Don't Forget that Thought, Write it Down!

"The existence of forgetting has never been proved: we only know that some things do not come to our mind when we want them to."  Friedrich Nietzsche

Ever lost a great story idea, or forgotten just the right quote, or the perfect sentence to describe something?  If you came up with these great thoughts in the middle of the day, but failed to write them down at the moment of inspiration, the answer is probably yes!

That's why it's so important, as writers, to always have pen and paper handy wherever we are.  If you dream up your ideas, or they come to you while waking in the wee hours of the morning, have a notebook on your bedside table.  If you develop scenarios as you drive, place a little steno pad in your glove compartment.

If you're a woman writer who wants to be well prepared to hear from "the muse," carry a little notebook in your purse.  Same goes for a guy who carries a "man bag." And with a cell phone, anyone can be prepared since you can text yourself!

Write down (or text) your ideas when they're fresh!  If you don't have a handy pad or a cell phone, grab the nearest thing available!

We've all heard about great stories written on cocktail napkins! And if you're like me, you've probably scribbled on napkins from your own kitchen table when nothing else is accessible to catch that stream of wildly flowing inspiration!

Even though you can hold on to ideas for a few hours (before completely forgetting them), sometimes they're just not as strong as the original thought, once you find the time to jot them down.  It's difficult to recreate the initial pungency from the fragments left  floating around in your head.  

So be prepared, write it down! Do you have a pen and paper handy wherever you go?

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by! 

Inside the Mind of a Murderer

I just finished writing my second mystery in The Black Ops Detective Agency Series, Growler to Grave. I'm in the final revision stage. Since I've been dealing with an imaginary murderer, I dug into my blog archive and found this old post. It provides fascinating insight into how a murderer thinks.

"Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man's life." Daniel Webster

I recently read an excerpt from Michael Capuzzo's  book, The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases. The section I read focused on a woman who murdered her live-in boyfriend after finding out he'd found a "decent girl" to bring home to mom and dad.

I thought the information provided would be useful to anyone developing a character who just happens to be a murderer.

The victim, 24 year old ladies man Scott Dunn, had moved from his well to do home in Philadelphia, to a small West Texas town in hopes of turning his troubled life around. But his real troubles began upon meeting waitress Leisha Hamilton.

A year after Scott's murder, his father, James Dunn, was put in contact with Profiler Richard Walter. By this time the unsolved murder had become a cold case.

Dunn explained the first time he heard from Leisha. She'd found his name on a phone bill and thought he needed to be contacted because Scott had been missing for four days and she was concerned. Dunn had never heard about her. The only girl Dunn knew anything about was Scott's soon to be fiance, Jessica. Leisha claimed Scott had vanished without a trace, only leaving behind his car. And she hinted in subsequent conversations that since she was closest to Scott, she should get his car. Hmm...

Leisha Hamilton

Dunn had recorded Leisha's cold, atonal voice, and played it for Walter, saying he'd never heard anything like it. After Scott's disappearance, police regarded it as a missing person's case. Dunn pushed for a luminol test in Scott and Leisha's apartment. Luminol detects blood as diluted at one part per million. Even after rigorous cleaning, when the chemical is sprayed on walls in darkness, they'll glow blue for 30 seconds. The walls in the apartment glowed blue like they'd been spray painted. DNA tests confirmed the blood as Scott's.

According to Profiler Walter, "the careful cleanup speaks to an elaborate plot. The murder was purposeful, not recreational." Recreational is choosing a random victim for sadistic pleasure. But a carefully organized crime, cleanup, and body disposal indicate a power assertive, or PA killer. "The killing is all about power--incapture, restrain, torture, kill, throw away, 'I win, you lose' kind of power."

Upon examining Leisha's personality, Walter found her very bright, sexy, flippant and manipulative. She had a long list of lovers, husbands, and one night stands, as well as five children--all by different fathers. She claimed only to love the ones conceived in love. Hmm...

The end for Scott came the day Jessica called and Leisha answered the phone. Walter says, "If anything is going to get you killed, it's to reject the psychopath and say, 'I'm better than you are.'"

Scott Dunn

Before Scott disappeared, he was seen sick, leaving a party with Leisha. Walter believes at that point, Scott was poisoned. He speculates that Leisha then called on neighbor Tim Smith to help murder Scott. Smith had sent Leisha fawning love letters saying that if Scott weren't around, they could be together.

Walter says this is classic setup for a female PA killer. She'll enlist trickery to disable a stronger male and/or acquire a sympathetic and weak accomplice.

But calling attention to herself was Leisha's biggest mistake. She called Scott's father. She also played the coquette with detectives on the case calling them with new information and pretending to be afraid of Smith. But she moved in with Smith in order to set him up to take the fall. Walter says, "The need for stimulation is quite insatiable for a psychopath, the ego gratification to prove they're smarter than anyone, the gotcha."

In a later meeting with Leisha, Walter says, "I've noticed you seem to have a great ability to attract men...But for the life of me, I can't figure out what they see in you. Can you explain it for me?" After a startled silence, she smiled and said awkwardly, "Well, I don't know," then excused herself to get back to work.

When a detective with Walter asked why he called her a dog, he said, "Leisha thinks she is smart enough to outwit everybody. What we must do is make her feel insignificant--unimportant. This will drive her crazy, and she may well make a mistake."

Walter later received from a detective a pencil sketch by Leisha of the murder scene. The drawing had been given to the detective by an ex-boyfriend she took up with after Scott. The drawing documented the torture of Scott Dunn. It indicated that she'd chained him to a pallet. At the bottom of the picture was a key depicting handcuffs, a needle, a knife and a gun. Also shown were fists and a blunt instrument.

"This is classic," Walter said. "She drew this to memorialize her achievement." She'd also made other dramatic changes classic to post murder behavior. Walter says killers use murder to to stimulate personal growth. "It was a very dark self-help movement--'I'm Okay, You're Dead." Since the murder, she'd moved on to two more boyfriends and had a child by the last one. She'd also gone to nursing school, while continuing to work as a waitress, and graduated at the top of her class.

Walter says,"If you're accused of being a murderess, how do you cleanse yourself of all suspicion? You become a healer and dress in white."

Leisha was eventually convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Phew! One less murderer roaming the streets.

Hope this information is useful in any future fictional character development you're working on. And be sure to read Capuzzo's book! I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing. How about you? Do you have a true crime work you'd like to recommend?

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by! 

I Have a Dream

I did some research on Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" and learned some interesting facts about it from Wikipedia. 

Although it is one of the most memorable and powerful speeches ever made, on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 27, twelve hours before the March on Washington where it was to be presented, Dr. King still didn't know what he was going to say.

The speech has been shown to have had several versions, written at several different times. It has no single version draft, but is an amalgamation of several drafts, and was originally called "Normalcy, Never Again."

When Dr. King did give his speech, toward the end, noted African American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to King from the crowd, "Tell them about the dream, Martin." King stopped delivering his prepared speech, and started "preaching," punctuating his points with "I have a dream."

As King waved goodbye to the audience, he handed George Raveling the original typewritten "I Have a Dream" speech. Raveling, an all-American basketball player from Villanova, had volunteered as a security guard for the event and was on the podium with King at that moment. Raveling still has custody of the original copy and has been offered as high as $3,000,000 for it, but claims to have no intention of selling it, with plans on leaving it to his children instead.

Have you ever read Dr. King's "I Have  Dream Speech" in its its entirety? If not, check it out here.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week! 

The Boys in the Boat

 

Over the weekend hubby and I saw the movie The Boys in the Boat. I probably would not have paid this movie's release any attention, but my oldest son read the book it's based on several months ago, and he's still talks about what a great book it was. Needless to say, we had to see it and it did not disappoint! 

A book is always better than the movie it inspires, so the book is now on my to read list. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, I highly recommend the movie, and based on my son's passion for the book, I will highly recommend it also!

Here's some information about the book, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Boys in the Boat is about the University of Washington eight-oared rowing crew that represented the United States in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's eight in Berlin, and narrowly beat out Italy and Germany to win the gold medal. The main character is Joe Rantz. Rantz had a tough time growing up and was abandoned by his family for several years to fend for himself.

There are two backstories. One illustrates how all nine members of the Washington team came from lower-middle-class families and had to struggle to earn their way through school during the depths of the Depression. Along with the chronicle of their victories and defeats in domestic competition, the reader learns the importance of the synchronization of the eight rowers as they respond to the commands of the coxswain and his communications with the stroke, consistent pacing, and sprint to the finish.

The second backstory begins with a depiction of Hitler decreeing construction of the spectacular German venues at which the Games would take place. Along the way, the book also describes how the Nazis successfully covered up the evidence of their harsh and inhumane treatment of the Jews and other minorities so as to win worldwide applause for the Games, duping the United States Olympic Committee, among others.

All comes together with a description of the final race. During the 1930s, rowing was a popular sport with millions following the action on the radio. The victorious Olympians became national heroes. In accordance with the strictures of amateur athletics, the boys sank into relative obscurity after their victory but were still better off than their parents, and for the rest of their lives proud of their accomplishment. After their win, they would come together every few years to row again. 

As you can imagine, the movie couldn't include all of this detail, but it includes enough to make a compelling story for the screen!

Have you seen The Boys in the Boat? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Happy 2024!

 Happy New Year! Is it really 2024 already? 

Now, if you're thinking about making a New Year's resolution, be sure to check out this interesting article at Goskills.com by Brad Zomick. An excerpt is below:

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, hoping to spark positive change. The recurring themes each year include a more active approach to health and fitness, improved finances, and learning new things for personal and professional development. Chances are, more than a couple of the top 10 most common resolutions will look familiar to you:

1. Exercise more
2. Lose weight
3. Get organized
4. Learn a new skill or hobby 
5. Live life to the fullest
6. Save more money / spend less money
7. Quit smoking
8. Spend more time with family and friends
9. Travel more
10. Read more

Zomick goes on to explain how to achieve these goals.  Some of his suggestions include mentally preparing for change, setting goals that motivate you, limiting resolutions to a manageable amount, being specific, breaking bigger goals into smaller goals, writing down your goals and sharing your resolutions with others. 

I haven't made a New Year's resolution in years, but after reading this article, maybe I will. Zomick's suggestions make setting one realistic. Be sure to check out the entire article here, and have a Happy New Year!

Will you be making a New Year's resolution? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!