Widow's Row The Trailer 0001

emergence

The Butterfly is Free!

The cocoon, top right, opened to release a magnificent

Giant Swallowtail butterfly.

And so it is that I announce the release of my new novel 

Widow's Row.

click here and buy your copy!

Don’t own a Kindle?

You can download the safe and free Amazon reader at:

For PC Users:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

For Mac Users:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_mac_mkt_lnd?docId=1000464931

Books will load directly to your computer. You can also download them to your Smartphone.

I will appreciate it if you will forward this to your friends 

& ask them to 

forward it to their friends! 

Love it? Please rate it for me! Amazon ratings are important to me.

Don’t love it? Send me an email and let me know your thoughts.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much  as I enjoyed writing it!

My deepest gratitude, & Happy Thanksgiving!

Lala

The Metamorphosis Begins

My hideous Orange Dog caterpillar has morphed into his cocoon. You can see him in the lower right screen hanging from fine threads of is own weaving.

As it with the release of Widow's Row.
It's brewing. Growing. Morphing. And sort of hiding in camouflage right now.
And yes, it feels like I'm hanging upside down by a few threads these last few days.

I'm blessed I have so many friends and family to catch me when I emerge.

To Evolve, You Must Begin

'Insist on yourself. Never imitate.'

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Orange Dog is evidence of Mother Nature's sense of humor. Take a peek at this hideous prehistoric looking thing! He is feeding on the leaves of my lemon tree, which already struggles like Charlie Brown's sorry Christmas tree. At first I thought it was a fungal growth on the tree, but then I noticed its beady eyes staring at me. When I dared to encroach on his territory the orange horns (osmeterium) emerged and he let out a ghastly stink bomb!

Here's the amazing part. This guy will evolve into the breathtaking Giant Swallowtail butterfly!

While you begin your art as a writer, a painter, a doctor or Indian chief, your work will imitate life. This is the way.

What isn’t the way is to let your work imitate your self.

When you are true to self your work will evolve. This is nature’s way. You will grow. Learn. Live. Flourish.

Your ugly will become beautiful.

And one more thought.

Know when you have your butterfly. Write ‘the end’. Put your paints away. Draw up that contract.

Today I wish you lessons from Mother Nature.

Passion

Laura Williamson, Charron Vineyards, is a Master Sommelier here in Southern Arizona. Read her following quote and insert your work, your labor of love, your passion—inside my parentheses.

“Even though [winemaking] appears a simple measure…it is certainly one of the most tedious, unforgiving passions that can either fulfill or exhaust one’s desires.”

Wow. I love those words! Isn’t it so true for all of us that have found our passion in work? A writer would not write without passion. Sure, reporters are assigned stories they could give a rat about, and some fiction writers are persuaded into a story line that will sell rather than one that stirs their hearts, but writing is, by its nature, a labor of love. It isn’t glamorous. We sit alone at a keyboard for hour after hour but not counting, and the only thing in real time we recognize is that the necessity of eating and going to the bathroom becomes an annoying interruption.

Did you know that less than one percent of all persons that say they are going to write a book actually finish it?

I wish you a passion that will both fulfill and exhaust you.

                                                               Arizona Skylight. by lala corriere

LalaCorriere

http://www.lalacorriere.com

New character Interviews coming soon @    http://twitter.com/lalacorriere/

Debut release of Widow's Row coming soon!

Reading, Writing, & Mythmatic

My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz.  It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz.  You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around!  ~   Dr. Seuss

The definition of READING:  The dictionary says it’s the act or practice of a reader.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Read. A lot.

The definition of WRITING: The dictionary says it’s language characters written or imprinted on readable matter.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Write. A lot.

The definition of MYTHMATICS: Lala says it’s the art and science of fiction and it is not to be defied.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Forget about the NYC super-agent who told me the setting for my manuscript, Widow’s Row, was ... “Ludicrous. No small town would have that kind of thing". She added, “Not in this world.” Well, as it so happens my manuscript is set in the actual sleepy southern Colorado town of Trinidad, known widely as the “sex change capitol of the world”. This is fact, and in my book of fiction. And the reason she rejected Widow’s Row.

I’m not writing historical fiction where my facts have to be correct, down to the very brand of shoelaces young women wore on their lace-up boots in the Victorian Era. But of course I wouldn’t use a real town and brand it something it is not.

What I see in the publishing industry is exciting! Writers are finding their voices and writing what they want to write, AND getting their work published. Is it good enough? Time will tell. The numbers won’t be fictional.

I guess my ranting is about the one true fact that fiction should be fun. It’s where you get to lie and make stuff up!

Today I wish you a little bit of make-believe!

Debut release of Widow's Row coming soon!

A Case of the DTB's!

“Keep your mind open
to change all the time.
Welcome it.
Court it.
It is only by examining
and reexamining
your opinions
and ideas
that you can progress.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 —Dale Carnegie

It’s not something you come down with quickly, this case of DTB’s. Rather, it develops over years.

I have a case. I suspect you have a case. And although we love our DTB’s, somehow they’re getting an image problem.

DTB’s—Dead Tree Books. Yup. That’s what the Kindlers and other e-reader fans call our beloved leather bound books. And don’t even ask the Green Team what they call the zillions of paper pages that line our mahogany bookshelves.

On my last blog I wrote about the increasing rapidity factor in dialogue, scene and plot delivery. Now let’s look at our world and the entertainment industry.

‘Stop the presses!’ no longer means  there’s breaking news. Today the presses just stop. Two-newspaper cities are almost obsolete. Magazines have either folded or acquiesced to the demands for a complete online presence. Cable and satellite companies are scrambling to be the quickest provider of instant-download movies. Is a nanosecond too slow?

            And Amazon made the announcement just this week. With an original goal to outsell all other booksellers in the world, it seems Amazon itself might have been surprised that they are now selling more digital print books than hardcovers.

            Here’s what Jessica Strawser, editor of Writer’s Digest, has to say about technology in general:  “Regularly, WD Interview subjects debated in earnest the merits of the pen versus the keys. Eventually, they skeptically began to ponder the invention of word processors. Later, they wondered whether this new Internet thing might be here to stay.”

Here is a link to the Amazon story in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/technology/20kindle.html

And for writers, here’s a Wall Street Journal cover story about digital printing success:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704912004575253132121412028.html?KEYWORDS=mcquestion

What does this mean for you and me?  It means we have plenty of good books to read!

Today I wish you time to read.

Not a Moment to Spare

'If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.'


~Isaac Asimov


The world is speeding up. This much I know.

Remember when you could read a book and muddy your way through a third of it without much of a hook? We trusted the author and we read on, knowing we would finally get to the meat of things.

When I first started writing professionally the name of the game was the first five pages. Nab the guts of your reader in your opening pages or you’re doomed. [The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman, is still a must read for any writer.]

The game changed again. Soon it became clear that you had only the first page. Then the first few paragraphs. Dare I say the challenge has become hooking your reader in the first couple of sentences? I think it’s a safe observation.

I’m guilty of purple prose. It’s impossible for me to forego all of my adjectives and I blame it on my interior design background. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. But I’m careful. Really, I am. I try to let my readers use their imaginations to fill in the details. Show. Don’t tell.

Examine the example the world is showing us. Listen to the pattern of speech. It’s fast. It’s clipped. It’s verbal shorthand. LOL.

Is your writing of dialogue current? Ranting and woes and old ladies with knitting needles may tend to rattle on, but many conversations of today are brief, abrupt, and interrupted.

The introduction of the Vook is yet another example of a speeded-up delivery system.

I don’t wake up each day and follow Isaac Asimov’s mantra of writing faster. Quite the opposite. I get it down on paper. That’s a good start. But a reread usually shows me my masterpiece is nothing but silly dough and finger paint. Dissection begins. Does each scene carry my story forward? Is the paragraph necessary? Is the sentence integral? The very word?

Today I wish you the right write words.

Learn More About Vooks

Thanks for all your comments and questions regarding VOOKS.
Here's a great link for a quick look at this growing trend:

http://promo.simonandschuster.com/vook/

Writing Rapture

“We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”

                         -Joseph Campbell Author, Editor, Philosopher & Teacher, 1904-1987



Previously I wrote about life’s light bulb moments. Today, their Grande Papa…Rapture. Getting lost in the moment. For hours.

When is it that you lose track of all time? For me it is often when I’m deep into my writing mode, both fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes I feel I have been writing for an hour only to look up at the clock to see that three or four hours have passed. In a blink.

A page-turning book can do it. Currently I’m reading some Dennis Lehane, an old Mary Higgins Clark, and Patricia Cornwell. Occasionally I’ll become totally absorbed in an art project. Often it happens when my husband and I are sitting outside shooting the breeze, a ritual for us. This is pretty much amazing in that we’ve been shooting the breeze together for over 25 years!

Time is an odd thing, isn’t it? It’s an innate condition of our planet that we can’t ignore. Deadlines are to be met, dates and appointments are to be honored, and sleep must be respected and attended.

As a writer I am blessed. I do something I love. I have passion in my life.

Today I wish you time to think about your rapture experiences. And, once you’ve identified them, I wish you time to go get lost in your rapture.

Convening With Nature

I recently posted about the inspiration derived from nature and the need to convene with nature. This is NOT what I had in mind!

Look for my post later today... Writing Rapture. We will not be talking Gila Monsters.

Hooked on Vooks?

Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.


—Edward Thorndike

Putting aside all debate on bookstores & libraries over e-publishing & electronic readers, the only sure thing we know is we must adjust to change. It’s not in the air; it’s in the lightning-speed shockwaves of our delivery systems. The metronome of the communications world seems to be on a cocktail of crack, Adderall, and steroids. Ask any kid. Emails take too long these days for those with nimble fingers able to text out their messages in nano-seconds.

Enter the Vook. High concept and arguably the next wave of story-telling, the Vook brings us the opportunity to read and watch at the same time. While reading online text, the user is able to click on high quality video at any time, as it relates to the story.

The advantage in the non-fiction category is obvious. Instructions can be illustrated so that the viewer can SEE the how-to exercise program, they can read the recipes, then see what their finished meal is supposed to look like when plated at the table, they can enter the boardroom, the courtroom, or the classroom, and experience the development of trendsetting thought through graphics and virtual blackboards.

For fiction, the Vook adds another dynamic. Reading becomes a true sensory experience. Imagine highlighting key moments in your manuscript with sound and color that explodes off the screen. Scenes elapsed by time are easily and quickly depicted with rising suns and fading light. Settings, once necessary and time-consuming to describe and often bordering on purple prose, are now instantaneous. This just may be the ultimate answer for the writer battling that age old rule… Show. Don’t Tell!

If you’re interested, Simon and Schuster has a good page on Vooks. Check it out at http://promo.simonandschuster.com/vook/


While we brace for the future of publishing and communication, all this speed, all this business of more and more information delivered faster and faster, can at times be dizzying to the soul.

This weekend we received a beautiful handwritten thank you note from a recent houseguest, via the good old USPS. Breaking open the seal on the envelope caused me pause. This had impact. This was happiness on paper.

Today I hope you’ll explore the arrival of the Vook, and I also wish you a good old-fashioned card, hand-written, in your mailbox. If you don’t receive one, send one. You’ll be amazed how good it makes you feel.

Light Bulb Moments

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.



                                —W. Somerset Maugham

We all have them. Aha moments. Epiphanies. Breakthrough out-of-the-box thinking.

We break the code, come up with an untold story, or finally just ‘get it’.

A lot of what writers write about writing is overwritten. Much has to do with writer’s block. All is well-intended guidance, but the pieces of advice I find most valuable are about staging and observing.

If I need to write a dark scene I set MY scene, first. I shroud myself in darkness. The music might by George Crumb’s Lux Aeterna. The ambient lighting is austere. If it’s a lusty sex scene to write, the candles are lit [even in daylight] and I might choose the sultry notes of Ravel’s Bolero to fill the air. Staging is a valuable tool in order to feel and live the scene before you write it. Music and lighting are a good start, but think about all the senses you have, because when you write, you want to WRITE all the senses.

The second profound bit of advice is to always keep your notepad, be it loose leaf paper or electronic device, within reach, then get yourself out in our world. For people-watching, head for an airport, a coffeehouse, or a crowded beach, and just plain eavesdrop. Maybe you'll only walk away with a unique name you overhear, or a good title for a plot unknown. Sometimes, Holy Moly, you’ll walk away with a well-rounded character, a full scene, or even an entire outline. For me, another important element in getting out into the world is to get out alone. Find quiet and solitude. Convene with nature. Just be. You’ll see!

I found myself troubled to read an interview with Sue Grafton, upon nearing the end of her alphabet series. She’s likely to name her last book, “Z is for Zero”. [Writer’s Digest, Feb, 2010] How sad. I’m sure it’s not writer’s block, per se, as much as dealing with the pressure of turning out 26 books. Grafton is known for her dry wit, and much to her credit her newly released Undertow is some of her best work, but still…

With or without deadlines, remind yourself that the filament is always attached. The light bulb is forever connected to the omniscient source of creativity. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of nourishment and effort to pull the switch.

Today I wish you a shatterproof light bulb, promising you effervescent light, and the shadows that come with it.

Just Be. You’ll See.

A Isn't Always About Apples

"The most important things are the hardest to say,
because words diminish them."     — Stephen King



How are those New Year resolutions working for you?


Here’s a quick exercise I developed to help me stay on my writing path. It also helps me stay on my ‘me’ path. With repeated use I:

• Stay on track with progress

• Identify roadblocks

• Document the inevitable evolution of goals

• Evaluate my platform, strengths & weaknesses

• Solidify my visions & values

• Understand ‘ME’ and my journey

Lala’s Ladder is simple to climb!

1. Identify the area in your life you would like to explore. It might be your career, your marriage/relationship, your financial or physical well-being.
2. Write out the letters of the alphabet, single-spaced. twice.
3. Take your first alphabet list. Using the area you identified in step one, go through the alphabet [I encourage you to do this quickly] and assign the first word that comes to mind starting with the letter A, B, C... Write down all the good stuff. What you value and are trying to achieve.
4. Take your second sheet and write down your No-No's as they relate to your focus area.
5. Date and save your answers.
6. When the time is right for you—in a month, this summer, next year... do your alphabet words again BEFORE looking at your saved history. What has changed? What is currently on your mind, and what stands the test of all time for YOU?

No rules. Add sentences, alliterations, or multiple words as you like. It’s YOUR list.


Here’s a quick peak at my latest relationship ladder. JK! Here’s the start of my writer’s ladder:


My Good Alphabet

A Accuracy


B Boldly [go where no man has gone before]


C Cutting edge


D Determination

E Editing, evermore



My No-No Alphabet:

A Anonymity. Get myself into the scene or I can’t take my readers with me.


B Buts


C Criticism


D Delusions of Dialogue. Make it real.


E Ego. Get rid of it.




You get the idea.

Admittedly, X’s are tricky. I’ve heard rumor Sue Grafton is still hoping there will be a new crime that starts with X by the time she gets to it in her Alphabet Series. The only X words on my list are the good: Xanadu, and bad: Xeno, which is a good word for me when writing suspense. Go figure.