Need Manuscript Makeover?

http://www.manuscriptmakeover.com/

My friend, Elizabeth Lyon's new book on doing a manuscript makeover is out. Elizabeth helped me with my first novel, A Three-Turtle Summer. Working with Elizabeth is like taking a four-year course in fiction writing from an ivy-league school. If you're a writer, and Elizabeth doesn't live next door to you, get this book and devour it. I did. Oh, and she has other wonderful books on nonfiction writing, book proposals, and marketing.

Still no word from Tom Hanks. I told David Southwell, an author from the United Kingdom, that I joined Facebook so Tom would discover my stories. I figure I'm a You've Got Mail kind of writer.

Many writers nowadays would be delighted if their books jumped straight from keyboard to film. A lot of us feel that there is more talking about books than the actual reading of them going on. After all, we're storytellers. We began telling stories around a smokey fire in a cave somewhere, so why should we resist the new technology? I'd never want to see books go away entirely, but there's something very appealing about the medium of film.

I have some readers who are just now reading my second novel, As Brown As I Want: The Indianhead Diaries. That's more than partly my fault because the book was mis-labled. The catalog says it is fiction, but it is really a (hilarious) fictional autobiography. This is the kind of mistake that happens when an author moonlights as her own agent.

Custer thank yous:
Tantara Records (http://www.tantararecords.com/, email:info@tantararecords.com ) for permission to use the lyrics to Go My Son. They have a beautiful website with music to suit every taste (well, I haven't seen any headbanger music there, but they have everything else.).
The Comanche Nation (http://www.comanchenation.com/ ) for their help with the Comanche language.

Quote du jour:

"A mob is no less a mob just because it's with you." John Adams, John Adams, HBO special production

The pressure is on

Statues in Fremont, Washington, 2007

The townspeople have a lot of fun with the statues in Fremont. Their attire changes with the mood and the season. I love the town of Fremont. It's full of creative people; ya'll go visit.

Years ago, during an illness, I learned to appreciate the small things I could have (chocolate, popcorn, friends, books), as opposed to the big things (bigger houses, cars, and bank accounts) that everyone else in this country seemed to be clamoring for. I understand this urge to have everything super-sized because most everyone in this country is working so hard they are ruining their health. Might as well die happy. To an outsider, it may seem like an easy fix. Just work less. I wish it were so, but for every person working himself to death in this country there are at least a few hundred standing in line behind him, willing to work the same hours for less. The pressure is on. I have no where to go with this, but I just remembered a French woman in a news interview criticizing Americans for working so hard. I wish I could transport her to this country for a while. She'd soon learn that this is the land of milk and honey, but it comes at a very high price, and she might find herself with the choice of being over-employed or unemployed*. It's a tough balance. *Please don't email me about this run-on sentence. I'm still on my first cup of coffee.

David Southwell- At last, a blog post from fellow writer David Southwell. I was beginning to fear the Londoner had been trampled by a kangaroo on his recent book promotion trip to Australia. I'm gathering the trip was not without peril, but I'm so relieved to hear he survived. I'm a lousy traveler, so I empathize with his experience.

Custer and His Naked Ladies- Have ya read it yet? It would make a great beach read.

Go My Son-for those who have asked, the song really does exist, and information on it can be found from: email: info@TantaraRecords.com or www.TantaraRecords.com

I'm glad my readers are enjoying the Comanche words I've added. I handpicked words I thought you'd have a use for in your daily life. More info can be found at: www.ComancheNation.com

Quote du jour:

"It has been a bad year. The next one will be even worse." The Raisuli (Sean Connery) in The Wind and the Lion. I thought this was a good quote for an election year.

Custer and the Fremont Troll

© 2008 Janelle Meraz Hooper, The Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge

Out and about- Recently, I took Custer to visit the Fremont Troll that lives under the Aurora Bridge in Fremont, Washington. Fremont is north of Seattle and has a huge pocket of creative people who have moved there to avoid all the suits in Seattle. It's a great place to spend the day!

Today, I'm just hanging around, waiting for the last Democratic Presidential Debate. To keep busy, I'm packing books and getting them ready to mail. I'm too distracted to work on my newest novel. Maybe I could at least figure out a title.

At the same time, I've been thinkin': Why is it our new presidents go in looking like Matthew McConaughey and come out four years later looking like Yoda? The job gets tougher every year. I've mentioned this before and have been told that no president would give up any of his power to a vice-president. It's just too politically dangerous. But maybe its time we made better and more use of the vice-president. Of course, none of this applies to Cheney. The less of him, the better (I don't mean it, I'm just kidding around). Seriously, with the mess the new president is going to be stuck with, maybe they should give double-teaming some thought.

Custer and His Naked Ladies- It's doing well. There are several links to order your copy from the publisher or Internet book sites on my http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/ website. You can also read sample chapters of my novels there. I'm grateful for the support I've had in the research and permissions departments that have made Custer and His Naked Ladies so special to me:

Tantara Records (http://www.tantararecords.com/ ; email: info@TantaraRecords.com ) for permission to use the beautiful song, Go My Son.

The Comanche Nation (http://www.comanchenation.com/ ) for their help with the Comanche Language.

The Terrapin Institute (http://www.terrapininstitute.org/ ), for information on turtles.

Quote du jour:

"An artist is never poor." Babette's Feast

Valentine's Day is not over yet!

© 2008 Janelle Meraz Hooper

I need an excuse for ignoring this blog since Valentine's Day, so I'm going to say Valentine's isn't over until the flowers are wilted and the chocolates are all gone (that should be sometime tonight, even though I received two boxes this year).

On my TV-Those ads! 50 may be the new 60, but 65 is the new 50 only if you've had several nips and tucks, 2 or 3 facelifts, expensive dental work, and several husbands that you've divorced and managed to get huge divorce settlements out of. At least that's the way it is in this country, where most of us work 60 hours a week to keep up with other people's expectations of us. And I'm still puzzling over that Cialis ad that has a couple in two separate tubs drinking wine, gazing at the sunset, and waiting for the magic to start. But I don't mind the ads, they pay for the shows I watch.

On my bed table-Sustenance of Courage-JR Reynold's fictional/historical tale of her family's trip in a covered wagon in a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. It's all in there: the cholera; the deaths from ill health, childbirth; starvation; the Indians; the commode bucket; the sour beans; the treacherous river crossings; and on and on. When I'd finished it. I felt I had been on the wagon with them. By the way, have you ever thought about how couples got their sex? Read the book to find out!

On my TV- Politics. On any channel but Fox. Ya'll vote, ya hear?

Custer and His Naked Ladies:

See my http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/ website for sample chapters.

Thank you to the following for their support:

Info on the beautiful Navajo song in Custer and His Naked Ladies.
Tantara Records
Or email them: info@TantaraRecords.com

For help with the Comanche language: http://www.comanchenation.com/

The Terripin Institute, one of the organizations working to save our turtles:

http://www.terrapininstitute.org/

Quote du jour:

"The odds are good," (on finding a man in Alaska), "but the goods are odd." Overheard at a dinner party recently.

Valentine's Day Book!

Order Today! www.JanelleMerazHooper.com

I found the Valentine card last night in my childhood scrapbook. My mother saved everything--even the little cards that came on the gifts for my baby shower.

I know she would cringe at the photo in my last post because she was very sick and her hair wasn't done--I'll have to make it up to her by posting some better ones. The picture I posted was the only one I had that showed the missing jewelry.

Tantara Records (http://www.tantararecords.com/ ) has the rights to Go My Son, the beautiful Navajo song in Custer and His Naked Ladies. I first heard it years ago at a Kiowa powwow. To buy the sheet music, contact them at info@TantaraRecords.com

Quote du jour:

“I’ve lived at the end of what used to be a great country.” Merle Haggard in Esquire Magazine, courtesy of Bill Mahrer.

Surprise, a romance!

My mother at a Kiowa powwow, about 1984

Check out the jewelry! I have no idea what happened to my mother's turquoise jewelry collection. She had Comanche and Navajo pieces. I know she looks like a Comanche, but actually, she was Hispanic. We just loved the powwows. I think it was because the only part of our culture that we kept was our rosary and our tortillas, so we latched onto the Indian customs of our friends. You know, of course, that the Oklahoma Territories became the end of the Trail of Tears. The state is steeped in the culture of many Indian Nations, almost too many to count. That was why I added so many Comanche words to my novel. To leave the Comanche words out would be like having a teapot with no tea--just water.

This was the powwow where I first heard the beautiful Navajo song, Go My Son, that I wrote about in Custer and His Naked Ladies. Sheet music for the song can be purchased from Tantara Records (http://www.tantararecords.com/). Their email is info@tantaraRecords.com

Custer and His Naked Ladies-Is doing well. You can read sample chapters of all of my books before you buy on my main website: http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/ or order from my publisher at http://www.iuniverse.com/ I still can't believe I wrote a romance. My publisher calls it literary, but all of my emails call it a romance. Go figure. No one was more surprised than I ("Think Valentine's Day!" she quickly said upon hearing the news...")

Facebook- STILL no friends on Facebook. Maybe I should get out more...

Quote du jour: "To whom much is given, much is expected." Hillary Rodham Clinton (No, I am not a Hillary supporter, but it is almost election time...)