What You Read May Not Be What You Write

The old adage was: you are what you eat. It was what immediately jumped to mind upon reading what this week's topic was. I was pleased when I read this week's topic because I really do not fit so nicely into any boxes. I suppose it is true for many of us that we are multifaceted and not easily pinned down, but it is especially true for me.

You see, I am supposedly one of two horror writers on these hallowed pages. In the sweeping generalization which springs to mind, you might picture some of the following: a man dressed in black, a person who rarely smiles or laughs, one who listens to haunting or heavy metal music, one who watches every horror film that he can snatch up, perhaps one who likes old and scary-looking churches, but never attends one, etc. Now, I certainly mean no disrespect to anyone. I'm not saying that horror readers or writers are not sweet and gentle people, but there's a picture that often jumps into people's heads when they consider that someone writes horror.

Although I do listen to heavy metal music, it ranges more from 80’s hair rock to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. However, I also listen to easy listening, although I will not spell out here just who that might be. ;) I love romantic comedies and like to sit and watch the neighborhood finches in my back yard that we’re feeding. I also love to laugh and make others laugh as well.

No so terrifying, am I?

My bookshelves are lined with Stephen King, Clive Barker and Michael Slade, but Pat Conroy is near and dear to my heart. Beach Music is my all-time favorite. Not only this, but some of the books that I have found the time to read in the past year have been nothing like horror at all: Anne Kleinberg’s Menopause in Manhattan (women of a certain age), Michelle Stinson Ross’s Revenge of the Siren Song (pirates) and Talli Roland’s The Hating Game (romance/drama). I read these because they were pals of mine and I loved all three.

I do have a second book in my vampire series coming out this year as well as third which I will begin writing at some point, but I also have other horror in me. I would love to do the definitive haunted house story as well as some other real dark stuff. Yet, I want to write a tear-jerker drama piece about heaven and a romance about a married couple.

Once again, I mean no disrespect to anyone, but just like most of you, I cannot be pinned down and placed in any neat little boxes. How boring would that be?

What do you say about this subject, my Wicked Reader and Writer friends? I’d love to hear it.

The above photo shows the author attempting to look menacing and cool. The last one shows me as I am.

(Editor's Note:) Whatever happened with Blogger this week caused this post which I had completed Wednesday night to be deleted. I attempted to post from my iPhone while at work, only to find that I had to rewrite the entire thing. I apologize for the delay...

Pantser Plotting Techiques

This week the Wicked Writer team is discussing plot techniques. My hope is that by the end of this week, by the time we get to my little contribution to the debate, that you will have had some good instruction, dialogue, etc., because it is doubtful that you’ll be getting any from me.

You see, I have written two novels. Currently, the second installation of my crossover horror/Christian vampire series is somewhere within the bowels of the Vamplit Publishing building, awaiting its day in the sun, so it’s either one book or two, depending upon your point of view.

In any case, I practically wrote them from the seat of my pants, and I am not altogether sure that I know how to write any other way. If you have not yet heard this from me, then allow me to take a moment to explain.

The way this works is that once I have an idea for my next project, I begin a process where my mind begins to form scenarios which I either allow to continue or I mentally dispose of in my head. In the initial phase of this, I just keep playing with the ideas until I have enough and I feel that the project can continue.

It is at this point that I begin to type out an outline. I do this only to assist the process until there begin to be so many ideas pouring forth that I can foresee the the body. Once I begin writing what I believe to be the beginning, my mind simply begins to play the scenes inside my head. Each day, I write until there is nothing left. Then I go away from the computer, allowing the scenes, dialogue, etc., to have their way with me inside my mind, whether I am in the shower, driving to work, preparing to fall asleep or dreaming. By the next day, the next bit of writing has been loaded and ready to be recorded.

Not very helpful, is it?

What do you think of this type of seat of your pants kind of writing? Is there anyone else out there who writes this same way? Should we begin a support group? God forbid I lose the gift. Whose advice would I seek out? Certainly not my own.

On the other hand, as the photo above can attest, a lot can happen in dreams... 

Where and Where Not to Write

This week at Wicked Writers, our prompt was to explain what we considered to be the best places to write, as well as to describe some of the worst.

If one is fortunate, they have a private office somewhere. Perhaps it is removed from the house like a room out back. I always thought that I would love to have an office on a second floor with a marvelous view. I found this photo from one of my favorite films, Love Actually. That view isn't too bad, although I can't remember her name. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

If writing is one’s only job, perhaps a trip to the summer home or a winter retreat, all for the express purpose of getting away in order to remove distraction. Musicians do this all the time, but the successful ones can afford to do that, can’t they? They fly out to the Bahamas for 6 weeks and write and record a new album. Deep Purple famously went to Montreux to record an album and ended up coming up with perhaps the most famous song ever, due to a hotel fire, Smoke on the Water.

Speaking for myself now, I am in no position to go anywhere to write. I do have a laptop, however, so I can theoretically travel from one room to the next in my house as dictated by whatever house noise there might be. I can also take it outside and write while seated on the patio, where only the noise of the Finches will distract as they devour the food that we put out for them.

An issue that I have currently is I find it uncomfortable to write creatively on the laptop. I usually do not write anything but articles and posts on that thing. Both novels that I have written were done on the family PC with its traditional keyboard. I just feel more comfortable with that, so we’ll see. Hopefully it will simply be a matter of getting myself used to writing long works with my laptop. Otherwise, I will be having to share the family PC and that will be good for no one.

As those who have gotten to know me quite well can recall, I am firmly on record as having said that I need music around me at all times. This, however, is the one exception. Music is far too distracting, as some have commented this week. Therefore, the only time I need to resort to music is if the entire family is home and I need to drown them out a bit.

Both of my sons play instruments. I want them to get some practice time in, but when the oldest is playing his Baritone or the youngest his Sax, even if they are doing so down the hall in either their bedrooms or my master bedroom, it can be pretty loud. When my youngest isn’t on his instrument, he’s typically firmly plugged into his Xbox 360 in the first bedroom just off the living room, blowing bed guys or zombies to bits, yelling instructions into his wireless microphone to his buddies who are playing as well. My oldest is in Honor Choir as well as Honor Band, so he’s usually singing wherever he goes. All of these things, not to mention my wife potentially sitting before the television, force me to don the headphones and crank the Classical music.

If one is going to sit down to write with music, to me, Classical is the only way to go. Not only will it drown out whatever background noise you need removed from your creative mind, but it is fantastic at providing inspiration, too. Whether the scene that you are writing is sad, dramatic, horror-inducing, romantic, or action-packed, there’s plenty out there to choose from. I’m a power guy, so I’m usually listening to Holst’s The Planets or something similar.

Well, what do you Wicked Writers and Readers think? Where do we agree? Disagree? Do you have any suggestions for me or others? As always we’d love to hear them.

What's This Rules Business?

This week, the Wicked Writer’s were prompted with the following: “How do you find the balance between following the rules, but still being unique to your chosen genre?” By the very nature of the question, I suppose we need to first set the table, as it were. One: There are rules to be followed. Two: The writer must be unique to their genre or their work will not be noticed.



Rules: So just what are these rules to be followed? To tell you the truth, I wasn't entirely sure, myself, although I did seem to feel, in the back of my mind, that I had a sense of what they were. So, I did what any enterprising individual would do in my position: I Googled 'em!



A post that I found for the Horror Genre writer explained how horror writers needed to capitalize on the emotion of the readers, using their own phobias and fears against them. It seemed to indicate that rather than focus on plot, the writer would build the sense of dread and then sustain the suspense until the climax of the tale. I don't know whether I agree with the focusing less on plot than the whole dread-thing - and perhaps I miss-read their position - but, as I suspected, I knew this already. At least I did on a subconscious level. Perhaps this is why we writers need to be reading as much as we can in our genre, because having read thrillers and horror novels most of my life, my creative mind already understood things such as pacing, foreshadowing, etc., without me actually realizing that I might one day need to explain it.



Being Unique: The underlying point here in point two seems to indicate that if one’s writing is not fresh and new it might be relegated to the slush pile and not be noticed. When I realized that what I was writing was a vampire book, I then had to figure out, in a world where every other film, book, and television show had vampires in it, how mine was going to survive and be noticed. Whether it has or hasn’t, I’m hoping that it is still too early to say; however, I did go for a crossover angle. My vampires live in a world where good versus evil is clearly established, and that line of demarcation is challenged and investigated.



My World: My crossover Christian vampire novel is good. That’s not me bragging. Is it the great American novel? No. Will I one day pen an earthshaking novel that breaks new ground and moves mountains? I hope so. I’m certainly hoping to improve and endeavoring to go beyond myself. What I mean by that is many readers have sought me out to inform me that not only did they enjoy the book, but they thought it was something special to them. Once again, they sought me out to tell me that. In a world where it is very easy to begin doubting one’s self, I need to cling to this truth and never give doubt a chance to seed.



The problem that I am having, along with every other writer, and perhaps some of you, is getting the work noticed. I have a pretty good presence on the Internet, I have given many copies away and have had them positively reviewed, and I have a presence in my hometown (where the novel takes place); however, it was not the big hit that I thought it might be. Being a baseball guy, it wasn’t as if I thought it might be a home run in my first at bat, but I was hoping for a solid double down the left field corner.



It may yet be that hit, but I might have to foul off a few more pitches until I get that pitch that I can handle. What would you folks write about this subject were it your assignment this week? Do you have any thoughts? What do you know of the rules of your preferred genre? I’d love to read them.

Notes? What notes?

This week, the Wicked Writers team was given the task of posting on how we go about keeping our novels, notes and ideas organized. Sadly, mine is not the greatest of examples. It is more of “do as I say and not as I do” kind of thing. I learned that from dear old dad, by the way. When he wanted me off of his grass, I was told that it was his grass. When he wanted me to mow the grass, I would hear, “You need to mow the yard, son. It’s your yard too, you know”. While he was teaching me how to drive, that thinking moved to the use of the radio. “Leave the radio alone,” he would say. “It’s distracting.” When he was driving, it suddenly became, “Leave the radio alone. The radio is for the driver.”

With that in mind, please continue reading this post, but treat what is written here as if it were one of those infamous “don’t let this happen to you” Army films.

As many of you may know, it took me twenty years to write the first novel. I went through all sorts of maturation, one aspect of which was learning as I went the importance of note-taking as well as the importance of the organization of said notes. Did I take any notes during this time? Absolutely. I just couldn’t begin to recap all of that after so many years and so many changes.

I wrote two drafts of the second novel in only eight months. I can explain the note taking on that one because it happened so quickly. There was a lot less time to get it wrong. On the other hand, the only type of things that I needed help keeping track of were character traits such as what color eyes someone had or their personality quirks. Since much of my writing is simply allowing the images to appear inside my head – with me only having to write them down -, I have simply had the blessing of not needing to jot down that many notes.

See, I told you. Not the best role model, am I?



I am still a work in progress, however. I suppose that this is true for all of us. Even the established greats would probably admit this. In my case, I have only written two large works. With each one I showed remarkable growth. I moved from not giving outlining too much thought to suddenly penciling down each chapter, blow by blow. Although I marvel at those who have binders and shelves full of notes, outlines and the like, perhaps I may one day find myself there as well. I just don’t know.

Sometime this year I will begin work on the third novel in my vampire series. It is currently little more than a typed three page outline at this point, with the rest of what I foresee simply gestating inside my mind. Perhaps sometime later this year or early next I can begin revealing how much further I have matured.

Since I am in such poor shape and in desperate need of counseling, please enlighten me: How do you folks manage your writing projects? What are the big mistakes that writers make that you might be able to shed some light on? What have you learned from personal experience? I’d love to hear. Perhaps the next pupil that you will correct is me. As you can see from the photos, my notes are piled up on a shelf in my library. Heck! I don't even have a desk.

Valentine's (Week) Day

For someone who spends seemingly half of his day at the workplace and half of what’s left of the waking hours glued to his laptop, this is a special time of the year.

With my wife and me in our third decade together, it is incredibly important that we spend some quality time together, and so Valentine’s Day was a good opportunity to get away. We didn’t do too much, just lunch, a movie and some shopping, but we did it together…without the boys. It was a good time and reminded us of why we were drawn together in the first place. If you and yours are not taking extra time every once in a while, you should really think about addressing this.



We started our day at one of the local Mexican Restaurants in town. We then headed up to Fresno, Ca. which is a half an hour away, but has everything, including several Movie Theaters. As much as I wanted to see the film, The King’s Speech once again, we decided to see something new. It isn’t very often that we can get away to the movies so that was the better idea. We ended up seeing The Company Men. It had a good cast: Affleck, Costner, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson and Tommy Lee Jones. It was directed by John Wells who directed episodes of The West Wing and ER. The film tells the story of people getting laid-off of work due to the poor economy, both regular as well as high-end executives, and how they must deal with the devastating changes that it brings to their lives, and the lives of their families.



The film was very good, but reminded me that we are very powerless when it comes to our jobs, and we could lose them at any moment, especially in a poor economy. We headed over to Costco after that, however, since the film had crawled into my head, I found myself unwilling to make any unnecessary purchases. Isn’t that funny?

I didn’t buy anything for my wife this particular time. We’re gearing up for a rather large trip to New York City next month, chaperoning my eldest son’s high school Wind Ensemble group that is playing Carnegie Hall and Central Park, so we both just agreed to spend some time together, rather than money. My wife isn’t a big flower person, and my allergies can’t stand it, so that was out of the question.

In spite of what you may think (considering I’m supposed to be a horror guy), I am a bit of a romantic. I’m the one who wants to watch Notting Hill and Love Actually and who gets misty at all of the right places. After all, when I have been asked what my favorite novel is, it isn’t Barker or King or Koontz I mention, but "Beach Music" by Pat Conroy. I also love to hide things and surprise my wife when the opportunity presents itself. I hope you crave those little moments, too, be it giving or receiving.

Now, how did you happen to spend your day? Is it a big deal at your house or is it subtle? Do you prefer the large outing or the quiet time at home? In any event, I hope it was a good day.

P.S.: I began this post with a photo from our wedding, so I'll end it with something a little more current. It is a shot from a couple of years ago from our stay at Waikiki Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.

The Know vs Feelings

This week, Wicked Writers asks the question: Do you write what you know or what you feel?

At face value, it doesn’t seem to be the deepest of questions; however, there really is a lot to digest, if you give it some time to consider. Obviously, if one doesn’t know much about a certain subject, it most likely will prove extremely difficult to write about it with any quality or level of convincing whatsoever. On the other hand, writing only what one knows could prove to be rather limiting as well. Who among us has been chased by a deranged killer, launched into space or swept off our feet by the five foot, eight-inch Amazonian goddess with the long auburn hair and proportioned so perfect that she could induce an old man into cardiac arrest with but a look… I’m sorry, what were we talking about again? Perhaps I have been hanging out with Greg too much.

Personally, I have been known to write with some strong emotions at times. These can be very powerful, especially when I am writing about love that has been lost, anger or jealousy. I don’t know about you, but I have done quite well harnessing those emotions in some of my writing, especially jealousy and feelings of loneliness. I was a late bloomer when it came to all things romantic, so I had all too many hours listening to sad songs bunkered down in the bedroom of my adolescence.

I would submit to you that we write with a combination of both. Just because a painter has never been to the mountains, does not preclude him or her from painting a mountain vista. Just because someone has been single their entire life or, conversely, married for forty years to their high school sweetheart, does not mean that such a writer couldn’t craft the most heart wrenching and captivating of romance stories, such as An Affair To Remember. Or even one after another. My first two novels are about vampire. Now, I’ve been bitten by lots of people*, but never a vampire: does that mean I should know nothing about crafting such a scene?


Wouldn’t everyone agree that good fiction should simply captivate and transport the reader to another place? Whether that is outer space, the old west, along White Chapel joining the hunt for Jack the Ripper or the boudoir of a lover, depends solely upon the tastes of the reader. I don’t know that we care whether the author has experienced any of these examples or is exceptionally qualified in one subject or another, so much as we hope that he or she is extremely skilled at making us believe that we are there with the action. It might take a ton of research or a healthy dose of emotion; just please take us there. There’s nothing worse than a ticked off reader.



* Author’s Note: I was just kidding about the bitten thing. My wife was the only one to ever bite me, and I assure you that I deserved it. ;)

A Solitary Life

This week’s prompt asked the question whether writing was a lonely proposition or not. Originally, I spent quite a lot of time trying to see the potential two sides of this subject. I looked at the traditional writer sitting at a table, pounding typewriter keys by candlelight. I pictured this person spending many hours in the quiet solitude of a library, doing research. I saw them walking the city streets with their head down, deeply lost in thought. Next, I began contemplating the other side of this. Soon it became evident that the first side was a picture of a time gone by. At least it should be….

Certainly, the creative part of writing is done alone. We might be alone with our laptop or computer, alone with our thoughts, alone with the muse or alone with music. I find classical music works best for me if I need to drown out home noise; my kid yelling into his Xbox 360 wireless microphone, calling in reinforcements, for instance.

I understand that sometimes we can be surrounded and yet still feel alone. Unless our spouse or other family members are writers, they probably don’t get it. Recently, I was told that I really didn’t need to reply to every comment that I received. Rather than argue against that opinion, I just let it go.

Personally, I really don’t see how one can expect to write well, if they do not interact with others. I think it’s important for seeing the world as well as to help build believable characters. It is certainly critical for support. With the rise of the internet, it is so easy to find groups of people with which to interact, and not only that, but to build great friendships.

Let’s take a look at the first point: seeing the world. There are some things that I can research on my own. I learned recently about the stages of light just before sunrise and just after sunset. I also learned about police equipment. For my second novel, I had to learn about fishing boats, about the real city that I was using as a location as well as other items of interest. Yet, current fashion and style of communication are examples of things that I can’t know, unless I get out and people-watch.

The next point: support. If you are blessed with a supportive family, whether they are blood or just great friends, you’re still going to need a group of folks that understand what can happen to the psyche when one’s work has been rejected frequently, what it feels to be sleep-deprived because of a deadline or perhaps what it’s like to have a fight with one’s muse. They can be local buddies or they can be like some of mine who are literally everywhere in the world (and many of you are reading these words now).

I have said this before and I will say it many times before I am through, but I have met some wonderful people in this writing journey that only began about a year ago; men and women across every spectrum. Some which sound as if they might be my long lost twin and some who I share only a writing life. They have been mentors, counselors, shoulders to lean against, a wall to bounce ideas off of and an occasional flirt (purely for research, I assure you). The point is there is a group of people out there who know what the writing life is like, and everyone is always welcome in that club. If a writer feels as if he or she is alone, it seems to me that it really is a shame-on-you kind of thing.

Writing Goals for 2011

Well, it’s the New Year and most of us have spent a bit of time looking back on the year that was, pondering how well we succeeded with our goals, be it with writing or otherwise, with an eye aimed toward setting newer ones. Perhaps one or more of these will simply be carried over to 2011. It can definitely be a time of great personal satisfaction for having achieved much, as well as a time of disappointment for not having done as well as we might have hoped. No matter where you find yourself at this moment, I hope you are looking toward the New Year with anticipation and a renewed spirit.

Many of you faithful readers of mine may recall the year that I had. One year ago today I was sitting before my pc, wondering when my first novel was going to be released as an e-book. I had not yet received the keys, as it were, to my blog that my publisher had been good enough to design for me. I did not have one review yet, nor had I begun writing blog posts for myself or for others. I was yet to be social networking. I had yet to begin writing articles for Kings River Life Magazine, either.

Although most every writer knows that the way to be a writer is to do exactly that: write every day. Luckily for me, I had the second novel in the can and mostly ready to go, so I wasn’t all that concerned about writing. Instead, I was focusing on doing the promotion that I felt I was going to have to do in order to attempt to get my name out there. So that’s what I did. One by one, I took on new assignments, casting as wide a net as I could. I joined the local Chamber of Commerce; printed business cards; sponsored my kid’s all-star baseball team, enabling me to have a banner at the baseball field, etc., etc., etc.

Well, it’s a year later; now what? My e-book has just recently been released as a paperback, arriving Wednesday afternoon (that's it in the photo). My second novel has been sent to my publisher for the editing process, so hopefully sometime this month I should be receiving that back. Obviously that means that there is some heavy editing in my future. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, potentially by late spring I will have two novels in the marketplace in all formats.

Many of us are all in different places with regard to what we can do. I have a day job which has me for nearly eleven hours for five days a week. My iPhone keeps me in the loop with e-mail and social sites, but that leaves only a few hours each day to devote to this second career of mine. Couple that with the fact that I am pushing 42, with a wife and two teenagers at home who need some attention, one can see that I cannot at this moment promise to give the next five years and all of my time to this endeavor.

When you are setting your goals, if you have yet to do so, I think everything must be considered. For me, 2011 will mirror the past year, as I simply keep the promotional machine going. I hope it isn’t, but 2011 might end up being a make or break year for me. The third novel is currently an outline, but I really don’t feel a burning desire to begin writing it yet. If I work this New Year the way I worked the last one, with barely time to breath, and it amounts to very little, I may have to make a tough decision come 2012. The question then would be press on or take a time out. Were I 19 years old, I would most likely quit my job and dedicate myself to writing. Unfortunately 19 was a very long time ago, and I cannot do that.

I apologize if you have looked to me for guidance with regard to setting your goals. I understand that my situation isn’t necessarily the norm. Not only that, but my original goal has already been achieved. My dream was to be a writer. After twenty years of dreaming about it, I am a published author. If I end up having to walk away from this in another year or so, I can do so with a content heart. I'll have no regrets.

How about you? What are your goals for this New Year? Are they bigger and better ones, pushing the envelope even further? Are they the same as last year’s goals? If so, how are you planning on tackling them this time around? Perhaps you have some guidance for me. If so, what would that be? We would very much like this forum to be as interactive as possible. We do look at the number of followers that we have, but I don’t think it is what drives us. How is having 400 followers who we never hear from better than 75 that we get to know well and share constantly with?

I don’t think it is.

SEQUELS

We're back, and badder than ever!

Bringing twice the action and twice the thrills, here comes part II.

Does this sound familiar? When you have been promised things like this, do you find that they usually deliver? Does the very thought of a sequel to something that you loved inspire excitement or trepidation?

The reason that I have chosen this particular topic to write about this week, is due to the fact that I have just sent my second novel to my publisher, and yes: it is the dreaded sequel. Another thing that gives me pause is the fact that there is a fairly good chance that there will be a third and final book in the series. Now we’re talking about a trilogy. Does the world really need another trilogy? Could there be anything anymore cliché? For the sake of clarity, we shall leave the trilogy rant for another day, and stick to the current topic.

As many of you hopefully already are aware, my debut novel positions two competing vampires in my real home town of Kingsburg, California. One is as evil as they come, while the other is simply attempting to survive. The first one “created” the second and has in fact been searching across the globe for him as if he were a loose end that he cannot bare to have untied. The second, though obviously undead, may not be as far from the kingdom of God as he has been led to believe. There are certainly other characters as well: the new mayor that is concerned once the bodies begin to pile up that she will fail at the city’s biggest tourist event; the police detectives who must discover who is responsible for the terrible crimes and stop them; and the family of one detective who crosses paths with both vampires.

One of the reasons why sequels get a bad name or leave a terrible taste in the mouths of many, is due to the entertainment industry’s often unscrupulous delight in pursuing the almighty dollar at the cost of quality. Realizing that the sequel has a built-in audience, they cut back on advertising and, perhaps more importantly, the money spent securing quality of story, actors and effects to name a few. It is my understanding that no one wanted to make the original Planet of the Apes. However, once it was made, and made a lot of money, the powers that be immediately set about to make another one. But this time, with their audience secured, they cut back on the budget for it. For the third film, they cut the budget even further. For those of us who have seen all of the films, it is painfully evident that the quality of the productions deteriorated with each subsequent release.

With the novel, the concern here might simply be the rush to slap a story together and get it on a book shelf, virtual or otherwise. We do not necessarily need to name names here; we all have our opinions. In my instance, I hope you will trust that this second novel of mine indeed needed to be told; and that I’m not simply doing it for any other reason, much less for money. There may be money in the future, but 2010 has been about nothing but Public Relations.

My second book, Dance on Fire: Flashpoint, is about revenge for what occurred in Dance on Fire; as well as to show the growth of one of my vampires who may or may not be beyond redemption. We get to see the characters as they have grown older; especially the young children. The twins were essentially babies in the first novel, and I was particularly excited to write them five years older as they prove to be extremely important in the entire story, however many novels it ends up being. They very well may end up being the focal point of the third novel which is currently but an outline.

So, my question to you folks, dear Wicked Readers, is what is your opinion regarding sequels? I imagine that many of you have your favorite series that you follow religiously, while some may have grown sour to some as time has gone by. Certainly there have been some series that have attempted to continue long after the original author passed away.

What would be some of those that you cling to? As I have mentioned before, I immediately pick up every Kay Scarpetta novel of Patricia Cornwell's, as well as every Michael Slade Special X thriller. How about you? I would love to hear from you.

P.S.: During my last post, I whined about potentially being unable to decorate my house after Thanksgiving due to my recent allergy flair up. I posted "before" photos and promised to reveal the "after" photos. They're a bit blurry, but here they are:

Giving Thanks

Well, wouldn't you know it? As I pen this note it is Monday evening, and I am sick. Yes, Thanksgiving week! Can you believe it? I hope none of you are feeling under the weather. I was ill once before during this holiday, but, thankfully, it was many years ago. So, right there I guess I should be thankful and complain less. That time I had an allergic reaction which made it extremely difficult to eat. I recall wondering whether I would end up missing out on all of the great holiday food. Thankfully, the problem then began to dissipate just in time, allowing me to be able to eat relatively well.

This time it seems that my regular allergies have kicked in. I began to feel my infamous post-nasal drip begin to choke me last Friday, just as California was being hit with a nice winter storm which brought us a lot of much-needed rain. It was particularly stressing because my wife was having some elective work, which meant that I needed to be on my feet for her. I managed to get through the day, but barely. Saturday night I was hit with a fever. All weekend long I was heading for the tissue box and choking on you-know-what.

I was bummed out because I had hoped to make some headway with the edits on Dance on Fire: Flashpoint, the sequel to my novel. I had thought that by the end of that weekend I might be in great shape. Unfortunately, between going line by line and getting up seemingly every ten minutes, I really didn't get very far, and certainly nowhere near as far as I had hoped. At this writing, I am barely half way, and I have given myself a deadline of December 1st. We'll see what this cold thinks about my deadlines. It might be one thing if all that I had to do between now and then was my day job, celebrate Thanksgiving and complete editing. On top of that, however, I had this post as well as an article due for Kings River Life Magazine, a local on-line magazine that I write for.

[caption id="attachment_3885" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Garcia Men"][/caption]

Now, having written all of this, a part of me is poking me in the shoulder. I really do not have to turn around to know who it is and what it is that he want to tell me. The PG version is probably something along the lines of "Stop Your Sobbing". I say that because I'm a big Pretenders fan and that was one of their early hits. Really, I think it's something like "stop your whining". Without going back over old territory, I have way too much to be thankful for. I've been married 20 years, which is one hell of a lot longer than many these days. My boys are great and healthy and talented, and well on their way. My wife and I are both working, and we have money to do things. And finally, I have been spending this past year writing. I haven't made any money doing it, as of yet, but I can see that it's coming.

I could complain about a few things, but it would be more of a shame-on-me-thing for doing it. You know what I mean? So the doctor gave me an antibiotic, which I will start taking tonight after I eat something. I took some Advil this afternoon and now my fever has broken, and perhaps more importantly, at least mentally, they gave me another allergy shot. I say that because I swear by those shots! I'm surprised that it did not quite make it a complete year, but whatever! I feel so much better already and it's only been a few hours.

One of the other things that was bumming me out was my potentially not being well enough for Black Friday. Hold your horses! That's not what I mean. I already have to get up that early for work; why would I want to get up that early on a day off...for shopping? The day after Thanksgiving is my day for decorating the house. It will take the entire day, and I will be rearranging two rooms along with a bunch of furniture, but at the end of the afternoon Christmas will have arrived. So, if I am too sick for that, I will really be bummed.

[caption id="attachment_3886" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Our living area"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3887" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Our Dining Room (Read: my office. See trusty lap top?)"][/caption]

As I said, I am feeling better already, so I'm optimistic it will be a good week after all, and that these two photos will look completely different in a few days time. Come back in December and I'll show you the "after" photos.

How about you? Will it be a good and thankful week for you and yours? I hope so. If your year has been less than spectacular, then I hope the holidays will be a magical time that restores your optimism for 2011.

Your new friend,

James

Transitioning

[caption id="attachment_3815" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I love to read. I used to have time for that."][/caption]

Some of you may know this, some may not, but one year ago at this time I had just found a publisher. Vamplit Publishing had my debut novel about vampires with a Christian twist, and I was simply waiting for the editor to send back my carved-up manuscript. At that time, I had one MySpace account which was gathering dust (for spying on my teenager, don't you know), as well as one Facebook account. With that, however, all that I was doing was looking for old friends and playing Vampire Wars. Other than checking my e-mail multiple times per day for my edits which would ultimately not come in until Christmas Eve day, I had nothing to do in terms of writing.

     Oh, what a difference a year can make.

     Why am I telling you this, you ask? Some may be wondering why I am retelling it. Faithful readers of this hallowed page may have noticed that what was once fairly regimented has grown, shall we say: loose. There’s a reason for that and our hope here is it will be temporary. You see, many of us have gotten busy at quite the same time with regards to writing projects becoming published novels, and blogging evolving into PR campaigns and book tours.

     For me, 2010 transitioned from checking my e-mail every day, waiting for my novel to be published - to being published nearly every week. First came the blog. I didn’t design that. My publisher handed me the keys, but it was certainly up to me to fill it with stuff. I posted information about my novel, as well as film and music reviews and the occasional rant or editorial. A guest post on Wicked Writers transitioned over to a regular spot every other Friday. A review in a local magazine brought me to the attention of an editor who had just launched her own on-line magazine. I had never written articles before, nor did I have any kind of experience in Journalism; however, I have now been writing articles for her since the summer. I now have a second Facebook page (The Official James Garcia... You get the idea) as well as a Twitter Account.

     The point I’m attempting to make is, we spent a lot of time dreaming that these days might come; that we might be writing. Little did we realize, perhaps, just what form that might take; or how it might all come together. I think many of you have probably gone through the same things. Notice how I’ve mentioned nothing at all about us having houses to maintain, or children or grandchildren to parent. Or day jobs! Many of you are writing and running blogs; others are reading, reviewing and running blogs; and a whole bunch of us are trying like heck to do it all. Busy, huh?

[caption id="attachment_3816" align="alignright" width="225" caption="There's a few DVDs there I still haven't seen yet."][/caption]

 This brings me to the heart of the matter: please hang in there if we suddenly seem to have neglected to post on our day; or if we fail to update the poll or go a while without offering another contest. I think everyone here would agree that this site is very special to us, as well as all of the interaction with you fine people. Many of us are simply coping with transitioning at the moment. C.J.’s flying about the country on the Wicked Writer’s corporate jet, doing lectures and signings. NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) has claimed a few of us braver ones who are endeavoring to write a complete novel in one month (Anastasia and J.D.), Greg can’t hardly get any work done with Hollywood pleading with him to save some blockbuster project of their's by taking the lead role. And for me, between writing posts and articles, I’m supposed to be overseeing the PR machine as it figures out new and improved ways to get the information out about my positively reviewed novel that few know about. I am also supposed to be polishing up its sequel and getting it ready for the moment that my trusty publisher asks for it.

     John Lennon is famous for a great many things, but in the Beatles’ song, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, he sang, “Christ, you know it ain’t easy…”. It isn’t one of my favorite Beatle’s songs. In fact, I typically skip it. However, being motivated by music, it was the one lyric to leap into my head as I was crafting the paragraph. You may also notice one of these days that the blog appears a bit different. Potentially, we’re moving. I’m told it will be seamless and you will not have to be redirected or find one of those notices that we’ve moved. You will not have to pick up our mail or kick the pile of newspapers out of your way while walking to the front door. Nothing like that.

[caption id="attachment_3817" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jones is waiting for someone to come play with him! "][/caption]

     Just please hang in there (like my cat), because that’s all that we are attempting to do as well, amongst all of the stuff.

     As I like to say over on my blog…

     …We’ll talk soon.

Halloween: Season of the Witch

I suppose that I should apologize for borrowing from the film, Halloween III: Season of the Witch for using part of their title for my heading; however, since that film is so universally [Censored by WW editorial staff], they may actually wish to offer us some residuals for bringing it up in the first place. In any event, I mean only to speak of the season that we are currently in, which is, of course, Halloween.

Now, being a church-going, Bible-thumping, Bible-believing kind of guy, I could easily write a very long post about several reasons why we should not want anything to do with such a date and the supposed thinning of the veil. Thankfully, this is not the forum for such posts, and personally I let this particular “holiday” pass by like water off the proverbial duck’s back. We have never really decorated our house or yard, but that wasn't because we had taken some concrete, unyielding stance or another. We just never have. My sons did go trick or treating. How else was my wife going to get her chocolate fix? Okay, I wanted some candy, too. I kind of like the whole ghosts and goblins craziness...as long as there are no "real" apparitions to be seen in my house in the middle of the night. Some of you may know just how early I have to get up in the morning for my day-job; if there were some "things in the dead of night", I would definitely "bump" into them.

How about some of you folks? Are there any traditions that you enjoy, regarding this particular season? Do you decorate your yard or the inside of the house? Do you have small children or grandchildren that you dress up and escort about town, hunting for treats? The following photo is of Disney's Haunted Mansion after it has been transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. They do this for the holidays and not necessarily every year. Speaking of someone who has visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California quite often, it is spectacular to behold.

[caption id="attachment_3756" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Disney's Haunted Mansion"][/caption]There is one thing that I would like to do, but continue to fail at and that is hunting for horror films to watch. When I was a teenager, back when Nosferatu was a new film, I used to enjoy watching scary things (I was kidding about Nosferatu; I hope you caught that). I grew up with Friday the 13^th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, John Carpenter films, and several other movies commonly regarded as Slasher Films. However, now that I think about it, I question whether we actually enjoyed those films, or simply partook of them because they were a bit of a taboo. Perhaps it was simply the thrill of watching something that our parents were barely allowing us to view, or that we were not allowed to do, but were doing so behind their backs anyway. Maybe it was a bit like that first drink, or the day we passed our driving test and could finally drive alone or our first [Once again,Censored by WW editorial staff] .

My problem now is I don’t think I have the stomach for senseless violence. I’m not terribly interested in something so formula-driven: several teenagers get together for drinking, doing drugs and having sex (yeah, I let that one go-the Censored joke had run its course) only to be hunted down, one by one, until the last one defeats the villain and survives; at least until the sequel. I’m not interested in torture porn, either. These days I prefer to be pulled along by The Sixth Sense or White Noise or The Silence of the Lambs or something that is more mentally frightening than physically disgusting.

How about you folks? Do you enjoy scary movies during this season of the year? If so, what are your favorites? Perhaps you may even help me by pointing out some films that I should really give a chance to. I’m always ready for a good ghost story, for example. Recently I have thought about watching certain films, The Messengers or The Skeleton Key come to mind, but I just never really took the plunge. Part of the reason has to do with having no one to view these films with; my wife can’t watch anything the least bit scary and my oldest son is barely at that age now. I let him watch Silence about a year ago and he sat there quiet as that lamb that finally stopped screaming when it was over, mind fully blown. When I have watched these films, I have had to do it on a laptop in the privacy of the back bedroom, so nobody else would see what they most definitely did not wish to see.

In any event, I am open, so what have you got? I would love to hear from any and all of you on this subject.

No matter how you view Halloween, may it be a safe one.

And if you must say Candyman or Beetlejuice, please refrain from saying it no more than twice…

…and never in my presence. I like all of my ghosts on the printed page.
[caption id="attachment_3757" align="aligncenter" width="198" caption="Watch out for hitchhiking ghosts."][/caption]

Pushing the Envelope

[caption id="attachment_3550" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dirty Harry and his loaded question."][/caption]This week’s prompt is: Pushing the Envelope. Therefore, the first question one must ask is: "Do I feel lucky?" Okay, that's really a bit of dialogue from the classic motion picture, Dirty Harry, but a very good point which we will get to. I mean, really, what does that mean, pushing the envelope? What envelope?

For me it means just the opposite of what I have been doing since this amazing turn of events began last year when I found that publisher. With regards to my writing, I haven’t been pushing anything, other than myself to do so much more. Yet, we're not discussing working hard, meeting impossible deadlines or making our presence felt to the masses. I believe that "pushing the envelope" refers to pushing past one's comfort zone. To move beyond self constructed barriers. To do what is not comfortable.

I am not a marketing guy, but I think I have been bright enough to know not to alienate potential buyers of my novel. Therefore, I have not mentioned in any short story, novel, post or article which side of the political fence I may or may not reside. I have stayed away from any and all incendiary topics. Not only this, but I have also attempted to shy away from small things which could also get feathers ruffled, such as what form of music I have little appreciation for, or which sports teams I follow. Some of these things probably sound rather trivial to some, and most certainly, some of these things will eventually be made known (Country Music; Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Cubs). My point is that in the beginning I wanted to try to be able to reach every facet of my potential audience.

[caption id="attachment_3551" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Draper Street, Swedish Festival"][/caption]One example that I can give is The Kingsburg Swedish Festival. The city that I live in has Swedish roots. Therefore, our colors are Swedish; our buildings have a Swedish architecture; for all intents and purposes, we are a Swedish town. Once a year in May, we hold a festival which draws thousands. Years ago, the festival used to be held in our large park. Before and after our Saturday parade, people would head back to the park where the vendors and food booths were located. We had shade and comfortable grass to walk upon. Eventually, it was moved downtown to what we call our main street. Now we have to walk on cement and asphalt, and have little shade from the sun; but the consumers can walk amongst the shops and thus boost the downtown. Recently, there was a Facebook movement began which hoped to move the festival back to the park. However, since I am now a member of the Chamber of Commerce, you must now see that I declined the invitation to side with one side or the other. I think any reasonable person who has attended the festival would probably know which choice is best, but I am staying away from the subject.



Now, having said all of that, is this really what we mean? Or is it something more?

There is another way that one could push the envelope. My novel is a Christian/Horror crossover. It has a little bit of both and, I hope, is just the right combination to make the novel interesting, fresh and gripping. Now that it has been out for seven months, and I have begun to grow a small following across social networking sites as well as in my hometown, and the audience has begun to know what to expect from me, could it be time to push against their comfort zone? Do I now release a dark and pure horror novel where the devil seems to win more than he loses? Or do I release a purely Christian novel? How about Romance? I could do that, you know. I reach for the romantic comedy DVDs quicker than my wife does. Don’t think I couldn’t! Perhaps I could really shake things up by writing about the rape and murder a young girl much like The Lovely Bones.

What do you guys think? When might it be time to do such a thing? Too early and one might lose an audience before they have that trust factor where they’ll follow you anywhere; too late and they might feel abandoned. I was going to cite Stephen King, but because his writing is so prolific and his audience so varied that he probably did not notice the couple of times that I quit reading him. Of course, he knows that we sometimes come back.

[caption id="attachment_3552" align="alignleft" width="212" caption="See! I told you."][/caption]

Outlining: A Personal Journey

[caption id="attachment_3437" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Taken last winter with 100 other potential author photos. The beard did not last the spring."][/caption]

      To outline or not to outline; that is the question. At least that is one burning question this week at Wicked Writers, where we endeavor to discuss, convince or even lecture on the necessity of plotting one’s course when beginning that next bestseller. Some might suggest that it is in fact the most important writing one will ever do.

     As I contemplated this week's prompt, I was unsure just which side of the fence I was standing behind. I have written by simply sitting down and blazing ahead, come Hell or high water. More recently, I have written with more of a plan. It wasn't until I had written this post's rough draft that I came to fully realize just which side of the fence I should be standing behind. Walk with me, won't you...

     I might be a special case and I will leave that for you to decide just how special needs that might be. What I mean by this is, I have done quite a lot of writing where I have started madly typing away, allowing the visuals in my head to play out as if they were the scenes in a motion picture that had yet to be written down. A script in reverse, if you will. Regular readers of mine will recall that I have mentioned this before. In fact, my first novel was written just this way. It did take twenty years to write, so it would be extremely difficult for me to champion this method of writing. It took much editing and many rewrites to get it where it is now, and may be one of the reasons why it took so long. Perhaps if I would have mapped it out with an outline it might not have taken so long to complete. I have also written all of my short stories in this fashion, but the size and scope was so much easier to rein in, if and when things began to go astray.

     For my second novel I did map it out. I don’t know whether it was the greatest outline in the world since I had never tried writing a novel with one before. I think it did help me to map out the action beforehand and to narrow my focus. That novel only took eight months to write from beginning to end of second draft. My third novel in the series currently only exists as an outline. Yet, even now, as I contemplate working on that project this winter, I can hear the outline speaking to me. I grow excited just thinking about it, most likely since I don't have to do the heavy lifting now. I am confident that once I blow the dust off of that thing, the images will begin to play and the writing will be quite easy. Whether it is good or not remains to be seen!

     You will be visited by three ghosts... Okay, perhaps just one.

     Come just a little further please...

     I recall a painful writing experience that occurred in my youth. Today, not only does every home have a computer, but there is one in every other room. However, what you are about to see occurred back in the 1980's when there were only one or two computers on every block. You know, the dark ages! Anyway, my neighbors allowed me access to their pc for my writing. I spent many an afternoon there, but one particular evening I must have been late getting home and neglected to save my work. I recall leaving their home, feeling horrible as I walked back across the street. That night I spent hours jumping out of my bed as bits of action, dialogue, etc., came flooding back as I was attempting to go to sleep. Eventually, I got enough of it back, or at least enough to save the story. If I would have had an outline, it might have saved me from a lot of stress, unless of course I had neglected to save that, too.

     As you have taken this journey with me, you must realize, as I have, just how important outlines can be.  Mine are not great sketches of character or the latitude and longitude of every single subplot. They are only a few sentences that essentially script out where I need to be with each chapter. They still allow me the freedom to create, unshackled to strict rules, while helping me to focus on what should to be happening next. Perhaps more importantly than anything for me has been how helpful they have been with my pacing. Studying my outlines I have come to realize just what was needed and exactly when it was needed, much like a film director planning his shots by storyboard.

     If one would have asked me how much stock I put into outlining prior to this week, I might have said that I was not a believer. However, as you and I have found as we walked the terrain of this subject, I believe that I can be firmly counted among the converted. How about you? Are you reluctant to sit down and outline for fear that it zaps the creative process? Is it far too mundane a task? Are some of you other Wicked Writers out there believers in simply sketching your writing, and thus leaving plenty of opportunity for creativity or spontaneity? Do some of you actually prefer the shackles? (Poor attempt to entice comments?)

     The Wicked Writers Staff thank you for all of your comments this week and every week, and hope that you will keep them coming. We are reclining about Headquarters, snacking on Maple Bars and sipping coffee, eagerly awaiting more. Or is it just me?

     Oh, and thanks for taking the walk with me...

Size Matters & four other needs

This week the prompt at Wicked Writers was: Five things that we would like to see in the genre that we write in. Since my debut novel is a Christian/Horror crossover, and aimed more for a PG-13 type of rating, I am commenting today somewhere between thrillers and horror. And no, this is not C.J.’s post, I was simply looking for something sensational to entitle the thing with. If you were looking for something else, you might try Everything Erotic on Kindle. Shameless plug for C.J., I know (smiles).

Before I begin, please allow me to fill you in on what it is that I like.

[caption id="attachment_3337" align="alignright" width="196" caption="The novel"][/caption]One of the first novels that I ever read was The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson. I am not here today to debate with you whether or not George and Kathleen Lutz concocted their story. I will leave that to others. There are plenty of sites on the web devoted to which side of the fence one might reside on with regards to this subject. If nothing else, it is simply one of the scariest “haunted house” stories that you will ever read. And you must read it at night, alone, while the rest of your household is quiet, if you want the best effect.

I think I like haunted house stories or ghost stories, if you will, due to the fact that it is something that every one of us can relate to. We all live in buildings that make noises in the middle of the night, and at some point or another every one of us have been alone in one…in the dark.

Serial killer stories are another of my favorites. Of course I refer to the fictionalized versions! I don't like it at all when it is real and being reported in the newspaper or on the evening news. What I love is the intrigue, the criminology work that must be done and the chase as the authorities close in. On the other hand, part of the reason that we can believe these stories, unfortunately, is due to the fact that these killers really are in the news every year.

Now that I have explained a bit of the “what”, I would like to explain the “why”. What I enjoy is the sitting on the edge of my seat kind of stories. I am not interested in crazed lunatics with chain saws, running around tirelessly, hacking up everyone that they can find into indescribable pieces. Nor am I interested in Saw XXIII or whatever number the filmmakers are on. I want to be thrilled by dark material, but not shocked, revolted or disgusted by torture porn and the like.

Having said all of that, the following are five things that I would like to see different. I will weave between print and film to help better illustrate some of the points.

1)  Something new. Since much has been done before, it simply makes it that much more challenging to come up with new ideas or fresh twists. M. Night Shyamalan hit the first pitch that he ever saw for a grand slam with The Sixth Sense. Unfortunately, he has only managed a few weak singles and a double since then, but I like him, so I wish him well. The thing was that his idea was totally fresh, and it invigorated the genre. Of course, we then saw a lot of folks simply coming up with a great reveal for the end of their film or book, with little but a weak story to get us there, as if we cared by then.

[caption id="attachment_3338" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="A scene from The Sixth Sense"][/caption]

2)  Stop showing us. When I was in high school I once heard that a poll conducted with prisoners revealed that they would much rather have a Sears catalogue then a playboy magazine. Less was actually more. I thought the notion ridiculous at the time, but I was a teenager who could only think about women, so what did I know? One of the reasons why the film, Jaws was so successful was apparently by accident. The mechanical shark, Bruce, named after Mr. Spielberg’s then-lawyer, did not work often enough, so they did the best that they could under the circumstances and it ended up making everyone involved look brilliant. The reason why the original Friday the 13^th part 1 & 2 were good was due to the fact that the audience was rarely given any glimpse of either Mrs. Voorhees or eventually her son, Jason. In these cases, what we received mostly was the expectation of the killer. My good friend, Carole Gill, who recently blogged here made a very good point of this on her own blog. You should look her up if you have yet to do so. We're hoping to enlist her talents here soon on a more permanent basis. She's the real horror writer.

[caption id="attachment_3339" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Where's that bigger boat?"][/caption]

3)  About Length. I know, I know; stop it already. The point here would be that the most important aspect is for the author to tell their story. I would hope that market concerns would not be the driving factor. Stephen King’s The Stand was far too long for a newer author, so the publisher had him trim it down. It was very good; however, when his name became so much bigger than any of theirs’, he was allowed to put back all of the pages that he had trimmed. What is key is that each chapter, every paragraph, and ultimately even the shortest of sentences be necessary. If it takes longer to give the reader the proper back-story, then make it longer. If it’s too short, don’t give us filler simply to stretch it out. The story is what it is. Thankfully, Mr. Jackson gave us additional footage for the dvds because there were times in all three Lord of the Rings films, and especially in Return of the King where I felt rushed through the original theatrical release. I recall Clive Barker’s Nightbreed making me feel that way, too.

4)   Unnecessary murder. Why does each of Dirty Harry’s partners end up dead or physically incapacitated? I would have thought that once would have been enough. I have killed off a few characters in my writing, but am conscious of the fact that others feel the same about this subject. Let’s not erase someone simply because they are in the way, or in order to give the lead character the motivation necessary to kill every deviant that comes there way, ala Charles Bronson in Deathwish. What about this 70's idea that every sex-starved teenager should die, leaving only one left to survive. Did those screenwriters think  that it made it a fairer fight? My 16 year old and I were watching Predator recently. Thankfully, the woman survived and was helicoptered out of the forest with Arnold the Governator, otherwise it’s not a great story any more as it is a star turn for the leading man. How about killing off the lead somewhere near the end of the movie? How’s that for original? I know it’s been done before, but so infrequently that only John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima comes to mind or Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.

[caption id="attachment_3340" align="alignright" width="106" caption=""I 'ain't got time to bleed!""][/caption]

5)  Too many twists. I love twists and turns and surprise endings that you never saw coming, just as much as the next person; however, not all at the same time. In The Dark Knight, although a very good film, I doubted that Batman would actually ever catch Heath Ledger's masterful Joker, when he had made him look so pathetic for the entire film. I thought Dan Brown's Angels and Demons was a terrific book until three-quarters of the way through when it took one twist too many for my believability.

Perhaps I am being too picky, making much ado about nothing. Perhaps not.

What do you say? I'd love to hear what you think. Did I miss anything? Did I go too far?

What about the rest of the panel for this week? We would love to hear your comments. If nothing else, have a great long weekend. Just not here...

[caption id="attachment_3341" align="aligncenter" width="220" caption="112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island "][/caption]