LESSONS

I literally spent every possible waking minute, (which means those not spent with adorable grandchildren, or with my Mom) perched in front of my computer from February to mid-April, pounding out the end of The Drgons of Alsace Farm in time for my pitch session with potential agent Hannah Bowman at the LDStorymaker's conference.

Sadly, Ms. Bowman stopped me two minutes into my pitch to say she doesn't handle straight women's fiction. Only quirky stiff. But she graciously offered to accept a partial copy of the manuscript which she would send along to other members of the Liza Dawson staff. Very kind.

So now I'm slowing the tempo, shooting queries out to other agents, and working on tightening the manuscript during the lull. I'm also attending to neglected family members, (hubby Tom) whose gentle disposition frequently makes him, and things like date night, the first things to slip off the "urgent" list.

Let  me tell you a bit about what writing Dragons has taught me. "Everyone has a something." No one gets a free pass in life. Some roads look easier than ours at times because we don't see the entire journey others are on, but whether it's medical, physical, emotional, financial, or spiritual, everyone gets a something, a rock, a wall, a mammoth incline that tests our mettle and causes us to recognize the need for God in our lives. Some of us figure that out. Some don't. Those who do, find peace in the middle of the struggle. I'm not sure how the others get through it.

What I've also been reminded of is how narrow our focus can become when we're in the middle of our own crisis. We can easily turn inward and forget that though silent, others are suffering, praying, longing, hanging on my a nail. We are the rescuers. That's great human drama. That's what I hope Dragons teaches. That as broken as we may be in some ways, we all have something to give, and we are all perfect for someone else.

So take a moment and check out the links and tell me what you see when you look into the Rabbit Hole.

Thanks,

laurie

SPRING FLING BLOG HOP

Life has interrupted the blog, but we're roaring back with a great blog hop. Many thanks to Kathy at I'M A READER, NOT A WRITER, for co-sponsoring this one with "Eve's Fan Garden."

I'm about to catch a plane for a meeting with an agent in the hopes of having her represent me and my new manuscript, "The Dragons of Alsace Farm," so the entry requirements for this hop revolve around getting the word out about this book.

First--the prize. I'm giving away a three-book prize package--a new, autographed copy of my 2010 summer women's novel, "Awakening Avery," and two previously-read copies of  acclaimed novels written by a few of my friends. I loved them both.

You can enter multiple times, but each entry MUST be posted separately. To enter:

1. You must be or become a fan of this blog
2.  Visit the trailer for "The Dragons of Alsace Farm," and leave a comment.
3. Be or become my friend on Facebook.
4. Post the link for the trailer on your Facebook page.
5. Be or become my friend on Goodreads.

That's it. Thanks for stopping by, and please visit all these other great blogs.

Laurie

RESEARCH FOR FUTURE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, OR A FEW THINGS I'VE JUST DECIDED TO TRY FOR THE FIRST TIME

I'm fifty-six, fairly frugal, and generally disinterested in change for change's sake, and therefore, not prone to following gimmicks, but I have to admit, a few things have intrigued me over the years, and I've decided to give them a try . . .  for the sake of research.

Quirky characters need a little schtick, some idiosyncratic tendencies to define them and establish their personality. In my current WIP, (work in progress), I have a lady with a manic attachment to her wigs and make-up. We immediately know a lot about her appearance as well as her personality.

Who knows? I may create a character with a fetish for having their face waxed, or their bunion straightened, or I may have a character who simply can't resist walking past that "You Saw It On TV" rack near the Wal Mart checkout. So what must I do to accurately portray such situations? Conduct a little personal research. . . Of course.

(Are you buying any of this pseudo-logic?)

Today was my experimental day. Well, my face-waxing yesterday actually kicked off the trend. I mean, if I can remove my unsightly miss-tache and bride-burns, what other improvements could I, (I mean a future character), make?

Today I headed off to conduct some research. My test products? The bunion corrector, the home-waxing kit, and the eyelash curler. (I know, I know. You're wondering how I have gotten through life without one of those.)

The truth is, this torturous-looking eyelash curler is actually quite practical for glass-wearers. I gave that squeezy thing a try, and after nearly puncturing my eyelid, I managed to curl my extra-long lashes into a lovely up-do, and for the first time, I can actually wear my glasses properly without the annoying swish of lashes on the lenses. Long-overdue success number one!

Item two--the home-waxing strips. In years past I asked for, and sadly was the unfortunate recipient of, several hair-removal tools, including the hair-ripping "Epi-Lady." That thing could double as a blood draw tool. I watched a dozen replays of an infomercial with smiling users applying this delicate product to their legs, then sliding a nylon stocking over their clean gams to prove the absence of stubble. Well, I'm woman enough to admit I cried when I revved that puppy up. All I can say is this. Those models must have either been masochists, or they received advanced pain management prior to the shoot. Today I'm going to give the pre-waxed strips a try. We'll see.

The home bunion corrector. This little marvel looks like it may have been designed by alien abductors bent on restructuring humanoid bodies, but alas, after fifteen minutes I managed to get the contraption on and must admit I was pretty impressed with how straight my incredibly crooked toe looked when strapped into this harness. Will it make my toe straighter? We'll see. But if it saves me a reportedly painful surgery and recovery, I'll count myself blessed.

I'm two-for-two with crazy new products. Let's see which of these items shows up in the next story I write.

THE RABBIT HOLE DIARIES

Do you have a loved one sliding into the rabbit hole of dementia?

Welcome.

This is a place to share.

 Forgive me for letting this blog slip for the past few weeks. I've been busy focusing on family matters, and completing a manuscript for a book about people dealing with a loved one who suffers from dementia. (The trailer is viewable in the post below.) The new blog and the book are very personal. This is now my mother's world.

We didn't recognize the early signs. Our ailing father had recently passed away. He was our mother's world, and his care had occupied her every hour, so we assumed the depression, the bouts of anxiety, the confusion, and the uncharacteristic emotional swings from silly to sobbing was a result of the dramatic changes she had experienced.

Mom had been estranged from her family most of her life with only a few visits home in forty years. She returned from her last visit to see her mother with reports of the changes she had seen in this once lively parent. We all assumed it was the result of a tragedy her mother had experienced. Now we know better.

I was doing genealogy and I contacted a relative to ask for information. She sent a family tree home with my mother on that visit. I never saw it, but my sister found it a few years ago. It listed my mother's thirteen aunts and uncles--nine of whom suffered from some form of dementia. In all honesty, the news scared us. We could see what we were dealing with, that it wasn't going to get better, and that we were utterly unprepared.

I've begun a new blog titles, "The Rabbit Hole Diaries,"  that's attached to my website. I hope this blog will attract others who are dealing with dementia in a loved one. I'll share what we're learning from doctors and research, I'll post links and articles, ideas on respite and long term care, but what I've found most helpful so far is sharing with others staring into that rabbit hole.

So if you have something to share, please do. If you have questions or need a place to vent and cry, click the link, visit the blog, and share. I hope we'll build a community of support, and a network that can empower us to give our loved ones the best life possible.

Thanks,

Laurie (L.C.) Lewis

"DRAGONS" Trailer

Here's the first trailer for "The Dragons of Alsace Farm." We're still tweaking. What do you think? Does it make you hungry to know more?

A GREEN BERET'S THOUGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS

I always enjoy Robert (no relation) Lewis's  point of view on life and politics. I interviewed this Green Beret/author back in January after the release of his soldier bio, Love Me When I'm Gone. Rob's star has really taken off since then with guest appearances on Adam Carolla's and Dennis Miller's podcasts as well as a host of others.

Once a Green Beret, always a Green beret, and though Rob dresses in civvies, he still fills his days with functions to benefit soldiers, vets, and their families.


His newest blog post is up, a long with links to some of his podcasts. He tackles the crazy shift the TSA is taking on the knife issues as well as other hot-button topics. It's good to see the world through a soldier's eyes. Enjoy.

WHAT YOUR FAMILIES COULD TEACH HOLLYWOOD

It alarms and frustrates me that celebrities are driving every conversation from fashion and politics, to social morals and body image. Today a celebrity got a big byline on her mothering advice. The article read as if tingling fingers were poised above keyboards in anxious anticipation of the great wisdom about to be revealed by this paragon of motherhood--the celebrity mother. Really? How about featuring the wisdom of a six-time birth-er with a budget and four kids under seven? Now that's a woman with parenting advice.

 

Many of these entertainment figures are great human beings who do much good and who live admirable lives, but my beef is over the super-human influence we allow them to have over us. It's no longer art imitating life. It's art defining life. Sure, TV has always done that. (Refer to my link above.) But maybe it's time to take back the reins and remember that we are the experts at the average American life, not the other way around. 

 

Someone we love dearly moved to Los Angeles six years ago. He loves it out there. He works hard in the medical field, and when he's not working there are a thousand choices for entertainment. The city is one giant playground with the sun and the ocean mere minutes away, and plentiful offerings from the entertainment industry that turn even shopping center Christmas displays into back lot extravaganzas.

 

He was dazzled by it all at first, and he might be still be to some point, but his early innocence has turned to city-savvy. He's a strikingly handsome man--athletic, smart, a bit shy, a man of few words. He was invited to join a group of young A-Listers on a trip to a friend's retreat in some exotic place, and it proved to be a real eye-opener.

 

He knew a few of the other guests' bios. Most had been in the industry since childhood. In fact, work and preparation for success had been their childhood. Most had never stepped foot in a real high school, never had a prom, never attended a high school football game, never met a regular high school guy or girl and been asked out on a real date. One told this young man that he was the first person she'd dated who had ever gone to college. Many young stars speak from this narrow platform of life experience, while so many of our youth twist themselves inside out to be conform to their celluloid definition of what a teen should be.

 

Entertainment icons travel the world and have a myriad of larger-than-life experiences, but to a great extent, they do not portray their lives on screen. They portray ours. Lives many of them have never actually lived. Lives their writers create and feed to them. And yet somehow we miss those points, getting so caught up in the drama of their performance that we see the performance not as entertainment but as a model of how to be a parent, a wife, a husband, a lover, a child, or a teen. That's our mistake.

 

I watched some reruns of "Bewitched" a while back. Daron almost never entered the house without Samantha offering him a drink. I wonder how many homes actually ran like that, but then I wondered how many wives went out and bought decanters of alcohol because they bought into that portrayal of the sophisticated home.

 

Books fit into that entertainment niche where we go for escapism and thrill. I like a good moment of escape as well as the next person. As an author I try to write that kind of book. But when we lay the book aside, or turn the TV off, we return to our world, with our values, our budgets, our real supporting cast. We are the experts of our own real lives. The entertainment industry titans are the experts of theirs. The two worlds are rarely the same.

 

Tell your kids they know as much, and maybe more about the life of a real kid than any movie star. In fact, they could teach the movie industry a few things about real kids' lives. But when we want to escape to somewhere different, where life is perhaps bigger, seemingly brighter, or sometimes darker than our regular world, by all means pick up a great book or see a good flick. Applaud the writers' and actors' skills, and then go home and be the rock star of your own awesome world.