"Tis the Season for The Telling of Legends

An Irish Legend for St. Patrick's Day

I do a tremendous amount of research in all my many jobs (writer and librarian). Many times I find such fascinating bits of history that I really want to share with the world. Today, I'd like to share a little tidbit of information that will bring more meaning to St. Patrick's Day or start a heated debate over green beer! The Irish Discovered America.

Yes, I see the raised eyebrows, stay with me here. 

The Irish are known for their storytelling ability, their flare for embellishment and are given to grand drama. (so many of my own family stories that could fit here!) There is much factual evidence however that supports the possibility that the Irish discovery of America just might be true.


A little background: (I won't write an epic history book, I promise)


It started with a legend, as do most good stories. This one starts with the lost island of Hy-Brasil. Legend says this island is a perfect circle, it is nearly always shrouded in fog, can be located only once every seven years. It was or perhaps still is inhabited by wealthy, educated people. In maps from as early as 1325 there is an island of that name located just west of Ireland. Well, early mapmakers weren't always correct.


Then in the 15th century Hy-Brasil turns up on maps near the Azores and is called Iola de Brazil. 

Again, still prior to Rand-McNally.


Besides the maps, there are actual accounts. Several noted people from history claimed to have not only seen the legendary island, but they also claim to have visited it. Notably, Saint Brendan. You really almost have take the word of a saint.


Captain John Nisbet claimed he and crew members rowed to the island in the year 1674. They were greeted warmly, given gold and silver gifts and allowed to return to their ship. Possible, but there could have been rum involved.


Another sighting was recorded in 1872 by an author (we all know these are the best sources) T.J. Westropp. Mr. Westropp and others saw the island and watched it vanish. Hmm, the plot thickens, and I must note Westropp was known for writing about --- Irish folklore


Recent archeological evidence however proves there were islands that existed off the west coast of Ireland that are now sumerged, thanks to oceanic changes. 


Now, how the Irish discovered America part of the story.

St. Brendan is well known in history as a traveler,he is known as St. Brendan the Navigator and is the patron saint of sailors. There are many, many historic texts that allude to the truth of his travels. One account known as Navigatio Sancti Brendani, written by Irish monks recounts his voyages. There are also over 100 medieval manuscripts in a half-dozen languages that also attest to this fact. 


This story states that St. Brendon was on top of what is now Mount Brendon and he received a vision of a "promised land", Hy-Brazil. He was told to find this land. St. Brendon built a boat, assembled a crew and made the attempt, several attempts actually. Finally, the saint and his crew of monks did complete that voyage which took seven years. 


Experts believe he charted a course that took him from Ireland to Iceland, Greenland and the coast of America. With sails bearing Celtic crosses, a tough leather ship, lots of determined Irish courage, and an Shamrock for luck, some historians believe the Irish / Celts beat Columbus to the shores of America by ---- 600 years.


With good weather and divine intervention, this might be true. The Irish in me certainly likes to think so. A modern day sailing crew that followed St. Brendon's voyage to America succeeded in making it to the east coast of North America. Here's a video of their voyage. So, for those that like a little legend on their St. Patrick's day - enjoy!

May all the Write Words be Yours,
Linda

Women of the TV Westerns

Women of the TV Western

March is Women's History Month. While I'm not sure how helpful it is to have a month set aside for the history of women, I do think history itself is very important. Throughout history there have been many women and men whose accomplishments have been overlooked, undervalued or downright ignored.

But since its time to highlight the ladies of history, I'd like to give a little applause to the ladies of the television western. These were the women I loved, the ones who didn't sit around and whine, or complain they just sucked it up and dealt with it. Ya gotta love that kind of grit! I guess that's why I love to write about the west, even though my books are contemporary, in many places that grit is still alive and well. 

While the cowboys of television will live on forever (thankfully) in articles, books and anniversary shows, the ladies of the west have ridden off into the sunset, never to be heard from again. These women were more then just “side-kicks” to the cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws.  They represented early American life and these ladies were modern day pioneers.  Women of western television shows were some of the first ladies in entertainment to show women as more then a fragile female waiting to be rescued.  These were women who owned and operated ranches, knew a gun as well as a skillet, owned saloons, and as "real world" working actresses, they were working mothers.

The Big Valley’s Barbara Stanwyck had many “artistic discussions” with the shows producers to keep her character, ranch owner Victoria Barkley tough, strong and self-sufficient.  Victoria was a widow, dealing with greedy bankers, assorted corrupt officials, operating a massive ranch, raising kids alone, and then she inherited her dead husband’s illegitimate son. Can you say grit?

High Chaparral was the first television program that incorporated a mixed marriage, an American husband and his Hispanic wife. This was probably one of the first leading roles featuring a formidable Hispanic woman on television. She wasn't a cook, maid or secondary character, she was in forefront, tough as nails, and had a temper that could best most of the men. Actress Linda Cristal played a strong minded, tough ranch wife whose husband was still pining after his first wife, was much older then her, plus she had a step-son that hated her, an embarrassing, lazy brother and live in in-laws. If I knew how to say grit in Spanish I would!

Who could forget, Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty, owner of the Long Branch Saloon in Gunsmoke?  She got Matt Dillon on her terms. Miss Kitty owned the best drinking place in Kansas, no watered down drinks at the Long Branch, she was one helluva business woman, had the most beautiful clothes this side of Paris, had the respect of the entire town, and she made “fancy girls” respectable.

Even earlier then these ladies, there was Annie Oakley, both the real one and the television version. Seriously, was there any male gunslinger brave or stupid enough to take her on? Annie was tough, Annie was the best at what she did, Annie could wear a dress, or be one little hottie in her jeans with six-shooter on her hip. 

These women blazed the trail for the tough women of television that would follow. While other television shows of the era depicted the perfect “stay-at-home mom”, western television women were showing they could ride as an equal to their male counterparts. 

I for one would like to salute those ladies of the television western who dealt with what stood in front of them with grace, who kept true to their values and spirit and who possessed honest to goodness -- grit.

May All the Write Words be Yours,
Linda

The Silo's of our Minds

The Silo's of our Minds

As anyone that uses computers and the Internet heavily knows their useage is being tracked. Whether it be some government watch organization, a marketing research corporation, or a social marketing tracker, everything we do online is being watched by someone, somewhere.

Many take the stand that if you are doing nothing wrong, why worry. Perhaps that is the best way to look at, it seems innocuous enough. However, I wonder, who are all those cyber-marketing people, and government geeks and exactly what are they looking for? And what do they plan on doing with all that information they collect?

I am of the opinion, if you want to track me make yourself known. Don't lurk in the damn background like some sick cyber-peeping Tom. Yes, it makes me angry that a venue like the Internet that began as such a wonderful, freeing, open "land" of expression is slowly sinking into a quagmire of censorship, watchdog agencies, and lurking marketers.

Again, I ask, who is watching and what are they doing with that information? Already, social media is being used to judge job applicants, college applicants, and loan applicants. There are reports of little nano-bots sticking in the back of your computer world like dust bunnies behind the couch tracking your every click - only my dust bunnies don't report to anyone what happens on my couch.

A recent article on NPR hammered this point home. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147189154/how-companies-are-defining-your-worth-online

In his book, The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry is Defining your Identity and Your Worth, author Joseph Turow (Professor, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania) reveals how we are being tracked through our computer, smartphone, social networking, and online purchases.

He drives home the point that we are all being sorted into our perspective "silos," created by marketers, he states: "companies can {then} make certain inferences about people's behavior. "I'm concerned about ... social discrimination," he says. "... In an everyday world where companies are deciding [how] I'm targeted, making up pictures about me, I'm getting different ads and different discounts and different maps of even where I might sit in an airplane based on what they think about me."

In the future, Turow says, you might be placed into "reputation silos" by advertisers, who will then market products to you accordingly.

"It has a lot of ramifications of how we see ourselves and how we see other people," he says. "... And this is part of another issue we have to think about, which is information respect. Companies that don't respect our information and where it comes from are not respecting us, and I think moving into this new world, we have to have a situation where human beings define their own ability to be themselves."

After my anger subsided over the invasion of privacy, my sarcastic self kicked in and began thinking - it can be seriously bad when that happens.

Of course, my first thought went to those of us who have professions that involve research. As a writer, I scour the Internet looking for the perfect wine, shoes, or location for a character - not for me. I investigate how the FBI works, or what the penalty is for certain crimes - not that I'm going to commit a crime. For a recent article, my research took me from Wall Street to the Supreme Court, to the law library, with a left turn at NASA. Compared to some "thriller" writers, my research is pretty tame stuff. Although all that scary research is probably going to get them better airplane seats. I mean who wants to take on Dave Robicheaux, John Rain, Jack Reacher, or Jack Daniels? I can't see a pesky airline ticket person arguing with them over seating.

If authors are going to be "herded into silos" based on their Internet searches, or cell phone apps you might as well get the straight-jackets ready now. Can't you just see that "silo"? (She snickers) We may not be able to prevent such a gross invasion of privacy, but we are sure going to skew those marketing results.

May All the Right Words be Yours,LM

The Weaponry of Words

The Weaponry of Words

Words can instill hope, create lyrical poetry, sooth the weary, become music for the soul.  Words can entrance a reader, provoke thought, and spur creative dialogue; they can be the most majestic expression of the human race.

Words can also be unimaginable weapons.  They can slay an honest man, exonerate a crook, create negative innuendo that can never be repealed, they can make a martyr out of a felon, and condemn a prophet.

Today, whether writing or speaking we are all guarded.  Every nuance of our words, their inflection, and even the “body-language” that accompanies those words is scrutinized.   Whether written or spoken nearly all of us suffer from “word guard”. 

Words can now trumpeted across multiple media platforms, they are broadcast, re-broadcast, Twitted, Facebooked, YouTubed, cut and pasted, taken in fragments and unfortunately regurgitated often before a complete sentence has been spoken.

Words began as humanities saving grace.  It allowed us to communicate, to express ideas, to exchange information, to inspire us to one day use words instead of weapons to solve our differences.  Sadly, words have become a more brutal weapon than bullets. 

Daily we are deluged with a jungle of words.  Most are meaningless chatter.  Bland captions or monotone commercials that fill our senses through an ever thickening brain filter.  Signs we miss, colors that are a blur, conversations ignored has become the daily normal for most of us. 

Then when we do speak, whether it is in jest, on politics, religion, or the weather our words are dissected with the precision of a diamond cutter, particularly if we choose a public life as a writer, actor, speaker, or politician.  No word, no sentence, no frown, or laugh is immune from the microscopic dissection. 

As human’s we are an imperfect species.  Never will we speak, or write all the words perfectly.  A few more advanced souls have come very close, but none has perfected all the rhythms and nuances of their words. 

Yet in times past, unless the words were vile, and ugly, we were given a reprieve by our fellow humans.  All of them realizing they too had been guilty of speaking too quickly spoken a jest that was taken for truth, or spoke ill of someone and regretted it.  We were allowed to err, to be human with our words; we were allowed to speak freely. 

Today, those who disagree with your writing, with your speech, with your quick wit or your creative abilities no longer sit mute and wait to absorb your work in its entirety.  Your words are plucked randomly from a speech, given media approval before any journalist confirms the words.  Words today will haunt and harangue you like a persistent plague, one you will never be to forget or overcome forever planted in an eternal cyber loop.

Many public figures, celebrities, writers, and politicians have teams of writers scour their speech to remove perceived imperfections.  This “cleansing” has made us automatons.  Writers, journalists, politicians that are completely devoid of character, or content, an homogenized society that blends so perfectly into each other we are becoming without form.

The few who chose their own path, their own words, are verbally crucified, not only in the media, but also by comments blasted around the world in an instant.  No quarter is given, no allowances made.  These comments are not limited to disagreement; they are vicious comments slandering the character, the family, the ethnicity, or the heritage of the individual. 

Because we’ve allowed no grace of comment, because we’ve become so afraid of offense, because we’ve become incapable of laughing at ourselves, at the foibles of being human, we have lost our character, our individuality, and our grace to forgive. 

Because of our fear of words I fear there will be no more Shakespeare’s, no more Hemingway’s, no more Norman Mailer’s, no more Ayn Rand’s to add grace, depth, and sustenance, passion and character to our language. 

To quote Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “the pen is mightier than the sword.”  I don’t think Lytton realized how prophetic his words would be.  While war did not diminish our creative capacity for words, fear of words has.

May all the Write Words be Yours,

Linda

What's in a Name?

What's In a Name?

Apparently a lot. 


Writer's craft stories, create worlds, knock-off bad guys, celebrate heroes, and believe in happily-ever after. We want readers to know these places and people we create. We invite readers into these worlds in hopes of sparking a smile, perhaps a tear, or just to escape from work, bills and reality for a few hours.


Yet,a writer's job doesn't end with typing the words and creating these visionary places, oh no, in today's literary jungle our task has merely begun. 


First and foremost is story - if you don't have a good story nothing else is going to help. However, all writers are painfully aware that if you don't have a great, dynamic, stand out cover well, your perfect prose probably isn't going to get read by too many people, unless you are bragged on by the likes of Stephen King or Barry Eisler. (Hey Barry, Stephen, hellooooo) 


Even then, most readers scan that cover and if they aren't instantly intrigued I mean in 7-seconds or less - back to the cyber or print shelf you go. Sigh.


Recently, I've come across several blogs that tell me my name is a key factor in getting published. Seriously, now I have to consider what the heck my name is? All writers have, I'm certain, considered using a pseudonym at some point in their career or in their fantasies. Many do use them, but even those names can be a burden if they aren't the right name for the book.


A recent NYT article about author Patricia O'Brien who couldn't sell her latest book until she changed her name hammers home the point.


As a life-long, voracious reader, I can honestly saw a fancy cover has turned my head, but a name? I never really gave an authors name that much thought. Perhaps its just me.


I'd just like to know - Does an authors name really give an indication to the reader that it is a good book? Does a name date you? Do certain names turn readers off of an author or a book? If I write a thriller will readers be less likely to read if I am a woman?


Through literary history writers have employed pen-names to sell books - think Mark Twain. Today, however, it is harder to hide your true identity. It is also harder to stand out amid the glossy covers,and  the beautiful websites and tip-toe into the land of "I sold my book", much less hit any bestseller list - now I gotta find the perfect name too?

I wonder if I could find a good numerology site to help me? Hmm, how about Shakes Peare?


May All the Write Words be Yours,
Linda

An Un-Sappy Valentines

An Un-Sappy Valentines

I'm not an overly romantic woman, at least in the hearts and flowers sort of way. Through the years I've learned that Valentine's Day is just a reminder to love the one your with everyday. And if you are lucky and blessed enough to be with your hearts desire for a number of years, your perspective on Valentine's Day changes through time. 


The young days of passion, starry-eyed lust and loving with abandonment give way to something much deeper, something you can't even imagine exists when you're younger. 


After the first years of flowers, cards and candy, you have a family and Valentine's Day becomes more of a group party. Funny little stickers on the refrigerator, little boxes of candy hearts scattered over the kitchen counter, a heart shape cake for the evening desert or sticking stupid cupids to the front door just to see a 4-year old smile. 


The next thing you know you're helping your kid fill out those annoying little cards for school Valentines boxes, and for some unexplained reason you've volunteer to be the room parent for the Valentine's Party. This will require endless hours of baking, and gluing assorted construction paper projects together after your regular work day. You come home from the party glittered, sticky and tired. Hoping you've helped mend a few tiny human hearts that didn't get as many of those cards as others.


Now, your own Valentine awaits, not with roses and candy but with a steaming cup of coffee and an offer to fix dinner. That's is true romance.


Jobs demand, family is your focus and hearts and flowers become a distant memory. Instead I come home to find the dishes done, or the floor swept or a pizza in the oven. This is true romance.


Next, come the flowers and candy to those little girls that aren't so little anymore. As you swallow the lump in your throat when they walk out the door carrying a rose in one hand and holding a boy's hand in the other.


Your Valentine asks you to join him on the couch, wraps an arm around you, kisses your forehead and says, "she reminds me of you."


Then the house is empty again with just the two of you. Life moves forward and the candy and flowers have now become a gentle touch, a tender kiss and reassuring hand. You've discovered that time is a gift, time together is romance in itself and you'd trade all the hearts, flowers and candy in the world for more time.


Today, I gave my Valentine a sketch. It isn't fancy, there isn't a rose or anything romantic in this sketch. It is merely a pair of hands cradling a tiny baby. Tough  hands, scarred hands, rugged, dependable, reassuring hands. The same hands that cut firewood, fix a car, shovel the snow, till the garden, and rope the cattle are the tenderest hands in the world when cradling his little girls. They are the strength, the love, the romance I cherish.


Happy Valentine's Day
May all the Write Words be Yours,
Linda

Blog Hopping

Blog Signing? Hopping?

For years I labored over my autograph, practicing the finer swirls on the big "L", and perfected the dot over the "i". I sweated over the personal note I would leave on that title page in my book. I obliterated hundreds of sheets of paper, spend endless hours in school not doodling - no - I was autographing! Yeah, the teacher didn't buy it either. 


Finally, after many rejections (enough to wallpaper my house!) I had a book published! At last I would have booksignings, wear a Houndstooth jacket with patches on the elbows, have readers waiting anxiously in line for my signature. 


Wouldn't you know the eBook revolution hit and all that practice was for nothing! Yes, I take part in the Kindlegraph, but it just isn't the same! So, now I am ready to launch a "blog hop" for my second book hoping to persuade readers to part with hard earned dollars to buy my book. 

(Look to the right -------------------------------------------------->

(Subliminal advertising)
While I'm looking forward to a blog hop and I do love my cyber-signings, it just doesn't have the same panache as signing a book and meeting readers face-to-face. 


Although a few writer friends have shared some "not-so-nice" real world booksigning stories like; "where's the bathroom?", "so you're the one who writes this stuff?", "your books advocate violence!", and my personal favorite; "does your mother know what you write?"


So, as I begin this blog hop I am hoping a few of you might make a point to drop by, leave a comment, maybe win some freebie stuff.


I'm really anxious, I mean what if nobody shows up? What if they only want directions to the next blog? Or what if they were really looking for somebody else? Gulp. 


I'll be at Romance Lives Forever next Tuesday, February 13th - drop by!

May all the Write Words be Yours!

Linda