Happy Boxing Day.

Happy Boxing Day all!

Such a little known celebration if you ask me...a day to remember St. Stephen! St. Stephen was the first Deacon and a Decon's role in the Church is the care of the poor. Because of this, St. Stephen's Day is a day to give food, money and gifts to servants and the needy. Somehow it came to be known as "Boxing Day" in many European countries.

Remember that dude King Wenceslaus? He was good? That famous song has come to be connected to this day as St. Wenceslaus is associated with The Feast of St. Stephen. The famous song tells a story of Wencelaus's charity.

Kind of a gruesome story behind St. Wenceslaus, and since it is quiet here in Changy let me clue you in. Wenceslaus, a Bohemian prince, was born 903 A.D. His mother Drahomira persecuted him because of his love for Christianity and their hatred of it. He was killed by his brother in front of the doors of the Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in 938. Many miracles as a result have been attributed to his intercession and he is remembered for all he did in charity to others.

So there you go... a random post for this Boxing Day. Remember those who serve and the charities that need thoughts, support and prayers.

Happy Holidays Phantom Style

Enjoy this GREAT video from a devoted fan!

In Which The Comtess de Chagny Rants... Again

Come on people, are you dense?

I have not had a latte yet but... HONESTLY! I am a very trusting sort of person. I give folks the benefit of the doubt. But when you build a Myspace profile, send me a request, claim in your bio you will serve to protect me, then tell me to give you my contact information should I ever travel... um... DELETE. I googled you and your name and came up with nothing in the said area you claim to be from that remotely indicates you are a normal person.

Forgive me... tis the teeny jurist in me seeping out to RANT!

Why is Myspace filled with these people? And there are thousands of profiles like this!

First off, I have minions who protect me. MAJOR MINIONS. Big scary minions with large pecs who run into fire and EAT it, and big scary minons that will STARE YOU DOWN until you POOF into goop kinda minions. Second, I am not about to give a strange person, let along a strange male, any travel itinerary. Only two are privileged to that and two alone. Three--personal information such as that should not be on the Internet!

I keep my privacy private for specific reasons and am constantly changing contact information. In this day and age for anyone to randomly hand out phone numbers or personal information is incredibly risky.

Yes, as authors we are public figures. Certain authors are more open about stuff like this, others are like me, and some are complete hermits. Choose which sort you will be, but for PETE'S SAKE use common sense!

I bet everyone has a story of some strange sh** like this going on! Just because I write of psycho stalkers does not mean I need to attract them and I will stand on my rant box and tell everyone I know to use their heads!

So Dear Mr. Wack Job Number Ten Thousand Found Contacting Me on Myspace: Sorry. The Comtess de Chagny had denied your kind offer for protection. I have men in my life who will smoosh you if you ever even try.

All day chat at AuthorIsland

My awesome publicist and fellow authors are over on AuthorIsland today doing an all day chat! We are speaking about our books and giving away lots of stuff for the holidays. Stop by and join us. The fun started at 8 am EST and goes until midnight!Please stop by, join in the fun and bring your favorite cookie recipe!


TO JOIN THE CHAT - simply sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/authorislandchat you can set the group to INDIVIDUAL EMAILS to be in on the action from the get go, but be warned - it will get crazy so you might want to follow the chat on the group's home page.

Hope to see you there!

How to be normal the Erik way.

I want to have a wife like everybody else and take her out on Sundays.

Tell me, was Andrew Lloyd Webber's characterization of Erik too much like "everybody" else to make him work effectively?

That is such a central theme in Leroux's novel. Erik's desire for normalcy holds true to the ideals of the day and how they played out--the bourgeois way of living. Taking a stroll through the Bois or being seen at Tortoni, for example. He certainly would be a man who would stand out when he wished to blend in to jockey for social position like many of the day. To play devil's advocate, facial deformities and deformities in general, and such were not abnormal. Consider this was an era at war... not only that but a period of numerous disease. "Normalcy" is more a state of mind.

Logic places him desiring the bourgeois way. He was already within the underground and could not obtain the aristocracy, who was not without their own fears. The nobility of the day was very class conscious and highly critical of ridicule. There was no way Erik could fit in among them for numerous reason--unlike many of the social climbers around him who could. (Even Raoul echos his own fears of acting normal within his class at the ball when wearing his domino: the Vicomte thought himself very ridiculous... he certainly would never be recognized!

What then would Erik have to do in order to obtain and maintain that normalcy? Outside of a mask? Ignore the obvious theme of to be loved for himself and the doors that may open... and ponder deeper. You want to fit in and move among men... how?

Could he or would his life be a delicate balance?

Find the happy stuff....

I am writing, no shock there. But I am also screaming at the media. Sometime what they elect to harp on drives me to drink--especially in the world of celebrities. Frankly, I don't watch TV. If I am home during the morning the only show I may have on while I sip my latte is Good Morning America. I like to see NYC.

Yet, please, local and national news, it is the holidays, stop driving non-stories down my throat on people's personal business. We hear this stuff all the time. How about a breather?

Why not track down a family in need, and follow the Marines as they deliver Toys for Tots so we all can see how that really happens? Why this need to focus on the negative, the scandal? Why not find that man who put his entire paycheck in fireman's boot for their holiday fundraiser and follow how that generosity impacted his family?

My local news used to do something unique. Every Friday was Good News Friday. All good news ... a radical thing for a news channel to do but you know what it was brilliant.

Music for the Muse

I think in pictures. Don’t try to describe anything in depth to me without being certain there is a healthy dose of metaphor tossed in. So when approached by a fellow author to participate in a blog ring about how music affect my writing, my brain pretty much exploded.

Music = noise. Noise = crabby comtess when she writes. Whoa betide the fool who climbs to my loft while I am staring aimlessly out the balcony window and dares make any noise! Yes… I am writing when I do that and it is quiet.

Then why participate in a blog on how music affects my writing? Because it does… in a very unique way.

Every book I write opens with a quote. I cannot begin a book without such. Those opening quotes, as my readers have come know, set the theme for the overall story. Like those quotes, each book has a theme song, each character has one, and when I write certain scenes that portray a particular emotion, I have theme music.

When I mentor new writers one of the things I often suggest of them is to create a visual storyboard. This can be a collage or a PC slide show or something more elaborate like a social networking profile devoted to a series of your favorite images. Anything, as long as it connects your mind in pictures to your book. When I write, I don’t lead the reader down any particular path as to what my characters look like—I allow them to decide. I know many authors who see a particular celebrity in their minds when they write their hero, however. My pictures are more historical images of places or palaces.

But music, contrary to how I mentor, is what I use to “see” my characters—an audio storyboard.
Odd for a chick who thinks in pictures, isn’t it?

I will pick a few random characters from my books and list their themes:

Erik (Our favorite Phantom of the Opera)~ Back to A Reason by Trans-Siberian Orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EqHNktfDJ4 along with a good dosage of Mozart’s Symphony No 25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lC1lRz5Z_s along with his Requiem.
Anna~ The Voice, Celtic Women. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfO6JpR5Ip8
Jacob~ Once in a Lifetime: Keith Urban
Still thus un-named heroine-If You Believe Andrea Remanda
Klaus~ Bach’s Air on the G-string from Suite No 3

That is just a sample from a few of my books. What caused me to suddenly assign themes to my characters this way? Autism… and a character near and dear to me.

Ask any author if they have a ‘book of their heart’ or the book they feel they were meant to write and hands down I will say… Adelrune, a story set in 1860 Austria about a woman with Aspergers who thinks in music and faces the prejudices of a world who thinks her insane. What music influenced that book if an entire character does nothing but think in music? Adelrune’s list is below.

If you are a writer or aspire to be, try creating an audio or visual storyboard. You might find it helps to connect your themes and characters together. If you are interesting in finding out how music assists other writers, follow the links below to other authors participating in blogging on this theme.

Fear Mozart, overture, Don Giovanni.
Fear/Pain Mozart: Requim K 626. Confuatatis
Love Mozart Le Nozze de Figaro, K 492.
Love Liszt. Liebestraum, Nocturne No. 3 Dreams of Love…
Seduction La Ci Darem La Mano, Don Giovanni. Mozart
Passion, desire, transcendence Mozart’s Symphony Number 40
Freedom/liberation Symphony number 3 in E flat Major, Eroica, first movement, Ludwig von Beethoven.
Loneliness Schubert. Pianoforte Trio No. 2 in E Flat Major D 929 Opus 100. second moment
Charisma Tchaikowsky, the Sugar Plum Fairy…the celesta
Excitement Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night Dream, Overture in E major, Opus 21…
Boundless happiness The Water Music suite in D Major. No 2. Alla Hornpipe. Georg Friedich Handel
Deception, anger, triumph Mozart: Requiem K 626, Dies irae
Romance and strife Schubert: Symphony No. 8 B sharp minor.
Friendship Vivaldi: Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, La primavera: Spring

http://www.jerismithready.com/blog/
http://chapmansmythe.livejournal.com/
http://bryanbliss.blogspot.com/
http://marleydelaroseauthor.blogspot.com/
http://stephaniekuehnert.blogspot.com/
http://thetaratracks.com/blog