Live Long & NOT Procrastinate!

The month of November is upon us bringing many good things . . . Thanksgiving, Election Day, Veteran’s Day, Black Friday and the start of the holiday season. For some of us writers, November brings a period of temporary insanity known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal of which is to write a 50,000 – word novel. For you Trekkies, I can liken it to the  time Spock experienced the pon farr, the Vulcan mating period when Vulcans get “blood fever” and went temporarily insane.  For choc-a-holics or coffee addicts, it’s similar to anytime you need your coffee or chocolate and for some reason you can’t have it, so you act a little crazy until you get it.

Writing 50,000 words in 30 days IS an act of insanity. I’ve survived twice and inexplicably come back for more.  In order to accomplish my goal this year, I’ve made a vow to not procrastinate so for the month of November I promise I will not:

1. Watch any Law & Order marathons.  (I hear that is on every hour of the day somewhere in the world, so I’m sure they won’t miss my viewership)

2.  Decide to call friends I haven’t seen or spoken to in ten years.

3.  Read my spam email.

4. Constantly re-dial the Dancing with the Stars line so I can vote against Nancy Grace.

5. Re-organize my non-existent sock drawer.

6. Go shopping on Black Friday.  Go to Target.  Shop for long johns. (I live in GA)

7. Keep up with the Kardashians.

8.  Talk to my spouse.  (Okay, I guess that one is unavoidable.)

9. Go to work. (I guess that one is unavoidable too, since I’m not independently wealthy.)

10. Make To-Do (or Not- To- Do) lists.

Bonus: No Tweeting, Facebooking or Blogging unless it’s about my writing project.

Follow me on Twitter or like my facebook page and see how well I do.

In 2010 the United States was fifth in the number of executions exceeded only by China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen.  Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976,  Georgia, my home state, has executed 51 men, including 3 in 2011.  On September 6, 2011, a 4th death warrant was signed for Troy Anthony Davis, convicted of killing Mark McPhail, a Savannah police officer.  Mr. Anthony’s case has been well-publicized and has drawn the support of many state, national and international leaders, celebrities and members of the clergy.  Most of whom, like me, are probably appalled that a man who has a conviction so riddled with doubt, remains on death row.

Since his conviction, 7 of 9 witnesses have recanted, saying they were pressured or coerced into making false statements and  nine witnesses have signed affidavits pointing to another man as the real killer.  There was no physical evidence and a weapon was never found.

Today is the Global Day of Solidarity for Troy Anthony Davis.  You can get involved or find out more about his case through Amnesty International, the NAACP or the Troy Davis organization. Join the call to action by signing a petition, contacting the parole board, attending a rally or just spreading the word through social media.   TODAY is the day to do something because “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” MLK, Jr.

(Find out more about the inequities of  the death penalty here.)

One of the rules to becoming a good writer is to be a good reader. So this year I took the Goodreads challenge to try to read a certain number of books. In addition to reading a greater number of books, I’m trying to read a bigger diversity of writers and genres. However, I can’t seem to stay away from the Southern scribes. Having been a lifelong Georgia resident, maybe it’s the ability to instantly identify with the characters and their way of life that draws me in. Some of my favorite writers are Southerners. Karin Slaughter, Pearl Cleage, Kathryn Sockett and David Fulmer all live in Atlanta and John Grisham’s protagonists usually call Memphis, Nashville or some part of Mississippi home. I stumbled across The Fixer Upper written by Mary Kay Andrews, another Atlantan, and I absolutely loved it.

The story begins in Washington D. C. with a slightly naive Dempsey Jo Kilbrew finding herself in the middle of a growing political scandal as her swarmy boss at the prestigious public relations firm that she works for us puts the noose around her neck to save his own. After she is unceremoniously fired by his assistant, embarrassed, broke and homeless she flees the capital city. She has two choices, she can go west to her jewelry-making mother in California or South to her remarried dad in Miami. She chooses dad. After a few days, she realizes staying with dad and his hot young wife is not an option so she reluctantly accepts a deal pitched by her father. He puts up the money and she invests the labor to restore his recently inherited Victorian house called Birdsong. Once the house sells, they split the profit.

The only problem is Birdsong is in Gutherie, Georgia, an hour from Atlanta and two miles from nowhere. Having no other options, Dempsey takes her dad’s offer and is soon washing windows, laying tile and stripping floors. Throw in a handsome lawyer, a womanizing real estate agent, a grumpy squatter and two determined FBI agents and you’ve got a warm and funny story that asks the question “where is home?” By the end of the novel Birdsong is not the only thing that has been transformed and the once naive Dempsey learns that sometimes home is a place you have never been.

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The net and tv are abuzz with debate about the Casey Anthony verdict, most people expressing passionate opinions either for or against conviction.  We’ve all heard that quote “better ten guilty men go free than one innocent man  be convicted.”  That belief is one of the fundamental cornerstones of the American justice system, but when that person that we believe to the core of our being is guilty does go free, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

In the Anthony case, on one side we have gut instinct and emotion.  How could a mother not report her child missing and be out partying while her precious little one was gone? Why did Casey Anthony show no remorse? Why did she lie to the police?

On the other hand, we have the facts or lack thereof.  No cause of death, no direct evidence of who put duct tape on the little one’s mouth or wrapped her in the blanket. Who really made those searches about chloroform? Was chloroform even used? Was the odor in the car a decomposing body? One expert said it was, one said it was not.

I admit that I haven’t followed the trial that closely, so I’m sure I’ve missed some details.  But even if I had been watching, I cannot supplant my judgment for that of the jury.  It’s easy to say that the jurors must be stupid or not have been paying attention, but my experience as a defense attorney has been that most jurors are very conscientious and they want to make the right decision.  I’ve interviewed jurors after my own trials and what they discussed in the jury room and what issues they thought were important were not always the same issues I thought were important, but they, not me, were the ones watching and listening to every witness.

So what’s the takeaway from this case?  Our justice system is not perfect, no system can be because people will never be perfect.  Every juror takes an oath that they will be unbiased and listen to the facts, but every human being has biases whether he or she wants to admit it or not.  We don’t know what those jurors were thinking or discussing, but we should accept that 12 strangers came together and collectively agreed that the State didn’t meet its burden.  That is what we MUST remember – convictions, no matter how badly we want justice, should not be based on gut instinct, emotion, guesses or feelings, but facts.  If you have any doubt about that, ask the 200+ men who have been freed from death row.

While our system is a system of imperfect people, I still believe its the best there is. Casey Anthony is just one defendant in one case and should not be used as an indictment against the entire system.  Justice is  quietly meted out in thousands of cases every day in court rooms across the country more often fairly, than not.  So while we may be collectively outraged, are we moved enough to fix the broken parts?  As with too many things in this country, our outrage will fade and Casey Anthony will be forgotten by most when the next big story comes along.  However,  I do believe that people reap what they sow, and that there will someday be justice for little Caylee Anthony.

Justice … limps along, but it gets there all the same.

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Yesterday’s postaday topic was to describe the perfect crime. I can’t describe the perfect crime, but here are some “do’ s and don’ts ” gleaned from my years as a criminal defense attorney:

1. Don’t commit a crime with other people.  Nine out of ten defendants are “given up” by their co-conspirators.  If it comes to you are them, they are going to choose themselves.  Every single time!

2. Don’t commit an armed robbery at your place of employment. (Yes, even if you wear a mask.)  Someone can still  identify you without seeing your face.  Maybe it’s your distinctive booming voice made for radio, your fiery red hair that slipped from under the ski mask or the scorpion tattoo between your thumb and index finger that gives you away.  Your co-workers will know it’s you.

3.  Make sure the getaway car is tuned-up and in proper working order.

4. Don’t bring identification.  You are one dropped wallet away from being caught.

5. Remember to take off your work ID, badge or uniform that has your name on it.

6. Don’t wear pants that sag, shoes with long laces or, for the ladies,  extremely high heels.

7.  If you need to call the police to your home, get rid of all illegal drugs or stolen property first.

8.  Don’t take photos of your crime with your cellphone to memorialize the occasion.

9.  Don’t confess to anyone – the 911 operator (those calls are recorded), your cellmate (see #1 – they are always looking for their own deal),  a relative ( the reward money will trump family loyalty) or your significant other.  (She may not tell immediately, but once you make her mad. . . )

10.  If you have an outstanding arrest warrant or drugs on your person, don’t visit someone in jail or go to the courthouse.

BONUS:  If you must drink to the point of becoming intoxicated, DON’T drink before you:  drive, report to your probation or parole officer,  appear in court on your traffic ticket and if you must call 911 get a sober person to do it.

But the real lesson is “don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time.”

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We all have heard it by now that Nike slogan “Just do it”.  The slogan has been seared into our public consciousness because it is so simple and so true.  We all deep down want to stop the b/s and just do it.  Today I read post called stop the excuses that had a great video from Nike demonstrating why we all need to stop making excuses.

I found myself guilty of making  many excuses not to post this week.  I was too busy.  I had a mild case of writer’s block.  I was sleepy.  I was hungry.  No one out there was listening anyway.   Belle (my dog) hated my last post.  Another NCIS marathon was on.

The Nike video drove it home for me.  Excuses are for wimps.  You can always find a reason not to do something.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could make excuses for the things we shouldn’t do instead of the things we should? I can’t overeat today because I’m too tired. I don’t have enough time to procrastinate. It’s raining, so I have to stay indoors and workout.  Complaining makes my stomach hurt. I have to go to work today because I’ll be bored if I stay at home.  Try it. Maybe it will catch on and we will be a world of doers instead of non-doers.  So lace up those sneakers and Just do it – whatever you “it” is.

Wouldn’t it be nice if real life worked this way?  In our times of need and when our courage is about to fail and our last chance at victory is about to me snatched away, if we could just have David E. Kelly (former lawyer and creator of Harry’s Law, the Practice and Ally McBeal) or Dick Wolf (creator of the Law & Order franchise) step in an write the words we need to make everything okay.   If they could give us the words to persuade our boss to give us that promotion or convince our co-workers to band together to demand our long overdue raises.  What would your rallying cry be?  What words would you use to persuade? Or even just to give yourself  a pep talk?

We’ve seen it everywhere from Remember the Titans (Denzel Washington’s coach must rally his racially integrated football team to win the state championship and defy prejudice) to Clash of the Titans (Perseus must  rally his  few surviving men to enter Medusa’s lair so they can take her head and ultimately defy the gods).   Mel Gibson’s William Wallace in Braveheart, Bill Pullman’s president in Independence Day, Morgan Freeman’s principal in Lean on Me and a host of coaches in everything from Hoosiers to Miracle all remind us of the power of words.  And on today, Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday and Superbowl Sunday, who can forget “win just one for the Gipper“?

As a writer, I would love to create a memorable scene that hits the reader right in the gut.  That moment where taken out of context the words may seem a little cheesy, but in the scene the words work because the reader is so emotionally involved in the story.  They want the underdog to win, the unloved to be loved, the innocent to be freed and the bully to get what’s coming.

I’ve been there in real life too.  Facing a jury of twelve strangers, I have often pondered what can I possibly say to get them to acquit?  Unlike in Harry’s Law, things aren’t always so easily resolved.  I’ve given brilliant closing arguments, had jury shaking their head in agreement with my words only to have them come back and convict on all counts.  Not because David E. Kelly and Dick Wolf  are better writers than me ( at least I like to think so), but because not only do they get to write the “call to arms” they also get to write the outcome, a power which I sadly do not possess.

What works in tvland and on the silver screen can work for us too.   In the words of Winston Churchill,  “never surrender.”  When you face an obstacle or feel a dream fading, don’t climb that mountain, speak to it. Persuade it to move.  But if persuasion fails and you must fight the mountaineers, write your own rallying cry that propels you or your team to act because sometimes the victory is not in winning the battle, but in just fighting the good fight.

1. yWriter -  A word processing  program for writers that lets you write scene by scene and chapter by chapter.  Once you have written a few scenes you can drop and drag to change the order or move them to different chapters.  You can print out reports that give you a synopsis of your book and includes chapter outlines.  It also has a storyboard function.  There is great support through a yahoo groups forum.  It does not have as many editing features as WORD or Open Office ( another free program), but you can easily export to another program if you need more editing tools. (I hear Celtx is good for scriptwriters.)

2. idailydiary – I’m a pretty boring kinda girl so I don’t keep a personal diary.  However, I have what  I refer to as  “freestyle days” where I just write with no particular novel in mind.   I’m always looking for ways to organize these ramblings so I can use them later if they fit a particular project.   I had recently read an article about  journaling and how it could stimulate your writing life, so I downloaded some software.   Now I maintain a couple of diaries for my characters.  (My female assassin has some real juicy stuff going on) I’ve tried a couple of different programs, but I find idailydiary very easy to use and the interface looks nice.  You can also password protect it from prying eyes.

3. Treepad – Treepad is an organizational tool.  The best way to explain it is it works like Windows explorer where you have folders inside of folders.  The folders are nodes and they contain articles.  The articles are where you write information.  It’s a good way to organize information that you like, but aren’t ready to use or to store research for a particular project.  You can use images and links.

4.  Syncback – Syncback is a program that lets you synchronize files on your hard drive to an external drive or a flash drive.  What I like is that you can create different profiles that it saves.  So if I want to sync only Red Earth Stories files in one place I can do that and I can create a profile for my legal stuff to save somewhere else without having to designate what I want saved and where it goes every time.

In support of full disclosure, treepad, idailydiary and syncback all have versions that you can upgrade to and pay for.   However, the free versions work very nicely.  If you have some freeware suggestions, I’d love to hear from you.  Hope this bit of FREE advice was helpful.

disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any of the aforementioned programs.  However, I do accept donations for my priceless advice.   When using freeware of any sort, do your own homework.  Some freeware is just a guise for malware, worms, viruses and spyware.

After I finished my novel, I wanted to share it with others. To my surprise I was petrified at the thought.  My think skin had turned to onion paper.  I almost did not take a very beneficial writing workshop because I did not want to read my work to the group.

Today, I got a refresher course in how to take it on the chin.  I am entering the Amazon breakthrough novel contest which requires that you write a 300 word pitch.  I called my sister and asked if she would read the pitch for me and give me her opinion.  She didn’t have a lot of time, so she forwarded to a friend, “Mona” who practically inhales novels.  Instead of relaying to me what Mona had to say, my sister told me Mona had a lot to say, so it would be better if I talked to her myself.

Oh boy!!! Panic set in. I thought my pitch was brilliant, but obviously, Mona did not.  Mona, known for honesty and directness, in the nicest way possible basically said all but the last line sucked.  She didn’t literally say “sucked,” but she felt it was a little confusing and more importantly uninteresting.  Instead of going into defense mode or worse yet, questioning her intelligence, I really listened to what she had to say.  She made some very good points.  So I went home ate a little fried rice, scratched my head and started again.  The sentence that I felt really passionate about I kept.   Some of the things that she suggested I take out I did.

The most important thing was that she forced me to look at my pitch in a different light.  To really consider what the reader would think. When I finished the re-write I let my hubby read it and my sister re-read.  My husband, who is an avid reader and can be a tough critic, loved it.  My sister thought it was MUCH better and  I ultimately got the seal of approval from Mona.

So kids, the moral for today is Grow a thick skin and learn to really listen.

Is it cheating  to simply post a link?  I wrote a guest blog for my sister and I want it to count for my postaweek2011. You can go to VanessaBrightsite.com to read it!