I don't know when the name was officially changed, but I definitely remember hearing November 11 being referred to as Armistice Day when I was a kid. Whatever you call it, thanks to all the veterans, past and present, who help keep us safe and free.
I never got around to working today, too much real life going on.
I got my new book started today and as usual really enjoyed getting those first few pages done. New books are always full of promise. It takes a few days before the amount of work they represent really soaks in on my brain. I put that troublesome outline aside, but Livia and I talked about it some more today, while I wasn't working on the new book, and I think we're on the right track with it and can wrap it up in a day or so. Always got something going on in the ol' brain.
I'm reading books for the Spur Awards again. Quite a few submissions have come in during the past week or so, and I have to keep up with them or get swamped.
I've now watched a couple of those Superman cartoons produced in the Forties by Max Fleischer. The animation is very good, simple but effective and capable of producing some striking images. But boy, the plots are sure thin, even by Forties cartoon standards. I was also surprised that they monkeyed with the origin story, having Kal-El raised in an orphanage rather than being found by Ma and Pa Kent. But then I got to thinking that maybe at the time these cartoons were produced, Ma and Pa Kent and that whole backstory hadn't been introduced yet in the comic books. For some reason I have the impression that they first showed up in the late Forties. Somewhere I have various comic book history volumes that would answer that question, but I'm too lazy to dig them out.
I had planned to start the next book today, but instead I wound up doing some revisions on a previous book that the editor asked for, as well as grappling with a balky outline that still isn't finished. I think I'm going to have to put it aside and let it percolate in my brain for a while. Sometimes when a plot won't work out all I really need to do is get away from it for a few days, and then when I go back the answer seems obvious.
Yesterday I sat around and worked on outlines for series Westerns I'll be writing in the coming months. Today was what we laughingly refer to as "a day off", which means we went to the library, a bunch of stores, and finished things off by buying groceries. Along the way, though, we worked on the plot for a mystery novel proposal that Livia is putting together. An awful lot of our books have been plotted that way, in the car while we're running around taking care of errands.
I also picked up a couple of DVDs of old Superman cartoons made in the Forties by Max Fleischer. Bill Crider talked about these on his blog a while back. I haven't seen any of these cartoons in years, but they have a good reputation among fans and I plan to watch at least one episode tonight.
I went through that Silverberg anthology and read all the story introductions. That may not be the best way to approach an anthology, but that's usually what I do. In this case, the intros form a sort of literary autobiography, although an incomplete one since they concentrate on Silverberg's SF and barely mention his work in other fields. (There's no mention at all of his Westerns.) Interesting stuff, though. I really don't have time to read the stories, since I've got to get back to reading books for the Spur Awards, but I'll probably dip into it again a few times before I have to give it back to Shayna.
This weekend is being devoted to working on proposals and outlines, sort of the yard work of the writing business. And it can be fun on occasion, too. Today was pretty productive, and I enjoyed it for the most part.
Tonight we watched the DVD of THE BIG BOUNCE, which makes three remakes in a row for us. I wasn't very impressed with this one. Good dialogue and an attractive cast, but the story really meandered around. I haven't read the Elmore Leonard novel or seen the first movie version, so I can't say how this one compares with it.
I'm still reading that Nebel novella; not much time today to read. My daughter Shayna brought home PHASES OF THE MOON, the big "retrospective of six decades" anthology by Robert Silverberg, and I think I'll probably swipe it from her even though there are other things I need to be reading. I've never considered myself a big Silverberg fan; on the other hand, I've never read anything by him that I didn't like. This book has lots of story introductions and memoir-type stuff, and I eat all that up with a spoon.
I spent most of the day doing yard work, stuff I had let slide while trying to finish the last book. Had to bust up a lot of old boards. We tried to burn some of them but had little luck with that so we wound up bagging up most of them for the garbage. Then did a bunch of mowing. Nothing like manual labor to make you appreciate writing. I'll probably get back to that this weekend.
I finished DEAD MAN'S DANCE by Robert Ferrigno. Took me a while to get into this one, but once I did I enjoyed it very much. Nice tight writing, nice twisty plot. I'll definitely read more by Ferrigno. I'm currently reading EAST OF SINGAPORE by Frederick Nebel, a chapbook reprint of a novella from the July 1926 issue of ACTION STORIES. I've read quite a few of Nebel's hardboiled private eye stories from BLACK MASK and DIME DETECTIVE and enjoyed all of them. This one is a bit different, a South Seas adventure yarn, but a lot of fun so far.
Over the past couple of days we watched the DVDs of a couple of remakes: WALKING TALL with the Rock and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS with Jackie Chan. Both of these movies got bad reviews when they came out, if I remember right, but I enjoyed them quite a bit. I like the Rock, thought THE SCORPION KING and THE RUNDOWN were both very good. WALKING TALL isn't quite as good but still fun. Johnny Knoxville makes a good sidekick. I also like Jackie Chan and thought this movie was really colorful and entertaining. It was silly, even a little dumb at times, but that's okay. And I enjoyed all the cameo appearances. I think I would have really liked this one if I'd seen it as a kid. I remember watching a probably equally unfaithful movie version of Verne's FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON and liking it a lot. Also THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, which is a sort-of sequel to TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Good adventure movies in those days, although I don't know how well they'd hold up if I saw them again now.
Terrill Lankford sent along some nice words commenting on my previous post about finishing my latest book, and I certainly appreciate them. But you went and made me think about what it's like writing lots of books, so this ramble is on your head, Terrill.
I didn't set out to be prolific. I just wanted to write books that I enjoyed writing and make enough money at it to keep from having to go out and get a real job. Early on, though, I was lucky enough to start writing Mike Shayne novellas for MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE as one of a rotating group of authors writing as Brett Halliday, and then after a while the editor, Charles E. Fritch, asked me to do all of them. This meant coming up with 20,000 words each and every month. I discovered I had a pretty good work ethic, and I liked the regular check. (This was when MSMM still paid regularly, a situation that, sadly, did not last.) When I started selling novels, I drifted into series work because that was where the most opportunities were at that time. I liked writing the books and I got them done on time and in good enough shape that they didn't need a lot of revision, which meant that the editors liked working with me. They threw me more and more jobs, and I turned down very few of them (and still regret the ones I did turn down). Over the years I've learned that there are a lot of writers who write better than I do, and there are a lot of writers who write faster than I do, so the key for me is to keep combining speed and quality to the best of my ability. Someone once said that writing series books is like hitting a baseball: sometimes you swing and miss, sometimes you get good wood on the ball but hit it right at somebody, sometimes you hit a single or a double or even a home run. But you take your swings as best you can, then get back up to the plate next time and do it again.
I've also had a huge advantage in being married to an excellent plotter and editor. I can say to Livia, "I need a Longarm plot," and usually within a day or so she'll give me one. Or I'll do something incredibly stupid in a manuscript and she'll spot it and either fix it herself or tell me what it needs. So the editors never see those mistakes and probably think I'm smarter than I really am. Some books I plot myself and Livia doesn't find anything that needs fixed except a few typos. But without her help on the others I'd never be able to keep up the pace that I do.
I finally wrapped up the current manuscript today. I still have a little editing and polishing to do on it, and Livia may have some revisions to suggest before she's finished going through it, but from a creative standpoint, anyway, it's finished. As I've probably mentioned before, I love finishing books. I also love starting books. It's all that stuff in between that wears me out. This is my 169th novel (not counting a couple of trunk books that never sold). When I started in this business, I figured 100 books would be a good total for a career. I've been revising that goal upward for quite a while. Now I think I'm looking at 300 or so, if I'm lucky and can keep getting contracts. Sounds like a lot, but I know plenty of writers who have done more. Some of them, a lot more. I also know a guy who once said that no writer could ever write more than seven good books. In that case, I was either washed up a long time ago . . . or I just haven't written my seven good ones yet.
Still reading the Ferrigno book.
Twenty years ago today, our oldest daughter Shayna was born. It's very hard to believe that it's been that long. Certainly doesn't seem like it. When she was little, we called her a joy and a treasure, and she truly was. Over the years she's grown up into a complex, interesting, and beautiful young woman. We love her a whole bunch. So happy birthday, Shayna, if you're reading this.
On the writing front, I had another pretty productive day but still didn't finish the blasted book, which continues to grow like Topsy. It's going to wind up longer than it has to be (it already is, actually), but the editor likes for the books to be a little long. I should finish it tomorrow.
I'm reading DEAD MAN'S DANCE by Robert Ferrigno. I'd never read anything by Ferrigno before, and while the book is okay so far I have the nagging feeling there's something I don't like about it. It's certainly good enough to finish, though, so we'll see.
Oh, yeah, there was an election today, too . . . or something . . .
The past couple of days have been spent mostly in front of the computer, trying to get to the end of the current book (which refuses to go quietly into that good night). I did make a library and Half Price Books run today, but more on that later.
Since we live out in the country, we never get trick or treaters on Halloween, so I usually don't get much sense of that particular holiday having come and gone. My one Halloween tradition is to watch IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN. I recorded it last week when it was on TV and watched it over the weekend. Since it came out in 1966, I think there were a couple of years when it didn't run on TV, and one year I completely forgot about it, so this was probably my 35th time to watch it. And I still enjoyed it. "I got a rock" is still funny. And I've always enjoyed the Snoopy vs. the Red Baron bit. One minor annoyance is that it hardly ever runs in its complete form. For years CBS cut the "I got a rock" bit, and now ABC cuts short Lucy's dog lips rant. Great music, funny stuff, and quite touching in places. A classic, in my opinion. Some people seem to think this was the second Charlie Brown cartoon, after A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, but it's actually the third. The second one was the not-seen-for-years baseball-themed cartoon. It's been so long I'm not sure of the title. CHARLIE BROWN'S ALL-STARS, maybe?
One of the regular plots in Gold Medal novels was that of the regular joe who winds up being blamed for a murder he didn’t commit, so that he has to discover the identity of the real killer in order to save his own skin. This plot sort of crops up again in Domenic Stansberry’s new novel from Hardcase Crime, THE CONFESSION, which is a clever, very well-written, and very dark updating of the sort of psychological thriller that used to be written by Dorothy B. Hughes and Margaret Millar, among others. Jake Danser may have a regular joe sort of name, but he’s far from that. A forensic psychologist, he’s married to a beautiful, wealthy woman, but he also has a mistress on the side. The mistress winds up dead, and the clues not only point to Jake as being the killer but the investigation also turns up evidence possibly linking him to a whole string of similar murders. This novel is positively crowded with clues. The trick isn’t spotting them; it’s figuring out what to make of them. Stansberry also does a masterful job of playing with the reader’s sympathies. The first person narration makes us want to believe that Jake is really innocent. After all, he’s letting us into his head and telling us his story, so he can’t really be that bad a guy, now can he? Well, maybe . . . and maybe not. Good stuff all around. This is the first book I’ve read from Hardcase Crime, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Pretty slim pickings at Half Price Books today. I picked up three issues of the old Warren black-and-white horror magazine, CREEPY. This was always my least favorite of Warren's horror titles, but I still buy them when I run across them these days.
