Life is a patchwork of memories…

Writers are creative people…obviously. And many of us express that creativity in other ways as well as with our words.

I enjoy, among other crafty things–quilting.

Today is the grand opening of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln Nebraska. From the outside’s stunning architecture (Fun arcitecture is not well represented in Lincoln, I’m sad to say)

to the opening show in the lovely galleries, visiting there today was a stimulating experience. Very Inspiring. I got there about the time they were to open, to find out they opened half an hour early since there was already a line. And line there was…over an hour after I got in line, I’d made it up the stairs and to the galleries. I even had to wait just at the outside door for awhile since the occupancy of the building was maxed out. And since there’s a fire station right next door, we didn’t want to alert the fire marshall!

As we mounted the stairs that follow the glass curve of the building to the second floor, the line outside grew. And grew. Until it was well over a block long. And when I left, the line had only shortened by half. Those who braved the cool Nebraska wind and the long wait were well rewarded by the quilt display.

 Showing just a tiny bit of their 2,300 quilt permanent collection, visitors were able to see baltimore album quilts as old as from the 1700’s to modern interpretations of fingerprints. Interesting facts–the collection spans 4 centuries and 24 countries. The quilts are only allowed to be ’shown’ for nine months out of 10 years. The rest of the time they are cared for by the conservators.

If you can’t visit the Center itself–visit their website at www.quiltstudy.org

 ***If I stitch fast enough, does that count as aerobic exercise?

Hero: Person in a book who does things which he can’t and the girl marries him for it.

*Mark Twain

Okay, maybe I don’t need this kind of a hero. I’ve got too many of them in my brain hollering for attention the way it is. Do I get confused? Sometimes… I don’t suppose it helps that I tend to work on more than one project at a time.

When I first started writing heroes were easy. I pictured them in my mind and transfered them to paper. I wondered about folks who kept notebooks and folders of pictures of characters. Why bother? Seemed like an unneccessary collection of paper. Like I needed another one of those!

Then one day I caught myself looking at a picture thinking…hmmm he’d make a great hero. Uh oh, I was beginning to understand. Now, many books into my career, I’m finding it as important to have some sort of a visual representation of characters as it is to have a particular song or type of music to go with each book.

That said–I have to admit that I don’t have pictures of folks in my work in progress. This might possibly be because I’m reworking an old novella I wrote under the previous working theory.

I’ve been seeing a lot of a couple of these guys lately (and no, I don’t always visualize famous people), so, here’s a trio of others in my head and half finished on paper.

   Constantine has morphed into Jeffrey Nikkolas in Toccata and Fugue. He’s a cellist of world wide renown in both the classics and in cello rock. I’ve loved Constantine’s look ever since American Idol.

 Eric Stomer now is Rocc from Starway to Paradise. A futuristic hero,  who considers himself far from heroic, fights major battles with his own inner demons. Who can resist this carpenter’s shaggy blond hair and easy smile.

Finally this unnamed cutie is Gowthaman, Faerie librarian from Blue Keltic Moon. Hmm, he’s got demons, too.

Even though a couple of my guys have those internal fights ahead of them, I don’t consider myself an author of dark, angsty, alpha heroes. Most of my heroes tend to be beta/alpha men. Just watch out when that alpha male emerges!

a question for ya’ll…what type of hero is your favorite?