Renee interviews author Bruce Ballister

Tags

author, Awards, books, Florida, Health, inspiration, writing

Author Bruce Ballister won two medals in the 2020 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Awards: The Gold was for a non-fiction project, Welcome to the Zipper Club, while The Bronze medal was for Room for Tomorrow. 

Tell me about your background. Where you grew up, where you live now, education, work experience? Share some interesting things about yourself that we should know about. 

I’m a Tallahassean, not by birth, but I’ve been in this city since elementary school and only left to join the Army during the Vietnam war. I also left in my 30s to seek higher wages in Texas to repay the hospital debt for my preemie daughter. I now have three daughters in or nearing their 40s, and I sometimes have to stop and count that there are six grands. Being a North Floridian affected my writing early on as I experimented with short stories that began to bubble out in my 50s. My first novel, Dreamland Diaries, is set on the coast just south of Tallahassee and is a Sci-Fi – coming-of-age thriller. My most recent novel, Room for Tomorrow, is set in California but its MC’s roots are here in North Florida and the plot takes us to the remote pine woods of the panhandle.

My first degree was in commercial art, not a lucrative profession I found. I translated into construction drafting, then moved into civil engineering design and project management for municipal infrastructure projects and private developments. My second degree in Urban and Regional Planning got me into a slot as County Planning Director and finally as a grant manager for community development projects.

With my education split between left brain and right brain activities, heavy in the arts, and then the sciences, science fiction with a strong dose of humanist character development comes naturally. I’m currently working on finishing the last of a four-part series begun with Dreamland Diaries. Meanwhile, the plot thickeners for a completely new work simmer on the back burner.

 What inspired you to write this book? What is the story behind the story?

I’ll answer this for Room for Tomorrow. My last job had me on the road a lot serving rural communities across the panhandle and I became an audiobook devotee. Several of these had a strong influence on my environmental awareness. Room for Tomorrow’s plot, includes time travelers from the future who have survived the Last Day, the day that our atmosphere boiled in nuclear death. On a mission from the new world capital in New Zealand, they are in an abandoned time capsule built before the holocaust. Their mission is to mine technological secrets from a cloud storage facility in southern California so they can recapture lost technology.

My main character is from the present, but she literally falls into their portal to their time gate and becomes an agent for change. She has seen a future in which humanity destroys itself over diminishing resources amid an environmental collapse. With the help of her partner and the time travelers, she creates a new agency for change. The agency, Room for Tomorrow,infuses future energy efficiency technologies into the present to forestall many of the shortages that led to the Last Day.

What has been your biggest challenge or obstacle?

Consistency. My attention seems to jump from project to project. For instance, the fourth installment of Dreamland Diaries went on hold for two years while I worked on Room for Tomorrow. Even now, as I work on that project, the next one threatens to take my attention. Sigh.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment or success? 

Well, winning a gold and a bronze in this year’s FAPA President’s Book Awards was certainly satisfying. The Gold was for a non-fiction project, Welcome to the Zipper Club. This proved that I have the chops to write and create a successful project. The Bronze was for Room for Tomorrow. I’m happy that it placed, it’s a tough crowd.

 What authors do you like to read? What books have had a strong influence on you or your writing?

Frank Herbert, Jerry Pournelle, Isaac Azimov, and Arthur Clarke are all noted sci-fi writers. Frank Herbert, especially affected my sense that a fiction story can have at its roots an environmental back story. But equally important are Michael Connelly, John le Carré, and Patrick O’brian. Three very different writers whose craft, style, and attention to detail influence my need to tell a story fully with strong central characters. Albee’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, and Miller’s A Canticle for Liebowitz are direct inspirations for Room for Tomorrow as are several climate change non-fiction works.

Do you write every single day? Any writing rituals? 

No, unfortunately, I do not write every day. See next Question…

What are your interests outside of writing?

I am an unsuccessful retiree. I never quite learned the power of the word no. When asked to join the board of the Tallahassee Writers Association, I said yes. Then found myself on the track to that group’s presidency while fostering two conferences. I have just given up a five year track as the managing editor of the TWA’s Seven Hills Review. A contest similar to FAPAs, but limits entries to the first 3,000 words of larger works, short stories, plays, and includes poetry and haiku. I produced five anthologies which publishes the winners in the several categories. Finishing that involvement, I found myself, not saying no to being involved in FAPA’s book awards and now chair that committee.

Hmm… Outside of writing. I love to kayak the rivers and lakes of north Florida. I am presently in training to do the Apalachicola RiverTrek in October. That will be a five day, 103 mile paddle from the Georgia line to the Gulf. At seventy, I don’t have the stamina I once had, but have found that I still am an avid DIYer and a few hours a day in the open air keep me vital. I’m presently building from the bare dirt up, a storage shed to relieve my garage of some of its tools and equipment.

Share some tips for other Authors or Aspiring Authors: What would you do differently? What would you do the same? Please share anything you think would be beneficial to those reading this.

Keep at it. Start now, you never know what complication life is going to throw at you. My brush with cardiac disease resulted in a gold medal work. And pay attention to the minutia in life. Putting your observations into the mind of your main character makes that person believable and real to your readers. And remember, your main character has to get into trouble. As John Lewis said, get into ‘good trouble’. Save the world, rescue a forsaken child, right wrongs. Let your writing speak, educate, make a difference, and above all, entertain.

 

 

Renee interviews author Brad Meltzer

Tags

author, books, creativity, Florida, writing

Photo by PLGould/Images

Today Brad Meltzer releases The Escape Artist, his first new thriller in almost three years. He’s the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle (and its sequels, The Fifth Assassin and The President’s Shadow) which are based on the idea that George Washington’s personal spy ring still exists today. Brad has written nine other bestselling thrillers including The Tenth Justice, The First Counsel, and The Millionaires in the 20 years since his first book came out. I interviewed Brad at Book Expo America and we’ve stayed in touch.

Tell me about your background. Where you grew up, where you live now, education, work experience?
I was raised in Brooklyn and Miami, graduated from the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School. The Tenth Justice was my first published work and became an instant New York Times bestseller. Dead Even followed a year later and also hit the New York Times bestseller list, as have all eight of my novels.
I currently live in South Florida with my wife, who’s also an attorney.

What inspired you to write this book? What is the story behind the story?
For the past three years, the government has given me access to a place I never thought they’d let me sneak into. Not sure if you know about Dover Air Force Base, but it’s the mortuary for the US government’s most top-secret and high-profile cases.

On 9/11, the victims of the Pentagon attack were brought there. So were the victims of the attack on the USS Cole, the astronauts from the space shuttle Columbia, and the remains of well over fifty thousand soldiers and CIA operatives who fought in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and every secret location in between. Indeed, in Delaware of all places, at Dover Air Force Base, is America’s most important funeral home.

In this world where so much of the government is a mess, Dover is the one place that does it absolutely right. It is the one “no-fail mission” in the military. When a soldier’s body comes home, you don’t mess it up. And so, I’ve seen the stories of the morticians who rebuild hands (rather than giving a fake prosthesis), so that a mother can hold her son’s hand one final time…or where they spend fourteen straight hours wiring together a fallen soldier’s shattered jaw, then smoothing it over with clay and makeup, just so they could give his parents far more ease than they ever should’ve expected at their son’s funeral. And in today’s world, we need real heroes. The people here are the real deal.

What has been your most intriguing discovery in writing this book?
The book focuses on one of the most obscure jobs in the Army: The so-called “Artist In Residence.” Since World War I, the Army has assigned one person—an actual artist—who they send out in the field to, well…paint what couldn’t otherwise be seen. It’s one of the greatest traditions in our military—they call them war artists. They go, they see, they paint, cataloguing every victory and mistake, from the dead on D-day, to the injured at Mogadishu, to the sandbag pilers who were at Hurricane Katrina. In fact, when 9/11 hit, that was the only artist let inside the security perimeter. Sure, we have plenty of photographers and videographers. But what an artist does is different. Photographers take a picture. Artists…when they widen eyes and make rucksacks bigger…they tell a story.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment or success?
The Hollywood Reporter recently put me on their list of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. But before The Tenth Justice was published, I got 24 rejection letters for my true first novel, which still sits on my shelf, published by Kinko’s. I believe that ordinary people change the world, and it is that core belief that runs through every one of my projects.

What are your interests outside of writing?
I host “Brad Meltzer’s Lost History” on H2 and “Brad Meltzer’s Decoded” on the History Channel.

 

 

Renee Garrison is the award-winning author of The Anchor Clankers.

Meeting “The Anchor Clankers”

Tags

books, Florida, Humor, teenagers, writing, Young Adult

“Whoa. A real G.I. Joe, that captain,” Tim Russell muttered quietly to Bill Moore as the Captain marched down the front portico steps.

Then he noticed the man speaking to a woman and a girl with white blonde hair that was almost as long as her tanned legs.

“Who are they?”

Bill glanced outside.

“They would be the Captain’s wife and daughter,” Bill answered.

The Captain got into his car, but the women lingered in the grass with a small silver Schnauzer. Tim headed towards them.

“That’s not much of a dog,” Tim said, coming down the front steps. “You must be Mrs. LeBlanc. Hi, I’m Tim Russell.”

“Hey there, you look like a real sea dog,” he said, softly, bending to scratch the mascot’s ears.

Suzette stared at him. The guy was a hunk. Streaked blond hair and super tan, he must be a surfer or a water-skier, especially with that body. She could feel the sweat starting at the waistband of her shorts and trickling down the back of her thighs.

“Yes, and this is my daughter, Suzette,” Mom answered. “The dog’s name is Skipper.”

Tim looked up from the dog and squinted at the girl.

“You’re obviously not going to school, here. Will you be at Sanford High School?”

Suzette was glad the sun was behind her. That way he couldn’t see that her face was beet red from the heat (or because she was blushing.) Not to mention five new pimples were probably forming under the sweat.

“No, my parents chose a Catholic high school in Orlando. I’ll be going there.”

Of course, her education would occur elsewhere. She figured that people who send their sons to military school want structure and a strong male influence for their children.

They did not, however, want girls.

Tim nodded. “That’s probably better for you. I’m not sure the guys at Sanford High would even speak to a girl who lives with the anchor clankers. In case you haven’t heard, that’s what they call us, here.”

 

– Excerpt from “The Anchor Clankers,” a novel set at The Sanford Naval Academy in Florida

Comfy on a couch

Tags

Architecture, Community, decorating, Design, Family, Florida, Home, Homeowner, Houses, Humor, Memories

When you live a short drive from “Mickey and Minnie’s house” in Florida, you have overnight guests at least once a month. In the event of a big crowd, a few may even stay on your couch. Here are a few ways to make guests feel comfortable and welcome, even when they’re bunking on a sofa bed:

1. Replace end tables with dressers: Being able to unpack is key to feeling at home. To avoid mysterious piles of clothing in your living area, use a small dresser in place of a traditional end table to give guests space for their things.
2. Clear out closet space: Luggage can take up valuable real estate in tight quarters, so making room for your guest’s luggage in your closet helps both you and them feel better about sharing a small space.
3. Arrange an amenity area: Whether it’s your coffee table or end table, make sure your guests have useful items such as a small fan, an alarm clock and a table lamp within arm’s reach.
4. Stage a plug-in hot spot: Set up a designated charging area for phones, laptops and tablets. That way, guests can recharge at the end of a long day without having to hunt for outlets. Don’t forget to leave your WiFi password.
5. Provide bedding storage: Carve out a place where bedding can be stored during the day so that your sofa can be used while you are entertaining your guests. Try a chest, closet or storage ottoman.
6. Stock the liquor cabinet: Your guests won’t mind their accommodations at all.

 

Look for more inspirational home ideas in Renee’s book, “Sweet Beams: Inspiring everyone who lives under a new roof,” available on amazon.com

No sunscreen necessary

Tags

arts, Community, Construction, Florida, Florida architecture

Water, wildlife and magnificent palm trees…I spent an afternoon admiring the most extensive collection of Florida art in the world.
When the collection they started in the late 1990s mushroomed to the thousands, Cici and Hyatt Brown decided they wanted to share with the public 2,600 oil-and-watercolor paintings that cover a 200-year span of Florida dating back to the 1700s.
Hyatt is Chairman of the Board of Brown & Brown Insurance Agency and former speaker of the Florida House. His wife, Cici, is an avid volunteer and supporter of the arts. That support may be even more impressive than the canvases hanging inside their museum.
Working with local government leaders, the couple was able to put the new building on a wooded piece of land in Daytona Beach that the city donated. The Browns, in turn, donated $14 million for construction of a Florida Cracker-style structure which is owned and run by the Museum of Arts & Sciences. (Ever generous, the couple contributed another $10 million toward an endowment to cover operating expenses.)
I’m one of 23,000 visitors who enjoyed the collection during its first year. But the museum doesn’t only attract local residents. Art enthusiasts and scholars mingle with tourists who want to add a bit of culture to their beach travels. With Bike Week roaring to a start tomorrow, it’s nice to know that visitors can participate in cultural activities, along with traditional tourism offerings, here.
Who says you can’t mix some Wyeth with your waves?

Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, 352 South Nova Road, Daytona Beach, FL is open Monday-Saturday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Sunday: 11:00 AM-5:00 PM

Dig this!

Tags

Build, environment, Family, Florida, Gardens, Home, Homeowner, Houses, Residence

When they bought their Hyde Park home 34 years ago, Flip and Rick Miller began transforming the backyard. The result is an outdoor refuge where they can rest and recharge in privacy and comfort.
“He’s passionate about trimming,” Flip says with a smile. “He gets his aggressions out.”
“It’s tropical – you have to trim or the plants take over,“ explains Rick, a broker with Smith & Associates Real Estate.
The Millers recall listening to a speech several years ago by the award-winning garden and floral designer Rebecca Cole at the University of Tampa’s GREENFEST luncheon, which raises money for Plant Park.
“She kept referring to ‘vistas’ and ‘sight lines,’ Rick says. “When you stand in any spot in a garden and look in one direction, your eye should be drawn to something.”
Heeding her advice, Rick divided the yard into distinct sections, creating visual vignettes with plants in containers. The double lot which surrounds his home now showcases a series of “outdoor rooms,” featuring large pots packed with his favorite tropical plants and succulents.
“During the summer rains I run home from the office to cover the succulents with our vinyl grill cover,” he says. “They need such little water that a week of afternoon showers will cause them to rot.”
Admittedly “manic about clay pots,” Rick believes every yard needs to have a consistency of design.
“Too many different pots takes the focus away from the plants inside them,” he says.
His meticulous attention to detail paid off: The Miller yard currently is featured in the 2013 edition of Container Gardens magazine.
What is the secret of his success? A dolly large enough to move a refrigerator.
“During hurricanes or freezes we say to hell with the cars and move 50 pots into the garage,” Rick says, grinning.
In addition, gardening in containers makes it easy for him to control the soil type needed for specific plants.
Their backyard is not only a relaxing private oasis, but an exciting entertainment space: The Millers hosted soirees for Las Damas de Arte, The Tampa Museum of Art, Rose Garden Circle, and MOSI – as well as 250 people for a neighborhood picnic.
A playhouse built in 1922 – and enjoyed by three Miller children – was converted to a charming tool shed.
“When our children grew up and moved away, Flip wouldn’t let me take the play equipment down,” Rick says. “I said ‘I’ll show her, I’ll landscape around it.’ I planted beach sunflower which is a tough native perennial. And now we have three grandchildren, who love the swings and the slide.”

Photo by Cliff McBride

Live with what you love

Tags

Collections, Conversation, decor, Design, diy, Florida, Home, Houses, style

Less isn’t always more.
Arranged on a fireplace mantel, hung on the wall, or displayed on a console, collections of objects and art can bring a living room to life by injecting it with the homeowner’s personality. Adding collections to a home’s interior design scheme not only communicates individual passions, but also creates a distinctive decorative statement that visitors won’t see anywhere else.
Happily, they don’t have to be expensive.
I began collecting tin sand toys from the 1940s-50s while living in Michigan – I missed the white, powdery sand of Florida’s Gulf Coast beaches. (Walking across dirty brown gravel to plunge into the icy waters of Lake Michigan wasn’t much fun for me.) Today, sand pails, sifters and shovels cluster atop my kitchen cabinets, where I enjoy them every morning as I make my coffee.
Regional design celebrity and author of “The Collected Tabletop,” Kathryn Greeley defines collecting as, “The passionate search for items that speak to you, that you can use on a day-to-day basis…or enjoy as art.”
I’ve seen unusual items add zip to a home:
– Antique musical instruments suspended from tall ceilings.
– Rubber duckies nesting on bathroom shelves.
– Model trains running on suspended tracks around a family room.
– Large antique apothecary jars holding rocks, shells, marbles, or other small objects in a single dust-free display.
Collections are an ideal way to fill the void in any room. They add interest, spark conversation and bring your personality into what could otherwise be a sterile decorating scheme.
According to designer Greeley, who has created uniquely personal environments with collectibles in the Southeast for more than 30 years, “It’s of no joy to you wrapped up and packed away in a closet.”
I read somewhere that everyone collects something…how about you?

An American Home

Tags

American, Flag, Florida, general tommy franks, Home, Patriot, Sept. 11, Stars and stripes

   TAMPA– A flag always waves above Julie Whitney’s front door, but visitors would expect nothing less from a founding member of The Bayshore Patriots.

     Along with friends Linda Alfonso and Julie Sargent, Whitney began waving flags on Bayshore Boulevard to express her patriotism following the attacks on September 11, 2001. The walls in her foyer testify to those efforts: Framed newspaper articles featuring the group hang beside photographs of General Tommy Franks, a “President’s Volunteer Service Award” and “City of Tampa Commendation.”

“We wanted to show our sympathy and support for those who lost loved ones or were called to active military service,” Whitney recalls.

Over time, the entire interior of her 2,500-square-foot townhouse has evolved into a display of patriotic pride. Elements of traditional federal décor blend effortlessly with red-white-and-blue Americana and reveal an abiding love of country.

“I wanted my home to be more patriotic, but in a tasteful way,” she explains.

The secret of Whitney’s success: Use bold colors sparingly and wisely, and you’ll end up with a decorating scheme that is both attractive and patriotic.

Indeed, Whitney has incorporated patriotic design elements into every room of her home: In the kitchen, stark white cabinets are lined with her grandmother’s blue Fiestaware and framed patriotic fruit labels. A collection of blue Depression glass lines shelves above the sink beside whimsical figurines waving American flags.

An adjacent powder room features towels embroidered with a subtle homage to the stars and stripes along with a painted flag  from Nantucket, Massachusetts- a birthday gift from son, Christopher.

 Whitney loves to compose tabletop vignettes and decorated a chest at the foot of the stairs with military coins as well as her collection of crystal and enamel battersea boxes – some gifts, some purchases – that hint at her flag-waving passion.

“My home isn’t meant to be political,” she stresses. “I’m an American and I want my surroundings to reflect the American spirit every day.”

Upstairs, the yellow walls of her study have been made lively with antique “Blue Willow” china platters and “Uncle Sam” nutcrackers hung above flag-framed photographs resting on the grand piano.

True, this design concept depends heavily on the impact of colors to influence the space. But the effect isn’t jarring or garish at all.

“I never tire of looking at it,” she says, nodding at a large stained-glass American flag that hangs in the window. “It’s comforting. I’m very relaxed here.”

Photo by Jennifer Whitney

Beat the heat

Tags

fashion, Florida, heat, humidity, lipstick, makeup, skin

Makeup starts melting on Florida faces around the end of June.

The heat and humidity of the Sunshine State continue to wreak havoc with our faces until Halloween. But life doesn’t stop, despite sweltering 95-degree temperatures. So we search for makeup that doesn’t drip, smear, ooze into creases, change color, clog pores, exude oil or cause pimples.

Basically, we need a blast of cold, arctic air.

Until then, we have to make do with some guidelines for maintaining a cool, polished appearance during these sizzling days of summer.

An expert on makeup that keeps its cool through the most trying circumstances is Dalia Caro, owner of New Woman Studio, an online skin care salon. Caro has worked with models in the humidity of outdoor photo shoots and news anchors whose makeup must withstand the blaze of television lights.

“Start with smooth skin that’s been resurfaced with some kind of glycolic acid product,” says Caro.

Hot weather brings oil and sweat to the surface of the skin, Caro explains. The slippery surface makes it hard for cosmetics to stay on your face.

“Oil causes your makeup to turn an orange color,” she says. “Perspiration causes the colors to fade.”

If the face is free of brown spots or blemishes, Caro suggests a sunless self-tanner for a bronzed appearance that lasts several days. For skin that’s less than perfect, a matte foundation works best since it provides even color and conceals imperfections.

In addition, she suggests:

– Eye shadow lasts longer if you use a primer or concealer on the eyelid first. Cream shadows and cream-to-powder shadows have more staying power than powder shadows and are less likely to crease.

– Eyeliner. Look for a waterproof or water-resistant liner. Avoid greasy pencil liners which smudge in high humidity.

– Mascara. Waterproof mascara will resist water and tears. However, it can make lashes dry and brittle and is difficult to remove. Use it only when you expect your eyes to get wet: playing tennis, swimming or attending weddings and funerals.

– Lipstick. The new, long-lasting lipsticks will stay on through sweat, rain and chlorinated water. Cream and matte-finish lipsticks last longer than gloss and moisturizing lipsticks.

Hurricane season

Tags

climate, Florida, Homeowner, Hurricane, weather

Today marks the official beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and time for a quiz: Do you know the difference between a hurricane and a tropical storm?

Not to worry – if either approaches the Florida coast, you’ll have a lot of time to review… For the entire week leading up to its arrival, newspapers will print large headlines that say HURRICANE COMING or TROPICAL STORM APPROACHING, complete with definitions.

Your car radio will announce (approximately every 25 seconds) that a hurricane is coming and you should buy bottled water, gas and canned food. Your television stations will devote hours of footage to the oncoming radar blob, constantly repeating the need to stock up on bottled water, gas and canned food.

You will spend so much time watching meteorologists on the Weather Channel that you will regard them as extended family and consider inviting them over for a bottle of water and a can of tuna.

Author and Miami resident Dave Barry knows the drill and he insists you are a Florida Hurricane Veteran if:

You now own 5 large ice chests.

You can cook “anything” on a propane grill.

You own more than two portable propane tanks.

You recognize people in line at the free ice, gas and plywood locations.

You stop what you’re doing and clap and wave when you see a convoy of power company trucks come down your street – You’re depressed when they don’t stop.

You have the personal cell phone numbers of the managers for: plywood, roofing supplies and generators at Home Depot on your speed dialer.

　

P.S. A tropical storm is an organized, named storm with defined circulation and winds from 39-74 mph.

A hurricane is a named tropical storm with surface winds of 74 mph or more.