Rachel Howzell Hall's Blog, page 10

To make a world realistic, writers have to learn about all kinds of crazy ish.

Are there birds that can fly backwards?

Play-Dough: why?

Which bugs are first to arrive at a dead body?

I write stories about city-living and the people who inhabit that world. Some of those people are gang members. Since I no longer personally know gang members, I turn to other resources for information. Which leads me to:

Tattoos!

Yes, there are meanings behind those tattoos and Gawker posted a story about the comprehensive document Canadian border officials keep on gang-related tats!

Eight-plus pages of goodness, from Crips to Russian gangs.

Click away, my friends, and read!

By the way, hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, Play-Dough was originally created to clean wallpaper, and blow flies come first.

What ain't about money?

Writing.

Writers don't write to make lots of money.

Okay, I shouldn't generalize. It only takes one red car to kill the statement 'All cars are white.' Or one literary novelist makin' it rain up in the hizzouse to prove me wrong.

So: many writers, the writers I know, the writers I admire, the writers I friend on Facebook, the writers who still have day jobs, don't write just to make money.

Money is nice. A nice, "Wow, and I get this, too?!" Money is validation. Money is gravy ... and I like gravy. In a house with a mouse, in a car, near and far. I like gravy. But I made gravy, ahem, money, before selling novels. Doing discovery for ARCO. Stocking the Levi's wall at Miller's Outpost. Stuffing envelopes for almost every non-profit organization I've worked for. Anyone can make money. That dog that was in 'The Artist'? He's made a lot of money. Whitney Houston, rest her soul, has made more money in her death than I've made in my life. So, yeah: Dead People see Dead Benjamins.

So, if it ain't about the ends, why is it about?

I love words. I love story. I enjoy my disbelief when observing people and their actions and I want to share that disbelief through the best way I know how: with a pen and pad. I sing but I don't pen great songs like Bernie Taupin. I play piano but I don't compose like Gershwin. I write.

And I write because I must. Because I can. Because someone has to tell you, yes you, that there's a dead body (real or imagined) in that alley over there because you need to know so that we can all stop the monster who's doing scary s*&t to other citizens.

And books are my vehicle for doing that, a modern day, Here Thar Be Monsters!

I hope that makes sense.

And yes, this is a reactionary post.

And no, they didn't say nothin' 'bout my momma.

Nina Sankovitch of Read All Day just posted an INCREDIBLE review for No One Knows You're Here. I was in tears as I read it. For real, though. I was. Here's is the part that really... whew.

Howzell is the Sue Grafton of her generation, with a bit more social conscience and street cred. Like Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, Syeeda is determined to be her own woman, solving crimes and facing down danger, and protecting her own body — and heart — as ferociously as she hunts down bad guys. I hope to see more, much more of Syeeda (Ms. Howzell, you hear me?) and I look forward to reading another novel starring the scrappy, savvy, and stalwart Syeeda.

Read the rest of the review here.

So NASA found a planet like Earth last month or whenever.

Yes, yes, yes! That means more closet space, more Starbucks and a new location to Facebook about. 'Rachel checked in at the AMC Theater on the south side of Kepler 22-B." Hopefully, Groupon will offer this as a Getaway Deal cuz my bags, they are PACKED!


Isn't she pretty?

But what will I read when I get there? Kepler-22B may not have WiFi capability so my Kindle will be useless since I read all the books loaded onto it once I awakened from hyper-sleep and had to read during the rest of the journey over. So: old-school books -- we have to send a capsule full of them for the first public library in New Los Angeles, Kepler-22B (Okay, and we'll have to have a write-in contest maybe sponsored by our new overlords to change that name. Sounds like something I should pour into my camshafts).

What should we stock?

Here are my ten picks:

1. The Bible (of course, cuz we need rules and poetry and stories about sex, redemption and salvation in this new world)
2. The Joy of Sex (I'm sure we'll lose a few space travelers so we'll need to repopulate) by Alex Comfort
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
4. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
5. The Odyssey by Homer
6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
9. Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
10. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

What other books should we stock?

Writers have secrets. Oh yes, we do. We're just like the Masons and the Illuminati but in more comfortable shoes and moleskins in our back pockets.

Wanna know a few?

Okay!

Here's this great list I stumbled upon from a blog called Aliventures:

Secret #1: Writing is Hard

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. (Gene Fowler)

There's a myth – not just in the writing world – that if you're good at something, it'll be easy. And established writers, me included, do have writing sessions where the words flow smoothly.

Read the rest here.

One secret of mine that didn't make the list: Writers have an obsession with writing supplies.

I'm a pen snob. And pad snob. Don't just throw me a Bic or a regular #2 pencil. I need Uniball Fine or Micro and those blue art pencils, Staedtler Mars Lumograph Lead H. I would enjoy a gift card to Office Depot rather than a card from Best Buy. New pens! Fresh legal pads. Notebooks of every size! I'm swooning now as I write.

Another secret: We're watching you.
Yeah, you. You, too. Where the hell do you think we get that character who picks their teeth with a matchbook cover and then eats whatever he finds? Or the character who wears some type of sequined article of clothing every day? Or the character with the verbal tick, the one who says, 'Right, right' as you talk? YOU that's who. A writer who says that you're not a part of the story is a writer who lies and whose writing probably sucks. (Or not.)

So you writers out there. What secrets do you have?

Just a head's up, my reading friends. The View from Here goes free all day tomorrow on Amazon, January 28!!



I'm excited about the free thing. Does it show??

The View from Here is the Book of the Day for this great site! Bargain eBook Hunter features incredible reads at low, low prices! Please go on over and make yourselves comfortable.

Kindle Fire Department: The View from Here: Book of the Day: We've got a great book of the day lined up for you in Rachel Howzell's The View from Here. Highly rated and highly gripping, this look at t...

I love the Internet. Sometimes. And I love Facebook. Sometimes. You meet a lot of awesome people on-line, and a lot of great writers.

I met writer Deatri King-Bey earlier this month and we thought we'd share each others writing life on our blogs.

Dee had great questions and I'd like to share my interview with you!

Here's one question:

When did you begin writing? I was a shy child and didn't really share with anyone how I felt about things and kept all my angst and worry to myself. And then, my GAT (Gifted and Talented) teacher Ms. Anderson bought me a fabric-covered journal when I was in third grade. And that was that. I haven't stopped writing since. My first story was called "Blue Monday" and I still have it! I was telling dark, sad stories even as a third-grader.

Please click on over to Dee's site and read the rest. Then, tour the rest of her site and check out her books! (I'm being bossy, aren't I? Telling you to do this and to do that? Can't help it -- I'm a wife and mother.) So, yes, her books, please check them out. She's also part of the writing team L.L. Reaper.

Thanks for inviting me over, Dee!

On Saturday, January 14 around noon, two signs during my bike ride (yes, I bought a bike, no, I hadn't been bike riding in 11 years, yes, my ass hurt like it had been stomped by trolls, no, I couldn't even relax on the couch later cuz my heart was beating so fast, yes, I'll do it again and no, not this weekend because it's too... too... bright?) from Playa del Rey to El Segundo with my daughter and husband.


So, yeah, it says Tsunami Hazard Zone. My seven-year old freaks out whenever we see these signs around Marina del Rey. And while we kind of talk her off the ledge, we know that anything's possible even tsunamis. And I like the No Stopping sign beneath it. Don't dilly-dally cuz a wave's a'comin'!

The next sign technically wasn't at the beach. It was afterwards, when we drove to Honeybaked Ham, the one by Big Lots and Winchell's in Culver City.


Okay, so the big sign isn't what made me take the picture. It's the sign that borders the top of the building.

It says Secret Pole Dance Studio.

...

What the heck does that mean?

I'd never noticed it until now, with my heart beating so fast.

So, I went to the Googles and lo! The Secret Pole Dance Studio is a Thing!

OH. EM. Awesome. Sounds like a field trip for me and my girls!

But then, will I get pole burn? Guess that will re-direct the pain from bike-butt-blues.

My take-away from The Secret Pole Dance Studio? They need a better sign. And maybe not next to the doughnut shop. I had to pretend not to hear my second-grader ask what is a pole and what do you do on it? That's a fourth grade question answered during that special assembly and you giggle and blush throughout the entire thirty minutes.

Right?