuffle the points around and move them as I need. These are the tent poles, as Jenny Cruise calls them--the plot points that hold up my story.

When I have my plot points written down. I sit and write an in-depth character sketch of my main characters, usually the hero and the heroine. So that I begin to get to know them. Understand their motivations and backgrounds and wounds. Something I've recently added to my process is that I write down each of their arcs. Where they are at the beginning of the story and where they are (usually emotionally) by the end of the story. This way, I know how they change. I may not yet know what changes them. But I see them at the beginning and the end. I've also begun to note the arc they have in their relationships with others beyond the main character. Say, for example, the arc my heroine has with her grandmother who is a secondary character.

Then, it’s time to begin writing in earnest. I open my word document (or sometimes Scrivener) and I begin … Chapter One. The beauty of my process is that it works for me (for now). Every book is a little different. And, sometimes, the process changes slightly. But I get down everything I know first. Then, I begin to write from one known point to the next, and as I do, fun and interesting things pop up to make my story richer and bring it alive. This is the part I love. It’s the dating phase. The discovery phase where we know each other well enough to go out and share a meal, but as we sit and have a conversation, we find hidden depths and fall just a little more in love with each other. So that by the time I’m finished with the story, there’s not a nuance I don’t know about the story I've just told.

T A G G I N G   T H R E E   O T H E R   A U T H O R S

Thanks for stopping by today to read about my writing process. Now it's my turn to tag three other authors to talk about their process and why they write what they do. Let's send The Writing Process Blog Tour viral, make sure you continue to follow these authors' posts next Monday--March 10, 2014--to learn more about them and find a whole host of new books to read! Here's who is up next:

 M I S H A   C R E W S

MISHA CREWS has been nominated for the Bronte Prize for Romantic Fiction and Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Book Award for her romantic suspense novels that perfectly blend romance and mystery while providing a twist on timeless tales of home and heart. She writes heart-warming stories set in small towns where intrigue and suspense intrude on her characters' lives. Her novels include: Still Waters, Homesong, and Her Secret Body Guard. She's written novellas for A Spirited Season and for At the Cafe and Other Stories.

Check out Misha's blog post on her writing process at: http://mishacrews.com/

M E G   M I M S

MEG MIMS hails from Michigan and is an award-winning writer of the western mysteries Double Crossing and Double or Nothing. She's one-half of the D.E. Ireland writing team, whose series of cozy mysteries will be published by St. Martin's later this year. Meg has also written two successful Christmas novellas, Santa Paws and Santa Claws.

Learn more about Meg's writing process by visiting: http://megmims.com/musings/.

N I K K I   H O P E M A N

NIKKI HOPEMAN writes a fascinating blend of horror and mystery. Her debut novel, Habeas Corpse, is about a zombie forensics technician forced to turn amateur sleuth when an alarming series of murders threatens his community and everything he stands for. She's also published an intriguing horror short story called "Blackbird" in the Mistresses of the Macabre anthology.

To find out why Nikki writes horror and mystery, check out her blog post at: http://nikkihopeman.wordpress.com/

H O W   A B O U T   YOU?

So if you're an author, what's your process and why do you write what you write? If you're a reader, tell us what kind of stories you love to read and a few of your favorite authors, and why you love to read those stories!

Thanks for reading!

Jessica Scott: All For You

Today we welcome Jessica Scott as our guest this week at The Rockville 8 blog. USA Today bestselling author Jessica Scott is a career army officer; mother of two daughters, owner of three cats and three dogs; wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon and someone liked some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are pretty well-adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

She's written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View: Regarding War Blog, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and has served as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas.

She's pursuing a PhD in Sociology in her spare time and most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.

Top 5 Surprising ThingsYou Should Know About Jessica Scott 

1. I cry over babies. It's weird but when I hold one of my friend's babies, I get all choked up. No idea why. 

2. I pick up stray animals on the side of the road. So the rule is: if they get in the car (i.e. don't try to bite me), we either try to find their owner or we take them to the no kill shelter. 

3. I don't drink soda. Ever. 

4. There are certain words I can never spell: bureaucracy, knowledge. For some reason, I get them wrong every. time. Thank heavens for spell check. 

5. I hate sports. There I said it. I can't stand sports or anything to do with it. And? I'm married to a sports fan, so I fake it. A lot:) 

ALL FOR YOU by Jessica Scott (February 4, 2014; Forever E-Book; $2.99)

Book Blurb

Can a battle-scarred warrior . . .

Stay sober. Get deployed. Lead his platoon. Those are the only things that matter to Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli. What he wants is for everyone to stay out of his way; what he gets is Captain Emily Lindberg telling him how to deal with his men. Fort Hood's newest shrink is smart as a whip and sexy as hell. She's also full of questions-about the army, its soldiers, and the agony etched on Reza's body and soul.

. . . open his heart to love?

Emily has devoted her life to giving soldiers the care they need-and deserve. Little does she know that means facing down the fierce wall of muscle that is Sergeant Iaconelli like it's just another day at the office. When Reza agrees to help her understand what makes a soldier tick, she's thrilled. Too bad it doesn't help her unravel the sexy warrior in front of her who stokes her desire and touches a part of her she thought long dead. He's the man who thinks combat is the only escape from the demons that haunt him. The man who needs her most of all . . .

Book Excerpt

          It was fate. It had to be. A slow warmth unfurled inside him as the doctor he could not get out of his head looked up at him, her cheeks flushing pink.

         She was all buttoned up at work. Tonight, she looked different. Looser. Unbound.

         Compelling. That’s what she was. Her fire at work. Her refusal to let him bully her. He’d admired her backbone before.

         Tonight, he admired her in an entirely new light. Her hair framed her face in careless curls. He hadn’t expected to see her outside of work. He damn sure hadn’t expected to see her here. An old familiar need rose inside him. A need for touch, human and warm. A need to lose himself for an interlude in sweat and sex and stunning pleasure. He’d given up drinking but women had apparently fallen into that category as well.

         It had been months since he’d felt a woman’s hands on his body.

         This woman was not someone he needed to be talking to at the bar tonight but he found himself walking toward her anyway.

         After the week of confrontation they’d had, he’d be lucky if she didn’t slap him the minute he approached her.

         He could do this. He could talk to a woman without drinking. Right?

         Emily met his gaze as he approached. He almost smiled.

         “Not your usual scene?” he asked, leaning against the bar.

         She shifted, putting a little space between them. That slight reclamation of power. He made a noise of approval in his throat. “I’m surprised you’re talking to me.”

         “I’m surprised you’re here. Shouldn’t you be home reading medical journals or something?” Her cheeks flushed deep pink and he wondered how far down her body that color went.

         She tipped her chin then and looked at him. “Have you been drinking?”

         He looked down at the bottle in his hand. “I don’t drink anymore,” he said quietly. No reason to delve into his abusive history with alcohol. “You?”

“Glass of wine,” she said.

         Reza shrugged and leaned on the bar, taking another pull off his water and being careful not to lean too close. She looked like she’d bolt if he pushed her. “That would explain why you’re talking to me. We haven’t exactly been friendly.”

         Her hair reflected the fading sunlight that filled the room from the wide-open patio doors. He wanted to fist it between his fingers, watch her neck arch for his mouth.

         She motioned toward his bottle with her glass. “‘Anymore’?”

         He simply took another pull off his water. He was going to be damn good and hydrated after tonight. He wondered what she’d do if he leaned a little closer. “Long story.”

         “One you’re not keen on sharing?” she asked. She leaned her cheek on one palm. The sun glinted across her cheek.

         “Let’s just say alcohol and I aren’t on speaking terms. Bad things happen when I drink.” It was nothing to be ashamed of but there it was. Shame wound up his spine and squeezed the air from his lungs. He was just like his dad after all.

         “You say that like giving up alcohol is a bad thing,” Emily said quietly.

         Reza snorted softly. He should have guessed she wouldn’t let it alone. She had stubbornness that could last for days. “It’s not something I’m proud of.”

         Her hand on his forearm startled him. Soft and strong, her fingers pressed into his skin. “But stopping is something to be proud of.”

         Reza stared down at her hand, pale against the dark shadows of his own skin. A long silence hung between them.

         He lifted his gaze to hers.

         “It takes a lot of strength to break with the past,” she said softly.

         “What are you doing?” Her eyes glittered in the setting sun and he thought he caught the sight of the tiniest edge of her lip curling.

         Her fingers slipped from his skin. “Offering my professional support?”

         His lips quirked. “Was that a joke?”

         “Maybe,” she said. “I’m working on developing a biting sense of humor. Defense mechanism against raging asshole commanders.”

         Reza barked out a laugh. “You look different out of uniform,” he said lightly, pressing his advantage at this unexpected truce.

         “So do you.”

         He angled his body toward hers. “You like my makeup?” he asked.

         Her lips parting as she tried to figure out if he was kidding or not. Finally, she cracked the barest hint of a smile.

         Something powerful woke inside him and he moved before he thought about it. He reached for her, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. The simple gesture was crushing in its intimacy. Her lips froze in a partial gasp, as though her breath had caught in her throat.

         “Sergeant Iaconelli,” she said quietly, her voice husky. But she didn’t move away. Didn’t flinch from his touch.

         “Reza.” He swallowed the sharp bite of arousal in his blood, more powerful without the haze of alcohol that usually clouded his reactions. “My name is Reza.”

         “Reza.”

         His breath was locked in his lungs, the sound of his name on her lips triggering something dark and powerful and overwhelming.

         He wanted this woman. The woman who’d stood in opposition to him this week. The woman who lifted her chin and stood steadfast between him and his soldiers.

         There was strength in this woman. Strength and courage.

         “I’m Emily.” Her words a rushed breath.

         He lowered his hand, unwilling to push any further than he’d already gone. This was new territory for him. Unfamiliar and strange and filled with potential and fear.

GIVEAWAY

The Rockville 8 is giving away two free e-copies of Jessica's All For You to two randomly chosen lucky readers who comment on the blog post this week (Comments must be between Monday and Friday. Giveaway expires at midnight on Friday, February 28th.). So, stop in and say hi and let The Eight and Jessica know how much you love her books! Or ask a question. Any and all will get you a chance to win a free copy of All For You!

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Comfort Reading

When was the last Saturday that you did nothing? I mean, nothing. You didn't grocery shop, do laundry, clean the bathroom, walk the neighbor's dog, shop for jeans at the mall or even get your nails done. In fact, when was the last day that the most strenuous thing you did was make a pot of coffee? That was me. Saturday.

For the last, I don't know, many months, my weekends haven't been my own. I've either gone down to Mom's to help out or I've gone away for a weekend with friends or I've run and done errands. The one thing I haven't done is sit still and do nothing but read, because the minute my sitting goes beyond an hour, the guilt hits and I have to Do Something Productive. Yes, yes, sure. I've got issues. It is right up there with my inability to remain in bed if I think anyone else is up in the house.  But it means my to be read pile is growing ever deeper and wider and now can be contained on three shelves and I don't know how many pages in my Kindle, and my DVR is filling to capacity...

I'm sure I've mentioned this before - the remembered joy of purchasing a favorite author's new book and spending the evening and night reading it. Savoring. Living that moment in that book. And getting up four hours later and going to work. I am older now. Wiser. Or at least less able to work a full day on so little sleep. And for whatever reason, it feels as though the older I get the less time there is in a day and the more items are piled into my not finished pile (and to be read books onto those shelves, etc etc).  But we need these days, I need these days, to read a good book and remember that I love words and stories.

In the last couple years, I've been introduced to the wonderful Regencies written by Carla Kelly. She is a lovely writer, emotional and affirming. Her characters are, well, normal and kind and broken and strong and emotional and self-deprecating and courageous. Many of her stories are about the rising middle class in Britain during and just after the Napoleonic War. Military men, surgeons and doctors, mill owners. Her original Signets sell for upwards of $15 or $20 on Amazon. Sometimes even more. But thank the good Lord for re-issues for the e-reader!

This week, I downloaded two, and on Saturday, I sat and read "Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind." It was like macaroni and cheese, stuffed hamburger, pecan pie and a gin and tonic all rolled into one. Comfort and joy and kindness. With cheese on it.  You know her characters have had pasts, that at some point, life was really difficult. Perhaps even gruesome.  But the hope that she gives in the romantic relationship of the hero and heroine affirms all that is good and can be right with the world. It is a world of acceptance, of warm water, of thick red cloaks given as gifts to downtrodden poor relations.

I have had a particularly shitty last year, and am so behind in everything. There are quilts to be sewn, clothes to be washed, taxes to be completed, furniture to be polished, bathrooms to clean, plants to be planted, the list just keeps getting longer. And the longer it grows, the less am I able to sit and read.  But I took this weekend to be kind to myself. And what better way than with Carla Kelly? Do you have a favorite author that you immerse yourself in as a particular treat? Why her (or him)? Is it the characters she creates or the vividness of her writing? The story itself? Please. Introduce me to your authors!

Facing the fear of (not) finishing

I discovered as a teenager who endured her fair share of visits to the doctor, dentist and orthodontist, that I have a fear. A fear of not finishing what I start. I realized after a while that my anxiety in the waiting rooms was not due to the coming examination or the threat of my braces being tightened. No, it came from knowing that I would not finish the magazine article I was reading before the nurse came to whisk me away.

I avoided magazines for years. (No, I wasn't bright enough to figure out a different solution. No buying a copy of the magazine. No ripping the relevant pages from the doctor's copy. No asking the office manager to make a Xerox of the article in full.)

Fast forward to many years later and I realize I still have a fear of not finishing. For Christmas, I was given the first volume in a projected three part biography of the late actress, Barbara Stanwyck. That puppy clocks in at over 1000 pages. What if I start it and the next volume takes 10 more years before it's published? I'll be hanging out on a limb for that whole time.

This fear of not finishing keeps me from committing to all sorts of things -  TV shows and book series, primarily. Thank goodness that Karen Marie Moning's Fever series is complete! And that Breaking Bad is now available for the ultimate binge watching weekend. You won't find me watching or reading George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series until it is done, Done, DONE. Nope.

So, tricky thing, this fear of not finishing. I've spent a good portion of my journey as a writer beginning projects and not seeing them through to the end. I'd think that with this monkey on my back, it would keep pushing me to the finish line. I haven't found that to be the case. What good is a phobia if you can't make it work for you, I ask?

I think one reason I've been a starter and not a finisher is that there is always a rosy glow of possibility when you're in the middle of a project. No rejections, no harsh reality. Anything can happen - within the story itself and with the story's publication future. In a sense, it's a stress-free zone.

I'm working on revisions to a story I, in fact, actually, truly and honestly finished in December. After much prodding, pushing, and self-cajoling, I made it to The End. And now I'm enjoying working my way toward The Revised End.

Because at some point, you've got to face your fears. Am I right?