Sunset in the Sierras




Sunset in Sierras - MM Sikes

 

Living in humid Virginia with a very long summer that often begins in April, I was surprised to discover it's still winter in the Sierras. Where we visited is 6300 feet above sea level. Our home is perhaps 14 feet above sea level which creates quite an adjustment as well as a different look to the sunsets.

It's amazing to view sunsets in different parts of our magnificent country. Seeing the mountains in the late afternoon light creates exciting views for the photographer. Comparing views from the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains with those in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is intriguing.

How many of you enjoy creating your own study of sunsets in different parts of our country?

Night Watch, a Painting and a Title

Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn is one of the world's most famous paintings. Although I've never liked the dark colors, this intense painting has intrigued me from the moment I first saw it in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Apparently, over the years, it has drawn negative as well as positive response resulting in attacks on the painting by people who wanted to inflict major damage to it. One incident, in 1975, resulted in zigzag knife slashes in the canvas which I've read are still evident despite restoration.

Because my novel, Night Watch, features art theft and work by Rembrandt in the story plot, I decided to use the name of the painting for the title of my book. When I checked out the title on Amazon, I found there were other books with the same name which I thought might be a good thing for promotion and visibility of my book.

It wasn't.

There are so many books with that same title that I have to type in my name along with the title to find it. A new release, May 31, 2011 by Suzanne Brockmann, has the title, Night Watch. I have a Google alert for Night Watch, but the information I receive almost never includes my book.

It surprises me that anyone would want to attack a painting created in 1642. It also surprises me that the choice of a popular title for a book can be a big mistake. My advice to other authors is to take care in the words you choose to put on the cover of your next book. The best choice may be a title that is one of a kind, if that's at all possible.

The Weather Touches Us All

"What Kind of Weather?"  MM Sikes

When I looked out from the deck of our condo located near the top of Sugar Mountain in North Carolina, I was awed by the scene at sunset. This was Tuesday evening following the horrific tornado that struck Joplin, MO Sunday evening. The weather pattern passing over us was part of that storm system. How beautiful the light and clouds appeared in the western North Carolina skies. Although it was windy and there were weather warnings, the storm clouds brought only heavy rains. At one point, we drove through a downpour of large hail. We were a little surprised the noisy nuggets of ice did no damage to the surface of our vehicle.

Although the weather touches all of us, we have no control over where 200 mile tornado winds will strike. When a tornado hit the Lambert International Airport in St. Louis last month, it swept through the terminal building with full force but did no damage to cars in the lot where our daughter's vehicle was parked. The St. Louis Cardinals baseball game was played at the same time that night.

The sweeping clouds in the late evening light were like a piece of art to us. How savage and ugly they were earlier.

We are little people on a large planet moving through space. We have no control.

What About the Mentalist?

I've been a fan of the Mentalist for a couple of years now. Last week, I stumbled upon the season finale by accident and was caught completely by surprise with what happened.

Patrick Jane has been a pretty off-beat character from the beginning. He tends to say strange things to people but usually what he says turns out to be an insightful device to get at the truth. However, meeting the infamous Red John in the middle of a shopping mall and then shooting him in cold blood was shocking to me. This terrifying killer has been the subject of Jane's search since the first episode. Red John deserved what he got, but is Patrick the kind of person to shoot a man in cold blood, then sit down near the body and finish a cup of tea? I didn't think so.

What will happen to Patrick next season? Will we have a season filled with a long, drawn-out murder trial? I hope not. What have the writers accomplished?

What did you think about the season finale of the Mentalist.

Getting Lost in the Setting

When you're writing a book, do you ever get lost in the setting you've created? I do.

Right now, I'm writing an adventure novel, Jungle Jeopardy, that's set in the jungles of Central America. I have a wonderful National Geographic map of Mexico and Central America spread out across a third of my desk. As I write about my characters' experiences in lost Maya ruins, I am captivated by the subject. When I leave to proceed with my own daily life, I think about my characters as though they were real living people.

Sometimes for past books, I've made a big chart and stuck post-it notes all over it as things happen. That can be pretty helpful when you want to check on the timing for some event. For this book, I have a little black spiral notebook that's 4 x 6 inches in size. So far, I've almost completely filled it with research notes about the Maya, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. It's amazing what you can find on the Internet, even including the sounds certain animals make.

Since Jungle Jeopardy is a sequel to Secrets by the Sea, I keep a copy of that novel close at hand as well. I also make little notes on sheets of paper scattered about my desk on both sides of the computer. And there are photographs torn from magazines from some of the destinations in my setting.

Getting lost in the setting is a lot of fun. Now, I can hardly wait to see how it all turns out because my characters have taken over. I truly won't know how this book ends until almost the last page. It definitely will not end the way I originally planned.

I'd love to know what happens when you're writing a book. Do you ever get lost in your setting?