June 18, 2008

Top Ten Romance Movies

Last night’s AFI special listed their Top Ten movies in ten categories. I only got to watch parts of it but I went to their web site and confirmed that one category they omitted was Top Movies for Romance Writers.

Yes, they did include the Top 10 Romantic Comedies: City Lights, Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally (”I’ll have what she’s having.”), Adam’s Rib, Moonstruck (”Snap out of it!”), Harold & Maude, Sleepless In Seattle, Roman Holiday, It Happened One Night, and Philadelphia Story.

Romantic is not the same as romance, though. Roman Holiday is a romantic story to be sure, but a true romance, at least in my opinion, has a happily ever after for the two lead characters together. Audrey Hepburn’s character went on as the princess and Gregory Peck went back to being a reporter, separate. Sleepless in Seattle is romantic, too, but the lead characters get what, two minutes on screen together?

I heartily agree with their choice of It Happened One Night. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have marvelous chemistry together. I first saw this years ago when I was heavily into reading traditional Regencies and it seemed like a Regency set in early 20th century. Loved it when the “wall of Jericho” came tumbling down at the end.

Philadelphia Story is a hoot, too – love the rapid, witty repartee between Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. They were also great together in Bringing Up Baby, but then I may be biased since I have a fondness for screwball comedies.

My Top Ten Movies for Romance Writers (and Readers):

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark – a primer for any writer, the opening sequence of this film is used in countless writing classes and workshops. Right out of the starting gate you get a feel for the hero, the villain, the quest, the conflict, and the hero’s strengths and weakness (”Snakes! I hate snakes!”) which will come into play later. And of course there’s the whole reunion romance with Marion. On the ship, when she’s kissing Indy’s owies better? Fun stuff. Yes, we love to beat up our heroes, sometimes even in the love scenes. (If you’ve seen Indy 4, please don’t spoil it for me — hubby and I plan to go but haven’t made it to the theater yet.)

2. Romancing the Stone – love the developing relationship between Michael Douglas’s rugged adventurer and Kathleen Turner’s wimpy city girl, and how both characters grow. Danny DeVito is hysterical in his supporting role. I sometimes explain to people that my writing style (at least what I’m aiming for) is Jane Austen meets Romancing the Stone. Since the movie is a quarter century old, maybe I should update the reference, but I can’t think of another one that fits as well.

3. Overboard – an amnesia story as well as a revenge story, set in my backyard, with the adorable real-life couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Roddy McDowell is a great supporting character. Actually there are a bunch of fantastic supporting characters in this flick. The last line (”What could I possibly give you that you don’t already have?” “A little girl.”) still makes me reach for a tissue. Sniff.

4. Sabrina – take your pick of the version with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear or the original with Humphrey Bogart, but both remind me of a great Regency story, too. Can you see her as the coachman’s daughter? Love it when the crusty curmudgeon finally gives in to his romantic side.

5. The Princess Bride – over the top but so much fun, and so many memorable one-liners.

6. Cary Grant – okay, he’s an actor not a movie, but he sure knew how to do romance and comedy. Father Goose, Operation Petticoat, His Girl Friday, and the other two movies mentioned above are just the starting point for your Netflix queue.

7. Pretty Woman – one reviewer dismissed this as simply a hooker falling for her rich john, but he totally missed the point of the story arc and character growth. Near the end, Vivian is offered what she wanted at the beginning but she’s grown so much she passes up the heartless situation Edward offers her and goes off to make something of herself, and now has the strength to help her room mate do the same. Edward has grown enough to make major changes, too.

8. Benny & Joon – several types of love stories are going on here, between brother and sister (Benny and Joon), girl meets boy (Joon and Sam) and boy meets girl (Benny and Ruthie). One of the sweetest on-screen first kisses I’ve ever seen takes place between the two misfits falling in love, Joon and Sam. And there are some really interesting cooking tips, too.

9.

10.

The last two are blank. You get to fill them in. Which romance movies would you add to this list?

June 10, 2008

Just because

Have you ever done something just for the experience? You don’t intend to pursue it as a hobby or career, but you just want to experience it, at least once?

A few years ago a fellow member of my RWA chapter suggested we volunteer to answer phones during a pledge drive for Oregon Public Broadcasting. At the time my family wasn’t watching much OPB, especially during what my husband referred to as their “begathons” but I signed up for the shift anyway. Hubby couldn’t figure out why. I had no burning desire to be seen on TV – those pesky 10 lbs the camera adds, y’know – and I didn’t plan to pursue employment in the field.

We’re helping a good cause, I explained. And when I got home I was able to tell him about the totally awesome backstage tour we received while the real program was airing and the phones weren’t ringing. They showed us the editing bays and studios, explained how the cameras and TelePrompter work, all kinds of interesting things. Way cool. Yes, I write historical fiction but you never know what bits of knowledge are going to come in handy. And I just have always liked knowing behind-the-scenes stuff.

My dad lives in San Felipe, Mexico, a fishing village three hours south of the border with a large population of American retirees. When we first visited him five years ago, I went flying with a guy I met on the beach. Seriously.

Ralph landed his ultralight glider on the packed sand, and in exchange for fifty bucks he took me up and we flew south on the coast before heading back. He even shut off the engine so we could glide along with the gulls, no sound but the wind rushing past. I just wanted to know what it was like to fly that way. (Mind-blowing awesome experience, btw.) And Dad had told us all about Ralph and his struggle to get the proper licenses and insurance coverages to operate his flying business, so it wasn’t as harebrained an idea as it first sounds.

(No, Ralph’s legs aren’t in the shade — his are really that dark and mine are really that pale.) I would have flown again on our last visit but the winds were too strong and Ralph was grounded. My husband was disappointed that he didn’t get to go, but delighted that I didn’t since we later learned I was about a month pregnant at the time. He still shudders when he thinks how we went riding across sand dunes on quads. But Daniel turned out fine.

Through a convoluted chain of events, I ended up being the one behind the wheel when we crossed the border into Mexico. We got caught in rush hour traffic as darkness fell on a Friday just before Christmas, in a town with few road signs, which were in a language we understood only a few words, where the local custom frequently had three vehicles across two lanes. My husband needed a Valium but I kept thinking how I could use this experience. What if my heroine needs to drive a carriage in a foreign city? Now I know how she’d feel.

I’ve done other things just to see if I could, like volunteer to be foreperson when I was called for jury duty (it felt like being a referee, or herding cats). Even though I can’t cook, one summer as a teen I ran the french fryer at our church’s restaurant booth at the county fair instead of playing waitress, my usual role.

Sometimes when opportunities arise I hesitate at first because it calls for me to step outside my comfort zone. But I find the more I step outside it, the bigger my comfort zone gets.

Have you ever done something just for the experience?

May 29, 2008

Organization

Yesterday I realized I need to return two pairs of shoes. When they say having a baby changes everything that means your feet, too. But the receipt wasn’t in the shopping bag. I think it fell out onto the dining table when I removed other items from the bag. If you saw our table, you’d know what a daunting task it is to find a small slip of paper amidst the mounds of mail, pizza coupons and other important things waiting to be sorted and put away. Finding “away” for everything is a challenge we’re still working on.

With Daniel happily playing in the activity-thingy beside me, I get a sack for recycling and begin sorting paper. Daniel has a major spit-up which requires a wardrobe change, which reminds me I need to start another load of laundry. To keep up with a baby, we need to average one load per day. In transferring the previous load to the dryer, I notice we’re low on fabric softener, so I write that on the shopping list posted on the frig. Then I remember we’re also low on butter and bananas so I snoop through the cupboards and add more items to the list. Where was I? Right, looking for a receipt.

Now Daniel is fussing – it’s time for a diaper change, bottle and a nap. A half hour later I finally get him settled in his crib and return to the table, but something in the sink reeks. I load the dishwasher and head back to the table.

There’s a couple of bills in the stack, including a credit card bill for materials my husband used on a job (he’s a self-employed paint contractor) which reminds me the client still owes us for the now-past-due invoice. So I pull the job folder and make phone calls to track down someone at the property management company who will get the check in the mail for real.

Daniel awakens and we go through the whole diaper change/eat/clean up/diaper change routine. Husband has arrived home and showered so I hand off the baby and return to my office to put the folder away, and almost trip over a box of papers I found while cleaning in the baby’s room (our former guest/storage room) last week. Mixed in with other stuff are old magazines I promised to give to a critique partner tonight so she can make a collage. I sort papers for a few minutes but realize it’s time to go to Jazzercise class. I’ve given up trying to lose the 30 pounds I gained post-partum – three months now of thrice-weekly 60-minute workouts and still the scale refuses to budge – so instead am focusing on tightening up the 30 extra inches on my waist. Okay, it’s not really 30 inches, it just seems like it when I look in my closet at all the clothes that used to fit. And I am making progress, just very slow.

The store where I bought the shoes is only a short detour on the way home from class and this would be a perfect time to return them… except I still haven’t found the receipt. Sigh.

I recently told a co-worker about a similar day, when I did a bunch of things but not the one thing I set out to do, and she told me about a marvelous book: Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder, by Susan C. Pinsky. Neither of us have ADD but she pointed out us creative types tend to have many traits in common with those who do. Hmm.

As I thumbed through the pages, I was amazed at how many of the tips I already use. For example, we don’t sort laundry. We have three baskets in our room – no hampers with lids because we won’t take the extra steps to walk over there and open a lid but we willshoot for two points – one for whites, one for my delicates-keep-your-paws-off-my-silks! and one for everything else. With added baby stuff, we’ve learned you can wash almost everything together – just use cold water, add a cup of baking soda, and don’t use bleach.

Some of Pinsky’s rules are too strict for those who don’t have ADD – I think we do need more than one wooden spoon – but there are some tips I hadn’t thought of and want to put into practice. Better organization = less time spent looking for things = more time to write.

Now, where did I leave the book…?

May 21, 2008

Edgy, Schmedgy

Maybe I’m annoyed because our election system allows a few Midwestern and New England states to eliminate most of my choices for president.  By the time Oregon held its primary yesterday, we had few candidates to choose from.  Maybe I should be annoyed with the candidates who dropped out early.

Maybe I’m annoyed because — again — the one facial moisturizer that actually works for my extremely dry sensitive skin has been pulled from the market, to be reformulated and relaunched at a significantly higher price.

Yes to all of the above, and add to that it’s time for season finales, which means once again I’m honked off at Hollywood.

When they kill off a main character in a long-running TV show, they say they’re keeping the show edgy.  Gritty.  Being in _____ (you fill in the blank) is dangerous, and anyone could be killed at any time. 

Well, I’ve had it with edgy.  I never worried that Reed or Malloy would actually be killed.  Didn’t have to worry about McGarret or Danno, nor Starsky or Hutch, either.  They might be shot or otherwise hurt, sure – we’re always beating up our heroes because we’re invested in their well-being and it’s emotionally satisfying to take care of them, to bring them back from the depths of despair or the brink of death. 

Remember the one where Hutch was faking his amnesia for revenge after Starsky’s crazy driving finally led to a crash?  Fun.  Escapist entertainment.  That’s what I want from my TV viewing of scripted dramas and comedies.  If I want edgy, gritty reality, there’s always the news.

On CIS last week, a main character was killed by a dirty cop.  The departing actor allegedly has off-screen alcohol or drug problems, but still, they couldn’t have left room for the character’s return if the actor got clean and sober?  Another series regular left earlier this season but at least she left town so I can imagine her alive and having off-screen trysts with her on-screen lover, and possibly available for guest appearances.

Monday night, House killed a series regular in a storyline that’s going to have serious consequences for next season and may have killed a friendship.  NCIS killed a series regular last night, and don’t even get me started on the character deaths on Lost.  Even my husband commented that it seems all the shows are killing someone.

Sometimes a familiar character is killed to raise the stakes.  See how dangerous it is for our intrepid hero!  See how important it is that she succeed!  People are dyin’ here!

Sometimes it’s not a character that’s destroyed but a beloved inanimate object.  In the story I’m writing now, my hero Nick is the captain of the Wind Dancer. Both have played small but key roles in two previous novels and now it’s their turn to star.  I’ve based Nick’s ship on the Lady Washington, a reproduction of the original Lady W launched in 1750.  I’ve gone sailing on her twice, and spent hours chatting up the crew and examining every square inch the public is allowed to see.  Posters of her rigging and schematics decorate my office door.  And of course there’s the Pirates connection, where she played the Interceptor.  (I first went sailing on her three full years before Captain Jack set his sights on stealing her, btw.)  When I write about the Wind Dancer, I see, feel, smell and hear Lady Washington.

Wind Dancer is involved in a race for hidden treasure, fighting off a dastardly rival along the way.  There’s a really cool battle at sea.  To raise the stakes, my critique partners want me to blow her up. 

Sometimes killing a main character backfires.  Remember what happened to Dallas after they killed Bobby?  Eventually they brought him back and explained the stinker season was just Pam’s dream.

So, I am not blowing up Wind Dancer.  Damage it, definitely, because it’s emotionally satisfying to hurt and then make it all better.  In the fun, escapist world where I spend some of my precious free time, my beloved familiar characters do not die or blow up.  Why doesn’t Hollywood get that?  Or am I alone in this?

May 2, 2008

Friday Funnies

1. A little boy opened the big family bible with fascination and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly something fell out of the bible. He picked it up and looked at it closely.

It was a large leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages. “Momma, look what I found,” the boy called out.

“What have you got there, dear?” his mother said.

With astonishment in the young boy’s voice, he answered: “I think it’s Adam’s suit!”

***
2. One day, a 17-year-old girl is walking through a park when she hears a faint, “Help me, help me.”

She looks around and follows the quiet voice to a bush near the path. Looking under the bush she spies a little green frog trapped under a log. The girl moves the log and picks up the frog.

“Oh, thank you, thank you,” says the frog. “Take me home and put me on your pillow and in the morning I’ll be a handsome prince.” So the girl takes the frog home and puts him on her pillow, and there in the morning is a handsome prince.

You don’t believe that?

Neither did her mother.

***
3. After being away on business, Tom thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift. “How about some perfume?” he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle with a $100.00 price tag.

“That’s a bit much,” said Tom, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $75.00. “That’s still quite a bit,” Tom groused.

Growing annoyed, the clerk brought out a tiny $25.00 bottle. “What I mean,” said Tom, “is I’d like to see something really cheap.”

The clerk handed him a mirror.

***
4. A woman is in a gambling casino. At the roulette she says, “I have no idea what number to play.”

A man nearby suggests she play her age, so she puts her money on number 35. The wheel is spun, and 43 comes up.

The woman faints.

***
We have several empty tubes of Airborne cluttering up a junk drawer. They don’t fit the curbside recycling criteria, and the local SCRAP center doesn’t want them either, but I don’t want to just throw them in the trash. What to do?

Inspired by the clip below, I washed a few, dropped in some Cheerios, and stashed several in strategic places around the house and in the diaper bag. The tubes are small enough for Daniel to grip, big enough he can’t choke on it, makes a satisfying rattling sound, and if he somehow does manage to get the cap off it’s okay for him to put the contents in his mouth.

Have a great weekend!

April 25, 2008

When Green Isn’t Green

The new buzzword is green, as in earth-friendly. I’m all for it. For curbside recycling we separate our paper, metal, plastic, glass, and the yard debris that can’t go on our compost pile. Daniel wears cloth diapers instead of disposables, we try to remember to take canvas tote bags to the grocery store, and recycle and/or re-use the plastic and paper bags when we forget. We combine errands, plan our route to minimize backtracking, and try to go at off-peak hours when we’re less likely to add to traffic congestion. Most of our light bulbs are compact fluorescents (even though they don’t last anywhere near as long as the packaging claims). We went to the Rebuilding Center and bought an old bathroom cabinet for $5 in order to use its hardware and solid oak doors for the cabinet we were building, instead of buying all new material.

To get more ideas on how we can do more or do better, I recently watched a show on HGTV about making your house more green. Color me perplexed.

For example, the homeowners had the ubiquitous plastic vertical blinds on their patio slider, as do we. I looked forward to seeing the decorator’s idea, which turned out to be blinds made of bamboo and sea grass. Very cool. (And if you know where to buy them, please let me know - we need better window coverings in the baby’s room.) Up went the natural material that looks good and is made from renewable, earth-friendly material, and the plastic blinds … went in the trash.

Um… exactly how is this good for the planet? Yes, vertical blinds are not especially attractive, but resources had already been expended to produce and transport them, and they were still functioning well in the purpose for which they were intended. Maybe the HGTV people had a recycling solution for them and they just didn’t tell us about it.

There are several other examples where they changed something that was already doing its job –- and not using any more resources to do so — to replace it with something “green” for the sake of being green. How is that good for the planet?

I read a disturbing article about how huge swaths of the rain forest are being cut down – where the trees had been doing their part to clean Earth’s air, not to mention being habitat for untold numbers of species of flora and fauna – in order to grow crops used in bio-fuels. Doesn’t this seem like cutting off your nose to spite your face? Or some such metaphor.

My husband and I are perplexed by people we know who bought a hybrid with the thought they’re going to save money on transportation. Okay, let’s do the math. They spent $22,000 for a new Prius so they could get 45 mpg and pay $120 a month for gas instead of $240 per month for gas for a traditional Camry they owned free and clear or nearly so, that only gets 22 mpg. It will take 183 months to make back their investment, or more than 15 years to recoup their expenditure and reach the point where they are actually saving money. Most people don’t keep the same vehicle even half that long.

And that’s without even discussing the resources that were expended to produce the special vehicle, which are way above and beyond what it requires to manufacture an old-fashioned car. Some research even suggests a hybrid may never make back it’s investment in the resources it took to build it vs. what it saves on fossil fuels. (I know, that’s not a popular statement — please don’t throw tomatoes.)

My point is, if you’re in the market to buy a new vehicle or window blinds or whatever because you don’t have what you need or what you have is no longer doing what you need, then yes, it certainly makes sense to buy green and take advantage of new technology. Go for it! Do your part! But if you already have something that’s doing its job and you replace it just to be “green” I think that’s whacked.

Or do you think I’m off base here?

April 18, 2008

Nesting

Hi, my name is Shirley, and I can’t stop watching HGTV.

For those of you without cable TV, the Home & Garden Television network is all about living spaces, inside and out. My initial viewing began with the most innocent of intentions — a year ago we were expecting a baby, I was nesting, and needed ideas on how to mend my clutterbug ways. Mission Organization gave me practical tips on how to clear the clutter, organize our belongings so it doesn’t happen again, and decorate nicely so I’ll be motivated to keep it all neat and tidy.

Then I graduated to shows focused solely on decorating. I nibbled on Divine Design with Candice Olson episodes but found her fantabulous how-high-can-you-go budget remodels (a bathroom with a toilet that cost more than three months’ income?!?) intriguing but too much to handle.

Then I sampled and got hooked on Design On A Dime which is more in our range. They bring in a team of three to re-do one room on a budget of $1,000. I don’t always like the style they choose (one recent living room got a chandelier made of faux deer antlers) but I am impressed with the creative methods employed to stay within the budget. They make things instead of always buying new, or shop the thrift stores and on-line classifieds (clearly Craig’s List but they don’t mention it by name).

Something they made I’d like my hubby to build for us is a coffee table that has a padded top upholstered in faux leather (soft edges and washable fabric, since baby will soon be walking and therefore falling and spilling). The top is in two pieces, hinged on the ends, so you can flip one side up to get to the storage area underneath (great for hiding toys) after sliding the stuff on top to the other side because realistically it’s never going to be completely cleared off, is it? Simple, but I would never have thought of it myself. A variation has a solid top and ottomans with storage compartments that tuck underneath or roll out for extra seating. They make it look so easy, it should be a cinch to build, right?

If a grand is too much, Decorating Cents does a room for under $500, also makes things or “re-purposes” existing items, and has a segment called Trash to Treasure where they make things like a sofa table out of old lumber and picket fence pieces that were headed for the dump, or transform clay flower pots into bookends.

If you have no money at all to spare, there’s Free Style where they come in and rearrange existing stuff, bringing in things from other rooms as needed, grouping things into artful displays, improving traffic flow and conversation areas and generally making you wonder “why didn’t I think of doing it that way?”

Of course there are numerous shows that don’t disclose their budget and are based on the decorator’s personality, like Myles of Style, Deserving Design, Color Correction, and so on as well as Curb Appeal and Designed To Sell. And don’t even get me started on all the shows on landscaping or crafting.

You’d think all this would be enough to overwhelm me with ideas, make me get up and put this new knowledge into practice since most of my decorating intentions are still just that, intentions, or at the very least turn off the TV and go to bed since everyone else is fast asleep, but no, I’ve been known sit through House Hunters, where people look at three properties and decide which comes closest to their ideal. It’s as bad as getting hooked on a game show. (Cash Cab addiction, anyone?) Will they choose house #1, #2, or #3?

I understand why I felt compelled to watch when they were hunting in a suburb near us (how often is Tigard featured on TV, anyway?) but then I sat through the next episode where an executive and his family were house hunting in the Caribbean with a mere $1,000,000 budget. Okay, I do know why I had to watch the Caribbean episode and regular readers of this blog know why, too, and it was interesting to learn that the furniture stays with the house there, but still…

I can’t even justify all this as research because I haven’t figured out how to put it to use in my writing. I generally don’t get too detailed about settings because when other writers do I tend to yell “get on with the story!”

Hi, my name is Shirley, and I need help.

April 8, 2008

Memory Lane

A woman named Courtney contacted me last week and we’ve been trying to figure out if maybe we met as children. Our dads were stationed at the same base in England, and our time there overlaps by two years. It’s been a great trip down memory lane, remembering places and events I hadn’t thought of in years.

From her I learned the hill that we’d slide down on flattened cardboard boxes near the baseball field was actually formed by a bomb dropped during WWII. We used to jimmy the door at the back of the manor to get into the snack room, apparently fueling rumors the house was haunted and the ghost had a sweet tooth.

Courtney’s original question still has me smacking myself in the forehead. What was the name of the manor house in which all personnel stayed when arriving or departing Greenham Common Air Force Base? Everyone who knows anything about England knows that all their old houses have a name, from Donnington Castle to Waverly Cottage. It hadn’t even occurred to me wonder about the name of ours, a house that I featured in such loving detail in my first completed still-under-the-bed-where-it-belongs manuscript. When questioned, my mom drew a similar blank.

Since I was working on my taxes, naturally I had to immediately do a Google search. The first search result was my own bio page, which is how Courtney found me. After that, not much luck. I did find a site that mentioned the base was returned to its natural state in the 80’s after the whole debacle of our government wanting to store nuclear missiles there. Greenpeace was still camped out at the front gates when my dad went back for a visit in ‘92.

On the plus side, I found www.PicturesofEngland.com and thought I’d share a few memories of Newbury with you. (Where are my pics, you ask? Haven’t a clue.)

On Saturdays, this car park downtown is an open air market with vendors’ stalls selling everything from cabbage to paperbacks to clothing. If the camera panned left, on the back row you’d see a toy shop that sold wonderful wooden toys. Directly behind the photographer is another row of shops, including a bakery that made marvelous walnut whips — a cone-shaped chocolate confection I haven’t found here in the States. A few doors down is where we bought my absolute all-time favorite pair of shoes, a pre-teen version of the platform shoes that were so popular at the time, in purple-black leather with chunky high heels. I’d never felt so tall. If you didn’t want to cook and didn’t want to eat in a pub, about the only other option was the Chinese take-away across the street, or the fish and chip shop up a couple blocks.

England’s canal system has been a smooth ride for getting fragile items to market for hundreds of years, especially in the days before Macadamized roads or asphalt. Our class took a field trip on one, going up and down many locks. We didn’t go far since most canal boats have engines of one horsepower – an actual horse, who walks along the towpath. The lock pictured here is the same kind of technology that gets massive cruise ships through the Panama Canal.

The Kennet River runs through town and every year they hold the Crafty Raft Race, pictured here. Notice everyone onboard is wearing a life vest – these are mandatory since many of the rafts turn out to be less than sea-worthy. The guys in my dad’s unit often competed and most years completed the course before their raft, er, encountered technical difficulites. We had an excellent view of the race since we had friends whose garden ended at the canal’s edge. I don’t remember any house boats parked by Mr. Ball’s garden gate, though.

March 7, 2008

Backstory

Robyn’s post the other day on her favorite things reminded me of a writing workshop a friend conducts about walking a mile in your character’s shoes. In the workshop, she explains that you need to know not only what shoes your character put on that morning, you also need to know why she chose that particular pair of shoes.

It goes beyond knowing whether she accessorized her office attire with strappy, bright colored three-inch heels or ballerina style flats in neutral black. Fashion sense and availability of disposable income aside, why is your character drawn to one thing over another? What draws you to the sparkly chandelier style earrings instead of understated pearl stud earrings, or no earrings at all?

Birth order and other factors play a role, but a big part of why certain things draw you is your backstory. What in your background made you who you are today? If you know that Robyn grew up in Texas eating spicy Tex-Mex on a regular basis, for example, you understand why she considers mild salsa to be chunky ketchup.

In high school I was very much an introvert, self-conscious and uncomfortable being the center of attention. Aside from the fact I’m a middle child, I felt out of place when we moved to a small town where most of my classmates had known each other since kindergarten. I was drawn to photography and became a reporter and photographer for the school paper, which allowed me to be there and observe and record without being an active participant – an outsider on purpose. When I slowly broke the habit of biting my nails, I started wearing nail polish in champagne, beige frost, and other subtle shades.

After graduation I landed a job in the camera department of a major retailer. My enthusiasm for the hobby of photography was contagious, and I was successful at selling camera starter kits. Repeat customers would ask for me by name, seeking advice in their new hobby. My self-confidence soared and self-consciousness dipped down. I grew my nails even longer and started wearing polish in plum, wine, and other red shades. Black for Halloween, alternately red- and white-tipped nails for the holidays. Change on my inside was reflected on the outside with what I was drawn to, what I was comfortable with.

Knowing all this, I try to make sure each character’s backstory is compatible with their story arc, and vice versa. What makes it impossible for my Regency heroine to even try on a pair of breeches at the start of the story, and what makes it possible for her to be comfortable wearing them before the final chapter? What influence do experiences in her childhood and teen years have on her actions and choices as an adult? It takes me almost as long to write the first five chapters as it takes to write the rest of the book because of laying the foundation and getting it right.

As critical as it is to get the backstory right for my characters, it flat out terrifies me sometimes to realize I’m creating the backstory for my son. Every day. Yes, there’s the whole nature vs. nurture debate, but still… Will he look back on his childhood as a happy one? Will we be able to avoid making the mistakes our parents made? Make an entirely new set of mistakes? How will I react the first time he throws a temper tantrum in the checkout line?

At this stage there’s really only five things needed to make him happy –- food, sleep, clean diapers, teething aids, and Mom or Dad’s attention. Toys are fun, a pacifier is soothing, being in the swing makes him positively giddy. But I’ve heard his needs will soon become more complex…

February 25, 2008

And the Oscar goes to…

Tommy Lee Jones always plays basically the same character (The Fugitive, Men In Black), but I like that cut-to-the-chase, cut-the-crap kind of character. And he had the cajones to do a nude butt scene at age 53 in Space Cowboys. All the clips of No Country gave us views of Josh Brolin, someone I’ve been keeping my eyes on since he starred in Young Riders. He’s even in an episode of 21 Jump Street. He’s the son of James Brolin, Marcus Welby’s motorcycle riding sidekick, and both shows should be re-running somewhere. TVLand programming execs, are you there?

I first saw George Clooney way back when on a very short-lived sitcom called E/R (no, that’s not a typo), and he’s certainly improved since then. In many ways he reminds me of Cary Grant. A physical similarity doesn’t hurt. He’s fun to watch, exudes charm and hasn’t hurled his cell phone at anyone, but I don’t get the feeling he’s stretching all that much in the film roles he takes on.

Viggo Mortensen has certainly inspired his share of romance novel writers with his rugged good looks and performances in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Hidalgo. Unlike Tommy and George, it looks from the clips that he was playing a vastly different character in Eastern Promises. A stretch! But a guy I definitely wouldn’t want to spend any time with, though I might cast him as a villain in a future book.

I’m a fan of M*A*S*H and love the sly wit of Hawkeye. He’s nicknamed after a character in his father’s favorite book, Last of the Mohicans. An English teacher gave me a list of books everyone should read by the time they graduate college, and I spent high school working my way through that list, starting with Mohicans. When the movie version came out in ‘92 starring a handsome British actor named Daniel Day-Lewis, we rented it from Blockbuster. Great story and cinematography, but…

One scene in particular stands out, a heartbreaking shot where the young lovers are being torn apart, with a dramatic waterfall background and our heroic hero telling the girl “Stay alive! No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you!” A stirring line to be sure but it was delivered with such over the top melodrama I couldn’t help snorting. That movie, or at least the impression it left on me, has not made me a Daniel Day-Lewis fan. He won an Oscar for My Left Foot and was nominated again so I must be in the minority in thinking he’s not a good actor.

All this is just so you know I’m not prejudiced and simply annoyed that the Oscar for Best Actor last night went to Daniel Day-Lewis even though (you did see this coming, didn’t you?) it should have gone to Johnny Depp.

C’mon, you know it’s true. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again a few weeks ago, and my husband’s only comment was “I can’t believe that’s the same guy who played Sweeney Todd.” Even my husband gets what a great actor Johnny is, how he’s always different in every role, how you can almost forget it’s him and only see the character. I aspire to write books the way Johnny plays roles.

I take consolation in Sweeney’s win for Art Direction and the knowledge that Johnny was spared the horror of having to go up on stage as himself in front of millions of people and give an impromptu speech.

Okay, now it’s your turn. Post-Oscar discussion!