In the Eye of the Beholder

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what about ugliness?

How do we define ugly? What repulses us? And why?

I posed these questions at Visionary Fiction Alliance in a review of Dean Koontz's latest release, Innocence, in which little by little, step by step, Koontz immerses us in ugly, until we are in ugly's head.

Ugly on my mind.

During my 3-mile walk today, ugly was on my mind.

I saw many sights that could easily be overlooked as too ordinary to deserve attention or dismissed as eyesores that should be destroyed, if not for lack of time and money.

But then I leaned in for a closer look.

I noticed the interplay of light and shadow, the tenacity of the weeds, and the way nature intertwined with the man-made.

 

Ugly or beautiful?

And then it hit me, as it did in my review of Innocence.

Ugliness depends upon the eye of the beholder. Sometimes we don't go deep enough to find the beauty in something ugly or the ugly in something beautiful.

Sometimes we are wrong.

Take a look at the objects around you, especially when you're in the midst of nature. Then lean in as if using the zoom feature of your camera.

You may be surprised at how something that at first glance appears ugly becomes beautiful upon closer examination.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

 

A Letter from Dean Koontz

I've been blogging for over two years, and lately I've been doing some serious soul-searching about the value of working so hard.

Then today, I received an email from Dean Koontz about a post I wrote about him at Visionary Fiction Alliance, and it has energized me in a way I haven't been energized in a long time.

Dear Margaret,

My editor at Bantam, Tracy Devine, sent to me your lovely post at Visionary Fiction Alliance, and I'm asking her to forward this to you. I was quite touched by your words. After a long career as a novelist, I've learned that what anyone writes about my work, good or bad, will only occasionally, very occasionally, be written with true insight regarding my intentions. For so many years, I have
denied being a horror novelist, never thought I was, and struggled to prevent earlier publishers from putting that word on my books. You got to the heart of what I try to give readers when you mentioned hope and healing, and spoke of seeking to "help readers see the world in a new light and recognize dimensions of reality they commonly ignore."

If you will provide my editor with a mailing address, I would like to send you
two inscribed books that are close to my heart.

Best wishes,

Dean Koontz

Oh my, talk about synchronicity!

Thank you, Dean Koontz, for taking the time to inspire a fellow writer to not give up. Ever.

I'm back.

Dean Koontz/ Author of Horror or Visionary Fiction?



I'd like to introduce you to Visionary Fiction Alliance, a website created to promote visionary fiction.

I've written a post there, titled Is Dean Koontz a Visionary Fiction Writer?

It starts like this:

Dean Koontz is generally categorized as a writer of horror, and I’m not a fan of horror, so I’m not sure what possessed me to read one of his novels. Maybe someone gave it to me. Maybe I picked it up in a bargain bin somewhere.

What I do remember is that the book’s title was Watchers and, while reading it, I fell in love with a dog named Einstein and an author named Dean Koontz. 

For more, please visit Visionary Fiction Alliance.   

 

If you like fiction that heals, empowers, and bridges differences, you'll be glad you did.

Manuscript Makeover Mode

I'm in the final manuscript makeover mode, which means my blog has been relegated to second status for awhile.

Makeovers and blogs are hungry beasts and quite jealous and suspicious of each other.

When they don't get enough attention (and regular feeding), they go on strike.

Immediately.

No use in reasoning with them or begging for patience.

No use in trying to convince them to work together, have a little faith, that they'll both get their due.

Like children, they take and give back little, besides hugs and kisses and, of course, the pleasure of watching them grow.

They sulk and sass, forcing me to give them time outs - for my health and my sanity.

I'm under the pressure of promises I made to myself, such as sending out a query package by the end of this month. 

And taking back my life.

Then no more revisions, though I'm happy to report that one of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, did thirty-five revisions for every finished page of his novel, Whispers. 

I'm with you, pal.

It's time to bite the bullet and send out those queries.

I've put in the time:  Twelve years.

I've received feedback:  Over ten years of critique groups, edits from Margie Lawson and Mary Buckham (great ladies, check them out).

I've studied hard:  Read every book on craft I could get my hands on and earned a creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension. 

Talk about feedback!

I've taken steps above and beyond: Taken on-line classes about publication and marketing.  Built a new website (to be featured soon).

It's time.

No more stalling

I'm going for one hundred rejections.

Wish me luck.