SLEEPING IS FOR SISSIES (Or Those Not Invested in a Can't-Put-Down Book)

Let’s start the morning with a quick quiz. Pencils ready? Let’s go.

Which of the following statements best defines the term “Book Hangover”:

     A)  That feeling of sleep deprivation from staying up too late reading a book you can’t put down.

    B)  The Inability to start a new book because you’re still living in the last book’s world.

     C) That moment when you finish a book, look around an realize that everyone is just carrying on with their lives as though you didn’t just experience emotional trauma at the hands of a book.

     D)  Difficulty entering the reality of everyday life after spending the last 48 hours fully immersed in an amazing book.

DAYLIGHT SAVING--WHAT A JOKE!

Are we really “saving daylight” when we shift the clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall? Or are we really “saving energy?” Perhaps a more appropriate term would be “shifting daylight”.  

The concept of daylight saving (otherwise known as Summer Hours in other parts of the world) has gone in and out of favor.  There have always been proponents, touting the energy saved, and the opponents, saying that if people want to enjoy daylight, they should just get out of bed an hour earlier each day (I’m a card-carrying member of this camp!)  Not only is it disruptive to schedules—and anyone who has children or animals who don’t grasp the concept, this can be an incredibly frustrating semi-annual transition—there is some evidence that the number of accidents increase the week after a change as people adjust to the new light levels during their commute.

Hard to believe, the whole thing started out as a joke.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT RHYMES WITH FRIDAY?

WINE!

If a writer really cares about their readers, they will conduct careful research on a given topic. Facts must be accurate. Unusual tidbits will make the story interesting. Whacky scenarios need be plausible (hence my attempt to outrun a bull across an open field, but that's another story for another day.)

ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS...if Spring is Coming

   

 If you still believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or that Carolyn Keene (author of the Nancy Drew mysteries) exists, then you might not be ready for the dose of reality I’m about to administer. If you want to flip over to play a game of mahjongg while the rest of us discuss this, that’s OK by me.

     Those of you still with me, you might want to sit down. 

     Is everyone ready?  Then here we go.

JAYNE'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

I thought I was alone in the world, carrying a deep dark secret. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, this terrible, unforgivable thing I did. It started when I was a child, and has continued throughout my adult life (and that’s a pretty long time.)

Attending a conference when a well-known author asked if anyone else did this, I raised my hand. Actually raised it for all of the attendees to see! And so did a lot of other people! I wasn’t alone!

What is this terrible secret?

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW! (Or Have at Least Researched)

Credit to Tom Watterson/Calvin and Hobbes

    

 The number one rule writers are taught in the hard-knock school of writing is “write what you know.” Which is all fine and good, unless you are a pushing-social-security-age, rule-following female who writes about murder. I am going to put this out there to all of my past, present and future readers, I HAVE NEVER KILLED ANYONE just to research a book (or for any reason, for that matter). Nor have I ever stumbled across a dead body lying in the garden or sitting in an empty garage or floating in the surf (my husband has, but that’s another story for another day.) The only dead bodies I have seen/touched have been prettified, with hair styled, dressed in their best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, lying in a casket.

But I will admit to having done a few things, all in the name of research.

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