Chapter Member
Spotlight Profile
December 1998
Chapter MemberSpotlight Profile
December 1998
The Holiday Best,
Our honored guests, back again.
A special Spotlight for the year end. All of our previous guests were each independently presented with four questions. Almost all had time to respond. Can one have fun and at the same time be thoughtful? You bet. Read the variety of responses from Carolyn Wheat, Sunnye Tiedemann, Quenda Story, Caro Soles, Stephanie Shea, J.D. Romanow, J. R. Redmann, Margo Power, Barbara Paul, Mary O'Gara, Kathy Maier, Alice Emmons, Karen L. Cooper, Sandra Brewer, and me. We ought to consider ourselves lucky to have such a game, creative, and brave group of SinC-IC souls. You must give these folks a resounding Hurrah! And be prepared for a guffaw, or two. A treat awaits.The four questions our guests were presented with were:
- It is one A.M., December 25th. You hear a scraping on your roof. What do you do?
- You walk into a bookstore with the intent of buying a book by an author unknown to you. After browsing, what characteristics would make you choose a particular book?
- What's the next book you plan to read?
- Of all the advice you've ever received, what has been the most valuable?
It is one A.M., December 25th. You hear a scraping on your roof. What do you do?
Carolyn Wheat
Dec. 25th: maybe it's all those visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, but I probably roll over and pull the covers up and snore through the whole thing.
Sunnye Tiedemann
Check to be sure cookies and milk are by the fireplace, and the flue is open. Then hide and watch for "the little old elf."
J.D. Romanow
My acting assumption would be raccoon or other vermin. Rocks, flashlights, and shrieking would probably be the order of the day. Tiny reindeer would risk being mistaken for chihuahuas. No wonder my stocking is always full of coal.
Caro Soles
I'd mutter to myself, "Why now, when the kids are in their twenties?", roll over and go back to sleep.
Stephanie Shea
I hate to say this but my first act would not be to say "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!" Nor would my first act be to curse the practical streak in my nature that prevented me from writing to Santa with a wish list which would have undoubtedly contained a long list of computer goodies. My first thought would be, "Damn and blast! I knew we should have taken down that bloody fir tree before the wind sent it crashing onto our house." After turning on a light to ascertain that we still had power, I would run outside to see how much damage had been done. When I see there has been no clash between forest and home and there is this funny-looking guy in a red suit looking down my chimney, my next act would be to call out to him and say, "Hi, there, Mr. Claus. Is it too late to ask for a new G3 power book with a 330mhz processor?"
J.R. Redmann
Put out the fire, of course. One must always be open to possibilities. And pick up the phone, just in case I need to dial 911 instead of echo, "ho, ho, ho."
Margo Power
I run to the window, push up the sash and throw open the shutters to see if my cat Prescott is stuck on the roof again. I don't want him getting mashed under any of the reindeer hooves when Santa arrives. What I find is a cat burglar with Prescott under his arm. I shout, startling the cat burglar who drops the cat, turns to run and is stalled when one of his feet drops through the roof and into the house. After assuring myself that the screaming fellow is totally uncomfortable and not likely to go anywhere, I dial 911.
Barbara Paul
Wake up the cats and tell them to get to work, because there's this Rilly Big Mouse trying to get inside...
Mary O'Gara
Now that would be exciting....Santa has already arrived and leftso I'd either have to call my mythical dog or 911. 911 would be more fun...then I could take notes on a real police investigation. (Smile.)
Kathy Maier
I'm already awake; we've been through this before. The first scraping sounds always wake the dogs and their sudden barking vaults John out of bed. He grabs for the flashlight and instead clutches the oversized key ring I bought to replace the one he bought for me last year so I wouldn't lose my keys again. I keep moving the keys. He keeps moving them back. So the keys are in the usual place and his fingers invariably find the panic button for the Windstar. The van's horn begins bleating. It takes John ten to fifteen seconds to wake up enough to turn the panic alarm off. By then the floodlights go on next door. They don't do much for the neighbor's yard, but they light up our house like a maximum security installation. We know they're watching when we go outside to look around. There's no sign of an intruder on the roof or anywhere else, just the floodlights to our south and to the north darkness except for the glow of a cigarette on the porch of the next house. I congratulate myself on my foresight in discarding the pepper spray key ring. Then I make a pot of hot chocolate. We might as well open the gifts piled under the tree.
Louise Guardino
Well first, I'd try to keep my howling, frantic, dogs from climbing the chimney and taking a piece out of whatever managed to elude the chimney cap. Then, maybe barricade the fireplace. Or run outside and shine a light to the top of the chimney. If it isn't Santa up there -- it's time to light a fire. If it is Santa, or Santa look-alike, I'd ask him to leave the goodies outside by the pine tree and get the heck off my roof .
Alice Emmons
I rise from my bed and make absolutely sure the milk and cookies are in an obvious place for the Jolly Old Elf. Yep, I still believe...to quote that marvelous line from Miracle on 34th Street, it's silly, but I believe.
Karen L. Cooper
Call 911, of course. We don't have a chimney; no Santa with his wits about him would land on our roof!
Sandra Brewer
More than likely, I would either still be up or would have just gotten into bed. Having no chimney severely restricts access, so he'd have to come in via the balcony. Right after the scraping on the balcony, both cats would jump about 3 feet straight up into the air and then they would get what is generally referred to around here as 'bug face' - that really intense look like there are bugs in the house the cats can see and want to hunt down, but that us poor humans can't see.If this late night visitor (and why couldn't it be Keanu Reeves, instead -- well, perhaps not, he'd never see the light of day again) chooses to enter -- first he'd have to trip over a 17-pound, intensely curious cat whose favorite thing in life is to tangle himself up around your feet. Then he'd have to overcome his shock at my version of Christmas music (do you suppose he'd like Monster Magnet, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin?) and Christmas movies (Die Hard is one of my favorite Christmas movies).
And then, realistically, by this point I'd have already called 911, so the local sheriff's department would be pounding up the stairs about now.
All in all, I think Santa's best bet is to send the presents via my parents as usual. Bail is so hard to come by on Christmas morning.
You walk into a bookstore with the intent of buying a book by an author unknown to you. After browsing, what characteristics would make you choose a particular book?
J.D. Romanow
I am always attracted by cover art. (I started subscribing to The Sciences because of their use of modern art) so the best-selling black cover with embossed silver whatnot just doesn't get me to pick it up. In the old days when I could count on their editing, the green or orange spine of a Penguin merited a second look. I found Lawrence Gough that way.Titles are next. A twisted pun, a literary allusion all attract me.
After that you are depending on me randomly pulling the book from the stacks.
I always read the blurb. And that is what decides the sale. If the plot sounds hackneyed (spice store owner discovers body amongst the basil, despite the frustrating interference of the police chief, she perseveres and solves the crime with help from her brilliant sidekick Fluffy the Prize Persian) back it goes.
If I can't find a blurb that sounds interesting, I may check out the first couple of pages, but that is rare.
Kathy Maier
I'll do what experts say readers usually do. I'll read the first page. If I turn to the second page, the book might go home with me. If I forget I'm standing in the middle of the aisle and I'm reading toward the third page, it's all over but the sound of the cash register. If it makes me laugh, I clutch it to my chest so no one else can rip it out of my hands before I can reach the front counter. The elements involved vary from book to book, but I love to find stories that use contemporary events I didn't even consider as book material. I'll respond to a spare, confident writing style; a hint of the exotic; and a strong protagonist.
Carolyn Wheat
Truth is, I don't buy or read enough books by writers previously unknown to me. I have a lot of old favorites to keep up with, so what will grab me in a newcomer is something I feel I haven't read before, such as a new, exciting setting or a character with unique life experience. I will certainly be intrigued by reviews by people I respect, but in deciding whether or not to take the plunge, I read the jacket copy, and if that grabs me, I open the book to page one. The writer either gets me or loses me there -- which is a cliché of writing teachers, but in my case it's also the bottom-line truth.
Sunnye Tiedemann
I buy a book by the subject and the writing. I favor subjects that relate to the South, the Arts, folk traditions, music, travel and ethnic subjects (which covers a lot of territory!)I look at the first page and then read more carefully two or three pages in the middle. If it looks like the writer has some knowledge of how to use words to bring a setting or a character to life, I'll buy the book. I don't trust covers -- learned that long ago -- and I certainly pay no attention to blurbs or accolades. It's the writing that makes the difference for me. There's no way to tell how well a story unfolds in the short perusal I give it, so I rely on my reaction to the words. I love strong, intelligent, descriptive writing -- ranging from the styles of Anne Rivers Siddons and William Diehl to soft, romantic writing like Rosamunde Pilcher. Carolyn Hart and Sharon McCrumb are two mystery writers who immediately come to mind who fall nicely within those parameters.
Caro Soles
I hate to admit a good cover catches my interest right away. Then, if the synopsis sounds interesting, if it's about a place I like or am curious about, I'd buy it. Unless it's a hardback from the US, in which case it's beyond my budget and I'd put the title in my notebook and wait for the paperback!
Alice Emmons
First, if the blurb says "translated from..." I refuse to go further. I may be influenced by a good review from someone whose opinion I respect, but more likely, by a recommendation from a friend whose tastes agree with mine.
Stephanie Shea
When it comes to mysteries, I am an inveterate blurb reader. If a title sounds interesting, I check to see who said what about the book. If authors I have read and liked recommend the book, that is a definite plus. I also skim the synopsis on the book jacket. Even if a book has been written by an author I have enjoyed in the past I rarely, if ever, buy it without reading the blurbs. Even the best of authors can write a boring book. If the title grabs me and the plot sounds interesting, there is only one other "on/off" switch as far as I am concerned. I hate books written in the present tense so I flip through to make sure the present tense is not "present" in this book. Then, if I have enough room left on the plastic, I am apt to give it a try. I love to "meet" new authors.
J.R. Redmann
Define the alchemy that goes into picking a book? Hard, very hard . . .First, would probably be my mood--something light? heavy? mystery? fiction? nonfiction? Something on the cover would have to intrigue me--maybe the artwork, a blurb, the description. Then I'd read the first paragraph. If that held my interest, and I had enough money in my pocket, I'd probably buy the book.
Barbara Paul
Cover color. I never buy books with pink covers.But once that hurdle is overcome, I'd make my selection on the basis of the fictional world in which the story takes place. You can't tell whether the writer is a good storyteller until you read the story, so I'd pick out a "world" that appeals to me -- that of a profession, or of a period in history, or some specific activity. If I narrowed my choice down to three or four books, I'd probably pick the one whose world is the least familiar to me.
Mary O'Gara
I'm a sucker for female heroines who are not cops and become amateur investigators, alone or part of the time. And I love an interesting setting...which could be a place I've lived or visited or wanted to visit, or a profession that intrigues me.
Karen Cooper
Three things, not necessarily in this order: 1) my mood at the moment; 2) how crowded each section in the store was (since I'd gravitate toward the one most sparsely populated; and 3) the book's cover artwork and blurb info.
Sandra Brewer
The tone of the author's writing -- I tend to prefer my reading to have an edge of humor to it. I like books written in first person. So I read the first few pages. If it hasn't grabbed me by then, it's probably not going to. And -- I'm sorry, I really do this -- I read the ending. I really dislike things with bad endings. Therefore, I almost always check out the end of the book. Now at this point, it never makes sense, but I can tell if I'm going to end up throwing the book across the yard and into the pond. Very bad, it makes a frightful mess in the pond, so I try to avoid having to do that.
Margo Power
The color of the cover may draw my attention, the artwork is important to me. Too much blood and gore or cleavage and I move on. Next I glance at the blurb on the back. If it sounds like something I might like I check out the first page. If it grabs me, I buy it. (These are paperback books of course.) I seldom buy a hard cover book by someone I don't know and then only if the specific author is very important to me.
Louise Guardino
Title and cover art catch my attention. I veer towards covers that tend to be black or dark-toned. An oddball title, or one that reeks of suspense, gets a look. The back cover (paperback) or flyleaf (hardback gift) is the next checkpoint. I ignore endorsements and focus on story blurb. Sometimes that's all it takes. If any hesitation remains, the first page, or two, makes or breaks the sale.
What's the next book you plan to read?
J.D. Romanow
Introduction to Arabic. (Plot is hackneyed, but the use of words definitely different.) This will probably require a scenic side trip into a couple of linguistics texts. Nonfiction usually means I need to take a break with a quickie novel or two, [something] not terribly challenging. I think there's a new Karen Kijewski out, and I'm probably a couple of letters behind on Grafton, so something like that I can pick up quickly and finish in a couple of nights.
Kathy Maier
I think I'll go to the nearest independent book store and browse the shelves for an author I haven't read before.
Carolyn Wheat
The next book I will read is The Mercy Rule by John Lescroart, a writer of intelligent legal thrillers, which sounds like a contradiction in terms, but in his case, it's not.
Margo Power
I just received an Advance Review Copy (ARC ) of Aquarius Descending by Martha Lawrence. I've been anxiously awaiting this one so it has moved to the top of my TBR pile.
Alice Emmons
There are two: War and Peace and Look Homeward, Angel. I've been planning to reread them for more years than I will say to find if my memory is correct and they're still boring. Now, what I'm going to read is another story -- just go down the list of our members' publications.
Sunnye Tiedemann
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3. Just finished Vols 1 and 2 -- I've never read the whole thing all the way through before. People sure haven't changed much!
Caro Soles
I'm making a list of the books written by everyone who's coming to Bloody Words. It'll keep be busy till next June!
Barbara Paul
Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. Or maybe Nanook of the North.
Stephanie Shea
What is the next book I plan to read or what is the next book I probably will read? The next book I plan to read -- or reread to put it more accurately -- is The Infinity of the Mind by Rudy Ruckner or possibly A Rhetoric of Science by Lawrence Prelli. The next book I know I will read is the most recent book written by the guest who is on tap to be interviewed at Talk City. That is certainly not a burden in any way, shape or form as those guests happen to be Penny Warner, Jean Hager and S.J. Rozan.
Louise Guardino
The ones I've been saying I'll read next. Hah. Next up is Michael Dibdin's Ratking (which moved to the top of the list after reading the first few pages) or John Gilstrap's Nathan's Run and following that a book I just received as a gift, RipTide, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Nonfiction: Bones by Dr. Douglas Ubelaker and Henry Scammell. That will leave another fifty or so still to be read.
J.R. Redmann
Another hard question. So many books sit in my to-be-read stack and cast beseeching looks in my direction. Right now I'm three quarters though Tales of Burning Love by Louise Edrich -- a rich, fascinating book. Probably next up is Blue Windows by Barbara Wilson. Wilson founded Seal Press, and also wrote what is considered the first mystery with a lesbian protagonist, Murder in the Collective. She's always been a writer that I've watched out for, but her last book, If You Had A Family, was a major leap forward. Blue Windows is a memoir that covers the fictional territory she covered in If You Had A Family -- growing up in a Christian Science family.
Mary O'Gara
Fiction: Hornet's Next by Patricia Cornwell. Nonfiction: Finding Your Writer's Voice by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall.
Karen L. Cooper
Currently I'm rereading some of my favorite British police procedurals authors; the next book I read will most likely be one by Jill McGown, Janet Neel, or Sheila Radley.
Sandra Brewer
That's difficult. I have a stack of things to be read (bookstores love to see me coming) and it's a sort of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants procedure to pick the next one -- depends on what I'm in the mood to read. And all of those could be bumped by finding one of my favorite authors has a new book out. And if it's part of a series, I have this ridiculous habit of going back and reading all the others of the series before I read the new one.
Of all the advice you've ever received, what has been the most valuable?
Sandra Brewer
Ah, this is where I always fall back on Thumper's mom, 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.'
Karen L. Cooper
The most valuable -- and the hardest for me to remember to follow -- is to listen to myself. Although it gets easier with practice!
Alice Emmons
My mother, who was born long before her time, often assured me the only person who could put limits on me and keep me from achieving my goals was the person who looked back from the mirror.
Louise Guardino
Ask. This advice from a co-worker one time after I'd been beating my head against the wall trying to solve an esoteric problem. When you've done the basics and dug around a bit and you're still hung up -- don't be shy, go and find that expert, wherever he/she is, and tell them the problem. I did just that -- and saved myself many unfruitful hours. I've tried to resist the impulse to do it all myself since then and instead have gone hunting down the experts. The advice also applies to getting guest speakers or interviews: if you don't ask, you won't know if they would have said yes.
Kathy Maier
Write what you love to read. Read a lot.
Mary O'Gara
In writing: Swain's insistence that all stories are about danger; when the danger is over, the story is over (or should be). In person: My father taught me to check out my hunches and follow the ones that checked out.He also told me to look for a husband who was strong enough to be gentle, and never to trust a man who didn't have a sense of humor.
Barbara Paul
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Margo Power
I read it somewhere in the very beginning and it made it possible for me to write at all. What I write may not be perfection to anyone but me -- but I'm a perfectionist in that it must please me. I was so fearful someone would read my imperfect prose, that I wouldn't write at all -- couldn't even get started because of course, my ideas weren't perfect. "Remember that nothing you write is cast in stone, so go for it. If you don't like the results you can always toss it out and start over."
J.R. Redmann
"Hamlet could have used another draft." That taught me two things -- that you can always make it better, and that there is no such thing as perfection in writing. While those may sound like contradictory lessons, I think they point to the balance that we have to find as writers, to make something as good as we can, but also know when to let go.
J.D. Romanow
Geeze. Never sell Consols? [J.D. explains that a Consol is "Short for 'Consolidated British Stock' . Apparently originally pictured as a 'share' in the British government. A perpetual annuity (I think a 1000 year bond) issued by the British Government in the 1850s, I think to finance the Crimean war. The upper classes bought them as the ultimate security." We all knew that, didn't we?] One word: Plastic? Beauty is truth and truth beauty, that is all ye need know? (Good thing Keats died young or he'd probably have died a bitter old man. For bonus points analyze Bill and Monica with reference to that matrix.)I think I'd opt for "Always look on the bright side of life." You spend too much time focusing on the rest - which for the most part is nasty, brutish, and short, rather like your in-laws' children when you come to think of it - and before you know it, you're launching an independent counsel to investigate the significance of what may or may not be a crême brulee stain on articles of clothing that in my grandmother's day were kept firmly out of sight. Which was in hindsight a triumph of good judgement over a variety of nastiness.
Stephanie Shea
Other than, "Keep your day job?" It was from an elderly physics professor who was a friend of my father. I was a teaching assistant in graduate school at the time and he was referring to teaching but I think the advice is pretty generic. Late one winter afternoon, we were sitting in his office talking about a research project I was doing. I was tremendously excited about where this research was taking me and I guess it showed in my body language as well as in what I was saying. He suddenly held up his hand for silence and said, "Don't ever, ever lose that excitement. When you begin to feel mechanical, you will become mechanical and don't think for a moment that the students won't recognize this. When you don't feel that little 'blip' of excitement in your stomach at the start of each new day, it is time to stop; time to move on." He was right. That time has come, several times, and I have moved on. I salute you Dr. Aarons!
Caro Soles
Trust your instincts about your own writing. And don't hold back!
Sunnye Tiedemann
William (Bill) Diehl (author of Hooligans, 27, Primal Fear, Show of Evil, Reign in Hell, etc.) gave me the advice that has helped me most as a writer. He says he keeps a sign on his computer that says "What Happens Next?" I tried it -- it helps keep the story on track and has completely eliminated my tendency to wander off the track. My other fav piece of advice, which has become my motto, is: Aim for the moon; if you miss, you will land among the stars.
Carolyn Wheat
My father, who hated his job, told me that finding work you loved was the most important thing you could do for yourself in this life. That advice helped me summon the nerve to write my first book (taking a leave of absence from the Legal Aid Society), and then motivated me to leave New York City and my legal career to strike out as a full-time writer, with all the attendant uncertainties of that life. I've had wonderful successes and scary setbacks and interesting detours on this road, but I've never regretted doing as my father said and not, triste dictu, as he did. But then, he had a family to support, and I don't.
The interview was conducted during the month of November 1998 by Louise Guardino.
Some of our guests have web pages. Take a look.
Sandra Brewer | Mary O'Gara | Barbara Paul | Margo Power | Stephanie Shea
Caro Soles | Carolyn Wheat | Louise Guardino
Sandra Brewer | Karen L Cooper | Alice Emmons | Kathy Maier | Mary O'Gara
Barbara Paul | Margo Power | JR Redmann | JD Romanow | Stephanie Shea | Caro Soles
Sunnye Tiedemann | Carolyn Wheat | Louise Guardino
Do Read our guests' earlier Spotlight Profiles.
