October 2009

Reader Elizabeth posted the following query: A question I'd like to ask has to do with the fourteen years of writing before you were published: Did anyone outside of your immediate family know what you were doing, or did you not talk about it but save it for the page? I'm wondering if you did tell people you were writing if they were supportive or if they had more "we'll believe it when we see it" type of remarks, and how you handled that.

Elizabeth, very few people knew what I was doing for a number of reasons. First, there is a tendency for people to stare at you blankly when you say you are writing a novel. It's like you're admitting to doing something unseemly and faintly scandalous. They don't quite know how to respond, and so they often don't. They furrow their brows and turn away. It's disheartening.

Second, I've gone on record as saying that the less I talk about my writing, the better it is. (And once again, what works for me is what works for me. Other people might find it terribly restrictive.) But as I said during the interview last week, you have one chance to tell your story the first time. ONE. And if you discuss the particulars with people, you are dulling your own enthusiasm whether you realize it or not. You should be bursting to get the story on the page, and if you have discussed it, somewhere in your subconscious, your creativity is registering the fact that you have already told it.

For me, it was just easier to keep my projects to myself until I was published. A few friends in Texas knew I was writing, but no one in Virginia knew until I had a publishing deal. It was so much simpler to present it as a fait accompli!

As for rudeness, it happens, and it happens to me still. I get a fair number of folks who say things like, "Oh, I've always meant to write a book, I just don't have time." These are people to whom we do not speak any longer than necessary because they just don't get it. (I will confess that I have OCCASIONALLY replied, "Yes, and I thought I'd take up a bit of cardiothoracic transplant surgery on weekends, but who can find the time?" It isn't nice and I don't recommend it, although it feels divine.) Most people are not intentionally unkind, I think. They just honestly don't have the vaguest notion of what it is like to write a book. Getting myself away from rude folks as quickly as possible is the best remedy.

Oh, how I love Halloween! It's always been one of my favorite holidays as a kid, but since I've grown up, it's taken on even more significance because it is so closely followed by El Dia de Los Muertos, the day to remember those who have passed on. (More on this later in the week!) I adore everything about Halloween, from the surfeit of spooky decorations to the magazines packed with recipes for cheeseballs with googly eyes. And one of my favorite things about Halloween is the chance to watch endless spooky shows on television--the classic old horror films, cheesy Hammer movies, ghost-hunting programs--I love it all, and my tivo is about to burn up. (I should point out that I am a major wimp and do not do modern horror films or slasher movies at ALL. I only watched "Halloween" last year for the first time after I read that it actually doesn't include too much gore. Of course, I also sat through "300" without turning a hair, so I am nothing if not inconsistent.)

Anyway, the best things I've seen so far this week are: "Ghost Stories", featuring the Villisca Ax Murder House. It's a Travel Channel series that features some of the most chilling sites in the country. Now, I admit I've only had a chance to see the episode highlighting the unsolved 1912 murders in Villisca, but since it's a case I'm fascinated by, I thoroughly enjoyed it, not least for the nicely atmospheric credits. The story itself is shocking--an entire family butchered by an ax murderer as they slept--and it's particularly affecting to see the footage filmed in the house which has been restored to its 1912 condition. I know there is a fair bit of controversy over whether the house is actually haunted, but I don't really care. As a crime scene alone, it's compelling. It's also being repeated a few times this week on the Travel Channel, so check the listings.

My favorite horror movie, hands down, is Vampyr: Der Traum des Allan Grey. TCM shows it at least once each Halloween season, and it is WELL worth watching. You might want to google it first and read up on the plot because I will be the first to admit it's a bit difficult to follow. It was shot in 1930 and is eerily beautiful. The cinematography is dreamy thanks to the film having been shot through a layer of gauze, and the effect is otherworldly. Film lore says that the actors actually stayed in the crumbling castle setting for the duration of the shoot, and it is interesting to note that aside from two professional actors, the rest of the cast is comprised of amateurs cast for their looks. There is little dialogue, and honestly, following the plot doggedly is not the point. This is one of those films that is far more about the journey, so settle in with a nice glass of blood-red wine and prepare to enjoy the slow, measured pace.

Or you might have had a question that didn't get asked--so sorry there was no opportunity! But you can ask here. Just leave your questions down in the comments and I'll start answering them this week. If you want to check out Anjuelle Floyd's writing blog or listen to the show--she has a link on her blog--here you go. I had a great time chatting with her, and she's been kind enough to invite me back for the release of The Dead Travel Fast!

Since I'm on a deadline and winding up the first draft of the next Julia Grey book, I am writing a few blog entries ahead of time and will start answering reader questions toward the end of the week. If you've already e-mailed me a question, I will answer it here unless you request otherwise. Thanks!

So our ghosts are getting noisier--either that or I'm developing some sort of hallucinatory disorder because as I write this I'm alone in the house, television is off, no one is near the house, and I can hear faint conversations. (I already thought it might be the radiant heaters, but they're turned off...) I suppose it's fitting as we near Halloween that our resident haints--that's Southern for "ghosts"--might be getting up to mischief. A few weeks back I found an initial scratched into the kitchen chalkboard that I use for keeping grocery lists. We have jokingly called our female ghost Petrella because that is the name of the woman who owned the house in the 1950s and the only person ever to claim to see a ghost in our house described her as dressed in that style. And the letter I found etched into the chalkboard? A "P", of course. It does make you wonder...