"One Word" of Travel Advice

Kassiopi

Everyone has advice about travel. Travel light, most people say.  Others advise, Take twice as much money as you need and half the clothes. Audrey Hepburn said, “Paris is always a good idea.”

My advice is, always learn at least one word of the language of the country you are visiting. Being able to say “hello” or “thank you” will make more of a difference than you can imagine. At least, I figure I’ll give the native speakers a laugh. At best, trying to speak the language can build a bridge to unexpected places and perks. I discovered that being able to say “good morning” in Greek paid off for me on my recent cruise.

Our cruise line hired a smaller boat to take a group to several spots on the scenic island of Corfu. Our own S. S. Minnow dropped me, my husband, Bill, and thirty other beach lovers in Kassiopi, a tiny Greek village/postcard come to life. Cafes and shops ringed Kassiopi's harbor, but it was a bit early for a snack and my husband is not a shopper. So we headed toward the first place I go to take the temperature of a new country – the grocery store. Kassiopi’s market offered a welcoming spread of local cheeses, breads, olive oils, and tourist kitsch.

Several fellow travelers shuffled through the shop, replying in English when greeted in Greek by the owners, an older gentleman and a young woman who looked enough like him to be his granddaughter. They made their purchases and left.

I eyed plastic place mats printed with a map of Kassiopi.

The gentleman greeted me. “Kalimera.” Good morning.

A word I knew! I took a deep breath.

“Kalimera,” I replied.  He smiled.

I pointed to the map. “Beautiful.”

He nodded. “Beach?”

He must have assumed I was searching the map for a beach.

I remembered the word for yes. “Ne.”

He pointed away from the harbor, up the hill behind the shop. “Pristine beach. No cigarette butts.” I laughed; he definitely knew some very helpful English.

This was unexpected, but highly useful, tourist intel. My husband heard “beach” and perked up.

I thanked my gracious grocer/tour guide with a smile. We purchased some snacks and olive oil and headed in the direction the man had indicated.

Bill and I headed up the hill, which led past a dramatically crumbling fort we hadn’t seen on any of our tour information, then followed a trail further up the hill, past numerous feral cats, backyards strung with laundry drying in the sun, and deep into a sea of olive trees.

Just when I started wondering if the “pristine beach” was this guy’s little joke on tourists, we saw it: Sparkling peacock blue water ringed by a bright white half moon of beach at the end of our trail.

“No cigarette butts,” I breathed.

Do you have any travel advice?

Enjoying The Holidays

www.technospot.net

I’ve been told that I’m an intense person. The dictionary tells me that “intense” means existing in the extreme. I don’t like extreme. Words describing “intense” are: vehement, strong, keenness, severity, strenuous and diligence. Some of these words I find to be positive attributes, and yet I can’t or would rather not describe myself as extreme. I’ve found extreme people to be inconsistent, bouncing from one position to its polar opposite, which I find superficial and hypocritical. Take my neighbor…please.

 She was a “born-again-Christian,” (a phrase I’ve translated into “Super-Christian,” all sarcasm intended) who confessed rather proudly that she had “spent her youth wacked-out on drugs and then got pregnant.” The “Lord” raised her children and kept them save. When her kids ran out on the street and drove their bikes nilly-willy through traffic while she talked on the phone, the rest of us neighborhood moms were nervous wrecks. I had no respect for her. She was extreme, but she wasn’t intense—in fact she was down-right relaxed—or maybe just lax. When she moved, we all heaved a sigh of relief, but we still feared for her children.

What I don’t know is: Can you be intense without being extreme? Is intense a bad characteristic?

I’m not sure how anyone can write murder mystery without intensity. To write through a main character’s perspective, a writer must feel what the character feels. By their very nature, murder mysteries and their characters are intense. Who normally stumbles upon dead bodies? Who would pursue killers? Who would put themselves in danger? I can see no other way to create suspense without writing in an intense frame of mind.

But lately, I’ve noticed that my shoulders are hiked and my jaw is locked. Relaxation doesn’t come easily. Have I drunk too much coffee? Am I too enmeshed in my characters? Have I taken my craft too seriously? I’m always striving to get to the next level, to better my writing as if in competition with myself. I’m not competitive by nature, but who wouldn’t want to improve themselves and their craft? The problem is that I feel as if my craft is actually slipping—not improving—making me wonder if intensity can easily turn into stress, which is counterproductive to the process.

www.twfgc.org

This is my last blog until the New Year since we will be presenting new holiday short stories weekly by most of the writers contributing to Writers Who Kill, starting on November 26^th. I’m revising my short story now because I’m dissatisfied with it. Taking time off from writing may serve me better than trying to write with the added stress of the holidays. Stress kills creativity, and if my work is evidence, I’m already stressed.

People in other occupations take time off from their jobs. You can, too. Unless you have a deadline or your muse makes demands, don’t think about your characters or the problems you’ve created for them. Take time off to enjoy the holidays.     

Navigating the Labyrinth

When doing anything in life you'll find there are people who want to give you all sorts of advice.  Just ask a new parent or anyone who wants to become an actor/actress.

The same is true in the writing world.  There are so many do this/don't do that scenarios that a person can go crazy trying to assimilate them all.  Furthermore, it would be impossible to do so, because the advice is going to be different depending on who you ask.

For instance, there's the whole adverbs debate.  On one side of the argument are those who will tell you to avoid adverbs at all costs, like they're some sort of poison for your writing.  But on the other side are those who think that, used in moderation, adverbs are a useful writing tool.

Then there's the argument over dialogue tags.  Some claim that a few different tags (shouted, whispered, etc) are fine, again used in moderation, while others think you should only ever use "said."

You'll even hear differing opinions about how to write.  Some are plotters and some are pantsers, and there are even some who use a little of both.  And in each case, I've met those who swear that one way is better than the other.

And then you've got the whole discussion on how to publish your work.  Do you only go the traditional route and find an agent?  Or maybe you try the Indie publishers.  Then there's always self-publishing on Amazon.

There's a lot more advice that I couldn't begin to cover here in one blog, and every writer will hear both sides to each argument, depending on the day and to whom they're speaking.  And it's not only fellow writers that you'll meet at your SinC meetings.  There are scads of books written by well-known authors designed to give you their tips and tricks on how to write.  Stephen King, Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich are the ones that immediately come to mind.

The problem is, how to navigate through these bits of advice and choose the path which works best for you.  It's very hard to say, because for every "rule" there's a person who's gone against that rule & done very well for him/herself.  JK Rowling is probably one of the best examples of that.  Even today, people argue over her use of adverbs & overuse of "said," but she's clearly doing okay for herself.

So, what to do?

Well, as with any advice, you need to keep the kernels that work for you, and ignore the ones that don't.  That's hard to do when you're just starting out, because you want to succeed, and you're being given this advice by published authors.  They've obviously done something right, but maybe it just doesn't sit well with you.  When that happens, try to remember that their "something right" was right for them.  It might not be right for you.

There's also the possibility that it's just not right for you at this time.  I've received advice in other areas of life that I've heard multiple times over several years, and it wasn't until I was in a certain place in my life that I was ready to follow said advice.  Maybe I'm just stubborn, or maybe I had to experience other things first before I was ready.

Bottom line, be true to yourself.  By all means, pay attention to every bit of advice you hear, because there are some gems of wisdom out there, and they're being given to you by people who want you to succeed.  But don't drive yourself crazy by trying to follow them all; there's no way you possibly could.

There is one piece of advice that all writers agree on, and I think it's the best one out there:  Write, Write, Write!