Tag: history

ROW80: The Train Has Left The Station

Hey there folks! I missed Sunday’s check-in because I was in the midst of a research trip (SUCH an awesome experience! More about it below), so I figured I’d post something today. Gotta keep working to stay accountable, right?

I know there’s only one more check-in left for this round, but right now I feel like I’m just gaining steam. Last week was a really good one in terms of stoking the creative fires and taking baby steps to integrate self-care into my life. I did a lot of thinking about TELL ME NO LIES, my steampunk murder mystery project, and realized that it’s not nearly as incomplete as I’ve been telling myself, and everyone else, for the last year. My mom and I did two days worth of Zumba classes, which means I’m starting to feel a little more fit and active. And I had the BEST RESEARCH TRIP EVER to the Sisters of the Holy Family’s archives.

The SHF motherhouse is located in Fremont, not too far from Mission San Jose, founded by Spanish missionaries in 1797. While the Sisters originally lived in San Francisco, they moved to Fremont in the late 1950s, and built their motherhouse on the property of Palmdale Estates, a historic property that dates back to the time of the California Gold Rush. The place is absolutely exquisite, and I got the chance to take a walk Sunday afternoon to clear my head before going back into the archives.

Motherhouse, Sisters of the Holy Family

Two of the English Tudor-style manors on the property, built in the early 20th century.

A view of one of the ponds on the property.

I’ll be doing a couple more overnight stays this summer, and I’m really looking forward to it. In a lot of ways, I feel like this research trip (my first archival jaunt in almost a year) is exactly what I needed to get me back on track with my dissertation. Between the stresses of work and life and change and such, I’ve fallen into a real malaise when it comes to writing. It’s the usual–not feeling good enough, doubting every word, depending way too much on the delete key. But this past week I was also reminded of the glories of the zero draft, and how true passion for a topic can produce something that has crazy potential, despite inconsistencies and mistakes and huge gaping plot holes.

So I’m thinking of my dissertation as a zero draft, and reminding myself that there’s no pressure (right now, at least) to make it perfect. And hopefully that’ll help me lock my inner editor away, and liberate the creator in me, and I’ll actually get something done.

Here’s the week’s progress, in a little more detail:

Dissertation

Data Collection: Spent Saturday night and Sunday in the archives, read roughly 20 years worth of historical annals, and made some plans for how I want to start coding my data.
Dissertation Chapter: I didn’t read the 3 chapters I had planned to, but I managed to do a lot of thinking work. The new goal is to actually use my words this week. More specifically: Write 250 words each day, and GET THIS CHAPTER DONE.

Creative Writing

Poetry: I didn’t write anything new, but I did post an old poem in response to a really good prompt. Rereading my other old poetry reminded me that the only way I’ll be inspired to write poetry is to read it, and so I’m trying to add that to my reading repertoire. And I would like to write 2 poems in the next week, at least 1 haiku and maybe (if I’m inspired), something longer.
Novel: I’ve got a working outline of Chapter 14 of TMNL, so this week I’m going to finish the chapter. Woot!
Reading: I read THE IRON DUKE by Meljean Brooks, and ohhhhh mahhhh gawwwd. So. Friggin’. Hot. So dark and glorious and wonderful and on-the-edge-of-my-seat action, along with scorching love scenes. I think I will start doing book reviews in April, and I can’t wait to write this one. For next week, I’m going to start Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. I picked up the box set, so that’ll keep me busy for while.

My main goal for this week: to try a new system where I complete 1 item on my to-do list in the mornings, and 1-2 on my list in the evenings. The trick is to not overwhelm myself with the fact that OMG I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I AM SO BEHIND, which usually results in me reading celebrity gossip columns for hours and hating myself. Self-hate = bad; self-love = good, therefore I am going to aim for fewer gossip columns, and more gettin’ it done.

Whew! That was a lot. How’s the week progressing for everyone? East coasters, has spring reached you yet? I’m dreading the drought that is currently spreading through California, but… ugh, I’m kinda loving the summer-ish weather, especially when it gives me sunsets like this:

The oh-so-glorious Pacific Ocean.

Don’t forget to wave a friendly hello and cheer on the rest of the ROWers. We’re just about to the end of Round 1!

ROW80: Back In The Saddle

March 2, 2014 / Lena Corazon / 11 Comments

It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve written a blog post–about 3.5 months, to be exact. The last year has been a wild, wacky, weird, intense one, without much room or space for writing, blogging, or doing anything beyond the day-to-day. But now that I’ve stopped having nightmares about the day job, and given that I’m finally in the process of creating some routine in my life, I feel like it’s finally time to get back in the saddle.

So here I am! I’ve missed the ROW80 community while I’ve been away, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to.

Yesterday I headed to San Francisco’s Old Mint, where all the gold was stored in the days before Fort Knox. The occasion: the Fourth Annual SF History Expo. Talk about a history lover’s paradise! There were dozens of organizations represented, like the California Historical Society (based in SF, with archives that are free and open to the public), the GLBT Historical Society, and tons of neighborhood-based historical orgs, which were some of my favorites.

San Francisco Old Mint (Photo credit: www78)

I signed up for way too many email lists, found a ton of events that I’m dying to attend in the next few months (the best: a sea chantey sing-along event held aboard a historical ship), and gained a ton of momentum to continue work on my dissertation and my steampunk novel. After all, they’re both based on San Francisco history. Maybe one day I’ll have a booth of my own at one of these events. 😀

With that, here are my goals for the rest of Round 1:

Dissertation:

Complete one chapter of my dissertation by the end of Round 1.
Create a working inventory of data sources.
Hammer out a coding scheme for data sources.

Creative Writing:

Write five new chapters of TELL ME NO LIES.
Write five poems.
Read four novels.

And that’s it. Short, sweet, and hopefully attainable. I’m aiming to check in for ROW80 once a week, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll start writing non-ROW80 posts as well.

So yay! With that, I’m off to check in with the rest of this week’s ROW80 participants.

Monday Inspirations: Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 16, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 18 Comments

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deuts...

Image via Wikipedia

Today the United States celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr., the activist who helped to galvanize and lead the Civil Rights movement, and who was instrumental in the legislative changes that ended legal segregation in the American south. King was a remarkable orator, a proponent of non-violent protest, and an advocate for social justice. In the years before his death, his focus broadened to include the injustices of war and poverty, as well as racial inequality. He spoke out against the Vietnam War and took a stand against both racial and economic disparities in the United States as part of the Poor People’s campaign.

His dream of an egalitarian America is one that is readily apparent in his speech, “Where Do We Go From Here,” delivered at the 1967 meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition. Racialicious has posted the complete transcript, along with the video clip that I include below, but I want to walk through a few of the passages that I find to be particularly important.

In the speech, King acknowledges the many victories that have been achieved through the Civil Rights movement. However, he also turns his attention to the future, and contemplates the action that will have to be taken in order to alleviate all forms of suffering.

The message that he offers is one that is strikingly progressive, one that demands we question our whole society and realize “that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together.”

He continues,

I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about “Where do we go from here?” that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, “Who owns the oil?” You begin to ask the question, “Who owns the iron ore?” You begin to ask the question, “Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-thirds water?” These are words that must be said.

While King calls for “restructuring the whole American society,” he makes it clear that communism isn’t the solution, nor is violent riot and protest. Instead, he calls for action, for plans to create jobs and to alleviate the suffering of the poor. He calls for the integration of schools, the destruction of the slums and ghettos, and the celebration of diversity. All of this, however, must be tempered by love. Turning to the Bible and invoking Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he reminds his audience,

you may be able to speak with the tongues of men and angels; you may have the eloquence of articulate speech; but if you have not love, it means nothing. Yes, you may have the gift of prophecy; you may have the gift of scientific prediction and understand the behavior of molecules; you may break into the storehouse of nature and bring forth many new insights; yes, you may ascend to the heights of academic achievement so that you have all knowledge; and you may boast of your great institutions of learning and the boundless extent of your degrees; but if you have not love, all of these mean absolutely nothing. You may even give your goods to feed the poor; you may bestow great gifts to charity; and you may tower high in philanthropy; but if you have not love, your charity means nothing… What I’m trying to get you to see this morning is that a man may be self-centered in his self-denial and self-righteous in his self-sacrifice. His generosity may feed his ego, and his piety may feed his pride. So without love, benevolence becomes egotism, and martyrdom becomes spiritual pride.

[vimeo 11154217]

-oOo-

“Where Do We Go From Here” is not only deeply resonant almost 50 years after its original delivery, but also serves as a poignant reminder that King’s dream has yet to be fully realized. The ghettos and slums that King railed against still stand, and in many cities across the country, informal racial segregation still occurs, both in residential neighborhoods and schools. Institutional racism is still present within our society, with systems of power like the legal system and the educational system working against the interests of the people. The current economic recession has also made plain how deeply class and racial inequalities are intwined together, as we can see in the Center for American Progress’s latest “by-the-numbers” report, which shows that young people and people of color are among the hardest hit.

Quite clearly, there is more work to be done, and yet we have to remember that so many dreams once deemed impossible have come to pass: the ending of slavery, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the election of a black president, and countless other victories that have occurred. Rather than feel daunted by the work that is before us, I take heart in King’s words:

Let us realize that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

I take heart knowing that there are countless people across the country who are working towards justice in their communities. We cannot underestimate how even the smallest actions can bring change, how we can use our voices — and our words — to stem the tide of inequality and injustice.

I encourage everyone to check out Colorlines’s post, “How to Become a Racial Justice Hero, on MLK Day and All Year Long,” because it contains ways that we can all carry on King’s legacy of social engagement. We can all become “Racial Transformers.” All we need, according to Terry Keleher, is “an open mind, open heart, open arms, and often, an open mouth.”

I leave you all with one of my favorite Civil Rights-era songs, Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” A change can, will, and must come, and we are the ones who are going to create it.

Thesis Thursdays: Here Comes the Bride

August 18, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 10 Comments

Hi all! I offer my second installment of Thesis Thursdays for your reading enjoyment. Today’s topic: the second half of my introduction to the world of 1920s etiquette, the topic of my soon-to-be-finished MA thesis.

I promised last week that I’d tackle the question that I left dangling: what exactly does the white wedding have to do with etiquette books? To answer that, we have to take a step back for a moment and rewind to 2007…

A bit of backstory.

Four years ago I was entering my final year at the University of San Francisco, where I was working on a BA in sociology. It was time to work on my senior undergraduate thesis, and I knew exactly what I was going to study: wedding magazines. See, I was always one of those girls who was obsessed with weddings. I started planning mine when I was around 4 or 5. By high school, I was making wedding spreadsheets (spreadsheets, folks) with all of my plans, everything from pictures of venues and my favorite gowns and engagement rings to smaller details, like bridal bouquets and cake toppers. And, of course, each spreadsheet was organized by theme: laid-back beach wedding, midnight masquerade ball wedding, early morning wedding followed by a Victorian tea party, and countless others.

A snippet of the "Beach Wedding" spreadsheet, circa 2001. Definitely NOT a fan of those dresses anymore.

A snippet of my "beach wedding" spreadsheet, circa 2001. Definitely NOT a fan of those dresses today.

Then I got to college and found my way to the sociology department, where we started talking about things like race, class, gender, and sexuality, which got me thinking about wedding magazines in particular. They were, I noticed after some thought, primarily targeted towards women — a gendered ritual, if you will. Furthermore, almost all of the gowns and other accessories featured in the glossy pages of the magazines are ludicrously expensive, which led me to think that there’s a class aspect to all of this as well.

Sadly, it also became clear that almost everyone depicted in bridal magazines is white — so we can say that weddings, at least the way that they’re portrayed in magazines like Brides, are racialized. And of course, with all of the agitation and controversy over the legalization of gay marriage, it’s impossible to ignore the heterosexist focus of almost all mainstream wedding magazines. There’s nary a same-sex couple to be found outside of niche magazines that specifically target the LGBT community.

Thus my honors thesis was born, and it was a lot of fun to pull together. I came away with a lot of data about the portrayal of women in bridal magazines, but it was the historical underpinnings of the wedding ceremony that really fascinated me. When I got to grad school, I decided to focus on the development of the ritual to see what I could uncover.

The White Wedding: A Brief History

Conseulo Vanderbilt was one of the few who could afford a grand fete, as seen here in this illustration of her wedding to the Duke of Marlborough, 1895

Diving into the history of the wedding has revealed some fascinating information. First, I learned that the ceremony deemed commonplace today — bride in a big white dress with bridesmaids, a groom in a tux, and a fancy party afterwards — is a recent invention. In the 19^th century, most people married in small ceremonies where the central elements (dress, flowers, food, cake) were created and made by the bride, her family, and other members of the community. The lavish wedding, the one with the fancy dress and the party, was something that only wealthy Americans could afford.

By the 1920s, this starts to shift. Consumption and commodification become commonplace, and the wedding industry begins to gain power. Professional caterers, stationers, jewelers, and early wedding planners and consultants emerge, and wedding chapels, hotels, and halls become popular. In addition, departments stores consolidated the wedding planning process, offering the bride “one-stop shopping” to pick up her trousseau, wedding gown, jewelry, and other wedding-related essentials.

Marketing, advertising, and the lures of consumption have all been instrumental in the growing popularity of the white wedding. Today, the wedding has become “democratized,” evolving in a way that allows families who aren’t part of the “social elite” to take part.

And Etiquette Matters Why…?

A New York Times Advertisement for Emily Post's "Etiquette," 1925

A second thing that I noticed in my research was the centrality of wedding etiquette. Etiquette writers have been instrumental in outlining acceptable practices for the wedding. Over the years, they have written about the rules that tell us how brides and grooms should behave, how the groom-to-be should propose, which gifts are appropriate, and other elements of social interaction.

Why is this important? Because the rules of etiquette articulate the norms and standards that govern the wedding. The guidelines that we operate under today can be traced, at the very least, to the 1920s, when both etiquette books and the white wedding were booming with popularity.

During this period, the white wedding is considered the most appropriate way to marry in the United States for families of taste. For people aspiring to climb the social ladder, planning and executing a white wedding was one means of displaying refinement. The etiquette book became invaluable for training families in the normative rules that structured the ritual. As we see above, “June brides” were encouraged to purchase copies of Emily Post’s Etiquette in order to plan weddings that were “conventionally correct in every detail.”

Next Week: Emily Post

And speaking of Emily Post, she’ll be the focus of next week’s Thesis Thursday column, where I dig into her biography, discuss her role as the “voice of the 1920s”, and share a few tidbits from her 1922 bestseller, Etiquette.

Monday Inspirations: The Moulin Rouge

August 15, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 14 Comments

For this week’s installment of Monday Inspirations, I’m thinking about setting. While plot points and characters are important elements of a strong novel, setting is also essential. My favorite stories are the ones where the setting functions like a secondary character, and so as I work through tell me no lies, my steampunk romance/murder mystery, I’ve been focusing on how to bring the world of 19th century San Francisco to life.

My main character, Tempest Dumont, is a singer at The Belladonna, a popular saloon located in the rough and tumble Barbary Coast (sometimes referred to as “Hell’s Half-Acre). Given that this is a steampunk tale, I can engage in a bit of revisionist history, so I’ve decided that The Belladonna is a female-owned saloon that caters to the wealthy playboys of San Francisco, those who want to experience the vices of the Barbary Coast without having to deal with the dangers of the run-down dive bars. It’s also a lot more glamorous than the other bars in town, with red velvet curtains and gold accents and fancy things like that.

While there are some fun examples of saloons in Hollywood’s classic western films, the movie that I’ve been drawing inspiration from is Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, which tells the tragic story of an idealistic young writer who falls in love with a courtesan who works at the infamous nightclub.

One thing that I love about the film is the glitz and glamour. Luhrmann does an amazing job in creating a fantasy world of fueled by color and drama. However, there’s a dark side to the stage life, as we see in the clip below. This is one of my favorite moments in the film. The rendition of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” is poignant and bittersweet (the chorus and background orchestrations are so awesome), and captures the darkness that pervades tell me no lies. I also love the behind-the-scenes shots of the theater being prepared for the big show — the seamstresses at work, the stagehands placing finishing touches on the sets, the angst that lies beneath the performers’ smiling faces.

Jack's Saloon, circa 1890

The real saloons of the day, of course, weren’t nearly as glamorous as the Moulin Rouge. Archival photographs (my favorite, as we all know!) show some run-down dives, and newspaper accounts also describe some seriously sketch places. An 1889 article from the San Francisco Chronicle, for example, makes mention of the “hoodlum beer saloons” of the Barbary Coast where “sitters,” or “men who [would] go in, get 5 cents’ worth of beer once in a while and sleep all they want” would hang out.

Interior of the Cobweb Palace. Source: James Smith, SF City Guides

The Cobweb Palace was one of the popular establishments in San Francisco during the latter half of the 19th century. Founded in 1856 at Meiggs Wharf by Abe Warner, the Cobweb Palace was named for the webs that were used as decoration inside the tavern.

According to James R. Smith, the bar was also known for Warner’s collection of walrus tusks and shark teeth, along with his set of nude paintings (apparently he amassed over one thousand of these). Even better was his live menagerie of monkeys, talking parrots, occasional bears or kangaroos, and other small animals.

Entrance of the Cobweb Palace (note the monkeys). Source: James R. Smith, SF City Guides

One of Abe Warner's monkeys. Source: Calisphere, UC Libraries

By the end of the 19th century, the Barbary Coast had reportedly calmed down (translation: fewer cases of theft, violence, and murder). Still, the rough-and-tumble half-acre of San Francisco lives on in memory and legend, and provides me with a wealth of inspiration for my own work.

How do you brainstorm setting? What inspirations do you draw on when it comes to world-building?

ROW80 Check-in: Exploring “Hell’s Half-Acre”

August 14, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 31 Comments

Summer marches on, and now that grading is through, life is calming down a bit. I spend my days writing and dealing with the family, and by the time I fall into bed, I’m usually exhausted. But I’ve reached 21k on tell me no lies, I’ve outlined and organized the next chapter of my thesis, and I’ve managed to spend time with friends and family, so I think I’ve been fairly successful in terms of progress. However, I’m starting to feel like I’m spending way too much time on the computer, so I’m going to have to unplug sometime soon and just read a book.

A sketch of Barbary Coast, circa 1889

I took a little time out yesterday to return to the San Francisco Chronicle‘s digital archives and poke around a bit. In my last round of research I spent time poring over crime reports, but this time I did a search for any mention of the Barbary Coast, and whoa. I was worried that my depiction of the Barbary Coast was too dark, but after reading these articles, I’m actually wondering if it’s dark enough.

A sketch of "Cutthroat Alley," circa 1889

By the late 1880s, the Barbary Coast was reportedly much calmer than during the wild west days of yore. Still, judging from these articles, conditions were still deplorable. Vice, murder, theft, drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, suicide, child abuse… all of these were commonplace in “Hell’s Half-Acre.” Men were violent, women were loose, brassy and bold. It’s easy to imagine a serial killer at work in these parts, preying on ladies of the stage. Better yet, my MC, Tempest Dumont, would have totally fit in with her swearing, boozing, flirting ways.

One of the "battle-axes" of the Barbary Coast

This passage from an 1889 article, “Hell’s Half-Acre: Sights and Scenes on the Barbary Coast,” totally sums up the vibe that I’ve been going for in my WIP:

Entering a saloon on Kearny street near Jackson, on the east side, there were found about half a dozen horribly dissipated looking hags seated at tables with men of the same general appearance of themselves. Gin, rum, and bad beer had painted all of their faces of a lurid hue, the faithful reflex of evil passions within. “These,” said the guide, as he pointed to the women, “are the ‘battle-axes’ or ‘blisters’ of Barbary. They live on drink, you may say, and spend about half their time in jail.”

The scene actually reminds me of Roarke’s, the local bar where my characters hang out. It’s a rundown, ramshackle dive where the company is questionable and the only beer on tap is little better than bitter swill, much different from the glitz and glamor of the Belladonna, the saloon where Tempest works.

I’ll be writing more about setting and the Barbary Coast in the weeks to come, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to check out the Barbary Coast walking tour before I head back to Santa Barbara.

ROW80: Still on Track!

August 10, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 24 Comments

Not too much to report for this mid-week ROW80 check-in. Blogwise, I’ve been keeping up with my theme days — I wrote a steampunk fashion post on Monday and a fun music post yesterday — and I’ve got drafts of the remaining two posts for the week queued up.

In the realm of writing, tell me no lies is coming along. I’ve been tweaking the plot, and taking time to work out the kinks and details for the latter half of the story. My MC now has a fleshed-out backstory that is much more, and I have a better idea of what the climax will look like. Better yet, my antagonist, a sociopathic serial killer, is sending very creepy letters to my MC (creepy to the point where I am getting the heebie-jeebies). The story has reached 16k, which means that I have another 34k to write in order to ‘win’ CampNaNo. Shockingly, this doesn’t seem too far out of reach, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a working draft of this novel by the end of the month. *crosses fingers and looks hopeful*

If I can maintain the pace of writing roughly 1500 words per day, I might consider giving my other two WIPs the NaNo treatment, focusing solely on one for a month or so, hammering out as many words as possible, and then setting it aside to move on to the next tale. I am almost certain that I am going to attempt NaNo in November, and if I indeed do so, I am going to take the month to edit and finish Path to the Peacock Throne. I’ve had glimmers of ideas for the latter two-thirds of the book, and I think by the time November rolls around, I’ll be more than ready to get back to my world of magic and legend and lore.

The other thing I’ve been doing this week is playing around with flash fiction. Up till this point, I’ve avoided it like the plague, mostly because I tend to be quite a wordy sort of writer. I like detail and backstory and description, and the thought of having to cram all that into a teeny tale was more than I could bear. But I figured I’d try out a challenge involving the seven heavenly virtues, and surprisingly, I’m having a blast. I’ve covered the first four — Chastity, Temperance, Charity, and Diligence — and I have some ideas simmering in my head for the final three. At 100 words each they are a bit of a challenge to write, but oh my, I’m having fun doing it.

-oOo-

And now for a cool historical tidbit! For this check-in, I offer a collection of pretty pictures, courtesy of the Library of Congress’ Photocrom Print Collection. This collection showcases travel photographs taken around the world between 1890s and 1910s, and are all in color. I highly recommend checking it out, as the photos are all incredibly gorgeous.

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ROW80: Last-Minute Rally!

July 17, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 21 Comments

Another short post from me today. Vacation continues, and we’re having an excellent time. The highlights so far have included catching the midnight showing of Harry Potter, and taking a daytrip to Zion National Park, where we took a short tour via shuttle bus, and took many, many photographs of pretty rocks. I’ll post those sometime in the coming week, when I get the chance to upload them to my computer.

When it comes to progress, I seem to have done better over the past few days than I did earlier in the week. I’ve noticed that it’s easier for me to satisfy my goals between Wednesday – Sunday, probably because the weekend makes my responsibilities a bit lighter, so I’ll have to see how I can take this knowledge and use it to my advantage. I’ll potentially end up saving up my writing for the latter half of the week, when I know I’ll be able to have the time to go beyond 500/night.

So, without further ado, this week’s accomplishments:

Thesis: I finally managed to tidy up the latest section of my findings and send it off to my advisor. As I’ve warned her, it’s a very, very rough first draft, there are holes and things that are missing, and many things that will need to be cut. All the same, it is 19 pages long (almost 6000 words), which brings the current draft to about 40 pages in length. I estimate that I’ll need another 15-20 pages to talk about the next set of findings, along with another 10-15 pages to encompass other details (methodology, conclusion, etc.) which means that the complete first draft will approach somewhere upwards of 80+ pages. Granted, I don’t know what will happen during the editing process, but I feel rather proud of myself. After three years of stressing and reading and pursuing countless ideas, I’m finally at the point where I feel like I can say, unequivocally, that I will finish this. When I am done, I have promised myself that I am going to utilize my esoteric knowledge of 1920s etiquette and apply it to a new story, one that involves flappers and bootleggers and vampires, or something paranormal. 😀

tell me no lies: I managed to get some research done last night. As a grad student I have access to digital newspaper archives, so I availed myself of the San Francisco Chronicle‘s collection of issues from 1887, when “tell me no lies” takes place. I started combing through all the stories on crime and murder (a cheery topic, let me tell you, though infinitely fascinating), and stumbled upon some real gems, including a trial for the murder of a “Chinese highbinder.” From what I can tell, highbinders seem to have been the Chinese version of the Italian mafia. An article from an 1886 issue of Harper’s Weekly compares the Highbinders to the Freemasons, except with lots more blackmail and bribery. It’s a fascinating read, for anyone who is interested, though it drips with the casual racism that was prevalent during the period.

Strange Bedfellows: I added about 2000 words to this between Wednesday night and late Saturday night. I’d like to say that it was difficult, but at the moment I feel like I’m just eavesdropping on my characters’ conversations and transcribing them. Out of all my WIPs, I know these characters the best. They’ve been salvaged from earlier abandoned projects, and so we’ve managed to “form a rapport,” if you will. The hardest thing about this story is slowing myself down long enough to scrawl out some decent descriptions, but I managed to hammer out an opening scene (the aftermath of a very bloody battle) that will satisfy me until it’s time for rewrites and edits.

All in all, not too bad. If I am doing the math properly, it looks like I more or less squeaked past the goal post by the skin of my teeth this week! I’d say that this is an excellent time to head to Las Vegas, as a bit of partying is in order. 🙂

How’s everyone else holding up? Has anyone met or exceeded their goals for the week? Anyone else need to tweak things a bit?

Linkspam Mondays Commence!

July 11, 2011 / Lena Corazon / Comments Off

I’ve been kicking around the idea of blogging more often than the usual Sunday/Wednesday ROW80 check-ins. I have a rather ambitious idea for daily themed blog posts, but given my very, very short attention span and notorious inability to follow-through on my most inspired and brilliant plans, it might all fall through. But for the moment, I dub Mondays ‘Linkspam Mondays,’ where I share interesting articles and other sparkly bits gleaned from the interwebs. Think of me as a particularly industrious spider, hoarding glittering gems of internet goodness, for your weekly enjoyment. 😀

So what’s on the list for today?

Edwardian interiors, from the wonderful Edwardian Promenade

Edwardian Promenade, a source for all things related to the Edwardian Era, posted a useful and interesting look at the period’s interior design. One of the details that I find particularly interesting is how the decline in domestic labor (servants, particularly those working with a family for life) contributed to the need for ‘time-saving’ technologies, particularly because it ties in with patterns that I’ve noticed in etiquette books from the 1920s. Writers like Emily Post highlighted the “servant problem,” and proposed potential solutions for to make the lives of servant-less women easier.

“The First Cyborg Horror Story,” from io9

I saw this on my twitter feed this morning and about died. I’m in the midst of trying to brainstorm technology and gadgetry for my steampunk tale, tell me no lies, so seeing this English ballad about a man with a mechanical arm (published in the 1830s, no less) is really fascinating to check out. The author’s discussion of 19th century fears and preoccupations with the impact of technology is thought-provoking as well.

“Improving Creativity: The Connect Brainset,” from Livia Blackburne

A look at the brain and how we can improve our creativity, which is useful not only for working on fiction, but any other endeavors that require a bendy, elastic sort of mind and the ability to engage in problem-solving (I’ve found that academic research is actually an incredibly creative endeavor, and requires many of the same skills as fiction-writing). The other 2 installments in Livia’s series on the creative mind are also really useful to check out: the Absorb and Envision mindsets.

“Writing the Killing: Managing the Threads with Scrivener,” from David Hewson

I LOVE Scrivener so very, very much. In fact, I think it helped to rescue me from getting muddled in length word documents, and has made me a much better writer, both for fiction and my academic work (I’ve blogged about using Scrivener for academic writing here). Anyway, author David Hewson blogged today about how he uses Scrivener to manage the different storylines in his novels. He includes some excellent tips that I will have to utilize, especially as my WIPs grow more complex.

Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy