Helping each other

Recently, I went to Facebook to shorten the URL for my page, Denyse Cohen Art and Stuff. There is a way you can choose a "sign in" name and remove those obnoxious numbers from the URL. Unfortunately, Denyse Cohen wasn't available. So, since in June I'll be a published author, and I hope many, many people will buy my book "One Hit Wonder," and will be interested in finding me on Facebook, I've made the decision to use www.facebook.com/DenyseCohenAuthor for my page. It's a "marketing" move, which (fingers crossed) will help my book to get found on Google searches and what not.
However I have to admit, I already feel the burden of the word "author" on my shoulders. Yesterday, I realized I misspelled the title of a video I've sent to all the parents of my son's soccer team. Immediately, the association author-misspelling-shame-failure-die appeared in my mind like a gigantic tsunami wave about to crush me. I got to say I totally freaked inwardly. Have you ever done that? It usually happens when you don't want to show your emotions either because of where you are or the people around you, or both. So, my cheeks lightly blotched while, inside, I was screaming and pulling my hair out.
Today, after sleeping over it, I've decided not to worry about it too much. I am making my peace with it through this post, and I'll never let myself be shaken by that again. Of course, my main goal is not to make mistakes. It's also my responsibility as a writer. But making mistakes (occasionally, I hope) with spelling and grammar doesn't mean that I'm not a good storyteller, because I know I am.
I mean people make mistakes, right? Athletes, medical doctors (Ugh!), journalists, plumbers all make mistakes. I had a teacher in college who taught a class on critically writing about art. He was engaging, very analytical, expressed himself clearly and eloquently, and had intelligent opinions about art and the art-world. But everytime he moved to the chalkboard, eight of ten words he wrote were misspelled. Heck, maybe he had dyslexia. I don't know. What I know is his spelling didn't change the fact that he knew what he was talking about.
While I'm not asking anyone to overlook my mistakes, I'm asking everyone to be kind about them. I want to know what I've done wrong, so I can learn and not do it again. But I feel this is not just about me. It's about being kind to people in general and helping each other. After all, why anyone would want to hurt someone else's feelings, if there are a million of ways to avoid it? Sometimes, we don't do it on purpose, and, sometimes, we can't help ourselves. But before we start spreading hate around, let's just take a brief second and ask ourselves: If we are at the other end of the stick, how would we like the person to handle it? I'm sure no one appreciates being poked on the ass.

Dennis Lehane: Patrick and Angie.

I love Dennis Lehane books. I think his writing is smart and hip and his plots are well constructed and engaging.

I stumbled upon this video and thought it was interesting how he says two of his most famous characters (Patrick and Angie) are the two sides of him (Logical and Emotional.)

Usually every character I create have a little bit of myself. Yes, even the bad ones, but it didn't quite click until I've heard what Dennis said.

I suppose pulling out specific traits from the writer's own personality (logical, emotional, etc.) to be the character's foundation help to systematically construct characters that are intrinsically intertwined and potentially opposites. What a recipe for conflict!