Ramble, Ramble, Ramble . . .

by Julie Coulter Bellon

Well, since the posts seem to be leaning toward rambling this week, I am going to fall in line and talk about TV and maybe post a bit of my work in progress.

There’s not a lot on TV that interests me anymore. But while I was flipping one night, I came across a comedy/drama called Castle, about a successful mystery writer, Richard Castle, who apparently helps/shadows the police. The show starts out with the intro, “There are two kinds of folks that sit around thinking about how to kill people---psychopaths and mystery writers. I’m the kind that pays better. Who am I? Castle.”

He started shadowing/helping them when he is asked to help on a case of a copycat killer who is acting out one of his novels. Of course after he meets detective Kate Beckett, he decides to base his next series on her. She is his inspiration so to speak. Using his contacts with the mayor, he gets permission to shadow her on all of her cases. There is some really witty dialogue, lots of tension, and it actually has mysteries that aren’t predictable. Last week, they were going to arrest someone and everyone got out of the car with the navy blue jackets that have POLICE emblazoned on them, and Castle gets out with WRITER emblazoned on his. I mean, it’s the little things, but they’re funny.

Like when one of the murder victims had “your out of time,” written on them at the murder scene and while the detectives are talking about what this means, Castle talks about how “your” is spelled wrong, that it should be “you’re.” The detectives are looking at him like he has two heads and then he says, “I’m just saying, whoever killed her also murdered the English language,” and he goes on talking about how your and you’re aren’t even one of the hard ones like who and whom. It was funny in a macabre way. Anyway, from what I’ve seen so far, this is a great new series and I want to see if Hulu or somewhere else has last season’s shows so I can catch up. (I just checked. Hulu has some but not all. Don’t you love Hulu though?) I’ll keep looking.

The other show I watch is Dancing With the Stars. I know, I know, but I can’t help myself. I like watching the range of people, especially people that you think would be coordinated and really aren’t. I’m loving Donny Osmond so far and the guy from Iron Chef, Mark DeCascos. I’ve never watched Iron Chef, but this guy has some moves!

I went to the UVU Book Academy conference last week and taught about jazzing up your book club, did a book signing, and also taught a self-editing and revision class. The rest of the weekend was busy with a birthday party for my son and my father’s visit, and I couldn’t write, so in my limited down time, I read H.B. Moore’s new book “Alma.” Honestly, I haven’t met another writer who can weave a story with that much suspense when we all know how it turns out anyway. I’m going to review it here soon, so I won’t give too much away, but it was a great way to motivate myself to write again.

I’ve been working on my new book and I have one character that is . . . well, maybe I’ll post a part of his introduction and let you tell me what you think he is all about.

Ethan Barak stood at the edge of the grave, the gaping hole in the earth waiting for its spoils. Ethan stared at the dirt, not lifting his head as the rain started to fall, as if even heaven itself wanted to hurry the process of burial. The rain coursed down his face, making the paths of tears where there were none. He felt nothing. No grief. No anger. Just an empty void, as empty as the grave in front of him.

He could hear stirrings from the church and knew the funeral was probably over and the procession bearing the coffin would soon be here. The grave would be satisfied, the gaping mouth covered over and closed once it was full. Ethan wouldn’t stay for that. He shoved the piece of paper deeper into his pocket and started to move away from the gravesite. His father had been murdered, there was no doubt of that. Someone was trying to send a message to him---whether his undercover work for MI-6 had been discovered or if it was retaliation for his part in stopping al-Qaeda’s attempts to attack Paris, he couldn’t be sure. But Ethan had received the message and was about to send one of his own. He was going to find the person who’d done it and make them feel the pain he couldn’t.

For some reason it makes me nervous to post this when it’s my work in progress. But even from that small snippet, do you get a sense of who he is? You can tell me.

I’m really enjoying this character and how he’s shaping up in the book. Like I said, it’s just the beginning of his introduction, but if you have an opinion to share, let me know. Remember, though, work-in-progress.

Well, I think my rambling is over. Can you believe it’s October already? I heard there’s only 84 more shopping days until Christmas. Gives us something to think about, doesn’t it?