A month of resolutions

By noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Sokoloff)

It’s still technically the New Year and I was looking back over some of my old New Year’s blogs and realizing that I basically have the same resolutions every year. With a bit of variation, but basically, the same.

And it occurred to me that it would be really intensely focusing for me to take those resolutions – or intentions – one at a time throughout the month and explore what I want to accomplish or how I want to live in each one of those areas.

Who knows if that will actually happen, given my work schedule and the rollout of the Huntress series starting on January 27! But I know for sure I haven’t been doing enough checking in with myself lately, and this is one way to challenge myself to do that.


So here’s one of those New Year blogs I’m looking at, with 2015 updates to come.
Intentional New Year
Hmm, wow, I get to blog on New Year’s Day. That’s a lot of pressure! Or not. Maybe everyone will love me if I just speak very softly and in words of fewer than two syllables.
First of all, can I just say (for more than just myself, I know) –

THANK GOD IT’S 2011.

I wish everyone here, and all our families and friends – and while I’m at it every sentient being on the planet – a joyful, ecstatically fulfilling, and transcendent year.

Okay, so the timing of this clearly means I was actually meant to do some actual resolutions. But let’s say intentions, instead, because that word is more focusing for me and doesn’t remind me so much of dieting.

What – (that is suitable for public posting) – do I really desire for this year, in the obvious main areas of my life?

– Living: Be more conscious.

Of everything – but what I mean by conscious is paying attention to what my life is telling me, and the Universe is telling me. On good days I believe that the Universe is speaking to us all the time, even or especially on the bad days, and that the most fulfilling way of living is to listen for that guidance and be as much in the flow as we can be. Unfortunately, most days I forget all that entirely as I get caught up in all the stuff, you know, the STUFF, and if you forget it too many days in a row you tend to start not believing it. So I will pay attention to the synchronicities, and those small, insistent pushes, and those overtly symbolic dreams that scream at you in multileveled Technicolor Stay away from that one you idiot or if you live you will regret it every day for the rest of your life – and do my best to live every day as if I really have a purpose in life and even more importantly – that life has a purpose for me.

– Relationships: Hmm, all right, without going into detail…

Love everyone more – but with better boundaries. Look to recognize the god/dess in everyone. As for the rest, sorry, but I did say only what was fit to post publicly.

– Dancing: Dance more. Period.

I’m just a better person when I dance every day. It makes everything better.

– Teaching: Keep growing as a teacher, finding new ways to inspire people to tell the best stories they can.

But also, be more integrated about living my writing in my teaching and my teaching in my writing. I think what I mean by this is – there’s no reason to compartmentalize. It’s all part of the same process. You only really teach by doing.

– Writing…

Hmm.

Yes, this is my living, but I’ve got to say it’s terrifying to think of how many books I’ve committed to write this year. Scary doesn’t begin to describe it – I must have been insane. Actually, I think we’ve already established this. But it’s too late to panic, now – I am just going to have to take it one day at a time, and learn how to not fight the process. Writing is always going to be exhausting: I like how author Joe Landsdale puts it: “You never really rest; the synapses are firing all the time.” But I am starting – starting – to believe I can be more gentle with myself about it and get just as much done, probably more. Or better. I have an inner slave driver that needs to get over itself. I’m going to be more aware of when that self-punishing impulse in me starts to take over and just not let that happen. I hope.

My writing intention is to write better books.

Right – but how? I think it has to do with committing even more to each story and the process – to recognize fear when it comes up and instead of pulling back and doing things to distract myself, treat the fear as a signpost that I’m on to something important and treat it as an opportunity to go deeper. Again, this seems to be about being more conscious.

– Career: Well, not like you can separate this from writing, but –

At Bouchercon in San Francisco this – I mean last! – year, I was in the bar – I mean lobby – bitching to Rob Gregory Browne and Marcus Sakey: “I need to do something DIFFERENT.” And Marcus said, “Honey, we’re all there.”

Hearing him say that was a huge reality check, because I realized he’s right in every way. In fact, that’s always going to be the state of a writer’s career, or any artist’s. We are always going to feel like we need to do something different – which means not just different, but also doing it differently. And in fact we HAVE to always be doing something different, and differently. It’s a good thing.

What I want to keep for every day of this year was the total inspiration I felt at Bouchercon – my sense of awe and pride about being able to live and work in the incredible worldwide community of mystery and thriller writers, to be constantly inspired and encouraged and often blown away by the creative risks my colleagues are taking, and to learn from their skill and commitment and passion to bring more depth and power to my own stories. Lee Child says: “As crime writers we are all constantly building the genre with the work we do.” My intention is to be more conscious that I am helping to build the genre, and to do my part with the work I do this year. I think if I stay focused on that, the career will take care of itself.

I wish everyone here whatever is that inspiration for you.

So anyone out there want to share some intentions?


– Alex

Via: Alexandra Sokoloff

    

A month of resolutions

By noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Sokoloff)

It’s still technically the New Year and I was looking back over some of my old New Year’s blogs and realizing that I basically have the same resolutions every year. With a bit of variation, but basically, the same.

And it occurred to me that it would be really intensely focusing for me to take those resolutions – or intentions – one at a time throughout the month and explore what I want to accomplish or how I want to live in each one of those areas.

Who knows if that will actually happen, given my work schedule and the rollout of the Huntress series starting on January 27! But I know for sure I haven’t been doing enough checking in with myself lately, and this is one way to challenge myself to do that.


So here’s one of those New Year blogs I’m looking at, with 2015 updates to come.
Intentional New Year
Hmm, wow, I get to blog on New Year’s Day. That’s a lot of pressure! Or not. Maybe everyone will love me if I just speak very softly and in words of fewer than two syllables.
First of all, can I just say (for more than just myself, I know) –

THANK GOD IT’S 2011.

I wish everyone here, and all our families and friends – and while I’m at it every sentient being on the planet – a joyful, ecstatically fulfilling, and transcendent year.

Okay, so the timing of this clearly means I was actually meant to do some actual resolutions. But let’s say intentions, instead, because that word is more focusing for me and doesn’t remind me so much of dieting.

What – (that is suitable for public posting) – do I really desire for this year, in the obvious main areas of my life?

– Living: Be more conscious.

Of everything – but what I mean by conscious is paying attention to what my life is telling me, and the Universe is telling me. On good days I believe that the Universe is speaking to us all the time, even or especially on the bad days, and that the most fulfilling way of living is to listen for that guidance and be as much in the flow as we can be. Unfortunately, most days I forget all that entirely as I get caught up in all the stuff, you know, the STUFF, and if you forget it too many days in a row you tend to start not believing it. So I will pay attention to the synchronicities, and those small, insistent pushes, and those overtly symbolic dreams that scream at you in multileveled Technicolor Stay away from that one you idiot or if you live you will regret it every day for the rest of your life – and do my best to live every day as if I really have a purpose in life and even more importantly – that life has a purpose for me.

– Relationships: Hmm, all right, without going into detail…

Love everyone more – but with better boundaries. Look to recognize the god/dess in everyone. As for the rest, sorry, but I did say only what was fit to post publicly.

– Dancing: Dance more. Period.

I’m just a better person when I dance every day. It makes everything better.

– Teaching: Keep growing as a teacher, finding new ways to inspire people to tell the best stories they can.

But also, be more integrated about living my writing in my teaching and my teaching in my writing. I think what I mean by this is – there’s no reason to compartmentalize. It’s all part of the same process. You only really teach by doing.

– Writing…

Hmm.

Yes, this is my living, but I’ve got to say it’s terrifying to think of how many books I’ve committed to write this year. Scary doesn’t begin to describe it – I must have been insane. Actually, I think we’ve already established this. But it’s too late to panic, now – I am just going to have to take it one day at a time, and learn how to not fight the process. Writing is always going to be exhausting: I like how author Joe Landsdale puts it: “You never really rest; the synapses are firing all the time.” But I am starting – starting – to believe I can be more gentle with myself about it and get just as much done, probably more. Or better. I have an inner slave driver that needs to get over itself. I’m going to be more aware of when that self-punishing impulse in me starts to take over and just not let that happen. I hope.

My writing intention is to write better books.

Right – but how? I think it has to do with committing even more to each story and the process – to recognize fear when it comes up and instead of pulling back and doing things to distract myself, treat the fear as a signpost that I’m on to something important and treat it as an opportunity to go deeper. Again, this seems to be about being more conscious.

– Career: Well, not like you can separate this from writing, but –

At Bouchercon in San Francisco this – I mean last! – year, I was in the bar – I mean lobby – bitching to Rob Gregory Browne and Marcus Sakey: “I need to do something DIFFERENT.” And Marcus said, “Honey, we’re all there.”

Hearing him say that was a huge reality check, because I realized he’s right in every way. In fact, that’s always going to be the state of a writer’s career, or any artist’s. We are always going to feel like we need to do something different – which means not just different, but also doing it differently. And in fact we HAVE to always be doing something different, and differently. It’s a good thing.

What I want to keep for every day of this year was the total inspiration I felt at Bouchercon – my sense of awe and pride about being able to live and work in the incredible worldwide community of mystery and thriller writers, to be constantly inspired and encouraged and often blown away by the creative risks my colleagues are taking, and to learn from their skill and commitment and passion to bring more depth and power to my own stories. Lee Child says: “As crime writers we are all constantly building the genre with the work we do.” My intention is to be more conscious that I am helping to build the genre, and to do my part with the work I do this year. I think if I stay focused on that, the career will take care of itself.

I wish everyone here whatever is that inspiration for you.

So anyone out there want to share some intentions?


– Alex

Via: Alexandra Sokoloff

    

Happy New Year! (from the dogs)

By Alafair Burke

Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 7.02.37 PM

For our Christmas present (only one of many, we hope), the lady who feeds us (known to you as Alafair Burke) let us take over her blog. Oh, and “us” means Frannie and Double Double and Frannie (correction by Double). And since you are friends with the lady, you already know who we are. Some people call us “her” dogs, but we don’t see the need for spec-ist labels.

Anyhoo, we were thankful this year to have found each other. Even though we were both cool chillin’ on our own, we are totally boss as a combo since Frannie moved to NYC from Anguilla in April. We plan ways to sneak on the sofa when no one is looking, wrestle 24/7, and absolutely rule at doggy daycare. Proving our mad mutual respect, we even recognize each other’s food boundaries. (Click on this adorable VIDEO for proof of how good we are. We hope to go viral and be famous.)

What else, what else? Oh, we are also proud of the lady who feeds us for publishing TWO books in ONE year during 2014. It’s the first time she has ever done that, and we think it’s because she now has the two of us. ALL DAY AND A NIGHT is the fifth in her Ellie Hatcher series. And THE CINDERELLA MURDER is co-authored with Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark. MHC called us adorable, so we really love her.

cinderella

Now, the real reason we wanted to take over the newsletter. We have outfits! Don’t we look amazing?! One step further in our efforts to be famous. (Note from Frannie: Double is the only one who wants elaborate wardrobes and notoriety. I prefer to be naked and unknown.)

IMG_5136
Finally, we promised Alafair that we would wish you a happy, healthy, celebratory holiday season. And to tell you how much she appreciates your support throughout the year.

Love,

Double and Frannie (and Alafair)

Via: Alafair Burke

    

Goodbye, 2014 (and thanks for all the fish!)

By noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Sokoloff)

Astronomical Clock, Prague
So, it’s that time again, when we’re compelled to do wrap ups of the old year and project into the new one. Never a bad thing, and especially helpful in sorting out the brain-draining whirlwind that the holidays can be, and setting priorities for the year to come.
2014 was a good year. I settled into a new life in Scotland and acquired a great new family. The year was full of celebrations: my brother’s wedding, my nephew’s naming day, my niece’s engagement, the one-two-three holiday punch that we get in the UK: Christmas, Boxing Day and Hogmanay (Scottish for New Year’s Eve).
Gullfloss, Iceland

There was a lot of fantastic travel: Prague in February; Yorkshire in March; New Orleans in May; San Francisco and then Harrogate in July; Ireland in August; the Highlands in October. In November, we visited San Diego, Long Beach, and Joshua Tree, and then went straight on to Iceland. (Yes, I’m still having haunting wilderness dreams…). I love having a whole new continent at my doorstep and a fellow traveler to explore it with!


This has also been a year of waiting, which I’m not very good at.

There were some frustrating delays in the re-release of the Huntress series. The delays put me off my own schedule and I’ve had to hold off on releasing the other book I finished this year: Story Structure: a revised and expanded textbook version of Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, in print! – with double the content and new story breakdowns. It’s been really hard to sit on it, but it makes no business sense to publish that book before the Huntress series comes out, with all the attendant marketing that Thomas & Mercer has planned for it.
The constant flips in the schedule also slowed down my writing on the first book of the new series I’ve started, a crime series set half in Scotland and half in LA (well, isn’t everyone always saying “Write what you know”?)

Delays aren’t fun. We want what we want as soon as we want it. But sometimes the Universe has other plans. Maybe I was being given time to adjust to my Scottish life. Maybe this revised schedule is the best possible timing for the series. Whatever the reason, the wait that seemed interminable is almost over, the launch is just around the corner, and it’s time to get excited about the series reaching so many new readers.

So this month Huntress Moon and Blood Moon will be re-released wide on January 27 (ebook, print and audio). Story Structure will be available in print in February, Cold Moon shortly after that, and then the German translation of Huntress Moon, from Amazon Crossing. And a paranormal I wrote three years ago is finally scheduled for the fall. A veritable flood of books!

And I’ll be able to get back to the new book, with Book 4 in the Huntress series waiting really noisily in the wings for its turn.

But the fact is I could have finished one of those other books this year. It’s not only the external chaos that prevented that, although it definitely didn’t help. I’ve also been deeply torn about which book I should be writing next. Which book would be better to release next is a real issue. Which of the TWO books I’ve outlined for the Huntress series I should actually put out first (a chronological Book 4 or a prequel focusing on Cara) is another compounding factor.

So my first priority in the new year is re-launching the Huntress series, but the second is
connecting with both my subconscious and the Universe (well, maybe there’s no difference…) and getting clear about which book I should be finishing next.

As clear as writing ever is, anyway!

Full list of my 2015 intentions to come next, but for now, it’s back to work.

So how was your 2014?

Wishing everyone the most magical year ever!

– Alex

Via: Alexandra Sokoloff

    

Goodbye, 2014 (and thanks for all the fish!)

By noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Sokoloff)

Astronomical Clock, Prague
So, it’s that time again, when we’re compelled to do wrap ups of the old year and project into the new one. Never a bad thing, and especially helpful in sorting out the brain-draining whirlwind that the holidays can be, and setting priorities for the year to come.
2014 was a good year. I settled into a new life in Scotland and acquired a great new family. The year was full of celebrations: my brother’s wedding, my nephew’s naming day, my niece’s engagement, the one-two-three holiday punch that we get in the UK: Christmas, Boxing Day and Hogmanay (Scottish for New Year’s Eve).
Gullfloss, Iceland

There was a lot of fantastic travel: Prague in February; Yorkshire in March; New Orleans in May; San Francisco and then Harrogate in July; Ireland in August; the Highlands in October. In November, we visited San Diego, Long Beach, and Joshua Tree, and then went straight on to Iceland. (Yes, I’m still having haunting wilderness dreams…). I love having a whole new continent at my doorstep and a fellow traveler to explore it with!


This has also been a year of waiting, which I’m not very good at.

There were some frustrating delays in the re-release of the Huntress series. The delays put me off my own schedule and I’ve had to hold off on releasing the other book I finished this year: Story Structure: a revised and expanded textbook version of Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, in print! – with double the content and new story breakdowns. It’s been really hard to sit on it, but it makes no business sense to publish that book before the Huntress series comes out, with all the attendant marketing that Thomas & Mercer has planned for it.
The constant flips in the schedule also slowed down my writing on the first book of the new series I’ve started, a crime series set half in Scotland and half in LA (well, isn’t everyone always saying “Write what you know”?)

Delays aren’t fun. We want what we want as soon as we want it. But sometimes the Universe has other plans. Maybe I was being given time to adjust to my Scottish life. Maybe this revised schedule is the best possible timing for the series. Whatever the reason, the wait that seemed interminable is almost over, the launch is just around the corner, and it’s time to get excited about the series reaching so many new readers.

So this month Huntress Moon and Blood Moon will be re-released wide on January 27 (ebook, print and audio). Story Structure will be available in print in February, Cold Moon shortly after that, and then the German translation of Huntress Moon, from Amazon Crossing. And a paranormal I wrote three years ago is finally scheduled for the fall. A veritable flood of books!

And I’ll be able to get back to the new book, with Book 4 in the Huntress series waiting really noisily in the wings for its turn.

But the fact is I could have finished one of those other books this year. It’s not only the external chaos that prevented that, although it definitely didn’t help. I’ve also been deeply torn about which book I should be writing next. Which book would be better to release next is a real issue. Which of the TWO books I’ve outlined for the Huntress series I should actually put out first (a chronological Book 4 or a prequel focusing on Cara) is another compounding factor.

So my first priority in the new year is re-launching the Huntress series, but the second is
connecting with both my subconscious and the Universe (well, maybe there’s no difference…) and getting clear about which book I should be finishing next.

As clear as writing ever is, anyway!

Full list of my 2015 intentions to come next, but for now, it’s back to work.

So how was your 2014?

Wishing everyone the most magical year ever!

– Alex

Via: Alexandra Sokoloff

    

Review: Let the Devil Speak by Steven Hart

By JD Rhoades

Let the Devil Speak: Articles, Essays, and Incitements

Let the Devil Speak: Articles, Essays, and Incitements by Steven Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Smart, witty, acerbic essays about American culture, literature, and music. The book’s real tour de force is the first chapter, “He May Be a Fool, But He’s Our Fool”, which proceeds from a curious juxtaposition between two cultural events: racist Georgia Governor Lester Maddox’ contentious appearance on the “Dick Cavett Show” and Randy Newman’s seminal 1974 album “Good Old Boys.” Newman had often said that the Maddox appearance, where Newman felt the Governor was treated unfairly, was the inspiration for the album’s opening track “Rednecks.” Steven Hart uses that connection to trace not only the divergent careers of Newman and Maddox, but the thread of bitter, corrosive resentment, inevitably tinged with racism, which runs through right wing politics to this day.

My favorite passage is the one about Pat Buchanan’s “culture war” speech at the 1992 Republican convention. Hart writes: “the imperturbably sunny face of the Reagan Presidency had been replaced by a frothing troglodyte with an anti-tax pledge in one paw and a picture of a bloody fetus in the other.” That passage perfectly sums up the moment when I got off the moderate fence I’d been sitting on during the first George H.W. Bush term and threw in with the liberals.

It’s not all politics, however: “The Ents From The Orcs” provides a fascinating glimpse of another particular moment in time that left an indelible mark on our culture: a night-long conversation in 1931 between three Oxford University academics (Henry Victor Dyson, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien) that led to the writing of Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” and Tolkien’s Middle Earth series. “Bruno” is an appreciation of the life and work of the late Jacob Bronowski (of “Ascent of Man” fame). All of the essays share the same insight and sharp, incisive, sometimes cutting prose. I found myself nodding along in some places, laughing out loud in others. Great book, and highly recommended.

View all my reviews

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

Review: 212 by Alafair Burke

By JD Rhoades

212 (Ellie Hatcher #3)

212 by Alafair Burke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Alafair Burke is an incredibly talented writer. One of her many strengths is the ability to use just the right detail (the unmatched desks in a detective squad room, the contrast between a DA’s cheap Bic pen and a defense lawyer’s expensive one) to make the reader feel that they’re right there in the scene. The plotting is tight and just twisty enough to keep the reader guessing without going so over the top as to elicit eye rolling. And her characters are very well drawn. For instance, I love how Burke portrays Ellie Hatcher, the protagonist of 212. She’s certainly less than perfect, but without so much baggage that it weighs down the story. This is police procedural done right. Highly recommended.

View all my reviews

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

2015: The Year In Preview

By JD Rhoades
The Pilot Newspaper: Opinion

Once again, we look into our slightly cracked crystal ball for our annual tradition of fearless predictions for the year to come. Without further ado, we bring you 2015 in preview:

JANUARY: Sony finally allows the wide release of the Seth Rogen/James Franco film “The Interview.” North Korea immediately issues a public statement: “We threatened the U.S. over THIS piece of crap? Man, do we feel stupid. This is more embarrassing than the time we invited Dennis Rodman to dinner because we thought he was LeBron James. Face it, as a government, we’re just not that bright.”
FEBRUARY: Following the lead of the right wing’s insistence on calling torture “enhanced interrogation,” the Mafia announces that it has hired a PR agency to rebrand “armed robbery” as “enhanced wealth acquisition.” Not to be outdone, the National Football League announces that its new behavior policy reframes “domestic abuse” as “enhanced spousal negotiation.”
MARCH: North Korea unleashes its long-dreaded retaliation for the Sony film “The Interview” in the form of a 90-minute feature film called “Obama Is a Big Doo-Doo Head.” At the film’s premiere in Pyongyang, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and Sen. Ted Cruz appear as guests of the North Korean government, but strongly deny serving as technical advisers on the picture.
APRIL: A new hacking scandal erupts when a group calling itself “The Sons of the Big Easy” breaks into CBS’s computer network and releases thousands of embarrassing emails and digital copies of unreleased shows. The group claims that the attack is retribution for Scott Bakula’s awful attempt at a Louisiana accent in “NCIS: New Orleans.”
MAY: Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that he’s formed an “exploratory committee” to consider a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. “Republicans say nice things about me,” Putin says. “Rudy Giuliani is talking about how I ‘make decision and execute quickly,’ and Sarah Palin likes the idea of me ‘wrestling bears.’ They want leadership? Putin give them a bellyful of it.”
JUNE: Republican lawmakers, who hold a majority in the House and Senate, announce a major policy initiative. “We’ve decided to change our practice of not doing anything and blaming it all on President Obama,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tells “Meet the Press.” “After the summer break, we’re going to start doing nothing and blaming it all on Hillary Clinton.”
JULY: Christmas decorations and promotions appear in stores, as Christmas-themed commercials begin running on TV. Everyone complains, but they buy the stuff anyway.
AUGUST: First lady Michelle Obama rolls out a new campaign to promote the eating of junk food. “Candy, sugary sodas, Twinkies three times a day, and lots of Mickey D’s,” the First Lady says. “That’s the secret to a healthy, happy life.” Congressional Republicans and Fox News immediately go on an outraged crusade against the movement, which they call “yet another attempt by the Imperial Obama Presidency to control every aspect of our lives.” Fox begins promoting salads, low-fat foods, and drinking lots of water, while the Republican caucus gives up sugar, white bread and potatoes. Waistlines shrink across the nation, and obesity-related illnesses take a prodigious drop. “I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out,” the first lady says.
SEPTEMBER: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush formally announces his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination. Bush vows not to back down on his support for immigration reform and the federal Common Core standards, even though those issues are unpopular with conservatives. “I’m willing to lose the primary to win the general,” a defiant Bush says, repeating earlier statement he made to the online magazine Politico.
OCTOBER: The Jeb Bush campaign issues a retraction of his “willing to lose the primary to win the general” promise when someone explains to him how the primary system works.
NOVEMBER: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz attempts to stop President Obama from pardoning the White House turkey by going to the Senate floor for a marathon reading of the children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asks the office of senate legal counsel for an opinion on whether the Senate can involuntarily commit one of its own members.
DECEMBER: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat all experience a massive decline in users after Santa announces he’s going to start using social media to help compile the “naughty” and “nice” lists. A young woman identified only as “@SexyAllie 999” explains to The New York Times why she deleted her Snapchat account: “Like, I don’t know if sending some random guy a picture of my, y’know, breasts is, like, something that will get me on, like, the naughty list? But, I mean, I’m not, y’know, taking any chances.”

As we like to say at this season (with a hat tip to poet Ogden Nash): Duck! Here comes another year!

Via: J.D. Rhoades