Last minute bits and pieces

What I'm reading: No One Lives Forever, by Jordan Dane

What I'm writing: Chapter 12, scene 2


News to share: All my titles are now available at All Romance eBooks. This should help with one-stop shopping for anyone who (myself included) doesn't like having to go through all the payment information at multiple sites. My Cerridwen romantic suspense novels and my Wild Rose Press short stories are all listed here.

And -- last night I got an email telling me What's in a Name? is a finalist in the Heart of the Rockies Aspen Gold contest. Thank goodness for postage on line, because they need two more copies of the book right away, and we'll be gone before the Post Office opens on Monday.

I totally blanked out on my vacation when I set dates for my website contest. I've extended the deadline to August 15th, so pop over and enter.

I don't think the writing is going to progress much while I'm gone, but I'm loading the ms onto my flash drive in case I find some free time. I'm hoping to use the time in Oregon to get more background information--terrain, flora, fauna, etc. And I'll pick the brain of my retired BIL for law enforcement details.

I'll be back on August 11th. If I have time to post updates while I'm away, I definitely will, so please check in.

Character Names

I've been reading the ARC of When Danger Calls. It's a different kind of reading, and requires a totally different mindset. It's not the same kind of editing I do with my critique groups, because at this point, it's strictly a 'typo or glaring error' read. It's hard not to want to make it better. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with any of my books. There's always something I think could be improved. Finding minutiae is tedious. I keep reading the 'story' and have to stop, go back, and read the 'words'.

The first error I caught also reinforced my character-naming approach. Coming up with appropriate names is always a challenge. And, as one professor pointed out in a workshop, it should sound like the character's parents named them, not the author. At a conference, a speaker warned everyone to watch out for too many characters with similar sounding names, or names starting with the same initials. He also said that the initials of your protagonists should be the only characters with those letters. After I wrote a paragraph with Langley and Laughlin talking about Lalone, I realized I needed to keep better track. I created a spreadsheet with two columns of the alphabet, one for first names and one for last names. As I named a character, I'd put the names in the appropriate slots. This let me see if I was fixating on a particular letter. If it was a major character, I used a colored font as a warning to avoid using that letter for anyone else with a 'speaking' role.

As a reader, I tend to "see" the entire name based on the beginning. So when I read a book where there was a Mike, a Mack, and a Mick, I was easily confused. For me, I can differentiate more easily between Jack and Mack than Mike and Mick. But having all the characters with one syllable, 4 letter names isn't easy for the reader. Do others read the way I do? See only the beginning of words? Apparently so.

I created a make-believe high-end security firm with a secret covert-ops side that can go where Uncle Sam can't. (Let's me avoid dealing with military regulations, the government, etc.). The company is called Blackthorne, Inc. The head guy is Horace Blackthorne. Before the ARCs are printed, the manuscript has been through at least 4 sets of edits with at least two editors. So, when I start reading my ARC (which is a cool thrill because it's a bound book), what do I see? The first time we meet the boss, he's Horace Blackstone. I went back and checked all my edited versions of the manuscript. It was there from the first round. Nobody caught it. My hypothesis is that they read names the way I do—and if it started with "Black" they didn't see the rest.

At least I caught it before the book goes to print. Otherwise, I'd probably be chasing down the books in stores and libraries and penciling in the right name.

I'm off to San Francisco at the crack of dawn Monday. Back to packing!

Gearing up for RWA

What I'm reading: Pointe and Shoot by Natalie M. Roberts

What I'm writing: Chapter 12

I leave in a few days for the annual national conference of Romance Writers of America in San Francisco. I'm looking forward to being surrounded by hundreds of people who also hear voices but aren't forced to live in padded rooms. I'm looking forward to cooler weather. I'm looking forward to meeting my agent face to face. I'm looking forward to seeing all those 'names on spines', and listening to their words of wisdom.

I'm looking forward to the behind the scenes tour of Customs & Immigration. I'm looking forward to the Death by Chocolate party where they'll announce the winners of the Daphne du Maurier contest. It's been an honor to have been nominated. Seriously. My book is with a small press, and a primarily e-publisher to boot. So hanging with names like Brenda Novak is just plain amazing. I even did the unimaginable – bought new shoes. I'm looking forward to seeing my brother, even if it's only for an afternoon. He's already made the restaurant reservations. And, after the conference, I'm looking forward to a week of decompression in Oregon with DH's sister and her husband. Since my current WIP is set in Oregon, it's a research trip, too.

What I'm not looking forward to: Packing. It's like packing for two trips. RWA tends to be wardrobe intensive, with meetings, award ceremonies, as well as all day in workshops. Then, staying with relatives in Salem requires an entirely different set of clothes. Laid back, casual. With the airline restrictions on luggage these days, it'll be a challenge to get everything I need into the requisite suitcases. And there are all the 'promotional extras' to cram in there somewhere. Although my contributions won't be making the return trip, normally the giveaways I collect equal or exceed what I leave behind. Thank goodness for my eBookwise. I can fill it with enough reading material so I don't need to haul books.

Then there are all the 'leaving home' details to remember. Cancel mail, paper. Have neighbor alerted to watch the house for things left in the driveway or on the porch. Change all my email groups to no mail or special notices. Make sure I've got all the necessities, which puts me right back to packing, because if I don't have it, there's not much time to run out and get it. I should make a list, of course. But I never got around to making a list for a month in Africa; two weeks on the west coast shouldn't be that hard.

Cell phone sniffing dogs

I mentioned in a previous post that cell phones were the hot commodity in prisons. A comment about using dogs to sniff them suggested I check with Mr. Malinowski. I did, and he was kind enough to send a copy of the article.

Here's the link.

Thanks again to David Malinowski for providing it.

Crimimal Thinking Bibliography - UPDATED

I should have included these yesterday --
Criminal Thinking References:

The Myth of the Out of Character Crime
Inside the Criminal Mind
The Criminal Personality Volume I – A Profile for Change
The Criminal Personality Volume II – The Change Process
The Criminal Personality Volume III – The Drug User
Straight Talk About Criminals – Understanding and Treating Antisocial Behavior

By Stanton E. Samenow, Phd.

Shortly after posting this, I received an email from David Malinowski. I'd mentioned the cell-phone sniffing dogs mentioned by a commenter in a previous post. (And, in a 'small world moment, a friend of his who's a writer in Chicago just happened to see my blog and told him about it. )

Mr. Malinowski provided an article on dogs that can sniff out cell phones. I'll try to figure out how to upload and post it -- no promises how long it might take, so check back! (anyone who's a regular at this blog knows that technology and I have 'issues').

Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 5

To Change a Criminal: Corrective Thinking

Change is only possible when a criminal makes a choice to change.

When does a person change? When they are ready, and not a moment sooner.
The objective is to teach criminals to live without injuring others
Note: this comes right back to Malinowski's opening statement about concern for victims.

Corrective Thinking means:

Strict standards
No "feel good" stuff
No shortcuts
No rewards for doing what is expected – "Until your desperation factor exceeds your embarrassment factor, you are not a candidate for transformation."

Remember: Criminals Think Differently!

Change is a 4-letter world
W – O – R – K

The Change Process:
The most important part of the change process must be conducted in the community.

It is a pipe dream to release criminals from institutions and expect them to function responsibly without guidance in a world for which they are not equipped.

To change one hard-core criminal means saving society from an incalculable injury.

Some parting bits and pieces…

The number one fear of the hard core criminal is fear of the dark, of being alone. When they're alone, they're bored, and forced to face who they really are.

Malinowski also spoke of sex offenders. The sex offender isn't necessarily as big a threat to the general population as the media suggests. 90% of child molesters are family, or known to the child. That means only 10% are "strangers"or "predators"

Sex offenders have a very low (5.3%) recidivism rate, in some part because of the strict protocols of registering, etc.

As an aside: Malinowski pointed out he lives on a cul-de-sac of 5 homes, one of which holds a family with 2 daughters. While he understands that the mother would like to know if there are sexual predators in the neighborhood (and again, remember the actual "predators" are rare – only 10% of sexual offenders), Malinowski would rather know if the guy who lives behind him has ever been arrested for breaking and entering. There's no registry for other crimes.

Lee's comment yesterday about not sharing personal information with inmates is another point Malinowski made—my examples showed how valuable even the most trivial-seeming piece of information can be. In my first post, I mentioned that staff should never have family pictures in their offices, as this is just one more piece of information the inmates will 'collect'.

For a closer look at how the inmates are always on the 'con', check this site.

Prison 'myths' we've learned from watching movies and television: (Note, these facts are from the Florida prison system, and may not be the same elsewhere.)

There's no air conditioning. As I type this at 6:30 pm, it's 87 degrees outside. There's also no heat, although in Florida, that's not going to be a comfort problem nearly as many days of the year as the hot days. Summer lasts about 8 months here.

The law library in a Florida prison is about half a wall in size, and most of the books are out of date.

There's no fancy gym. In fact, due to budget cuts, even the weight stacks might no longer be available. Hot prisoners with no way to burn off steam?

Meals. They get three minutes (yes, THREE) to eat. No talking.

There are no computers. No Internet access. Phone calls are regulated.

You know all those movie and television scenes where the inmate has a visitor? Well, the visitors are patted down very extensively before entering the room. Did you know the prisoners are strip searched before and after they leave that room? Every time. So if it's an all day visit, there's a morning and an afternoon session. That's 4 strip searches.

The hottest commodity at the moment: cell phones. They appear as if by magic, it seems. Recently, due to a fluke, one smuggling scheme was uncovered. It seems a major book chain sends surplus books to prisons. Per regulation, each book is individually shrink wrapped, boxed, and shipped via carrier (I think he said UPS, but I'm not sure – doesn't really matter). They're offloaded and sent to the prison library. One day, a receiving clerk had a little more time than usual, and instead of sending the cartons directly to the library, she opened them to look at the books. As she lifted them out, she saw three copies of one title. But they didn't feel to be the same weight. She opened them and found one of them contained three cell phones. Someone on the inside had arranged with someone at the book store to smuggle in the phones. They can't black out the prison for cell signals, though, because that's how the corrections officers (they don't call them guards anymore) communicate.

I hope you've found these posts interesting and informative. I got my ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) of When Danger Calls yesterday and will have to read them for errors. It's tedious and time consuming, and a totally different kind of read. But so cool to get the story as a "book" for the first time.

Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 4

What I'm reading: The Drifter by Susan Wiggs

What I'm writing: Chapter 11, scene 2

Back to Criminal Thinking

Some more statistics …

In a typical prison population:

20% are "scared straight" by the experience and won't be back
20% are "hard core" and will never change, no matter what
30% are still doing crime while they're incarcerated
30% want to change but don't know how.

The last group has the best chance for the requisite "deep change", but according to Malinowski, the last two groups tend to flip flop, often influenced by the other two.

More interesting tidbits: Picture two women standing around talking, holding purses. An addict will look at them and see money to buy drugs. A criminal will think, "They have MY money."

Criminals want power and control, regardless of what form it might take. They're observant.

Malinowski drove a truck. Parking for the prison is some distance away, so it's a long walk to the entrance. He drove the truck on his first visit to a prison, but the next time, he used his wife's car. When he was inside, an inmate said, "Where's your truck?" He had observed the original vehicle, but in this case, didn't see Malinowski get out of the other car. Yet he knew he'd driven something different.

Likewise, he used to wear a straw hat, more so the guards would be ready to unlock the gate than because he was a hat person. He didn't wear it inside. The first time he showed up without it, an inmate asked about it, which means these folks find ways to know everyone's comings and goings. It's not like they can sit in the parlor and watch the world go by. Word gets around.

Another time he walked down a corridor carrying a briefcase and a video cassette. He entered a room, put the video on the table for the next day, and left. Probably took less time than it did to type this. Later, an inmate asked what was on the video. They watch, they notice, because any detail might be useful.

Malinowski spoke of an assignment he gave to his class relatively early in his career. At the time, he used the large flip-charts in his classroom. An inmate came up after class and proposed an elaboration on the assignment, complete with diagrams and charts. He asked for a piece of paper so he could do a presentation. Mr. M, as they call him, agreed and tore of a sheet. The inmate then asked for one more, in case he messed up. All very polite, very eager. Mr. M gave him the second sheet.

The next day, that inmate didn't show up. Instead, he sent someone else to demonstrate his plan, saying inmate #1 had been transferred. The inmate brought one of the sheets of paper, complete with diagrams, etc. BUT, inmate #1 knew he was being transferred. Knew darn well he would never be going to the next class. However, he had Power, because he had scammed two sheets of paper (and if you recall, those old flip charts are BIG). There are countless uses for paper, not the least of which is turning it into a weapon.

Looks like it's going to take at least one more day to finish. Please come back!

Weekend hiatus

I will be back on Monday with the continuation of my Criminal Thinking series. If you haven't read it yet, it's information I gleaned from a fascinating presentation given by David Malinowski of the Florida Department of Corrections.


Meanwhile, you can check my website and enter my July contest for some South African souvenirs.



Or visit my Red Room page.



Or read a good book. I have a few of mine I could suggest. First chapters are all available on my website.

Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 2

What I'm writing: Chapter 10

A brief recap: Malinowski defines "criminal" as someone who lives a lifestyle of crime. To a criminal, the usual boundaries of authority don't apply.

In his presentation, Malinowski also stressed the difference between cause and influence. For example, poverty does not cause crime, but it definitely influences it. For Malinowski, the personal motivation that gives meaning to his job stems from his belief that a criminal has three basic choices.

1. Continue the life of crime. This will result in the criminal returning to prison, dying on the streets, or dying in prison.
2. Suicide. Not a recommendation but nonetheless, still a 'choice'. Fear keeps most criminals from suicide.
3. Change. Must be deep change. Without deep change, there is only slow death, so change becomes a "life vs. death" choice.
His goal is to help offenders see the need for change, and to give them the tools they need to effect it.

A quick statistic: 97% of incarcerated people get out of prison. (Often many times,) Only 3% die in prison, either by the death penalty, of natural causes, or at the hand of other prisoners. In the Florida system, there are 100,000 inmates, and 129,000 who are out "under supervision."

Malinowski suggested that the next time you go to eat at a restaurant like Denny's, or Applebees, or TGI Friday's, you take a look around the back. Are there bicycles parked there? Odds are good that these belong to people who are recently out of prison, perhaps on a work release program. Since they can't hold a driver's license, they'll bike to work.

He told us of receiving a phone call (by law, they're required to answer all telephone calls from prisoners so they can't claim they tried to get in touch with them but couldn't reach them) from a recently released inmate. He went on and on about how he'd gotten with the program, had a place to live (girlfriend), checked in with a parole officer, and had a job lined up (graphic artist) that would pay him $1700. Malinowski didn't recall the name, so he looked it up in the prison computer system. The guy had been arrested 22 times, and had been in prison 5 times. He was calling because he needed $80 to rent the airbrush equipment so he could do the job and get paid, and to him, the easiest and fastest way to the money was to call the instructor of the Life Skills class.

One side note – why the picture of the binder clips? The stacks of class handouts were fastened with these clips. After unclipping them to pass them out, David's colleague automatically hooked the clips together and put them in his pocket, whereas we would probably just leave them on the table. Why? Because if you remove the prongs from the clip, they'll unlock a pair of handcuffs.

Along those lines, Nike once manufactures some elite shoes with chrome tips on the laces (anyone know the correct term for those tips? I did, which was my moment of fame in the class) which also were perfect for unlocking cuffs.

Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 1

Last night's class on "Inside the Criminal Mind" was fascinating and crammed full of information—much more than I can cover here, and definitely not in a single post. So, this may turn out to be a series. I took fast and furious notes, and the speaker provided handouts, but I'll say right up front that these are the facts as I understand them, and there might be places where I'm not spot-on. These are the facts and opinions as our speaker presented them, not necessarily mine. However, he's the expert, and most of what he said made perfect sense to me. As always, one can't make broad generalizations, and there are always exceptions. Feel free to ask questions.

Our speaker was David Malinowski, the Regional Transition Coordinator for the Florida Dept. of Corrections. He became interested in the field of criminal thinking after realizing that traditional approaches with education did not work in a prison classroom.

Anyone incarcerated in the Florida prison system is required to go through a course from the Transitional Life Skills Center, within 6 months of release to help transition them into the "responsible" world, which is the way Mr. Malinowski refers to what most of us consider the "outside" or the "free world." The class was designed to address myths and mistakes often made when dealing with a criminal population and what is required for true change to take place.

First, he spoke of sympathy for the victims, who get lost in the system. He referred to the need for the offenders (another term he uses) to understand that whatever they did hurts people. His goal is to lead them toward change, but change has to come from the offender. Nobody can force change on someone else.

If one can make a generalization, it's that the criminal mind works on the "rules don't apply to me" foundation.

According to Malinowski, Criminal Thinking is erroneous thinking that comes automatically out of fear, like a reflex, or is a reaction.

Thinking leads to Feeling leads to Behavior. Criminals live out of their feelings. They don't move past it to cognitive behavior.

We've all been cut off in traffic. We react emotionally at first (although if you live where I do, the tourist population with it's "I need to turn left here, and it doesn't matter that I'm in the right hand lane" style of driving tends to become commonplace enough so that natives are aware of it, look out for it, and let it slide).

Although those who are not desensitized to idiot drivers can curb their immediate reaction to do something to the driver of the car. As responsible thinkers, we might hit the horn or flip the bird, but we don't normally crash into his car or shoot him.

He went on to give three basic reasons for crime: Power, Control, and Excitement. And three areas of crime: Property, Assault, and Sex.

To a criminal thinker, information is power. They will collect facts which may or may not be useful at the time. But if they know something about you, that gives them power. Those working in the system don't (or shouldn't) keep family photos in their offices.

He gave one interesting example. If you or I (assuming you're not a criminal thinker—I can speak only for myself here!) stand in a classroom doorway for 15 seconds and look around, we're likely to notice things like gender and racial mix of the group, the instructor, who's looking at the instructor, etc. When the offender stands in the doorway, he's noticing who's got an open purse, the keys on someone's desk, who's got cigarettes, and even the classroom roster on the instructors computer screen.

The criminal sees his behavior as normal. He's probably done it dozens of times without being caught. There are probably very few real "first time offenders" in prison. They're there because it was the first time they were caught.

I think that's all for today. Check back tomorrow, and I'll continue.