Situational Awareness by Betsy Ashton

I learned to be aware of my surroundings when I was really little. I was clumsy, so I learned to watch where I put my feet. I played that old game, "step on a crack, break your mother's back." I avoided cracks as much as I could. I tripped on the stairs, more going up than going down. I held railings all the time to be sure I didn't slip off a step and fall or sprain an ankle.

When I was old enough to have a driver's license, I never pulled into traffic without looking right, then left, then right again. Rear view and side mirrors gave me nearly 360-degree awareness. Except for the blind spots. For them, I had to glance over my shoulders.

Long before I began to write seriously, I used this situational awareness to eavesdrop on conversations. I can't tell you how many great lines, how many wonderful images, I picked up over time. Like the time I was sitting outside Wolf Trap waiting for my gal friend and her mother. We had seats for "Rent," a musical I couldn't wait to see. Walking toward me like he owned the world was the cutest guy. Tall, erect posture, GQ styling, polished shoes, and the biggest Big Gulp I'd ever seen. That 32-ounce cup of soda killed any interest I might have had to flirt.

Or the time I was eating breakfast in a hotel where a scientific conference was going on. Tables were at a premium, so strangers shared. Two men joined me. One had a noticeable accent, Scandinavian something or German, I thought. The other was pure Bahston. Doc Bahston asked Doc Scandinavian where he was from. Oslo. Aw, Doc Scandinavian was Doc Oslo. Got that. More get-acquainted conversation continued. Doc Bahston asked Doc Oslo where he was teaching. Doc Oslo said, "I was tired of the cold in Norway, so I took a job teaching at the University of Buffalo." As in Buffalo, NY, one of the coldest cities in the state. I wanted to ask him how getting away from the cold was working out for him.

I'll probably use both of those images in stories at some time. I'm not calling dibs, so if you want to add Mr. GQ and Doc "I don't like the cold" before I do, feel free. I don't even want royalties.

The more I write, the more I am aware of what's going on around me. What I don't get, in this era of bad guys who want to do harm, why so few have the same situational awareness as I do. Sit on a bench in any city with a lot of foot traffic. (That would probably rule out Los Angeles, unless you're in Santa Monica.) How many people look around, listen or pay attention to anything? Not many.

Too many people walk with heads down, thumbs flying over smartphone keyboards, ear buds drowning out footsteps coming up behind. People are too interested in cute kitty videos, or sharing the latest thought with their cadre of friends or pumping music directly into their brains. Is it any wonder when something happens requiring an accurate eyewitness account, most aren't capable?

Peeps, put those cellphone in your pocket. Listen to what's going on around you. Watch how people move. Who knows. You might overhear a snippet of conversation that you can't forget, that you must write down or you'll just bust. Don't miss the opportunity. Become aware of your surroundings. If you don't, I'm likely to find you, exploit some tic or quirk you'd rather I not notice and stuff you in a novel. For your sake, I hope I find something positive rather than some than silly thing you don't think I'd notice. Believe me. I notice. So be wary. Be very wary.

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Betsy Ashton is the author of Mad Max, Unintended Consequences, and Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Some Like It Hot by Betsy Ashton

This month we write about the opposites, hot and cold. This applies to writers as well as everyone else. You'll notice I put writers in their own category. We are weird. We actually listen to and heed the voices in our heads. We make up things and think they are true. We make up people and inhabit their skins. We think this is normal. Psychiatrists think those who inhabit imaginary castles in the air are neurotic. And then these self-same psychiatrists charge us rent for those castles.

Okay, enough.

As a writer, I dabble with different genres, non-genres, characters, plots and settings. I play with voices, not in my head but on paper. I turned my second Mad Max manuscript into my agent at the beginning of this month. I needed a break from writing a series. I pulled out two manuscripts at the opposite end of the genre spectrum. Today's post is about the hot end, the yang of yin-yang symbology.

Annie is a comfortably married partner in a security consultancy. Her business partner introduces her to a computer genius. Tall, lean, rather plain but interesting face, uncomfortable in social settings, Annie is expected to hire this guy, bring him to clients and deliver new business contracts in cyber-security.

So far, so good. This guy is like a barn-yard collie, eager to please, but socially inept. Annie won't let him out of her sight when a client is around. She's afraid he'll promise something outrageous. Worse, as she gets to know him, she's afraid he'll be able to deliver what he promises too easily. She wants to keep his talent inside her firm.

Trips to London let the two step out of their mentor-mentee, boss-employee roles. Attraction comes through intellectual compatibility, not through hot pulses and heaving bosoms. Throw in an unhappy non-marriage (his) and a comfortable but not passionate marriage (hers), take them to London again, add seasonings, stir and bring to a boil. She discovers his other hidden talent.

Fun to write the hot sex scenes. More fun to write about the conflict, the guilt, the desire both feel when apart. So, this can't be a genre romance, because the principals are married to other people. It probably wouldn't work for traditional publishers even if they weren't married. Annie is in her mid-forties. The collie is 38. She's not a cougar. She's not a predator. He's vulnerable. He's honorable.

Hmm. A woman of a certain age. Hmm, love blooming where it shouldn't. Begs to find an audience.

Regardless of what happens, this has been a welcome respite from the series. It's been fun to write. Who know, maybe I'll get far enough to ask for beta readers. Maybe not.

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Many thanks to my readers who make this book a success. Many thanks for their kind words, their reviews, their offers of future plot twists.

Mad Max Unintended Consequences is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Or ask your local library to add it to its collection.