I believe that with all my heart. Each one of us matters. Our choices matter. Our thoughts matter. Our dreams matter. And in America, our votes matter! I'm proud to live in a nation with free elections and term limits that protect us from dictatorships and tyrrany. This country was formed out of adversity by inspired men and women who believed in freedom and justice, and believed that they mattered. For them, it wasn't just a vote. It was a battle...a war. Families were divided then like they are now, with some on one side of the fence, and the rest on the other. Though it's important to stand up for our values and our rights, it's equally important to remember as C.S. Lewis said,
"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment."
--C. S. Lewis, From The Weight of Glory.
More important than our candidate winning this election is that we keep our affection for all, whether or not we agree with them.
While searching for the above C.S. Lewis quote, I found countless others and am sorely tempted to post them all. Here are a few:
"Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position." -C.S. Lewis
YES ON 8 FOR CALIFORNIA--for traditional marriage and whole families.
"Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it." -C.S. Lewis
Kind of puts the fire under ya, doesn't it?
"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." -C. S. Lewis
I love this truth. It gives me hope for my authorial goals.
And on that note, I'll update you on my writing:
Guardian Covenant is set aside for now, with a running list of inconsistencies and revisions-to-be-made tallying up as my kind early readers give me priceless feedback. A comprehensive revision will be done once I have all that feedback.
The Mind Traveler is in progress with nearly forty pages completed. Part of me feels like I'm starting out too slowly. Another part feels I'm getting ahead of myself with the action. Either way, I am having fun writing Eric's story. He is hopelessly conflicted between craving acceptance and affection--and needing to be true to himself. After attending a lecture at a seminar on fringe neurology, he's wondering if mind travel is the answer to his depression. The idea of disciplining his mind to the point of total control promises to free him from unfettered, desperate emotion. He believes mind travel can cure his sorrow, repair all that has gone wrong with his life. As he learns more about it, he's eager to dive in before he understands all the perils and traps of his own mind. Though he's been warned, he jumps into the expanse of his imagination and finds a world he didn't expect...a place much like the world he abandoned for this one. And that's where even I don't know what will happen next.
The way this project started out is not where it seems to be going now. It was meant to be a twist on time travel, but based on the principles of hypnosis and belief. Now, it's much more complex. It started when I set out to write Professor Astor's lecture entitled “The Neurological Evidence of Mind Travel and its Implications on Human Evolution by Professor William Astor.” I wrote it in the form of an expository essay, seeking out points of evidence, but keeping it abstract for a wider readership and accessibility. He's my own personal mad scientist, kind of the voice within me that attracts me to science fiction in the first place--the dramatic possibility and superhuman, supernormal theory. Ah, I love it. It doesn't replace reality to me, but extends it. That's how I write it for Eric, too. He's intrigued by the idea of elective evolution based on intense mental discipline. Of course, his primary motive is escapism. His life has come to a devastating low, and he's faced with the reality that nobody understands him enough to love him truly, madly, deeply as he--and every human--craves.
Through mind travel, I intend for him to discover his worst nightmares, and to face them. In facing them, he will learn their antidotes. Of course, an added element of suspense will be the reader's fear that Eric won't be able to come out of his self-imposed coma or worse, that once he discovers the heaven in his own mind, he won't want to.
This will be a book for all the escapists out there like me who have, at one point or another, preferred an alternate reality to their own, and discovered once and for all that this reality is infinitely more beautiful when embraced.
Showing posts with label author. Show all posts
Showing posts with label author. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Realizing goals feels good.
I have recently discovered that realizing your personal and familial goals feels pretty darn good. With Bill making more than twice what he was making in Michigan, and Samuel growing up to be a darling, decent little boy, my life has been cozy--to put it mildly!
I've had time to train for my first marathon, which will be in October 2008. And I've had time to write. In the past few months, I have written an entire book. Well, I have a few pages left to write at the beginning and the end, but the middle is complete. It is amazing what you can get done in just one day when motivated and disciplined... and blessed. Let's not forget the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven who gives me purpose and realization of my worthy goals. He is glorious and--well, Divine!
With daily prayers for inspiration, I've been able to average ten pages in my story each day. The catch is that I have to write forward. I discovered that going back to revise the previous day's work only serves to stall the process and inhibit my imagination. So, I'm going to revise the book through a series of re-readings once it is complete. I have reached page 250 and passed it, so my new goal is simply to write out the rest of my outline in story form. That should only take a remaining 10-15 pages. After that, I had planned to revise and revise and revise with a paper copy of my work with a good old fashioned red pen.
But then I had an epiphany. Well, I remembered that my genre of novel likes to see a series, and so I pondered it, and mulled it over, and decided that, yes, I would write a trilogy. Why not? It's been done by so many! Surely, I can do it, too! Well, I certainly hope I can because the goal is on paper now and there's no stopping it from reaching fruition. I will complete this project and I will do it before the end of this year!
Having done with the middle part of the story, I have a prequel and a sequel to write. The prequel is practically written, since I began this story six years ago with events predating the middle portion. I've found some of those portions on an old livejournal. I'm so satisfied that the internet didn't eat them up. Sometimes one wonders about the things we send into cyberspace.
So the biggest challenge will be writing the last installment of the series. That is the episode that will require the most raw imagination. The outline isn't written yet--not really. Oh, but it will be soon. I find that the keys to my continual writing include a dash of self-deception. For one thing, I can't very well admit to myself how terrible I think that last paragraph sounds. I have to keep moving forward, as Disney says, and hope to revise it later. This requires ignoring a lot of my book's faults, but only temporarily. The depressing period of revision will be the time for picking at every pimple and sore. Painful as it will be, I will do it. Just not now. Now, I have goals to meet and two more books of a series to write, mesh, and coordinate together.
I read a book recently about how to read like a writer. In fact, I think that's what it was called: Read Like a Writer by a lady named Prose.
She made some helpful points, including the point that we should be reading our favorite authors carefully to learn from them the nuances of good writing. So I picked up my anthology of Emily Dickinson today and perused a few of her thousands of poems. Then I picked up the first Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and began that for the umpteenth time, admiring the way she structures her sentences to keep me interested, even though I know how the story goes. Do you know that she has another book out? Tales of Beedle the Bard, or something. I can't wait to read it.
When I first picked up Harry Potter at the recommendation of my 13-year-old sister, I read a few lines in the middle and gave this verdict: "There's nothing remarkable about this writing." That was one of my life lessons. It turned out over the course of actually reading the books, there was something remarkable about her writing! It was in the way she used simple words and phrases in creative ways to tell an ingenious story with important moral principles. It was in the humor of her scenes and in her characters' voices, or the fright you can almost feel when Harry battles a foe. They were meant for children, published by Scholastic, no less. Yet, they reached a much more vast audience. There was definitely something remarkable about that author's writing. I can only hope to be a quarter as successful as she was, or half as good a writer.
Then there is Jane Austen, who is, of course, in a class by herself. Nobody can hold a candle to her. J.K. Rowling is fabulous, of course, but it is a different kind of writing. She is like J.R.R. Tolkein himself, or C. S. Lewis--in her skillfull story-telling. Jane Austen did more than tell a story with a moral. She gave us elegant insight into the minds of real people--not just made-up characters. Oh, she was fantastic. If only I could write with her narrator's authority and eloquence. If only my characters could be as aloof and emotionally-charged as hers.
I may be relegated to the status of blog-writer forever. Would that be a travesty? My only claim on writing is that I love it so well, and that it soothes me, and that my mother always loved my poetry. No greater than any other man's claim on the sport. But I do love it.
I hope that novel-writing is like essay-writing. The first essay I ever wrote was horrible, unremarkable, and disorganized. But as I learned the rules of good essay-writing, and practiced, and received criticism well, I began to get A's and then gold medals in Academic Decathlon's essay category, and finally published in the school journal. If I sat down to write an essay, even now, it would not be as good as my essays then were. It's about learning the rules and practicing consistently, right? So, in theory, I should be able to learn the art of novel-writing in the same manner. With this in mind, I believe strongly that my method of moving forward and writing and writing and writing and finishing my rough draft before I revise will work. When I have finished that, I will go back and apply the new rules I have learned through practice, and the revised copy will be glorious. Or at least better. I hope.
Wish me luck in my attempts at writing. For I have been working on the same novel for six years, and that is too long for failure. I must finish this story, because at least three others that I have thought of since beginning now beg to be told. My work is never done.
I've had time to train for my first marathon, which will be in October 2008. And I've had time to write. In the past few months, I have written an entire book. Well, I have a few pages left to write at the beginning and the end, but the middle is complete. It is amazing what you can get done in just one day when motivated and disciplined... and blessed. Let's not forget the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven who gives me purpose and realization of my worthy goals. He is glorious and--well, Divine!
With daily prayers for inspiration, I've been able to average ten pages in my story each day. The catch is that I have to write forward. I discovered that going back to revise the previous day's work only serves to stall the process and inhibit my imagination. So, I'm going to revise the book through a series of re-readings once it is complete. I have reached page 250 and passed it, so my new goal is simply to write out the rest of my outline in story form. That should only take a remaining 10-15 pages. After that, I had planned to revise and revise and revise with a paper copy of my work with a good old fashioned red pen.
But then I had an epiphany. Well, I remembered that my genre of novel likes to see a series, and so I pondered it, and mulled it over, and decided that, yes, I would write a trilogy. Why not? It's been done by so many! Surely, I can do it, too! Well, I certainly hope I can because the goal is on paper now and there's no stopping it from reaching fruition. I will complete this project and I will do it before the end of this year!
Having done with the middle part of the story, I have a prequel and a sequel to write. The prequel is practically written, since I began this story six years ago with events predating the middle portion. I've found some of those portions on an old livejournal. I'm so satisfied that the internet didn't eat them up. Sometimes one wonders about the things we send into cyberspace.
So the biggest challenge will be writing the last installment of the series. That is the episode that will require the most raw imagination. The outline isn't written yet--not really. Oh, but it will be soon. I find that the keys to my continual writing include a dash of self-deception. For one thing, I can't very well admit to myself how terrible I think that last paragraph sounds. I have to keep moving forward, as Disney says, and hope to revise it later. This requires ignoring a lot of my book's faults, but only temporarily. The depressing period of revision will be the time for picking at every pimple and sore. Painful as it will be, I will do it. Just not now. Now, I have goals to meet and two more books of a series to write, mesh, and coordinate together.
I read a book recently about how to read like a writer. In fact, I think that's what it was called: Read Like a Writer by a lady named Prose.
She made some helpful points, including the point that we should be reading our favorite authors carefully to learn from them the nuances of good writing. So I picked up my anthology of Emily Dickinson today and perused a few of her thousands of poems. Then I picked up the first Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and began that for the umpteenth time, admiring the way she structures her sentences to keep me interested, even though I know how the story goes. Do you know that she has another book out? Tales of Beedle the Bard, or something. I can't wait to read it.
When I first picked up Harry Potter at the recommendation of my 13-year-old sister, I read a few lines in the middle and gave this verdict: "There's nothing remarkable about this writing." That was one of my life lessons. It turned out over the course of actually reading the books, there was something remarkable about her writing! It was in the way she used simple words and phrases in creative ways to tell an ingenious story with important moral principles. It was in the humor of her scenes and in her characters' voices, or the fright you can almost feel when Harry battles a foe. They were meant for children, published by Scholastic, no less. Yet, they reached a much more vast audience. There was definitely something remarkable about that author's writing. I can only hope to be a quarter as successful as she was, or half as good a writer.
Then there is Jane Austen, who is, of course, in a class by herself. Nobody can hold a candle to her. J.K. Rowling is fabulous, of course, but it is a different kind of writing. She is like J.R.R. Tolkein himself, or C. S. Lewis--in her skillfull story-telling. Jane Austen did more than tell a story with a moral. She gave us elegant insight into the minds of real people--not just made-up characters. Oh, she was fantastic. If only I could write with her narrator's authority and eloquence. If only my characters could be as aloof and emotionally-charged as hers.
I may be relegated to the status of blog-writer forever. Would that be a travesty? My only claim on writing is that I love it so well, and that it soothes me, and that my mother always loved my poetry. No greater than any other man's claim on the sport. But I do love it.
I hope that novel-writing is like essay-writing. The first essay I ever wrote was horrible, unremarkable, and disorganized. But as I learned the rules of good essay-writing, and practiced, and received criticism well, I began to get A's and then gold medals in Academic Decathlon's essay category, and finally published in the school journal. If I sat down to write an essay, even now, it would not be as good as my essays then were. It's about learning the rules and practicing consistently, right? So, in theory, I should be able to learn the art of novel-writing in the same manner. With this in mind, I believe strongly that my method of moving forward and writing and writing and writing and finishing my rough draft before I revise will work. When I have finished that, I will go back and apply the new rules I have learned through practice, and the revised copy will be glorious. Or at least better. I hope.
Wish me luck in my attempts at writing. For I have been working on the same novel for six years, and that is too long for failure. I must finish this story, because at least three others that I have thought of since beginning now beg to be told. My work is never done.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Guardian Covenant turns TRILOGY
Well, things have been going so well with my story, I've decided to expand into a trilogy. The book I am currently working on will be in the middle, with the prequel and sequel to be finished soon. I have 212 pages of the middle book completed, which means I have less than 40 pages to my original goal of 250. It's going to be a task to make sure the three books are seamless, without contradiction to each other, but that's why I'm going to do them all in the same word document. I'm having fun weaving true life principles into the story, especially after I read an awful book called Best Friends by Martha Moody. It was her first novel and more edgy travesties are to follow already. I will not be reading any subsequent novels from that author. Though the book was not entirely without merit, it did further political and amoral agendas that I want no part of. For one, it attempted to make pornography seem acceptable as a way of providing for a family, and I am dead-bent against pornography in all its forms. On top of that, the narrator's many extra-marital affairs and her husbands' extra-martial affairs make adultery look commonplace and borderline acceptable. I find that type of writing unacceptable and I wouldn't want my children to read it either.
Call me old fashioned, call me a Dr. Laura fan, but I don't like the idea of all our morals in society decaying past the point of no-return. Imagine a world where people did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, oblivious to whom they hurt because they were trying to make THEIR life better and happier, at least for a moment or two. That's exactly what our society worldwide is coming to: selfishness, the ME era. I'd rather have our era be called the Golden era like a past era was called. Why must we be so self-destructive while being self-serving. I'm not on a soap-box, believe me. I've had my share of self-destructive and self-serving behavior and I still battle with the self. I just think we should be writing and discussing about admirable human qualities, qualities that CAN BE attained in this life: honor, as my friend Rosie taught me, and compassion for others, sensitivity to others and not only oneself, sacrifice. In my mind, sacrifice is one of the most important qualities we can add to our lives. It is found in bearing and raising children with kindness; it is found in staying married and building love even after several years of tribulation or financial distress; it is found in honesty and scruples in business despite low profits or failed marketing; it is found in every type of real love and every type of true virtue. Sacrifice and its surprising rewards and joy should be taught to our children. Sacrifice should be written of in every tale. Well, at least that's what I think. I hope my writing is at least good enough to be a vehicle for this message to others. Read for the characters, the personalities, the plot, but remember clearly the message: Love is sacrifice and joy can be found therein.
It sure feels good to get words down on the page and to get closer to my goals of publication, though perhaps not acclaim. My brand of principles and scruples isn't so welcome in the editor's office. We'll have to see how difficult it is to get a novel published when it's not EDGY to the point of apostasy. Of course, if a person doesn't know the truth, I can hardly blame them for floundering. It's impossible to apostasize from lies, and it is the truth with which I am mainly concerned. I just wish there were more people out there SEEKING truth. Why are people content to live out a zombied existence, with no true ambition for goodness? Benjamin Franklin is a man I most admire for his list of qualities that he believed would lead him to perfection. He tried--and failed--many times to overcome every human flaw. But he tried. How many of us can honestly say that we have tried to overcome our flaws and move toward perfection? I hope more of us will. I know it has been a goal of mine to follow in his ambitions, though perhaps not his exact footsteps.
Mirielle, my protagonist, is me in a lot of ways. But she is a better version of me, though she still has faults. I have not written her with my faults, which I deem to be too awful for a heroine to possess. I want her to be a role model, not a real model. My struggle, then, is to make her story believable in the midst of unbelieveable events. I hope I can succeed in this. It will be my life's work until I do.
Other life goals this year: run my first marathon on Oct. 7th and teach my son to read.
Peace and Blessings.
Call me old fashioned, call me a Dr. Laura fan, but I don't like the idea of all our morals in society decaying past the point of no-return. Imagine a world where people did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, oblivious to whom they hurt because they were trying to make THEIR life better and happier, at least for a moment or two. That's exactly what our society worldwide is coming to: selfishness, the ME era. I'd rather have our era be called the Golden era like a past era was called. Why must we be so self-destructive while being self-serving. I'm not on a soap-box, believe me. I've had my share of self-destructive and self-serving behavior and I still battle with the self. I just think we should be writing and discussing about admirable human qualities, qualities that CAN BE attained in this life: honor, as my friend Rosie taught me, and compassion for others, sensitivity to others and not only oneself, sacrifice. In my mind, sacrifice is one of the most important qualities we can add to our lives. It is found in bearing and raising children with kindness; it is found in staying married and building love even after several years of tribulation or financial distress; it is found in honesty and scruples in business despite low profits or failed marketing; it is found in every type of real love and every type of true virtue. Sacrifice and its surprising rewards and joy should be taught to our children. Sacrifice should be written of in every tale. Well, at least that's what I think. I hope my writing is at least good enough to be a vehicle for this message to others. Read for the characters, the personalities, the plot, but remember clearly the message: Love is sacrifice and joy can be found therein.
It sure feels good to get words down on the page and to get closer to my goals of publication, though perhaps not acclaim. My brand of principles and scruples isn't so welcome in the editor's office. We'll have to see how difficult it is to get a novel published when it's not EDGY to the point of apostasy. Of course, if a person doesn't know the truth, I can hardly blame them for floundering. It's impossible to apostasize from lies, and it is the truth with which I am mainly concerned. I just wish there were more people out there SEEKING truth. Why are people content to live out a zombied existence, with no true ambition for goodness? Benjamin Franklin is a man I most admire for his list of qualities that he believed would lead him to perfection. He tried--and failed--many times to overcome every human flaw. But he tried. How many of us can honestly say that we have tried to overcome our flaws and move toward perfection? I hope more of us will. I know it has been a goal of mine to follow in his ambitions, though perhaps not his exact footsteps.
Mirielle, my protagonist, is me in a lot of ways. But she is a better version of me, though she still has faults. I have not written her with my faults, which I deem to be too awful for a heroine to possess. I want her to be a role model, not a real model. My struggle, then, is to make her story believable in the midst of unbelieveable events. I hope I can succeed in this. It will be my life's work until I do.
Other life goals this year: run my first marathon on Oct. 7th and teach my son to read.
Peace and Blessings.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Purpose of this blog
The original purpose of this blog, though it may change, is to communicate my feelings and process about my book-writing efforts.
Throughout my life, I have been a creative soul: often dramatic, but always passionate. This is a writer's diary-- a place to let my writing career evolve and develop, I hope, into a verile, fruit-bearing tree... preferrably pink grapefruit. I love pink grapefruit.
First, I want to express my disappointment with the over-mechanization of novel-writing that occurs first in the public schools when well-meaning teachers insist that young writers conform to a series of rules, some of which are ridiculous... like delineating which tense we all should write in, and that you should never end a phrase with a preposition as I just did. In truth and in life, we all communicate imperfectly and I think we all enjoy reading thoughts that share this degree of imperfection. In my writing, I strive for accuracy in mechanics, grammar, punctuation, etc., but I have all but given up many of the other rules I have been taught for writing good essays and fiction. For example, some people would have you believe that you can never use the helping verb "had" or "have" in your writing, because it is cumbersome (or for whatever reason). Or they will tell you to limit your descriptive adjectives until your sentences are streamlined steam engines that get straight to the point without meandering at all. How awful! What if Robert Frost wrote like that?
Over-mechanization of novel-writing will claim me as its constipated victim no longer! I will write according to the rules I have learned, only insofar as it sounds and feels good! I know, that's so bold and brash, but it must be said by me if I'm to continue in this journey. I will write freely and I will revise conscientiously. But (yes, I started with that word on purpose) I will not revise my work to match the trends of today's popular fiction or non-fiction. I do not want my books to have the same trendy covers and titles that I see on the shelves at the bookstore. I prefer them to resemble the classics I find in the library. And what I have learned from the writers of yesteryear is that great writing can be done in my own style, even breaking a rule or two here and there. Even using "trite" expressions appropriately can serve a purpose in great writing. And so I declare my independence from over-mechanized writing and say, "Leave me be!" to the great critics of the world who are great only for criticizing those who are truly great.
And thus begins my blog. Most of it won't be this self-righteous-sounding, I hope. :-)
Throughout my life, I have been a creative soul: often dramatic, but always passionate. This is a writer's diary-- a place to let my writing career evolve and develop, I hope, into a verile, fruit-bearing tree... preferrably pink grapefruit. I love pink grapefruit.
First, I want to express my disappointment with the over-mechanization of novel-writing that occurs first in the public schools when well-meaning teachers insist that young writers conform to a series of rules, some of which are ridiculous... like delineating which tense we all should write in, and that you should never end a phrase with a preposition as I just did. In truth and in life, we all communicate imperfectly and I think we all enjoy reading thoughts that share this degree of imperfection. In my writing, I strive for accuracy in mechanics, grammar, punctuation, etc., but I have all but given up many of the other rules I have been taught for writing good essays and fiction. For example, some people would have you believe that you can never use the helping verb "had" or "have" in your writing, because it is cumbersome (or for whatever reason). Or they will tell you to limit your descriptive adjectives until your sentences are streamlined steam engines that get straight to the point without meandering at all. How awful! What if Robert Frost wrote like that?
Over-mechanization of novel-writing will claim me as its constipated victim no longer! I will write according to the rules I have learned, only insofar as it sounds and feels good! I know, that's so bold and brash, but it must be said by me if I'm to continue in this journey. I will write freely and I will revise conscientiously. But (yes, I started with that word on purpose) I will not revise my work to match the trends of today's popular fiction or non-fiction. I do not want my books to have the same trendy covers and titles that I see on the shelves at the bookstore. I prefer them to resemble the classics I find in the library. And what I have learned from the writers of yesteryear is that great writing can be done in my own style, even breaking a rule or two here and there. Even using "trite" expressions appropriately can serve a purpose in great writing. And so I declare my independence from over-mechanized writing and say, "Leave me be!" to the great critics of the world who are great only for criticizing those who are truly great.
And thus begins my blog. Most of it won't be this self-righteous-sounding, I hope. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)