Hello? Is This Thing On?

First of all, I'd like to say to Congress: DO YOUR DAMNED JOBS! Quit the partisan bickering and do what's best for those you represent, not what's best for YOUR vision of whatever mandate you (mistakenly) think you have.



I blame the following on Aida. I GOTTA BE ME, by Sammy Davis, Jr. This is one of my all time favorite songs. The lyrics are spectacular.

Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I've gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am

I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am

That far-away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won't settle down, won't settle for less
As long as there's a chance that I can have it all

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I've gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I've gotta be me

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me


I gotta be me. Warts 'n' all. Not so much interested these days in hiding my warts as I did when I was younger---I've grown into those warts, grown into my skin, and I'm purty happy to be me these days. I hope it is so with ya'll.

Quirks make us real, and as a segue into writing, they also make the characters I write about real. Nobody is perfect (except for Mary Poppins, and she's practically perfect in every way.)

I love to read quirky heroes and heroines, and I love to write them. At the moment, the current manuscript I'm working on, the heroine's quirk is she loves the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson). Why is that quirky? Because, by looking at her, you'd never in a million years think that would be her musical taste.

So, who are your favorite quirky heroines?