Too Busy Writing to Write

I claim to like writing.  It's one of the reasons I started this blog.  In fact, that single claim drives several reasons I started this blog.

1. I enjoy the process of writing.  Create or develop a thought.  Figure out how to express it.  Craft the expression.  Refine, revise, and publish.  It's rewarding, in and of itself.
2. I like the idea of my written thoughts affecting the people who read them.  It's part of my "ego" if such a thing can be said to truly exist.  So, in that sense, I enjoy the potential result of my writing, rather than the writing itself, but it contributes to the reasons I like to blog.
3. Finally, if one wants to be a writer, or thinks one does, one is told over and over again that one must write.  So, blogging "forces" me to write, which supposedly will help if I ever really truly want to write something more substantial.  (Mike keeps encouraging me to.  I resist.  Different topic.)

The problem, of course, is that I don't write.  Or, perhaps more to the point, I don't Write, with a capital W.  I find it hard, in fact, to write this blog as frequently as I used to.

But see, the thing is, my reason for not writing is not a lack of writing.  It is, in fact, the opposite.  I write so much that I just can't write any more.

My primary means of communicating my ideas these days seems to be through writing.  It's just not the kind of writing which goes here.  It's business.  It's e-mail.  And it's freaking constant.   Sometimes I tell people how much e-mail I get on an average day -- not including spam or notes which I can just delete. I tell them 100 per day.  That's the number I am expected to read to handle in some way. Some people are incredulous.  A few try to top me, without thinking about what it means.  And, yes, a few can top me, for real.  (Alison, my friend, I do not envy you.)

Calculate that out over an 8 hour day.  (Yes, yes, I know.  8?  Bear with me.) That's reading and dealing with each e-mail in under five minutes, if I do absolutely nothing else.   Adding in instant messaging (which is the primary means for a large percentage of communications today) would make the numbers worse.  But let's not muddy the waters. [A short aside: if you do NOT treat writing instant messages as you would treat writing an e-mail, I can practically guarantee you that you will make a mess of something, often without realizing it.  And if you don't treat writing an e-mail as you would treat writing a short article, you are inviting trouble, as well.]

Let's suppose I have to reply to only 25% of the "real" e-mails I receive.  This is probably low, but let's start there.  That means I am writing an e-mail every 20 minutes, while reading 4.  This means I am in an almost constant state of reading and then writing.  And that's just from e-mail! I do far more than just e-mail, but I still have to get that e-mail done, among the other writing and non-writing I do each day.

Is it any wonder my mind and fingers are tired of writing by the time I set myself to the task of blogging here?

Sometimes I think if I took a sabbatical and did manual labor 8 hours a day for a couple of months, though my body would be worn out at the end of a work day, my mind and fingers would be itching to write.  Because, strangely enough, I do get some of the enjoyment of Writing from the e-mail writing I do.  I have to develop a thought, figure out how to express it, craft, revise, refine and SEND in the very few minutes I have.  It's like sprinting, all day long.  And yet, I seem to enjoy it.  So if I spent a few weeks with work days which did not include writing, I suspect I would crave it.

This post borders on talking about work.  But not really.  I suspect many people in today's world are set upon by very similar issues.  Being able to communicate well through writing is a skill, and I can assure you that it is a very valuable skill.  Those of us who have the skill often find ourselves in jobs where we are required to use that skill for much of our work day.   And that leaves some of us, well, at least ONE of us, a tad unmotivated when it comes time to face some Real Writing.

This is not whining.  It's not even an excuse.  It's therapy.  It's introspection, disguised as a wordy essay. 

And it has kept me up past midnight.  Time to get to bed.

I have e-mail waiting for me in the morning.

Aliens and Zombies

The setting: Earth, in which 95% or more of the population has been killed - mercilessly.

The protagonists:  A small group of survivors.

Discussion:

This is a fairly common setup for a speculative fiction story.  From this basic premise, however, several different genres of tales emerge.  Due to the kinds of TV dramas I've been watching lately, I've noticed how similar, and how different, the narratives can be.  It seems to me each variation has its own viewpoint which touches us psychologically, but with one key theme which is shared, and another theme which is specific to the genre it represents.  I'll discuss two today - alien invasion, and zombie apocalypse.

 In this blog, I've already written about Falling Skies, a summer show on TNT.  In that show's world, the merciless agent -- the cause of so much killing and the destruction of our way of life -- is a hostile alien invasion.  The protagonist group we follow consists of a wide range of people, few of whom knew each other before the disaster.  It's been very entertaining, often quite dramatic, and it's something Sherry enjoys watching with me


In the. past couple of weeks, I've seen another cable show which has two seasons under its belt -- as Falling Skies has.  This one is The Walking Dead.  As you might guess by its title, in this show's world, the merciless agent is not aliens -- it's zombies.  Sometimes single zombies, but most often hordes of them, drawn to living humans with the sole purpose of eating those humans and, as a result, turning whatever might be left of the dead humans into zombies. Again, the protagonists are a diverse group.  I find it entertaining, dramatic and -- yes -- gross and horrific.  For these reasons and others, Sherry has no interest in watching it.

Certainly there are similarities between the shows -- I've already mentioned the basic set up, and the protagonist groups.  Additionally, the "good guys" are clearly marked by their humanity, and the bad guys by their non-humanity.  But, because these are stories written about how people will behave when the structure of civilization has been removed, we also find out that some of the humans are pretty inhuman, too.  We see that the survivors want to reestablish a place where they can be safe, and be civilized again, but we see that some of them are willing to assert control over weaker members of the group, and many of the dramatic threads come from the people who are closest to being heroes dealing with people who are less than heroic.

With so much in common, then, are the stories the same?  Are we dealing with the same ultimate themes?

I believe it's pretty clear the answer is no.

Both types of stories deal with a loss of civilization.   They both examine what it might mean to have to live by our wits, without most of the comforts or certainties our lives contain.  In both kinds of stories, we have to face the fact that, ultimately, none of us are really in control of our surroundings. We could be placed into situations in which we would have to adapt or die very quickly.

In the case of Falling Skies,  the force which caused this mess is alien.  That fact makes the themes of these stories focus on "Us vs. Them."  THEY caused it.  WE are the aggrieved party.  The world might never be exactly the same as it was before, but if WE can get rid of THEM, WE can WIN.  So, in that sense, Falling Skies is an optimistic show, which plays to our love of US, our hatred of THEM, all while trying to get us to see that ALL of humanity is US.

This is very different from The Walking Dead.  A "zombie apocalypse" story has antagonists which are US, but dead.  There is no THEM in the premise of this story.  Yes, as previously mentioned, some "bad guys" might try to do us harm, but the true villains are the Zombies.  And what do they represent?  They are DEATH made incarnate.  We're all going to die at some point, says the Zombie Apocalypse, and it's not pretty.  We can try to run, try to hide, try to fight it, but Death keeps coming.  And so, in this way, The Walking Dead and other Zombie Apocalypse stories are essentially pessimistic -- or perhaps better - nihilistic.  And yet.  And yet.

As we watch Rick Grimes, the central character in the group of survivors at the heart of The Walking Dead, we see a hero.  Perhaps he's a tragic hero, in a sense, but we see a bit of optimism in him and most of the people around him.  Despite the overwhelming odds, he keeps fighting, keeps resisting, keeps persevering -- and all the time trying to do it with a sense of morality and integrity.  He doesn't always get it right, but he does keep trying.  And this has a hint of optimism in it.  Here he is similar to his counterpart in Falling Skies, Tom Mason.

Ingrained into most of us is a need to see a hero.  (Some might say "all of us" but that's a topic for another time.)  We want a person who will stand in for us and face the challenge while trying to do the right thing.  Depending on the type of story, we don't need that person to ultimately win but we need to see the effort.  And in that sense, each of these stories has an underlying hope for the ultimate value of our humanity.


===================================

This entry owes a great deal to my good friend, Michael Hacker, who has done much deeper analysis on the psychology behind story types --  specifically horror subgenres.  I wish I had been able to hear him as a panelist at the Greater Los Angeles Writers' Conference, where he got a chance to discuss this. Anyway, Mike, feel free to add your knowledgeable two-cents.

Great Course - Analysis and Critique

I just finished another excellent "Great Course."  The title:

Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything

Taught By Professor Dorsey Armstrong, Purdue University [Ph.D., Duke University]

Please take note of the full title of the course.  If the course did not have its subtitle, I would not have looked twice at it.  I would have seen "Analysis and Critique" and figured "I don't want to learn how to analyze; I don't want to learn to be a critic; I want to learn how to write better."

The subtitle is the key, and the subtitle does an excellent job of advertising what you will get from this course.

While laying the foundation by classifying writing into five major genres -- poetry, drama, prose, essay and autobiography -- Dr. Armstrong shows us how aspects of each of these genres can be helpful as we write anything from a college application essay to a letter to the editor to an obituary.   More directly to the point for me, I could easily see how to apply these lessons to writing blogs, fiction and even game scenarios.  Furthermore, the lessons motivated me to do actual writing, which is a big step for most of us who believe we could be writers, if only we got started.

What did I learn?  What lessons does Dr. Armstrong deliver?  Many.  Here are a couple of the big ones.

One of the most important lessons I got from this first time through the course -- oh, yes, I expect to listen to it again -- is the emphasis on understanding who your audience will be and writing with an intent to affect that audience.  As soon as I heard the first lecture which mentioned this idea, I started writing differently.  While I have certainly "considered the audience" before, these lectures helped me focus more keenly on the tone I should take to be more effective -- whether I am trying to persuade, to educate or to entertain.  The lectures also pointed out that I too frequently focus on myself and my own feelings toward a topic.  Admittedly, much of what I write these days might be classified as "personal essay."  In that subgenre, personal reflection is important.  But more important in holding an audience's attention, is to ensure that the words I write will affect that audience.

Another key set of lectures dealt with the actual process of writing -- from getting started to researching to editing.  Again, as soon as I heard them, my writing changed.  My next blog for work was decidedly better than it otherwise would have been.  I can state this pretty categorically, because I had written the piece, but had not sent it for publication.  I knew the Great Course was about to teach me something new, so I wrote the blog, then set it aside to revise after a few lectures. I wanted to see the effects.  They were dramatic.

I hope I can keep the lessons learned from this course in my head for future writing.  I intend to.  However, as I mentioned, I am already planning to listen to the course again -- probably this autumn -- to help inspire me to continue to write, as well as to help me solidify this knowledge.

"Written by a Kid" - New Web Series

Remember when you were a kid and you made up excellent, creative stories? Or remember when you had young kids and they did? Well, the Geek and Sundry channel on YouTube has a new series - Written by a Kid - which allows us adults to see those stories. Episode 1 is a great example. It's called "Scary Smash."  Check it out. 



When my kids were young, we made a point to listen to their stories.  In fact, I have a few notebooks with stories written by my kids. I need to go find them and read them again!  I don't know that I was quite as good as these guys at letting the kid flesh out the story.  Nicely done!

You can subscribe to the Geek and Sundry channel with this link if you want.  I personally recommend it.

What I've Been Writing

[Warning to the reader: This is a very strange entry today.  Too many thoughts.  But it's how my Muse was pulling me late last night.]

Slow days in "Snippets and Wisps" lately.


I have written a lot lately.  Just not here.  My material has mostly been:

1. Stuff for work (but I don't blog about work [not here in SnW, anyway].)
2. Discussions, Essays and Devotional material about Christianity and Faith (and you've seen a portion of that here)

... but primarily I've been writing ...

3. The Dungeons and Dragons campaign my groups are playing.

So, the work stuff is right out.  And I can't very well put that DnD stuff in the blog, can I?  I mean, my players don't all read this, but some of them do.  No spoilers here.  [Just a teaser.]

So, if you see a few faith-based entries here in the days to come, just realize that it's about the only thing I've been writing which even remotely fits into this blog.

I can hear some of you now:

"Wait, Steve, does that mean that some of what you publish here has been used somewhere else?  Some of the things I read on 'Snippets and Wisps' were not solely for your 'SnW' audience?"

To which I reply, emphatically:

"Oh.  My.  Yes."

In fact, I try very hard not to write the same thing twice, but I often think the same thing multiple times, so it's not hard to imagine that I might write about the same thing multiple times.  But, if I've written it once, I try to use it again, if the topic needs to be addressed again.  I do it at work:  All.  The.  Time.  [Are we all tired of that rampant idiom yet?  So.  Over.  Used.]   I suppose "SnW' is the writing venue where I do the least re-use of material, but I certainly re-use when it makes sense.

For example, these days when I get into an extended "conversation" with someone on Facebook, I often think "This would make a great blog someday."  So I try to capture it for later re-use here.

The thing is, long discussions on Facebook are most often about religion and/or politics.  So if I re-use my thoughts from fb here, they will almost certainly get into one or both of those topics.  [For example, I would gladly join a group of "Liberal Christians Opposed to Rick Santorum" but according to his 2008 interview, he wouldn't believe we existed.]  And once I get started down that road, this blog could just turn into another politics blog, and there are too many of those around, don't you agree? 

Plus, to be fair, politics doesn't interest me enough to think about it often.  [Games do.]  And my belief in Christianity, while it does interest me quite a bit, is among the least-read topics when I post here.  [But when I mention "Castle" or "X-Men" or put up a great photo of one of the beautiful women in my life, I get more traffic. Go figure!]

So, all this is to explain why there has been a relative dearth of material here lately.  And it might continue.

But hey, it could change!  I am very motivated to make people happy.  I love knowing I have an audience.  I'd be happy to write about specific topics, if requested (and appropriate.)  I've solicited topics from readers before and gotten the proverbial crickets chirping in response.  So, I reissue the offer.  If you really wish I'd write about one of my many topics, drop me a line or write a comment.

And now, just to prove my point [well, one of my many points] I will put in a photo of Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett and Nathan Fillion as (the "ruggedly handsome") Richard Castle.  My hit rate will quadruple.

[I am two episodes behind on watching this wonderful TV show, by the way.  Why?  Three consecutive weeks of Dungeons and Dragons.  Fantastic.  Gotta love it.  And thank goodness for "On Demand" viewing so I can catch up.]


So, that's all for today.  Maybe, after seeing "Gone with the Wind" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" this past weekend it's about time for another edition of Movie Micro-Reviews.  That's always good for a quick blog.  [Teaser: One of these movies is much, much better than the other.  And we all know which one that is.  So really, it's not much of a teaser, is it?]

Interlude – Distraction of the Name

Why was he named Ferris?  Did you ever wonder that?  I did;  I bet you did.  Sorry to break into the story like this, but it occurred to me, and the thought wouldn’t leave me alone, which is a strange feeling, but it happens sometimes.  It happens more often lately, which  is why I really need to finish this, but I’ve learned that it’s best to just get the thought out, let it run its course, and then I can get back to what I was doing.  So, I’ll ask again.

Why was he named Ferris?  You know it had a purpose.  Writers think about these things.  I mean, it’s hard to be as clear cut as our high school English teacher, Mrs. H, made it seem when she taught me that, of course, Jim Casy was the Christ figure in The Grapes of Wrath, and it’s clear because his initials are “J.C.” as in Jesus Christ.  But I’m getting off track here.  I was talking about Ferris.  You know who I’m talking about, right?  Ferris Buehler, from “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off,” which is a funnier movie the third time you watch it than it was the first time, which is strange I think, but it’s true.  Anyway, rambling again, so back to the point.  The guy who wrote that movie named him Ferris.  Why?  Well, I never had to write an English paper about it, which is too bad because I think that paper would be a lot more fun to read and to write than the one about The Grapes of Wrath, because, really, as soon as a teenage boy is done reading The Grapes of Wrath all he can think about is that last scene, so how is he supposed to write about the whole book?  Anyway, like I was saying, if I had to write a paper about “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off” I’d talk about his name.  Honestly, have you ever known a guy named Ferris?  Of course not.  Well, if you have, it still doesn’t disprove my point, if I ever get to it, because even if you do, you have to admit that it’s an unusual name, so clearly the writer put some thought into the choice.  So what did he mean?  Clearly something,  And I think I know what it is, and if I ever had to write that paper, I’d tell you.

But the real point is: I am writing this.  And my name is Jacob.  Not because I decided it should be.  It just is. 

It's true I have thought maybe I would change it, if I were really writing this as a story to get published or something.  But I’m not.  I’m writing it to you, and I am pretty sure you’d be confused if you started reading this thing and I had some other name.  I mean, maybe not.  But I would be.  Confused, that is.  If I read it and the name were not my name.

OK, this is strange, why did I just write all that?  You must not be used to coffee.  I wonder why?  I know was.

Anyway, let’s get back to this.  I don’t know how much longer I have.  And I need you to read what I need to write.

=====================

{ One or two pieces of the story occur between the last interlude and this one. The Coffee Shop for sure.}

[©Steve Will, 2012] 

Shakespeare - Great (of) Course

My latest Great Course was William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, taught by Dr. Peter Saccio. 

Back at Luther, I took a Shakespeare class from Dr. John Bale, and it was one of my favorite courses.  Over the years, though, I have forgotten more than I remember from that class.  And, after all, in a one semester class, we could only read a few plays.

Fifteen plays are covered in this Great Course, each of the comedies and histories gets two lectures, as do three of the tragedies.  Then, the Four Great Tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth) are each covered in three lessons.

And, since this is a Great Course, no lecture is the same as any of the others.  Dr. Saccio examines various attributes of the plays, and of Shakespeare as a writer, by using the plays.

Now, I have seen or read some of the plays covered in the course, but not all of them.  Yet I was able to follow every single lecture, and to appreciate the incredible richness of the scripts, because of the insightful Dr. Saccio.  He is not only a professor, but also an actor, so his readings of various lines in the plays added depth and context one might not get from another teacher, and are almost certain to miss from just a reading.

Dr. Saccio convincingly argues that the "tragic flaw" theme taught by so many English teachers, and taught to so many young people, is simplistic at best, and quite misleading at the worst.  He shows the pervasiveness of Christian imagery in many of Shakespeare's most powerful soliloquies.  He explains the bleeding of comedy into tragedy, and both into history plays.  In the end, I learned a tremendous amount from this course, and I am anxious to see some of these plays, again, or for the first time.


=========


Interesting word fact:  "Assassinate" is coined in Macbeth.  While "assassin" came into English the previous century, Macbeth says "assassinate" during a soliloquy when he is deciding whether or not to commit the murder which begins his rise and fall.  As he considers the deed, he doesn't want to call it "murder," and so he creates a new verb from an obscure, exotic noun.  Brilliant psychological writing.



[999]

Big Words

As I grew up, I read.  As I read, I encountered new words.  Early on, I just absorbed the words, mostly making guesses about meanings based on context.  Eventually, I put a dictionary in my bedroom so I could be more certain of the actual definitions.

While I've been re-reading the Thomas Covenant series, I have been reminded of this experience, because the author, Stephen R Donaldson, has a very large vocabulary.  I remember that it was in the course of reading Lord Foul's Bane I first learned the words "mien" and "ichor" and "anathema." These words occurred so frequently, knowing their true meaning was necessary to truly understanding the book.

But Donaldson does love his words, and every once in a while, he lays down a paragraph which would have sent me to a dictionary three or four times if I really wanted to know all the words. But sometimes it was simply easier to guess at meanings and plunge along.

A paragraph 400+ pages into The Illearth War contained these words:

• ambuscade
• panoply (which I didn't recognize at the time)
• lambent

and the next paragraph had

• crepuscular  (really!)

The story was at a critical point, and I simply jumped over the words.  I don't think I missed much, but I decided as I was encountering these paragraphs that I would bookmark the page and come back to them later.

Of course, there are words in the paragraphs, and in the surrounding paragraphs, which are part of my working vocabulary which might be unknown to others.  As a writer, it's a challenge to use excellent vocabulary -- words which fit the purpose of the narrative so well they must be used -- and yet avoid words which will jar your reader out of the story.  Donaldson's hero, Thomas Covenant, is a writer, so it makes sense that his mind would use extraordinary words.

Thankfully, not every author has such a surfeit of entries in his lexicon.

And yes, that was a joke.

-----------------------------------------------------------


[And, disappointingly, even Donaldson misuses the word "sojourn."  So can we really be sure he meant to use those other unusual words properly?  Yes, I think we can.  The misuse of "sojourn" as a synonym for "journey" is a pet peeve of mine.]


[998]

Review: Lord Foul's Bane

Title: Lord Foul's Bane 
Author: Stephen R. Donaldson

As I did with Babel 17, I decided to re-read a favorite book from my youth.  Lord Foul's Bane is subtitled The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Book One, and when I was a teenager, completely in love with reading, I was drawn towards book series.  I enjoyed the idea that a world would live longer than a single story.  So, when Donaldson released book one, I wanted it badly.  Of course, being a poor teenager, I still waited until it was available in paperback.  Consequently, as I re-read the book this time, I was reading a very old, dented, folded copy.  You just can't get that from Kindle.  But anyway...

Thomas Covenant is a leper.  In 20th-century America, that is rare, and to Covenant, it defines him.  He is bitter, he must constantly be careful not to injure himself, lest his leprosy lead to infection and death.  And during an act of defiance against the way his world treats him, he is inexplicably pulled into a strange, fantastic world - The Land.  Or is he?  Covenant cannot believe it.  Unlike so many other "cross-over" stories, where the "real" world, our world, intersects with a fantasy world, our hero does not accept the reality of his situation.  He is an Unbeliever.  He believes, instead, that he is unconscious and going crazy within a dream.

Yet the people of The Land treat him as if he, and they, are real in their world.  What's more, they believe him to be a successor to an important hero of their past.  And so does Lord Foul, the Despiser -- the ultimate evil which desires to destroy or subjugate The Land and its inhabitants.

Lord Foul's Bane is atypical of fantasy.  In fact, it is atypical of a Hero story in many ways.  No least among these is that Thomas Covenant is not only un-heroic, but early in the novel he behaves in such a despicable way, many readers might never get past his actions.  I know at least one person who initially stopped reading after page 91, and a modern reader could not be blamed for that.

But, a lover of the genre should continue.  The Land is unique in fantasy, with some truly innovative, and very well conceived ideas.  Even if a reader has trouble liking Covenant (which is clearly Donaldson's intent,) The Land and its protectors are heroic and honorable with a capital H. We care deeply about them, even if Covenant does not fully believe in their existence.

I am very glad I read Lord Foul's Bane again, and I am proceeding directly to Book Two.  I had forgotten so much of the story, I am sure I will be similarly surprised by all but one or two plot points in The Illearth War.

---------

Notes as a writer: Things I noticed this time, now that I have read, and written, much much more.

1) Donaldson is simile-crazy.  He can never just describe something.  It's always "like" or "as if" something else.  "It calmed him like a demonstration of his identity."  Really?  Really.  And, to his credit, though Donaldson uses similes which are unfamiliar (have you ever thought about something being "like a demonstration of (one's) identity" before?) the similes make sense, in context.  And they provide a level of immersion, especially immersion into Covenant's mind, that is quite deep.

2) The Land is small.  Given how far Covenant travels, it is astonishing to consider how few people he meets.  And, to be honest, the distances being traveled, while impressive in the story, are quite small compared to an actual world.  And yet, this makes complete sense, in the context of his Unbelief.  If his impending insanity is really the cause of The Land, it doesn't need to be populated by millions.  Just a few truly honorable folk provide the juxtaposition his mind needs.  And if it's not un-real, if The Land is another place, there is no reason a self-centered leper should actually realize it.

I Can Be Bought

OK, so I cannot personally be bought.  But my story can, as of about 7:00 PM today.

The 48-hour period of waiting has expired.  After I hit the "publish" button on Amazon.com's ePublishing site, there was a 24-hour "Review" period, and then following that a 24-hour "Publishing" period.  And now, my novella, Mirrors, can be purchased on Amazon.com.  At this link.

It can be delivered to a Kindle, of course, but there are also other clients, including the "Kindle for PC" application I downloaded.  Of course, it seems a little silly for me to have to buy my own story, but I probably will, just to see how it works.  And hey, it only costs $2.99.  (That's the minimum price to qualify for 70% royalty.  If I publish shorter things I will have to figure out how to make the 35% royalty work, or I'll have to compile several, to make the higher price more justifiable.)

Though you can see the description on the Amazon.com site, I thought, for the record, I would put it here, too.

Set in a harsh, fantastic world, this novella tells the tale of the iceship, Forgotten Friend, which sails the Midnight Glacier, a desolate expanse surrounded by the Great Winter Sea.  Its once-formidable Captain nears despair. Led by its grieving and merciless Hunter, its crew nears mutiny.  And from somewhere in that icy land, a strange force leads the Captain and Hunter into cold conflict for their lives, and for their very souls.

ePublished eBook - eDidIt!

Well, I did it.  I had been encouraging Mike to publish some of his work as eBooks, and while doing so, I realized ...

"Hey, I could do that, too."

So, I did it.  I took a story I wrote in the '80s, edited it, created a "cover image" using a piece of art Leah did in high school as a base (thanks, Leah, for the contribution and the permission) and now my story, Mirrors, is on its way to being available on Amazon.com's eBook catalog.

I have never written a full novel.  But part of my investigation into ePublishing uncovered Amazon.com's "Kindle Singles" category, for shorter works.

Shorter works?  That's my style.

Mirrors is a bit over 18,000 words, so it fits right on the lower end of the "novella" class of fiction.  I did once submit it for publication, and received a nice hand-written rejection letter, encouraging me to keep writing, and saying nice things about the story, though the editor said the magazine to which I submitted didn't typically publish pieces which were that long. 

In any case, I've done it.  It's not "published" in the traditional sense, but it's out there.

I'm feeling pretty good.

QMX - The Raven - John De Lancie

OK, so if you were asked "Who wrote 'The Raven?'" you could probably give the right answer.

But most of us didn't get as much out of reading it as we could get by listening to a good actor read it.

And so, visit this page, and listen to John De Lancie.

In fact, make the video full-screen and just look into his eyes and soon you will be sitting beside the narrator in his chamber.

[Mike H once recorded this for me on an audio cassette, if I recall correctly.  It, too, sent chills down my spine.]

"What Does a Teacher Make?" - Video

Back from vacation, and one of the things I happened upon (from one of the blogs I follow) is this wonderful piece by Taylor Mali on "What Does a Teacher Make?"  I shared this on Facebook yesterday, but it deserves a more permanent and prominent place in my recorded thoughts.

It is a stark contrast to the recent attacks on teachers and what they are "worth" to our society.



I was at dinner a few weeks back, and the Wisconsin protests were just a few days old. A couple of my dinner partners -- who almost certainly received salaries and benefits far above those of an average teacher -- were talking about how easy teachers have it.  They -- the opinionators speaking -- would be glad to have that job, for that pay, for that "little work."

Sorry guys, you could not handle it. Honestly. And if you tried, I would be sorry for your students. Our students deserve people who want to do the work, who treat it as a vocation or a calling, not people who think it is easy work for the money.

This should not be political, folks. All but a tiny percentage of us were taught by teachers. A good teacher -- and there are millions -- does a good job, and the result is well-educated young people. A great teacher -- and there are many of these, too -- I'd venture more than one per school of most any size -- does a great job, and the result is a set of inspired students who do more than anyone would have thought possible, and who will grow up grateful to what those teachers did.

If I tried to list all of the teachers who inspired me over the years, I might give offense by leaving someone off the list -- and it would be unintentional, but understandable, because I have had so many.  But here is a list anyway.

• The elementary teacher whose name escapes me, but who introduced me to Tolkien by reading us "The Hobbit"
• Mrs. Hacker
• Mr. Gesme
• Mr. Evelsizer 
• Mr. Eittreim
• Mrs. Hein
• Ms. Olson
• Mr. Sexter
• Steve Hubbard
• Diane Scholl
• Ed Kaschins
• Weston Noble
• Leigh Jordahl
• Richard Simon Hanson
• John Bale
• Walt Will

These people, by their dedication to their students, and their skill in the art of teaching, challenged me, pushed me to do more than coast.  They taught me to question, to research, to create, to write, to revise, to analyze, to think.  They opened my eyes to subjects and ideas which lit my imagination on fire.  Would I have discovered the joy of singing choral music without Mr. Sexter?  The thrill of performing on stage without Ms. Olson?  The reasons Shakespeare's work was special without Dr. Bale?  How Economics could be interesting and understandable without Ed Kaschins?

The Paideia class taught by Dr. Scholl helped Sherry and me as we grew to know one another better just before our marriage. The class on Christian Humanism as taught by Dr. Jordahl helped clarify for me the kind of faith which still makes most sense to my heart and head -- and he simply loved having a married couple in his class.

And while it is clear my mind was primed for mathematics & the sciences, many of the teachers above found ways to encourage me to rise above the expectations of the ordinary syllabus, to learn things I could learn, and to help others learn them when I could.  I wanted to be a teacher because of Mrs. Hacker and my dad.  I learned to love and appreciate math and science because of them and the rest of the math and science teachers on that list, and others I omitted while trying to finish this in less than an evening.

To evaluate these people by how much money they make, or to think you can put a price on what their jobs are worth?  It can't be done.  These people, and the work they have done, are priceless.

Week in Reviews

Let's review.

As it happens, as this week begins, I have just finished reading a novel, completed a Great Course, and neared the end of a video game.

That means the topics for this week's Snippets & Wisps are pretty well decided. It's a week of reviews.

Will I also post the next part of my serial?

That's hard to say. Should I?

One of the struggles I have with posting the serial is that part of me would really like to have the whole thing written before I post any of it. I want to ensure that the language remains consistent, that I can do a good job of hinting early what will happen late, that the whole ties together. Another part of me, the part that has won my internal battles so far, sees a tremendous challenge in putting myself deep into the maze and seeing if I can find a satisfactory way out.

Nothing to See Here - Almost

I'm writing my other blog today. But I won't talk about that. Here at Snippets & Wisps, I don't blog about work.

So, just one quick note.

If you didn't "get" yesterday's snippet, just realize that it was preceded by last week's snippet. And then understand that I am attempting a serial. [And further realize that I am winging it...]

That's all. Move along. Tomorrow, another Favorite Foto Friday. [Clowns! You gotta see it.]

Quotes - Madness and Art

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."
Robin Williams

I found this quote in the Kid in the Front Row blog. The blog is about filmmaking. I loved the quote, because it's about much more than filmmaking.

And then, right above where the blog author put that Robin Williams quote, he had this marvelous paragraph.


The world may seem like it's run by the people who greenlight superhero movies, and maybe it is. But meanwhile, there's a lot we can be doing and we don't need to feel oppressed, or depressed; or like outsiders. Instead, we can just make art and whether our audience is ten million people, or ten; that's exactly how it's meant to be right now and that's enough. Those ten people love you, and they're gonna tell all their friends, and their friends are gonna do the same.

Earlier this week, my good friend Mike needed to hear this message. And there are times when I think Lucas would be helped by it. And I am quite sure Leah will. In fact, we all do -- all of us who indulge our creative desires, as well as all those who don't indulge them for fear of too small an audience.

Just make art.

Snippet - Submerged, I Panic

Submerged, I panic, thrash, grasp at nothing.

Myriad fleeting shapes surround me, just out of reach.

I would scream, if I could. I would curse, though I know the consequence.

Something grasps my arm, pulls me up.

Sweet rush of air. I fill my lungs. Then empty them with a cry:

"Help me! She's drowning me!"

No one responds. Except her.

"Oh Stewie, stop being so dramatic. I'm just teaching you to swim."

Quote - The Forceps of Our Minds

The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it.
- H. G. Wells

How profound! We might not recognize it at first, but there is a bit of Socrates in this. A bit of Plato. A bit of The Cave. A bit of 1 Corinthians 13:12 (see through a glass, darkly.) A bit of the observer affecting the outcome.

Truth. By the time we've touched it enough to comprehend it, we've put some of the oil of our mind on it in little fingerprints. By the time we speak it, we have added our accent.

And yet, is there any more honorable task than to seek it?



[737]

Images in writing

Just helping my creativity today. Notes, jottings, thoughts around which to organize.

Implications of concepts, when used in writing.

River / Road
Air / Wind
Season / Year
Day / Night

The River is natural, and less controlled. One gets swept along by a river. A Road is a means to an end, a path we choose to take. Which is why Tolkien has Bilbo talk about a Road as if it is a River; hobbits, the commonfolk, should be as cautious of roads as they are of water.

Air is necessary for life, and by itself conjures images of freedom, lightness, and relative stillness. Wind is movement, to be fought against, tamed or ridden. Air is prettly clearly Good. Wind is fickle; musically quiet and refreshing one moment, deafeningly loud and deadly the next.

Season implies a subdivision of a larger period, with a known and inevitable end, but the Season itself has an indistinct start or finish. A Year is a journey; there may be more following, or there may not. A Year starts and ends at a given point, and it is divided by seasons or months as needed.

Day and Night are both halves of the day, but things done at Night are different than things done during the Day. Settings which are cheerful or revealing when filled with Daylight turn romantic or ominous at Night. A funeral during the True Day, with sunshine, had better have some significance, just as a wedding at Night needs the Moon to stand in for the Day's Sun, unless there is something Wrong with the wedding.

Day Off