So What's With The Profile Picture, Anyway?

Yanno...it's dawned on me that someone may be wondering who the lovely lady, featured in one corner of my profile, is.  

Well, now, there are a couple of answers to that:

1. If you're a tall, dark, handsome Irishman who plays percussion during his waking hours, and you wonder if it's actually me, in costume...of course, the answer is HECK, YEAH!  Come on down!

2. Okay. The truth, however, is...not really. For one thing, I'm a little more contemporary in my dress than she is. (!) And there are, shall we say, a few other differences as well. Alas.

But the reason that picture is on my page is something that happened a long time ago, at my RWA Chapter meeting, when someone had an old book in which they were doing research and came across portraits of famous poets and writers--and their spouses.

And at that time, that lovely person pointed to the image you see and said, "Wow, you look just like Lord Byron's wife."

To which we all laughed--until we looked at the image. And realized that at that time in my life, yes, indeed, I DID kind of look like this woman. 

Of course, we've all changed in the ensuing years.

Lord Byron's wife is, clearly, no longer with us.

I still am among the living, but...trust me...I don't look like that fresh-faced young thing anymore. 

Although, it must be said, her expression is remarkably similar to the expression I had on my face in one of my bride-alone wedding pictures.

I was looking somewhat pensive, thoughtful, solemn, whatever you want to call it...and to this day it's a shot I think is one of the more beautiful pictures anyone ever took of me.

Of course, I was also 29 years old. So who doesn't look wonderful at 29?

BUT...

In any event...

That's the answer to the question. The lovely lady is Lord Byron's wife, Annabelle. Her story is a sad and disturbing one, with enough soap-opera elements in it to seemingly justify the old saw about artists "suffering to be brilliant." But in this picture, she's clearly enjoying a more serene moment, and I'd like to think that a little of that serenity was in my expression* when my fellow writer declared the likeness.

There you have it.

Any famous, or moderately famous, person out there that they say YOU look like?

Feel free to share in the comments!

Janny

*lest there be any misunderstandings, however, "serenity" has rarely been used to describe my temperament!

The Little Stuff--or, "Would You Like Fries With That?"

Had the TV on yesterday, watching part of a feel-good Hallmark movie as I ate my late lunch, and saw a commercial come on for the finale of This Is Us. It started with a woman singing a snippet of "Time After Time," and clearly was focusing on one of the characters whose memory was going, probably permanently, through one of the horrific mind-stealers such as Alzheimer's.  

Now, I don't watch that show. I never have, although it's been recommended to me. I got a couple of glimpses of some scenes in promos, heard some comments online about it, and decided it wouldn't be a good place for me to hang around, for more than one reason. So, in one sense, I had no context for how deeply the commercial hit me.

But it did me in.  Because the woman's voiceover was saying, "I'm not afraid of losing the big stuff. That's not what I'm worried about. It's the little things I'm afraid of losing."

And I sat in front of the TV and bawled.

Because that's what it's always, and ever, all about. 

That's what life is about.

A thousand little things. Strung together, for a few thousand days, multiplied over a few decades' worth of walking the planet...are what life ends up being about.

And it's what loss is also about, in its most painful and persistent form.

We all talk about it, after we lose someone we love.

We talk about the little things. Like missing their voice on the phone. Like longing for their smile across the kitchen table. Like expecting them to come walking around the corner any minute, carrying the newspaper, or a coffee cup, or the cat...

But they're never going to do that again.

And every time we have to face that, over and over, it's a new shattering inside.

This has nothing to do with whether we believe we'll ever see them again. For Catholics, as it says so touchingly in the funeral liturgy, life is changed, not ended, and frankly? That's the only thing that keeps most of us a) sane, and b) from offing ourselves out of sheer agony or despair. We know we'll see them again. 

But that's also what makes it so hard. 

Because when someone is woven in the warp and woof of your life, their absence leaves holes in you. And those holes often don't mend all the way. Sometimes, they snag. Tear open. 

And sometimes, the craziest things can be snags.

Like the ad for a TV show you don't even watch.

Or an ad for French fries.

Yep. You heard that right. 

There's an ad out there right now from Wendy's, touting their "Hot and Crispy Fries."

But Wendy's fries were bragging material way before this...at least in my world.

As in, early 1980.

When I first began hanging out with Patrick, one of our conversations touched on the various jobs we'd had over the years. One of those jobs, for him, was working in high school, part-time...at (you guessed it) Wendy's.

Making French fries.

Yeah, of course, tons of kids work in fast food when they're in high school. And the Wendy's connection is "just a coincidence."

Except...that the conversation we had about French fries would probably have made Dave Thomas himself proud. Because Patrick didn't just learn how to make fries; he learned how to make  them from a guy who was so good at it that people used to stop at Wendy's in Palatine just for the fries. They'd get the other parts of their meal elsewhere, but Wendy's had the best fries in town, even then. Even before they decided to call their brand "Hot and Crispy," this guy's fries were hot, crispy, and addictive.

And he taught Patrick how to make them that way, too. Something that this young pup took very seriously, indeed, because the restaurant's reputation hung on it. 

Thus, during one of my first conversations with my future husband, I learned the proper way to prepare fries so they were hot, crispy but not dry, and tender  but not soggy. Patrick enjoyed learning how to do it, and he was proud that he learned to do it to his mentor's standards.

The funny parts about this?

First, that I couldn't tell you exactly how it was done now.

But second?

That Patrick could take a look at the technique of the "fry guy" in any food place we went to, pretty much for the rest of our lives, and tell me if the fries were going to be any good or not.

And he'd be right.

Recently, I heard some sports commentators talking about working the "fry" area of a restaurant--and claiming that "everybody knew" that making fries was the worst job in the place. It was always given to the rank beginners, the guys on the bottom of the totem pole. 

Yet, at least one guy--and his apprentice--made the product of that lowly job something the restaurant became  known for, and did it with a great deal of pride.

I applauded it then, as I applaud it now.

Little things.

You never know how they may come back, years later, and touch your life.

So pay attention...now.

And appreciate that good fry guy, if you've got one. 

Because someone, somewhere, loves him.

And he won't always be around...for either of you.

Thoughts?

Janny

What's YOUR Theme Song?...continued

Last time, we talked about what your "theme song" is, writing-wise.

Not what themes your work explores...but the "lens" through which you inevitably write most of your fiction. (Or, for that matter, probably your nonfiction, too. But since I'm a novelist, I'm dealing with the fiction side of the "fence" for now.)

I mentioned that my theme, which I discovered early on, is Things are not always what they appear to be. 

Now, if you think that through for a while, you'll realize it applies to much, much, much of life.

In the current climate of everybody-looking-for-an-enemy that we seem to have in the world at large, you can just about count on this to be true, 105 percent of the time. 

But this blog isn't the place where we discuss social or sociological issues; here, we're talking writing, a little spiritual stuff here and there, a little wine and food here and there, a cat or two...stuff that really makes life enjoyable and positive, rather than stressful and negative. So, relax, sit back, and think about how that "theme" of yours contributes to how your stories take shape...and to generating more of them, if you feel creatively "dry" for some reason.

Wondering what that means? Let me give you a few examples from my own books.  

In From the Ashes, James Michael Goodwin's career isn't what it appears to be--nor is he. So much so that, in the beginning of the book, he's got a gun to his head. Because he's tired of pretending through the pain.

The other side to that "pretending" happens when he heals...rediscovers his muse...and falls in love.  But even then, there's another scenario at work behind the scenes, one that twists the story into an almost terminal black moment.

In Voice of Innocence,  everybody "knows" Lachlan MacAndrews is a user, a married man who illicitly led a younger woman on--and probably was responsible for her death. The problem is, what everybody "knows"...isn't true. Lachlan is something else entirely, living a terrifying situation brought about by someone else manipulating events around him to construct a noose around his neck.

In my present (being marketed) Dean's Daughter books, the dean's daughter at a prestigious conservatory is in danger of falling in love with--of all people--the conservatory's piano tuner--an affront to both academic hierarchies and common sense.  Only Malachi Jonah Goodwin is more than just a tuner, and how much more astounds everyone...maybe Malachi himself most of all.

Those are just a few examples of how, in my own writing, I've taken the idea that things are not what they appear to be, and from that premise spun entire new sides to characters, to what "looks like" the plot, to who "looks like" good guys or bad guys--and so forth.

The best news about this "deceptive" theme is that it has infinite variations.

Because in this wide world of ours, things are rarely, if ever, exactly only what they appear to be at first glance. Or second. Or even fiftieth. 

We all experience this when we meet new people, or try new foods, or go new places, that we're sure we're not gonna like--and, instead, make what can be lifelong friends, new culinary passions, or memories of adventures we treasure forever. 

Ergo...all you need to do to create a whole new story with this theme is to look at a situation--any situation--and flip it on its head. What if what you're seeing isn't the reality? What if that person isn't the sweet, helpful soul he or she appears to be...but has an agenda in mind for your doom? What if you are in an intimate relationship...with someone who wants you dead?

And that's just a jumping-off point. If you don't want to write suspense, or sinister people, you can still use a "theme" like this for "sweet," lighthearted stories. (Like, what if that piano tuner isn't just a piano tuner, after all?)

What take-away is here for you, then?

A suggestion--that if you don't know your "theme song" already, sit down and think about what it might be. It could be an actual "song," of course. But I'd suspect it's more likely a simple sentence, a simple premise, a simple lens...through which you see your world, and through which you can then, with a little kaleidoscope-turn, make a surprise happen. 

Or more than one surprise.

Or a whole swackload of stories' worth of them. 

And you'll never have to worry about repeating yourself--because a really good theme is bare-bones, the basics, the foundation. What you build on top of it is still limited only by imagination. And we all know how limited that is!

So....don't be shy. Think about it. When you come up with it--even if it sounds silly--try it out here in the comments section. And let's talk a whole bunch of new music!

Thoughts?

Janny

What's Your Theme Song?

More and more, I've gotten the urge to write about theme. 

As in, what's yours?

Notice I don't ask what the theme of your work is. I ask what your own theme is.

There's a difference.

Written works can have all kinds of thematic material in them, of course. They can be metaphorical, symbolic, transcendent, spiritual...inspiring...enlightening...

You get the idea. And we all had those assignments in school where we read a piece of literature and were directed to discuss "themes," compare and contrast, illustrate with examples, and such.

But I'm talking about something way more basic than that.

Way beneath it, matter of fact.

As in peeling the layers of the onion...to find a crux that goes beyond the surface, and even beyond any deliberate "themes" you're trying to write about...and reveals the central lens through which you write most of your work.

 

I discovered mine very early in my fiction writing career, and it can be summed up in one sentence:

Things are not always what they appear to be.

Now, that sounds almost simplistic, doesn't it?

Almost too "obvious" to be a theme of any kind, for anything, except a very basic short story. Or, perhaps, an essay.

But that simple sentence has been the very backbone of what I write.

All the way from my very first short story, Number Twenty-Seven, in which a mysterious (haunted?) island beckoned to a surfer...and changed everything. 

Including what became of him.

That work was a high-school short story that may have inadvertently been the very first "write your own ending" approach; I left the story so vague at the end that, when I finished reading it in front of the class, everyone asked, "What happened?"

To which I answered, "What do you think?"

And my English teacher got a very pleased expression on her face.  

Creative, it was. Conclusive, it wasn't.

I entered that story in a contest. It didn't win. (!)

So, in the ensuing years, I have endeavored to know the ends of my stories, and make them very clear. And that approach tends to work much better in the real world of publishing. 

But the stories are still based on the same sentence.

Things are not always what they appear to be.

From this sentence has come most of the body of work I have now...

...and has also developed into a subtheme that, it must be said, encompasses my favorite stories and has engendered more than a few surprises.

I'll talk more about how that happens next time!

So...don't be shy. Tell me about your theme song in the comments!

Janny

Happy Irish Musical Monday!

Check out a purely beautiful song for today's Musical Monday installment...and let yourself dream a bit.
A gorgeous love song, sung by a master. <3

You're welcome. 

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