While writing about a book in my Random Acts of Reading blog, I mentioned a fellow and a frequent occurence from eight grade. I actually included his name and the teacher's name. Couple days later, there was a comment from him, a big time California lawyer now. My surreal moment of the week. I think he must have had someone on his staff google his name once a week, can't think of another way for him to find my obscure readinng log. He remembered the book and the teacher, but not her favorite comment about him. His comment to me was "Geez, you have an amazing memory!"
I've been thinking about that, because I don't really have a great memory. But I remember junior high, more than high school and college. And not because of any chemical additives. I think the reason I remember junior high is because I wrote every day, and the reason I remember my junior high classmates is because I wrote about them. I do remember 4th grade pretty clearly as well. I read Harriet the Spy that year and kept a notebook about that year, a la Harriet. It did not go over well for me there, once people found the notebook. I solved that problem in Junior High by writing for "publication". I wrote a soap opera and my classmates were the characters. Every night, I would write two pages of dialogue and then call my best friend Maryanne and we would discuss the episode. She would make editorial suggestions and if I agreed, I would make changes. Then I would re write the thing, this time on a sandwich of carbon paper and notebook paper. I learned early to only bring one copy to school.
So what happened? In high school, there were "things" that had to be done, things that would lead to engineering degrees and law schools and grad degrees, etc. I followed along and did those things, even though I really had no intention of being any of those things. I always intended to be a writer. Somehow, my little twelve year old brain knew that to do that, I had to write every day and I did. In HS and the first two years of college, I didn't. And there was plenty to write about. So, did I just have more time and energy to write in Jr. High? Less time and energy dedicated to pretending to be something else? Jr. High kids have the amazing ability to totally be themselves and HS's do a good job of getting that out of them. Or at least me.
So I guess, like any good writer, I've spend a good chunk of years procrastinating.
"As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90% procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching informercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write. Having anybody watching that or attempting to share it with me would be grisly."-- Paul Rudnick.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Exciting times at the Story Factory...
Last time I looked, our little site is getting very close to the thousandth visitor. I know, small numbers for some, but I am pretty pumped about getting into the four digit numbers.
Coming this fall at the story factory, two exciting new works of fiction will be in progress, along with a contest to find better titles for some existing, but badly titled works. The two new things have titles already, Tyranny of the Ordinary, otherwise known as TOTO and The Brothers Keen. Ideas and research for both books are coming in nicely and I'm honestly not sure which book with get written first, although I will make every attempt to save one of them for November and the annual insanity known as National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo.
But the big question remains, which book comes first, the political book that will be fun, but a lot of research, or the other one, that will be more life based, at least life that I have been a bit more invovled in.
Coming this fall at the story factory, two exciting new works of fiction will be in progress, along with a contest to find better titles for some existing, but badly titled works. The two new things have titles already, Tyranny of the Ordinary, otherwise known as TOTO and The Brothers Keen. Ideas and research for both books are coming in nicely and I'm honestly not sure which book with get written first, although I will make every attempt to save one of them for November and the annual insanity known as National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo.
But the big question remains, which book comes first, the political book that will be fun, but a lot of research, or the other one, that will be more life based, at least life that I have been a bit more invovled in.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Shuttle Update...
Discovery undocked from the space station. They're checking for damage and getting set to come home tomorrow.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Motivations...and finding God in Stephen King
Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.
Thomas Berger
After reading some writing quotes, it struck me. Most of the truly successful writers have industrial sized chips on their shoulders. And are quite proud to show them off. The novels I've been reading this summer, the ones that get under your skin and stay with you a few days, they're not written by nice people with a message of grace and love to spread to the world. Most of them are damd mad and not going to take it anymore.
The problem is, nice people don't get mad. That's what my mother taught me. Anger was the big no no. Don't feel it, and certainly don't express it, not in front of anyone, anyway. So I go and write a book and totally ignore that fact that the main character is so pissed at the world it colors everything she does. I ignore and therefore she ignores it, denies it, and the whole book ends up feeling like a lie. So the question of the book becomes, sure the command is Be angry, but sin not, but what happens when you don't listen to that sage advice. What happens when you get angry and sin your heart out, then go on a bit more? I'm starting to think that's the book. Because nice girls didn't get angry in the forties. They didn't live it out and take it out on strangers.
Which isn't the typical "female adventure story." But maybe it's a bit closer to the female experience, of the world falling apart at the seams and not being able to do a damn thing the fix it.
So it's all Stephen King's fault. I've been reading through his stuff, in mostly chronological order this summer. And something stands out. In the darkness of all his stories, the light is clear. There is good and evil and no doubt which side is which. Unlike real life. But light shines brighter in the dark. You really don't need a flashlight at twighlight, but it sure is necessary at one am on a moonless night. But more on that another time...
Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever
studied, writing columns for newspapers.
-- Jimmy Breslin
What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art’. I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. - George Orwell
I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.
Stephen King
ps, I only liked school until I was 14. And I enjoyed college. But hs was the pits.
Thomas Berger
After reading some writing quotes, it struck me. Most of the truly successful writers have industrial sized chips on their shoulders. And are quite proud to show them off. The novels I've been reading this summer, the ones that get under your skin and stay with you a few days, they're not written by nice people with a message of grace and love to spread to the world. Most of them are damd mad and not going to take it anymore.
The problem is, nice people don't get mad. That's what my mother taught me. Anger was the big no no. Don't feel it, and certainly don't express it, not in front of anyone, anyway. So I go and write a book and totally ignore that fact that the main character is so pissed at the world it colors everything she does. I ignore and therefore she ignores it, denies it, and the whole book ends up feeling like a lie. So the question of the book becomes, sure the command is Be angry, but sin not, but what happens when you don't listen to that sage advice. What happens when you get angry and sin your heart out, then go on a bit more? I'm starting to think that's the book. Because nice girls didn't get angry in the forties. They didn't live it out and take it out on strangers.
Which isn't the typical "female adventure story." But maybe it's a bit closer to the female experience, of the world falling apart at the seams and not being able to do a damn thing the fix it.
So it's all Stephen King's fault. I've been reading through his stuff, in mostly chronological order this summer. And something stands out. In the darkness of all his stories, the light is clear. There is good and evil and no doubt which side is which. Unlike real life. But light shines brighter in the dark. You really don't need a flashlight at twighlight, but it sure is necessary at one am on a moonless night. But more on that another time...
Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever
studied, writing columns for newspapers.
-- Jimmy Breslin
What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art’. I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. - George Orwell
I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.
Stephen King
ps, I only liked school until I was 14. And I enjoyed college. But hs was the pits.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Fire on the Mountain
"Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the
recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a
hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience."
--Henry David Thoreau
There is probably the biggest problem I have had lately writing. Writing while the idea is still fresh and new. It gets sometimes to where by the time I get to writing somthing, it's already stale and old because I have reworked it mentally so many times that it isn't new enough to write anymore. Not sure that makes sense, but there it is. After six or seven mental playbacks, the scene isn't fun anymore. Writing, instead of a process of discovery, becomes a work of transcription. I think this is what Thoreau is talking about when he talks about heat. It's the flame consuming new fuel that is the heat of writing, not a picture of campfire hung on a wall. There is a certain life to a campfire compared to the dryness of processes central heat. And unfortunately, we're taught that the central heat is desirable.
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from
mediocre minds."
--Albert Einstein
And you should go see what's goin on with Discovery today...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a
hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience."
--Henry David Thoreau
There is probably the biggest problem I have had lately writing. Writing while the idea is still fresh and new. It gets sometimes to where by the time I get to writing somthing, it's already stale and old because I have reworked it mentally so many times that it isn't new enough to write anymore. Not sure that makes sense, but there it is. After six or seven mental playbacks, the scene isn't fun anymore. Writing, instead of a process of discovery, becomes a work of transcription. I think this is what Thoreau is talking about when he talks about heat. It's the flame consuming new fuel that is the heat of writing, not a picture of campfire hung on a wall. There is a certain life to a campfire compared to the dryness of processes central heat. And unfortunately, we're taught that the central heat is desirable.
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from
mediocre minds."
--Albert Einstein
And you should go see what's goin on with Discovery today...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Space Junkie
I was not born a space junkie. It was a gift from my father, when I was about five years old and my father woke me up and made me watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. It was history, and gosh darn, Dad wouldn't let me miss it, inspite of the late hour and my mother's non-interest. We watched every space flight that was broadcast after that.
But the biggest gift to space junkies ever, is the internet. NASA TV live over the internet is much better than any ten minute coverage the networks can provide. Something about the ordinaryness of some fellow in the firing room getting up and walking to the coffee pot in the back of the room. It's the third time it's on this week and still exciting.
The two best things though, are the crew radio checks and the final "polling".
Crew radio checks occur after the crew is secured in the shuttle. The crew then has to check communications with the firing room, launch command and mission control in Houston. Then they are instructed to not touch the knobs except to adjust the volume for their own comfort. The thing is, the voices are so full of anticipation and excitment. It's the first flight for Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson and they're voices aren't seasoned scientists, but little girls at Christmas. Same with the boys. They are even more pumped, especially those who've done it before. Apparently, there's nothing "Been there, done that" about space travel.
The final polling is when the launch director goes down the list and asks each area for go-no go. Even the voices of these engineers and specialists drip with excitement. These folks love what they do. I'm sure there are politics and personality problems, affairs, and all the other crap that comes with government work, but today, they are going to space. Everything else is so much crap.
On our trip to Flordia in 1976, my family and I were subjected the full propaganda machine about the space shuttle. We bought it and I still have a hard time believing there are folks out there that are not exciting about space travel and the space station. Our Florida trip in 2004, we went to the Cape again, this time the propaganda machine was focused on Mars. Know what? I'm with them. Let's go.
I don't think there's anything better than launching Discovery on the 4th of July. Except maybe launching the Mars trip on another 4th.
But the biggest gift to space junkies ever, is the internet. NASA TV live over the internet is much better than any ten minute coverage the networks can provide. Something about the ordinaryness of some fellow in the firing room getting up and walking to the coffee pot in the back of the room. It's the third time it's on this week and still exciting.
The two best things though, are the crew radio checks and the final "polling".
Crew radio checks occur after the crew is secured in the shuttle. The crew then has to check communications with the firing room, launch command and mission control in Houston. Then they are instructed to not touch the knobs except to adjust the volume for their own comfort. The thing is, the voices are so full of anticipation and excitment. It's the first flight for Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson and they're voices aren't seasoned scientists, but little girls at Christmas. Same with the boys. They are even more pumped, especially those who've done it before. Apparently, there's nothing "Been there, done that" about space travel.
The final polling is when the launch director goes down the list and asks each area for go-no go. Even the voices of these engineers and specialists drip with excitement. These folks love what they do. I'm sure there are politics and personality problems, affairs, and all the other crap that comes with government work, but today, they are going to space. Everything else is so much crap.
On our trip to Flordia in 1976, my family and I were subjected the full propaganda machine about the space shuttle. We bought it and I still have a hard time believing there are folks out there that are not exciting about space travel and the space station. Our Florida trip in 2004, we went to the Cape again, this time the propaganda machine was focused on Mars. Know what? I'm with them. Let's go.
I don't think there's anything better than launching Discovery on the 4th of July. Except maybe launching the Mars trip on another 4th.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Things are not what they appear...
The email quote this morning was from W.S. Gilbert : Things are seldom what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream.
Which naturally made me think of the lyrics to a song, "Things are not what they appear", but I could not for the life of me remember what movie the durn song came from. Finally, at 5 pm, I can stand it no longer. Google reveals all:
Things Are Not What They Appear
Radcliff:
Your royal highnesses, lords and ladies of the court, and our distinguished guests from the forests of the new world.
Performers:
Things are not what they appear
As tonight will make quite clear
But what is real will be revealed
I can feel the moment's near
Things are never what they seem
That will be this evening's theme
A music sites for your delight
Perhaps a few to make you scream
Radcliff:
You will be surprised to see whose disguise
Is the cleverest one of the lot
After our show the whole world will know
Who's pretending to be what they're not
If a jester's grin or a dancer's spin
Should be pleasing, please say, yea
Yep, the ever popular, Pocahontas II. What a thing to remember.
And to connect a Disney direct to DVD animated movie to the venerable Gilbert and Sullivan. I am ashamed. But, as the wise one said, Skim milk does masquerade as cream.
Which naturally made me think of the lyrics to a song, "Things are not what they appear", but I could not for the life of me remember what movie the durn song came from. Finally, at 5 pm, I can stand it no longer. Google reveals all:
Things Are Not What They Appear
Radcliff:
Your royal highnesses, lords and ladies of the court, and our distinguished guests from the forests of the new world.
Performers:
Things are not what they appear
As tonight will make quite clear
But what is real will be revealed
I can feel the moment's near
Things are never what they seem
That will be this evening's theme
A music sites for your delight
Perhaps a few to make you scream
Radcliff:
You will be surprised to see whose disguise
Is the cleverest one of the lot
After our show the whole world will know
Who's pretending to be what they're not
If a jester's grin or a dancer's spin
Should be pleasing, please say, yea
Yep, the ever popular, Pocahontas II. What a thing to remember.
And to connect a Disney direct to DVD animated movie to the venerable Gilbert and Sullivan. I am ashamed. But, as the wise one said, Skim milk does masquerade as cream.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Vote for your favorite first line...
I'm experimenting with a new project, so if you have a few minutes, tell me which first line makes you want to keep reading, or makes you want to put a gun in your mouth.
1. Sometimes, you wake up one morning and realize that your life is just a rough sketch and you really need to start taking the time to color it in.
2. We are such caricatures sometimes, having the shape of a real life, but not actually the life itself.
3. They said it would be just a research facility. But I know better. Research is a corporate euphenism for "We have no idea what the f*** we're doing."
1. Sometimes, you wake up one morning and realize that your life is just a rough sketch and you really need to start taking the time to color it in.
2. We are such caricatures sometimes, having the shape of a real life, but not actually the life itself.
3. They said it would be just a research facility. But I know better. Research is a corporate euphenism for "We have no idea what the f*** we're doing."
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
On writing
I have an addiction to writing books. Actually, not the How to books, not the better dialogue in three easy steps, or Formatting your manuscript type books. I like the ones by real writers, one's I've heard of. Stephen King's On Writing, David Morrell's Lesson's from a Lifetime of Writing, and Terry Brook's Sometimes the Magic Works.Sure, there are some other one's out there, but if I like the authors' books, I tend to like the advice better. I also note a lack of women on my list. Hmmm.
But I did find an interesting quote from Erica Jong of all people. A war quote, in her book, Writing for My Life.
Young people feel immortal. That's why old people can send them to war.
But I did find an interesting quote from Erica Jong of all people. A war quote, in her book, Writing for My Life.
Young people feel immortal. That's why old people can send them to war.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Ten things I learned this week....
1. Running 13 miles when the temperature is in the mid to high nineties is stupid.
2. The fellow who cuts my hair has wonderful book and movie recommendations. His reading list alone is worth the price of a hair cut.
3. I can never predict what time the mail carrier will come to my street and I never will be able to guarantee the mail will be in the box in time.
4. Watching golf on tv is a great sleep aid. Unless Phil Mickelson is melting down.
5. If you can't really use the name Sara Pride for a character because it's someone's real name, then the name Arianna Hubris will do just fine.
6. There's a t-shirt I'm trying to find. It says, "If I only have one day to live, take me to a swim meet. They last forever." I really want that shirt.
7. A really great blog for Screwtape letter fans: Beezleblog This guy is good.
8. I've personalized my browser so much, it's going to be a step down to upgrade. But I'm a whole version number behind and some sites don't work as well. Time to suck it up.
9. I really don't like vampire books. From experience now.
10.Long walks are still the best way to plot a book.
2. The fellow who cuts my hair has wonderful book and movie recommendations. His reading list alone is worth the price of a hair cut.
3. I can never predict what time the mail carrier will come to my street and I never will be able to guarantee the mail will be in the box in time.
4. Watching golf on tv is a great sleep aid. Unless Phil Mickelson is melting down.
5. If you can't really use the name Sara Pride for a character because it's someone's real name, then the name Arianna Hubris will do just fine.
6. There's a t-shirt I'm trying to find. It says, "If I only have one day to live, take me to a swim meet. They last forever." I really want that shirt.
7. A really great blog for Screwtape letter fans: Beezleblog This guy is good.
8. I've personalized my browser so much, it's going to be a step down to upgrade. But I'm a whole version number behind and some sites don't work as well. Time to suck it up.
9. I really don't like vampire books. From experience now.
10.Long walks are still the best way to plot a book.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Tyranny of the Ordinary
I've been a bit busy doing some things for the local school district GT parent committee. Which brings back my own memories of life in "g/t" programs in middle school and the first year of high school. Once I moved to Texas, apparently, I didn't require special "services" anymore. I just went to classes with the next grade up.
I like tyranny of the ordinary, for a title. Read a book, "Smart Girls" a while back about mentoring gifted girls and it was remarkable how many gifted women lead absolutely ordinary lifes. Not for lack of choice, but because of an overwhelming amount of choices, they simply drift into whatever takes the least amount of conflict. Which reminds me of the little "sessions" they used to make us go to in ninth grade, in the couselors office. I can remember a few names, Sarah P., Maryann N., Barry E, Steven S, Shari, John, Craig? Elise was gone to Nigeria by then.
But the main thing was the repetition, we could be anything, do anything. Cream of the crop, etc. Yet now, thirty years later, I can't even google any of them. Are they doing anything, being anything? Could they be doing something significant and yet have absolutely no web presence? I know Maryann dropped out of high school her senior year to mary some sailor.
So now, I wonder what happened. And the only way to wonder is to write about it, naturally. So Tyranny of the Ordinary. Kind of a Now and Then kind of thing, except the preciptating event won't be a school reunion or a wedding/funeral. It'll be the purchase of land by a petrochemical company. Now off to work...
I like tyranny of the ordinary, for a title. Read a book, "Smart Girls" a while back about mentoring gifted girls and it was remarkable how many gifted women lead absolutely ordinary lifes. Not for lack of choice, but because of an overwhelming amount of choices, they simply drift into whatever takes the least amount of conflict. Which reminds me of the little "sessions" they used to make us go to in ninth grade, in the couselors office. I can remember a few names, Sarah P., Maryann N., Barry E, Steven S, Shari, John, Craig? Elise was gone to Nigeria by then.
But the main thing was the repetition, we could be anything, do anything. Cream of the crop, etc. Yet now, thirty years later, I can't even google any of them. Are they doing anything, being anything? Could they be doing something significant and yet have absolutely no web presence? I know Maryann dropped out of high school her senior year to mary some sailor.
So now, I wonder what happened. And the only way to wonder is to write about it, naturally. So Tyranny of the Ordinary. Kind of a Now and Then kind of thing, except the preciptating event won't be a school reunion or a wedding/funeral. It'll be the purchase of land by a petrochemical company. Now off to work...
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Been a bit busy...
Things have been a bit crazy with the end of school coming up next week. Feel free to drop by Crafty Peaches, Live in Concertif you can't live without reading my whining...
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Aloha! The Quiz junky finds a new site!!
You're Hawaii!
When they first meet you, few people can tell whether you want to say
hello or goodbye. Either way, most of them will end up saying that you're their favorite
person to visit, if only they could afford the trip. But your soft and warm image is
belied by an explosive undercurrent in your personality than can leave you drenched with
tears or boiling with anger for days on end. You are rather fond of using plants as
clothing.
Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
You're the College of William and Mary!
There are people who are known for living in the past, but
you make them all seem like futurists. Heck, you even make the Amish seem
futuristic. While you're busy with the past in your mind, you're also
careful to save a little room for work and, even more recently, some time
for amusement parks. Though you seem to be quite a private person, you
actually like publicity. You weren't the first person in your family with
your name.
Take the University Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
You're an Owl!
Old and wise, you have a thirst for knowledge and a reputation for
making the right decision. This can be a lot of pressure sometimes, but you seem
so relaxed and unruffled that it never seems to show. You always keep your eyes
wide open and fixed on your next objective, or on the Harry Potter books, which
you love. The only question you ever ask is "Who?"
Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Yep, and I really ought to be writing now...
Friday, May 05, 2006
Coming soon, the Lazy Days of Summer...
Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to
find easier ways to do something.
-- Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
So I get up early in the morning not to make progress, but so I can justify going to bed early in the evenings and taking naps. The only progress I can say I've made is several really good ideas. Met with someone yesterday and played with the idea of doing a non-fiction project together. Based on Deuteronomy. Which if you say it fast sounds like it too could be a Russian novel. It's the book Jesus quoted more than any other, so there is definitely something there.
Maybe it's a form of spring fever. I'm not finishing the things I'm supposed to be finishing because it's not harvest time. It's planting time outside here in North America (I toss that in for my reader in New Zealand) and things are sprouting all around, so why not let the season dictate and let new ideas sprout up inside as well? I have all summer to bring other things to fruitition. But to let these little idea seedlings have enough mental soil to germinate, to show a little green above the surface. My son is studying some of this stuff in school this month and we have talks about it as we walk to school past the wild flowers and the grass leaving it's winter dormancy behind. We walk and talk, then sneeze, since we're both massively allergic to spring and its pollens.
But the ideas are resting, they are taking in the outside sources I'm feeding them and I have no idea what is going to come out of them,if anything. But there is definitely some good idea work going on. And there never has been a cure for spring fever.
find easier ways to do something.
-- Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
So I get up early in the morning not to make progress, but so I can justify going to bed early in the evenings and taking naps. The only progress I can say I've made is several really good ideas. Met with someone yesterday and played with the idea of doing a non-fiction project together. Based on Deuteronomy. Which if you say it fast sounds like it too could be a Russian novel. It's the book Jesus quoted more than any other, so there is definitely something there.
Maybe it's a form of spring fever. I'm not finishing the things I'm supposed to be finishing because it's not harvest time. It's planting time outside here in North America (I toss that in for my reader in New Zealand) and things are sprouting all around, so why not let the season dictate and let new ideas sprout up inside as well? I have all summer to bring other things to fruitition. But to let these little idea seedlings have enough mental soil to germinate, to show a little green above the surface. My son is studying some of this stuff in school this month and we have talks about it as we walk to school past the wild flowers and the grass leaving it's winter dormancy behind. We walk and talk, then sneeze, since we're both massively allergic to spring and its pollens.
But the ideas are resting, they are taking in the outside sources I'm feeding them and I have no idea what is going to come out of them,if anything. But there is definitely some good idea work going on. And there never has been a cure for spring fever.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Move over, Dr. Atkins.
Ideas for the next two projects are flying fast and furious. Here is one that is sure be included in the political satire. And did I mention that this is a hard time to be a political satirist, since real life is stealing all the good punchlines?
A friend of mine was told that he thinks so much, he probably burns calories and that's why he is so trim. As we talked about the ridiculousness of the comment, it occured to us, we could solve two of America's biggest challenges with one plan.
The thinking diet.
Fixing both obesity and stupidity. Multitasking, if you will, the American way. I can already see my diet guru, a tall skinny fellow with fluffy blond hair and a George Hamilton tan. Couple of face lifts. He creates an entire collection of DVD's with his thinking man's diet. Of course, he isn't really smart enough to think for himself, so he enlists the help of a local professor of anthropology. The prof gives the dvd's actual content, so as the dvd's fly off the shelves, the consumers are being instructed to actually use previously untapped mental abilities and apply them to current events. Which naturally leads to a revolt against the First Thinker/Decider.
pondering on...
A friend of mine was told that he thinks so much, he probably burns calories and that's why he is so trim. As we talked about the ridiculousness of the comment, it occured to us, we could solve two of America's biggest challenges with one plan.
The thinking diet.
Fixing both obesity and stupidity. Multitasking, if you will, the American way. I can already see my diet guru, a tall skinny fellow with fluffy blond hair and a George Hamilton tan. Couple of face lifts. He creates an entire collection of DVD's with his thinking man's diet. Of course, he isn't really smart enough to think for himself, so he enlists the help of a local professor of anthropology. The prof gives the dvd's actual content, so as the dvd's fly off the shelves, the consumers are being instructed to actually use previously untapped mental abilities and apply them to current events. Which naturally leads to a revolt against the First Thinker/Decider.
pondering on...
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
It's not a good week to be brain dead...
Not that there is ever a good week to be brain dead. But some weeks are better than others. This is not one of them. Besides getting ready for a garage sale and all the fun associated with that, permits, ads, pricing and what not, I have a school presentation on Wednesday, dentist on Thursday, a book that needs to be set up for a printer, and the beginnings of a newsletter. I had one thing scheduled for Monday.
I'm 0-fer. Yep, one thing scheduled one thing missed. Because I have some great new characters in my pea brain and they're being awfully greedy with my time. This, while being good, is not really good, because I'm not sure what use these characters are yet. Time will tell. But they are demanding and this is not good. Because I have, you know, stuff.
Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if anyone will pay for my manuscripts at the garage sale...
I'm 0-fer. Yep, one thing scheduled one thing missed. Because I have some great new characters in my pea brain and they're being awfully greedy with my time. This, while being good, is not really good, because I'm not sure what use these characters are yet. Time will tell. But they are demanding and this is not good. Because I have, you know, stuff.
Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if anyone will pay for my manuscripts at the garage sale...
Friday, April 21, 2006
Ouch...
A satirist is a man who discovers unpleasant things about himself and
then says them about other people.
-- Peter McArthur
Of course, I'm not a satirist, nor do I play one on television. But if the offer came up, I wouldn't pass it up. Maybe I should call myself a sarcastist. Not a word, but others have made up words, so why not.
A televsion ad for some home improvement store said that if I buy their products, I wouldn't have to be a great gardener to have a great garden. Wouldn't that be cool if it worked for writing? You don't have to be a great writer to write a great book. Just sprinkle wordweed and plot feed on, and all those pesky adjectives and adverbs will shrivel up and die, while your plot grows strong and your characters robust. Although, I guess that robust characters would almost guarantee a strong plot, just by force of their personalities. That's the hope anyway. Then you add water, and poof. Don't need to be a great writer. Hmmm, sounds a bit formulaic... But wouldn't be great if you could get it at the Writers' Store with the rest of the things that are guaranteed to help you sell your next book.
Yeah, just ordered two boxes of wordweed&feed, along with a case of talent. UPS should deliver it next Tuesday, along with the cereal we're supposed to be sampling for a consumer survey...
When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it -
don't back down and don't give up - then you're going to mystify a lot
of folks.
-- Bob Dylan
then says them about other people.
-- Peter McArthur
Of course, I'm not a satirist, nor do I play one on television. But if the offer came up, I wouldn't pass it up. Maybe I should call myself a sarcastist. Not a word, but others have made up words, so why not.
A televsion ad for some home improvement store said that if I buy their products, I wouldn't have to be a great gardener to have a great garden. Wouldn't that be cool if it worked for writing? You don't have to be a great writer to write a great book. Just sprinkle wordweed and plot feed on, and all those pesky adjectives and adverbs will shrivel up and die, while your plot grows strong and your characters robust. Although, I guess that robust characters would almost guarantee a strong plot, just by force of their personalities. That's the hope anyway. Then you add water, and poof. Don't need to be a great writer. Hmmm, sounds a bit formulaic... But wouldn't be great if you could get it at the Writers' Store with the rest of the things that are guaranteed to help you sell your next book.
Yeah, just ordered two boxes of wordweed&feed, along with a case of talent. UPS should deliver it next Tuesday, along with the cereal we're supposed to be sampling for a consumer survey...
When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it -
don't back down and don't give up - then you're going to mystify a lot
of folks.
-- Bob Dylan
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Haven't had a good quiz in a while...
| You Are an Espresso |
 At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high |
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
You really can't make this stuff up...
But there's no law against using it to it's fullest advantage...
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."
Read all about it here: CNN
or if you prefer...Fox News where "deciding" isn't a headline...
Leadership from the Father Knows Best generation...trying to lead the Simpson generation, the irony itself is a hoot.
(furiously taking notes...)
And this morning, it was announced we were getting a new A New Explainer on the Horizon
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."
Read all about it here: CNN
or if you prefer...Fox News where "deciding" isn't a headline...
Leadership from the Father Knows Best generation...trying to lead the Simpson generation, the irony itself is a hoot.
(furiously taking notes...)
And this morning, it was announced we were getting a new A New Explainer on the Horizon
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