Going Through Something

 JENN McKINLAY: I don't want to say I'm having a full on midlife crisis, but I'm clearly going through something. Potentially, it's an empty nest thing, although the dudes have been out of the house for 3+ years. But I think it's more that after prioritizing the health and well-being of my people for the past twenty-five years, it's my turn. I want to do what I want to do just for me and no one else.

Let's examine. First, I started running 5Ks. Me, the person who only runs if a scary looking clown wielding a knife is chasing them.

 Second, I got a nose stud. Never planned it. Thought they were cool but I could take it or leave it. Next thing I know, I had a big old bloody Mary and I was at the piercing pagoda getting a diamond shot into my nostril.

And, most recently, I got a tattoo. Was it planned? No. Did it hurt? No. Truthfully the nose stud hurt WAY more. Do I regret it? Not a bit. If you read my newsletter, you know the how and why of the tattoo, but I'll share a few fun facts here.

Hub and I arrived at Hotel Kabuki in Japantown, where we were meeting our friends. Our room wasn’t ready so it was a cocktail for me and a mocktail for the Hub at the lobby bar while we waited.

One of the bar’s specialty drinks was a paper crane, which seemed appropriate as the Nihonmachi Street Fair was also happening just outside the hotel. Hub and I wandered around the lobby, getting our bearings when what should we stumble upon but a pop up tattoo event happening by Studio Kazoku. And what did they have on their list of available tattoos? A paper crane. It felt like fate. We decided these would make awesome Mr. and Mrs. tattoos. Why? I don't know. It's not like I was operating with a plan!

Now here’s the back story that you don’t know. WAAAAAAAY back when my first mystery SPRINKLE WITH MURDER was published (2010), I told the Hub that if I ever hit the NYT Bestseller’s list, I’d get a tattoo. It was a joke — I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN!!! —but it did. Needless to say, I stalled as I had no idea what to get. 

Years passed, I hit the NYT’s list thirteen more times and still no ink. But here I was in San Francisco on an awesome vacation with the Hub, who is seriously my best friend, and the paper cranes just felt right. A little research (librarian!) and I discovered that origami cranes (orizuru) hold deep symbolic meaning, especially in relation to marriage. The crane (tsuru) is revered as a mythical creature believed to live for 1,000 years, symbolizing longevity and good fortune. Needless to say, we went for it.

During our tattooing, our friends texted us to ask if we’d arrived in town. I texted back that we were at the hotel, getting tattoos. The three dots wavered for a little bit and then our friend texted back “Like real ones?” LOL! Oh, yes, they’re real.

So, in conclusion, the past year has been interesting. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do next -- purple hair? Paddle boarding? I'll keep you posted.

So, how about you, Reds and Readers, did you ever find yourself "going through something"? Any tattoos, piercings, hair color, etc. to report? Or is there anything you think you might do when the wild mood strikes? 

Are you Inked up? asks Vicki Stiefel

HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, it's taken me awhile to become comfortable with Millenials' romance with tattoos. I want to ask, "Don't you know your skin will sag when you get older?" "Do you really want that on you when you interview for a job?" "What's going to happen when you get tired of it? ... I want to ask, but don't.

My dear friend and author Vicki Stiefel (Chest of Stone) is far ahead of the curve on this. She's got them. And she's not a millennial. 

So here's a page from Vicki Stiefel... how tattoos twine through her real life and her fiction.

VICKI STIEFEL: I take the receipt from the clerk.

“Is it real?” He points to the tattoo on my finger, the one with all the flowery vines.

“Yes, it is.”

“Really?” His tone bubbles with skepticism.

The urge to reply with snark is strong, but all I say is, “Really.”

I assume his disbelief is because I'm not a Twentysomething or a Goth or a biker, either, although I do still possess a bit of the hippie I once was. 

But, hello? Tattoos have gone mainstream.

What is it about these permanent inkings—living symbols etched into our flesh—that make them so compelling?

I blame my tat addiction, er, acquisition on my late crime-writer husband, Bill Tapply, who sported a mayfly tattoo to honor his fly-fishing passion. When he chose to get another tat, I joined in. He got Kokopelli. Mine? A Celtic spiral tattooed on my wrist, which was the inspiration for Clea’s tat in my novel, Chest of Bone. Hers is magical. Mine? I'll never tell.

Clea’s tattoo is “applied” by her dying mentor, the act of which comes with lots of blood and pain and launches my story. But I’m not the first author to pen tats into a tale. 

Novels use tattoos as symbols, plot threads, and more. Good guys, bad guys, and even corpses are fleshed out with ink in their skin. Can you imagine Moby Dick’s Queequeg without his tats? Or Lisbeth Salander’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo minus that dragon on her back? 

Speaking of dragons, the serial killer in The Red Dragon wears a William Blake design, which he believes is a spirit he calls "the Dragon.” Tattoos play a huge role in Elizabeth Hunter’s masterful Irin Chronicles’ The Scribe, where they heighten the wearer’s magic powers. Magic of the evil kind illuminates Mr. Dark’s “human” tats in Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. From the Man Booker finalist’s The Electric Michelangelo to the evil preacher’s tats in Night of the Hunter, a character’s tattoos can add layers of meaning to a character and a novel, which is part of why I love them.

My Wyvern wrapped around a Key symbolizes two of my series’ characters from The Afterworld Chronicles. 

I’m not alone in sporting a tat from my books. To quote the marvelous Rob Hart, “Books and tattoos have a lot in common. Both are intimate — and sometimes painful — acts. They’re addictive, in that you finish one and immediately ache for the head rush of another.” Rob’s got his New Yorked inked on his skin. Elizabeth Hand, Kevin Wilson, Steph Post, and many other writers wear ink based on their books. Other tattooed authors range from Dorothy Parker to Julie Hennrikus to China Mieville. As ink-decorated John Irving told The New York Times, “Tattoos are souvenirs. They’re road maps of where your body’s been.”

Legions of readers, those wonderful folks who devour our work, ink themselves as a permanent badge of their love for authors and reading. They sport tattoos from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter novels to those of Jane Austen and Sherrilyn Kenyon. They wear open books with “I’ve lived a thousand lives” or “Books are proof humans can do magic” or “Wanderer,” which is etched into my forearm beneath an open book.

 

I am that wanderer of ideas and of books. And, yeah, I want to get another tattoo.

Oh, BTW — if you plan to get a tattoo, do it right. Go to a reputable tattooist whose style you admire. Be sure you’re passionate about the tat, since without costly laser removal, it’s forever. Finally, copyedit your design. Seriously. Or this might be the result.

Do you have tattoos? Care to show and tell?

HALLIE: I think all our readers know that I do not. Or if I did, it would be my secret.

Vicki Stiefel''s fantasy suspense series, The Afterworld Chronicles, launched with Chest of Bone, the tale of a Mage, a Monster, and a Mission. Her mystery/thrillers include Body Parts, The Dead Stone, The Bone Man, and The Grief Shop, a Daphne du Maurier prize winner. All feature homicide counselor Tally Whyte. Her writing and photography have also appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Worcester Magazine, Wild Fibers, Dive Training, and other national publications. She co-wrote (with Lisa Souza) and photographed the non-fiction 10 Secrets of the LaidBack Knitters, and recently published Chest of Bone, The Knit Collection.

With her late husband, William G. Tapply, she ran The Writers Studio workshops in creative fiction. For six years, Vicki taught fiction writing and modern media writing at Clark University. She mentors writers and students and critiques writing in a variety of genres, from partial to completed manuscripts.

The Afterworld Chronicles' second novel, Chest of Stone, will hit shelves Nov. 2017, and she’s pounding the keys on the series' third novel, Chest of Air. In the works, her next mystery series will feature a tattooist.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vickistiefelauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vickistiefel/

Twitter: @vickistiefel