Howdy – it’s been almost a month since my last post.
I’ve been working with my editor, and book cover designer and book interior designer, getting the manuscript ready. The goal is to have a print version available for purchase via Amazon by later Fall and to then transfer it to Ebook formats. It is a good, but time-consuming, journey.
I’ve also been prepping and posting the last chapters of the book to my other site – where the book has been rolling out, chapter by chapter since last fall. www.theheartcode.com
As the chapters build to a conclusion, I’ve decided not to post the last two chapters. The reason is twofold.
One: For copyright reasons, I don’t want them available on the web and Two: I’m changing the ending. My friend, Keith David, really made a strong case for it, echoing other readers comments, and when my sister-in-law, Jeannie, came up with an ending I could embrace, and still fit the continuum of the series, I agreed. So I’m working on that, also. It’s a lot of balls in the air on top of day-to-day living stuff.
Below is a modification of the post I put on the novel site, as it has caused me to reconsider the chapter title.
Who else has struggled with TITLES? (haha)
Now onto my commentary….
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Chapter 28 -CONQUESTS – features a newly revived Celeste, demonstrating her ability to make her own decisions and stick to them. She changes the wedding venue, recognizes when to fight and when to let go and speaks her mind to James, actually naming the boogie man in the room. Good steps for her. Not totally embracing her heart code but in the right direction.
The chapter includes mention of the 1920’s Author, Elinor Glyn, whose novel and subsequent movie originally defined the “IT” factor, a term still used today. In previous chapters, I’d referenced the IT factor and the actress Clara Bow – silent movie heroine – and the 1927 movie “IT” . But I had not connected it to the author. With a little more research, I realized that a few things have changed from Elinor’s original meaning of the phrase IT and how we use it today.
Elinor coined “IT” was a euphemism for Sex Appeal. She made a lot of money writing racy novels that are tame by today’s standards, but nevertheless. She specifically defined IT as the “strange magnetism that attracts both sexes.”
The Movie version interpreted “IT” as: “Self Confidence and Indifference to whether you are pleasing or not.” Clara Bow conveyed “IT” well. While I don’t see her sex appeal, she certainly carried off the “Self Confidence and Indifference” when she sallied through the Ritz Hotel Dining room in an obviously homemade dress.
(you can rent the movie IT on Netflix to see for yourself)
That led me to question our modern definition of IT, which seems to be opposite of “Self Confidence and Indifference to whether you are pleasing or not.”
From Paris to the Kardashian to GaGa to the entire Bravo Housewives series and almost every one in the entertainment biz, the goal seems to do whatever IT is that will get them ATTENTION, the more outlandish, the better.
Today, “IT” has to do with insisting on attention – becoming whatever to command “IT”. I don’t see those who are ascribed to having the IT FACTOR today as being self-confident or indifferent to opinion. I see them as a SLAVE to popular opinion, with a willingness to do whatever it takes for their 15 minutes of fame.
Rather than Sex Appeal or a surety of ones self, FAME seems to be the IT FACTOR in the 21st century. Fame for Fame’s sake.
That’s a sad state of affairs and a sad commentary on our society.
Harking back to the Clara Bow Movie version of IT, I think IT is an authentic person who is true to their own drummer. That’s what I write about in the novel: Bohemian HEART CODE. Following your heart is about being true to what’s true for you. Show me that kind of person, and I’ll gladly cook up a meal fit for a king and serve it on my best platters.
Being authentically true is the only “IT FACTOR” I will ever acknowledged as valid.
And my character, CELESTE, has finally begun to demonstrate an understanding of her own IT. Not fully, yet. But a nice step forward. She’s been like the baby blue jays I’ve been photographing in my garden, who had no sense of the world as they grew in the nest. But shortly, as they approached the need to take to their own wing, they found their own IT and flew true.
My friend Billy, an artist, is always pointing out things that are “Bohemian Hippy Chic.” a cache for cool. But what I really think he is saying is: Putting things together so they reflect you, as you really are. In that light, I’m thinking about changing the name of the book from Bohemian Heart Code to BOHEMIAN IT.
What do you think?
Thanks for checking in. xo Laura
Making Book 