Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
Will Famous Author Rob Byrnes force me to wax rhapsodic about the virtues of Irish oatmeal, of which I just had my first bowl ever, compared to the plain old oatmeal I grew up eating?
I’ll be reading…
(Readers may remember that Kieran made Irish oatmeal for Phillip for their first breakfast in THREE FORTUNES IN ONE COOKIE.)
Which reminds me, Gary in KY, did you ever see that I said yes, emphatically YES, to more “Reading is HOT!” photos?
I’m working on the second Coventry book now, and it’s been really hard to let go of TJB5 When You Don’t See Me, just as I predicted would happen. I think I had mentioned that, similarly to the way I listened to George Michael during the writing of I’m Your Man and R.E.M. and U2 when we were working on Three Fortunes in One Cookie, my part of this newest novel was written to the tunes of the Pet Shop Boys. I ended up with a LOT of PSB in my iTunes library (thanks, Tim!), and now, whenever one of the songs plays, I find that my hands get still on the keyboard, my eyes glaze over, and those characters come back to reenact scenes on my monitor like I’ve got a camera pointed at their lives. I miss them.
We used Pet Shop Boys’ song titles for the chapter titles in the new novel. Not all of them are available on iTunes, but maybe Tim can do one of those groovy playlists (I can’t figure out how). But these are the titles, if you’re interested. The songs themselves will always evoke (for me) the many emotions our narrator experiences over the course of the novel.
Chapter 1 New York City Boy
Chapter 2 A Man Could Get Arrested
Chapter 3 The Sodom and Gomorrah Show
Chapter 4 Nervously
Chapter 5 It Always Comes as a Surprise
Chapter 6 Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
Chapter 7 Do I Have To?
Chapter 8 Bet She’s Not Your Girlfriend
Chapter 9 Only the Wind
Chapter 10 Young Offender
Chapter 11 It Couldn’t Happen Here
Chapter 12 Tonight Is Forever
Chapter 13 We All Feel Better in the Dark
Chapter 14 My October Symphony
Chapter 15 It’s a Sin
Chapter 16 Happiness Is an Option
Chapter 17 A New Life
Chapter 18 Here
I was looking at Noel Alumit’s blog, wherein he borrowed from someone the idea of
Literary Highlights of 2006.
Here are mine.
–Most difficult literary moment–
Knowing we weren’t going to finish TJB5 when we were scheduled to.
–Most literary dinner–
I don’t know the restaurant, but Tim and I ate dinner in New Orleans with Dan Boyle, Jim Gladstone, and Kelly McQuain. I was already enjoying myself tremendously with these writers when Trebor Healey meandered in and mesmerized me with his conversation.
–Most literary uplift–
When Tim and I were chosen by Greg and Haworth to edit the MOONLIGHT AND ROSES anthology, as well as being trusted by the contributors with their short stories.
–Most literary weekend–
Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in May. What a good time, with smart and funny people, wonderful writers, interesting topics, and a great city to host us.
–Most literary overload–
I handled writing a novel solo pretty well. But when it came time to add to it based on editorial comments, I felt overwhelmed and lonely.
–Most literary joy–
The e-mail from readers about A COVENTRY CHRISTMAS.
–Most literary regret–
What feels like my most intense writing accomplishment to date, THREE FORTUNES IN ONE COOKIE, got the least nurturing, attention, and sales because of circumstances beyond my control.
–Most literary purchase–
The abundance of good fiction I bought so that I could lose myself in other people’s writing.
–Most literary duty–
Being part of a panel discussion at Saints and Sinners on writing gay and lesbian romance.
We are so close to finishing TJB5 that it’s making me crazy. I want to be finished, and I’m sure when I say goodbye to it, I’ll be relieved. The past has taught me, however, that some of the most difficult writing experiences are the ones that linger in my heart, that I don’t want to let go of. Maybe it’s because in the final analysis, all their difficulty means there was more of me invested in them.
Although I can’t honestly say that any of the novels I’ve written or helped write are less meaningful to me than any of the others. I think one of the easiest books–for ME, not necessarily for all of my writing partners–was HE’S THE ONE. It was written after 9/11, but it covered a time in NYC before 9/11. As much as I fell for Adam, its narrator, my real love affair in that novel (and this, I think, is also true of my writing partners and of Adam) was with New York City. Which is why we dedicated our book to the city.
HE’S THE ONE was a fairly uncomplicated love story and remains a novel we get a lot of reader mail about, even though it’s four years old. Almost all of that mail is positive. However, some people say it contains too many coincidences, and others say Adam just has things too easy. I say that coincidences are the magic of life and don’t have to be ignored in fiction, and Adam works hard for everything he has. If it seems effortless, it may be because Adam’s not a whiner and doesn’t focus on the negative.
I needed Adam when he came to us. In fact, there are times even now when I need a boost that I’ll daydream about Adam and what’s going on in his life. I know he’s happy, because Adam seeks and savors happiness. I adore him.
HE’S THE ONE will also always make me remember a reader who came to our signing for the novel and quietly shared the story of his lover, who had died, with Tim and me while our writing partners were signing for some other readers. I still cry when I think of that gentleman, and the memory that our novel touched him has gotten me through some moments when harsher critics made me second-guess my writing ability.
Last night I was looking at the web site of another author who was talking about one of her muses, a poet. Although I would not necessarily be inspired by that particular poet, I loved that she is. I loved the way she spoke of him and his work and what it meant to her. I felt for her when she said she was a little insecure about saying he was her muse because other people might not find her muse worthy. Bah, I say to that. Inspiration is always a gift, whether that inspiration is a wonderful or horrible experience, a great or mediocre artist, an enemy or friend, a lover or someone unobtainable.
What or who is your muse? What fires your creativity? Treasure it.
Someone in the next TJB novel is getting a tattoo. I need a tattoo idea fast. REALLY fast.
I’m not allowed to tell you the character, the character’s gender, age, or race-for-no-apparent-reason. I can’t even tell you the character’s interests. If you MUST have a hint, I can tell you that nothing with a NASCAR theme would work. Also, no trees, as a tree of life temporary tattoo was used in THREE FORTUNES.
Please e-mail your tattoo suggestion to:
info@timothyjamesbeck.com
If your tattoo is chosen, you’ll receive an author-signed copy of the As Yet Unnamed Fifth Timothy James Beck novel when it is released next year. (Now you’ll understand the kind of delayed gratification writers endure.) Plus, of course, the glory that comes along with having YOUR tattoo idea immortalized in a novel.
*Anyone except Timothy J. Lambert and Jim Carter
In spring of 2004, when James found out that Tim and I were making a research trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for THREE FORTUNES, among the things he told us to do was visit the Friendship Oak on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast in Long Beach. Legend has it that friends who stand together under the oak will remain friends for life.
The live oaks of the coast, including Friendship, became part of the story in our novel, and after Katrina, I knew some of them must have sustained terrible damage and others would be gone. In attempting to get photographic details of the coastal towns, I found Shawn Lea’s blog, Everything and Nothing. (Shawn’s family’s homes in Gulfport and Waveland were among those destroyed.)
This “bliendship,” as bloggers call the friends they make through their blogs, has progressed beyond just getting my Mississippi updates. I enjoy Shawn’s selections of poetry, photos, cultural events, T-shirts, family news, travel accounts, recipes, and oh, the many cool gadgets and products she finds.
Yesterday, she linked to a Sun Herald article on “Before and After,” which includes the paper’s photos of specific sites, buildings, and homes before and after Katrina. The paper has compiled them into a book that can be purchased, but they are also available to see individually online.
Of course, the photos are heartbreaking, but many of the articles that accompany them present the stoic attitude of coastal residents and their determination to rebuild what has been lost.
But you can’t rebuild a tree, and when I saw an “after” photo of Counselor, a famous Biloxi oak, my heart sank. I had very little hope for Friendship, because I knew the college campus was badly damaged.
Then, down the list of photos, I saw Friendship Oak in Long Beach. According to the article, calls asking about Friendship are the first they get after any hurricane.
Here are photos from the trip I took with Tim. I read that although the tree has been damaged, it still stands. I dream of the day when Friendship’s limbs will once again be hidden by a rich profusion of leaves; its acorns sent into the world to replenish the tree population; and beneath its branches, friends will whisper secrets and vow their lifelong loyalty.
see photos
Things have changed here at the Home Office.
When Tim first moved to Houston (just after IT HAD TO BE YOU was published), he accessed the Internet via dial-up in his apartment. In the Big House, we’d recently made the transition from dial-up to cable modem, and we had a couple of computers linked in a network. Tim frequently used the second computer to write (mainly to keep documents software compatible), then permanently after his Mac died. We sat face to face, but we couldn’t see each other because one of the desks had a high back with shelving on it. That was the situation when we worked on HE’S THE ONE and THE DEAL.
When Tim got his new Mac, he used dial-up in his apartment for a while, and I’M YOUR MAN was finished during that time. Then we needed the Home Office for temporary housing for my mother, so the cable modem was moved to Tim’s apartment. For a while, we worked side by side upstairs, but our hours weren’t compatible, which meant I was often interfering with Tim’s sleep. So we dropped a line downstairs, and we finished writing SOMEONE LIKE YOU and THREE FORTUNES IN ONE COOKIE on different floors in the same building.
After my mother moved out, we set up the Home Office in a way much more conducive to two work spaces, and Tim and I have sat side by side for about a year and a half. We changed to wireless (secured, you Stalkers!), which means my laptop often serves as a guest computer, but Tim’s Mac didn’t have wireless capability.
Now we’re working on TJB FIVE, and Tom and I just gave Tim an early birthday gift–whatever thingie (I don’t do geek talk) he needed for his Mac to be wireless. The wireless signal is more than strong enough to reach the apartment, so Tim can now office in his own space.
It remains to be seen how this will affect progress on TJB FIVE. I’m sure Tim will be happy not to deal with the ten million questions I ask him a day (his brain is like my encyclopedia), and Rex and the girls will get some time apart, which should help their socialization issues.
But this is the first day, and it’s kind of lonely over here.
I’m taking it from scottynola, who took it from docbrite…
Five things I did for the first time this year:
got a two-book contract on my own
evacuated for a hurricane
sold a short story
talked to Greg Herren on the phone
met five new (to me) authors in person
Five things I’m looking forward to in ’06
the release of Someone Like You
the release of my first solo novel
Saints and Sinners
two new great-nieces and/or -nephews
more rest, less stress
Best household additions in ’05
River
digital camera
wireless
little couch in office
wooden blinds
Five things within my grasp that delight me
Margot and Guinness
coffee
mouse & keyboard
Another Janet Evanovich mystery
photo of Timmy, Jim, and Tim
Five things I lost in ’05
sleep
five more pounds
hope for a certain manuscript
the setting for Three Fortunes in One Cookie
red reflector on my car bumper
Six people who really had my back this year
Tom, as always, but there is no way I can limit this to six. My support system is phenomenal.
Six things I should be doing rather than writing this list
Writing
Reconciling my bank statement
Paying bills
Calling my mother
Answering e-mail
Putting decorations away
Tim just pointed out that amazon.com is suggesting that readers buy The Communist Manifesto with Three Fortunes in One Cookie.
Now there’s a connection that eludes me. Was Karl Marx gay? Did he develop his philosophy from fortune cookies? Is it because Alyson used red font on our cover?
It’s happy mail day! Mail from Lisa in Iowa, Todd in Wisconsin, George in Ohio, Greg in New Orleans…all full of wonderful comments about THREE FORTUNES, wishes for a happy Halloween, or tasty treats… And no stinky fish treats, heh.
Some days are diamonds. (Who said that? John Denver?)
Oh, P.S. I just remembered. Lisa, I, too, had no idea what a MILF is, so now you know who wrote it. I know now, but I’ll let Tim tell you. =)