Attending the Florida Heritage Book Festival
At the Florida Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine this past weekend I saw speeches by novelists Jeff Lindsay (Darkly Dreaming Dexter), Steve Berry (The Templar Legacy) and Diana Abu-Jaber (Arabian Jazz).
I have an unpublished thriller in its second draft that's around 60,000 words long, so I go to these festivals looking for tips on how to become a more gooder writer and also to establish a daily writing routine to finish it. I've proven conclusively in the past year the novel won't finish itself.
Lindsay said that he gets up every morning at 3 a.m. to write about grisly serial murder until it's time to wake up his daughters for school. "I write best when I don't get in my own way," he said. "I write semi-conscious, then when I'm alert, rewrite."
It wasn't until his 50s that he could work full-time as a novelist once the first Dexter book made a killing. He advised writers to learn a marketable skill that lets them set their own hours. "I recommend arc welding," he said.
His most critically well-received book is one he can't admit to writing. "I ghost wrote a book that got the greatest review of my life, and it kills me," he said.
Abu-Jaber wrote a memoir, The Language of Baklava, that revealed some disturbing stories she was afraid would anger relatives. She hears frequently from writers who won't tell their own life story while some family members still around to take offense. To that concern Abu-Jaber said, "If you wait for everyone to die, who is going to read your book?"
Berry, who lives near St. Augustine, is a former lawyer and county commissioner who began writing fiction at age 35. Until Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code reinvented the commercially moribund spy thriller genre with historical conspiracies, secrets and international settings, Berry had five completed thrillers that plowed the same ground which had been rejected 85 times. "Twelve years ago, I couldn't give away a manuscript," he said.
One aspiring writer asked about going the solo route instead of seeking an agent and publisher. Berry said that's a bad idea if you'd actually like to sell books and build a career as a novelist, but he did share one factoid that suggests there's an opportunity for self-publishers in his genre. "Seventy percent of my sales are e-sales," he said. "Five years ago it was 5 percent."
The children's novelist Adrian Fogelin taught a three-hour fiction seminar Thursday on creating a character in which she asked audience members to pick one shoe among 20 pairs. She then put us through a series of writing exercises to create a person to occupy that footwear. I chose a child's green dollar-store swim fin.
I went into the event with no desire to write anything after subjecting myself to hours of dire news coverage about the U.S. ambassador's murder in Libya. But as the exercises went on, I became fond of the 10-year-old aspiring oceanographer who explored the murky depths of a pool at the King for a Day motel outside Joplin, Mo., and counted the minutes until Shark Week.
One exercise asked us to reveal the character's traits through dialogue:
"The shark is the apex predator of the ocean," Ernest explained to the woman on the bus, who nodded in a manner that demonstrated she was obviously impressed with his expertise.
"As such," he continued, "it serves a vital role in the aquatic ecosystem. What is your favorite species of shark?"
"No habla Inglés," she replied.
Seminars like this always make you think you've created the next Holden Caulfield or Boo Radley. But after it was over, I realized I'd been recreating the irrepressible kid from Calvin & Hobbes.
This Week's U.S. War Casualties
The deaths of three U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan were announced this past week by the Department of Defense.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jose L. Montenegro Jr., 31, of San Juan, Texas, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thalia S. Ramirez, 28, of San Antonio died Sept. 5, when their OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter crashed in the Pul-e Alam district of Logar Province. They were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Ramirez (pictured above) was the only African helicopter pilot in the Army, reports Mwakalishi. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to a Kenyan mother and Puerto Rican father and attended Braeburn School in Nairobi.
She earned her Kiowa Warrior aviator qualification in 2008 after enlisting five years earlier as a water purification specialist. Both Ramirez and Montenegro were nearing completion of their year-long deployment.
Army Sgt. Kyle B. Osborn, 26, of Lafayette, Ind., died Thursday in Muqer of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Vicenza, Italy.
Osborn was a high school wrestler who gave up competing at the collegiate level to enlist in the Army, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. He competed at state weighing 152 pounds as a senior and captained the McCutcheon High School Mavericks team that was regional champion in 2005.
He was just six weeks into his first deployment, CBS Minnesota reported.
CNN reported Sunday on the Aug. 10 death of Marine Lance Cpl. Gregory T. Buckley, 21, of Oceanside, N.Y., which was noted earlier on this blog. Buckley was killed with two other Marines when a new Afghan policeman was handed his weapon and immediately opened fire. He was due home in two days to see his younger brother play varsity football for the first time.
Buckley's father Gregory Sr. said his son feared being killed by one of the Afghans he was training. "He told me, 'If I have to stay until November I'm not going to come home. ... You gotta be able to tell mom, Justin and Shane that I'm going to be killed over here. I said out in the field? He goes 'no, in our base.'"
This Week's U.S. War Casualties
The deaths of five U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan were announced this past week by the Department of Defense.
Army Staff Sgt. Jeremie S. Border, 28, of Mesquite, Texas, and Staff Sgt. Jonathan P. Schmidt, 28, of Petersburg, Va., died Sept. 1, in Batur Village of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire.
Border (pictured above) was an Eagle Scout who went on to become a college football player at McMurray University and a Green Beret, KHOU reports. Cheryl Hays recalled on a Facebook page dedicated to his memory, "I knew Jeremie from Troop 90. He was one of my very favorites. His Eagle ceremony was the first Eagle ceremony I had ever attended. Let me tell you, I was so touched. I think all the moms were sobbing at one point."
Border was assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Torii Station, Japan; and Schmidt was assigned to 192nd Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, 20th Support Command (CBRNE), Fort Bragg, N.C.
Marine Lance Cpl. Alec R. Terwiske, 21, of Dubois, Ind., died Sept. 3 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province. He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Tewiske (pictured at right) was determined to make it through boot camp. "Wow my own mom thinks I won't make it," he posted in December 2009 on his Facebook page. "Can't wait till I prove her wrong!" In October 2010, Tewiske posted he was done and on his way home. "Hell yeah I did it!"
Tewiske's parent command was Inspector/Instructor Staff, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, Fort Knox, Ky.
Army Pfc. Shane W. Cantu, 20, of Corunna, Mich., died Aug. 28, in Charkh of wounds suffered when he was hit by shrapnel.
Cantu was assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy.
Army Spc. Kyle R. Rookey, 23, of Oswego, N.Y., died Sept. 2, in Jalalabad from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
Republicans Run Attack Ads on Charlie Crist
The Florida Republican Party recently began running a TV ad here that attacks former Gov. Charlie Crist, the Republican who left the party and became an independent during his unsuccessful 2010 Senate run. The ad shows old clips of Crist praising President George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and declaring he was "about as conservative as you can get."
That statement turned out to be as true as Mitt Romney calling himself a progressive when he wanted to be governor of liberal Massachusetts. Crist endorsed President Obama and will be giving a speech on his behalf at the Democratic National Convention tonight.
What makes this ad exceptional is that Crist isn't running for office this year. It's the first attack ad I can recall that targeted a non-candidate. There's talk he'll run for governor again as a Democrat, but that wouldn't be until 2014.
Before the ad, I thought Crist was a politician whose career was over. He's been on TV in Florida for a while as one of those "have you been injured in an accident?" attorneys for Morgan & Morgan, delivering his lines with the enthusiasm of a hostage.
But if the Republicans think it's necessary to launch a pre-emptive strike against him, Crist's political fortunes as a Democrat must be stronger than I thought.
Email Templates for Dummies
An email I just received:
I was just looking at your site, and I have a number of clients within our network who are looking for SAMPLE TEXT ONE. I don't work as a lead broker, referral agency or pay-per-click advertising. I'm simply looking to direct my clients to a relevant site when they're looking for SAMPLE TEXT TWO.
Your site looks like it may be a good fit.
I'm going to work with SAMPLE TEXT THREE today, therefore please call me as soon as possible.
Update: An hour later I got another email with the template filled in:
I was just looking at your site, and I have a number of clients within our network who are looking for a recall lawyer. I don't work as a lead broker, referral agency or pay-per-click advertising. I'm simply looking to direct my clients to a relevant site when they're looking for an attorney.
Your site looks like it may be a good fit.
I'm going to work with one recall law firm today, therefore please call me as soon as possible.
This Week's U.S. War Casualties
The deaths of two U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan and another in Kuwait were announced this past week by the Department of Defense.
Army Sgt. Christopher J. Birdwell, 25, of Windsor, Colo., and Spc. Mabry J. Anders, 21, of Baker City, Ore., died Aug. 27 in Kalagush, Afghanistan, when an Afghan Army soldier shot them after a vehicle in their patrol was hit by an improvised explosive device, family members told Windsor Now.
Anders (pictured above) served in Korea prior to being stationed in Afghanistan. He worked in the army as a mechanic. "Everything here is day to day, one day lifes great and other days you dont even want to get out of bed," he wrote on his Facebook page while in Korea. "I'm having fun though, and learning alot about the world, people, culture, and myself. Still can't wait to go home though!"
Birdwell (pictured below with his sister) was the oldest of four siblings. He was on his third tour and scheduled to come home in December, according to the paper.
Staff Sgt. Jessica M. Wing, 42, of Alexandria, Va., died Aug. 27, in Kuwait City, Kuwait, in a non-combat related incident. She was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, Bangor, Maine.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Wing was a helicopter mechanic. She was featured in 2005 story by the newspaper. "It doesn't matter how many times you've been deployed, once or 100 times, it's all the same,” Wing told the newspaper. "You don't know what you're getting into."
Paul Ryan Lied About Janesville GM Plant
Paul Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention was breathtakingly dishonest, even by the extremely loose standards of honesty practiced by our politicians. The Wisconsin Republican Congressman, hailed often as a "straight shooter" by the media because of his budget plan, lied about that plan and other significant matters to the assembled delegates and the millions watching on TV.
No lie was more brazen than the one he told about the GM auto plant that closed in his Janesville hometown.
Ryan said, "A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you ... this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That's what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day."
The plant closed in December 2008 while George W. Bush was president. President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, so he was in no position to do anything to save a plant whose closure was announced in June of the preceding year. One person who was in a position to do something to about it was Ryan, who has represented Janesville in Congress for 13 years.
Another lie Ryan told was about the Simpson-Bowles debt commission.
Ryan said of Obama, "He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing."
The Congressman was one of the 18 members of that commission. The Simpson-Bowles report proposed spending cuts and a U.S. tax code overhaul that would cut $4 trillion from federal budget deficits by 2020. The plan was a politically courageous effort with pain for both Republicans and Democrats that needed 14 yes votes to be officially recommended to Congress.
Ryan, who faulted Obama last night for ignoring that "urgent report," was one of seven who voted to kill it. He blamed Obama for taking no action on a deficit-reduction plan he helped fail.
Ryan's third lie was about Medicare, the health program for seniors that he wants to replace in the future with vouchers.
Ryan said, "And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly. ... So they just took it all away from Medicare. $716 billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama."
As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan incorporated the same $716 billion in Medicare cuts into two budgets he guided through the House. He used the money, which does not affect Medicare recipients directly, to achieve deficit reduction. Even better, if Ryan's voucher plan becomes law, it will cut far more from Medicare than the $716 billion in cuts he called the "coldest power play of all." If future retirees get a fixed payment and are forced to shop for health coverage among private insurance plans, any cost-of-care increases will be borne by those seniors instead of the federal government.
When he was selected as Mitt Romney's running mate, Ryan was perceived as a serious politician who had tackled hard issues with sober, tough proposals. His presence in the presidential race would elevate the tone, pundits anticipated.
Instead, he's setting a pathological new standard for falsehood that challenges the media's aversion to calling anything a lie.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said last night after Ryan's speech, "I marked at least seven or eight points I'm sure the fact checkers will have some opportunities to dispute."
Blitzer didn't identify any of those factually dubious points. "He delivered a powerful speech," Blitzer said. "A powerful speech."
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