Musing Mondays: What's on your nightstand?

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is a short meme:

WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? Elizabeth Berg's Open House

WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING, and WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?
Leif Enger's Peace Like a River. I LOVED this book for its purple prose and rich storytelling. Much of the scenery is "brightsoaked" and people ride saddles "astraddle" and $25 buys the characters a full Thanksgiving meal. The plot was also very compelling as it is from the point of view of a young boy struggling over his older brother's crimes and subsequent actions during the early 1960s in the Badlands of South Dakota.

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL READ NEXT? Aberrations by Penelope Przekop

WILL YOU READ ANY HOLIDAY-THEMED BOOKS SOON? Probably not.

Janeology Q&A and book giveaway

Sabrina at the always splendid Breeni Books blog just posted a review, guest blog post and book giveaway for JANEOLOGY. Stop by and enter to win your copy!

TSS: Guest Dog Post

My human is traveling this weekend so she asked me, Abby the Wonder Dog, to stop by and do a guest blog post. I was happy to carve out time from my napping and reading schedule.

About me: I enjoy napping, back-scratches, frozen waffles, napping and a good book. My book knowledge also extends to children's literature. In fact, I was the subject of a children's book - There's A Dog In The Doorway.

My human wrote this story for the MyStuff Bags Foundation which helps abused and neglected kids get the basic things they need like soap and toothbrushes. But the MyStuff bags also have goodies in them sometimes like home-made blankets and books. Maybe you should hop over to their site and see what you can do in 2009. The organization tries to fill 300,000 bags a year.

This brings me to the subject of my guest post today: How humans spend their money. In my opinion, books are a wonderful gift. So many people think they must spend more on a present. Not so. Take me, for instance. I usually get a raw-hide bone, extra-large. Much like a good book, this present satisfies me for many hours. Then, a nap. What could be better? There are many books about dogs:

- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
- The Dogs of Babel
- The Labrador Pact

And here's a whole list of Fiction For Dog Lovers. Woof!

So, think of getting your human friends books as presents this year. Apparently, I am not the only one to think of this idea. See that image below? It's part of a bigger project. Click on the image and it will take you to the site. (I know. I was impressed too. How do they do that?)

Friday Fill-Ins: 7 Things

1. Please feel free to scobberlotch around on my blog.

2. When I open an old book I can't help sniffing it occasionally.

3. My favorite thing to cook is Greek Burgers.

4. Books and hugs are something I can't get enough of.

5. That's the thing I love most about having girls who love to read - I get both.

6. People driving and texting/talking on cell phones always makes me think to myself, what the heck?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to a cabin in OK, tomorrow my plans include hiking and Sunday, I want to read and sleep!

Read more Friday Fill-Ins - http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/

Why scrapping the first 50 pages of your novel is a GOOD idea

First, a few particulars.

What: My NaNoWriMo novel thingy - Useful Girl

Who: My character, Sarah Nelson, daughter of the infamous Jane Nelson of JANEOLOGY

Where: Page 65 and 17,000 words into the challenge

I think it was Hemingway who advised writers to scrap the first 50 pages of their novel drafts.

On page 65 of my draft, I find where this story should begin and all the preceding pages were just a warm-up or throat clearing as my favorite professor used to say. Why, you ask? Because I have finally gotten under the skin of this character and begun to see the world through her eyes instead of my own.

The passage that alerted me to this Hemingway truth:

On the first day of kindergarten, I pressed my face against the glass exit door, watching all the other kids and their moms. The moms hugged and twirled my friends around on the sidewalk. Then, one of the coaches with too white shoes pushed me gently down the hall toward the after-school care in the gym, saying, “Sarah, you aren’t supposed to be here. Come with me."


Well, if you want to know you are different from other kids, sometimes it takes a coach to tell you. Every day I would sit in the gym and wonder what it would be like if I WAS supposed to go through the exit door with a mom. What did they do after school? Was it more fun? After all, those were the kids who always drew pictures of their families, too, with moms and dogs and all the usual family stuff. My pictures had me and my father and a suitcase.

So...I'm pretty sure everything that came before this passage is craptastic, but it's this passage where Sarah has finally shown me a true window to her world.

Write on!

Wordless Wednesday: Generations

My great-great grandparents, great uncle and father's cousins. Truro, MA; Circa 1920s. Don't you love the Bowler hat sitting on the beach by my great grandfather's side?

p.s. - I was excited when my publisher asked to use this photo for the Janeology trailer as part of the multi-generational vintage photo montage.

Teaser Tuesday - Fit For a King: The Elvis Presley Cookbook

Since many of you were intrigued by this post, wherein I mentioned that the Elvis:Fit For a King Cookbook was the first book hubby ever gave me, I thought I'd share my favorite recipe from this book as my teaser. I make this every year and without fail, it is always devoured.

Elvis' Rum Cake (p. 171)

1- 18 ounce box yellow cake mix

1 - 3-ounce box instant vanilla pudding mix (sometimes I use instant butterscotch pudding to kick it up a notch.

4 eggs

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup rum

3/4 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients. Add the rest and beat with mixer for 5 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. (I frost it with cream cheese icing or butter cream icing - or just a dusting of powdered sugar.)

It's Fit For a King, baby.

Read more Tuesday Teasers at http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com

You Tubes Day: Tips For Better Storytelling w/ Ira Glass

This American Life host Ira Glass expounds on what makes a good story, whether in broadcast or print. This video is roughly five minutes, but it's worth it if you're a storyteller.

When you're "The Writer" at the party

Absolutely true comments made to me at a recent party after the host introduced me as a writer.


Guest: Oh, what’s your book about?
Me: Janeology is a family tragedy story. A husband is shocked to learn his gentle wife has committed murder and begins looking for clues about impulsive violence in her family tree.
Guest: Ooooooh. Maybe the next one will be more hopeful.
[Goes in search of dip. Doesn't make eye contact the rest of the night.]


Guest: Where do you get your inspiration?
Me: I like exploring the perspective of being the fly on the wall when something happens.
Guest: My ex-husband is a psychopath. Now there’s a story. Let me tell you....


Guest: Really? You wrote a book? I have a great story. Let me tell you about it. . .
[Ten minutes tick by]
Me: Really? You should write that. You have a lot of passion for it.
Guest: No, this needs to be told. These people ripped people off. They were bad people.
Me: So you quit?
Guest: No way. It’s a good company to work for.


Guest: Your book is about generations? Let me tell you about mine. I know I just met you but. . .
Me: [accepts grateful drink from passing waiter]
Guest: Okay, so I wasn’t my father’s favorite child.

Guest: A book? A big person book?
Me: Uh, yes.

Guest: I'm working on a novel. The whole story is told from the point of view of a bird in a tree.
Me: So, how's the writing going?
Guest: Oh, I haven't written anything down yet. I don't want someone to steal my idea.

Can you imagine what questions and comments you might get if you are the lawyer or plumber at the party? Oy!

TSS: The 100 Best Characters in Fiction

Another Sunday is already here after a very busy week of writing and editing and generally enjoying fall come into Texas at a steady, slow pace. Today I thought I'd share an interesting feature from Book Magazine with you - the 100 Best Characters in Fiction since 1900. Do you have a favorite character who is NOT featured on this list?

Jay Gatsby, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951
Humbert Humbert, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
Leopold Bloom, Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
Rabbit Angstrom, Rabbit, Run, John Updike, 1960
Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902
Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
Molly Bloom, Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
Stephen Dedalus, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, 1916
Lily Bart, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton, 1905
Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote, 1958
Gregor Samsa, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, 1915
The Invisible Man, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952
Lolita, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
Aureliano Buendia, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967
Clarissa Dalloway, Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf, 1925
Ignatius Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980
George Smiley, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John LeCarre, 1974
Mrs. Ramsay, To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf, 1927
Bigger Thomas, Native Son, Richard Wright, 1940
Nick Adams, In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway, 1925
Yossarian, Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961
Scarlett O'Hara, Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell, 1936
Scout Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
Philip Marlowe, The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler, 1939
Kurtz, Heart of Darkness, , Joseph Conrad, 1902
Stevens, The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989
Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo, The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino,1957
Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne, 1926
Oskar Matzerath, The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass, 1959
Hazel Motes, Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor, 1952
Alex Portnoy, Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth, 1969
Binx Bolling, The Moviegoer, Walker Percy, 1961
Sebastian Flyte, Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945
Jeeves, My Man Jeeves, P. G. Wodehouse, 1919
Eugene Henderson, Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow, 1959
Marcel, Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust, 1913–1927
Toad, The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, 1908
The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss, 1955
Peter Pan, The Little White Bird, J. M. Barrie, 1902
Augustus McCrae, Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry, 1985
Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon, , Dashiell Hammett, 1930
Judge Holden, Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy, 1985
Willie Stark, All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren, 1946
Stephen Maturin, Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian, 1969
The Little Prince, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1943
Santiago, The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway, 1952
Jean Brodie, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark, 1961
The Whiskey Priest, The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene, 1940
Neddy Merrill, The Swimmer, John Cheever, 1964
Sula Peace, Sula, Toni Morrison, 1973
Meursault, The Stranger, Albert Camus, 1942
Jake Barnes, The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926
Phoebe Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951
Janie Crawford, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston,1937
Antonia Shimerda, My Antonia, Willa Cather, 1918
Grendel, Grendel, John Gardner, 1971
Gulley Jimson, The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary, 1944
Big Brother, 1984, George Orwell, 1949
Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith, 1955
Seymour Glass, Nine Stories, J. D. Salinger, 1953
Dean Moriarty, On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 1957
Charlotte, Charlotte's Web, E. B. White, 1952
T. S. Garp, The World According to Garp, John Irving, 1978
Nick and Nora Charles, The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett, 1934
James Bond, Casino Royale, Ian Fleming, 1953
Mr. Bridge, Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell, 1959
Geoffrey Firmin, Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry, 1947
Benjy, The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner, 1929
Charles Kinbote, Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov, 1962
Mary Katherine Blackwood, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson, 1962
Charles Ryder, Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945
Claudine, Claudine at School, Colette, 1900
Florentino Ariza, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1985
George Follansbee Babbitt, Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis, 1922
Christopher Tietjens, Parade's End, Ford Madox Ford, 1924–28
Frankie Addams, The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers, 1946
The Dog of Tears, Blindness, Jose Saramago, 1995
Tarzan, Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1914
Nathan Zuckerman, My Life As a Man, Philip Roth, 1979
Arthur “Boo” Radley,To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
Henry Chinaski, Post Office, Charles Bukowski, 1971
Joseph K., The Trial, Franz Kafka, 1925
Yuri Zhivago, Dr. Zhivago, EBoris Pasternak, 1957
Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling, 1998
Hana, The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje, 1992
Margaret Schlegel, Howards End, E. M. Forster, 1910
Jim Dixon, Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis, 1954
Maurice Bendrix, The End of the Affair, Graham Greene, 1951
Lennie Small, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck, 1937
Mr. Biswas, A House for Mr. Biswas, V. S. Naipaul, 1961
Alden Pyle, The Quiet American, Graham Greene, 1955
Kimball “Kim” O'Hara, Kim, Rudyard Kipling, 1901
Newland Archer, The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton, 1920
Clyde Griffiths, An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser, 1925
Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne, 1926
Quentin Compson, The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner, 1929
Charlie Marlow, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 1902
Celie, The Color Purple, Alice Walker, 1982
Augie March, The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow 1953
Source: Book Magazine, March/April 2002.


*(Book Magazine, now defunct, compiled a panel of 55 authors, literary agents, editors, and actors in 2002 to “rank the top one hundred characters in literature since 1900.”)
Excerpted from : "The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900." Infoplease.© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.26 Oct. 2008 .

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Posts this week:

- This Writer's Life
- Booking Through Thursday: The Gift of Words
- Wordless Wednesday: Focus
- How NaNoWriMo Makes Me Feel: A cartoon
- My rock-star name is Ceasar Volvo. What's Yours?: A meme

The Literate Housewife posted....

an interesting review of JANEOLOGY. Check it out.