Writing is like every sport. While you may not think of it as such, you are competing with not only the writers who skated to publication with shiny advances, but all the writers who are out there seeking sale and celebrity just like you. And it’s crowded out here in the ranks of the unsung. I sometimes wonder if I spend as much time publicity hunting than plotting my story lines. When you are an indie writer/publisher, you are lucky if you find a marketing person who is creative and knowledgeable about driving your book to the right readers. I am very lucky in that regard.
But back to the mind-breaking tasks of creating your work. I checked on athletic pregame rituals to determine if any translated to inspiring creativity in our own craft of writing. I read that one of the pregame preps in major league baseball is peeing on your hands before a game – which supposedly makes gripping the bat more effective. This girl is not gonna even. Ick. Don’t care if it could generate the next NY Times bestseller.
Our premier Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, listens to the Black-Eyed Peas belt “Boom, Boom, Pow” before each race. Soccer striker Lionel Messi kisses the rosary. Michael Jordan wore his UNC shorts under his Bulls’ uniform. Serena Williams has a shoelace ritual prior to stepping on the court. The incredible 49ers’ TE, George Kittle, gets a letter from his dad prior to each game.
None of my research from the sporting world appealed. None of it seemed applicable to igniting a spark in a storytellers imagination. From there, I wondered how some 0f the most famous authors summoned their muse. Here’s what I found.
There must be magic in apples since several of our most successful authors incorporated them into their inspirational moments before putting words on paper. The inventive Agatha Christie spent work time in the tub, munching apples and lining the tub rim with spent cores. However, she did not offer suggestions for restoration of pruney skin after. And Friedrich Schiller, an oldie, but goodie, kept a desk drawer of rotten apples for those moments when he feared an attack of writer’s block. He’d open that drawer, according to his buddy, Goethe, and snort that sweet aroma of decay. His wife was said to have commented, “He could not live or work without it.’
Jump to our more modern writers. Truman Capote never began a new work on a Friday and while he was a chain smoker, he allowed only three butts in his ashtray (he stashed the overflow in his pockets). Jack Kerouac fueled his On The Road narratives with coffee and benzedrine. And one of my personal favorite authors, Dan Brown, straps on gravity boots and hangs like a bat to relax and get the bestseller juices flowing.
After perusing all these head-jolting, plot inducing, character building exercises, I find my routine of hard-core caffeine gulping and belting fave tunes (courtesy of YouTube) with the likes of Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar pretty tame. I say whatever conjures that mysterious sorcery of storytelling that works for you, go with it, baby. Whatever floats the boat!
Christmas. As an author, I’m thinking I should be promoting the heck out of my books. I did that but then I thought beyond my purely monetary desires. I considered this year’s marking of the birth that was to bring us hope. Our hope has suffered severe challenges of late and while we go through the motions buying gifts and decking the halls, we feel uncertain.
I compare this year’s Christmas with my latest Rita Mars work. The title is apt: The Book of Revelation. In this book of the Bible, terrifying events are prophesied. The author spins a devastating tale of destruction. Many who read this scary forecast for the future, take it as a warning of a world that definitely does not end in a whimper. Though the scenarios are dire, the Bible’s Revelation threads a promise and a hope. And we, in this country, need to remember that is the real message.
Today as you read this, consider that, compared to many, our lives are sustainable. This is a time to consider others who don’t have the same safety nets, who are hunted for no other reason than their skin color. The cavalry is not coming. The best of this situation is that we have each other. I hope for and envision a time we can take a breath without the constraints of fear and hate. I do believe that only by our gratitude for what we have and sharing with those who have less, we give substance to a steadfastness that carries us through dark times.
So what is my point in this Christmas message? I am asking you to take your “thing” money and share it with the families whose struggle is daily and lately made even more difficult by people whose only desire is acquisition. We can rail against that personal perspective, but if help is to come, it will come only from us.
I take this season of hope as a time for reflection of the people who mentored me, who taught me the principles I now hold about integrity and compassion, who were living examples of the tenets they shared. No one gets anywhere without the help of others. It is our turn to help as we have been.
There are a lot of hungry people across this country today in a land of plenty. There are a lot of terrified people here in the home of the brave. If we stand together – if we share our strength and bread – we will pass through the darkness. I think of that quote often attributed to Churchill “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” We, the people, are an undeniable power when we march together.
So – send funds to a local group or a national charity, put $5 in a Salvation Army pot, contribute to a food bank. Find your way to join in solidarity. It means everything to the recipients; it means strength and resolve for ourselves.
I’ve been hard at work on a new Rita Mars Thriller. It’s called The Book of Revelation.
When people hear that title, they immediately think of the apocalypse or the end of the world. Or destruction or death. But “apocalyptic” really doesn’t mean end of the world, or the end of our lives or the end of anything. The term refers to a “reveal.” That’s what happens in this book.
Rita Mars is hired by her attorney to help with a case of a child being held by her grandparents against her mother’s wishes. Rita’s mission is a tricky one. What is so heinous that the grandparents kidnapped a little girl from her own mother?
Rita walks a fine line in her investigations. She rejects the tenets and actions of the mother’s family, but she must observe an objectivity that is elusive at times. She must maintain an impartial analysis of facts when she could so easily fall into the bias trap and find ways to present information stacked against the grandparents. She needs a cool head and a measured approach.
Not an easy job in this case – the leader of this effort is a minister from a small elemental church. This congregation is no stranger to violence. Church followers hound her, threaten her. Their means are never subtle and often involve the risk of real physical harm. Rita is wary and she relies on her hacker, Roswell, to help keep her safe. Forewarned is forearmed.
In a time when facts turn flexible and rancor is a constant undercurrent, Rita Mars navigates a course in a divided world. On one side are those depending on her to bring them out of the chaos and on the other are those led by authority figures whose sole interest is imposing his will.
This is a story we’ve all heard. Good is portrayed as evil. We see it everyday in the news. How do we change it? We pull together with help from our friends. Rita is no exception. She is going to challenge, every time, the fallacies and the lies and the superstitions. She is everywoman seeking the truth.
Get ready for a powerful reader experience when you follow Rita Mars in The Book of Revelation. Coming to Amazon soon. See the other books in the Rita Mars Thriller series here.
Rob Bonney is a novelist, poet, and climate activist. His first novel, Hide, is the story of a boy with an audacious plan to save himself. Suspenseful, philosophical and comic, Hide always returns to Seb’s questions: How have we become so lost, so detached from nature, so stupid about a planet we depend upon completely? How will he, or any of us, find our way back?
Valerie Webster talks with Diane Gansauer, the author of The Waypoints: From 400 Farewells and 3000 Miles. At the age of sixty-one, Diane Gansauer committed to something great: hiking the entire length of the Continental Divide Trail, from Mexico to Canada. Over a seven-year journey through mountains, rivers, and forests, Diane continued her work officiating celebrations of life. By the time she completed all thirty-one hundred miles of the trail, Diane had honored more than four hundred life stories through memorial services and gatherings. The Waypoints chronicles the wisdom that overlapped her experience of these lives and the trail, like stacked stones on the path, guiding the way.
