When I grow up; & why I blog

Today I've been scouring the recesses of my mind for something to write about and came up blank. As you do. So, in order to procrastinate (even more than the hour or two I spent on Twitter and TRYING to catch up with some other bloggers' blog posts) I decided to play about on my laptop a bit. As you do.


You may recall I'm in my hometown at the moment because my father's ill and currently in hospital. Yesterday was very scary as he was weak and frail and could barely move himself at all. They've found part of the problem so we hope he will start to get better.

Okay, so their computer isn't THIS old!

Anyway, although my parents have a computer (and prepaid broadband modem which I organised - and am now using) it is quite prehistoric, so when I visit I bring my trusty laptop. And when I say trusty, I mean old. Not as old as their desktop computer, but it's at least 6 years old. And, until I bought my new shiny (well, not shiny - but white) iMac late last year, I survived using ONLY this laptop for at least five years. It was faithful and served me well.


Except... now I never use it. At all. In fact because my place has been on the market, it's been hidden behind cushions for about two months, only to be dragged out for this trip.


Not only did nearly every program on here require updating, but the strangest thing has been the stuff stored on my FAVOURITES tab. And... it got me thinking how much has changed in the last year.


I've also had a 'Why I blog' post started for some time and so finally I get to finish that. (Actually, when I say I've had it started, what I actually mean is that I had the title and NOTHING else. In fact, I can't even recall why or when I decided I want to write about it... but now it's quite timely. Synergistic if you like!)


I've mentioned before my love of writing. For all of my adult life I've enjoyed writing, but until about 5 or 6 years ago, it only took the form of epic (and most definitely hilarious) letters and emails to friends and family.


Finally I decided I felt brave enough to join the State Writers' Centre and enrol in an 'Introduction to Creative Writing' course, assuming it would be appropriate for a beginner such as myself. So there I was, a complete newbie, but - unbeknown to me - in a room with people who were already doing A LOT of writing, despite the introductory nature of the course. It seems there were a lot of aspiring writers wanting to be put on the 'write' (hee hee - sorry, I have to entertain myself sometimes!) track.


The course was conducted over a four week period on a Wednesday night and there I met a couple of women with whom I am friends to this day. It was challenging for me, as I am nervous about people reading what I write (in front of me), so I very rarely contributed my work publicly. But... it gave me a taste and I wanted more.


Over the next year I did a few other courses, though never really found my niche. I did a short story course, a freelance writing course and a course to overcome writer's block. But... still, nothing jumped out at me. Finally a year ago I enrolled in an online Year of the Novel course. I had the makings of a novel in my head - which I'd never done previously. And, the online (lack of confrontation) aspect of the course appealed to me. I still had no serious desire to be a novelist (other than aspiring to a lifestyle of a drunken millionaire hermit living on the beach and writing all night and sleeping all day) but I liked the idea of focussing my writing on SOMETHING.


I didn't mind the course, though the instructor went AWOL in the latter part and we participants pretty much lost our momentum. So, my Young Adult novel (crappy as it is) sits incomplete.


Despite this I wanted to do MORE. So earlier this year I enrolled in a Blogging and Social Networking Course for Writers, which the Centre ran. AND. I. LOVED. IT. Love love loved it!


At the same time I was just starting to follow a number of bloggers whose work I adore. Many are the mummy-blogger type (which has less relevance to me), but because they are just hilarious I love their work. I watched via Twitter as they attended conferences and received sponsorships etcetera. And... I wanted to be there. I wanted that life.


So I'm almost embarrassed to admit (for fear of people knowing my aspirations) that I realised WHAT I wanted to do; or what I wanted to be. Not a novelist. Not a writer of short stories. But a blogger.


I have a more-public blog which is attached to my Facebook page and more-public Twitter account, but sadly I don't post in there much because I edit and edit my posts to death and then leave them as drafts as I fear they aren't good enough or of any interest to potential readers.  Whereas in this blog... I type straight into the program and my writing and words are akin to a brain fart. They just flow. (Mostly.) And it is a HUGE release for me. I can be myself. I don't have to stress about the words being perfect; or even about being judged for what I say. Here, in this blog, I lay myself bare.  Which gives me pause for thought... Which blog reflects the real me?


So, back to my original point: today, as I cleaned out my Explorer Favourites tab, I found so many writing-related websites - full of resources, as well as publishers and editors who blog. And whereas once upon a time I checked out those sites almost daily, I realised I had no real interest in them now.


Instead I follow the bloggers I really like for entertainment value; as well as those writing about health-related issues - of particular interest to me as I continue on my own weight loss journey.


So.. there you have it. That's my dream. My desire. My aspiration. When I grow up I want to be a blogger.

The lost art of the gumshoe (Part 2)

Once I discovered Robert B Parker I devoured everything he’d written.

Fortunately for me, Parker was a prolific writer and I had 35 years of novels to catch up on.  It’s hard to describe what I found - and continue to find - so addictive about his work. There are no tricks, no fireworks, just witty banter, quirky and complicated multi-dimensional characters and a simple, but full-of-twists plot.

Spenser and his world were so vivid and alluring to me that I couldn’t help but wonder how they would translate onto celluloid: I wanted to see my wise-cracking PI on the screen.  But of course, as is usually the case, someone else had this brain-wave before me.

The TV Series, Spenser for Hire, ran from 1985-88 and was, by all accounts a disappointment.  Especially for Parker fans.  Reviews quote Robert Urich as being woefully miscast as the enigmatic and witty Spenser.  The series came across as a stock standard TV detective show, with none of the wit and banter of Parker’s dialogue being translated onto the screen.  Apparently the only character to come away unscathed was Hawk, who featured in a brief TV spin-off.

Spenser apparently again featured in a series of TV movies in the late 90s and early 2000s, which I am loath to find for fear of the aforementioned disappointment.

In 1997 Parker introduced readers to Jesse Stone, a flawed, alcoholic Californian homicide detective who is reborn as a small town police chief.  Parker’s stable of characters grew again in 1999 through the introduction of a series featuring Sunny Randall, a Boston female PI.

While I am not as devoted to the new series, again, Parker provides us with seemingly simple characters who, beneath their flawed surface, have layers of angst and a strong commitment to justice.  Like Spenser, both bend the rules to ensure that good wins out over evil, or right over wrong in the end.  Interestingly also, a number of support characters feature in all three series and I have to admit to some sense of satisfaction (or closure) when Randall and Stone actually end up meeting…. as if I had a hand in their match-making.

Prior to his rebirth in television’s Blue Bloods, Tom Selleck appeared in a number of “Jesse Stone” TV movies which really didn’t break any new ground, though were sufficiently entertaining for 10pm on a Saturday night.  We are yet to see Sunny Randall on screen, although on his website Parker noted (at the time) that he created the character following a request from actress Helen Hunt for a strong female crime fighter role.  Perhaps the fate of Spenser and Stone in their transition to ‘talkies’ gave Hunt pause for thought.

In 2005 Parker diversified into westerns, launching a new series starting with Appaloosa. Again it appears that someone thought his work would translate onto the screen and a feature film starring Viggo Mortenson, Ed Harris and Renee Zellweger was released in 2008.

If I have one criticism of Parker’s novels, it is his non-lead female characters, namely Spenser’s love-of-his-life, the psychologist with the (much talked-about) Harvard PhD; and the cheating, sleeping-her-way-to-the-top, ex-wife of Jesse Stone. They come across as smug, manipulative and self-satisfied, making the leading men in their lives, too yielding and doting – attributes which don’t gel with their characters.  These women irk me enough to make me wonder about Parker’s perception of the fairer sex, which is interesting because (to the best of my knowledge) the author dedicated most, if not all, of his books to his wife Joan.

Although Parker won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his work, Edith Wharton: A Biography, it is not surprising that his more recent work has not been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  He does however, fair better than the likes of James Patterson in balancing quality with quantity.  And even Parker’s weakest novels are appealing and very readable.  Although some reviewers believe his Spenser novels aren’t as compelling as they once were, I find his voice unchanged as Spenser remains a loveable smart arse and Parker’s continues to deliver his tongue-in-cheek and occasionally self-deprecating prose.

Her desk was beside a door that led to the office of the department chairperson. I knew that at once, because I am a trained investigator and the sign of the pebbled-glass door said Office of the Department Chairperson”

Painted Ladies (p. 43) 2010 GP Putnam’s & Sons (Penguin Group)

The best thing about becoming a Robert B Parker convert 35 years after he’d released his first book was the dearth of novels available through libraries and second hand bookshops.  I also found myself stalking his website for some time, waiting for my next installment of Spenser (or Jesse or Sunny). Although in existence for 40 human years, Spenser barely aged in literary years.  One could almost be forgiven for thinking he may just go on forever.  Almost.

Perhaps that was why I was so stricken when I logged onto his website early last year only to discover that Robert B Parker had in fact passed away some months earlier. When he died on 18 January 2010 he was 77 years of age and had written over 60 books.