New Group of Friends...

Just before the Earth Day Dallas event, I joined a group called the DFW Tiny House Enthusiast, and the first meetup was occuring during Earth Day Dallas. Due to monster sized crowds, I didn't get to meet anyone.

Wow! Look at that mob!
The crowds at Earth Day Dallas are actually tentacle lines with no
visible ends. I decided to forego the tour since, as Bill informed me, 
I actually already live in a tiny house.

I also didn't realize that the group relied on volunteers to show the house, until I figured out that DFW Tiny House Enthusiast also had a Facebook page which is much more active than their Meetup page. Once a call went out for volunteers at Taste of Dallas, I put my name in the pot and spent most of Sunday answering questions and counting people as they approached the tour areas. The volunteers in my area were responsible for 3 larger tiny homes 189 - 360 sq. ft. But the most exciting part was meeting the people, especially fellow volunteers who were really cool, awesome, engaging and like-minded.

Little Home of Mine

Terraform

The Whittle Wagon 

There's something rejuvenating about being around people who share the same interests and passions. I'm looking forward to the next adventure this weekend in Austin at the Kasita Repeata Meetup.

Taste Test Thursday - Hidden Fire

Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

Review: I couldn't finish it and will not be reading the Elemental series.

Appetizer: "The man stole down the hallway, his foot steps echoing in the dimly lit basement of the library."

The first sentence is supposed to set the tone and place for the opening of the story and I've already got issues. Instead of getting something original, I feel like I'm being given the Safeway generic version. For instance, the word "stole" to describe the man's movement implies he's being sneaky, yet his footsteps are echoing. Also, most libraries may have hard tile floors in the lobby, but by the time you get into the library itself, the floors are carpeted... because they want the library to be quiet! The whole sentence read like a cliche attempt to create 'mood.'

Main Meat Course: I was right, because more cliche phrases followed like the "Jedi mind tricks." The novel also begins with the main character stereotypically seducing another character. Basically in the first three chapters I was able to chew through were dripping in greasily contrived plot devices. 

When I stopped for a pee break after the third chapter, I came back with no interest in picking up where I had left off. The gist is, I was bored with the bland language and craftsmanship. Additionally I had no inkling as to what the rules of the world were. I had hints of suspense to come but no action and no interest in reading further. If I have to force feed myself a story, then I'd just rather not partake.

Dessert: 

Word Count: 143

Edits: 0

Not So Happy Valentine's Day

For the past 5 months and 14 days, many people have asked, "How's living in that tiny cabin?" And my answer remained an enthusiastic, "It's great!" or "I love it!" or "It's weird but I feel like I'm glamping all the time now!" It's been 5 months and 14 days of bliss and I know people keep asking because they are waiting for that moment that it's not blissful anymore.

I shouldn't find it ironic that day arrived yesterday on February 14, 2016... Valentine's Day. All I wanted was bathtub to soak because I had slept wrong on my shoulder. I am getting over the flu so I spent most of my time laying in bed which meant not much room for anything else. Aside from a desperate need of a bathtub for soaking and endless hot water, I wanted a "real" bed and room to walk around. My bed felt too hard and when I let some air out of the mattress, it wasn't firm enough. I tossed and turned all night and generally felt like I was in a tomb because the air was so stuffy.

Basically, I was a whiny baby who didn't feel good and was starting to experience cabin fever.

Here's the thing though, if I had been in a larger house with a tub and "real" bed, I would have found something else to complain about. Everybody has days when they just want something different that what they have. I think it's important to admit that there are times when the tiny cabin is, well, tiny. And there are days that being in a tiny space is the last place I want to be. Luckily for me, those days seem to be few and far between.

Thankfully, this morning I woke up refreshed. I but away the bed and cleaned up. Opened the windows for light and fresh air. I noticed that the shelves need to be dusted and wiped down, so it's just time for a little spring cleaning. And maybe it's time to start thinking about planting a garden and setting up an outdoor kitchen to expand the boundaries of the tiny cabin.

Unraveling Ingredients - Childhood Reads

I have heard the phrase, "Write what your read," repeated continuously in workshops and instruction books. However, I find this phrase insufficient for explaining why authors write their types of fiction. The phrase should be, "Write what interest you."

After listening to and reading different author's origin tales, I found a common ingredient - their early reading interest. Patricia Briggs (of the Mercy Thompson series) once said that she loved reading folklore, not necessarily fairytales, but oral stories of magic and her family was always telling stories. Chris Colfer said in an interview that he grew up being read fairytales and often wondered what happened to the characters after the story ended or how the story would have been told from another character's point of view (resulting in the Land of Stories series).

So, I had to ask myself, "What do I remember reading or being read when I was growing up?" Well, I remember Dr. Suess, specifically The Sleep Book, Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!, great books about historical people, and finally, The Hobbit. I don't really remember fairytales or nursery rhymes, but I remember The Hobbit. My mom read me a chapter a night when I was in the first grade and I loved it. I read the Babysitters Club like it was cotton candy and the Boxcar Children. Nancy Drew was a definite favorite. Then in the sixth grade I felt like I graduated to adult literature when my mom convinced me to read The Color Purple.

What can this tell me about my reading/writing habits now?

The Sleep Book - I would always ask for this book when I was tired or sick because I loved the silliness of the words. It is also a journey book in which different cultures and species experience sleep in different ways.

Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse! - This is a beautiful book, wonderfully illustrated. The idea of animals needed homes of their own and each home unique to the habit and nature of the animal was inspiring. Though these habitats were inspired by animals the designs of their homes had distinctively human characteristics.

The Hobbit - Mom started reading me this because she wanted to read something that she was interested in and thought I would like it too. I completely opened my imagination and explains so much about why I love fantasy fiction.

The Babysitters Club - My first real girl power book about a group of girls in middle school who get together and form a business out of something many girl do, babysitting. All the girls were different, from artsy Claudia to tomboy Kristy and shy Marianne. This is also when I fell in love with the idea of books as a series because I always wanted to know what happened next. When I read stand alone books I was disappointed that there wasn't another book with those characters or in that world.

The Boxcar Children - This was another kid power book but historically based. Their self sufficiency is what attracted me to the book. They also take care of each other and have a strong family support system even though they feel they have been abandoned by the rest of the world. And once again it is a series.

Nancy Drew - Serial female mystery solver with suspense galore, need I say more. The Boxcar Children ended up being a kind of mystery series too, but Nancy Drew was a real sleuth. She lived with her dad and had a boyfriend and best friends who helped her. But ultimately, Nancy Drew was quite independent.

The Color Purple - I don't know of many mothers who would want their young daughter to read a book where the opening paragraph begins with an incestuous rape. But I remember that was the first book that hooked me with the opening ling, "You better not never tell nobody but God." The cadence of speech captured my interest immediately and then to read that this happened to someone only a few years older than me made the story stick with me. I developed a real empathy for female protagonist who are abused but become strong, who are outsiders in their own families so they create their own.

These are the corner stones of my reading/writing journey.

Word Count: 689
Edits: 2

Taste Test Thursday - Halfway to the Grave

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Review: I didn't finish and will not be reading the Night Huntress series.

Appetizer: "I stiffened at the red and blue lights flashing behind me, because there was no way I could explain what was in the back of my truck."

I will admit that when I read the first line, I was intrigued. Nay, I'll even say excited.

Main Meat Course: Then I read on and was drenched in the sugary, southern girl voice interacting with another stereotypical hick cop in the introduction. That was an immediate turn off. The main character comes off as so idiotic that I couldn't read more than Chapter 2. Too contrived, too stereotypical, and too much mental eye-rolling. If I had finished, I'm sure my eyes would have gotten stuck just like my grandmother always said they would. The first mental roll happened when the cop questioned a grown woman about what she was doing out and about at 4 a.m.

The story just seemed to be trying too hard to keep the reader interested. As a result it became overwrought with cliches and superficial suspense. I know there are people who appreciate this type of writing but it's just not for me.

Dessert: You can tell that this is someone who is aware of what it takes to craft suspense in the story and the urban fantasy elements are interesting. Just not enough for me.

Word Count: 243
Edit: 2

When to Shelf Ingredients?

During my last visit to the bookstore with Rae while playing the Book Cover Game, we came across several new publications by established writers, such as Stephen King and Margaret Atwood.

King's newest book is a collections of short stories called the Bazaar of Bad Dreams (November 2015). The cover was not something Rae and I were drawn too. It is very dark and the image is surreal with text writing like a bad horror movie.

First Line: "You can't come," his older brother said.

Me/Rae: Nope. Not in.

Me: I don't like openings that start with dialogue.


Then I saw the new Margaret Atwood novel in the new fiction aisle, The Heart Goes Last (September 2015).

Me/Rae: Ooh, the new Margaret Atwood./The cover's interesting.

First Line: "Sleeping in the car is cramped."

Rae: I'm out and I'm not surprised.

Me: Wow, I'm disappointed. Do you think that once you become a name, a brand, that the authors just don't worry about hooking readers with first lines? Because they expect their name to sell the books?

Little did I know that one innocent question would snowball in the conversation. Rae brought up a discussion from one of her writing class and the professor who said that nobody wants to edit the brand authors anymore. He did not give a reason why but it explains what may be happening. To find out if that was really true, I decided to run a little experiment and collect the first sentence to all King and Atwood's novel in order of publication. My hypothesis is that later publications will have less enticing first sentences than earlier publications because the authors or relying on their names to sell books rather than hooking readers as they did before becoming major author names.

With this in mind, I compiled a list of first sentences from Atwood and King's books (one's published clearly under their names, not pseudonyms). The first sentences were put in alphabetical order without authorship to prevent bias. However, since I compiled the list, I gave the list of first lines in alphabetical order to Rae and a few others with the stipulations that they didn't have to choose any of them in the hopes of more objective results, which were thus:

Stephen King's first lines generally didn't hook anybody and it didn't seem to matter when he wrote them. The early works and the later ones have about the same lack of appeal. Although, pretty much everyone did pick the first line from his very first book Carrie (1974): "Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not at the subconscious level where savage things grow." But the rest were passed over equally.

More people chose the first lines from Margaret Atwood. Interestingly it's not her earlier works that were chosen but some of her later ones. 

So what are the results? Inconclusive. There isn't any evidence either way. I still think though that there are plenty of people in the world who read books because of who wrote it rather than what the book is about. I think about my own Amazon pre-order list filled with books by my favorite authors. I don't know what the books are going to be about but just the fact that so-and-so author wrote them is enough justification for me to order them. I'm sure the same holds true for the likes of Stephen King, Nora Roberts, etc... These are authors who have become a brand. And once they've become that brand, why waste time trying to craft opening sentences to hook readers? Maybe they just decided it was time to shelve it.

Word Count: 607
Edits: 2

Sunday Special - Moon Called

Since there are similarities between Faith Hunter's Skinwalker and Patricia Briggs' Moon Called, I wanted to review some of the elements of Briggs' Mercy Thompson series that draw me back again and again.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Facade: Once again there's a female on the cover with prominent boobage and abs on display. However, I don't view her as a Barbarella bimbo because of the confident pose and tattoos. One of the differences between Hunter's cover is Brigg's female is not openly displaying any weapons and this is important to me so it lacks the inherent violence Hunter's cover had.

Appetizer: "I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first." That is a GREAT first line because it hooks the reader like eating something something salty and fried with powdered sugar on top. The questions start popping up: Who is "he"? and How does the person know "he" is a werewolf? Those sort of questions are what bring the reader into the story quickly because the reader is already invested in finding the answers. And if the cover was not clue enough, the story has some paranormal going on.

Tossed Salad: I chose this book to contrast Brigg's Mercy Thompson "walker" character with Hunter's Jane Yellowrock "skinwalker" character.

Mercy Thompson, like Jane, is of Native American descent but she doesn't know who her father is, so she has her mother's name. I like that Mercy's ethnicity is glanced over rather than hammered into the reader. Mercy is different, she is a unique paranormal creature in a world saturated by paranormal creatures because she is a "walker," someone who can turn into a coyote without using the skin of the animal. However, since she is so unusual, she was actually raised by werewolves. She understands quite a bit about her abilities but there are elements she is still discovering because she did not have anyone to teach her.

Mercy is loyal and protective of her friends and adopted family and biological family. Jane does not have any real friends and those lack of ties bothered me. Mercy is a mechanic who trained to be a history teacher. She's not worried about fashion or style. She works out in a dojo to be a better fighter and takes care of herself. Like Jane, Mercy will use a gun in a fight but prefers to use her fist.

Mercy also has memorable quirks. She has a cat without a tail, named Medea who likes werewolves. She has a tendency to bake cookies and brownies when she's worried or stressed. All of her clothes are always stained with grease and she is constantly trying to clean her fingernails but can't get them clean. Mercy provides humor, especially when it comes to revenge because she will wait to get her revenge and is an excellent prankster.

Mercy also has challenges. She has abandonment issues because her mom left her to be raised by werewolves and then her foster mother died when she was a teenager due to cancer. When the foster mom died, her foster father killed himself. Then Bran kicked her out to keep her from getting involved with his son. These quirks and vulnerabilities allowed me as the reader to relate to the character and I was never able to do that with Jane Yellowrock.

Main Meal: The rules of this urban fantasy world are fairly easy to understand and seem realistic even. For instance, part of the back story that is revealed through Mercy's connection with her former boss, Zee, is that the fae were in hiding from humanity since the invention of "cold iron" or since the industrial revolution. However, due to technological changes the fae had to come out of hiding. The result was that they were given land to settle separate from humanity called "reservations." I really appreciate the fact that the rules of this world are built on historical actualities.

Part of my problem with Faith Hunter's book was that I did not clearly understand the rules of the world. It was clear that Jane and Beast were two different identities sharing a body but how that came to be remained my question throughout the book. Meanwhile, Mercy clearly states that she was born a walker, does not need skin of animal to change and can only change into a coyote. Briggs also explains that there is a difference between "walkers" and "skinwalkers."

One of the issues I had with this first book was that I sometimes got lost as to who was who because of the number of characters involved. There were times when I had to go back and think, "Okay, who is this guy again?" The characters are very interesting, but there were a lot of them.

Dessert: It's just a great book!

Word Count: 799
Edits: 1