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BAD CHOICES MAKE GOOD NOVELS

1/20/2017

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WHERE DO AUTHORS GET THEIR IDEAS?
Readers often ask where authors get their ideas. My answer: Everywhere. Everyone has a story. I keep my eyes and ears open and always ask, “What if?” I also keep a notepad handy.

But most of my inspiration and ideas come from world travel, my second passion. When I travel, I look for the unique features of the country or for pieces of information about the culture that spark a story idea. Sometimes just a word, a phrase, a street scene, an historical event, can spark a full story line, other times they provide incidents to enrich a novel.

And, of course, there is the naïve mistake, the bad decision, that ends in disaster, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. The kind you can laugh about years later, but at the time it's very scary or very traumatic.

But before I talk about my big mistake in Morocco, let's take a minute to visit the country.

THE KINGDOM OF MOROCCO

Al-Mamlakah al-Maġribiyya. The Kingdom of Morocco. The name makes it sound incredibly exotic … and it is!

Morocco, an Islamic country in North Africa, has a population of approximately 32 million and a land area of approximately 274,000 square miles. Separated from the southern coast of Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar, Moroccan history goes back at least twelve centuries. Despite that long and colorful history, it became an independent country only in 1956, when the French relinquished their rule.

It's much harder for women to travel in Morocco, particularly alone, than men.Like many other countries, it has been conquered and inhabited by numerous cultures. The original Neolithic inhabitants, dating back to 8,000 BC, were ethnically Amazighs/Berbers.

As early as the sixth century B.C. the Phoenicians established settlements and eventually the area became part of the Roman Empire until around the fifth century A.D. when it was conquered by the Vandal, Visigoths, and then the Byzantine Greeks [in rapid succession]. The first Islamic conquest in North Africa in 670 AD brought Islamic expansion into this region. In modern history, France showed an interest in Morocco as early as 1830 and, after a series of crises, the Treaty of Fez made Morocco a French Protectorate.

TRAVELING IN  MOROCCO TODAY
Tourism a big part of the nation’s economy, and Moroccans work hard at catering to visitors.  When I traveled there, the crime rate was low, the government stable, and it was generally a safe place to travel.  However, vendors are aggressive and can be very “in your face.”

It's much harder for women to travel in Morocco, particularly alone, than men. Everyone should respect the customs of the country/culture in which they travel, but in Morocco, in particular, women should be attentive to what they wear.


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An increasing number of urban Moroccan women no longer completely cover themselves after marriage; you even see women dressed Western style in the cities. But you won’t see bare midriffs, low cut sweaters or shorts. Even today, outside the major cities it’s unusual to see a Moroccan woman who is not wearing traditional clothing. In rural areas and small town medinas it is rare to see an unveiled woman.

Generally, female tourists traveling in Morocco are safe and are treated with courtesy, but sometimes are regarded as fair game by some Moroccan men. This is partly because of the way they dress and partly a result of widespread westernized pornography, which gives a distorted view of western women’s availability.

LOST IN THE MEDINA IN TANGIER
The original idea for All For A Dead Man’s Leg, which was re-released this month, predates the writing by nearly ten years.  On my trip to Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Morocco in 1994, I asked our guide, Carl about his worst experience as a tour director.  His answer: when he first started working as a tour director, one of his tourists died in Morocco and they had to smuggle the body back to Spain to avoid delaying the tour.

What a great idea for a novel!  Over the years, I tried several approaches, but none of them worked.  In 2003, my tour director on a trip to Central Europe suggested I use it as the plot for a dramatic WWII novel set in Germany.  That same tour director―Paul Fletcher―also told me his worst experience was when a tourist slipped crossing a ramp, caught his foot between the sides of two boats, and lost his prosthetic leg in the river.

Yes, that really did happen!  As soon as Paul told me that―Boom―the tourist dying in Morocco came together with the tourist losing his prosthetic leg, and I was off and running.  As soon as I got home, I started writing the novel.

Not only did the story idea for the first book come from the Morocco/Spain trip, but also the opening scene draws from my personal experience getting lost in the Tangier Medina, the old walled city or souk which is an outdoor street market.  My big mistake was leaving my group (by about ten feet) to buy postcards. The streets were narrow and winding, it was crowded and hot.  When I turned around, my group had disappeared.  Instead of staying put, I set out to search for them and became hopelessly lost in the twists and turns of the market.  Of course, I couldn’t speak Arabic and couldn’t find my way out.

Talk about panic. That was when I learned to always pick up a business card from the hotel I'm staying in. Even if I'd known the name of my hotel, I couldn't have pronounced it.  I had no idea which way to go, and I couldn't even ask someone. Also, I was intimidated by the Moroccan men staring at me.  And I wasn't a kid at the time, but in my fifties.


Despite the Medina being a colorful and fascinating place, my panic grew.  Finally, I found and followed another English-speaking group, thinking that it would end up at the plaza where the tour buses parked. Wrong!  It was a group from a cruise ship which, I found out later, was headed for an entirely different location.

When the tour stopped at a carpet factory showroom for a sales pitch, I spoke to the guide and the showroom manager.  He summoned an employee who dealt with, and knew, most of the tour directors.  I described my guide.  The man took me back into the Medina to look for Carl.  When he found my group, I was so relieved and flustered, I gave him a fifty dollar tip.

Now I know Carl wouldn’t have left me there, although I would have spent a couple of hours wandering around on my own and getting into who knows what kind of trouble.  But what did I know?  Not much, apparently.

I saw this quote the other day, although I don’t know who said it.  “Bad Choices make good novels.”
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TODAY IS FRIDAY THE 13th: Do You Have Paraskavedekatriaphobia Or Triskaidekaphobia?

1/13/2017

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I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED
That's because, until I started this blog, I'd never heard of these words and didn't know they meant, much less how to pronounce them. I'll bet you didn't either.

Nonetheless, these are real medical phobias related to fearing the number thirteen and Friday the Thirteenth. But first, a quick look at where bad luck superstitions came from and particularly Friday the Thirteenth. [And no, it wasn't the movie.]


BAD LUCK DAY
Every culture seems to have superstitions about days and numbers that are considered lucky or unlucky. Fridays and the number thirteen have traditionally been tagged as bad luck.

The exact origin of the superstition is unknown -- just lots of speculation – but an argument can be made for the superstition existing since ancient times. Regardless of where it came from, a large portion of Western culture is stuck treating Friday the thirteenth as a day of doom, despair, or bad luck.

Ancient Times
● The word Friday represents the Norse goddess Frigg [Freyja or Freya], the goddess of love and war. She had many other talents as well. Some historians believe the Teutonic people called Friday unlucky because of Freyja, perhaps because one of her talents was magic.


Depictions of the Norse goddess Freyja                               Depiction of Adam and Eve

● Some believe that the 13th or Friday the 13th was the day Eve tasted the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge. I'm not sure how that figures, since humankind at the time didn't have a calendar with either Fridays or Friday the 13th, but what do I know?

● In the New Testament, thirteen people attended Jesus' last supper on Maundy Thursday, the day before Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday. Judas was the thirteenth to be seated.

● Numerology first appears in written records in Egypt and Babylon, and in numerology, the number 13 is considered unlucky. Note, however, that while 13 meant death to the ancient Egyptians, it was a joyous time when the person ascended into eternal life. Death was not considered bad luck to them.

Middle Ages
● This is a more likely time for such superstitions to be tied to Christian beliefs surrounding the last supper and crucifixion.

● In the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in his Canterbury Tales a reference to Friday as being unlucky.

●While some historians point to evidence of both Friday and the number thirteen being considered unlucky, there are no references connecting the two before the 19th century.

Nineteenth Century
● Henry Sutherland Edward's 1869 biography of composer Giaochino Rossini, is credited with the first documented reference. According to Edwards, Rossini regarded Friday as an unlucky day, thirteen as an unlucky number, and died on a Friday November 13, 1868.

While I have no way of knowing if Rossini himself believed 13 was unlucky, I do know that Italians consider 13 a lucky number. The Italian bad-luck-number is seventeen, and that superstition has been around since the early Romans. I lived in Rome and know there are many buildings that don't have a 17th floor or a room #17 and so on.

● Another early reference comes from a club [The Thirteen Club] formed by William Fowler, whose intention was to debunk the superstitions as baseless.
 

"REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUP OF BAD LUCK" 
  Quote: Kathy Padden [todayifoundout.com]

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Once the day Friday and the number thirteen combined, like peanut butter and chocolate, the superstition blossomed and filled much of the western world. Once singled out, it's easier to go hunting for bad things that happened on that date. Perhaps just as much bad luck occurs on other days and dates, but we don't look.

Sure, it never hurts to be cautious. You shouldn't walk under a ladder on any day, particularly if someone is standing on it with paint, but when taken to an extreme, it can become a medical condition.  Who knew?

Triskaidekaphobia
This is the extreme and irrational fear of the number thirteen. Thirteen isn't the only number people fear, but that's called Numerophobia or Arithmophobia.

Paraskavedekatriphobia [Friggatriskaidekaphobia]
This is an exaggerated, irrational fear of Friday the Thirteenth. The term was first used in the 1990s by Dr. Donald E. Dossey, an American psychotherapist specializing in phobias and stress management. He is reputed as saying that if someone can pronounce the name of the phobia, he/she is cured. The term uses the Greek word paraskevi (Friday) and dekatria (thirteen).

Symptoms
The symptoms resemble any panic attack:
● Hyperventilation
● Rapid heart rate
● Trembling
● Lightheadedness or dizziness
● Refusing to leave home on this day
● Indulging in ritualistic behavior
● Talk of death or dying

Who Is Affected?
The bad news is that millions of people have Paraskavedekatriphobia, and businesses report losses on Friday the 13th. Even more people fear the unlucky number thirteen.
The good news is that in any one year we will not have more than three Friday the 13ths, and 2017 has only two: January 13 [today] and October 13. What a relief!

WHAT NOT TO DO ON FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH
● If you cut your hair, someone in your family will die. [And YOU don't get to choose]
● If a funeral procession passes you, you will be next to die.
● Don't start a trip or you will encounter misfortune.
● If you break a mirror, you will have seven years bad luck.
● A child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life.
● Ships that set sail of Friday will have bad luck. In spite of the superstition, most pleasure
   boats make their first voyage on Good Friday. (This reference is from 1857).
● Don't walk under a ladder or if a black cat crosses your path on Friday the 13th you will
   have bad luck.
● Don't start anything that represents the beginning or start of a new venture.
● If you've been ill, don't get up for the first time on a Friday.
● Don't move on a Friday, or you won't stay in the new location very long.
● Don't get married on Friday.
● And for goodness sake, don't invite 13 guests or sit 13 people at a table.

You've been warned!

COME ON PEOPLE. GET A LIFE!


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Resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/friday-13th-does-come-unlucky/
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/the-origin-of-friday-the-13th-as-an-unlucky-day/
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/13-things-friday-13.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/friday-13th-history-origins-myths-superstitions-unlucky-day-395108
http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0212_040212_friday13.html
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/paraskevidekatriaphobia.html
http://www.cogwriter.com/hebrew-calendar-postponements.htm
http://aboutnumerology.com/history-of-numerology/
http://gizmodo.com/why-people-think-friday-the-13th-is-unlucky-1306401570
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/freya/
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/freya/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-freya.htm
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-freya.htm
https://www.allaboutcounseling.com/library/triskaidekaphobia/
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/p/paraskavedekatriaphobia/misdiag.htm






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LA BEFANA - End Of The Holiday Season

1/6/2017

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SANTA CLAUS IS COMING, HAS COME, IS GONE
The Holiday Shopping Season is finally over. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. But all is not lost. I've come up with a way to put off the shopping ordeal until after Christmas next year … as long as it's done before January 5.

When I lived in Rome in the 1960s, Santa Claus was almost non-existent. Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) had been visiting Italy since WWII—he wasn’t completely unknown—but Italian children didn’t leap out of bed at the crack of dawn Christmas day and run to see what Santa had brought them. Instead, in Italy, the day children received gifts was January 6, La Befana (The Epiphany).

The Befana is a big part of the Italian Christmas tradition and, like many holidays, mixes legend, tradition and a little religion. I don't know if Italian-Americans celebrate it in the US. We never did

LOOK! IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S ... LA BEFANA?

[I'm dating myself; but if you're old enough, you know how the phrase really ends.]

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The Befana is a good witch [a nice but ugly old woman with a long, hooked nose] who, on the night between January 5th and 6th [which is the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany] flies on a broomstick to visit all the children of Italy. She enters the houses through the chimneys and, from the sack she carries, she fills the children's stockings with sweets and small presents if they have been good or a lump of coal or dark candy if they have been bad.

Sounds a tad familiar, right?


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Although she wears an old, long skirt filled with colorful patches and a black shawl, she is a good housekeeper and will sweep the floor of your house before she leaves to finish her rounds. The child's family typically leaves a small glass of wine and a plate with a few morsels of food, often regional or local, for the Befana.

In most regions of Italy, even adults give little presents to each other, and so do lovers, along with stockings full of chocolates.


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THE EPIPHANY
According to Wikipedia, Epiphany "is a Christian feast day [January 6] that commemorates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ." Epiphany is the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for the Baby Jesus. Without going into the details, the celebration has been around since at least 380 AD.

It is celebrated on January 6 and officially ends the Christmas holiday. In Italy, everyone takes down the decorations on that day. There is an Italian saying that "The Epiphany takes away all festivity."

Don't get this wrong. Epiphany isn't like a stay-at-home holiday. It's a full blow festival with parades, re-enactments, special sweets, and crowds of people.

THE LEGEND OF THE BEFANA
Like everything else, there are a number of theories about origins of the "good witch" including the celebration of the Epiphany and the idea that she's an heir descendent of the Sabine/Roman goddess named Strina, who presided over the new-year's gifts of figs, dates, and honey. It's also suggested she's the Christian substitute for the old crone who read the augers at the pagan festival of Saturnalia.

"According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused.
Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger.

Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night of Christmas, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus."

Although she has been unsuccessful in her search, she still leaves gifts for good young children because the Christ Child can be found in all children.  http://www.goitaly.about.com

Another variation of the Three Wise Men legend is the same up to the point where she has regrets about not going with the wise men.


"So she made lots of cakes and walked outside her home. She offered cakes to all the children she met on her way, hoping one of them were Jesus. Since then, Befana brings gifts to all the children." http://www.mybefana.it/

In another variation, found on Wikipedia, La Befana was an ordinary woman with a child she greatly loved. "However, her child died, and her resulting grief maddened her. Upon hearing news of Jesus being born, she set out to see him, delusional that he was her son. She eventually met Jesus and presented him with gifts to make him happy. The infant Jesus was delighted, and he gave La Befana a gift in return; she would be the mother of every child in Italy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Befana

BITE THE BULLET
Now, go tell your children and/or grandchildren they have to wait until January 6th to open their presents. Oh, yeah. That's going to go well.

ANOTHER WAY TO CELEBRATE THE EPIPHANY
If you're running out of ideas for an Epiphany celebration, consider the Russian Orthodox version. In Russia, thousands of Russians plunge themselves into icy rivers and lakes to cleanse themselves of sins with water deemed holy. The overnight temperature there at this time of year often drops to about 14° F.
This makes waiting until January 6 for presents look not so bad.

HOWEVER YOU CELEBRATE IT, HAVE A WONDERFUL END OF THE  HOLIDAY SEASON!
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Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28holiday%29
http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/a/epiphany.htm
https://seethesea.wikispaces.com/La+Befana%2C+an+Italian+tradition
http://www.historyandwomen.com/2009/12/legend-of-la-befana.html
http://www.italian-link.com/pages/labefana.shtml
https://tablebabel.wordpress.com/category/curiosity-from-the-world/
https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/italy/epiphany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befana
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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

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