Brains on Books

As a woman, wife, mother, daughter, homemaker, writer, business woman, chauffer, cat caretaker I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done. Even with reading and reviewing books as part of my work load, I feel guilty sitting down to read. No multi-tasking, just sitting and reading. Seems decadent, especially when the long list of chores remains undone.

But then I read an article in the New York Times about scientists studying the brain and what happens to it while people read. They approached the subject from both directions. The brain on books, so to speak, by watching it via MRI while someone is actually reading. And another group of scientists look at how books influence thought. “It’s not that evolution gives us insight into fiction,” Mr. Flesch said, “but that fiction gives us insight into evolution.”

He went on to conclude:

"Fictional accounts help explain how altruism evolved despite our selfish genes. Fictional heroes are what he calls “altruistic punishers,” people who right wrongs even if they personally have nothing to gain. “To give us an incentive to monitor and ensure cooperation, nature endows us with a pleasing sense of outrage” at cheaters, and delight when they are punished, Mr. Flesch argues. We enjoy fiction because it is teeming with altruistic punishers: Odysseus, Don Quixote, Hamlet, Hercule Poirot."

Perhaps a childhood spent at the library or reading in my room explains why I view the world in a much different way than my extended family. I've often wondered how we can be so totally different in our perspective of the world. Maybe reading has made the difference. I've come to realize that books greatly influence my mood. If I'm reading something dark and foreboding, depressing or tragic, I carry that with me. My life is colored, darkened. The world is more frightening. I fight with my husband....

But if I'm reading about someone who has found success, happiness, love, made right choices, saved a life even their own, I see potential and optimism and goodness at every turn. It carries over into movies and television, too. Right now I am obsessed with the series, The Closer.

It stars Kyra Sedgewick (Kevin Bacon's wife) and an ensemble of great, individual characters. I look at the various personalities brought together in each show and marvel at how well the writers defined the characters and gave them quirks and tics that in themselves made them unique. The program solves a murder with each show. Death and dying and torture and violence are their daily lot, but what I like about the program is the problem solving, the way the character draws from daily life, unrelated events and finds solutions. It fits well into my interest in synchronicity.

I'm also delighted in the quirky, almost autistic, personality of the main character: Brenda Leigh Johnson. The creator of this character took an only child raised by a charming southern belle who holds a black belt in manipulation and a controlling, but adoring father -- a military man. They traveled as military families travel from base to base and assignment to assignment. This child, very intelligent, learned lessons well from both parents and her life situation and uses them to bully her way past every impediment to the goal of closing her case. She's flawed. She is devoted to her parents, but sees no conflict between loving them and manipulating them for her own gain. Same with the love interest in the series.

Anyway, while watching the Closer, I see a role model of a successful, devious, loveable, frustrating, problem solving woman who leads a group of mostly men who have come to respect and like her. They are loyal to her. No, not in a sexual way at all at all. About as close to sex as she and her group get is that one detective remarks, "I'd recognize those legs anywhere...."

Brenda Leigh Johnson -- don't you love what that name says about the character?

She uses every trick at her disposal, but we see that the manipulation and deviousness are tools and underneath all of her 'tricks' is a steel will and a woman who will not deviate from her core values or her goal. She does not do anything for personal gain. It is about achieving her goal, not getting rewards, earning money, etc. It is purely altruistic. Good overcoming bad. She could and sometimes does fall off into an unlikeable, self centered character. But she is found out, corrected, made to feel 'just awful.' She never falls away from her pursuit of good. I feel like I am a better person just by spending time with this character.

I'd make a great test subject for these scientists. So maybe a lifetime of reading isn't such a bad life or a waste of time. Books may be mind altering -- better than chocolate as a mood enhancer -- definitely great for one's sex life. Ask any woman how sexy she feels after reading a few of those bodice ripping romances.

Fiction writers serve the greater good. Keep writing!

Best Teaching Books -- The Ones You Throw Across the Room

I have a whole library of books that say "How to..." in the title.

"How to Write Dialogue," or "How to Finish that First Novel," or "How to Write Like a Master!"

But the best books I have ever learned from were those I literaly threw across the room. The ones that frustrated and dithered and preached and used poor grammar and mechanics and badly BADLY needed a good and dedicated editor. These books I learn "How NOT to Write."

This lesson is just as important as all of the others.

Cyclically on a writing group of which I've been a member forever, someone brings up the old argument about rules and breaking them and 'Who says you can't use passive voice?" Are and is, be and was and have been -- all of those less than enthusiastic words seem to be forbidden in today's writings.

I worked for a fantastic editor who forbid them in our book reviews. No way. We wrote with the most appropriate verbs and every is/was/were or has been was thrown out of the window. This helped me write tighter, be more aware of verbs and understand that the proper word in the proper place works!

What our editor finally realized when she read some stellar reviews by a master was -- sometimes passive works. And I learned the true answer to that question about rules: WHEN IT WORKS!

As readers we immediately know when whatever the author is doing -- works. Or doesn't. And automatically we begin to dissect what errors were made, what they should have or could have done and why. It is harder to catch in our own work.

For ourselves, nothing helps bring the mistakes, weaknesses, errors and faults to the service than a little fermenting. This is why we're encouraged to write and then set it aside for a day, week, month, until we can see it more objectively. I tell you -- that REALLY works.

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of those horribly written books that get published is -- they got published. Which means, as bad as we think we are, there's still hope. Just look at that drivel -- it got published -- so can I. That's a bit of lowest rung thinking, but whatever works. These books also make us shout, "I could do better than that!" And often is the kick we need to get up producing our own writings.

So my advice today -- Go out and read a bad.... No, read a HORRIBLE book today. It will inspire you to write BETTER!

Exercise: Read an opening passage (those are usually the weakest) and evaluate it. Decide what you'd do differently. Then write it!

What Themes Can You Never Forget?

Quick without putting alot of thought into it, list five, no make it three things that have stuck with you from your readings. Any readings. Readings from childhood or school or newspapers. Three things! What were they?

Now think about why they've stayed with you. What about them keeps coming back and making you feel something whenever you remember? Why aren't you writing things like that?

My three:

1. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
2. Peggy Vincent's essay for Notre Dame Magazine about being part of a herd of deer
3. The Diary of Ann Frank -- I had nightmares for years about that. Actually almost anything Holocaust related -- especially Leon Uris's early books Exodus and Armageddon  

I'll admit that I had to think a little to get to the third one. And then when it clicked I realized that it was a topic I cannot turn away from. I began reading about it as a kid -- the Holocaust, I mean. The question that haunted me then, still gives me shivers. Until I read about the atrocities, I thought humans were innately good. I was a kid; I expected people to behave and be nice and love one another or at least be courteous. Then I read of people stripping other people naked, taking their possessions, humiliating them, starving them, and then lying to them as they marched them into gas chambers and killed them en masse. My German heritage scared me -- were some of my relatives responsible? Was it in the genes? I still can't explain why anyone does what they did. I guess mob mentality is probably as close an explanation as any.

What scares me is seeing that same mentality at work in large organizations, companies, and political parties. Just because someone tells you to do something, shouldn't you call upon your morals and ethics to help you decide whether you should follow those orders? Which is more important -- your morality or your paycheck? "It's part of the job." "We must make a profit." "You must please the boss or get lost."

And I would say it is also that same mindset that brings me again and again to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 or thereabouts. More than 150 workers (mostly women) died in that fire -- either from the flames and smoke or from the fall from the upper story windows as they chose to jump rather than be burned up. And I thought alot about this fire during the 9-11 incidents. What a choice to be left with. Die by fire or a 20-story fall.

It seems like REALLY bad news. People screwing up and costing the lives of MANY fellow humans sticks with me. But then, when I look at number two on my all time stick-in-the-brain stories -- it is pastoral. I think of that Debussy song "Afternoon of the Faun." I think of a human's need to be part of nature and how there is nothing more enthralling when something wild trusts you or accepts you. I'm thrilled when my cat wants to sit by me. And the time of the night -- a rather magical midnight (or wee hours of the morning) and the silence. The mist. The moment, not trapped in time, but set apart or removed from the normal life flow.

So I am drawn to atrocities, human cruelties, overcoming the worst, suviving -- maybe those all fit the two choices. And I'm drawn to those moments when a person is jerked out of their normal life and they experience something mystical and life changing and take note of an epiphany, never to be quite the same ever again. That moment of grace. I'm fixated on the 'worst of times and the best of times.'

Now why in the world am I not writing these stories?

I'm fascinated to know what your list tells you. -- Dawn

Reading: It's Fun-damental!

Reading is a major part of growing your writing. Or at least it has been for me.

I graduated high school, worked full time while taking one biology course, discovered I wasn't good at science and certainly wasn't good at handling a job and school at the same time, so I turned to tradition and married, starting our family two years later. But being a stay-at-home Mom wasn't a great fit either. Books and reading once again saved me. I say once again because as a kid, whenever things got tough at home I went next door to the library or I sequestered myself in my bedroom with a book. It wasn't high literary reading, mostly it was escapist stuff. But even at that, the more I read the more I knew. And some of what I was learning, I didn't realize, was about writing. I eventually returned to college and earned my degree -- we all know reading is a big part of any education. I did well. I particularly loved comparative studies. And all of the time I dreamed of writing my own work that someone would find worthy of buying.

I came to recognize writing that worked and definitely could spot writing that fell short. But knowing how to write it myself took more reading. This time I turned to Writer's Digest and The Writer and all manner of how-to books. Eventually I picked a publication out of the Writer's Market and sent them a manuscript. To my surprise -- they bought it.

The one thing I haven't been able to get past were my own self-doubts. But now and then something will come together and I'll know that I'm not just a hack. I'll know that I have good instincts. This week had a couple of those moments.

If you've been following this blog you know that I am writing for Suite 101, sent them an article about North Face Inc. and their lawsuits. And you'll also know that the editor didn't think it fit their criteria. But she left it on the Internet while I had a chance to think about a rewrite, which I made yesterday. In my efforts I looked at what was being written about that topic and to my surprise I discovered that I had beat the competition. I had scooped the Internet on the story! It felt good. It felt great! But the editor was still right. So I rewrote the story with a better focus and put it back out. The story would not have come about if I had not been reading.

I also maintain another blog: Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. I adore needlework -- all kinds. Just give me fabric and thread or yarn and needles or a hook and ... I'm happy. Writing about it and inviting others to write about their own work has given me great pleasure. I saw a message on another blog that they too appreciated what I was doing. It doesn't take a six figure income to make my heart leap with joy -- someone who appreciates what I'm trying to do -- that's my kind of wealth. My Subversive Stitchers site works because I acquainted myself with all kinds of needlework, am curious about everything, and read, read, read about them all. Recently I wrote about Sashiko for Suite 101. A few years ago I had never heard of it (and no, it is not a number puzzle!).

So, I say, the greatest gift a writer can give himself or herself is time to read.

• Pick a topic, any topic and research it. Surf, surf, surf. The tide is always right to surf the Internet.
• Read nonfiction. Find out new facts. Fiction is also based on facts -- the more you know, the richer your writing.
• Read the classics of fiction.
• Read opening lines of books, think about why they work, why they don't. Think about what you would write as the next line.
• Read magazines and publications you dream of writing for and think about what they need and give it to them.
• Read for fun. My latest edition of Diana Gabaldon's series arrived and I'm so enjoying the exploits of Jamie and Claire. I fear that this may be a bit darker than the rest. Villains are popping out of the woodwork at every turn of page. I fear for Jamie and Claire's lives! I can't stop reading. Now, if I could just put that into my fiction.
• Read everything even billboards and cereal boxes.

And while you're reading think about what is there and what is not. Why did a writer choose that word or that detail or that phrase? Why did they focus on that fact? Do you believe them? Does the story hold together? Do they write with authority? Does whatever they're doing work?

I review books and sometimes the writing is weak, sparse, lacks the sparkle that draws the reader right into the character's lives -- but sometimes that doesn't matter and I just keep reading. I just reviewed such a book. The writing was mediocre, but the storyline was alive with new information, possibilities, an exotic location, people stepping outside of their normal lives and living an experiment. The psychology of the situation was compelling. So being a master of the phrase isn't always the most important thing about writing.

Often I think writers, especially fiction writers, should take a storytelling class or work on their storytelling skills. And so I come to the secret weapon of great writers -- children's books. Read those beautifully illustrated picture books and let your imagination go wild.

Talking Books have me by the ears

While the masses move on to Kindles and electronic reading devices, I dip my toe into the world of audio books. It started with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I freely admit that I’m obsessed with Gabaldon’s characters, Jamie and Claire and their entire family. But when I heard Devina Porter’s voice they absolutely came to life.

Another aspect of audio books gives me the freedom to sit and knit or sew, or fold laundry if I must truly do chores while remaining in the book’s world. I’ve gotten so accustomed to audio books that I find it awkward to pick up a book because I can’t hold my knitting needles as the same time.

Now that I’ve found this wonder land, I’m finding there are pitfalls – books and voices that don’t invite me in quite as completely and delightfully as Devina and the Outlander series. Thankfully, on Audible.com I can pre-listen to an excerpt to see if the book, reader and I are compatible. Almost like that E-Harmony dating service – or so I’ve heard.

Perhaps I am a purist, but I only want to listen to unabridged books, which means not a single word has been omitted. The abridged versions may be fine, but not for me. And as a writer, I would like to think that what I write requires every word I’ve included. Outlander has approximately 32 CDs for the one book – I thought that daunting, but once immersed in the story, the action flies by much too quickly and 32 CDs just means I get to spend more time with Jamie and Claire.

One book I can highly recommend, in addition to all of the Gabaldon books read by Devina, is Vanishing Acts written by Jodi Picoult from Recorded Books .

I’ve read Picoult in the ‘old fashioned’ way and thoroughly adored her writing. She has this magical way of twining such fascinating subjects together – magic and search and rescue and love triangles and alcoholism and fathers and childhood memories – in this book at least. I always learn something when reading her books and while listening to Vanishing Acts, I truly appreciated Picoult’s talent. Not every book was made to be read aloud. Hers works exceptionally well and the pace was perfect because it is a book that requires some thought, some mulling over and the slower pace of the readers words worked perfectly with my brain’s timing. The readers are: Jonathan Davis, Julia Gibson, Jim Jenner, Robert Ramirez and Sharon Washington.

I have also enjoyed an audio book of one of Lillian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who mystery series read by George Guidall. If you visit Amazon.com and click onto George’s name or any narrator/reader’s name, you’ll find a list of other works they have recorded. Guidall also has narrated: Extreme Measures and other novels by Vince Flynn, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Wolves of the Calla and several other novels by Stephen King.

Friends have made some suggestions. One recommended Barbara Kingsolver reading her own works. (Poisonwood Bible, etc.) Another, who can only listen to nonfiction and must read fiction gladly suggested Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, but didn’t mention who did the reading. I suspect it was Scott Brick. Scott has gotten rave reviews by a few other friends, too. He narrates along with a cast of other voices the sci-fi classic Dune by Frank Herbert.

I also asked for recommendations from members of my favorite mystery list: DorothyL which resulted in an interesting discussion of readers as well as suggested listening. Someone offered the Ian Rankin Rebus series, but couldn’t remember the reader’s name. I believe it is James Macpherson.

Joe Mantegna’s reading of the Spenser series written by Robert. B. Parker received several positive comments. One member mentioned that, “ Mantegna captures the poetic rhythm that Parker writes into his dialog.”

Also anything read by Barbara Rosenblatt got a thumbs up. She reads among other things the Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, Sarah Graves and Diane Mott Davidson mysteries.

Other recommended readers:

Dick Hill

Phil Gigante (reads Karen Moning’s Beyond the Highland Mist)

Jeff Woodman

John McDonough who reads Jan Karon’s Mitford series.

One that might be a real winner during the Christmas season – Charles Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol as read by Orson Welles.

If still in doubt who to listen to, check out the awards list. Yes, in addition to Emmys and Edgars, Golden Globes and Tonys, there are Audies – awarded by the Audio Publishers Association. The 2008 winners list offers an opportunity read an excerpt and of course listen as well. Audio File Magazine offers reviews as well as excerpts. I listened to Sue Monk Kidd’s “Secret Life of Bees” – I think its one I would want to listen to from beginning to end. A brief listen to Xanthe Elbrick’s reading of Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Everlasting leaves me entranced by her delightful voice. And listen to some of the children’s books. Jessica Almasay’s narration of Clementine by Sara Pennypacker is especially fun. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci invited me right into The One and Only Shrek by William Steig and I was bereft when the excerpt ended. I am afraid that this may be the next book I must download.

Most public libraries have a healthy collection of audio books including some classics I haven’t been able to wade through the ‘old fashioned’ way, but maybe by listening and knitting my way through them, I can find a better way to appreciate the old masters. And I can’t think of a more exciting adventure than to give voice to some of my old favorites – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte or….

Of course you can listen to them anywhere now that Ipods and MP3 players are the norm. Downloads of audio books are readily available. In your car, on a walk, in a plane, or while munching celery stalks (poetry is not my forte) – you get the picture. One person suggested downloading several books on her electronic device, changing the titles so that censors and customs and border police can’t discern that they are contraband and take them along on news assignments or vacation. Much lighter to transport than the paper and ink books. And obviously much easier to smuggle. Now, that’s an aspect of audio books you may not have considered….

More Obsessing over Outlander

I have taken the next step toward total obsession and joined a 'discussion' group of Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series.

Bandied about among the 'ladies' of the list are names for possible actors to play the male protagonist of the series: Jamie Frazer. Val Kilmer someone said. Noooo. I couldn't see it. I could see him as a member of the Doors, but not as Jamie Frazer, Scottish Highlander.

Then I heard the name Gerard Butler.

Who the heck is that? What has he done? Well at the time of the writing of this blog I only know that his face has been set to a lot of tunes and turned into videos on YouTube. One in particular is a fascinating video of Mr. Butler trying out for the part of Jamie Frazer. I understand he is Diana Gabaldon's first pick (thus far).

After watching the video a couple of times, I'm also captivated by the woman appearing with him. But I don't know her name.

The idea of this fantasy figure being played by a mere man and having to put his face to what I have up until now only imagined -- I resisted the idea. Said I didn't believe the series should be made into a movie.

And yet, having seen Mr. Butler, perhaps the idea of a movie with him as Jamie Fraser has certain merit.

Robert Frost, earthworms and childhood

I learned today that earthworms only have a few thousand brain cells, and according to Douglas Hofstadter in his book Godel, Escher, Bach, every earthworm brain is like every other earthworm brain. I guess if you've seen one earthworm, you've seen them all.

Each mammal, each human is one-of-a-kind. Our brains basically come from the same mold, but Hofstadter assures us each brain has evolved into something unique. The scary part, I think, comes when psychologists discuss the architecture of these unique brains. Most of the building apparently takes place within the FIRST TWO YEARS OF LIFE. According to Norman N. Holland's book "Robert Frost's Brain":

The child's brain develops virtually all its potentially useful neural interconnections by the age of two, and then goes on to develop a lot more. The brains of children from three to eleven use twice as much energy as adults' brains. Specifically, in the first year of life, the metabolic rate of the baby's brain (established by PET scan) is about two-thirds that of an adult brain. By the age of two, the rate equals the adult's. During those two years, the neurons have been branching and interconnecting. Indeed, during the first year of life, "dendritic and synaptic elaboration" increases by a factor of 20. Then, by three or four, the metabolic rate becomes twice that of an adult's. By the age of six or seven, a child's brain equals in weight and volume an adult's, but it uses twice as much energy, and it has twice the number of synaptic connections. The brain stays "super- charged" until early adolescence. Then, from eleven to fourteen, the metabolic rate begins to fall until it subsides to the adult level. Similarly, there are twice as many synaptic connections in the cortex of a child's brain as in an adult's. Then that number falls by half in early adolescence. Young children experience twice as much deep sleep as adults, and then from eleven to fourteen years of age, children move into adult sleep patterns.

With all of this energy and growth, it rather explains why childhood plays such a major part in making us who we are. The experiences of childhood stay with us forever and show up in unexpected places.

For example Holland discovers a childhood moment in one of Robert Frost's poems.

Once by the Pacific

The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the Light was spoken.

It appears to be a description of storm, yet the simple word usage suggests a child's view of this event. Frost remembers in his memoirs the moment that prompted this poem, yet doesn't elaborate on what all was going on. According to Holland this has more to do with human sexuality, parents, abandonment than with an ocean storm. For more of his critique, please visit UCF's online copy of "Robert Frost's Brain", page 16.

As a mother, I belatedly realize how vital those first few years of life were for my sons. In hindsight would I do things differently? I would hope so. But maybe this little blog can motivate parents to take more seriously the childhood experiences they offer their children, the environment in which they raise their children, the amount of time their child feels 'abandoned' such as Frost felt in this poem, and the number of times they hug their babies and introduce them to something new.

I've long wondered why we decorate nurseries with baby stuff instead of what we hope will interest and mold our children. Frank Lloyd Wright's mother filled his nursery with great architecture -- is it a fluke that he became one of America's best known architects?

Why do we dumb down the way we talk to our children, the books we read to them, the explanations we give them? Maybe with higher expectations, a broader spectrum of information and opportunities, we will help our children expand their little neurons.

If I had my babies back today, I would read to them of their world. Books about the solar system, color, sound, the golden Phi, snowflake architecture and the history of man. I would spend lest time reading of giant jam sandwiches and dirty dogs and steam shovels. Although, I enjoyed those books as much as they did. I still do. I wonder what that says about my childhood.

Where's Your Bookmark?

It's a frequently asked question on the DorothyL list. "Where's Your Bookmark?" This group brought together by mystery -- writing that is. Booklovers, authors, readers, reviewers, we all like to talk books, primarily mystery books. Seems like in most books, there is an element of mystery, even in the badly written ones -- the mystery there is how did they ever get published? It is a great place to chat with your favorite mystery authors, too.

The latest mystery I read was by Judy Clemens "The Day Will Come" and the review, if you're interested, is in the November issues of Mystery Scene Magazine. I've also read a few non-mystery genres. A nonfiction that's been out for a few years written by Erik Larson: "The Devil in the White City."

And in the spirit of working toward writing and publishing my own novel, I am reading everything I can get my hands on about the Gilded Age, thinking that might make a great time to set a book that I could actually write. I'm no Diana Gabaldon, though. Where she can find pages and pages of information to impart, I can only eek out a couple of sentences, so I need to fill my reservoir of facts while putting pen to paper.

Not surprising perhaps, my bookmark is back in "The Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. The fact that I am rereading a book, especially rereading it within the same year, within six months of having read it the first time, is extraordinary. There are so many books and so little time that rereading something just seems sacrilegious.

But I am so drawn to her characters, setting, storytelling. I began reading with the intent to study her methods, figure out her style, hunt down the clues that make her writing so addictive, I mean, delightful. I'm a writer hoping, praying, wishing and actually working toward publishing my own novel, so I thought it wise to study an author whose work makes me green with envy. I mean whose work I respect.

Wikipedia says this about Gabaldon: Diana Jean Gabaldon Watkins (b. January 11, 1952 in Arizona) is an American author of Mexican-American and English ancestry. Diana Gabaldon is her maiden name, and the one she uses professionally. Her books are difficult to classify by genre, since they contain elements of romantic fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction (in the form of time travel). Her books have so far been sold in 23 countries, and translated into 19 languages besides English.

Yep, that's who I want to be when I grow up!

I managed to get through the first sentence of "Outlander" with an eye toward technique. "Good hook," I mumbled. She set up the coming pages, the coming chapters with one sentence: "It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance."

Rereading it here, I see that it could be leaner, tighter, more active. Maybe "Looking around, who would have believed this a good place to disappear?" Begin with a question that she will answer. But, that first sentence is about all I remember as far as style or technique or how she fills those pages. Instead, I stepped through the pages and did a little time travel of my own right into the midst of her book. She brought me there at the speed of thought.

How does she do that?

Time for a Prison Break?

Don't we all create our own little prisons that we need to break out of now and then? I certainly do.

In a former life I couldn't say no. That meant anytime someone asked me to do something -- bake cookies for PTA, serve on a committee, take care of their kids, shoulder another project at the office -- I'd smile and cough out, "Yes, of course."

My inability to say no often led me to seek a more hermit like existence, cutting myself off from others who would make demands on me. In essence, creating an even more narrow little jail cell.
These days my prison consists of living my life around work schedules, writing deadlines and the beck and call of loved ones near and far. Illness, aches and pains, demands of the job, chores always needing attention.... I'm afraid I'm the kind of jailbird, that even though the door swings open, I still sit on my little cot behind the bars. It has been so long since I thought about what I wanted to do, I can't consider it any more. Every thought is about 'we'.

Yet, sometimes I have to mentally escape from the realities that surround me.

Lately I've stepped into another world and find myself returning to it, even in the midst of reality. In an earlier post, I mentioned reading the Outlander series. I'm still reading. I can't get enough and yet I worry that I'm running out of books and may soon be forced to return to life without Claire and Jamie, return to the 21st century instead of pre-revolutionary Colonial America.

Without them, I will be forced to concentrate on getting the oil changed in my car, dealing with repairmen, blood tests, trips to the grocery, balancing budgets, cleaning the hot tub, figuring out why our lawn died.

But for now I think of baking bread, chopping wood, clearing fields, snake bite remedies and making a syringe out of a snake fang and some tubing. I think of porcupine quill sewing needles, sitting before a hearth fire with a pot of stew (or laundry) bubbling in a big kettle while knitting stockings for my family.

Perhaps the real thing I embrace about this hard scrabble life is that they can provide for themselves and their loved ones themselves. They make or grow or harvest or invent whatever they need to survive. They have control over this very basic daily life. Of course on the horizon lies war, enemies, disease, death. But then, it is a book, a series. And as long as I know there is another book in the series, I know that Claire and Jamie will continue their lives, survive the hardships, and be free to make the choices that matter to them. No cubicles, no bosses, no timelines or deadlines other than the changing seasons.

I want a life as ordered and reliable as a book with a happy ending. Sometimes, I just need to escape into another world to find it. The best part of escapist reading -- I can always return. Usually I bring a bit of the book back with me. While going about my own list of chores, I recall how the characters coped -- knowing that Jamie could survive the horrors of war, how could I not survive scrubbing showers and toilets and floors?

Funny, too. Although Jamie is this amazing fantasy man -- I see him in my husband. Or perhaps I see my husband in him. While reading about Gabaldon's character, I realize that for almost 36 years, I've been living with a man that many call hero and write books about.

With a refreshed view of my surroundings, I realize that my life, my circumstances are only a prison as long as I view them with the wrong attitude. But in order to find that out -- I must see my life through the pages of a book. Others may find escape in other avenues. But escape we must now and then, just to see more clearly.

P.S. Salon offers an interesting column about the Outlander series and Gabaldon's 'backwards' romance techniques. I highly recommend the series to historic romance lovers, history buffs, mystery buffs, and sci-fi/fantasy audiences. The writing is above the norm, too.

Awards season has begun

Janet Rudolph, The Mistress of Mystery, for Mystery Readers International, released the list of 2007 Macavity Awards nominees. These nominees were published in the previous year, 2006.

P.D. James won the first Macavity in 1987 for Best Novel with her: A Taste of Death; while Faye Kellerman and Marilyn Wallace tied for Best First Novel with Kellerman's The Ritual Bath and Wallace's A Case of Loyalties.

Sue Grafton won the short story award that first year with her The Parker Shotgun.

It is fun to see these names, so familiar now, back when their careers were less established.

Winners of the four categories: Best Mystery Novel, Best First Novel, Best Nonfiction, and Best Short Story, are chosen by members of the Mystery Readers International organization Voting must be completed for this year's winners by September 1. Winners will be announced at the annual convention, Bouchercon, in Alaska later in September.

For a full list of nominees and past nominees and winners, visit Mystery Readers International website.

The name for this award came from the mystery cat of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats).

And if you will notice a previous blog post I made about Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, you will know why I ache to attend this year's convention -- Diana is a special guest. Plus, the stories I hear about this convention -- what a celebration!

Library's Summer Reading Program

Times have certainly changed.

Young and old have embraced blackberries, Ipods, cell phones that do everything including phone calls, and wireless hookups. I’m so techno-unsavvy that I’m sure this little list is out of date.

For someone like me who lost the technology battle in the era of Transformer toys, it is heartening to know that some things have not changed. One such tradition, the summer reading program, has begun in libraries across the United States.

Readers and wanna-be readers gathered around the table in the heart of our little Florida library to fill out the color coordinated forms. Then they searched the shelves for new reading adventures, and began fulfilling the requirements to read for twenty days and earn a free book.

If you see the ‘free books,’ you will realize these readers are motivated by more than the flimsy paperback books offered as rewards.

Reading is its own reward.

Holding a book in your hands, getting lost in the story, learning new facts that expand your world, meeting characters, visiting exotic landscapes – whether interior or exterior, will leave readers forever changed.

There’s nothing more exciting than introducing a child to books, or for that matter, introducing others to a favorite author.

Not long ago, while I shelved books as part of my library page job, I saw two women sitting together at a table. One was obviously teaching the other to read. They came to that same table every morning for several weeks and often as I worked, I could hear the one middle-aged woman sounding out words, fitting them together into sentences and stumbling over this new ‘technology.’ Her table mate nodded and murmured encouragement or offered assistance.

Figuring out this business of reading gave that woman such pleasure, more, I suspect, than deciphering the secrets of computer-generated technology. When the sounds and the rules began to fit together into recognizable words, her face would transform into a smile that lit the entire room. Her teacher’s face glowed even brighter.

Many mornings I worked, hidden by book shelves where I listened to her, hearing not just the words she sounded out. But also the growing joy in her voice as she mastered something her children had been doing since kindergarten. I could see her world growing with each session. Her steps lightened, her posture changed from victim to CEO of her world. Reading will do that for you.

For some reason the reading program is especially popular this year. The parking lot fills before the library doors open each morning. I step over little kids lying on the floor of the children’s section, their eyes never leaving the pages of the books in their hands. Parents and children hunt through the nonfiction section for books that will tell them interesting facts.

Several of our regular patrons bring in their fat record books that list every book they have read and another list for those they want to read. They meticulously search the collection, checking off books as they find them. Commuters hunt through our collection of audio books on cassettes and CDs, so they can enjoy books on their long drives. One admitted to driving several times around the block before turning into her driveway because, “I’d just gotten to a good part and had to find out what would happen!”

All walk out of the library filled with enthusiasm about the books clutched in their hands. Books they will step into, lose themselves in once they’re at home, or at the beach, or on vacation, or combating insomnia.

And all of those tiny little faces entranced by picture books as parents snuggle close and read to their sons and daughters. Is there any part of parenting better than that? I don’t think a cell phone, Ipod, or even blogging can compare to a good book, enjoyed alone or shared with someone you love.

I Just Want to Share

My son phoned me from work.

“Mom, hi, I’m taking a break and just read this great description. I just had to share it with you. . . .”

If he hadn’t said another word, he had already blessed me in more ways than I ever expected.

As a Mom it made my heart grow two sizes, like that old Grinch story he liked as a child.

He wanted to talk to his Mom.

After all of the things I put him through while learning about this mothering stuff. He’s lucky to be alive and I’m fortunate that he’s talking to me at all. (I’m thinking of the time I zipped his naked little body into his Dr. Denton sleepers and part of him got caught in that zipper’s nasty little teeth. A sensitive part of him. He still winces when he hears a zipper).

His words warmed me as a reader. I lived most of my life in a world of non-readers. My parents worked hard. Dad worked long hours in a steel mill; Mom’s idea of valuable reading began and ended with the Bible. My husband despised reading, it ranked right up with cleaning sink drains or taking out the garbage. Even my friends would rather watch videos than open a book. When my sons were born, the first thing I introduced them to, after diapers and mother’s milk, were words and books.

As a writer, my son’s words fell like a balm on abraded skin. We live too much of our lives in isolation. The opportunity to discuss books is like a gift from the gods. To have my own son make a special effort to call me from work and say, “I just read this great description. . . .”

I almost cried.

I remembered all of the times when he’d say a word, a perfectly placed word. Regardless of what we were in the midst of — verbal combat, cooking lessons, bedtime, or unzipping him from his pajamas -- I’d comment, “Great word. Excellent. I like that word. Perfect.”

Sometimes I’d hear him make the same comment back to me. But, it wasn’t until he called me from his job to share a descriptive passage that he made the jump into sharing written words with me.

Bless you Dean Koontz. Bless my son’s boring job that gave him time to read. And bless that unique descriptive passage that prompted him to pick up the phone.

“Listen,” he said. “Like a herd of snails headed for a gourmet restaurant.”

We laughed at the visual image of a herd of snails, of someone herding snails, of their little faces reflecting the horror of their fate, their antenna dipping low. Their even slower one-footed progress. Can you drag one foot?

The passage may not be a literary giant standing beside mutterings from Anna Karenina or Oliver Twist or Lord Polonius, but for me they are golden words.

It was a moment. An interlude in a life that passes too quickly. A speck on the grand scale of war and peace. But, it ranks up there with his first steps, first words and first car.

Someone said that just when kids get to be interesting people, they leave home. I hope my son, who has turned into a fascinating young man, will continue to call home and say, “Hey Mom, I just want to share with you.”

Happy Mothers Day! And I hope you all receive as sweet a gift as I did. "I just want to share...."