The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
– Dr. Seuss
I’m going places – will you?
This weekend, I’ll be in Augusta, Georgia for the Augusta Literary Festival! Come chat with me and pick up a signed copy of UNDERWATER or the audio book!
At a recent Atlanta Sisters in Crime meeting, the invited speaker, a former FBI Special Agent, described how she kept emotion in check for over two decades when she worked on heartrending, tragic cases: She went into “mission mode.”
Being writers, we pushed her to elaborate. “How did you feel?” asked one member. “What was going on inside of you?” The agent responded that she drew on her professional training and experience to compartmentalize* her feelings.
“I just went into ‘mission mode,'” she said. “You’re on a mission, so you stay in mission mode until you get the job done.” As she described an example to us, tears came to her eyes.
Afterward, another ‘sister’ and I discussed the Agent’s talk, and the term “mission mode.”
“I can use that in my current work in progress,” said my sister, whose book has Secret Service Agent characters. “I’d been looking for the terminology they use for that, and now I can use it in dialogue and elsewhere.” **
I can’t use the term in the book I’m writing. But in a different way, it described my attitude–my mode de vie, or way of life–when my son Jack battled cancer almost five years ago. I went into mission mode trying to protect and support him. I lived on hope. And I refused to take No for an answer. Last year, I wrote the story of our journey together. Titled ALL THE ABOVE, it will be released this spring.
Jack, weeks after his diagnosis and his first surgery (and first scar):
I can’t fathom what’s it like to work in law enforcement, where mission mode is normale, if not obligatoire. As an author, I imagine*** stories–make them up–and though I also have to “get the job done,” it seems a much easier job. But for 6 months in 2010, I had a lot going on inside of me that I shared with no one but my husband.
Until I wrote ALL THE ABOVE.
* my word, not hers
**paraphrasing
*** fiction, that is; ALL THE ABOVE is a true story
Photo courtesy of Alliance Française d’Atlanta
Fun “Book Talk” moments at a recent holiday gathering:
Happy Holidays, and Bonne Année 2015!
C’est à dire, Bonjour, November!
Halloween is over…So click here and read about me, my thriller UNDERWATER, and its upcoming release this month by Thomas & Mercer, on PAGE 6 of the November 2014 newsletter of the Atlanta Writers Club!
Sounds easy, right?
I doubt “the King” was talking about writing a novel (I never read Alice in Wonderland), but I think A Year in Provence* author Peter Mayle was.
When I wrote UNDERWATER, I did begin at (what I thought was) the beginning. But it didn’t turn out to be. To guess what I mean, click here and “Look Inside” to read the first few pages.
Now I’m working on Book 4, another thriller with tie-ins to UNDERWATER, and I’m at that part between the beginning and the end, where I must “go on.” (I’ve written about un tiers – a third – so far.) While I’m behind on my goal of 50,000 words** by Thanksgiving (looks like it will be Noel), at least I’m hitting my plot points. And when I’m finished, I’ll stop.
(Then I’ll begin revisions, editing, etc…but that’s another post.)
“Going on” right now is work, and it can be hard to focus sometimes. Doubt creeps in…and I push it away.
This book, like UNDERWATER, is set in Atlanta, and scenes take place in fictional neighborhoods here, with a few (real) landmarks as anchors. And, like in UNDERWATER, characters are not based on people I know, and events are made up. Drawn from my own experiences, observations, and imagination, they interweave and eventually turn into a novel.
“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.” – Mark Twain * Which I have read, as well as many of his other books ** Which is well over the mid-point of the story
To celebrate my birthday (which is today), and in honor of the German translation of my novel UNDERWATER*, my husband baked a German chocolate cake for me yesterday (pictured above).
You might think the sides don’t look right look a little messy don’t look the way they are supposed to, but the recipe he used said to put the (gooey, but yummy) icing on the top, and let it drizzle down the sides.
Which he did.
It tasted great, of course, just like everything he bakes and cooks. He didn’t get the recipe from one of his Julia Child cookbooks, though. It came from another one of the many cookbooks he has either bought or been given over the years.
Before eating cake, we sat outside to enjoy the perfect October weather here in Atlanta, then enjoyed a dinner of poached salmon and salad (also prepared by my husband). Naturally, I felt very fêted…! We were missing some family members who live elsewhere, but those who could attend, did, and one had just been home for a few days’ visit.
I’m not sure if German chocolate cake is something you can find in Germany (I’ve never been there). I suspect maybe you can, but it might be a little bit different from our this version. If it does exist, I’ll bet it’s just as yummy.
In any case, with our cake, what could have been just a meeting normal dinner was a party…
* The German version of UNDERWATER will be released next spring, but the English language versions (print, digital and audio) will be released on November 25, 2014! Click here to pre-order and have automatically delivered on 11-25-14!
JULIA MCDERMOTT 