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July 2012 Writing Update
It’s been a while, so it’s time for a periodic writing update (July 2012 edition). I decided to write this after being asked by more than a few people, “Hey, Barb! Isn’t this blog supposed to be just as much about your writing as it is about baseball updates?”
Well, yes, it is. But I haven’t had much to report lately. I’ve been submitting stories and none of them have been accepted — such is the writer’s lot — and while one of my poems was held until the very last minute at one rather good poetry market (I won’t say which), it ended up getting bounced out, too.
Other than that, I’ve been working hard on getting a story together for the UNIDENTIFIED FUNNY OBJECTS anthology as my main strength is writing funny urban fantasy. (If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time and have paid attention to any of these writing updates, you probably know this already.) But the story’s not ready to go; all I can say is that it’s in process, and that if you wish to submit a story to this anthology, follow the directions at the above link — you have until August 31, 2012, to get a story in of your own.
I have hesitated to even discuss my attempt to get a story into this anthology, because I’ve been somewhat afraid to jinx any chance my story might have down the line. Nevertheless, there’s still room in this anthology and I’m going to take my shot. Those of you who can write funny stories, or at least wish to give it a shot, should do the same.
Aside from that, I’m not giving up on any of my novels nor any of Michael’s novels. But none of them are going like gangbusters at this time, either — they’re just . . . there, like nagging guests that won’t quite tell me whatever important news it is that they have because they’d rather I guess. (And I don’t know about any other writers, but I hate guessing.)
The only thought I have regarding my recalcitrant novels is this: it’s been very hot and humid in Wisconsin, which has sapped my energy and strength. I haven’t been able to review anything since last week (though I hope to review at least one book over the weekend); I haven’t been sleeping well, either; I haven’t wanted to eat. And all of that can’t help but get in the way of my creativity as, last I checked, I’m still a human being. (I point this out mostly because some people seem to believe, perhaps with an excess of credulity, that science fiction and fantasy writers might not be precisely human.)
So that’s about it: I’m surviving the heat, continuing to write and edit, and I’m also thinking about what sort of story it is that might get through at the UFO anthology (listed above). And as always, if something changes/improves, I’ll be glad to keep you posted.
WI State Senate District 21 Recount Over: Lehman is Senator-Elect
The recount for Wisconsin state Senate District 21’s 6/5/2012 election is over. Former Senator John Lehman (D-Racine) has won and is officially Senator-elect. According to the Racine Journal-Times (under a “breaking news” header), Lehman’s margin of victory is 819 votes as opposed to the 834 votes he had after the official canvass; this means Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is now, officially, former Senator Wanggaard until and unless he files an appeal in District Court.
The Mount Pleasant Patch has a longer and better article, available here, that shows the final vote totals as Lehman 36,358, Wanggaard 35,539, and has a statement from Senator-elect Lehman:
“It shows that we won the election and all of these allegations of voter irregularities are false and are really much ado about nothing,” Lehman said. “The results from election night have been proven correct through tape and tallly totals.”
But, as I expected, Wanggaard is still crying fraud (from his statement):
“Anyone who argues that this recount was a waste of time, or that we do not need voter, ID, either wants to conceal these potential fraudulent activities or hasn’t been paying attention,” Wanggaard said in statement released this afternoon. “The list of problems now includes missing pages in poll books, missing signatures, wrong voter numbers, wrong and unverified addresses and most shocking of all, unsealed and sealed and reopened ballot bags – all without explanation. None of these issues would have been discovered if not for the recount.”
Of course, as I said all along, I was for the recount — for the same reasons I believed Joanne Kloppenburg deserved to know the truth regarding her race against David Prosser for the state Supreme Court last year. She, too, ran into some real problems — much bigger ones, in fact, than Wanggaard — with regards to opened/unsealed ballot bags, ripped and torn ballots, tape totals that didn’t match, tape dates that didn’t match, and many other inconsistencies and outright errors — yet the Government Accountability Board still certified that election. She went for a state-sponsored recount (as that race was within 1/2 of a percent and thus eligible for state assistance); many Republicans cried foul at the time, saying that the result was unlikely to change anything and because of that, Kloppenburg shouldn’t put the state through the recount. Even with the problems in Waukesha County, which were legion.
And, of course, the recount didn’t change very much; the tallies tightened, but Prosser still won. The only thing to come out of that recount was this: seventy-one of our seventy-two counties in Wisconsin do a good job conducting elections, while Waukesha County is a horror show.
In this recount, what came out is this: there were some inconsistencies. Wanggaard picked up, roughly, twenty votes overall. Some bags were open and/or torn, but not anywhere near to the point things were at in Waukesha County; the tape totals and tape dates were, for the most part, accurate — in short, this was a cleanly-conducted election that proves that Wendy Christensen, Racine County Clerk, does an excellent job even in high-turnout, record-setting elections like this one.
So now that the recount is over, whither Wanggaard? My guess is that he’s going to attempt to tie this up another round and file a lawsuit in court alleging election fraud. But doing so is unlikely to get him anywhere, mostly because the allegations of wrongdoing by Republican operatives are so much smoke and mirrors, meant to obscure the valid point that the voters have spoken and Wanggaard has lost. (The fact that Democrats have also alleged problems with these same Republican operatives, including voter intimidation and “electioneering,” something that is illegal under Wisconsin law, just hasn’t seemed to get much traction, though the Mount Pleasant Patch mentioned it a week or so ago even though I can’t find the link right now.)
For whatever it’s worth, here’s my advice with regards to Sen. Wanggaard: The recount was worthy, but it’s over. The voters have been heard; the original results stand. Now, Sen. Wanggaard, it’s time to do the right thing, what the voters expected of you when they voted you out, and admit that John Lehman has won. Then, go and enjoy the rest of your life.
However, Sen. Wanggaard, if you instead attempt a futile and time-consuming lawsuit a la former United States Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), you’ll only prolong both your own agony and the agony of your Senate district, with almost no likelihood of winning in court. This will spend time, effort, and money to little purpose. In this dismal economy, there’s absolutely no excuse for that.
That’s why I urge you, Sen. Wanggaard, to bow to the will of the voters of your district. You’ve been voted out. Now do the right thing, concede this election, and go live your life. Because assuredly you have far, far better things to do than to file frivolous lawsuits in court.**
And we, the voters of District 21, have far better things to do than worry about when our new Senator, John Lehman, can be sworn in. Because in case you haven’t noticed it, Racine needs serious economic development, soonest. So the sooner you, Sen. Wanggaard, do the right thing and bow out, the sooner he, Sen. Lehman, can get on with helping out the citizens of Racine (city and county alike). Because we desperately need the help that only our duly-elected state Senator can provide.
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** Unlike state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), I do know what the word frivolous means and am using it precisely.
Just Reviewed “Delirium” and “Pandemonium” at SBR
Folks, if you love YA dystopian romances, you may well enjoy Lauren Oliver’s work. She can tell a good story; the main problem I had with both of her novels, DELIRIUM and PANDEMONIUM (both featuring the same character and milieu), is that the back story is not well thought out. (To be blunt, there’s no way on Earth that the nasty version of the USA Oliver’s conceived of could wipe out every religion except the state-sponsored one in less than seventy years. It cannot be done.) I expect more out of my YA dystopian fantasy romances than this.
That said, the romances here mostly work. And Oliver’s storytelling ability is sound. So you might like these books a whole lot more than I did.
Anyway, here’s the link:
Have at!
Why Scott Walker is Still Bad For WI
It’s two days before the June 5, 2012, recall election against sitting Governor Scott Walker, sitting Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and against four Republican state Senators (three sitting, one who has already resigned), including my own Republican state Senator, Van Wanggaard. Basically, everything that can be said about the recalls — why I favor them, why I believe they are necessary and are a form of democracy in action — has been said.
But one thing I realized when reading over my previous blog, “Scott Walker: Bad for Wisconsin” is this — for whatever reason, I didn’t define why I felt Walker was bad for Wisconsin. Instead, I reflected upon all of the divisive things Walker did early in 2011 which caused a great deal of harm to public discourse and civility in Wisconsin, and hoped my views would be clear.
But in case it wasn’t, let’s try again.
Since Scott Walker was elected in November of 2010, he has divided this state in harmful, self-aggrandizing ways. He has not used his “bully pulpit” to good effect, as he could’ve explained why he wanted the so-called reforms as propagated by Act 10 (which repealed collective bargaining for public employee unions, something Wisconsin had since the late 1950s) rather than just do it by fiat. After Walker used his power to make such a drastic change, he proceeded to get upset because the 14 Democratic Wisconsin Senators left the state in an effort to delay Act 10 by any means necessary as the Wisconsin Assembly had already shown indications of passing Act 10. The “Wisconsin 14” did this to promote civic — and civil — discourse, because if they hadn’t left the state, Act 10 would’ve been approved within days of Walker “dropping the bomb” on the state’s voters; by leaving the state, every single voter in the state was able to become informed.
At this point, Scott Walker and his Lt. Gov., Rebecca Kleefisch, went on various right-wing talk shows, including many at the Fox News Channel, to discuss these “modest reforms” — things that were no such thing — and to say that the “Wisconsin 14” were a bunch of low-lifes who refused to “compromise” with Walker, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, or the Republican Speaker of the Assembly, Jeff Fitzgerald (brother of Scott). This was classic Orwellian doublespeak on the part of Walker and Kleefisch; while Kleefisch, to a degree, could be excused for this because her position as Lt. Gov. has very little power, there was no excuse for what Walker said, nor for how he said it.
As we all know now, the Wisconsin Republican Senators eventually passed SB 10 by the vote of 18-1 in order to make Act 10 the law in Wisconsin. (The lone dissenting vote was Dale Schultz of Richland Center.) Some of the Republican Senators, including my own Van Wanggaard, had strong ties to unions — Wanggaard being a former policeman and past union representative — yet apparently had no qualms about stripping other union members of their rights, probably because police and firefighters had been exempted from Act 10’s “union-stripping” provisions.
After the Senate Rs did this, the Wisconsin 14 came home to a deeply divided state, where Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch, the Fitzgerald brothers, etc., still said one thing and did something else. But the people on the ground (like me) who at that time weren’t affiliated with either party were outraged. Nine Senators — six Republicans and three Democrats — faced recall elections. Of those, four Rs and all three Ds were retained, while two Rs were tossed from office and officially recalled.
That, of course, was far from the end of the story, as in November of 2011 four more Senate recalls and the recall of Walker and Kleefisch started. Recall petitioners were told that we’d “never get” enough signatures, but we proved the naysayers wrong; ultimately, Walker, Kleefisch, Wanggaard, Scott Fitzgerald, and two other state Senators were recalled.
If you’ve read my blogs thus far, you know all this. You probably also know that Scott Walker has gone to more out-of-state functions than any other one-year Governor in the history of Wisconsin. He’s raised 60 to 70% of his campaign donations from out-of-state donors, some from extremely wealthy men and women. You probably even know that in some quarters, Walker is viewed as a hero, of all things, because he “refused to back down” when the unions “told (him) where to go.”
The only part of those beliefs that’s true is that Walker refused to back down about anything. But what people who insist on “standing with Walker” fail to realize is that Walker set this whole thing into motion himself — it’s not just the way he did things, which was execrable, but what he did that caused this whole mess.
All of this leads me to only one conclusion: Scott Walker is still very bad for Wisconsin. Because Walker has shown that he cannot and will not compromise with anyone, he’s shown he’s incapable of being Governor — a job where compromise is a must. And if Walker is retained on Tuesday, we in Wisconsin will be looking at more pain, more problems, and more frustration, as Walker will view this election as yet another mandate to do whatever he likes, even if he wins by .0001% of the vote.
That’s why I urge my fellow Wisconsinites to vote for Tom Barrett on Tuesday, June 5. Vote for Mahlon Mitchell as your next Lieutenant Governor, and for those of you in Racine County’s District 21, vote for John Lehman as your next Senator. All three men are moderates who will work to restore civility to Madison, which is why we need all three of them to be elected on June 5.
*****************
Edited to add: John Nichols explains very clearly why Scott Walker should be recalled and replaced here. Here’s a few words from his compelling and cogent blog:
Elected officials weren’t supposed to campaign on one set of themes and govern on another. They weren’t supposed to “divide and conquer” the state. They weren’t supposed to collect $500,000 checks from billionaires, and gather most of their campaign money in other states. They weren’t supposed to have criminal defense funds.
Amen, brother!
Just reviewed Enoch’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Rakes” at SBR
Folks, A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO RAKES by Suzanne Enoch is one of those books that just makes you want to scream if you have any knowledge of history at all. This book is set during the Regency Era, just after the British defeated Napoleon; it was not a time when women could operate legal gambling dens inside their residences.
That said, the romance here between Diane Benchley and Oliver Warren — both titled members of the English aristocracy — was actually good. The dialogue, while somewhat anachronistic, was crisp and sharp. I believed these two loved each other but really would’ve preferred not to do so, and enjoyed watching the sparks fly.
Basically, this novel didn’t pass the “smell test” — that is, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief long enough in this plotline to get past all the anachronistic elements. But if it had been alternate history, where a strong-minded woman could’ve indeed opened up a legal casino inside her own residence, I’d have enjoyed it thoroughly.
The only way around such a problem is to discuss it head-on, which I did in my review, which is here: http://shinybookreview.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/a-beginners-guide-to-rakes-fun-but/
Enjoy!
Just Reviewed “Dead Reckoning” at SBR
Folks, if you love steampunk, zombies, Westerns, fantasy, action-adventure, or just plain good writing, you will love Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill’s novel, DEAD RECKONING, which will be released on June 5, 2012. This is an excellent young adult adventure that I called a “zombie steampunk thrill-ride” for good reason — this book kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
Here’s the link to my review:
Enjoy!
SF&F Writer K.D. Wentworth Dies at 61
Folks, I feel terrible that I missed the initial announcement, but here it is: on April 18, 2012, Kathy Wentworth (known as K.D. Wentworth in SF&F fandom) passed away due to complications from cervical cancer. She was 61 years old. (Please see more here.)
I met Wentworth in 2005 at ConQuesT in Kansas City; she kindly signed a copy of THE COURSE OF EMPIRE, the first book she co-wrote with Eric Flint, for me that day. (If you haven’t read it, THE COURSE OF EMPIRE is one of the best SF books of the past ten years; you really should get this book and read it, again and again.) I still have that book and read it frequently.
Wentworth also was a long-time judge for the Writers of the Future contest (that I didn’t receive this news from them is truly puzzling, as I’m still on their list due to my past submissions to the contest), wrote over 50 short stories and several novels, including (but not limited to) BLACK ON BLACK, STARS OVER STARS, THE COURSE OF EMPIRE, and its sequel, THE CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE (the latter two with Flint), and was active in the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
Wentworth was a kind person who knew a great deal about writing, editing, and publishing, and was willing to talk with a complete unknown (like me) at length without any visible sign of strain. She also was an excellent writer whose stories (especially the two EMPIRE novels with Flint) should live forever.
The best tribute to a writer is this: go read her work. Then go buy her work. Then go and recommend it to everyone you know (providing you like it half as much as I do, that is). So please — for K.D. Wentworth — do what you can to keep her work, and her words, alive.
Just Reviewed Maya Rodale’s “A Groom of One’s Own” at SBR
Folks, I really enjoy Maya Rodale’s writing. She has a knack for writing romances with good characterization, a nice sense of whimsy, and they’re often laugh out loud funny.
I really enjoyed her first romance in the “Writing Girls” series, A GROOM OF ONE’S OWN, and said so just now at SBR. Here’s the link:
Note that this past November, I discussed the second novel in that series, A TALE OF TWO LOVERS. I enjoyed Rodale’s writing then, too, but felt that the idea of a woman writing a gossip column in 1823 was a bit much. (Especially as one of her gossipy news items was that Lord Roxbury, the man she eventually marries, might’ve gotten bored with the female sex and have turned to his own. That wouldn’t have been discussed in public in 1823: not by a woman gossip columnist, and not by a male one, either.) Even under the name “A Lady of Distinction,” I just didn’t buy it, but I did enjoy Rodale’s writing.
This is why I decided to read the first novel, A GROOM OF ONE’S OWN. There are a few problems here, too, but not with the plot construction; mostly the very few errors center on how the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon (Rodale’s hero) was addressed: he should be addressed as “Your Grace” by those who don’t know him, publicly or privately (until the Duke tells the person, “Please call me” whatever), probably by “Brandon” by those who do as that’s what he prefers to be called (especially in private). Rodale gets the second part right but the first part is way off, as Duke Brandon is referred to as “Lord Brandon” far more often than not. I haven’t the foggiest idea how this got through Avon’s editors — they’re usually quite good — but the error did get through, it wasn’t corrected, and for a writer of British historical romance novels to get this wrong is astonishing.
Still, the writing itself is very, very good. I loved the characters. I appreciated the wit, the sensuality, and the charm Rodale used to enliven this romance; it felt like something that could, indeed, happen (albeit in the “romantic comedy” vein that’s almost, but not quite, farcical). And for whatever it’s worth, I do intend to read the third in this series, THE TATTOOED DUKE (and review it, too), whenever I’m able to get my hands on a copy.
So go read my review, then if you’re like me and want something light and funny, but with a bit of an edge to it, to read, pick up Rodale’s books. You’ll enjoy them.
Three Judge Federal Panel Rules; Only Assembly Districts 8 and 9 Must be Re-Drawn
Folks, I am disgusted. After all the extra time the three-judge federal panel took — and all the really strong language the judges used in their past rulings — the only two districts the judges want re-drawn are those of Assembly Districts 8 and 9 — which are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All of the other problems with the districts, while “unnecessarily secretive” according to the judges, do not qualify for a judicial (legal) remedy — so we’re stuck with horrible districts, thanks to the Wisconsin Republicans who controlled all three branches of government throughout 2010.
(Thanks a lot, WI Rs. Really.)
Here’s a link to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story:
Here’s a quote from the judge’s ruling, quoted in the same MJS article:
The judges – two appointed by Republican presidents and one appointed by a Democratic president – said the maps were clearly motivated by partisanship, and contrasted that with the almost even divide in the state between Republicans and Democrats.
“Regrettably, like many other states, Wisconsin chose a sharply partisan methodology that has cost the state in dollars, time and civility,” the court said. “Nevertheless, our task is to assess the legality of the outcome, not whether it lived up to any particular ideal.”
This also means that the people who’ve been moved from one state Senate district to another, where the Senator is an incumbent, may end up having to wait six years to vote for their new Senator due to the way the WI Rs re-did these maps. The judges, while they obviously don’t like this problem, have said in their above comments that this isn’t something they can fix.
While many of the high-profile Dems now want the entire map-process to be re-done, there isn’t any wherewithal in Madison to do such a thing; the judges didn’t require it (all they required, as I said before, is that Assembly Districts 8 and 9 must be re-drawn), and as the Assembly is still solid red, nothing is going to get done. The state Senate, even though at the moment is split 16-16 due to the recent retirement of Senator Pam Galloway (R-Wausau), also doesn’t have enough oomph behind it to force the Rs to come to the table for the other districts; all they can do is fix Assembly Districts 8 and 9. That’s it.
And as you might imagine, the Wisconsin Rs are crowing today about their “big victory.” Scott Fitzgerald, who was on WTMJ-AM 620 in Milwaukee this afternoon, was almost oozing satisfaction as he said that the Rs “had done nothing wrong.” (This is my best paraphrase of what Fitzgerald actually said; he went on and on for at least five minutes talking about how wonderful these maps are, how they’re not gerrymandering — please!, etc. These were unctuous self-serving platitudes, and certainly didn’t make me think this process has been completed by any means.)
So that’s it; many people are still in districts they don’t understand, didn’t want, and don’t even know who their new legislators are going to be. Many others who hold seats now either have to move districts (like Robert Turner, who will run in district 66 though he’s been the sitting district 61 Assemblyman for many years) or have to acquaint themselves with their newly-drawn one (Cory Mason from Racine is in this situation; he only has 10% of his original district after the new maps were fundamentally approved today by the federal judges), then get to know their new constituents in a big hurry.
And the judges’ decision left intact one of the biggest problems I’ve seen all along — that is, how the maps were drawn to benefit three sitting state Republican Senators, including my own Van Wanggaard. District 21, where I now reside, has been re-drawn to include the rural parts of Racine and Kenosha Counties, which for the most part tend to vote Republican. District 22, which I will now be in, has most of the Cities of Racine and Kenosha, which tend to vote for Democrats. This means rather than two competitive districts, there will now be one district tilted heavily toward Democrats, and one district tilted heavily toward Republicans; I am not in favor of such a thing even though I strongly approve of District 22’s Senator, Bob Wirch (to the point that I worked to help him withstand recall last summer).
At any rate, I was hoping the judges would see this was wrong and do something about it. They appear to have seen that it’s wrong, but decided that they couldn’t do anything about it. What a sad, sad day in Southeastern Wisconsin . . . and what disgust I have for just about every last one of the Republican legislators — at least, for every one of them who signed a “non-disclosure” agreement which kept the public out of the redistricting process, as that was strongly against Wisconsin’s history of open and transparent government.
In other words: we in Wisconsin look like a bunch of ignorant hicks, mostly because of a bunch of jumped-up Republicans in the WI Legislature. And we now can’t fix their mess until 2020, minimum — why should I be happy about this? And why should any Wisconsin voter, as we’ve been shafted twice now — once by the Rs, and now by the courts?
Editing this Week; Waiting for Federal Judges’ Ruling in Redistricting Case
Happy Friday, everyone.
This week I’ve spent a lot of time editing, which is why I haven’t blogged overmuch. Plus, I’ve been awaiting the three-judge federal panel from the United States District Court to rule on the Wisconsin redistricting case all week, but so far, they haven’t made a ruling.
This, quite frankly, is puzzling. The three-judge Federal panel needs to file their ruling within ten days of the end of testimony — but testimony ended on February 24, 2012 and it’s now March 9, 2012. (Perhaps the “ten days” includes next Monday, and that’s why there’s been no ruling as of yet?)
So that’s about it — just editing, doing a bit of writing here and there, and waiting for the judges to make up their mind — a typical Friday here in Wisconsin, at least for me.
Enjoy your weekend, folks.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 