Growing up parental control watching TV was very easy – either I could or I couldn’t.  The TV was the largest piece of furniture in our small living room and Mom & Dad had complete control over what programs I watched.  In those days I only recall having four channels so the choice was limited.  Choice was also determined by the direction the antenna on the roof was facing.  In my case the antenna pointed northwest toward Chicago.  I still recall the first innovation in having more TV channels was to install a motor on the antenna so you could rotate it.

We had a Saturday night TV watching routine.  In the early evening Dad would make a huge pan of popcorn smothered in real butter and salt accompanied by a glass of Pepsi.  We would gather together in the living room with our popcorn and watch TV.  One of the Saturday night favorites was Perry Mason.  This TV program led me to want to be a lawyer when I grew up.
Today, METV is replaying the black and white Perry Mason episodes.  I can’t remember any of the episodes from my elementary school days – so for me they are fresh.

 The writer in me has noticed there is a pattern or formula to each episode.  The first scene sets up a conflict and Perry isn’t involved yet.  The second scene somebody dies as a result Perry shows up or someone goes to his office to get his help.  Perry is always involved in the investigation.  His strategy is simple – find the real killer – not his client.

The series ran for nine years, I believe, because viewers new what to expect.  Yes, it was a formula – so what.  I thought about a few of the most successful commercial authors – Patterson, King, Rowling, Picoult, and others.  Readers know exactly what their books will be – the style, the language, themes, even topics.

While I have published the Irish Troubles Trilogy the protagonist and the setting are consistent but the rest varies by theme, style and point of view.
Honestly, I have never aspired to be a successful commercial author.  I don’t have the desire or interest for that writing path.  It requires complete devotion to only writing.  I have other important activities like grandchildren, volunteer work, being in a play reading group, European travel and many others.
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While I learned an important lesson watching Perry Mason, I’ve chosen not to follow it in my life.   

While morning temperatures dropped well below zero this weekend I was working on preparing my presentation “Let Cinematic Writing Improve Your Book” at the 2020 Writers’ Institute (3/26/20 at 2:30 pm) uwwritersinstitute.wisc.edu www.uwwritersinstitute.wisc.edu.

In the presentation I will explain how I write.  My experience is that every writer has their own unique method of writing.  I am not trying to be prescriptive and tell you how to write.  Instead, I will explain my method and suggest you give it a try.

I begin every scene in my head.  I literally “see” a scene in my mind like you are watching a video.  By seeing the scene I snare the action that is going to take place.  When I write I add physicality to the scene with scent, heat, touch, weather and etc.  Sometimes in my mind I even imagine dialogue but  that is rare.  The reason I don’t hear dialogue in my mind is because the visual and language centers are in two different parts of the brain.  I seem to be limited to one part of my brain working at a time.
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I always write the first draft without editing.  With the manuscript I’m working on now I made the mistake of taking a weekender class on editing.  Damn near destroyed my process and cost me weeks of productive time.
Once the story is finished I give myself a week or two off to let the story “get cold.”  Then I begin craft editing to prepare to send it off to an editor.
Want to learn more about cinematic writing.  Attend the 2020 Writer’s Institute March 26-29 in Madison, WI (see link above).  
 

2019 was the year of downsizing.  We moved from a 3000 sq.ft. house sitting on a wooded acre in the country to a 1500 sq.ft. on a standard suburban lot.  Downsizing has required a complete change in thought and perspective.  The next goal is that when the 2012 Insight is ready to go to Rawhide we will have only one car.  This change will require careful and detailed calendar management for me and my wife.  We’ve agreed to give it a six month trial run before we make the final decision.
 
My perspective on many aspects of life is changing.  Last week I went to post my blog for 1-8-20, slipped the jump drive into its slot and all my blog files were gone.  I have been using jump drives for document storage for years.  I thought they lasted forever.  They don’t.  I researched how to recover files and nothing worked.  I learned that sometimes they faiall l – it happens.  A few days later I was working on my radio program and went to retrieve the files from another jump drive.  Guess what – gone -  all gone.  I threw it away.  I panicked, how was I going to store documents and other files?  My friend relies exclusively on the cloud.  With a little research I learned that Amazon offers prime members 5g cloud storage free and unlimited storage for about $12 a year.

Before making the move to the cloud my downsizing view of life kicked in.  I asked myself, why did I save all those blogs and why did I save those radio programs.  Once published or on the air I never looked at them.  I decided downsizing was needed I would stop saving blog posts and radio shows immediately.  I could store current files on my laptop and remove them once a month.
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I will delay using the cloud, at least for now.  Let me know if you use the cloud and what you store.
 

I am an avid fan of the news/documentary TV program 60 Minutes.  I still miss Mike Wallace’s combative interviews and Andy Rooney’s quirky humor.
In December they aired a program about Italian pianist and arranger Francesco Lotoro.  Lotoro has made it his life’s work to search for, publish and perform music created by Jewish composers and musicians during the Holocaust.  To date he has collected more than 4000 pieces.  The music includes symphonies, songs, sonatas, opera, lullabies and jazz.
These Jewish prisoners wrote music while in concentration camps, death camps, labor camps and POW camps.  One composer, Rudolf Karel, wrote music on toilet pager.
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As an author and a person who strives to live a creative life I learned three lessons from this story.  First, creativity cannot be shackled by even the most inhuman conditions imaginable.  Second, creativity often takes courage.  Third, there is no excuse to not write.