Today is Monday, August 21, 2017. A rare event will occur this afternoon, a total solar eclipse. And even more rare, the contiguous United States will be able to view this incredible event. There hasn’t been a coast to coast eclipse since June 8, 1918!

There are many kinds of an eclipse: total solar, partial (common), annular (most of us never know about these and you need special filters to even see it), and lunar (at night and most can see if weather permits). Of all these, the total solar eclipse is the most rare and most sought for viewing. 

This will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for nearly everyone.

Most folks have not had the opportunity to view a total solar eclipse. In the last 100 years, there have been only seven in the US and limited numbers of the population were included, and then, weather also impeded viewing. 

• 06/30/54 – Northern NE through western Michigan and some of Minneapolis
• 10/02/59 – Massachusetts only
• 02/20/63 – Central Fla, then hugged the coastline up through Virginia’s eastern shore
• 07/10/72 – North Alaska
• 02/26/79 – WA, OR, ID, MT, ND (many missed this because of rain/clouds)
• 07/11/99 – Hawaii and was clouded out

So, you ask, I’m not a scientist, what’s the big deal? The big deal is what it looks like, how nature reacts, to see darkness during the peak period of the day, to feel how air changes and how you change during the rare moment.

In the Dark, Middle, and Medieval Ages, an eclipse portended danger, deviltry, disaster, death, sickness — all things that were considered evil and scary. That’s because most did not understand the nature and the reason for the eclipse’s happening. 

Today we understand why an eclipse occurs and it is much less scary but there are moments during the eclipse that are still worth your attention. Animals will react differently. Birds will hush and roost. Day animals will seek cover and many night animals may emerge. Often wolves and dogs will howl. Some believe there will be significant shifts in the tides (though I cannot attest to this). And the sky will turn black. Crescent shadows will appear on the ground (worth taking pictures of). 

It is a moment when we can feel one with a universe and realize how small we are within the constantly shifting nature of it. This is an event you cannot stop, stall, or change. It does tend to make one feel a little bit small when you are out of control.

Everyone will be affected differently. Be sure to have your glasses and proper filters for cameras (and cell phones). Do not risk eye damage! Do not try to drive and watch. Do not drive with your eclipse glasses on. DO stop and appreciate the moment.

The actual eclipse will be about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The rest of the time, the moon will be traveling across the sky and and gradually across the sun. All in all about 3 hours of the most incredible event ever. 

The next total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, central US and Canada on April 8, 2024. And then we in the US will have another contiguous event on August 12, 2045 (see the map below).

If you are a writer, live the moment. Breathe the change in the air. Share the experience with others and see their reactions. Listen to nature as it reacts. Listen to humans as they pause their lives to experience the event. Be one of them standing still.

Whether you watch live, watch on TV, or decided to skip the moment, you are in the rare event. Record your place in it. Write it down. Find something to remember whether you watched or not.

And if you are a writer/author/journalist — use this memory, capture the emotions, discover something to use for memoirs, historical fiction, special feature reporting, short stories, speculative fiction — don’t let the moment eclipse your memories. Capture then and use them! Eclipses make wonderful fodder for foreshadowing, creepy murder mystery moments, horror stories, mad scientist motivations, feral shapeshifters, vampire emergence, noire-esque villainy, knights and oaths…it is food for every pen, everywhere. What you learn will be invaluable.

I’m going to enjoy this rare moment because I may not have any chance of one again. We have our viewing glasses and our flag and we’ll take a selfie to remember we were there (hubby and me). 

One last personal thought — think, for a few precious minutes, we will all be able to look up and see the same thing. We will be one under the heaven. I think that’s worth letting everything else be eclipsed for two minutes. See you under the sun.

Thanks for stopping by.
I remain, Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

Writing is a solitary business. Writers build offices, private “caves,” or special hideaway places to where they can retreat and live in worlds they create and with people they birth. These absences might be for a few minutes, a few hours, or become the hibernation of an entire year, depending on the writers and their projects.

Plenty of writing pundits offer advice on this solitude. Some will declare that such time away is necessary and must happen if a writer is to succeed. Other experts will shame writers declaring that withdrawal into a special, private place is self-indulgent nonsense and unnecessary. Other authors – best-selling trendsetters – use their success to guide and direct authors for or against this solitude. Right or wrong, what is the “write” way? 

There is no one way despite all of the voices who declare they know.

I would like to offer that the solitude is a writer’s singular choice. Personally, I believe every writer needs a designated space designed for that writer where creation and imagination are the primary purpose. Just as the office worker has his or her own desk and space (even a cubicle), so does the writer require a designated space. This special “corner” announces “this is my work,” and must be respected. This special place gives a writer a sense of purpose and a private place to meet that purpose. As I said in the beginning, writing is a solitary business and should be treated as a business.

But I must also insist that though the writing work is done in solitude, writers cannot afford to live their lives alone. I don’t mean the kind of singleness that comes with living alone. Your living status, marital status, or sexual need isn’t what I mean by alone. Writers require contact. Writers need people.

And how, you ask, does that meet up with the solitary writer?

You see them in the coffee shop, libraries, on the grass under a tree — the writer working on a laptop, or writing in a notebook, earbuds or headphones on. These are solitary writers but they are not truly alone. They come out of their writer caves to mingle, to find like folks and get understanding smiles, to listen to stray conversations, and generally to observe behaviors. Writers need input to keep their work interesting and the best way to get it is to emerge into the world and be with the very people that end up as characters in the stories and novels readers come to demand.

My attitude is authors need people. They don’t always WANT them, but they – we, me – NEED them. People are fodder (sorry, not flattering, but true). And writers want to observe and listen in their solitude place, separate and alone. That doesn’t mean no socializing because writers certainly know how to “get down and dirty” with the rest of the world. But writing can only be done alone (even sitting in a crowd of people, the headspace is solitary).

(Beloved writers who are fun-loving cut-ups)

Wait, you say, there are writers who chose to be alone and without people!

Yes, there are writers who opted out of public life and chose seclusion instead: Bill Watterson (author of Calvin and Hobbs), Emily Dickinson (author of many books after death), Harper Lee (author, To Kill a Mockingbird), and JD Salinger (author, Catcher in the Rye). Add to the list William Faulkner and Edgar Allan Poe. Some will want to argue that they were solitary and reclusive because of fame, but for most of these writers, this would be patently untrue. And if you don’t believe they mingled despite their hermit lives, then you would be wrong.

Perhaps writers are life’s lurkers. They keep to their space and fringe walk with others. 

So here’s my advice to you. Create that private sanctuary, the cave, the office or even just a corner, were the writer in you can imagine and create. In in a house with kids and pets, you need a quiet singular place to call your own where magic can be born. Then use it. Sit yourself in this space but do not petrify there. Go out and be in the world. Interact. Observe. Remind yourself what the pulse of the world feels like. Listen and feel the rhythm of many voices, young and old. Mingle, breathe, touch. Be one with your living world and then be only from it.

Writers need input. But in the end, writers MUST have solitude. It is who we are, it is what we are.

We are the Solitaries and we are proud!

Thank you for stopping by. Let me know your habits and share what you’re working on. Now I’m off to find some people to listen to and spice up my book’s conversation!

I remain, Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

When I was growing up and learning life lessons, my parents and teachers taught some basic rules of behavior that they said would be invaluable to my life and subsequent career(s). These rules, if consistently adhered to, would protect my reputation and mark me as a person of honorable character. Both my parents served in the Air Force and had civil service experience afterwards. They believed in a strong work ethic and impressed that within me. The most important by-line at work was to “be professional.” Here are the important tenants. As yourself, are you one?

1. Your word is your bond. When you say you will do something, you don’t have to promise. If you say it, that IS a promise. If you say it, then you must follow through. That is integrity.

2. If you tell someone you will be at a place at a certain time, then be there. Don’t show up after the time. Don’t assume that not being on time will be acceptable. Be. On. Time. Be early. Ten minutes early is so much better than ten minutes late. When you are late, you are saying that you have no respect for the person who waits. You are saying that your time is more important than the person who waits. They have to give up their time for you, but you are saying you don’t honor them enough to give your best effort and be on time. Again, it shows a lack of integrity.

3. Change is inevitable. Remember that people do not like change and worse, don’t like to be surprised with it. If something is expected of you and you change without telling anyone, people will give you attitude and negativity (in most cases). Be understanding of others and tell others when change is happening. This is respect.

4. There are two kinds of professionals. The first is one who earns money at a job comprised of a majority of amateurs (those not making money). The second is an expert in a particular field. Don’t presume because you earn a dollar that you are more of the second kind of professional than the first. And remember that a true professional, doesn’t need to remind others. Others will naturally gravitate to a professional. This is trust and respect.

5. If you make a mistake, apologize. Do what you can to make it right. Accept that mistakes will happen and be honest and up front about them. Do not lie. Ever. EVER. Once a lie has broken free, others tend to follow. Honesty is a mark of character and shows respect. Lies cheapen your integrity and ruin your reputation.

6. Use manners. A professional knows that behavior matters. Don’t assume things about people. We learned what we needed to know in the first grade: Please. Thank you. Yes/No sir/ma’am (especially to those in positions of authority, elders and customers). How you treat people speaks volumes about you as an individual. You do not have the right to be rude. Not if you are attempting to be professional. You do not have the right to say whatever you feel, however you wish, if those words are vulgar and denigrating. Courtesy is respect. You don’t have to “like” someone to give respect. Civility and respect are twins.

7. Emails do not replace letters unless specified. Even then, bad language and poor grammar show a lack of professionalism. Use your words, not your abbreviations. No one speaks that way in “the real world” (unless you are planning to work on skates or in headphones). Again, show your character, not your ass.

8.  As above, so likewise go phone manners. Remember that half of what is conveyed over the phone is tone. We will accept negative issues more readily if spoken clearly, honestly, and with courtesy. Use words like “yes” instead of “yeah,” and demonstrate an ability to use the words you claim to love. Be professional. Respect for others, patience and positivity, will demonstrate your professionalism and leave a marked impression long remembered after the call is finished. That is perception and true or not, you are the way you are perceived to be. That is reputation.

9. Attitude is everything. If you are surly, disingenuous, apathetic or angry, the negativity will eat into your contact with others. It will brand you as someone with whom dealing is undesirable. You will lose your value, and your reputation will tarnish. Once tarnished, forever tarnished. Practice being positive. Smile. This is strength of character and people naturally gravitate to strength

10.  Most of all, above all, and always, do the right thing. Do the Right Thing. When the moral dilemma bars your way and you are tempted to take the road around, make a shortcut, go cheap, tell that little white lie or turn a blind eye — don’t. Just Do the Right Thing. It’s like stopping at the red light in the middle of the night with no one around. Integrity is doing the right thing especially when no one is watching. That’s strength of character.

These 10 tenants are what it means to be professional. Take them to heart. Make them a part of you. As a writer, attempting to be seen and valued as a professional, you have to BE professional. Whether writing letters, making phone calls, going to conferences, appearing at book signings, and/or performing one-on-one consultations, you must be the professional.

Unlike the termite inspector who shows up an hour late, or the food delivery truck that just doesn’t show up at all, or the person on the phone who is unable to speak for popping gum, or the surly customer service rep who is annoyed that I bothered to call, or the shoe salesman who is aggravated because I want to try on more than one shoe, or the email from the customer service rep who wants to ” <3 my order bcuz she’d B cray not 2,” I want you to truly BE professional. Much depends on it.

Before I finish, I must add one more tenant.

11. A real professional is always learning and improving. No one knows it all. No craft remains static. You continue to learn and to grow or find yourself left behind. A real pro studies and grows within the profession. A real pro is open and receptive to new ideas. A real pro listens and learns. Never be so smart that you forget you don’t know it all. This is wisdom.

Where are all the professionals? It seems that they are missing. Sadly, I find them drifting, or disappearing. It angers me. I’m tired of dealing with unprofessional people. Insist on professionalism. Give it. Command it. Demand it. Live it. Raise the bar. Be the bar. Set a standard. Maintain it. Represent it. Become it. That’s being professional.

Then hopefully, we won’t ever ask, “where are the professionals?”

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry