Sky Diary: the blog

Here’s one of the ways I earn a living these days: doing video profiles of people and businesses. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Roxanne Guy of Brevard Plastic Surgery & Skin Treatment Center and seeing her at work in surgery, which was fascinating. This is the video we just posted.

Let me start by recommending “Holidays with Dino” at Melbourne Civic Theatre, starring the incomparable Alfie Silva, who absolutely channels Dean Martin in this breezy, fun Christmas show. It’s a tribute to Dino and the TV hilarity of that era.

Alfie and his co-star Henry Caraballo, who’s a scream as Sammy Davis Jr., were kind enough to co-star in my hubby’s entry into the Sinatra/Drinking Made Easy cocktail competition. I filmed the video, and here it is. The drink, Come Fly With Me Ring-a-Ding-Ding, is really good, too!

The Melbourne Chamber Music Society has been described as a jewel. It brings top-notch performers from around the world to Brevard County, Florida, including the Juilliard String Quartet on Dec. 2. I had the opportunity to do a video profile of this group, which offers world-class music with a small-town atmosphere.

I’ve been busy shooting and editing videos and photos, and writing articles, too. So I need a break, and so do you. Here it is: an adorable video in which a GoPro camera was cleverly used to film a dog doggedly running and hanging on to a stick (by YouTube user Lorduss1). You might also call it a stick-cam. It’s a hoot. I love watching the pooch’s eyes move. I used my GoPro a lot to shoot video during the Art of Sand festival, both for time lapses (constructed from stills) and as a tractor-cam from the big machines that move the sand.

I was on the East Coast Monday while beastly tornadoes hit Oklahoma. You may have seen the video of chaser Andy Gabrielson’s car rolling over while chasing one of them. He says the steering locked up, but whatever happened, it happened while he was driving backward at high speed. I’d prefer not to be so close that I have to drive backward to get away from anything! Andy, fortunately, was not badly hurt. Here’s the TornadoVideos.net (Reed Timmer’s crew) video of the incredible tornado, and Andy’s car flipping (at about 1:40).

What did I see yesterday? A pleasant little rainbow over the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the sort of thing I chew on, questions about writing, when I really should be writing. But this is kind of bugging me.

“This” is the question of what to call a series of novels of indeterminate number. I will be coming out with a novel about storm chasers soon, and I’m in the middle of writing a sequel. I’m not sure if there will be a third novel, though I’m thinking about it. But I’d hate to label it a trilogy (or a duet, as I found in one instance) without being sure, and “series” is too prosaic. In addition to the title, I can call the first one “a storm chasing novel,” but it would be convenient to say it’s “Book One of” something. I don’t want to call it The Storm Chasers Chronicles or some variation thereof, because (a), there are already at least two novels with some permutation of “storm chasers” in the title (I haven’t read them, for fear of compromising my brain), and (b) “Chronicles” seems a little, well, grand.

“Chronicles” also doesn’t seem to fit the subject – a contemporary adventure with humor, drama and romance. I’m not saying “Chronicles” is pretentious, but it brings to mind any number of fantasy series that I once devoured. It sounds magical, historical, or epic. So what’s the alternative? “Series” is a snooze. “Stories” implies short stories. “Tales” – well, I think of something between Chaucer and Peter Rabbit. And then there’s “Saga.” “Twilight” is billed as a saga. I’m pretty sure most sagas should include Vikings or multigenerational family soap operas. By those standards, Charlaine Harris’ amusing Sookie Stackhouse novels should be a saga, because one of the major characters is a Viking vampire, but she circumnavigates convention (and has it three ways) by calling the books the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Talk about appealing to multiple genres, and that’s without even mentioning the hot sex scenes. “Mysteries” on its own is a convenient alternative to “Chronicles,” but it helps to have written a mystery.

Often series are marketed with their characters – i.e., “Book One of the John Smith Mysteries” or simply “A John Smith Mystery.” Then one must have a character to hang them on. I actually do have a central character who will travel from one novel to the next, but he shares the spotlight in the first novel, so I don’t think that works, either.

Novelists who cultivate famous characters don’t necessarily start out calling their novels after them. Ian Fleming’s first edition of “Casino Royale” doesn’t say “A James Bond Novel” on the cover. Instead, it displays a rather disconcerting array of girly hearts. (If you have one of these, by the way, it’s worth a freaking fortune.)

Should one make something up, the way Spike Lee calls his movies “A Spike Lee Joint” instead of “Film”? Maybe you can’t go wrong with “novels.” “Book One of the whatever novels.” Whatever “whatever” is. Enter creativity and a strong sense of identity. E.g. the Millennium Trilogy or The Lord of the Rings, which asserts that it is not a trilogy, but one massive book, and therefore not needful of silly appellations such as “trilogy” or “series.” Jasper Fforde chucks all convention with “First Among Sequels,” which is (to be excessively literal) not the first sequel but the fifth book in the clever series starring Thursday Next, and the American edition went ahead and put the character’s name on the cover above that original UK title.

There’s a lot of talk about how important marketing is these days, and I’m sure a good series name or gimmick is part of that, along with the ability to tell people which one comes first. A good book cover and tagline are great, too, but what it comes down to, I suspect, is writing a good book. Word will spread. And then you can worry a little more about what to call its successors.

Did you visit Art of Sand this year?  The festival ended today, amid beautiful weather. The sand sculptures will meet their end, soon, making the fest a real moment in time – if you weren’t there, you can’t re-create the experience. But I did capture a lot of it on video, and I’ll be posting at least a couple more videos in the next several days.

In the meantime, if you didn’t get a chance to scan all the QR codes and want to see the interviews with the sculptors – or videos like the corporate challenge time-lapse, below – you can check them out on the Art of Sand playlist on YouTube.

So this is what I’ve been up to for the past couple of weeks – watching Art of Sand grow out of the green grass of Space Coast Stadium. OK, actually, it’s growing out of piles of sand that were packed into forms on the infield track, and I haven’t just been watching, but filming the process. It’s been an amazing journey – an appropriate word, as the theme is “Travelers.” The sculptors have come back from the massive deluge of last weekend, and their beautiful pieces are ready to see. The festival officially opens Friday, Oct. 14, and extends to Oct. 23. More info at artofsand.org.

This video shows the build, with several time-lapses to give you the flavor of the work. But you’ll have to go to the festival to see all the amazing detail in these sculptures. After watching the masters, I want to make one myself.

Who knew drainage ponds could be so beautiful? This one by Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, reflected a gorgeous sunrise this morning. Those clouds were just the beginning, as rain showers and thunder roamed through the Space Coast today.

“Casual portrait” sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?  “Portrait” makes one think of posing in front of a mottled blue cloth, perhaps at a department store, and gazing into the flat, bright lights of the studio. And the blue cloth certainly has its place, sometimes – I was window-shopping for one recently myself. But I much prefer to take photos of people outdoors, when the light is good, and when the setting has a chance to become part of the photos. The beach has endless appeal in this area, but recently, I visited Pennsylvania and had the opportunity to do portrait shoots in park settings. The flowers were gorgeous, and the grass and trees were lush and green. With the sun low in the sky, the light was divine.

One of the shoots was with members of my family, and as they started to relax and have fun, the pictures reflected their mood. I especially like the shots of my dad playing with my nephew; it was so nice to see such rare happiness. Little kids have a lot to do with that! The pictures of my brother’s family came out well, too. It was as if summer added its glow to the scene.

Are you getting portraits taken of your family for a special occasion, or maybe for holiday cards? Or maybe you’re just overdue. I recommend having a photographer do a portrait session in a beautiful place, or a place with texture and interest, or a place that means something to you. Prepare to spend some time. Coordinate your clothes, but you don’t all have to wear the same thing. (Though jeans and white or pastel shirts can be very effective!) Avoid brand names and logos on the kids’ shirts, for a more timeless look. And play. A good photographer will play with you, and you’ll get joyous, spontaneous and even some “formal” informal portraits to treasure.

See more photos from these sessions and others in my photo galleries.