Remembering Ladybugs

I just finished a book titled Cherished: 21 Writers On Animals They Have Loved and Lost and it got me thinking about my first dog, Lady.

     My childhood was anything but normal, but before my eighth birthday, Lady came into my life to make everything seem worthwhile.  I was born with what is called Mid-Facial Dysplasia, and from the age of four years old, started a series of reconstructive surgeries that would help build a bridge for my nose, and more pronounced features.
     Lady arrived just as I was beginning to understand why I had to have these surgeries.  I began to understand that my childhood wasn't like that of other kids and sometimes I suffered the consequences of being "different" (even though you could never tell I had surgery).  And funnily enough, I was tricked into taking Lady from a friend of my aunt's, who lived on this duck hunting ranch.  He told me that they were going to put Lady to sleep, and of course I jumped at the chance to save her.  Or rather, as I would soon learn, she saved me.
     My surgeries were never a scary experience.  Nothing bad ever happened to make me apprehensive about having another one.  My parents have always been my rock, but Lady was the one I could tell my secrets to.  Like all dogs, she had that calm, quiet way about her that made everything feel like it was going to be okay.  It was like she always knew when I came home from the hospital to not jump on me or be rambunctious around me.  She would sit quietly by my bed or the couch and would reluctantly allow my parents near me.
     I spent my entire childhood with Lady who eventually came to be known as Ladybugs.  In 1998, she was 10 years old, and little did I know that I wouldn't have her too much longer.  In that same year, I had a major surgery called a cranialplasty and my grandfather was in the hospital, dying of kidney cancer.  I consider myself lucky to have had her during my recovery from that surgery and to help me through the grief of losing my grandfather.
     On Christmas morning of that year, Lady passed away just as I woke up at the six thirty in the morning.  Let me tell ya, that was not a very Merry Christmas morning opening gifts.  Later that day, we took her out to our property (where we would soon build a house) and laid her body in a box to buried the next day.  God, that was the worst Christmas I've ever had.  We couldn't bury her that day because we had like 20 people coming for Christmas dinner.  So, the next morning, dad dug a hole over by the creek and we had a little ceremony for her.  Now almost 14 years later, I still miss her very much, even though I have had dogs in between then.  She will always be number 1.

     As some of you may know, I cancelled my contract with my publisher for my self-published book Jack's Dreams Come To Life.  I've just finished another picture book manuscript, that's making the rounds in my critique group.  Once I get the comments back, I will rewrite it and send it out to publishers.
     It's been awhile since I've written a short story, or anything creative for that matter.  But I'm happy to say that I finished a brand new short story titled, "Promises Kept" about my grandfather who passed away 13 years ago this May.  I'd like to send some of my stories out to literary magazines to see if I can get them published.
     Since last February I've been in contact with Mark Vadik, a horror movie writer and director, and he's been helping rewrite and polish a horror script that I wrote titled, "The Driftwood Massacres."  I received an email from him a month ago suggesting I now seek an agent for representation in order to try and sell my script.  I know how to find a literary agent, but where the heck do I find a screenwriting agent?
     Then there's the ever present, so-called monkey on my back - my YA novel.  I've been in a bit of a rut since February of this year about not finishing the manuscript in time to take it to the San Francisco's Writer's Conference that same month.  I've left it alone for a few weeks and have now gone back to it, and am in the process of writing chapter 5.  I would like to have a rough draft finished by late summer.  Good luck with that I suppose.
     And, of course, to supplement my income, I still have my freelance writing.  So far this year I've been asked to write for three new magazines! Rue Morgue, Tropical Fish Hobbyist and Writer's Journal.  Needless to say my plate is full and I'm exhausted, confused and in a panic.  My New Year's resolution was to finish something, whether that be my YA novel, find an agent and get something published.  I know it's only March, but I'm starting to panic a little.  As much as I appreciate my dad giving me a job at his dental office, I really wish my income was coming from my writing.  But I guess all writers wish that.

Oh well, off to write!

I recently finished 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son).  If you're a fan of King, you'll love Joe Hill's collection of short stories.

The Writing Life

  The Writing Life: Writers On How They Think And Work
   by Marie Arana
   ISBN: 978-1-58648-149-0
   Copyright 2003
   404 pages
   $16.95


     Essays gathered from the Washington Post column of the same name, Marie Arana has compiled a list of our most distinguished and beloved authors, who give us a glimpse into their personal life and more importantly into their life as a writer.  Included among the 55 authors are Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury, Patricia Cornwell and Jimmy Carter, just to name a few.
     If you are a writer or know a writer, then this will become a very cherished book.  Not only do you get insight from famous authors, but politicians, journalists, poets and playwrights.  These men and women not only have changed the literary world when they've put pen to paper, but they have opened doors and paved the way for future writers.  They've written stories, articles and plays that are a part of history.  Their opinions and creative minds were and still are an influence on not only their generation, but future generations.

Jamie Lee Curtis: Scream Queen

Jamie Lee Curtis: Scream Queen by David Grove
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: BearManor Media
ISBN: 1-59393-608-7
490 pages

      I wasn't even born yet when Halloween came out in 1978 and too young to appreciate Curtis' career as a scream queen up until 1981, but that doesn't mean I'm not a rabid fan of hers and her subsequent horror films after Halloween.
     That's why I could barely contain my excitement when I found out that there would be a biography coming out, chronicling her career in horror.
     I have to admit that, when I found out that Grove's book was unauthorized, I was a little skeptic as to how accurate the information was going to be.  It turns out that my skepticism was a little premature, because I found the information in the book to be very informative, not only about Jamie, but about all of her films.
     The book starts off with Jamie's adolescence and her struggles with growing up with two of Hollywood's royalty (Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis) and perhaps what was most surprising to me, was Jamie's insecurity as a teenager and young adult.  Each chapter focuses on the horror films that she has starred in, how she got the part, the making of the film and the post-production of it.
                                                               The readers gets a real inside look at Jamie's experiences on each of these films and her relationships with her fellow actors and filmmakers.  If there is any fault to the book it is the constant repeating of who Jamie Lee Curtis' parents are and how tough it was for her to grow up with such famous parents.  The book has a tendency to, at times compare Jamie to her mother, the reigning scream queen, Janet Leigh.  Which I think Jamie has dealt with all her life and would probably rather not have a book focus too much on that part of her life.

                                                               If you are a Jamie Lee Curtis fan or a fan of John Carpenter or any and all horror films of the late 70s and early 80s, this book is great for fans of the genre.

    

       My grandmother has been one of the strongest women in my life who has continued to inspire and amaze me over the years.  Born on October 1, 1918, Midge Smith has survived every type of hardship that life can throw at you.  Having made it through the Great Depression, she met he future husband, Norman Smith, who was working as a butcher at the time.  The couple soon married before he was shipped overseas during WW2 and stationed in Kwajalein.

     After the war, my grandmother settled down with my grandfather and they had two children.  My mom, Judy, born in 1948 and my uncle, Jeff, born in 1946.  My grandfather turned his passion for cooking into a restaurant located in downtown Vallejo, California called, "Norm's Buffet."  With my grandmother working alongside him, they turned the Haufbrau into a booming business, churning out hot sandwiches, mashed potatoes and gravy, and old-fashioned ice cream beverages.

     After many years of serving their community, my grandparents sold the restaurant and focused on the next phase of their life together.  Papa Norman went in to real estate, while grandma worked for the next seventeen years at the Allergy clinic at Kaiser hospital.  In the years to come, they saw their children grow up, graduate college, and start families of their own.

     After 55 long years together, Midge lost Norman on May 23, 1998: she was 79 and he was 88.  The next eleven years that my grandmother would have to face without my grandfather would prove to be trying to say the least.

     In the early millennium, grandma met a woman named Joyce at her water aerobics class.  They became fast friends, spending every minute together.  A few years into their friendship, Joyce was diagnosed with cancer.  After many surgeries and numerous rounds of treatment, the news came in early 2008 that her cancer had metastasized and was inoperable.  In August of that same year, grandma had to have her beloved Shih Tzu, Tesse, of thirteen years put to sleep.

     On October 1, 2008, my grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday, and just a few short days later suffered a left-sided stroke that rendered her speech garbled, and unable to read, write, or tell time.  One week into, what would become a very long recovery, Joyce lost her battle with cancer.

     My mom and I immediately began the search for the perfect dog for my grandmother.  After weeks of searching for the right match at our local shelters, and coming up empty. There was this constant nagging feeling in the back of both of our minds that it was very unlikely that the animal shelter would relinquish one of their dogs to a 90-year-old woman who lives alone and had just had a stroke.  Beth, a generous friend of the family, gave grandma a Chihuahua/Papillion mix named Tinkerbell.  From that point on, she was on the road to a quick, but not so easy recovery.

     In the months that followed, grandma would undergo speech therapy, along with therapy at home that included puzzles, toy clocks, poetry, and coloring books.  These were often times of great frustration and humiliation for her, but made all the easier with Tinkerbell lying beside her or perched on her lap.

     Grandma, during this time, would speak out loud around the house as part of her speech therapy.  She would often tell us that Tinkerbell didn’t mind if she talked crazy.      Whenever my grandmother was having a particularly difficult time with getting her words to come out right, she would take Tinkerbell outside and read  “Cat In The Hat” to her while sitting on the front porch. Tink enjoys sitting on the bench and watching and barking at the neighborhood cats that dare to walk on her lawn.

     "Tink" has come to fill those long days and nights, slowly healing the pain of so much loss.  Adding to this grief was the death of her older sister, Betty in January 2009.  Tink has become a permanent fixture in grandma's life, always by her side wherever she goes, even becoming somewhat of a celebrity at various stores around town.  “Tink, want to go for a walk?” prompts the raising of her bat-like ears and her scurrying to the front door.

     On the rare occasions when Tinkerbell doesn’t get to go, like when grandma goes to the doctor or goes out to a restaurant, she barks like mad from her perch at the kitchen window and doesn’t stop until grandma’s car is out of sight.  When she arrives home and says, “Hello” to Tinkerbell, she turns her head defiantly.  The cold shoulder act only lasts a few minutes before Tink’s right by grandma’s side again.

      Grandma puts Tinkerbell in a walker with a pouch on the front.  With a little tiny head poking out, they make their way along the street where she lives.  Stopping to talk to neighbors and anybody who seems drawn to the tiny dog with a big personality.

     When not out and about with grandma, Tink likes to spend her time in the backyard stalking the squirrels on the telephone wires, which seem to enjoy taunting her.

     On October 1, 2009, my grandmother celebrated he 91st birthday and complete recovery from he stroke.  We know and so does my grandmother, that without Tinkerbell in her life, recovery would not have been possible.

Book Review

The Physick Book Of Deliverance Dane

                            By

                Katherine Howe

I just finished reading this wonderful book by a first time author earlier this evening.  I loved it!

     The story follows Connie, a graduate student from Harvard University, researching Colonial history.  A dilapidated home, once owned by her grandmother in Marblehead, Massachusetts falls into her custody.  While there, she stumbles across an old Bible with a key that holds a small scroll with the name Deliverance Dane printed on it.

     So begins Connie's quest to find who this Deliverance Dane is and why her name was found in her grandmother's house.  She soon discovers that Deliverance Dane was one of the witches tried and hanged in Salem two hundred years ago for witchcraft.  Embarking on this journey into finding out more about the mystery woman, Connie soon begins to learn about herself.  When her boyfriend, Sam is suddenly overcome by seizures and forced to stay in a hospital bed, the hunt for Deliverance Dane's spell book becomes even more time sensitive.  

This is a great read if you love the conspiracy surrounding the women accused of witchcraft in Salem in the 1600's.   The book goes back and forth between Connie's life in the present and the unfolding events of Deliverance Dane's life in the 1600's.  And soon, you see how their lives start to parallel.

Interview With Author Steve Alten

     I recently had the privilege of interviewing author Steve Alten, whose latest book Meg: Hell's Aquarium hit bookstore shelves a few months ago.  Steve is a science fiction author best known for his Meg series, which revolves around the survival of the Carcharadon Megalodon, an 18 million year old prehistoric shark that became extinct in the Pleistocene era.

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.  How did you get into writing?

        I hated my job and needed a new career. I always felt I could write. 

2. How did the idea come about to write a series based on Carcharodon Megalodon?

      In the summer of 1995, I read a TIME magazine article on the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, and hydrothermal vents, which support an entire eco-system. I married that info to Megalodon, which I read about as a teen. 

3. How much research goes into writing for the Meg series and how much do you leave to your imagination?

     Lots of research. The MEG info is all factual; the imagination uses these visuals to scare the reader.

4. You've done four books in the Meg series so far, with Hell's Aquarium being the latest.  How many more books will be in the series or do you know ahead of time?

      One more: MEG: Night Stalkers

5. In Hell's Aquarium you introduced a new ancient species of sea predator - the Liopleurodon.  Do you plan on branching the series off with this new creature, continuing the adventures of Jonas Taylor and his son David?

      Not branching off, but MEG 5 will be a hunt for the escaped Liopleurodon.

        I've read there are plans to bring Meg to the big screen.  How far away are fans from seeing their favorite killer shark in theaters?  And will you be writing the screenplay?

      I wrote a new script, and we are finalizing financing for $150 million budget. Once we select a director, there will be an announcement.

 What is your writing process like?  How long does it take to finish a novel

      MEG novels take 6-8 months; the DOMAIN novels take 12-18 months.

            Check out Steve Alten's writing tips at http://www.stevealten.com/writing_tips_intro.htm 

Books in the Meg series include:

Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997)

The Trench  (1999)

Meg: Primal Waters (2004)

Meg: Hell's Aquarium (2009)