Bad starts

I'm an animal lover, as many of you may have guessed. I may not own a farm-full, but I never want to see any animal hurt. I'm a big softy like that. Guilty as charged. Some folks think sometimes I care more about what happens to animals than I do what happens to people. Well, when you have to deal with some of the people I've met in my time, maybe sometimes those folks are right.


As such, it's really hard for me when animals do what they naturally do, and one gets hurt because of it. And when my wife and I have to 'solve' the problem, it makes for a really rough start to the day.


Please forgive me, I'm just feeling sorry for myself and for my wife over something most of you will consider trivial. See, a little over a year or so ago, we discovered that there was a little wild rabbit living under our back deck. We'd see him (we're just guessing it was a him) every once in a while when we'd go out back, and he'd have to run like hell to get out through the fence before one of the dogs caught him. So we got in the habit of going out to check for him before we let them out.


Then he stopped showing up. Just wasn't around any more. We'd seen him maybe once in the last 3-4 months, and he'd gotten so much bigger we figured he'd moved on to start his own little rabbit warren. So we stopped checking for him, 'cause he was never out there anymore anyway.


Yeah, you know where this is headed. This morning, while I was upstairs getting ready for work, my wife let the dogs out to do their business. Apparently, one of them spotted him, and they chased him all over the yard with my wife, God bless her, trying to get them to leave him alone.


Being dogs, they didn't.


They caught him out behind the shed, and they hurt him pretty bad. She knocked on the door to let me know she needed help, and when I saw her holding him my heart broke. He couldn't move his back legs at all. Once she got the dogs off of him, she told me she had to pick him up because he kept trying to crawl but only his little front legs would move. And he was bleeding.


Having to choose between letting him live like that 'hoping' he would get better before something else got him, or putting him down as quickly and painlessly as possible, is a really shitty way to start a day. It just shits a little on how you feel all day long. Yes, it's the humane thing to do so he doesn't suffer, but for an animal lover who doesn't have access to anesthesia or anything like that, it really sucks having to put him down like that. I felt horrible. Hell, I still feel horrible.


If you want a question, tell me what completely unexpected things have ruined your day/week that you just can't plan for.


If not, no worries, I just felt like getting it off my chest. Don't worry, I'll probably delete this later anyway.

Who would star???

I overheard the greatest word the other day:

Placeholders.


I had never heard that before, and it is so fitting. Here's the concept: as a writer, do you ever 'cast' your books in your head? I have heard of some writers who do this, and it seems to work well for them. Jeffery Deaver, for example, once said at a reading that he had always pictured a grizzled Harrison Ford as Lincoln Rhyme, and I've heard that some other writers picture their protagonists as certain actors when they are writing the book.


I tried it. Apparently I picked the wrong actor.

See, I wonder if part of the rationale behind doing this is the hope that your book will someday make it as a big budget movie. That's an awesome hope. Thing is, I know my first one won't make it. I'm okay with that. As Chris Roerdan said this weekend, writers are the only people on the planet who think they could solo at Carnegie Hall the first time they pick up an instrument. I know that isn't the case (it's okay, trust me, I've read my first completed manuscript).



But the thing is, I keep trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. Or rather, one of my favorite tall and lanky pegs into a moderately squared-off hole. If I were ever to have a book made into a movie, I'd kill for John Cusack to star in it. That would make the world totally cool for me.




Problem, though. Every time I try to picture Cusack as my protagonist, it doesn't work. He's totally wrong for the part. And I'm the one writing the part. HowTF did that happen?

So tell me, do you do this? Or have you tried it, only to be thwarted by your own imagination as I have? Am I just pissing into the wind here?

Rescue of the Week - Cordelia

I know it's been a while, but now that the school year is back in full swing, it's time to get back to gettin' some animals adopted!! So without further egging the custard, and with no more adieu, I give you:

CORDELIA!


As you can see from the photo, she's a sweet girl who had to get some treatment for her tail. It's healing up, and she'll be a wonderful and happy addition to your home. She's housetrained, crate-trained, and loves people.


For more information about this animal, call:
SPCA of Wake County at (919) 772-2326
Ask for information about animal ID number A057185

And here they come...

Yep, the kids are back in school.

H'ray.

Honestly, I love the second day of classes (today) so much more than the first. The first is when we have all the admin crap we have to get straight, and it leaves very little time some days to teach an actual lesson (which they need so they get it in mind from day one that they are going to have to work...y'know, kinda like the real world we're preparing them for...)

So I'm actually really excited today. But yesterday was rough. I have to agree with the kids on this one: Summer ain't long enough some years.

So this question is for those of you who have kids, or are kids. What, if anything, does the start of the school year mean in your household? More time to write? Less time? No change whatsoever?

HE'S BACK!

No, I'm not talking about me. And believe it or not, I'm not referring to Harry Potter, either.

I'm talking about an email I got a short while ago, about which I am VERY excited. It was titled, "Joe's Back."

Yep. Joe Pike.

I'm trying to keep my face impassive, while only letting my lips twitch, but it ain't working.

I was so stoked when I first read THE WATCHMAN, because I always loved Elvis and Joe, but for Joe to get his own gig was really cool. And of course, Robert Crais rocked a fantastic book, again.

And now Joe's getting a second gig. Hell Yeah.

See, Joe Pike is one of several inspirations of one of my own characters I'm really excited to get started writing in the next little bit. He's not the only inspiration, but let's face it. All apologies to 49er fans, there is NO Joe Cool like Pike.

So it got me thinking. Writers: Who are some of the inspirations for your characters? and Readers: What characters stick with you long after the book has been read (or re-read)?

Ti-i-i-ime, is on my side, yes it is....

God has a funny sense of timing, doesn't he? This past week/weekend has been a doozy. My wife had to deal with some pretty serious grief, and I was heartsick both because of it and for her. Then, we get some good news about her father's successful surgery, but the recovery is taking a while. And now, even with her back home for the day, the writing and editing is just dragging. So what happens?


I get another shot in the arm.


"Midnight on the Links", my third published short story, is now available in the newest issue of Spinetingler Magazine. Just found out about it today.


That feeling of "YES!" just never gets old, y'know? Special thanks to Jack Getze and Sandra Ruttan for taking a chance on me, as this was the first story I ever had accepted for publication.


(Oh, and JT? I swear I wrote that story well before I'd read the Killer Year anthology.)


Since I'm just now getting the itch to ramp up my edits and finish this damn book (can't start on the next until this is as good as it can be...that would be unprofessional, even if I REALLY want to start that next one like NOWNOWNOW!!!), I think I'll leave it at a simple question for you guys:

What has given you a shot in the arm (or a kick in the pants) lately?

Happy Father's Day!

I awoke this morning to a card at my bedside, "signed" by my two puppies. No, I don't have kids (least not when school's out), but my girls love me and that's enough. Thanks to my beautiful wife for that nice little surprise.

And thanks to my Dad, my Step-Dad, my Grandaddy, my Grandpa, and all the other men in my family who've had such a profound influence in my life. Thank you.

And to all the fathers currently serving around the world so that I might live in a country and be free to say what I feel without fear of governmental retribution or persecution, THANK YOU. God bless every one of you. Happy Father's Day.