In Defense of Courtney (from the Bachelor)

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Okay, my guilty pleasure (although it was rather boring this season) is watching the Bachelor. This season, Ben’s season, the model Courtney and her bad behavior got all the attention. In “The Women Tell All” episode, Courtney bashing was the main activity, and by the end, Courtney was apologizing profusely for her ‘bad’ behavior and reduced to tears.

As someone who had enjoyed Courtney’s quirky humor and mindless rants, I was disappointed. I wish she’d stood up for herself! It was as if she’d been overwhelmed by guilt. I don’t get it. I think the other women were as guilty of bad behavior as she was, and she needed to point that out.

Emily, for example, went behind her back to ‘warn’ Ben that she was not genuine. That is sinking pretty low, and Ben ultimately rejected Emily for it. But before she was rejected, Emily had some kind of epiphany and apologized. Courtney didn’t graciously accept; instead, she said that she couldn’t trust her just because she’d had a change of heart. That’s UNDERSTANDABLE. Emily, a women she barely knew, had been extremely untrustworthy. Why should she now trust her apology? Emily was the one that behaved badly, and Courtney should not be considered the bad guy.

Courtney was also attacked for having no friends. However there was one blonde girl (name escapes me) who was her friend and who tried to stand up for her. This disproves the premise that she had no friends. She had FEW friends, but some people are like that. It was a stressful situation, and she was preserving her energy, and some people find socializing with women more stressful than others (who find it relaxing). It doesn’t make her bad. It makes her an introvert.

It’s true she made some nasty remarks about the other women, but so did they all. Some were just a product of her weird humor. Some were mean, but, again, they all made mean remarks at one time or another.

So, Courtney, hold your head up high. Be proud. You are only guilty of being human.

The Down and Dirty Way to Conquer Writers Block (Guest Post by Henry Mazel)

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I am pleased to host Henry Mazel who offers excellent advice on conquering writers block. His thoughts are applicable not just to writers, but to anyone having trouble starting work on a big project. Even for students who put off doing their homework. In fact, I know just whom I’m sending this to…

 

THE DOWN AND DIRTY WAY TO CONQUER WRITERS BLOCK
I’m not a prolific writer. In fact, I’m rather slow. It’s a bit difficult to dash off five or seven thousand words a day when you write historical fiction. Worse, sometimes I encounter writers block – but I know how to conquer that.

“People don’t want to write, they only want to have written,” Dorothy Parker famously remarked. Most of us writers, at one time or another, have subscribed to that sentiment, particularly in those dry periods when we find it almost impossible to come up with anything solid to write about.

What goes on in these fallow periods? Why doesn’t the creativity we know is there flow like the headwaters of the Amazon?

Over the years writers have asked me this question in my psychotherapy practice, and I’ve certainly thought about it in my own fiction writing.

Somerset Maugham had a unique approach to writers block that I’ve incorporated in my own work, and my work with clients. Writing at the turn of the 20th century, Maugham faced a blank page on his typewriter and pecked away his name: ‘I am Somerset Maugham, I am Somerset Maugham, I am Somerset Maugham . . .’ – until something came to him. His extraordinary Freudian-laced short story ‘Rain’ came to him in just such a way.

Okay, okay, I’m getting to it. What was Maugham really doing? Well, the trick was just sitting down at the typewriter. So when clients ask me how they can overcome their own writers block, I say ‘sit down at the computer and write just two sentences. Just two.’ It turns out it’s like that potato chip advert, ‘bet you can’t eat just one.’ In this case two.

Really it’s a matter of overcoming inertia. If you do sit down at the computer, once you start writing, it’s a bit difficult to actually stop at just two sentences. The trick to fooling the unconscious is to sit at the computer and begin, any beginning really.

It’s a rather simple ploy, but it works! I wrote a complete first draft of The Plot Against Marlene Dietrich by using this method. Two sentences became twenty, and then two hundred and then – hey, almost a complete draft. You might want to give it a try.

Take heart, it could be worse. James Baldwin called the place he wrote in Paris (in Paris, yet!) the torture chamber – but that’s another story.

 

Henry F. Mazel has written for The New York Times, and has published numerous stories and articles in his twenty-year career. His novel, Murderously Incorrect, won the OLMA award for first time mysteries. A play, Life and Other Games of Chance, was produced on Theatre Row in New York City. Nouvelle Vague Repas, a short film, was chosen for the permanent collection of the Donnell library in Manhattan. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America and The Mystery Writers of America. He is also past professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at The City University of New York. He maintains a psychotherapy practice in Manhattan.

 


 

Let the Games Begin!

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I’m going on tour! Imagine the flash of cameras, paparazzi, crowds seeking autographs…

That won’t be me.

What I mean is, I’m going on a Blog Tour. I’ll be visiting blogs between December 5th and December 16th, where I’ll be “interviewed” or reviewed. That should increase visibility and clicks, but whether those will result in actual book purchases, remains to be seen.However,unrelated to the tour, I’ve been getting some sales and Facebook “Likes” from people I don’t know (but truly adore!). I’m wondering whether the tour will give a big bump (technical term).

I’m getting the idea that how you describe the book (and of course the reviews) is the key, as well as the opening pages that are visible as a sample. What do you think of the page on the tour website? It’s at: http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/11/07/in-the-middle-of-almost-and-other-stories-virtual-book-publicity-tour-december-2011/

I’ve pre-answered most of the interview questions, and that was kind of fun. It’s not that often people ask me about my writing life. Usually I’m the one asking everyone else about their lives. But be careful. Whatever you tell me may end up in my next novel. And if my marketing efforts come to fruition, everyone will be reading it.