The Smell of Deja Vu

Yankee Candle is having an incredible sale right now.  Up to 75% off on some items, six for $60 on large candles, and 50% off on assorted accessories.

My all time favorite scent!

No, I am not a paid spokesperson.  Yes, I do enjoy both candle and bargains.

Yankee has always been my go-to for candles, but I’ve grown a particular fondness for Mick Kitteredge and his line of Kringle Candles.  Fascinating story there that we’ll circle back to in a future post.

Mick Kitteredge III

Why all the candle talk?

There have been numerous studies on how smells are heavily tied to emotions and memories.  The emotional piece shouldn’t come as any surprise.  People have been using incense, oils, and candles for meditation and relaxation for centuries.  But memory?  That is something they continue to research.

That feeling of déjà vu you experience when walking into a place you have never been?  Sadly, it isn’t some past life or psychic event.  Most often, there’s a particular smell in the air.  It may be so subtle you aren’t even aware of it.  In your head, it’s triggering a memory, but on subconscious level.  Since you aren’t actively processing it, déjà vu kicks in.  A quick read from a Scientific American article can be found here, but any Google search of “smell” and “memory” will have you off and running.

Usually, the smell is far more pronounced, which is why the déjà vu phenomena is so rare.  The scent of suntan lotion may take you back to particular summer.  Or the heavy aroma of Thanksgiving dinner being prepared returning you to that last dinner at Grandma’s before she passed.

The links between smell, memory, and emotion are incredibly powerful.  When writing, I use candles almost every session.  Where some have cellars filled with assorted wines, I have cabinets of candles.  If I’m working on a woodland scene, I may have a pine scent burning.  Exploring a creepy attic?  Let me dig out something with cedar. Scouring a cemetery at night?  Yes, I have a candle for that, too.

The scents reach into the deep recesses of my mind.  It allows me to feel as though I am in the scene, which allows for far greater depth and realism.  Think Sherlock Holmes and his use of cocaine.  Only this habit is far less dangerous!

Love at First Sight

It isn’t all about the smell, it’s also about the packaging.  The thought that goes into the label designs isn’t all that different from the effort that goes into designing a book cover.  Whether wandering between the shelves of your favorite local bookstore or viewing the walls at Yankee, something needs to inspire you to crack open the cover and read the opening line or open a jar lid to get the cold scent.

"Autumn Lodge" pulled me in.  The wooly throw draped over the chair, the book on the table, the wooden birdhouse in the background, the checkers on the table.  I could picture a fire in the fireplace out of view.  It made me want to spend an afternoon there.

"Christmas Eve" with Santa in his sleigh.  The reindeer and snow covered rooftops.  Seeing it, I wouldn’t know what it smells like, but I get an idea in my head of what I think it would.

"Archives" from Kringle Candle.  A leather bound volume of Shakespeare on the label.  I can almost smell the yellowing pages before lifting the lid.  I picture myself being in an old library.

"Season of Peace" I find to be particularly stirring.  It reminds me of a morning after a heavy lake effect snowfall back home.  The sun would be shining bright and if you stepped outside the blanket of snow deadened any sound.

"Christmas Tree" with the father and son pulling their fresh cut tree along while the mother looks on.  The snow on the ground, their bulky coats.  I can smell the winter air mixed with the pine.

Cliffsnotes on those labels – they all invoke some sort of emotion from within.  NEVER underestimate the power of good book cover and its ability to draw a reader in.

Let me know your thoughts on incorporating scents into your writing in the comments section below.

Bus Stopping

A fellow writer suggested I include poetry in my reading rotation.  I resisted.  I don’t write poetry, I don’t like poetry, why on Earth would I want to read it?  I was envisioning overly flowery prose and…well…poetry.  I can’t recall a single instance over the course of my life where someone said “Hey, friend!  Let’s hang out and read some poetry on Saturday night.”

I have nothing against it.  It’s simply never been something I’ve had a great deal of interest in.  Some people love football, others not so much.  Golf?  If we’re talking miniature – I’m in!  Eighteen holes around a course?  No, thank you.

Most every day while running, I pass by the same abandoned building.  It stands out now because on one side a Donald Justice poem has been painted.  

If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Justice, he was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet.  Sadly, he passed away in 2013.

The poem is called Bus Stop.  While stopping to catch my breath one afternoon, I took the time to read it.

When I was done, my view on poetry had changed dramatically as a result of one portion.

And the last bus

Comes letting dark

Umbrellas out –

Black flowers, black flowers

To me, that was brilliantly simple.  Dark umbrellas representing black flowers.  Such a powerful image conveyed in so few words.  

I began to appreciate how much of a challenge poetry must be. As a novelist, I have no less than 250 pages to get my story across.  Imagine having a few short paragraphs!  I have the luxury of being able to wander a bit, but as a poet almost every single word needs to help you reach that end game.

After that afternoon, I began to review my own work to see how I could make it tighter.  What could I take out?  What could I punch up?  What can I do to get this across to the reader in the fewest – but most powerful words possible?  

I even named the process – bus stopping.  adj. the act of condensing verbose writing to a condensed form with strong meaning.

What are your thoughts on poetry?  Or using poetry as a guide in your own writing?  Let me know in the comments section down below.

Embracing the Negativity

As a writer, you spend a great deal of time alone.  It may be hours of staring at a blank page in an almost insane attempt to will words onto the page or moments of exhilarating breakthrough where your fingers aren’t able to keep up with your mind.  In either case, most often you are alone.

Admittedly, I'm not alone tonight.  Lucy is keeping me company.

The words you write and the stories you tell can become incredibly intimate.  So much so that when an opportunity to share presents itself you find yourself on the verge of a mild panic attack.  As if locked outside your home in nothing but your unmentionables for all the world to see.

In my writing class, we’re able to read our work aloud for others to hear.  If you aren’t comfortable with that, you can simply say “I’ll pass…” and the instructor will move on to the next pupil.  In the first half of the semester, you simply shared.  These last few weeks, it has been to share and receive feedback.  I was curious to see if the number of people who read aloud decreased when having immediate feedback was introduced.  I was delightfully surprised when it did not.

Feedback is essential to growing as a writer – even when it’s negative.  I’m not talking about negative in the internet troll sense.  “This book sucks!” is not feedback, it’s simply rude.  Offering up an opinion with a qualifying reason is - “This didn’t work for me because the main character felt flat.”

The dreaded internet troll!

The first time I had some of my work come back from an editor, it was earmarked “Take some time to look through my notes, absorb them, and we’ll talk.”  I laughed when I read that as I imagined how often she must get offended responses from clients.  As nervous as I was about her insight, I was more excited to have an objective look at what I had done.  

Getting negative feedback is important.  Being open to negative feedback even more so.

I took tennis lessons growing up.  When I made a bad shot, the coach called me out.  I could storm off the court, throw my racquet, shout obscenities…to what end?  I still made a bad shot.  If he hadn’t pointed it out, I wouldn’t have become a better player.

I still play tennis today.  In all our matchups, Cliff has only beaten me one time.

As a writer, you spend a great deal of time alone.  It’s critical to get outside of your own head to hear how others interpret your work - good or bad.

Negative is not bad.  Embrace it.  Understand it.  Learn from it.

What are your thoughts on receiving feedback?  Let me know in the comment section below.

88 Keys to Success

I ordered a digital piano this week.  After doing several comparisons, I selected the Williams Allegro 2. 

Now…before any piano playing purist pipes up, let me explain.  I understand this isn’t a “real” piano.  I wanted the full eighty-eight key spread, but in a manageable size.  One I could use in the upstairs office while practicing or bring down into the den during the holiday’s so family and friends could sing along while I play as if we all just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  In anticipation of those quaint evenings, I even ordered the sheet music from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

The sheet music is already here, the piano is due to arrive tonight, and then the magic begins, right?  I’ll simply sit down in front of the keyboard and bang out sweet melodies that would make Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart proud.

Hardly.

If you’ve been following along with my 2017 exploits, you’ll know I’ve been taking several classes.  Writing, grammar, mental mathematics, memory, and Spanish.  This past week, one of the other students in my class was expressing her frustration.  She enrolled, she was attending class, but she didn’t feel she was getting better.  I asked how much time she spent outside of class practicing.  Her answer?  None.  I felt she was a little put off by my even asking.  She continued on about how she paid for this class and wasn’t this class supposed to be teaching her?  Thankfully by this point, I had reached my car and was able to make a quick escape.

Years ago, I took organ lessons.

The lessons taught me how to play.  The same way the classes I’m taking now are teaching me – and my fellow students.  After I placed the order for the piano, I hopped onto Amazon and ordered “Teach Yourself to Play Piano” to reacquaint myself with the basics.  I know an organ and piano are two separate beasts, but the basic principles are the same.  I can use this book to tie them both together.  The bass staff, the treble staff, grand staff, quarter notes, and so on.

Here’s the thing – I can’t simply buy “Teach Yourself to Play Piano” and expect after one reading I’ll be off and running.  You have to practice what you are taught.  My fellow student shouldn’t expect that after simply attending classes that she’ll be an expert on the subject if she doesn’t practice.

The classroom offers the way…the road map…for you to get to your destination.  In order to actually make it you, need to do more than simply look at it.

After I practice the piano enough, I’ll post a video of my progress.

What are your thought on the topic this week?  Let me know if the comments section down below.

Who Knew the Dictionary Was So Much Fun?

I will be the first to admit that I am a horrid speller.  Over the years, the various forms of AutoCorrect have made it even worse.  They offer up the correct spelling, I recognize it as being correct, select it, and move on without taking the time to learn the proper spelling.

The word “necessary” is the one exception.  For some reason I’m so off base that it doesn’t even suggest any sort of replacement.  I suspect at that point my computer is rolling its eyes at me in disgust.  “Really, Boyd?  How many times have we done this word?” 

By now it has become some sort of permanent mental block.  It certainly isn’t a challenging word, but I never get it correct the first five times out of the gate.

There are occasions where I’ll use some form of a dictionary to verify my spelling or make certain I’m using the word correctly.  I mean…it’s a dictionary.  That grand tome of knowledge we’ve been directed to since we were children.  It could be that cumbersome and heavy hardcover version in the bowels of the library or any number of online versions – they’re all the same, right?

It wasn’t until this past election cycle that I began dive into what makes up the contents of a dictionary.  On any given day up until November 8^th of last year, my Facebook feed was flooded with “news” regarding nearly every candidate and political party in the general election.  I like to think of myself as discerning and verified the source of each of the stories.  More often than not, they were fake.  Still, they would be shared and re-shared to such a degree they would feel real.

Along the same lines, maybe I want to use the word ‘tacitly’ in a project I’ve been working on.  A quick search in Google brings up 516,000 results and they kick off with…

…but where is it getting that information?  Who decided that was accurate?  I had a general idea of what the word meant and how I wished to use it.  This seemed to confirm my thinking.  But what if it had been a completely new word to me?  I would have searched, seen that definition, and been off and running whether it had been entirely correct or not.  Not terribly different from those who buy into the fake news rolling by on Facebook.

So who decides on the content and are there cases where they don’t agree?  Absolutely.  Back in the early 1960s, Webster’s Third was published.  The edition raised eyebrows because of liberties it took in definitions and included words.  James Parton, who at the time was a co-owner of American Heritage magazine, even attempted to purchase the G. and C. Merriam Company (publisher of Webster’s Third) so he could undo their changes and revert everything back to what had been a standard up to that point.  When that failed, he had American Heritage Dictionary published.  Part of that process included the creation of a Usage Panel – a panel that lives on to this day and features writers, speakers, humorists, editors, and up until his death last year, even a Supreme Court Justice.

You can find the complete list of current Usage Panel members here.

The more research I have done, the more fascinated I have become.  Part of being an excellent craftsman is understanding your tools.  As a writer, words are my tools.  I appreciate them more now than ever before.

What are your thoughts on spelling, dictionaries, or the Usage Panel?  Let me know in the comments section below.

Keeping it Fresh as a New Fallen Snow

Like some of the plot ideas in my head, the snow arrived early yesterday morning and was gone by the afternoon.

 The picture on the left was 9:00am.  The one on the right 12:00pm.

As a writer of Christmas mysteries, I always find the snow energizing.  I was able to get out with Mr. E (who was sporting his favorite scarf) for a bit before it melted and it was beautiful.

Mr. E

The snow was exactly the same as in my first novel The Stockings Were Hung.  Enough to whiten things up, not enough for everyone to be stranded in the town.  I had a list of items…heck, we’ll call them what they are – clichés – that I didn’t want to appear in the novel.  One of the first on that list was a major snowstorm that traps everyone together.  You know the one…all the trains are blocked!  The roads impassable!!!  

*yawn*

The challenge in writing is keeping it fresh.  At their basic core, many stories are the same.  There is a protagonist, an antagonist, protagonist wants something, fights with antagonist on a journey to get it, and depending on the genre the protagonist will normally win and grow on a personal level along the way.  My default example of this is any given episode of I Love Lucy.  Lucy tries to get into the show, Ricky says no, Lucy schemes to get in, and eventually finds a way – even though she normally ends up ruining it some comical way.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

The show ran for several seasons on CBS and airs in reruns today, BUT you can tell while watching which the earlier episodes are and which aired in later seasons.  Near the end, the show became almost a cliché of itself.  You can spot the set-up and the punchlines to the jokes before they are said.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s a phenomenal show.  Still, as it rolled along it lost the fresh writing that set it apart when the series began.

THAT is one of the most challenging aspects of being a writer.  Walk into the closest Barnes and Noble and the shelves are overflowing with books.  While yours may be a new entry, to some it may come across as that seventh season of I Love Lucy.

As you are write, find the way to make yours feel fresh.

What clichés annoy you the most?  How do you avoid using them in your own work?  Let me know in the comments section down below.

Springing Ahead to Creativity

We spring forward and set the clocks ahead this weekend.  With it will come a wave of people lamenting the loss of something – usually an hour of sleep.  

While certainly not a life changing event, it always brings with it a bit of excitement for me.  What am I looking forward to most?  Being able to take Mr. E for a full length walk after work each night.  This comes to an abrupt end in November when the clocks go the other way.  By the time I get home, darkness has set in, and doing a long outing becomes reserved for weekends only.

Our route varies, but the duration is at least sixty minutes.  I say it’s an opportunity for him to get out and explore, but it’s as much for me as it is him.  The scenery is visually stunning, but not in the grand way of the Swiss Alps or a sandy beach of Honolulu.  It’s far more…simple.

I spend the bulk of my day working on a laptop and phone where I'm lost in a sea of projects and E-mails.  This is a welcome opportunity to ditch technology and get lost in my thoughts instead.

A number of different story prompts have occurred while we’ve been out and about.  Nature itself is always a great inspiration, but so are the way people and things interact with it.

When the river is low, you can get down to banks and walk along the shore line.  When it rises, the current is so incredibly strong you can watch entire trees get carried by.  I love that contrast.

If we're lucky, the snow will stick around for a day at least once a year.  THAT is my favorite time to be out. When the snow absorbs nearly every sound and the woods are near complete silence.

Definitely the road less traveled.

 

This is one of my favorite pictures out on the trail during Autumn.  You can almost smell the leaves.

Mr. E sporting his stylish scarf.

For me, I don’t see it as losing an hour at all.  I’m gaining some quality time with Mr. E and springing ahead to creativity!

Are you looking forward to some extra daylight in the evenings?  Let me know in the comments section down below.