Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I usually shy away from posting political commentary on my blog, but in the wake of Tuesday's historic election, I can't keep my thoughts to myself.

First, I am beyond thrilled by Barack Obama's victory. As a lifelong Democrat who doesn't think "liberal" is a dirty word, I'm pretty much always delighted when the Democratic candidate wins, and there certainly hasn't been a lot to celebrate on that front for the past eight years. And of course, there's no denying the cultural and moral significance of Americans' willingness to elect a black man as President of the United States.

But to me, Barack Obama is symbolic of something much more important and fundamental than either the return of common-sense progressive politics or the possibility of a truly post-racial America. No, the real breakthrough here is that Americans elected a person of relatively humble origins who truly earned every single one of his achievements through the application of intelligence, determination, and personal charisma.

I suppose it could be argued that Bill Clinton was cut from similar cloth with regard to personal biography, but he is a white man. The fact that Obama was able to win the presidency based on his merits despite his ethnic heritage (and notably, one of his parents was not an American citizen, which I think is unprecedented) says something profound about the possibility of our country becoming a true meritocracy.

And all I can say to that is halleluia! When voting, may we now truly measure the content of our politicians' character rather than the color of their skin or their gender or the depths of their daddies' pocketbooks or the number of American war heroes they can claim in their ancestry. Because in the end, I don't care who your parents are or what they did; I want to know who you are and what you will do.

Giddy as I am about the results of the presidential election, however, I am monumentally saddened by my fellow Californians' vote to overturn the right of same-sex couples to marry. The irony could not be deeper. On the day we broke a hole in the Berlin wall of racial division, we put up another one, affirming our right to discriminate against people who are different from us by a different measure of difference.

In my never to be humble opinion, the campaign against Proposition 8 was shameless in its fear-mongering. Over and over, they warned us that children would be taught about gay marriage against their parents' religious or moral objections (with the unspoken but obvious implication that our kids are in danger of being recruited to the "dark side" if they find out that same-sex marriage is legal). They told us churches would lose their tax-exempt status or be barred from operating publicly funded charities if they failed to perform same-sex weddings. Most vile though less obviously fear-mongering, they claimed that gay couples have all the rights of marriage because California has a domestic partnership law. Anyone recall Brown v. Board of Education? Separate can never be equal.

And yet, I retain a certain measure of hope and faith. Why? Because, in the deepest irony of all, our children are already comfortable with same-sex marriage. Now, no one polled the <18 crowd (sadly--the measure might have been defeated if they had; ), but people under 30 apparently voted strongly against the ban. (I haven't been able to find any statistics from exit polls, but if I do, I'll let you know.) So clearly, our kids have been hearing the message for some time now that homosexuality is not a characteristic on which it's okay to discriminate, any more than race or gender or eye color or shoe size.

It's no surprise, either. In my parents' generation, people rarely revealed their sexuality, and often entered heterosexual marriages solely to foster the impression that they were straight, leading to many an unhappy marriage and more than a few divorces--those are so good for kids. NOT. In my generation (I was born at the tag end of the baby boon), people really started coming out of the closet and tolerance has risen accordingly, although it's certainly by no means universal.

But in the generations after mine, openly gay people are a fact of life. My kids' generation has never known a time when homosexuality wasn't just...there, a natural part of the tapestry of their world. My son and his friends, who are between 11 and 12, were universally unperturbed by the notion of same-sex marriage and also said it wouldn't affect their choice about whether to marry a man or a woman when they grew up--duh! Would that their parents and parents' parents were so sensible.

In another thirty years or so, the majority of voters in California and the country as a whole will come from the post-sexual generation (for lack of a better term). Which pretty much guarantees that the march to equality hasn't been stopped, only delayed. I and many others would have liked to see it come sooner, but justice deferred is, I suppose, better than no justice at all.

Pot Pourri

Yes, I've been very quiet lately. There just hasn't been much to talk about. Which is kind of a relief! However, with November fast approaching, I do have a few fun things to share.

First up, I've decided to sign up to do Nanowrimo this year. I have my doubts that I can actually be a winner (which requires writing 50k in a month--my current maximum production in a month is about 35k), but it's great motivation and I've got projects I really want to complete. If you're doing Nano, please buddy me...I'm there under the user name Jackie_Barbosa.

I'm also (partially simultaneously) doing Seventy Days of Sweat. The seventy days starts November 10 and ends January 26 (they built in an extra week for the holidays--wasn't that sweet of them?). The goal is a minimum of 60k, which should be a lot more doable than 50k in one month.

Between Sven and Nano, I'm hoping to get a great jump start on my single title historical, as well as perhaps polish off a couple of smaller projects on the side. (Yes, I'm promiscuous when it comes to WIPs!)

Finally, I have a new release coming out with Cobblestone Press on Friday, November 14. Comrades in Arms is an erotic short story set at the end of the Peninsular Wars. Here's the blurb:

Amid the horrors of war, Lieutenant Heath Wetherill has found comfort in the arms of his commanding officer, Lord Charles Langdon. But now, the war has ended, and the two men must return to their civilian lives as upstanding members of the British nobility. There’s no room for their torrid, illicit affair in stodgy old Mother England, especially not with Charles’s wife waiting for him.

But Lady Isabella isn’t a conventional ton wife, and theirs isn’t a conventional ton marriage. Maybe there’s hope for a happy ending, after all.

And here is the beautiful cover, done by the lovely and talented Bree Bridges:

I love the intensity of the expression of the man on the left. He's Charles to a T. And the guy on the right--a very yummy version of Heath.

And the blonde in the middle? She's one damn lucky lady, that's all I have to say! Who wouldn't want to be caught between these two hotties?

But, of course, I couldn't be satisfied with mere cover art when I could have a book video. I have to say, the whole process of creating them can really be quite addictive.

Of course, you can spend (i.e., waste) oodles and oodles of time looking for images that fit your story and even more trying to find just the right music. And when you do, you squeal like a three-year-old girl who's just received her first Barbie.


So, after a few days of procrastination, a few dollars on images, and an hour at http://www.freeplaymusic.com/, I bring you:

Quick Check-In

Yes, I know I've been remarkably remiss in posting of late. If you've cruised by the Mavens blog recently, then you'll know I managed to complete Behind the Red Door and submit it to my editor on October 1st. This afternoon, I received confirmation that the book has been accepted, without revisions (though there will be copy edits and galleys, of course), and is scheduled to be released in June, 2009.

Woot!

Now, it's onward and upward. I'm writing a couple of shorts and then I'll be getting started on the proposal for my option book, which I can submit in 30 days from today. Since I have to write three chapters and a synopsis, I may not be ready to send anything until the middle of November, but it's nice to have a target date in mind.

For the next couple of days, I'll be off to San Antonio for the day job. The last time I was there was nearly twenty years ago, when I went to an SCCA conference there with my father (who passed away in 1998). I have very fond memories of that trip and am looking forward to a stroll down memory lane at the River Walk on Wednesday afternoon/evening.

YOUR TURN: Whatcha doing this week? Any fun plans?

Random Post

I'm 1,200 words (give or take a few hundred) from the end of the third Red Door novella. It's due tomorrow. And yes, I'm going to make it!

That said, I had to share this from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

shrapnel
1806, from Gen. Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), who invented a type of exploding, fragmenting shell when he was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Peninsular War. The invention consisted of a hollow cannon ball, filled with shot, which burst in mid-air; his name for it was spherical case ammunition. Sense of "shell fragments" is first recorded 1940. The surname is attested from 13c., and is believed to be a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a dim. form of O.Fr. charbon "charcoal," in ref. to complexion, hair color, or some other quality.

Who knew?

Upping the Ante

Well, the work-in-progress is currently sitting at a little over 12,000 words. The minimum word count for it is 25,000. Which means 1,000 words per day just isn't going to cut it.

So, as of today, the daily word count goal is doubled to 2,000 words per day.

Eep! Better get crackin'!

Playing Catch-Up

I fell way short of my goal the past couple of days due to a raging head cold complicated by allergies. It's hard to write anything lucid, much less sexy, when you've got some fiend poking you in the temple with a sharp stick and you're either sneezing or blowing your nose constantly.

I've got my work cut out for me, but there is no try, only do!

YOUR TURN: How's it going? Cheer me up with all your wonderful stories of progress and success!

30k in 30 Days Challenge--Update

Cross-posted from the Mavens' blog.

I planned to check in a little more often than this, but actually doing the writing seemed to eat up most of my time. (Wonder how that could have happened?) I have been managing to update my daily word count over there on the right, but that's about it for updates so far.

So, yesterday marked Day 15 of the challenge. I'm a little shy of 15k at this point, but that's primarily because yesterday was Sunday, and Sundays are always iffy for writing (this funny little thing called "family time" seems to get in the way, lol).

The good news, however, is that this method seems to be working. Making sure I sit down and write every single day with a specific goal in mind has made a huge difference in my productivity. When I do get a good, solid block of time, I am writing faster and more efficiently, and finding it not that hard to meet or even exceed the 1,000 word goal.

Which is a good thing, because I've now completed two of the three novellas that are due on October 1, and it's going to take me more than 1,000 words per day to finish the one I'm writing now. My math tells me I now have to average 1,400 words to write THE END on that one by September 29, the last day of the challenge, giving me a whopping ONE DAY to polish it up before sending it in. Am I worried? Nah! I'm freaking terrified. LOL.

YOUR TURN: Update us on your writing progress for the last fifteen days. If you're in on the challenge, how's it going? If you're not, what are your current goals and how are things coming along? Remember, we love to hear from you, even if we are pretty quiet ourselves!