Johnny Baseball

Friday evening we took the MBTA into Boston to see the new play, Johnny Baseball, at the American Repertory Theater (the ART). It was graduation week in Harvard Square which meant a lot of people were out and about, some of them even decently dressed.  The play was cute, clever and even touching, and the house looked full.  I suspected that non-Bostontians  might miss a lot of the references, but the audience seemed genuinely appreciative from the ovation at the final curtain.  

We caught the Red Line home and at Park Street, two gentlemen in Red Sox shirts got on.  They looked a bit glum, and said the Sox had lost big.   We were surprised, since going into the theater the team had led by three runs.  Whatchagonnado?

So they sat there, looking down in the dumps, Boston Irish faces if I've ever seen them. . . men of a certain age.  A pretty blond girl is sitting next to me.  Kids, by now it is way past eleven, but the girl, in spite of her sporty attire, must have one hot date, because she begins a major makeup session on the very public "T."   I became aware of her activities when a) she began brushing on bronzer and b) the faces of the  Red Sox fans across the car went from hang dog to interested.   I had obviously missed the foundation application, but the bronzer went on and on and on.  Gee, have I been doing it wrong?  I brush a bit across he cheek bones, and on chin, nose and forehead.   Blondie was plastering on a 1/4 inch. Note to self:  check makeup book or web for how to do this properly. 

Then came the colorless lip gloss.  Again, 1/4 inch.  Then some pinky lip stuff (not lipstick) on top of that.  Now came the mascara.  These trains aren't always the smoothest running vehicles, and I worried about her jabbing herself in the eye (as I would have likely done), but nope, she's got the steady hand of the brain surgeon.

In between each type of makeup, she checks her cell.  By now the entire car is watching.   After the mascara, she redoes her hair, pulling it back into a ponytail and then up with a fancy clip.  Hot date for sure.

But wait:  Blondie call her mom and chats for a while.  Mentions she's on the red line.  No hint of where she's going or whom she's meeting.  Maybe Mom already knows.  She sounds kind of worried about Mom and my heart softens a wee bit.  Baseball fans debark.
Blondie gets off in Quincy Center, and we continue on.  Almost every trip on the "T," especially late at night, involves a story.

Did I ever tell you about the man with cherries on his hat?  No?  Well, another day.  Off to write something.  Finally.

Grapeshot  

Spring in the Garden

I noticed some of the colors are washed out.  Must be the glare of the midday sun.  Finished my work on everything except the wildflower garden which needs much attention--weeding, removal of grass, removal of raspberries, feeding, etc.  Usual garden chores.  I had a wild iris bloom this year, and the heuchera is doing well.  The heath didn't bloom, but looks very healthy.  Finally had the creeping phlox bloom this year.  The weigelia (no clue as to spelling) bright red.  Hummingbirds not pleased that I am out there working so much. 

Chill, birds, because the main body of work is done.  Gardening is hard work, but it is also soooo relaxing.   Especially is one is hunched over a keyboard all day.   Thisbe, who has been ultra-brave in the yard of late, exploring beyond the porch and the deck, almost encountered the Whippet today.  A cat can never be too careful.  Here is what the plantings looked like on Memorial Day.  I have a lot of purple sage and the herb Sage is blooming, too.  Nice bouquet for indoors. 

Spring Planting

Yesterday we got about $100.00 worth of tomato plants and flowers.  Enough to spruce up the deck and the two garden boxes.  My first mistake this morning was looking for a clay tray that formerly houses some small pots for herbs.  And looking in the garage where I recalled last seeing it. 

Garage a huge mess.  For example:  cardboard for the dump piled up with Christmas wrapping paper (used) crammed into a box.  No order.  Empty boxes all over, not in the box area.  Old plastic pots from years past.  Plastic saucers everywhere.  And to think I bought some last fall.  So, it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to tidy the garage and 1 hour to plant everything and water it and tidy up the yard.  Looks good.  Photo to follow.  I had to do some creative shifting about to find a spot for everything.  The garden will be lavender, purple and white this year, while the deck will have red flowers.  Beans, tomatoes, herbs and garlic doing nicely here and there.

Off to take photos.  And water the plant I forgot.  So sorry.  Chipmunks all over the place.  Thisbe went out the front door by opening it.  Bad Cat.  She was totally hysterical.  I think she was in the back yard too, because the chipmunk was complaining bitterly.  Hard to get used to having an only cat.  Hard to be an only cat.  We'll eventually figure it out.

Watch for photos~  

Blindspot

Last night I finished the novel, Blindspot, which was a real treat, with a great plot, a murder, good guys, bad guys and a setting in colonial Boston in the year of the Stamp Act.  It was a big meaty book, written in the style of the age in which it was set.  Maybe only an English major or an historian can appreciate the lush vocabulary and the felicitous descriptions, but I liked it ever so much and hated to see it end.

Not my usual reading matter.  I heard Kamensky and Lepore discuss how the novel came into being at a PEN meeting in Cambridge, and naturally we bought the book and have been devouring it.  Both authors are historians of the colonial period, a fact that greatly informs their writing, and the details certainly make the story special. A fabulous collaboration and the writing was not terribly "academic" as one might expect of such illustrious scholars.

I don't recommend a lot of books, but this I do unreservedly.  I had the misfortune/good fortune to be laid up with a bad cold this week, and was able to read more than usual.   I have taken to reading during the Red Sox commercials, and it's amazing how much one can do.  And on the deck in the nice weather.

Now I  must hie myself (gee, was the olde language catching?) up the stairs to my garret to don Japanese gardening pants and set forth into the garden, well-doused with mosquito spray and sunscreen, to plant yesterday's purchases.  We'll have 6 tomatoes and 12 garlics.  2 green beans and only 1 musk melon, as my grandma called them.  Lots of flowers.  The wild iris are blooming for the first time.  I love summer and my garden.  The chipmunks are playing tag, and the hummingbird comes often.  The male goldfinches constantly have dogfights in the air.   Lovely.

Grapeshot

ABNA Finalists

Congratulations to the three ABNA finalists in adult fiction.  I am looking forward to reading the excerpts from their novels.  One thing that quickly came to my attention is that all three finalists have a so-called "platform" whether it is Chinese adoption or growing up along the Calexico-Mexicali border.  I found both the Afghan book and the "border" book appealing, but I'm sure many will find the adoption book likewise  riveting, esp. after the recent publicity about a Russian adoption gone bad.

My so-called platform used to be technology and computer crime, and these have advanced so far since I've been retired(4 years) that it would be hard to claim them.Look ma, no platform. Does suburban life count?Maybe for "cozies" and literary fiction.Not so much for other fiction.

Take a look at the Amazon ABNA award finalists.They beat out a HUGE number of competitors, even with a good platform, you need excellent writing to get this far.

check this out

How Now Brown Cow?

Bored by social networking?  Tired of blogging? Yup.  That's me.  Don't know why.  I realized a few weeks ago that I hadn't tweeted for ages, and my Facebook comments were sorely lacking, and now my blog has remained, well, unposted.  WTF?

A certain ennui has crept into life.  Is it spring?  Is it sending queries to agents and never hearing back?  I mean, like, NEVER.  Is it losing a good friend and the loving, lovely cat?        

O.K.  I've been busy.  Cooking.  Garden.  Not so much writing.  Haven't enjoyed writing since I sent my short story in.   Really liked doing that.   The novel proceeds, but hardly apace.

Now I am hosting a rotten head cold.  Haven't had one of them in YEARS.   Never get sick.   And in spite of not gained any weight and working out, etc., I had to buy shorts a size larger yesterday.  Talk about a bummer.   So April and May have been Bah-Humbug months.  What's it all about, Alphy?

Thisbe, the remaining cat, seems to be grieving, and needs lots of extra attention.  Treats, petting, going outdoors to the deck or the porch for a nip of fresh air.  Catnip.  Many pinches of catnip.  I wish someone would see to my needs like that.

The pecan pie bars were to die for.  The salmon cheese cake--dynamite.  The retro easy-as-pie to make artichoke dip was a real winner.  We still have two pieces (frozen) of the raspberry cake, another winner.

I am too tired and coldy to grocery shop or write.  Far too blah to buy the rest of the veggies and flowers to plant.  Always one of my most favorite tasks.  Bah!  Humbug.

The book, The Scent of the Missing about Puzzle, the SAR  (Search and Rescue) dog was wonderful.  I read a few pages of Proust last night, enjoying it until I fell asleep.

But nothing quite gets me out of this funk.   Let's hope it's The Cruellest Month and its successor.  Maybe a more-or-less uncelebrated birthday.  Maybe this damn cold.

Drowning in self-pity.  Phooey.

Sisters In Crime

When we took a field trip to the Norfolk County Jail, the jail admin were amused by the group's name, Sisters In Crime.  We're having a meeting  today, the Sisters, not the jail admin.  We always have a brunch to which everyone brings goodies.  I made a raspberry yogurt cake (2 boxes of fresh raspberries) because I wanted to try the recipe, and you do not ever, ever, bake a whole  cake for two people who are on a perpetual diet.  No!  It must be shared.  We took a taste of it yesterday, to make sure that it was "fit to eat."
It was.  Decidedly.  Possibly more so now, as I put the glaze on this morning.  Here is the link to the recipe. Epicurious rocks!  Good stuff from the late, lamented Gourmet and from Bon Appetit. raspberry yogurt cake

This week I'm cooking for a dinner after a memorial service.  I volunteered for appetizers and desserts for 20-25 people.  The service is in New York, so the cooler on wheels will be put into service.  I have a funny feeling of deja vu that I blogged about this earlier.

The appetizers will be a savory cheesecake with smoked salmon, cheese straws with pimenton, and the retro, always tasty hot artichoke dip.

Desserts are:  Lemon loaf cake, pecan pie bars, and rhubarb crumble cake.  Both the loaf cake and the pie bars can be made will in advance.  The person who would immensely enjoy the food is the one the memorial is for. 

Back to the Sisters.  I recall going to the first event where I heard of the group.  It was a book event at the Boston Public Library and I never saw the then president, J. Danyne Lamb,  since, but she got me going.   Must be close to 15 years ago.     I've met some fabulous writers including the group that published my short story, "Bad Trip," last fall.   Still awaiting "traditional" publication.  And waiting.  Recall the name of this blog.

There was a great article in the weekend Wall Street Journal about Steig Larson and his writing and untimely death.  A writer's worst nightmare.  A long-awaited publishing contract, and then you die before publication, before best-sellerdom and movies and all the hoo-hah.  I really feel for the man.

I'm heading for the showers.  Lovely spring day.  Perfect for a drive thru the countryside to visit with my Sisters.  We're reading works in progress today.  I'm introducing Lotto, the Colombian Drug Lord who plays against all the stereotypes.  What fun.


Toujours,

Grapeshot

       

Annie: 1999 - May 15, 2010

We adopted Annie at the Buddy Dog Shelter in Sudbury in January of 2000.  She was the best kitty in the world, and will be missed so much.

Nature Notes from our Backyard

Out planting yesterday, and I thought that the giant bumblebee that hang around out in front was attacking me.  No!  I was being "buzzed" by the hummingbird who thought me too close to the newly put out feeder.  Eeek!  He took off after a rival.  So happy to see my birdies back.

Yesterday late afternoon the bad hawk was right out in the woods looking for my birdies and I went out and shouted and clapped my hands at him.

Young chipmunks still popping out of their hole like jack-in-the boxes.   Goldfinches on the feeder.  Suet robber still in evidence.  Life is good.  The hummingbird's ruby throat was very red.  Just lovely.  

Tricky decisions

I have to bring appetizers and desserts for 25  people for an after memorial service event in NY next weekend.  What to take has proved a challenge, because the dishes have to be a) transportable by auto b) able to be cooked ahead and c) something approved by the hostess who has lots of food phobias.  There will be children from 4 years on up, and most of the people will have fairly sophisticated palates.  After much mulling, I have decided to make a cheesecake with smoked salmon (appetizer of course) which serves 25.  It sounds absolutely delicious and there are few occasions for hors d'oeuvres for so many.  I'm also  making cheese straws with pimenton, which can be baked, frozen, thawed, and placed in the oven to re-crisp.  Made these before and they're quite yummy.  Third hors d'oeuvre will be made on the spot at the request of the hostess, a tried-and-true appetizer from the 70's and 80's, to wit, hot artichoke dip. 

Dessert was even more problematical.  The hostess wanted something not requiring knives and forks, and she doesn't like chocolate, blueberries or poppy seeds.  Kids, this eliminates a whole slough of desserts.  And remember it has to be made ahead.  I settled on a lemon loaf cake, pecan pie bars, and a recipe from today's Boston Globe, a rhubarb crumble cake.  Thank you Globe.  

We have a cooler on wheels that has gone to Burning Man and on many shorter trips including to a family reunion in Georgia and to Tanglewood.  Bless that cooler!  I will let you know if the savory salmon cheese cake tastes as delicious as it sounds.  It has leeks and will be garnished with chives since someone doesn't like parsley. 

I have always been lucky, because Significant Other likes everything but coconut, beets and cinnamon in large quantities.  I eat just about anything except runny eggs and offal.    Sometimes we'll peruse a menu where EVERYTHING sounds delicious.  When I was a kid I was ungodly picky.  Can't tell you how many school lunches where I ate a roll, drank the milk and forewent the rest of the food.  The worst, totally yucko, were stewed tomatoes with saltines in them.  On a par with that was gloppy hamburger gravy served over mashed potatoes.  The only thing I recall liking was the American Chopped Suey we got on Wednesdays. 

Sometime between 18 and 23 I learned to eat practically everything.  Life is better and certainly easier.  So bring on the salmon cheese cake!  Hurrah for rhubarb.  Three cheers for chicken livers!

Yowza!                

Baby Chipmunk

We had a chipmunk living in the wood pile on the front porch all winter, very close to a bird feeder. How handy!   The cats loved to go out and sniff around and yesterday Thisbe showed particular interest in the woodpile.  No wonder!  There were cat toys!  This morning S.O. saw three little critters crouched around a hole by the sidewalk.  He was able to get a couple of photos before they skedaddled back into their underground bunker. 

The essence of cute.   With all the predators about, I fear for the little tykes.  They are so fat and sleek and frisky.

Renewal

My driver's license is expiring after five years.  The registry no longer automatically sends you a notice, and S.O. totally forgot his when he had a birthday this winter.  We also discovered the nearest registry office to us has been closed, but it's still on the web and there are signs on the roads, and no one would ever know that he/she will arrive to be greeted with a closed sign on the door.  Major bummer.

Today the calendar  said that Grapeshot should renew her driver's  license.  I did my hair more or less nicely, and  put on a sh__load of makeup, looking like  hos 'r us in the bathroom mirror.  Or maybe clowns 'r us.  The GPS was still programmed from two months ago for the wilds of Milford.  Off I went.

There was a huge line and a  50 minute wait.  I recalled weird trips in the old days to the Registry by North Station, and a united nations of folks trying to get licenses.  I remember arriving at noon and being in a long line when the window was closed due to lunch and we were left to scramble to other lines. 

The Milford setting, complete with chairs and TV was a big step up.  I read about financial software for MAC and began another novel (reading not writing).  My number was called.  Eye test passed.  Money changed hands.  My photo was taken. The first one looked like I  had been sentenced to 10-20 years.   Eyes closed in the second.  A hideous shit-eating grin on the 3rd.   10-20 it was. And old clown face with way too much makeup was bleached into nothingness.  No eye makeup, no  blusher, no lipstick.  Pale as the proverbial ghost. WTF? 

Hours later, at home, I was still marvelling at the make up reversal. If I ever show up again, I'm going to plaster it on with a spackling knife.
Really.

Sentenced to  10 - 20 according to her new driver's license photo,

Grapeshot 

Doggie Book Party

Last night we went to a supercool book party for Susannah Charleson and the Rescue Dog Puzzle. A dynamite cake of Susannah's rescue backpack had arrived all the way from Baltimore. The cake, a pear spice, was scrumptious and totally amazing. Puzzle is totally amazing. She sits quietly in a corner if there's a room (or yard) full of people milling around, as she's been trained to do.

Susannah and Puzzle came to the New England Crimebake a few year's back, and Puzzle astounded, nay, flabbergasted us all with her sense of smell.

So we bought the book, of course, Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog.

I can't wait to read it. Puzzle and Susannah rock. It was fun to see and connect with old writing friends on a rainy Boston evening.

Publish or Perish Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business? by Ken Auletta

So, our New Yorker, which usually arrives on Thursday, is MIA today, and I had to go to the New Yorker website to read Ken Auletta's story about the IPAD, the Kindle and the book business.  These days, I am always of two (maybe three or four) minds about the book business.  Love books, love to read, love my kindle,  but on the other hand, publishing has not been kind to me, and I have more rejections than a writer ever wants to see.  So when I read that publisher's are on the ropes, there's a bit of schadenfreude involved. 

I checked out O'Reilly Media (no fiction) and Open Road Integrated Media, an e-book venture, but Open Roads indicated that submissions were by invitation only.  Well, La-di-dah!  One always thinks that maybe a new venture with sorta new technology may be open to all, or at least all might apply, but such is not the case.  "By invitation only"  is a loaded phrase that smacks of "peons and lesser mortals need not apply." 
 
Tomorrow we're going to a book party for Puzzle the wonder dog, and a doggie cake is promised.  Can't wait to see it.  On Monday is an event in honor of the late Robert Parker.  Our life revolves around writing.   

Dilled shrimp salad tonight.  We always go for lunch on the Saturday before Mother's Day to avoid the madding crowds.  Roche Brothers had lots of specials for those who would buy prepared food rather than cook it.  Kind of sad, really.  For heaven's sakes people, take Mom out. 

Found a few more agents to query.  Right now I think I'm just going through the motions, not really even expecting a response. If someone actually responded and asked to see some pages, I would probably faint.    In the publishing business, until you have an agent or a book contact, the customer is lower than whale shit. 

Obviously, from the tone of this post, I'm sucking hind teat again.   The thing is, my novel is actually going quite well, an I'm closing in on the exciting conclusion.  Give the reader a good ending, for God's sake.  Don't you hate stupid contrived endings?  Do you like heroines who burst into tears every five pages?  

Not me. 

I keep receiving a message "post not saved due to form errors," so I better hit the "post" button.  The font has gone berserk.

Love and kisses, 

Grapeshot  

Great Book for Writers

Plenty of food for thought!  Now if I could just apply to my writing.

Back to Writing, Thinking about Writing, and Querying

Notes from a mini-workshop by agent/writer Donald Maass at the 2010 Edgar's symposium in NYC last week.  Sponsored by Mystery Writers of America. 
What are  breakout mystery novelists doing differently?

 Following the “rules” is not that important.  Look outside the form for more BIG characters. 

 Find a mythic milieu and create multiple points of view.  Make your antagonist three dimensional.  The story should have a high purpose and employ all literary devices. 

 Think about your main characters.  At what stage of life are they?  What is their main problem?  How does the problem get worse?  Create more complications:  acute, painful, urgent.  Keep twisting your plot. Do not make it easy for your protagonist.  Make it very, very hard.  Make the worst happen.  The main character should experience defeat.

 Create extra plot layers with subplots, and weave them into the story.  Bombard the protagonist with worse and more difficult to solve problems.

 Your story contains unique setting.  Set some of the extra plot layers in one of your settings.     Cross story lines with your sub-plots.  Make several key events to the story occur in the same place, the “magical place.”  

 Maass believes in multiple points of view.  Maybe three.  Make one of them a young person’s.  Give your antagonist plenty of page time. 

 Opening up your story gives it even bigger potential.  Make sure that your character’s experiences mirror your readers’ universal experiences.  Put one prominent object that is present in the beginning of the story in its end.  Keep mentioning this object.  Create symbols. Think about the world of your story.  It should be special. 

 

I read Havana Lunar, because the author was an Edgar's  panelist and I liked what he said about dialogue.  This is a great book.   

 

Writing the Breakout Mystery Novel

Writing the Breakout Mystery – Agent/Writer Donald Maass at the 2010 Edgar
Week Symposium, April 28th, New York City.

Here are my notes about this one hour workshop. I definitely got some new ideas for another POV (point of view) and some other worthwhile tips. Now, to incorporate them into the manuscript.

Maass began by asking:

What are breakout mystery novelists doing differently?

Following the “rules” is not that important. Look outside the form for more BIG characters.

Find a mythic milieu and create multiple points of view. Make your antagonist three dimensional. The story should have a high purpose and employ all literary devices.

Think about your main characters. At what stage of life are they? What is their main problem? How does the problem get worse? Create more complications: acute, painful, urgent. Keep twisting your plot. Do not make it easy for your protagonist. Make it very, very hard. Make the worst happen. The main character should experience defeat.

Create extra plot layers with subplots, and weave them into the story. Bombard the protagonist with worse and more difficult to solve problems.

Your story contains unique setting. Set some of the extra plot layers in one of your settings. Cross story lines with your sub-plots. Make several key events to the story occur in the same place, the “magical place.”

Maass believes in multiple points of view. Maybe three. Make one of them a young person’s. Give your antagonist plenty of page time.

Opening up your story gives it even bigger potential. Make sure that your character’s experiences mirror your readers’ universal experiences. Put one prominent object that is present in the beginning of the story in its end. Keep mentioning this object. Create symbols.

Think about the world of your story. It should be special.

During a panel discussion, I heard about the nominated novel (paperback original) Havana Lunar, by Robert Arellano.  Bought it and read it.  (rather short).  His novel actually obeyed many of Maass's suggestions, and I loved the setting of  1992 Havana.  Arellano really takes us there, makes us hungry, too, with caffeine headaches (why does no one write of those?)  no aspirin, no gasoline, all the deprivations, but life goes on, and the "heroine" makes banana bread out of stale flour and some hard sugar.  The plot had some good twists and turns and didn't get bogged down in minutiae of police procedure. Only one POV, and for this short book, that was enough.  But we saw the protag as a young boy.  The world of this story was soooo believable.  Ole.    The Spanglish was challenging, but Arellano did a great job of translating without translating.  And some vocabulary "Jineta" we could figure out with no translation.

Onward to garden on this stellar weather weekend.  When I went out this morning, a sweet little field mouse was dying on the flagstones.  So sad.  No earthly idea why.  Now I must perform a little burial service.  Our cat Annie  is also not well.  Things die in spring, and that seems to contradict everything.  Or not.

Onward,

Grapeshot

MWA Edgar Winners- 2010

Announced at the Thursday evening banquet festivities:

BEST NOVEL

The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)


BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)


BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)


BEST FACT CRIME

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)


BEST SHORT STORY

"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)


BEST JUVENILE

Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)


BEST YOUNG ADULT

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)


BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)


ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)


GRAND MASTER

Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS

Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)