Sabbatical

I'm taking a sabbatical from writing. Not quitting. Just dealing with a few things that need my full attention.

I will be back when I can.

Polymer Clay Lessons

Ali was nice enough to spend most of her Saturday teaching Nicole and me how to work with polymer clay. We set up two manual pasta machines and lined the table with wax paper. Then we grabbed some clay and started working.

First you condition the clay. That means either kneading it by hand until it's the right consistency or running it through the pasta machine. Usually a little of both. And we blended colors. And rolled beads. And talked. And ate. And baked the beads. And played with Sherman. It was a great time.

What was funny was how some of the lessons of working with polymer relate to life in general and writing in particular. I want to use them in the Bennie books. The one I'll share here is:

It's always important to chill a while.

Nicole made some beautiful dark beads with spots of royal blue. Some had flecks of silver leaf. She'll have a knock-out set when she's done. Ali made all kinds of wonderful things while we worked. She even gifted me with some pinkish marbled beads that go with the green and pink beads I made. I also made green and fuschia for a different set.

Of course, I don't have pictures yet. But I will when they're put together. Promise.

Thanks to Ali and Nicole for on of the best Saturdays I've had in a while.

Not So Cozy

I just finished reading Stalking The Angel by Robert Crais. Great book. Even more, great second book. There appears to be no Sophomore Slump here. The pacing, characters, dialogue, plot and humor of The Monkey's Raincoat did not fade.

At the Pirate meeting on Monday, I talked about the book. That I really enjoyed it. And I talked about finding a series of cozies called the Home Improvement Can Be Murder series. That's right. A series of mysteries centered around a woman who is renovating a Victorian house. I have to admit being taken aback. But Shane said, "Write yours better." Then Jenny said, "Yours isn't really cozy anyway. And you can go less cozy."

Good points. My protagonist is a man who does this as a job. It is a cozy, by broad definition. But it certainly isn't what most people think of when you say cozy. Surprise, right? That someone with my personality isn't writing about a wooly-headed old woman who busybodies her way into solving a murder?

I think that this revelation will help with my own renovations of my book. That's the great thing about the Pirates.

Goal-less

It is hard for me to start a month without any goals. But I think that's what I'm going to have to do. Just let things keep simmering. Keep reading. Only write if I can't stand not writing. And do a little more research.

And complete the UGWP critiques. Almost forgot about those.

Ali is hosting a polymer class later in the month which should be a lot of fun. Other then that, I have no plans.

Scary.

Disturbing Trends

I realize two books do not a trend make. However, something in both of them points to what could be the tip of a nasty iceberg.

In both books the female protagonist owns a small business. So far, so good. They are both experiencing marital difficulties. Nothing original, but not bad as far as it goes. The respective husbands are suspects in the murders the books are about. Saw that coming. But both women are total ditzes. And there are lines like "That would take analysis and emotional stability. Not something for a female to attempt." Spoken by the protagonists! Excuse me?

In the first book, the woman is trying her hand at a small home crafty type business because her children are grown and her husband is burying himself at work. She forgets to deliver an order--twice. She doesn't feel like putting together the second order, but does not call the client to cancel. The whole focus is doing right by her man--who has been alternately ignoring her and treating her like crap for months. The business feels like an author afterthought. "Oh, crafty mysteries are big, let's put a craft theme in it." The protagonist doesn't even figure out the crime, she stumbles into the perp. Great.

The second book is by an author whose other series I like. That one has a strong female lead who is a great business woman and still manages to be a good friend, attractive, etc. The one I'm currently reading is about a woman with a good business but no business sense. She never knows what she has in stock. She doesn't know who she is renting her shop from (hubby set it all up and even though he left her months before, she hasn't bothered to find any of this out). At least she feels like the wronged woman, but the author has set up the description of the husband and his 'dropping out' in such a way that it's obvious our heroine was the one not paying attention or being supportive. That's the most interesting part of the story, truth be told.

But it's the poor dumb helpless female thing that's worrying. I watched the popularity of Sex And The City with confusion. Four supposedly strong, intelligent, successful woman and all they can find to talk with each other about are shoes and men? Gray's Anatomy is populated with whiny, relationship obsessed residents who should not have the time. And too many shows to mention show successful women as harpies.

I thought we'd gotten past all this, but apparently not. All the more reason to celebrate authors who write realistic, well-rounded characters-male or female.

Genres & Subgenres & Sub-subgenres

A lot of writers have trouble categorizing their work. Is it dark fantasy? Urban fantasy? Cyber-punk? I thought I had it easy with mysteries. Either you have a professional detective or not. But then I started reading more. I knew about the craft subgenre. That's where Bennie will fit eventually. But within the craft group there are the knitting mysteries, needlework (other than knitting) mysteries, scrapbooking, etc. By the time I finish Bennie, there may be dozens of jewelry series, but I hope not.

The cat mysteries are everywhere. I have asked the Pirates to shoot me if a talking cat ever shows up in one of my books.

Last week, I happened to pick up the first book in Charlaine Harris' vampire mysteries, Dead Until Dark. Geoff recommended them years ago, but I just got around to it during my reading break. It's a very good read. Sexy, smart, funny and scary with an interesting mystery at the center. Nice. I have since picked up the next two books. I mentioned to Fleur that I read a vampire cozy mystery. She named an author (I can't remember the name right now) who was not Charlaine Harris. I started searching online.

We have a paranormal mystery subgenre. Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity, a ghost who solves crimes, would fit there. But within that subgenre, there are werewolf mysteries and vampire mysteries and who knows what else.

What accounts for these clumps of books with similar storylines? Is it just something that's in the air? Does a writer see that one-legged female hairdressers seem to be hot and jump on the bandwagon?

Here's the big question: If you read a werewolf mystery and like it, will you look for other author's who write about werewolves?

A Rest or A Block

I have been finding it harder and harder to get motivated to write this summer. I'm certainly not ready yet to rewrite HM, and D&D needs much more research before I can continue. I think I may need to take a break. Read a lot. Maybe look at taking a class or two.

Being part of a critique group may help, too. Just listening to the comments last month gave me a lot to think about. I'm sure when I've read the submissions first, they'll make even more sense. I'm just glad it's not a group like the CWC. Deb's been in a tizzy all day, and I'm not ready to deal with that kind of pressure.

I'll continue to post. Mostly about what I'm reading. And about the Pirates, I'm sure.