Crime in the News... Or Not So Much

Yesterday I heard about a horrific story being in the news.  Two men lured a 22 yr old autistic woman into their home where they held her against her will, raped her, and beat her for 2-3 days. 

I say I heard about it being in the news rather than saying I heard it from the news or directly in the news because I heard about it third hand.  So I searched the internet for more information and found it on a local news station's site.

Now, before we go much further, I'll admit that I stopped following local news back in December.  Well, except for really local, as in rural SWMO, news.  The big network stations?  Nuh-uh.  Too much spin and not enough facts.  Instead, I watch the headlines in my FB newsfeed every day and if I see something that interests me, I google for more info.  I also sometimes go directly to google and type 'news' into the search and then click on News.  It's a long way around, but I find more reliable sources that way.

So, anyway, back to this horrible story.  It wasn't in the newsfeed.  At all.  I didn't see it at any of the major news networks when I searched for it after hearing about it third hand.  One story on the NBC affiliate out of Springfield.

Why?

Well, it could be because another story about two Hispanic men raping and beating a woman harshes the narrative they're trying to push - because one of the men was an illegal alien.  Sadly, it could be because shit like this happens so often in our country these days that it's not worthy of being on national news.  (Although why anyone with the last name of Jenner/Kardashian or with a speck of celebrity is news and not this is beyond me.)  It could even be that the news - and I use that word loosely these days - feels like they have more important things to spin for the American public than one autistic chick getting brutalized by two assholes over the course of a weekend.

Or maybe I really am living in a cave.  Have any of you heard this news story?

Well, anyway, apparently they picked the wrong autistic girl because this one still had the presence of mind to tell the police exactly what had been done to her - albeit through a child advocate since she reportedly has the mind of a 9 yr old.  The illegal is being held without bond and the other one is looking at $150,000 bond.  Fry 'em both, I say.

But that's me.

They're Just Stories

I read something yesterday that had me kinda sitting here with my jaw dropped.  Apparently some anonymous romance writer had sent Dear Abby a letter asking for advice about her husband.  You see, he reads her books and then thinks she's writing about her own experiences... I guess ones not with him. 

Too bad for her.  Lucky for me, my husband doesn't harbor the same lunacies, or he'd be sleeping with one eye open for the rest of his life.  LOL

We write fiction.  Sure, there are real things that happened to me woven into the threads of all my stories.  But that's just it - they're woven in until no one but me knows what was real and what was imaginary, and sometimes I can't remember where one ends and the other begins.  I take a bit from here and a bit from there and I make a whole new thing.

It's like painting.  Artists use a variety of colors to make something new.  A green they brush on next to a blue with a little black and maybe some yellow, and you've got a tree.  All the individual paints are still there, but they don't look like themselves anymore. 

Or it's like creating a tapestry.  Different color threads come together under the weaver's hand to make a picture in cloth.

I make pictures in words.  And that's all they are.  Pictures.  Hubs realizes this.  Thank goodness for that.  I'm truly sorry for any writers out there whose family members don't understand.  I'm also sorry for the readers who think they see reality in the stories we create.  They're just stories. 

I hope you enjoy them.

Making a Few Things Clear

I got into an interesting discussion with a reader the other day that showed I should probably make a few things clear for the reading public.

1)  Dying Embers is entirely a work of fiction.  I made all this shit up in my head and while I may have borrowed a few minor character traits from people I've met in my life-travels, they're scattered throughout and no one character has any resemblance as a whole to anyone I've ever met.

2)  I have never been cheated on.  I've only been married once, and my husband is so totally faithful that even when some ass started a rumor, I laughed my ass off.  The only cheating I ever encountered was that one dude in college who slept with a chick at a party when he was supposed to be my boyfriend.  I dropped him like the sack of dirt he was, but I never cared enough about him to even wish him dead.

3)  I have never killed anyone.  Not that I haven't thought about it, and my imagination does run wild, but I do know right from wrong, and no matter how much some people may deserve a little payback, I would never follow through.  Hell, people, I swerve to avoid running over frogs.  The only thing I kill with any amount of glee are brown recluse spiders.  Those suckers deserve to die.  And venomous snakes. 

4)  Neither Jace nor Emma is modeled after me, or anyone else I know. 

If the story you read makes it seem like I've been there, then thank you.  That means I've done my job as a writer.  And yes, while the common mantra in the writing community is 'Write what you know', it isn't the case here.  I make shit up and write it down.

I hope you all enjoy the shit I've made up.  I'm having a blast letting my imagination run wild and then sharing the stories with you.

Oh, and I almost totally forgot!  Deb Salisbury and DL Hammons need to email me (besanderson at gmail dot com) your snail mail addresses so I can send you both bookmarks - just cuz.  =o)