Harmland Dark Tales - A Review

I picked up this book a while ago, but just got around to reading it. My only question is: Why did I wait so long? Harmland is definitely a 5 STAR read!

Harmland by Charles Allen Gramlich is a great collection of short and creepy tales that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Each story brings out both psychological and supernatural elements that will keep you guessing till the end.

If you've ever watched the Twilight Zone or enjoyed an Alfred Hitchcock movie then Harmland is definitely your kind of book. Hitchcock stories had you guessing till the end and would then slap you with a major twist, Gramlich hits you just as hard. His use of language and description had me jealous of his ability to paint vivid pictures with his words.

The parrot still haunts me.....go read Harmland and you'll be haunted, too.

Left Brain Right Brain Insane

I wish for a life where I can write and/or paint all day. This tree was a housewarming gift for a friend. It took me four hours and I'm pretty okay with how it turned out. 

I think all writers are artists and all artists are writers. Even if they don't know it, I believe it comes from the same side of the brain. The theory goes; left-brain people are more organized and systematic. Right-brain people are more creative and intuitive. I think art takes organization and is systematic so I don't understand this theory. To make a tree I have to stare at trees, absorb tree structure...then sketch it and outline it and on and on...

Writing is the same. Even if we start with random writing and just pushing forward without knowing where we're going to end up, writing -   good writing- has structure. It takes the systematic placement of elements in a story to create direction and plot for the story. Then we throw in all that creativity and we've got one best selling novel. (at least that's what I've heard. . . I haven't hit best seller yet.) 

So right brain, left brain doesn't make sense. I'm thinking those who invested the research into this theory might have missed something. But just to be sure...I'm going to go take the test. 

Below is the tree I painted Sunday for a friend. The right brain sketched it out, the left brain filled it in...wait, maybe that was left to sketch and right to fill...or ....

Inkbok Launches!

I came across Inkbok a few months ago and thought it was an interesting concept. Writers put their books and short stories up, Inkbok charges for the read (check out their very reasonable fees here) and writers make money. I know there must be other places like this, but one of the things that drew me in was that a percentage goes to charity. I like the thought that here at Inkbok, it's not all about the money. Something good is here, too.

(Inkbok, if you happen to read this...I volunteer for a non-profit animal rescue...they would love to be on your charity list; Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue)

Today Inkbok goes live! So if you're looking for a good read with a very wide range of genres and subjects in both fiction and non-fiction check out Inkbok!

While you're there you can read my short stories; No Redemption and Escaping Pigwell. Warning! They're darker than my usual writing, but I'm glad they found a home on Inkbok.

Writer; What and Who you are

Wandering through the job search sites I see lots of interesting things. I apply for this or that and see things I know I can do. I've done lots of various jobs and succeeded at all of them. Not because I'm a genius or anything, but because I'm driven. Every job or assignment is a challenge. I love a challenge.

I don't get challenges from writing. When writing I go into a different place. Writing is almost like reading a good book, (of course it's good, it's mine! or yours!) and stopping writing is like being pulled back into reality from an alternate universe.

In hunting for jobs I question the universe. Is there a job out there where I could write? I've done Demand Studios, but I feel there's more. Something better. More creative.

If you go to Mark Terry's site he has some great info on freelancing. I've registered at Demand Studios again to write, but haven's started yet. I will. It takes a quiet room, a little research and putting words together. Not really that hard.

I'm thinking of contacting a couple of editors I know and seeing if I can cover some local stuff. I like wandering around and finding unique things about the community. Writing that stuff could be fun.

And then there's fiction. And a screen play I'd like to sell. (how do you sell a screen play?) And writing....always writing....

So, where do you write? Any interesting writing sites on your radar?

Relationships in Romance Novels and Beyond

Once, in a writer's group I read the first half chapter of one of my WIPs. The man said my writing was always about relationships. I replied that everything in life is about relationships. A relationship doesn't have to be about love or sex or romance. The group we were sitting in was a combination of relationships. When we go to the grocery store we have some sort of relationship with every person we interact with. By reading this, my fellow blogsters are engaged in a relationship. Relationships happen on a daily basis whether we realize it or not. Some are limited, some vanish as quickly as they came, some might grow, some might kill.

The chapter that was read in group eventually led to a murder investigation and wasn't going in the romantic way that the group might have suspected. It was only half a chapter so they really didn't get the whole story.

In romances the relationship has to go somewhere. Maybe a good place where they fall in love, in bed, into a happily every after or maybe just a hint at what was coming next for our characters.

What makes up these relationships? Eye contact/looks, verbal exchange, physical exchange, and even information exchanged by a 3rd party. In some stories we can use all of these to build characters. We hear their thoughts when eye contact is made, watch the verbal exchange and reactions, or sometimes we're in the character's head while they work out questions.

Kinds of relationships?

Norman Bates and his mother
Prez Obama and Speaker of the House Boehner
Teachers and students
Coworkers
Doctors and patients
Bus drivers and riders
Stewardess and passengers
Cops and victims and criminals

Relationships are everywhere!

I was a little surprised I had to explain that everything in life is a relationship of some sort. I think some limit that word to romance, but its so much more and important in every single thing we write.

So what kind of a relationship is building in what you're writing? What techniques do you use to build it?

One Week - Too Many Excuses to Write

I plan, I plot, I think out my writing schedule and still can't get that WIP opened up and rolling. True, there is still that darkness lurking, but things there are changing and maybe for the better. Do we see a light at the edges of the evil? It's looking like the accused was actually set up by a darker force. Its what I thought in the beginning, but everyone argued against it, telling me I was just not facing it. Back to writers and investigations... Writer's need to plot. For a plot to work it means things have to line up. They have to make sense even in fiction. We can only separate from reality for just so much, before we lose our reader. Even in sci-fi, there has to be a believably factor.  In that dark place there were too many things that didn't add up for me. I seemed to be the only one who questioned things and that had me doubting myself. However, law enforcement didn't take things at face value. They investigated, are still investigating, but hopefully heading in the right direction now.

So you'd think this would free up my emboggled (<~~Look a new word! Okay, maybe not...) mind to get back to work, but it hasn't, not yet. So, now I need to plan this writing week. Write everyday between 9 and 5? Or maybe a slower start? write 9 to noon, get other stuff done, write 2 to 4? Believe it or not I once had a great schedule and stuck to it like religion. I need to get that back. I need to believe this is where I need to be and shuck off the outside forces that seek to knock me down.

The other day a friend told me when she was unemployed she wanted something to show for it. She didn't want all that time to pass and have nothing to show for it. Then she wrote enough songs for her first album. She just did it, got it done. Told herself it was what she needed to do and did it.  Inspiring.

Stephen King once said he writes like 10 pages a day. Sometimes he's done by noon, other time's he's still there late into the night. Not sure if that's true or something he had to say when pressed for answers in an interview but it sounds like a plan.

So what's your writing schedule? If you're ever knocked off balance, how do you get it back?

Bad Things, Concentration, Writing.

Bad things happen. Sometimes people you know go bad. Or maybe they were always bad and you just never knew. Sometimes when you meet someone you get that "creeper vibe" right away and you know instantly that they are not to be trusted. Maybe you can't put your finger on it, but you know.

Sometimes the bad is so close to you, you never see it. It hides its darkness and you never see the evil until it jumps out and scares the hell out of everyone around it.

There might have been something bad that we never knew of, so close to us, that we were blindsided. Was it always here, growing beside us, and we never saw it? Is that possible? Something so ugly and evil was hiding so close in someone we loved, how could we never have seen it?

And I still don't believe it. Not yet, not now.

I think writers are investigators. We look beyond face value because we know this is how stories are woven. Nothing is ever how it seems and there are many stories within a story. Sitcoms are routinely written with three story lines. The major line we're concentrating on, then a secondary line that we can see if we look, and the third which is almost a start of another story. Yes, three stories in every sitcom. It's how the great ones are created.

Now the bad has shown up and I'm in a state of disbelief, shock, and a sorrow so deep I can't stop praying it isn't true. That there is more to this story that someone, hopefully the investigators, who should know better than to take something at face value, will discover and send this bad from our lives. I keep repeating, "I don't believe it." and "It can't be true." I feel something is missing from this story that we don't know about and they're not asking the right questions.

It's hard to concentrate. Some things consume your thoughts. I wish the weather was warmer and I could take the dogs for a walk to clear my head. I have small dogs, they freeze quicker than big dogs (because they're closer to the ground?) and they don't like walking in sub-zero weather.

Say a prayer this bad will go away, that its all a terrible mistake and we'll wake up and the nightmare will just go away.