A world of ridiculous

It's gotten to the point that when I open a web site (I no longer open newspapers, I open a web site for a newspaper) I'm not shocked by what I see.

Selling a Senate seat? No surprise (it is, after all, Chicago).

Mother killed her child? No surprise. The mother was a teenager when the kid was born: no, she should never have had children in the first place. This happens deplorably often but don't get me started on people who insist chastity is the answer.

Car companies begging for money? This one had me flummoxed for a while. You want money because you made bad decisions and oops, they've come home to roost? You make a crappy product and nobody will buy it and your workers are overpaid and you want more money? Then I realized that the auto cars saw bankers and Wall Street execs get rewarded for just that, so they figured they could get some, too.

Cholera outbreaks overseas in a country that has a flourishing economy. Oh, wait -- the country's leader is diverting money that should go to infrastructure and preventing people from having to drink from streams that also serve as sewers.

I used to read 'end of the world' books: The Stand, War Day, Alas Babylon. The news headlines today are eerily like some of the ones ficionalized in those books. It's hard to maintain perspective, much less have any hope for the future when we are constantly bombarded by news like this.

And yet I am hopeful. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but Americans are really at our best when our backs are against the wall. That's when new innovations are discovered, new methods are put in place, new leaders emerge, and new ideas take off.

I am cautiously optimistic about 2009 but I think our country is ready for a major shakeup and change. It remains to be seen if it can be done or if we've become so entrenched in the Old Ways that we can't change. But I think we will.

If we don't, then I'll have some great ideas for plots for my next books ....

Change change change

By this time next week we Americans will have a new Prez. No matter who is chosen, HUGE tasks await him. I view the upcoming decade as similar to the early 60s, when Kennedy was elected. We have a lot of potential for the future. If America can re-discover its roots, I think we can be a true world leader again (and not just because we have more money and more guns).

I'm excited and scared. I'm scared because I'm not sure either candidate is up to the task. I think one has the vision but our government is so cluttered and bloated with rules, regulations, and 'the way things work'. That might interfere with the vision.

I think 'career politician' should be an oxymoron -- no one should make a career out of politics. Maybe 'career public servant', yes, but politician? We've got way too many of them in Washington.

Anyway ... it's coming to a close. On Tuesday I get to vote (yes, I'm in a swing state and yes, there is no early voting). I anticipate long lines at the polls, so I have my Kindle charged and ready to keep me company while I wait.

And one excellent thing about this election cycle -- it's given me endless fodder for plots! I've been crafting a 5-book 'alternate America' series for a while (dabbling at it, really, for years). This election and the politics I've followed have given me lots of ideas on how to work on that plot. In those books, the world changes (change, again) because of an epidemic and a new government has to be formed. All I have to do is look at the way things are today and I can get some good ideas about what not to do.

So you see -- it all comes back to writing in the end, doesn't it?

Americans: Get out and vote on Tuesday! No matter who you vote for, change is coming. Let's be part of it!

Fodder for fiction

The current election is providing me with great fodder for my fiction, to the point that I'm going to have to store some of it up and use later!

My current WIP is about another planet and the government is undergoing some major upheavals. Wow. Sound familiar? Isn't it great when I can take news headlines, tweak them a bit, and make them work in my books?

As I sit and write this, I'm watching the fall foliage outside my window. The colors are amazing this year, mainly because all the weather conditions came together at the right time. The yellows, oranges, and reds are surprising in their intensity. Now if we can just store up these memories in the snowy days ahead just like I'm storing up political nonsense for future books!

Politicians make excellent villains ...

Yes indeed. The more I read about the GOP ticket, the more I'm working people like them into my latest WIP. I've got the woman who ran away from her home and kids after being forced into marriage because of an unwanted pregnancy. And I've got another character with anger management issues who blows up every time someone disagrees with him. He's an old guy and I plan to have him die of a heart attack during a tirade. He's not a villain, really. He's a dupe of the younger woman who's using him for her own gain.

What fodder for a writer! You know, someone once said that fact is stranger than fiction, and it's true. I couldn't make up characters like this, no one would believe them!

On a more serious side, I'm very worried about this election. I feel betrayed by the GOP because they left out the moderates, focusing on the power elite (McCain) and the radical right (Palin). And I feel betrayed by the Dems because they passed over a qualified person who also happens to be a woman. My main concern is the environment, because if we don't fix that, it won't matter about oil or war or the economy. The environment drives it all ...

That's where my vote has to go this fall. We're on a precipice and we've got to back away and find another path. If a candidate can address that issue, I'll listen. Otherwise, I'll have to go with personality and my gut instinct, which tells me to look beyond the media hype and look for substance. The result will depend on who you are, but I keep thinking about this: we've got a candidate who's elderly and has had 4 bouts of cancer.

Do I really want a hockey mom to run the country?