Irreparably Broken
Posted: January 29, 2010 Filed under: Housekeeping, Noxious Evils, Writers Write | Tags: asking for help, family, writers, writing Leave a comment »A week ago, I got a call from Bacon:
“You need to come home.”
“Why? I’m at Target.”
“Did you hear that?”
“No.”
“You can’t hear that?”
“Bacon, I can’t hear anything over the phone. What is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s a big popping sound, and I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come home.”
Before I got there, he had found the source. The television sat on the floor in middle of living room.
“Listen.” He plugged the device into an electrical outlet.
When I was in college theatre, we simulated gunshots by holding a board vertically, one hand on the up end and one foot on the down end. When it was time, we let go and stepped down at the same time. The board made a sound bigger than a firecracker, but less than a cannon. That was the noise erupting from our television.
Bacon unplugged the I.E.D. and carried it out to the garage.
Word of Mouth
Posted: January 22, 2010 Filed under: Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Noxious Evils, Writers Write | Tags: family, writers, writing Leave a comment »Cherry and I were arguing last week about the news. She wanted to watch. I said no.
When I was ten no one stopped me from watching. Every night, I waited for Huntley or Brinkley or Cronkite to announce the death toll for the day. My brothers served back to back tours in Vietnam. I knew more about the geography of south east Asia than the average ten year old. I also had an adult case of worries.
So, I’ve sheltered my kids from the news. Especially the local report full of child molesters and drive-by shootings. Which leads back to the argument with my ten year old.
“Why can’t I watch?”
“Because I don’t want you to worry.”
“Why would I worry?”
“I don’t want you to think about every murderer and molester on the news. You’re ten.”
“Isn’t it better to know about those people and be prepared than to pretend they don’t exist?”
I’ve made the argument hundreds of times. Here, my baby makes it back to me. She’s right, of course. Its better to be prepared for the evil in the world. Reluctantly, I let her watch.
Crispy Links
Posted: January 20, 2010 Filed under: A Zany Life, Writers Write | Tags: book trailers, books, very funny Leave a comment »Here are a few of my favorite things from this week on the web.
Stephen Elliott has a book promotion idea that sounds like the beginning of a new book. He traveled to out of the way locales to do readings in front of not-so-literary audiences, crashing on sofas and eating cupcakes. His book tour on-the-cheap isn’t for me, but I loved reading about it.”The D.I.Y. Book Tour.”
Agent Nathan Bransford has guest bloggers this week. This post by Myrlin A. Hermes is terrific. “How To Make a Book Trailer.”
Also, from the same blog post–royalty free music for short movies and book trailers. The best thing about the site, besides the price, is you can plug in the emotions you want to evoke, (humorous, heroic, horror) and the index will match the music for you. Sort of like a database for background music. Very, very cool.
If you haven’t seen this yet, go there now. Nicolas Cage’s face superimposed on Frida Kahlo and King Kong is worth a laugh, definitely.
