Getting (Left) Handy

(Not Really Bro & Bride)

Bro and his lovely Bride are in Chicago this week. We plan to hang out together a lot. There are a few things they’d like to do while in town, but there’s only one fixed item on the agenda: we’re going to a Cubs-Cardinals game. Since Bro, Sis and I grew up (mostly) in the Chicago area, we are supposed to cheer for the Cubs. I think.

It’s complicated for a few reasons. First of all, Bro, Sis and I were born on the South side so there were many White Sox fans in the extended family. It is apparently the job of Sox fans to cheer for whatever team opposes the Cubs. Also, Bro and I both went to school in St. Louis, as did Bro’s Bride. So that’s another reason to cheer for the Cards. However, we did spend many of our formative years northwest of the city. So, re: cheering? I think I’ll see how I feel when we get there. A ballpark is not my natural habitat, which is all the more reason to go, observe, and take lots of notes, if my fingers will work. The high is supposed to be 48 degrees. What a great day for fun at Wrigley Field!

Anyway, we have other places to go and things to do, but Bro and I were deserted by Bride and Sis on Monday, both of whom had to work. The weather was iffy and we needed indoor fun.

I gave Bro a small list of things we could do indoors, and he was especially intrigued by the chance to go shoot arrows. There’s an archery pro shop and range about 20 minutes from my house, called Glisson Archery. I think Nicolas Cage learned how to shoot there, for the movie The Weather Man.

We settled on seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It turned out we wouldn’t have time to do shoot arrows and also go to the movie, so we’ll have to plan archery for another visit. But I have to admit, I was somewhat relieved not to shoot because the last time I went, I discovered that I’m not as strong as I hoped, and it didn’t take long for my left arm to tire. Since I did a lot of ukelele practicing on Sunday—okay, a lot for me—I wasn’t sure how much more stress the left arm would take. It’s noticeable weaker than the right. This is the opposite of Bro, who is left-handed.

So…my mind being what it is, I remembered something I heard about how using your non-dominant hand can enhance your brain power. It has to do with building new neural pathways. They’ve done a few studies on this; here’s just one of them.

When Bro and I do get to shoot arrows, I want to be ready. To accomplish this (and also to honor–or compete with–my left-handed Bro) I tried a few exercises to improve my left-hand dexterity.  I found them on the Livestrong site.

Blog Hooky

 

One of my bikes, named Skippy

 It was too nice outside to write a post today. I went for a bike ride because I want to be ready to do 50 miles on June 21 for Bike MS Tour de Farms. Managed 20 miles, which I feel okay about, considering how hard it’s been to work in training time so far this year.

So… I’m putting up my favorite links of the day.

Writing Stuff

5 writing tips by Dinaw Mengestu, courtesy of Publishers Weekly

A writing challenge from the cheerfully profane Chuck Wendig

And the link that made me smile reeeeeally big but if I tell you why ahead of time, I’ll ruin it

Camp Tokar

Making Merry on April 23rd

Shakespeare insult mug – a study aid

Prithee, gentle readers, knowest ye the day that slips, like knave of hearts, into mine bosom on the 23rd of April? Why, ’tis naught but the day to maketh merry in the verbal vein of our dear bard, William!

In other words, April 23rd is “Talk Like Shakespeare Day.” I’m alternately thrilled and terrified when it rolls around. There’s no question it takes energy and commitment, but if you can pull it off, it’s highly entertaining. Here’s what usually happens: I’ll talk like Shakespeare when I first greet someone but then revert to my usual manner of speaking. If I’m met with a blank stare, my Shakespearean talk will peter out fast, but when my conversational partner is into it, we might trade Elizabethan banter for 15 minutes or so.

This year the festal day is especially fun because my writing peeps in The Journey are just getting back into Shakespeare Reader’s Theatre.

Here’s how that started: last summer, inspired by Joss Whedon’s film version of Much Ado About Nothing, Tim (aka NewMexicoKid) decided we needed to get together and read Shakespeare. We met a few times and read from The Winter’s Tale and the Henry trilogy (that would be Henry IV part 1, Henry IV part 2 and Henry V) and it was almost as much fun as riding bicycles. I got to play Falstaff! Never in my life could I have predicted that. I said at the time that all the Journey would have to do would be to start up on American musicals. Let me play Professor Harold Hill and my thespian dreams will be fulfilled.

Anyway, it’s once more into the breach, dear friends. Shakespeare Readers Theatre revives this Saturday. I can’t be at the first session, but we have another one coming up early in May, and I’ll be there with bells on. Or jester’s motley. Point is, I’ll be there. I start practicing for it on April 23. Here is a helpful site, if you want to play along.

A Memory

We lost my husband’s mother on April 11, 2014.

What I’m missing about her today is the way she used her interest in stories and art to forge memories with those she loved.

In the summer of 2006, two of her grandchildren often stayed with her while their parents worked. She entertained them by helping them create a masterpiece on a closet door. Over many days, they worked together on an elaborate story, drawing or cutting out pictures to represent the events, and pasting them into a collage.

She loved that closet door, as did the grandchildren, and it was still in her condo when she finally had to move out. I don’t know many  details of the story, but I do have pictures of the door collage that made her so happy.

Still on Hiatus

But you might be interested in World Book Night, which is coming up on April 23, 2014. I’m excited because in addition to a possible appearance by Scott Turow, Patricia Skalka will be reading from her debut novel Death Stalks Door County. I have a guest post appearing soon in this space. She has additional upcoming events to help launch the book, but this should be fun if you’re able to get to Chicago.

EDITED on 4/18/2014 to add: If you’re interested in attending World Book Night, an RSVP is required, as space is limited. In fact, I think it’s full and there’s a waiting list. Follow this link to RSVP.

Hiatus

There’s been a death in the family.

I have to be out of town and won’t have time to keep things up here for a little while. Hope to be back in about a week.

Take care,
CB

A Smile for Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney

“And if you stamp on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn around and smile…”
— from “Celluloid Heroes” by Ray Davies

Mickey Rooney was a genuine Hollywood legend, but before hearing of his death yesterday, I can’t remember the last time I thought of him. He wasn’t exactly a box office draw in my lifetime. My introduction to him came while I was in college, in the days before cable TV, some stations would run movies overnight on Saturdays, between, say 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. They might be mystery, horror, or science fiction marathons, or they might be some other genre.

Often these stations ran Hollywood musicals. One night might be Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers night; another might belong to Gene Kelly.

One Saturday night I got drawn into MGM backyard musicals and stayed up until dawn. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland owned that subgenre. “Let’s put on a show!” was the tagline for every last one of them. Mickey would be the mover and shaker, while Judy Garland was the girl next door who carried a torch for him. Mickey was easily distracted, and would break poor Judy’s heart multiple times before finally realizing she was the only girl for him. This usually happened right before (or after) the fabulous success of their DIY show, which they never expected would come off properly.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: The Blues Brothers owed a lot to those MGM backyard musicals. Other than the musical style, the main difference for me was that the women were not treated as kindly in The Blues Brothers.

But to return to Mickey Rooney: if they personified the tornado in The Wizard of Oz, he would have been a shoe-in to play the part. He went through money, drugs, alcohol, and wives (eight!) like few other people, even in Hollywood. He had an amazingly varied career. People didn’t often take him seriously, but he had serious chops. Both Cary Grant and Anthony Quinn, when asked who the best actor in Hollywood was, named Mickey Rooney. Tennessee Williams is reported to have said Mickey Rooney was “the only great actor in the United States. He can do anything.”  It’s a compelling argument: Rooney had a varied career, playing roles as diverse as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Army in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)  and Bill Sackter in Bill (1981).

He did his job, making MGM piles of money in the 30s, but he showed himself capable of much more. He continued to act after WWII, but his youthful, unsubtle energy had gone out of style. People didn’t remember (or didn’t care about) some of his excellent dramatic work. There was a long period of his life when he would do almost anything to keep body and soul together. Supposedly for $500 you could get him to go to private parties and pretend he was best friends with the host.

Finally, with the help of his last wife Jan, he reinvented himself in 1979 by appearing on Broadway in Sugar Babies and reminding people that there was a reason he was considered legendary. His life wasn’t always easy, even after this late vindication. But no one deserved a comeback more than he did.

Today’s my day to “turn around and smile” for Mickey Rooney.

Public domain photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Tour de Farms – As Much Fun As You Can Have With Your Clothes On

Graceful, huh?

I lovelovelove bike riding. It’s like flying. I don’t know if it’s
1- going faster than I ever could on my own two feet,
2- the fresh air,
3- the endorphins, or
some combination of all three, but biking one of my favorite things ever. You’d never have to pay me to ride a bike. Not that anyone would. I am not what you call competitive. If you need proof, I refer you to the picture above.

However…one time of year I do solicit bike-riding donations. The money doesn’t go to me. The lovely people in various chapters of the MS Society run terrific bike rides all over the country, and in order to ride in one of them, you need to do a little fundraising to help people with MS.

The MS Society has helped our family a lot. BK has MS. He was diagnosed with it in the mid 1980s. He’s doing pretty well, considering. He sometimes has issues with discomfort, lack of coordination and fatigue, but he’s able to get around, work, and even have some fun occasionally. Usually it’s guitar-playing fun rather than bike-riding fun, but it all counts, right?

We have other friends with MS, too. It’s not that uncommon. Anyway, multiply our family by thousands and you have an idea how much good the MS Society does. The Greater Illinois Chapter says this about their work:

Our staff and volunteers are dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Through our chapter’s support services and educational programs for people living with MS and their families and friends, we help connect people in our local communities who want to do something about MS now.

We offer many programs — including professional counseling and peer facilitated support groups, educational programs and seminars, referrals to neurologists and healthcare professionals, national teleconferences and internet programs, services for the homebound, and social and recreational programs to assist people with MS and their families in leading productive and fulfilling lives.

And that’s just my local chapter. The national society does all that and more, driving research to help end MS.

Last year’s team – the Power Pedallers

I rode in last year’s Tour de Farms and raised over $1000. I’d like to do that again this year, but so far I’m short of my goal. If anyone reading this wants to support the MS Society (either through a donation or by joining the ride), I’d love if you could do it by visiting the link to my personal fundraising page. Thanks so much for your support!

This Meeting Is Now Called To Order

There are 4 items on the agenda.

1. An announcement: I am a space bird!

Space Bird

Okay, even for regular followers of this blog, that may be a touch cryptic. As a quick explanation, let me offer the following:

I like a web site called 750words.com. There are many different ways to help maintain a writing habit. 750words.com is one that I use, and one reason I like it is for the virtual bling. For various milestones, you achieve badges. The longest writing streak they honor is 500 days. For that accomplishment, they award the coveted Space Bird badge.

I got it on Saturday. Here’s a screen shot from the email announcing my accomplishment:

So. That’s out of the way.

2. The first item on the agenda leads more or less directly to the second: My next big writing milestone (at least the next one that’s quantifiable and under my direct control) is writing a million verifiable words. 750words has no badge for that, but I think it’s pretty impressive. I should be accomplishing that late in July. My Million Word Party will probably be one of the first 2 Saturdays in August, and you’re all invited. Contact me if you’re interested in attending and I’ll let you know when a time/date is chosen.

3. It has come to my attention that at least one of the regular readers of this blog finds all this writing *about* writing rather dull. This person (Hi, Cris!) has said something along the lines of: “Why can’t we see some of your actual fiction? Maybe you could offer a story in installments, like Dickens.”

I’m mulling it over. It would be a lot of work, but on the other hand, it would give me something new to write while I try to get my novel in good enough shape to show beta readers. A bit of a palate cleanser, if you will.  There’s only so much editing you can do before you want to tear your hair out. So, a show of hands: who would like to see a story in installments on this blog? If so, what kind of story do you want to see, or should I surprise you?

There are links to a couple of my stories available here and here, if you get tired of waiting.

4. I have a new short story I plan to start submitting to markets tomorrow. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Okay, back to novel revision. As you were.