More Smatterings

We now mark the 40th anniversary of the novel S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. It was a novel that shocked audiences then for its portrayal of teen life, and has remained a classic since.

Speaking of which, this week is Banned Books Week. It is amazing the number of books that are challenged or banned from school districts, school libraries and sometimes even public libraries. Hinton's book makes the list, too. You can read more at the American Library Association's web site. I will also have a column you can read at www.aransaspassprogress.com on Wednesday.

I've been having some serious thought to my character Barnacle. I wonder if it is too late to change him. He's a total ass kicker, but doesn't like to be around people. I've often thought, without writing it, that he may have agoraphobia or something similar. That's why he's an Internet junkie. But maybe there's something else. A handicap? A physical feature he thinks people find repulsive. I don't know. I see him taking more of a supportive role to Addison Carlysle though.

Busy writing weekend. 12,000+ words done.

Smatterings

I'm not too interested in writing holiday oriented stories, generally speaking. But I've just finished the rough draft of one for Christmas, and it is quite fun. Starts with the premise "What if being Santa Claus (the real one), was actually punishment for something?" Hmmmmm...........

I finished reading my first novel by John D. Macdonald, featuring Travis McGee. I know, I'm running behind, and have to say that now I know why those novels are so influential.

Robert B. Parker has a new novel out - High Profile, featuring Chief Jesse Stone. I've very much enjoyed the novels and am looking forward to reading this one. And look forward to seeing the television movie CBS is sure to make. Tom Sellek has played Stone in four movies and all have been excellent.

And an obit from last month I somehow missed:
GENEVA -Magdalen Nabb, a British author who wrote crime novels about a quirky Italian investigator, has died, her publishing house said Tuesday. She was 60. Nabb died of a stroke Saturday in Florence, Italy, where she had lived and worked since 1975, said Diogenes Verlag AG, her Swiss publisher.

Nabb's most popular novels featured the Sicilian-born police detective Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, who was described by Publishers Weekly as "an unusual protagonist for a crime novel: he's neither a Bond-like sophisticate nor a recovering loser."

She published 13 books in the series, the most recent being "The Innocent" in 2005. Her publisher said she had recently submitted a 14th book entitled "Vita Nuova," which is to be released next year.

Nabb said she started writing when Belgian author Georges Simenon stopped writing his acclaimed novels about French detective Jules Maigret in 1972. A lifelong fan of Simenon's, Nabb struck up a correspondence with the Belgian which continued until his death in 1989.

Nabb's publisher said the first copy of each of her books went to him, and "she couldn't write as fast as Simenon read" because he asked her after each new novel where the next one was.

Born in the village of Church in northwest England, Nabb studied art and pottery and later taught at an English art school. She came up with the idea for the character Marshal Guarnaccia while working in a pottery studio in the Italian town of Montelupo Fiorentino.

Nabb also published 13 books for children and young adults, including "The Enchanted Horse," "Twilight Ghost."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

I'll be grouchy a minute

Recently, I was "taken to task" for a grammatical error in a post on another forum for mystery writers. I think someone even corrected one of my posts on here, once.

Here's the deal.

When I write this blog, it is very much free flow. Raw writing. I generally don't edit it and I often write it late at night. For me, it is as much an abridged diary as it is a self-promotional tool. Therefore, there may be the odd word with bad spelling, syntax or grammatical errors.

I save as much perfection as I can muster for the newspapers and for fiction I submit for publication.

This is a blog. My blog. It is not designed to showcase my writing. Nor is it designed to be a self-promotional tool. Rather, it is a place for me to record my thoughts, and keep what few people who read it informed of what I'm doing.

Grammatical errors?

Deal with it. Or don't read the blog. Or fuck off and die.

Pick one.

Women in Mystery Fiction

One of the things I've found interesting in the field of mystery and crime fiction, today and yesterday, is the role women have played.

Since the early days, female authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers were able break through and acheive commercial and literary success during a period of time — and in a genre — where only men could succeed. What's more, they didn't have to do like their science ficiton counterparts, and assume pen names with initials and/or vague gender identity.

I doubt that things were all peaches and cream back in the day, but certainly things have changed.

Women have always had success in mystery fiction, but it seems to me the last 25 years or so has brought about some gender-defying writers.

Sue Grafton, Sarah Paretsky and others have very successfully crossed into private detective fiction — sometimes hardboiled detective fiction — and they do it with female characters who fight, float in and out of relationships, and really are all that unfamiliar in the genre.

Today, the mystery bestseller lists are filled with female writers, like always. But some, ranging from the two women above, to Faye Kellerman to P.D. James and a host of others are writing fiction that is definitely not the realm of cozy, crime solving cats, little old ladies and novels with no blood, gore, or dirtiness.

Difficult to write

It's been difficult to write lately. I've been tired, stressed out at work, pissed off and more. Can't seem to really relax.

My fiction is suffering because of it. Productivity is down and quality is way down. What time I feel like writing, I have to spend on writing for the paper.

Not in a very good mood today.