Not in My Hometown

The Human Trafficking Law Blog recently posted a NY Times article reporting on the sentencing of two human traffickers recently convicted and given life sentences.  Here's the link. While this is an obvious victory for justice, the case hit close to home for me - literally.  The ring was operating on a side street on my way hope from work.  People were enslaved just blocks from a place I work, five houses down a side street I drive past several times a week.  

This nightmare doesn't just happen on the other side of the world, it happens on our commute home.

The clock in my dusty dashboard reads 9:17 am as I cruise past, too afraid to stop.  The dented street sign reads ‘Rose’ but nothing is blooming.  Sparse grass sprouts stubbornly from thin cracks in the littered sidewalk.  An orange cone balances precariously on the edge of the road, as if I needed a warning to be careful here.  Swarthy men lounge beneath a brightly colored billboard encouraging them to shift their priority to faith.  Which of them knew, which were involved and which are as horrified as myself to find out what's been happening here? It's hard to tell from inside my car, but I am too afraid to stop and ask.

Photo Credit: The photo is my own.

Really Very Amazing That Suddenly Started

Oftentimes in severe periods of low self esteem and wracking self-doubt a writer will while away her procrastination hours perusing writing websites that offer tips and tricks of the trade.  During one recent period of obvious non-productivity, I came across the following link: 

"Very" and Other Useless Words to Erase Forever

The link (from Writer's Circle, a blog I follow and respect) points out the redundancy of the word 'very' and five other words that, according to the article should never be included in our work: 'suddenly', 'really', 'started', 'that' and 'amazing'/'awesome'.  

While my first instinct was to troll my manuscript and erase every occurrence of each word with virulent and unrepentant conviction, I did have the presence of mind to reconsider.  While I did not entirely repeal the cull, I did realize that this is merely a suggestion, and not a hard rule.  It did make me aware of the overabundance of most of these words, and I will admit to pulling several instances from my text as a result of the search (apparently 'suddenly' is my personal favorite of these alleged no-nos) I did come across certain situations where the use of the word in my text felt both useful and illustrative. 

Suddenly I am really starting to consider embedding the sentence fragment “really very amazing that suddenly started” somewhere in my novel to see if any haughty editors ever notice.  That would be so amazingly awesome.  

A Picture is Worth 131311 Words

Three years.  Three years, three hundred thirty pages, one hundred thirty one thousand three hundred and eleven words.  Fifty seven missed meetings, seven dozen sleepless nights, one alienated husband, one bored dog, three confused sisters, twelve annoyed friends who are sick of hearing it, two rejected editors, forty three bookmarked research websites, fifty nine hours I didn't spend with my mother which I may regret later.  Then Giovanni Squatriti comes along and tells my entire story in one damn picture:

On a brighter note, the next time someone asks what my book is about, I can just show them this. 

And, by the way, Louis Vuitton, it's so cute you think anyone cares who made the trousers.   

Photo Credit: Francisco Lachowski by Giovanni Squatriti for Essential Homme