Two roads diverged in a yellow wood*

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How does the germ of an idea plant itself in the soft soil of our brain and spout a fruit tree, a beautiful garden or a tangle of weeds? The garden is pruned and cared for with loving hands. The weeds we hack, pull out by the root and send to the trash.

When my work didn’t make it from the brain to the blank page, it remained, often untended and with no conscious effort on my part, continued to grow.

But what happens when faced with the dastardly blank page, your mind is a wash … or it’s simply not there ?

A blank page …

Consider, if you will, where your mind goes when it decides to take a break, freezes like a car battery in mid February or floats out to sea in a leaky life boat. Why can’t you think of that person’s name? Where did your snappy retort go? Can’t remember the punch line to a joke?

You drove all the way to work, the supermarket or to meet someone for lunch. The car is parked in a legal space and it dawns on you. How the hell did I get here? And what could have happened to me while my brain was absent?

You just watched a great movie and ten minutes later you can’t remember the name of the main character. The next morning the entire plot has gone off to left field.

Ever walk into a room to get something and realize you forgot what you were looking for?

Did you actually look for the sugar bowl in the freezer, try to locate the car keys in your sock drawer?

The cliches … my mind is playing tricks on me … I think I’ve lost my mind … mind over matter …  if you put your mind to it.

Ah yes, pilgrims … the mind is a terrible thing to lose. So why is mine taking another unscheduled coffee break? Well for one, it’s Tuesday and I need to write something for tomorrow.

What writers call a “block” is actually their minds refusing to show up for work … or playing the game of … hell no I won’t go.

Can your brain go on strike or turn on you?

I believe my mind was on strike for about twenty years in the middle of my life. That may or may not coincide with raising two children. Motherhood is a type of mind game. They play the game … you lose all your marbles.

During the secretarial years … I might take dictation for an hour … write it all down dutifully in Pitman shorthand and when I got back to my desk had no recollection of one single word the man said. Many was the time I’d take my steno pad to a fellow secretary who read Pitman and ask if she could help me unravel the mystery of twenty pages of letters that had to be in the mail by noon.

There are dozens of things one can do when the mind takes a walk. Follow it and take a walk yourself. Go for a run. A ride. Make something. Bake something. You can get out of your head by helping someone else …

… or you can get outside your head by reading. Not to mention that as writers, reading is a great way to learn.

But I digress …

Back to the blank page.  You’re on. The ideas are flowing and  you have the sensation that something has happened at last. Then what?

Then you take your precious treasure and you entrust it to a critique partner or a BETA reader. You join a group and you trust them and  yourself that sooner or later after all of the millions of words and thousands of pages, you have finally done it.

Today I want to take the time to give homage to that process. Like the law of averages, a jury of your peers, and the average median statistic on a chart, somewhere in every group there will be one or two individuals you can trust. A person who for unknown reasons and without ulterior motives, is genuinely interested in your work.

How does the germ of an idea plant itself in the soft soil of our brain and spout a fruit tree, a beautiful garden or a tangle of weeds?

I don’t have an answer. However, I do know that I’ve been one very lucky person to meet just the right person at just the right time.  Thanks. You know who you are.

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Now for other news …

There are a half-dozen readers who comment frequently on my weekly posts. Some of them are accomplished writers with published or about to be published works.  Often they use their blogs to talk books, host blog tours or interview writers.

Kudos to those who share with their readers the many books they read. It’s like having a moveable feast of to-be-read material.

When you spread the word about someone you know … it’s like throwing a pebble into a pond and watching as it ripples outward.

I do love the way my mind brought you in a complete circle. From the germ of an idea to the pages of a completed novel, novella or short story.

In case you run out of reading materials …

•  Find and read The Sweet Spot by Laura Drake. The Sweet Spot is a story of family, survival, and second chances. Visit Goodreads for the complete review.

•  Follow my good friend Christi Corbett on Facebook or on her blog and read about her up-coming novel Along the Way Home. Read her recent post on her journey to publication here.

•  Go to amazon or your local bookseller and pick up Shelley Noble’s Beach Colors. Beach Colors hit the NY Times Best Seller’s List in April. Find her other books and then follow her mysteries under Shelly Freydont.

 

So what about you?

Will you leave names and titles  of books in comments today.

And like ripple on a pond,

those great stories will circle out to someone else. 

fOIS In The City

 

*   The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

The Next Big Thing

I am very late posting this week. After six weeks of moving madness, I have barely returned to a “normal” writing schedule. Plus … the fallout from an insane road trip on Saturday put my writing behind by another two days.

The photograph from JenG, is the shadow of promise, and suits who I am, and who she is becoming.

To all my fellow writers whose blogs I follow and comment on frequently. I trust you will forgive me for being remiss these past weeks. While I give no guarantees, and after raising children, learned never to promise anything or tell you when we’ll get there, know that even when I am absent from the blog roll, I am with you in spirit.

On October 10^th and again on October 15^th, Laura Drake and Shelley Noble tagged me for The Next Big Thing, and finally here we are.

*See the end of the post for rules.

There is this thing I have about rules.

I seem determined to break them, like crackers in chicken noodle soup. Rule number one. Answer the questions?

Well, the truth is I have two WIP. One is the first of a mystery trilogy, and the second is the first of a series of Women’s Fiction novels under the umbrella of Brooklyn Tales. The settings are the beach and fishing communities of Brooklyn, many of which I have featured in City Scapes.

For the sake of your sanity and mine, I’ll give you the one closest to the finish line. But in case you were also interested:

Brooklyn Tales, Cut Down to Size, features Brina Esmerian from Coney Island … a shopaholic, hoarder who, after the financial collapse of 2008 is downsized out of her career of twenty-five years, and faces the challenges of starting over at fifty-something, battling her addictions, and the guilt of being a survivng twin.

Talk about your one sentence synopsis.

The ten questions:

What is your working title of your book?

Framed in Black and White, a Third Eye Mystery

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea came from an old story I wrote in 2008 about a gal who does strip salvage and discovers a macabre tressure in the rubble of an auto salvage yard. It morphed from my memory of my brother’s darkroom in our tiny Brooklyn apartment and my frustration that I have no “eye” for the camera lens.

What genre does your book fall under?

Mystery. A bit of cozy mixed with a tad of suspense, and spiced with a pinch of romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The female, Antoinette “Toni” Gallucci, might be played by Angie Harmon … tall, rangy and tough. Unfortunately, Angie is already in a TV series based on the work of Tess Gerritsen … Rizolli and Isles.

More than midway, I introduce her love interest, Murphy. Colin Farrell looks the type

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Framed in Black and White features Antoinette “Toni” Gallucci, a no-nonsense photo journalist, with a penchant for photo art, whose third eye is not merely the lens of a camera, pointing outwards, it is also her inner vision and her uncanny ability to put herself into the dark places outside the frame.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Represented by an agent (from my  lips to her/his ears).

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

One month. Then I stashed it for two years. Did the rewrite in one month this July. Stashed it again in August while I relocated and have finally finished edits this week.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It’s a bit darker than most “cozy” mysteries, yet not as dark as a thriller. The character is not as tortured as Eve Dallas, and not quite as silly as Stephanie Plumb.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Photojournalist, Margaret Bourke White and my brother’s work “inside the frame.”

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It’s a trilogy, that takes place during the anti-Vietnam and civil rights movement, focuses on the issues of that time, and the parallel issues that are still prevalent today.

Toni’s commitment to finding what is outside the frame resonates. She is what I’d call a woman’s woman … satin undies under denim.

Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.

I was tagged three weeks ago by Laura Drake. I was also tagged by Shelley Noble who I have missed dearly during this protracted break. Sorry it took so long, gals. Rule number one broken.

The people I tag are a varied group and write a mix of genres.

Rosemary DiBattista because she has written a cozy about a crazy Italian family in Jersey (close enough to Brooklyn) and because I have always loved her voice.

Patti Yager Delagrange because I was touched by her first book, her comittment to nature and animals and her loving ways with people.

Sherry Isaac because she is the first person I have met on-line who, like me, has a total preoccupation with ghosts, Nancy Drew and because she also has good taste in music. If you haven’t read her, you should.

Sheri Degrom … who is in the drafting stages with me and does slammin’ book reviews, is outspoken about the military complex, is another tough old broad who took her valuable time to help me … and we all know how much I need help.

Christi Corbett … because she is a young mother of twins who works hard and who was my first on-line friend. And because any minute now she will find an agent and remind me to get my query ass in gear.

If I were allowed to mention another half-dozen, I’d pick the whole crew from Writers in the Storm blog.

There you have it, my better late than never Big Thing.

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Much thanks to all of you for staying with me through this difficult time. I might mention, that my troubles are little ones compared to my fellow northeast family and friends.

Some of our beloved shore communities have been devastated beyond reason, and the aftermath of Sandy will be felt for many years to come.

This is the last of my “regularly” scheduled posts until 2013. In January, I will return with updates and query quips, features in City Scapes, and a few more hilarious adventures from the hapless residents of Sunset Park.

There are not many days left before we begin Holiday madness. To this end, I will dig into my archives for my favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas posts.

What is your next Big Thing, that story that we all want to read?

And like me, do you ever break rules for the fun of it?

fOIS In The City

The Next Big Thing Rules:

***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
When you’ve written your post and queued it up, send me the dedicated URL/permalink so that I have it for my post to link your upcoming one. There’s no need for you to give me the names of the people you’re inviting. Just go ahead and invite people to participate on the week after your post runs. You include their links and also include mine as the person who invited you.