Beer Summit

  Well, Obama said the recent debacle about race was a “teachable moment.” Yep, it teaches us something about Obama. The question is not so much whether Gates and Crowley can get along. Race is a volatile issue. The question is why the President of the U.S. admitted that he didn’t know the facts, and yet rushed to judgment, saying that the policeman had acted “stupidly.” Was that fair or statesmanlike?

And then he wasn’t man enough to apologize. ”I could have calibrated my remarks” doesn’t cut it.

And then he stages this dog-and-pony show of a “beer summit” to deflect attention off what he did and put it back onto Gates and Crowley.

People aren’t drinking his Kool-aid, and his approval numbers are down. Calibrate that, Mr. Obama.

A Rosson House Docent

  Today was my first day as a Docent, leading costumed tours through the historic Rosson House here in Phoenix. It’s the same thing I did in Colonial Williamsburg, but I don’t get paid. Oh well, I wanted to do it. The costumes are not historically accurate, but very cute– floor-length black skirt, white blouse, and a ruffled white pinafore with a picture of the Rosson House embroidered in black.

I shadowed a delightful Docent named Maggie to learn the ropes. She has been a Docent at the house for 27 years, so I got to learn some juicy tidbits. For instance, Dr. Rosson died of gastroenteritis at the age of 47, but he had taken out large insurance policies shortly before. There have been rumors–either that he committed suicide or was poisoned by his wife, Flora. Who knows? That’s part of the fun of being involved up-close-and-personal with a historic sight. You get to see and hear things the average tourist doesn’t.

Two fun incidents happened during the tours today. First, a little boy asked if the house has ghosts. I asked, “Are you worried about that?” He nodded solemnly. His father then proceeded to tease, “Look! I just saw one peeking out of the turret!” It took some persuading to get the little boy to enter the mansion. I had to tell him that I never saw any ghosts there, and anyway, they only come out at night.

A different guest wasn’t so shy. The TV show, Antiques Roadshow, is coming to Phoenix soon, and an antiques appraisor had arrived early to do some sightseeing. He was very knowledgeable about the furnishings, even going so far as to point out, “Hmmm, a Wooton desk.” That’s a large desk that swings open to show innumerable cubbyholes. As the sales brochure from the period says, “You can close it up and wheel it onto your yacht.” He he.  Maggie said in all her 27 years, no guest has ever told HER that it was a Wooton desk. 

All in all, a very pleasant afternoon, stepping back into 1895.

Editing: A Cast of Thousands

  In the editing work I do, I am struck by how often different authors make the exact same mistakes. So I’m going to start blogging about these errors–partly to remind myself and partly to warn other writers.

One mistake I see all the time is the “Cast of Thousands”–the sheer overwhelming number of characters. Here’s an example from my latest editing job (names changed to protect the guilty). In this science fiction novel, the villain had an army of troops. In one chapter, all of the following minor characters had speaking parts of a sentence or two:

Neka, Ludacris, Asastar, Zuri, Sebastian, Killian, Talnam, Douglas, and Dougan

I had to keep a running list to remember them all, but it turned out to be just a distraction because the characters never appeared in the novel again. They were never properly introduced to the reader, and they were never developed into important characters. Just “wham, bang, thank you, ma’am” appearances and on to the next.

In that same novel, the heroine had not one, but TWO teachers: the brothers Bradley and Kevin Whitefield.

She had not one, but TWO best friends: Tiffany and Kathie.

Sure, it’s good to have minor characters in a novel, but what’s wrong with too many characters? First, it makes it impossible to keep track of what’s happening. It distracts from the plot. But the second and bigger problem: in focusing on minor walk-on characters, little room is left for focusing on/developing the main characters, their thoughts, and their emotions. Thus, the book feels “horizontal” and shallow, rather than “vertical” and deep. Know what I mean?

Why do authors do this so often? I think they’re trying to make the book “bigger” by adding more characters, but the result is just the opposite.

How to fix this problem? Cut the minor characters and focus on the main ones. Another way is to combine two minor characters into one. Couldn’t the heroine have just one teacher with the lessons of the two combined into one stronger character?

Trust me, the novel will be better for focusing and developing the main characters and cutting/combining the unimportant ones.

The Road to Phoenix

 ”I hope you didn’t Lucy me,” DH teased.

Remember that funny old movie, The Long Long Trailer with Desi and Lucy? It was all about their adventures hauling a trailer across the U.S. Lucy collected rocks from each site they visited, and they had a heck of a time getting the heavy trailer over the mountains. That’s what we felt like recently, moving things from Nebraska. Now, I’ve been known to collect rocks in our trips to Colorado, but this time, the heavy load was books.

We borrowed a huge van from DH’s carpet store and attached a U-Haul to the back of that. With 50 boxes of books and other things, it was a heavy load, believe me. But we got over the mountains just fine.

Now, like Maureen O’Hara in another good old movie, The Quiet Man, I’m happy because “I have my things about me.” It didn’t really feel like home until I unpacked my boxes and set up my office. More things will be coming from Nebraska on future trips. For instance, we have to bring two cats on the two-day drive. But for now, I can settle in.

I figured I’d better change my blog title and look. Hope you like it.