Boiled Leather. It's Not Just For Dinner

I want to share some of the research that went into FAR RIDER. Even though it's fantasy, there are many things drawn from the real world. This research will be recycled in future books even though the worlds may change. Some things just simply are.

Armor and warfare will always be a constant in my fantasy worlds as it is the real world, unfortunately.

I touched on the horse hoof armor previously. This week, I want to visit cuir bouilli or boiled leather armor. Leather armor has probably been around as long as man has.

Armor is mentioned in the bible. Coats of mail, greaves, which protected the legs and were made of leather or metal. Tightly woven wicker shields were covered with leather.


Alexander the Great conscripted conquered people into his armies and they brought their armor and weapons. Statues and mosaics from the period show various forms of leather armor on soldiers and himself.

This mosaic detail is from the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Emperor Qin Shi Huang came to power in 246 BC at the age of 13. It's estimated he began work on his tomb soon after that. His tomb included 8,000 life size terracotta warriors and horses. The armor they wear is thought to be a form of cuir bouilli with lames fastened together.

I used to carve leather. Probably the most important part of the process is wetting the leather just right. I can tell when I have the right saturation by putting it against my cheek. Leather cools when it's wet. If it's too wet, it may warp and it doesn't tool correctly. If it's too dry, it's difficult to carve and stamp.

After leather is carved, stamped and dyed, it has to be protected or it will soak up water like a sponge. Some people use lacquer and some use a balm. I like balm on bigger pieces, but I lacquer belts, wallets and purses.Lacquered leather was popular in China and elsewhere, but the life expectancy of the lacquer workers probably wasn't very long.

Leather, while popular and readily available for armor, has some drawbacks. If it isn't treated, it doesn't resist prolonged exposure to water and it rots. Armies had to be ready for all conditions, including rain, crossing rivers and winter.

Somewhere along the line, man figured out how to strengthen leather. If you put it in hot or boiling water or oil, leather contracts and becomes thicker. It also becomes harder. While it's still damp, it can be shaped to a form to make armor that molds to the body or rounded scales or lames for lamellae or brigandine armor.

Repeated soaking shrinks it and thickens it more.

There comes a point, however, where the leather becomes brittle. It could be brittle from incorrect shrinking or not taking care of it. At that time, just the right blow will shatter the armor.

In FAR RIDER, there's a scene in the great battle where a soldier attacks General Caidry. Caidry is a skilled warrior who is larger than most men, plus, he's been drugged with spider's milk. This creates a soldier akin to the Norse berserkers. The attacking soldier wears a boiled leather cuirass which has reached the brittle point. He probably wouldn't have survived anyway, but having a breastplate explode on impact removed any doubt.

Do As I Say!

As I touched on in my last post, there are some values to social media. One of them is online chats about writing. The problem, invariably, with these chats is you will have some wanna be writer who is an expert in all fields and quickly lets you know how superior he or she is. They usually don't have a track record to speak of unless you want to count years of blogging about writing. They are more than willing to inform you how stupid you are if you dare to disagree with them, however, even though their advice about how to be a successful writer hasn't worked for them since the only thing they have published was, wait for it, self-published.

I don't write tips on how to be a great writer often, because, frankly, I think it would be disingenuous. If I had the secret to success, I would be successful. It's kind of like a psychic fair being canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Here's some advice I will give you.

Read. Read. Read more.

You have to become an expert in your genre. You have to know what does and doesn't work and what's been done to death.

I know one writer who has decided he's going to be the next hot thing in a genre No, he's never read a book in that genre, nor can he name a single title, but he has a cousin who's an editor so it doesn't matter.

Wrong.

Your cousin may get your foot in the door, but your writing is what opens it.

Study the best writers. See how they craft their stories. Transcribe some of their writing so you can learn why they do things. If you wanted to learn how to be a great painter, you wouldn't watch a group of pre-schoolers fingerpaint. You'd learn from the best. So it is with writing.

Don't let people put you down. If they are successful and offer to teach you something, then take advantage of it. If the person who is dictating to you how you should live your life and how you should write doesn't have a clue, politely walk away.

Be careful about who you take advice from. Some people want to help you and some people want to make themselves feel good. You aren't responsible for their egos. You are responsible for you.

Your children are young once. Do you really want to miss their school activities because the expert said you have to put your writing first and you feel guilty if you don't?

Arrange your writing around your schedule. Do it when you can, but try to do it daily. If you can't, don't beat yourself up about it.

Writing should come from the heart. It should be something you love. It shouldn't be a guilt trip someone laid on you. You have your own journey and only you are responsible for your life and your success.

Twitters and Facebooks and Blogs, Oh My!

Will texted me a message this morning. “I think there's something wrong with me. I've been wanting a salad lately.”

This is a radical change in tastes for the man who avoids all vegetables like the plague (please note tired cliche and don't do this when you write)  and especially leafy vegetables, which are fit only for rabbits and other furry mammals. However, it's not really unusual. People change their tastes in food, music, clothes and various other things. Although some people get stuck in a time warp, most of us evolve over time.

As writers, it's extremely important for us to keep abreast of the times. Yes, I know, there are some very successful authors who still write longhand or use an old typewriter. There are even some people who combine modern computers with old typewriters, but some of us fall in the middle of those extremes.

In the previous post, I touched briefly on social media. At one time it was seen as something cutting edge for successful authors. Now, it's evolved into something we can't really afford to ignore if we want to maximize our presence as writers.

Here are a few tips, starting with the very basics and working up.

Email. Set up a professional email. This is the account you will use for business. I suggest you use your name. Agents, editors and readers might not be as impressed with Ihasgiantboobs@somethingmail.com as your boyfriend is.

Don't put creative signatures on your emails such as Pookie Bear's mommy. Leave those signatures for personal emails. It's really best not to put any automatic signatures in your emails as they slow down the load and some of them show up as attachments.

Don't set up a spam guard that requires an agent to register to reply. They won't. They don't have time.

When you submit a query, add that agent's name to your contact list so your spam filter doesn't trap them. It would be horrible to have an excited agent's response stuck in spam and deleted.

Make sure your email works correctly. Email some friends and have them email you back.

Test everything you're going to submit on friends and to yourself to make sure you don't have formatting problems.

I set up a Facebook account, but I don't use it much. At least my name is reserved and I get to show off the horse butts.

If you're going to carry on with unprofessional diatribes, do it under a handle that can't be tracked to you. Actually, it's just best not to. It's easier to track things down than any of us realize even though most agents, publishers and authors don't have time or desire to crack the mystery. That said, there are a lot of people who live for these challenges.

MySpace, LiveJournal and several others are social media options you may want to explore.

TWITTER!

I love Twitter. It gives me a chance to interact with interesting people and I learn things. I have two distinct areas, which shouldn't be surprising. I love my writer's circle, but I also have my political side. No, I normally don't go off on deep politics, but I do follow a lot of plain spoken people and a LOT of military people. My main account is @Julie_Weathers. I use my name so people can find me.

Twitter is valuable because you can get a feel for people and learn about them in ways you might not otherwise.

For instance. Two agents have expressed very strong preferences for the statistics line in a query at the very top. They want to read immediately what genre it is and word count. Others want it at the bottom of the query because they want you to get right into the story. Most don't care as long as you include it somewhere.

One agent definitely wants you to tell them right away why you are contacting them. Others don't care because they assume you think they fit your desires in an agent.

A few nights ago, an agent some of us were chatting with told us s/he was getting ready to start accepting email queries even though the agency wasn't officially accepting them. S/he invited some of us to submit and gave a code word to use in the subject line.

Other things you pick up on are new agents, new needs, writing help, new fans and myriad other useful things. I think the most important thing about Twitter is just to treat others with respect. Don't be antagonistic, but you aren't expected to fawn either. Well, some people expect that, but I block them pretty quickly. Just have fun.

Blogs.

Blogs can make you successful beyond your wildest dreams or destroy you. Look at Pioneer Woman and Bent Objects. Both of these entertaining blogs led to book deals. Pioneer Woman may have started out as a site, but I think she blogged first and then expanded.

There are a few things to remember with blogs.

Be entertaining. Let your style show through. This is your own little showcase, but it isn't always the best place to display your work. Some writers, like Diana Gabaldon and Beth Shope post excerpts of their writing that make your mouth water. If you're this quality, then I think it just leaves you wanting more. (Um, yes, I'm going to talk to Beth about her posting schedule.)

If you're posting rough drafts of your work, then it can backfire on you. Is this what you want an agent to read?

Kari Dell posts some fascinating glimpses into modern ranching life. Kari is funny, genuine and talented. Her blog does nothing but showcase her talent and personality.

Gary Corby has a fascinating blog where he often takes the reader back in time to where his books take place. I highly recommend him also.

It's all right to post some personal things, but do it in a way that is interesting and don't do it often. If you constantly post how sick you are of your neighbors, agents, your husband, your mother-in-law or your cat, people will stop coming by. No one wants to listen to a non-stop stream of venom from a bitter person. Besides that, this is the impression you're giving to professionals who may be deciding if they want to work with you.

If you're someone like Tawna Fenske, you can post things about fake sex in a car and get by with it. Just make it interesting and fun. Your mileage on fake sex may vary.

Blogs help to establish you as a web presence. Reserving your name also paves the day when you'll be published and you don't really want PornStarJudy to be the first thing people see when they look up your name. Well, unless you're Tawna, but that's another story.

I would also suggest you post regularly. If that means once a month, once a week or three times a week, be consistent. People will stop coming if you disappear for months at a time.

Web sites.

Even if you don't plan on doing anything with your site right now, reserve the name. Work on it when you can. Go to every writer's site you can find and jot down what you do and don't like about their sites.

Decide what colors you like.

What kind of image do you want to project?

How comfortable are you with modifying things? If you aren't very techy, you may want to keep your site simpler so you don't have to hire someone to fix or change something.

Use this information to figure out what kind of site you want. Then, unless you are really good with web design, hire someone to build you a site. A poorly designed one does you more harm than good.

My dear friend Lisa Norman designed my site at Julieweathers.com. I don't advertise it because I need to do some work on it and it's work only I can do. For instance, against my advice, I have excerpts of my work there. I need to put up the latest versions of this work and in some cases delete things.

Lisa knows me so she picked out things I love. I showed her Barbara Rogan's site and asked her if we could do something like that. I think Lisa did a great job with my ideas and tailored the site to me. We may have to do some changes later, but I'm happy with the design.

Here are a few of my pet peeves and a few suggestions.

Don't have winking, twinkling, flying things. Too much of that stuff gives me a raging headache and it's distracting. Aside from that, the more movement you have, the slower it is on some computers. For some, it will crash the computer and those potential readers won't come back.

No music. If you like music, link to it on a sidebar. Clicking on a site and having music that sets your teeth on edge and slows down your computer isn't fun.

Colors. One site I went to had a black background with safety yellow lettering. Worse are the sites with black backgrounds and red or neon pink lettering. If your reader has to struggle to read, they won't.

Make sure the font is large enough to read easily. Not all of us are eighteen years old with perfect vision. I keep a magnifying glass in my pencil holder, but I don't want to use it to read on a computer screen. It's for those bloody phone books that are in 3 pt. Fonts.

Less is more. You can have a lot of information, but when a site is too busy and hard to navigate, people won't come back.

One thing Lisa pointed out to me was how important it is to make sure your site is accessible to various search engines and make it handicapped friendly. I had no idea there was a difference, but many sites she worked on were not available to all people.

Evolve. If you have a lot of people comment on the same thing, be prepared to change. It's like getting your work critiqued. If many people notice the same thing, then that's either something you're doing right and you need to keep that or it's something you're doing wrong and you need to change.

Finally, Jessica Faust with Bookends Literary had an interesting post a while back people should keep in mind. Once you put something out on the internet, assume it will be there forever. Even if you delete it, someone has probably captured it and it will live on and on and on. Do you really want that post you wrote when you were upset over a rejection and how much you hate agents to be what you are remembered for? Probably not.

I know it seems daunting, but it isn't. You can establish a web presence without selling your soul and your first born to do it.

Have fun, but don't replace your writing with Twitter or blog hopping.As Donald Maass says, don't let the blog scratch your itch to write.

Please Don't Kill Me

I hang out with several military people on twitter as well as knowing many of them personally. Sometimes the stories are funny and sometimes they are sad, but they are always interesting.

Will talked about an experience in Iraq. He was a weapons expert, so he did a lot of repairs even though they had civilian contractors to do the job. The civilians often didn't know how to fix one or were so slow it didn't do the soldiers much good as they had missions and couldn't wait.

One day he was told to go to the special ops section and pick up some weapons that needed work. He, like most of the soldiers, gave the spec op guys a wide berth. The spec ops looked no different than many natives. They sometimes walked or rode through the gate looking like they had just come in from a tribe, wearing full beards and native dress.

Will went over to the spec op area to pick up the weapons. A sergeant stopped him and asked him what he was doing there. Will told him and the sergeant ordered him to wait right there and not move. He did. He didn't move a muscle from that spot.

Another sergeant came by and asked him what he's doing there. Will told him and the man told him he knew what he needed and to follow him. Will explained he was supposed to wait there.

“Never mind, come with me and we'll get the weapons.”

Will reluctantly followed him and the first sergeant saw him there. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to wait?”

“Sergeant Holman told me to come over here.” Please don't kill me.

Fortunately, Sgt. Holman verified he told him to come in and get the weapons.

That incident came to mind the other night when I was thinking about agents.

I Twitter, probably too much, but it takes my mind off things and I enjoy most of the conversations. I even learn things every now and then

Occasionally, an #askagent session breaks out and agents will take questions from authors with the caveat they don't want to talk about queries, word counts or trends.

There are also the tidbits tossed out while going through queries talking about what does and doesn't work in a query. One session even resulted in an agent inviting some people to submit queries to her via email even though the agency hadn't started accepting email queries officially yet.

(Note, never pitch your work through a social media. Always use the accepted and professional route. If an agent offers without you prompting it, just accept the invitation and politely thank them. I've had two invitations through twitter, but I'm guessing agents can sense when a person interacts with them because they are interested in the agent as a person and when the person is just trying to fawn over them. We'll go into this more fully another time.)

Following publishing professionals is good and bad. If a person is alert, they can make notes about what an agent's preferences are. On the other hand, it reminds me that there is far more going on than just what is available in their published submission guidelines. You know the agent is looking for certain genres, what they want in a submission package and even margin and font preference.

What you don't learn is more specific things like if they like a personal blurb about why the author is contacting them. If they like that, where do they want it in the query letter? Some agents have very strong feelings about where they want the genre and word count. Some agents want all that information at the bottom. They want you to jump immediately into the meat of the query. Don't slow them down with the other stuff. Others are so adamant about wanting these things at the top they may get excited when the author puts it at the top. As one agent said, s/he thought authors were trying to be cute by putting the word count and genre at the bottom.

No, several workshops and agents say to put them at the bottom. If an agent doesn't state how they prefer some information, writers don't know unless they happen to stumble across it. This is why it's probably a good idea to follow an agent's blog, twitters, Facebook or whatever social media they participate in. You pick up things you might not have known otherwise.

I've always felt many creative people are in various stages of insanity. They are either going insane, basking in insanity or recovering from insanity.

Part of the reason might be we are constantly second guessing what we're supposed to do. Even if we look at all the guides and Google the agent to a fare-thee-well until it could be proven in court we have enough information on them to be considered a stalker, we still don't know where they want the blooming word count.

In the end, I think all a person can do is make due effort to find out what the agent wants and be professional about the areas where there is no expressed preference.

Then, just whisper, “Please don't kill me,” and press send.

Murder Holes

Even though I write fantasy, I tend to do a lot of research. History is often more fascinating than fiction, so I glean tidbits that will eventually work their way into a story.

In the climatic battle of FAR RIDER spies ensconced with the cultists have discovered a way into a seemingly impenetrable stronghold. The rift through the rock leading into an underground tunnel is too small for men. That means only children or small women will be able to squeeze through. However, they also know the invaders will have to defend the gatehouse once they take it and lower the drawbridge. The force will have to hold it long enough for the Loyalists, those who are still faithful to the missing king, to get sufficient numbers into the stronghold to defeat the defending army.

This is the opportunity for the disgraced women's unit to redeem itself. It's also a chance for our intrepid main character to prove she isn't a coward as was claimed.

It's an impossible task, but the women have to hold the gatehouse or the battle will be lost before it begins. If they lose control, the Loyalists will be trapped between the raised drawbridge and the portcullis, a gate that is lowered as an additional defense.

The entrance to the castle is flanked by gatehouse. The”tunnel” has openings in the ceiling called murder holes. They are called murder holes because the defenders can rain down arrows, rocks, boiling water, tar, pitch and other weapons to kill attackers. If they happen to be trapped in this area, it becomes a slaughter from which there is no escape.

Murder holes could also be used in machicolations, which were platforms or extensions from castle walls which allowed defenders to drop missiles from the castle walls while remaining safe. 

Murder holes were in use from about 1000-1500 in the Norman and Plantagenet inspired castles. 

Even though the women going in know they will most likely be dead by the time the army gets in, they must hold the gatehouse and keep the portcullis up even if it means sabotaging the works before they die.

Murder holes at Bodiam Castle.

Castle defenses.

I collect books on castles and ancient warfare. One of my favorite series of books on ancient warfare is the Osprey Military History series. They are small books, but they allow a person to hone in on one specific attribute, battle or army.

A Horsey History

One of the people I follow on Twitter is @Tourscotland, which is Sandy Stevenson's account. He posts beautiful pictures of Scotland and her people. Today, he posted some pictures of a lady riding a Clydesdale in a horse show.

This reminded me of a project I did for a science fair when I was in the seventh grade. I traced down the ancestries of all the modern horse breeds and found that all but two modern breeds go back to Arabians.

Thoroughbreds, for instance, all go back to three stallions, the Darley Arabian, Godolphin Barb and Byerly Turk. The Byerly Turk didn't cover many of the blue blood mares, but his descendants were noted for their form and speed and there is an unbroken male line cited in Mr. Weatherby's English Thoroughbred stud book. The Darley Arabian is linked to 95% of today's Thoroughbreds.

Ponies, war horses, race horses and draft horses all trace back to the Arabians with few breed exceptions for two main reasons. The Romans used Arabians in their conquests and invariably, the horses were crossed with local horses. The second influx of Arabians returned to Europe following the crusades.

Horses play a large part in the BLOOD KNIGHT series, starting with FAR RIDER.

This connection isn't as obvious in book one as it will be later when my MC, Gentyl, actually becomes a Far Rider. I cut several scenes from FAR RIDER to get the word count down. One is a scene where Gentyl's father, Gaeryn, approaches a madam and asks her to locate two Fast Horses for him and he leaves money for his daughter in case something should go wrong and she needs help. The madam has known him since they were children together and she's surprised he wants these horses. She even comments it's been a long time since he rode the Fast Horse. He and his wife have decided to stay on her farm and help escaping M'Eiryn to safety, but he wants to make sure they have some good horses to get away on should the farm be attacked.

Fast Horse is actually the name of a breed of horse in this world, but it also refers to a type of horse. These are horses bred by Gaeryn's people. They are lighter than war horses and much faster. Think of today's running Quarter Horse. In addition to being fast, they are also very hardy.

This is important to the Far Riders who are couriers and trained warrirors. For this reason, many of the Far Riders are women. When I researched ancient armies, I came across a group known as Sarmatians. They dealt the Roman armies some resounding defeats even though they were eventually subdued to an extent.

This was a remarkable situation since Rome wasn't accustomed to barbarian armies outfighting them. One of the reasons the Sarmatians were so skilled was their light cavalry. They swooped in, hit hard and melted away. Everything they did was based on horses. They had cities, but by and large, they were a nomadic culture, following the horse herds.

Their armor was made of sliced horse hooves that were tightly pieced together like a pine cone according to one Greek scholar. This “mail” armor was as tough as the metal armor of the Romans. When you combine an effective armor, highly trained horses and riders and bowmen who were deadly accurate, you got a formidable fighting force.

For FAR RIDER, I combined the Sarmatian armies with a Celtic culture and came up with the M'Eiryn. This is interesting to me because both the Sarmatians and Celts had women warriors. Archaeologists have unearthed several graves from both people where women were buried with their weapons, armor and sometimes their horses.

If the series gets picked up, the later books will go more into the M'Eiryn culture. Many of the battle campaigns will draw heavily from J.E.B. Stuart's riders.

Gentyl's father is M'Eiryn. Her mother is Tamarl. Theses two kingdoms battled for years as the Tamarls tried to encroach on the M'Eiryn land. They didn't cease hostilities until they had to join forces to defeat a demon lord and his army. The Tamarl king made good use of the Far Riders in the campaigns and encouraged the people to intermarry to strengthen the alliance.

Poor Gentyl longs to be like her father's people, but she's been raised in Tamarland and she's expected to be “civilized” like them.

Life isn't easy for a girl who just wants to be a Far Rider.

Letting Your Work Age

I bake cookies. A lot of them. I try to send two boxes to Afghanistan a week. Last week I missed because we were trying to get Will moved so I'll send extra cookies this week. That means instead of the normal 300, I may double that. I'm not sure how many guys are in the unit I'm sending to as they are special ops and my contact doesn't tell me where they are or how many guys are there. I assume they have quite a few since his colonel sent me a certificate of appreciation.

I experiment with a lot of different recipes to find cookies that are tasty, ship well and aren't messy in the sweltering heat. Peanut Butter Blossoms are probably a mess, but Will's unit loved them so I sent them quite a bit. As Will said, “They are magic.”

Will didn't normally eat my cookies because he often lived on Dr Pepper and Honey Buns when they were getting a convoy ready. In addition to that, he worked in the armory. He was responsible for the weapons, ammunition etc. They had a civilian contractor who was supposed to work on weapons, but it was usually easier for him to work on them rather than have to wait on the civilians.

He started out putting the box of cookies on the desk and just letting guys get them when they came in. Then he discovered a lot of guys looking for excuses to come in to get cookies, so he moved them to the mechanics shop.

One of his sargents was a huge man who loved the cookies. Will tried to track him down when the cookies came in to let him know before they were gone.

“Sarge, there's some cookies at the shop if you want some.”

“Really, Weathers? You wouldn't lie to me. I can hurt you.”

“Umm, no, Sarge. There's cookies.”

Later it was. “Oh, Weathers. Tell your mama I love her.”

Back to my original point, I try to work with recipes so I get cookies that ship well and aren't rock hard by the time they get there. I can pretty much tell by the feel of the dough if it's going to do what I want.

I tried a recipe a few weeks ago that was supposed to be the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I had to adjust it a bit to get the right texture, but it was pretty good. One thing I found interesting was a chef's comment on why it was important to let cookie dough chill for a few hours or, preferably, overnight.

When dough “ages” the flavors blend more thoroughly. The flour absorbs the spices. So you have a complete melding of the flavors in every bite.

This makes sense to me as I know you can keep flour in the refrigerator and it absorbs flavors from around it if you aren't careful. I now keep flour, sugar and powdered sugar in buckets I buy from a local doughnut shop for that reason.

I thought about this yesterday and how this “aging” theory also applies to writing. The flavors don't blend as it were, but our subconscious matures it. As I said previously, FAR RIDER has been sitting for five months now. It's time to dig it out and start going back through it.

I have hesitated to do this. Part of it is because of the word processing program. I really need to work in Word to change some things a bit easier.

Part of the hesitation is also fear. When we let a work set and clear our mind, we can look at it with fresh eyes. It's important to give ourselves time away from the work. We have to put our mind on something else to “cleanse the palate” and then return with a fresh outlook.

So, perhaps while you're waiting for your mind to clear, you can bake up a batch of these.

This is the Hershey Peanut Butter Blossom recipe. I usually use the mini kisses so I don't have to unwrap them, but I also stock up on chocolates after holidays.



* 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Granulated sugar


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

The Writing Rebound

FAR RIDER has been sitting on the back burner for five months. I haven't opened it up since January 1. I played with SONG OF ILWEN and DRAGON VALLEY a bit, but I'm only 27,000 words in one each of them.

One of the problems is I downloaded a trial offer to Microsoft Office 2007. I hate that program and couldn't wait to get back to 2003. Unfortunately, when I uninstalled 2007, it took part of 2003 with it. I no longer have my favorite word processing program.

So, I've reinstalled Liquid Story Binder and Open Office. I'm not crazy about Open Office and I'm still trying to remember how to use LSB.

Yesterday I started wondering how much of this is just an excuse not to write and I came to the realization that is all it is.

Years ago, Don had a hot shot load going to Montana so he asked me if I wanted to take the boys and see my folks. I jumped on the opportunity. We left one motel and had gotten about a hundred miles down the road when Brandon got tired and wanted to take a nap. One problem. We left his quilt at the motel and Brandon simply couldn't and wouldn't sleep without it. There was no consoling the baby, so we turned around and went back for his quilt.

This was a little podunk town. The manager was gone. The maid/desk clerk hadn't started cleaning and didn't have the keys, but she knew how to hit the window just right so she could get in the window. Yes, that was encouraging to think that someone could have gotten into the room any time they wanted. Thinking back now, if I wrote that into a story there would be so many holes in it I'd have to change it, but I remember quite vividly the maid squirming through that window.

Anyway, that quilt was Brandon's security blanket. He wouldn't sleep without it. I'm sure he would have eventually adjusted if something had happened to it, but my mother made it for him and it was sentimental to me as well.

I realized last night Word 2003 was my security blanket. I can easily crank out 3,000 words a day if I stay after it, but I'd been struggling to just get a page a day done. Part of it was just not feeling good. Part of it was Will moving and the ensuing low mood afterward, but much was just me making excuses.

I read about writing. I talk about writing, but I don't write.

How can you be a writer who doesn't write?

Are the stories gone?

No, they're still there. I like both of the other projects, but I haven't hit the point yet where the fire leaps to life. I'm not in love with them yet.

For the last two days I've been listening to a lot of Celtic music. I went back to The Silencers version of Wild Mountain Thyme and realized how much I love FAR RIDER.

In FAR RIDER there's a rakish bard who reminds me a lot of Jimmy O'Neil, the lead singer of The Silencers. He's kind of a minor character, but he's fun. And, oddly enough, I just realized all three of my currents stories have bards. In SONG OF ILWEN, the mc is a bard with magical powers. In DRAGON VALLEY, the eventual romantic interest is a bard.

I figured something else out also. I'm still in love with FAR RIDER. I haven't moved on completely because FR is finished. It's beautiful and polished and all the ugly warts are gone. I'm sure when I open it up this afternoon I'll find lots of things I want to change, but it's so much prettier than the current works that are unattractive little things. I still love them, but they are at the puppy ugly stage where they're gangly and awkward and seem to be more trouble than they are worth at times.

And maybe that's the real problem. When we finish one project, we need to have some closure or we are on the rebound and constantly comparing our new love to our last shiny love.

Memorial Memories

I haven't posted in a while. No valid excuse except my crappy mood and trying to get things ready for Will's move.

Anyway, this was a post I wanted to write, but I had to wait until I wasn't so irritated at people.

I'm a major supporter of our troops. This comes as no surprise to those of you who know me. I was going to write a post on Memorial Day, but the social media organizations I frequent had me in such a foul mood, I decide to wait.

Memorial Day. It's a day we remember our fallen. We remember the ultimate sacrifice of Americans who served in the armed forces. For my family, it was also a day we cleaned the graves of our loved ones and planted flowers. When I lived with my grandparents and aunt, we spent days making little paper or ribbon flowers for the graves. I don't remember how we made them now. I think it was a Victorian craft. I just remember making them and turning them into little bouquets.

Aunt Rose also drove into town and bought potted plants. We went out to the Savage cemetery and dug up the soil on the top of the grave, mixed in some fertilizer and covered the graves with a blanket of live plants. She was partial to petunias for the graves. I assume they grew better without much care in the hot Montana summers. When we were finished, all of our family graves were covered with a riot of bright colors. My uncle Herb was buried there. He had served in WWII and later went to Hollywood after a producer saw him ride in a rodeo at Madison Square Gardens and asked him to screen test. Herb appeared in one film and probably would have gone one to a bright career, but he hated Hollywood and went back home. It was there he was killed in an accident at a sugar beet factory where he worked.

My dad always had a wreath sent to put on my little brother's grave. He never ever forgot to honor Stevie. It was important to him to remember the dead.

I was reminded of this when Will was in the JROTC in high school. The kids gathered together at the VFW and they went out to the cemeteries to put flags on the war dead graves. One of the old cemeteries had several Civil War veteran graves. Will came back from his first trip and commented about how many of the old soldiers stopped at certain graves and wept for their friends. Some found old friends they didn't know had died. It was an emotional time.

I guess it's old fashioned, but Memorial Day has always been a somber occasion to me. It's a day we stop what we are doing and take a moment to think about those who have fallen.

Instead, it's turned into another reason for sales, picnics, drinking beer and just a reason not to have to go to work. I'm not sure congress changing the original date was a good idea. Now it's just a three day weekend.

So, I spent part of the day watching people wish each other a happy Memorial Day and talking about their barbecues. Someone made a comment that I found particularly interesting and I asked them if they knew what Memorial Day was.

They didn't.

I've become friends with a lady on twitter who is a Gold Star parent. That means she's lost a child in the military. Angela is very supportive of the troops and an interesting lady, but she is still grieving. The wounds heal some, but they never go away. I was a bit upset by the callous way she was treated by some who didn't really have a clue what Memorial Day was.

I guess this is one reason I waited to write this. I hated seeing her hurting again. To make matters worse, one of the young men in her son's unit had recently died, so the wounds were opened all over again.

Another gentleman I follow on twitter is a Lt. Colonel in the reserves. He gave a speech at Hollywood Memorial Park that I thought was particularly moving.

Lt. Colonel Schlichter's speech.

I hope you all with listen to his speech. It gives us all something to think about. Our history is dying every day with these old veterans.

When I was in Montana at Ft. Harris with my dad after he had his stroke, I spent some time with a lot of these people. There were times Dad was in therapy or being tested so I had to leave the room. It was in those times, I really got to know some of the patients there.

This frail little men were once the best our country had to offer. Our best was good enough. Now, in honor of them and what they did we should preserve their stories and their history before it passes with them. Let our gift of love be a gift of remembrance.