#217 Guns In School

I teach a college class in N. Texas.  Each spring we have a department meeting, and our 2015 meeting was yesterday.  We spent hours working through the agenda, as is usual for this sort of thing, and towards the end of the meeting, our Dean read the word "Concerns," which was printed at the bottom of the page next to the word "Questions." A teacher next to me raised his hand.

He said, "I've got concerns.  The Texas Legislature just passed a law allowing concealed handguns on campus, and now I'm nervous to even be in the classroom with students."

Most of us nodded.  A law that allows students to carry concealed handguns on campus is ludicrous.  Even for Texas.  A gun in the classroom?  Makes as much sense as hen shit on a pump handle.  But there was one teacher in the wings, one man with his hand raised halfway toward the ceiling.  Before the Dean, or anyone else, could speak, he said, "Well, they still have to have their concealed handgun license."

That one guy is the problem.  That attitude is the problem.  Having a license doesn't make it okay to carry a gun in the classroom.  Or anywhere else in public.  It just doesn't.  The constitution allows for citizens to be armed against a threat to home, family, and freedom.  None of these are threatened in school.  Yet, fights break out in school all the time.  Fights over boyfriends or girlfriends.  Skirmishes over a fender bender.  I once saw a fight over an errant frisbee that hit an innocent bystander in the head.  The boy thought it was thrown on purpose, and thus, a fight ensued.

I'm not in favor of fights, but I understand that they happen.  Students square off against each other over pride, jealousy, prejudice, and occasionally, over misthrown frisbees.  Adolescent emotions can cause lapses in judgement, and sometimes fights result.  But in these moments, rarely are students' lives in danger.  Throw in concealed handguns, and that changes.  Now everyone's life is in danger.

I've read articles on why this has been allowed to happen, and the only justification mentioned in favor of the law claims that carrying a weapon is a "God given right."  This makes no sense.  Guns didn't even exist when the bible was written.  Religion is too often used to justify violence.  And thanks to the Texas Legislature, now it's used to encourage it.

It's time for sensible people to speak out against this law.  I understand there is a vocal minority who LOVE guns.  But most of us agree that guns have no place in our schools and other public places.  I'm against guns anywhere.  But if we must have them because of the 2nd amendment, then let's keep them isolated to people's home (for protection) and for sport (hunting).  And when that one guy tentatively raises his hand and says, "Well, at least the students have a concealed license," we need to explain that isn't a good enough reason to put everyone else's life in danger.

Book Review: The Sham by Ellen Allen

A bit of luck led me to The Sham.  Searching through Twitter writers, I found Ellen Allen.  She posted a link to an article on writing book reviews, which I found especially helpful because I'm making it a priority to write more book reviews.  It must've been fate.  Or just dumb luck.

So here are my thoughts on The Sham:

• A murder and love story wrapped into one.  I'm not sure what genre this falls into because it has characteristics of Young Adult, New Adult, and Psychological Thriller.  I tend to like books better when they cross over genres, and The Sham does this.
• It is set in rural England, which I enjoyed.  Being from the states, I like the nuances of life in another country.  Most of these nuances come in the form of vocabulary (crisps instead of chips, mum instead of mom etc.), but there are fundamental attitude differences I found intriguing with the characters because of the difference in cultural upbringing.
• I'd describe the writing style as fresh and snarky.  The Sham is written from a 1st person perspective, which gives us insight into the attitude of the narrator.  Ellen Allen does a good job portraying the story through her main character Emily, who is a seventeen-year old girl with a seventeen-year old attitude.  The writing style is fast-paced, and the plot is driven forward primarily through the mysterious circumstances surrounding a handful of questionable characters who are involved, somehow, in a murderous plot.
• The characters are dynamic and strange.  Characterization occurs mainly through the interactions between the main players.  For the most part, I had a clear understanding of each character and the motivations that drove him/her.  A few peripheral characters confused me and I found myself re-reading passages in an attempt to better understand their behaviors.  This may be because it is a mystery, and so I read with particular attention to detail as I tried to figure out who was doing what.   I may have been over-analyzing, which caused my experience to bog down in parts.  But these occurrences didn't stop me from finishing the novel.
• The story builds to a climax that brings together all the characters, and all the mystery, into one place for a resolution that stays true to the components that make up the novel.  For a mystery to be successful, the crime must make sense as well as intrigue.  The Sham accomplishes this.

I don't read many psychological thrillers.  It isn't my preferred genre.  Despite that, I felt myself wanting to know more about the story and the characters, and ultimately it was that curiosity that kept me turning pages.

#216 The Zoom Lens - A Brief Look At Your Writing

There are many ways to look at improving your writing.  Here's an overview on approaching your craft, no matter what your skill level.  I like to break down the writing process by looking at it through a zoom lens.  Following are the different views:

200mm (Full Zoom) - The sentence (aka syntax):
Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences.  Another way to look at this, is the use of words as tools to communicate a simple idea.  Many aspiring writers, and non-writers, feel syntax is the key to writing.  They might argue that talented writers would be masters of syntax, born with a gift for words, a clear understanding of grammar, and thoughts that can express themselves cleanly and eloquently.  I've not met a creative writing class that deals with syntax, which is why most assume it's a gift.

But there are ways to exercise syntax.

• First and foremost is to write.  The more you write, the easier it becomes to use words to convey a message.  Practice makes perfect, duh.  
• A writer can also learn from books.  There are hundreds of writing books.  Many address grammar and style.  These books can be helpful and inspirational, but still, the reality is that a writer must put into practice the principles they may learn from such a book.  
• And finally, the only other way to improve craft is to read writers who have mastered it.  Going classic is fine.  There are certainly things you can learn from Hemingway, Capote, and Salinger.  But consider reading contemporary as well.  There are hundreds of great writers, maybe even thousands, that are putting out books right now.  You can learn from each and every one of them.

80mm - The Chapter or Short Story:

If syntax is understanding the tools, then writing a short story is like building a piece of furniture.  You need to know enough for structural integrity.  You can learn this by writing something small.  A short story or chapter.  It needs to be complete, must be able to stand on its own.  You can also learn the subtleties and elaborations that make your piece of furniture look exquisite.  A carved exterior or stained shelves that give the piece a rustic look.

Writing a scene is different from syntax.  The words and phrases must string together to develop characters and conflict.  A scene embraces mood and pacing.  There must be a clear beginning, middle, and end.  Syntax can move a person about a room, or describe a storm rolling in from the ocean.  A short story tells the significance of this person or this storm.  What does this person do?  What conflicts does this storm present?  To write an effective story, there must be a build up of events.  Descriptions take a reader to a particular place, or describes a unique situation.  And in the end, a reader feels fulfilled, for he or she started someplace and ended up somewhere else.

Similar to syntax, the best way to improve The Chapter or Short Story is through writing.  Write scenes.  Any scenes.  Write a dinner scene or a chase scene.  Write a scene about two guys playing pool when suddenly, one of them farts so ferociously that he ruins his underpants.  I've seen fewer books that discuss writing scenes and short stories.  I think practice is the essence here.  But, one thing you can do is look at how masters write a scene.  Instead of reading Tolstoy's entire works, consider reading one of his dinner scenes.  What does a James Joyce billiards scene look like?

28 mm - The Book:

The widest lens I look through for this post is The Book.  Books are comprised of a series of scenes, of chapters, that fit together to tell a larger story.  No matter how many sentences you write, or short stories for that matter, nothing can prepare you or teach you how to write a novel.  The art of putting together sentences and organizing chapters, so that you can tell a complete and coherent story that is both legible and compelling, is worlds apart from syntax and short stories.  If a short story is like a piece of furniture, then a book is like a house.  There's so much more to think about.  All aspects of the short story are amplified.  Pace, mood, characterization, conflict, and resolution become more important, because a reader has agreed to invest considerable time with your project, and it must stand, intrigue and ultimately impress if you wish the reader to share the experience with other readers.

I've been writing novels exclusively now for nearly a year and a half, and so, do NOT consider myself a master worthy of teaching someone else how to complete a novel.  But I wouldn't start writing a novel without a healthy understanding of syntax and experience writing scenes and short stories.  Learning the tools and learning how to use them on a small scale is the best way to prepare for the daunting journey that is writing a novel.

There is no formula to write a successful novel.  It takes practice.  If you are an aspiring writer and wish to learn the craft, to develop the tools necessary to tell a complex story, then I recommend you begin with the zoom lens all the way out.  Learn syntax.  Understand good sentence structure and practice good grammar.  Write short stories.  Develop characters in one or two scenes.  Start small.  And soon after you'll be ready to open the lens all the way out and start writing your novel.

Book Review: Trapped In Time By Bree Wolf

I stumbled upon Trapped In Time, by Bree Wolf, accidentally one day while snooping through the endless wonder that is Twitter.  I can't say exactly how I found this book, only that I discovered it just a few days after it was published, and so decided to give it a chance.  Following are my thoughts:

• Ever since Back To The Future blew my mind in 1985 (I was 8 years old), I've been fascinated with time travel stories.  Trapped In Time qualifies; it deals with shifts in time as the character experiences life in a nonlinear way. However, this story focuses more on the close relationships within the main character's life, including a mysterious character that drops in and out of the narrative, rather than on the paradoxes and interesting situations that arise from time travel.  This is not a bad thing.  I'd just like to make it clear the story is more based on characters than sci-fi aspect of time travel.

• The characters in this story are quirky and young.  The story takes place within the 10 year period following college, the years of discovery that accompany one's first taste of independence.  Wolf does a good job of showing the angst of this time period, as her characters grapple with career, romance, and love, which are the novel's key themes.  I did feel that the characters could have been developed further.  I got a sense of the characters interactions with each other, but I didn't get a good sense of them as people outside those interactions.  This story relies less on character development, and more on the exploration of strange occurrences that happen to the main character.

• The writing style encourages a fast-paced reading experience.  Dialogue and simple, every day scenes drive the story forward.   Taking a step back, Wolf gets caught in a plot cycle--I think used to enhance the mystery--that causes the overall story to bog down in places.

• The story builds, like a wave, into one climactic scene that occurs in the last chapter, which is the best chapter in the book.  Wolf does a good job tying everything together and explaining the mysterious nuances she develops throughout.

Overall, I think this novel is for readers who prefer a fast-paced story with quirky, and oftentimes snarky, banter between the main characters.  There's one main conflict driving the story with one resolution.  This is not a complicated novel, and is definitely not steeped within the realm of science fiction, like one might expect from a time travel story.

#215 Blurb Crafting

After this week, I will have published 3 novels.  I feel comfortable with most parts of the writing process:  I have a wealth of ideas I'd be happy to explore.  I'm happy with my outlining process.  I have not had issues finding my voice or organizing the narrative.  I can stay on a writing schedule, ensuring that I get my pages down.  I have an editor I trust and a graphic designer who impresses me. But the one part of the process where I've yet to find confidence is Blurb Crafting.

Each novel has a description, a preview, meant to persuade potential readers to open the book.  Or perhaps to one-click buy it.  This is the blurb.  I've never liked blurbs or previews.  I don't like knowing anything about a story when I begin.  I prefer to let the story teller have complete freedom, free from any expectations I might've garnered from an overzealous preview.  But I know I'm in the minority here, and few people will buy a book without knowing something about it.

As a result, I've had trouble crafting a blurb for each of my 3 novels.  This is an area in which I MUST improve if I'm to sell books.

So I did a lot of research and a lot of blurb reading in preparation for writing the blurb to my upcoming book.  Here are key things I learned, which I think are vital to a successful blurb.

• The blurb must establish genre.  Many readers need to know what sort of book they are getting themselves into.  Readers are less concerned with the monetary investment, anywhere from $1-$15.  But they are concerned with the time investment.  Readers do not want to spend weeks reading a book that does not fit into a genre they typically like.  So the blurb must identify the genre so that it can find its proper readers.
• The blurb should hint at the style of the book.  Is it a quirky story with fun characters?  Or is it a dark story with serious characters.  Readers have moods too, and a blurb should reveal a book's mood so that a connection can be made.  It can be off-putting to a reader to be in a playful mood, only to open a serious book with a depressing agenda.
• Be succinct.  This is tough.  I once compared a blurb to explaining why someone married his/her spouse in only one sentence.  A book is a complex thing, and a blurb is meant to whittle it down into a short paragraph.  Though it's not easy, it's imperative to keep the blurb concise.  Some readers will be turned off of a long description, thus knocking your book from consideration before it's even had a chance.
• The blurb should introduce the main character.  We like books because we can relate to the characters.  Nothing will keep us turning pages like a character we care about.  So, let's meet this intriguing character.  As soon as possible.  First impressions are important, so make sure your character is dressed accordingly...
• Don't give away too much.  This is the biggest problem I have with film previews.  Too many previews reveal the major plot points, which can diminish the affect of the story.  When I was a kid, I remember seeing the preview for Jurassic Park.  It showed a storm, a dark forest, a footprint, and the roar of a T.Rex.  That was it.  And that was all that was needed to get me into a theater to see the movie.

I'm far from an expert Blurb Crafter.  I've toiled over the descriptions for my three novels, and I expect I'll toil over the rest of them as well.  The blurb is an essential piece to the puzzle and must be carefully crafted to draw readers in, to making them click that button that will download your novel to their e-readers.  

Book Review: Time and Again By Jack Finney

In the afterword to 11/22/63, Stephen King describes Time and Again as the great time-travel novel.  I enjoyed King's exploration into the Kennedy assassination and so decided to read and review Time and Again.  Following are some things to keep in mind if you should chose to read it.

• Finney's story, which was first published in 1970, follows an artist who had been hand selected by a secret government agency tasked with discovering, and eventually utilizing, time travel.  The book is filled with hand-drawn renderings of New York City and its people in the late 1800's, which I liked.  
• Finney's ornate style and realistic depiction of the events places this book into more of a literary genre than science fiction.  This is not a fast read.  I would say it's the opposite.  The story focuses on a slow, developed sensory experience of 1882 instead of being focused on the action of the story.  
• Finney has a good eye, and he does well to describe physical locations as well as his character's state of mind.  I can see how this might bother some readers who like stories to be faster paced.  Time and Again is not that kind of story, so beware.
• The setting of this book is unique for me.  I'd not read many books set in either the 1970s or the 1880s.
• I like Finney's characters.  He has a good villain, which I think is important, and his main characters are likable and realistic.
• The story does build to a worthy and interesting climax.  I prefer novels that are NOT predictable.  I don't require a massive twist, or anything, but I don't like guessing the key plot points along the way only to discover a formulaic story that's been written dozens of times before.  This novel is NOT predictable.  And the ending was worth it.

All in all, I say this book is worth reading, especially if you can enjoy a slow-moving plot.  If you prefer a page-turning, action-oriented story, then Time and Again may not be for you.

#214 Buddy White - A Sad Story

I've known Buddy since he was a kitten in Waco, TX.  He grew up bigger and more cross-eyed than his three sisters, and he had a nice, deep meow that reminded me of a weed eater being fired up.  This last weekend I visited Houston and stayed at The Whites.  He normally sits on the couch next to me, digging his sharp claws into my skin and leaving specks of white fur all over my clothes.  This time, however, he remained still on his pillow at the far end of the couch.

"He's not been eating," CW said.  "He hasn't even been drinking water, recently."

We spent a good portion of the evening with Buddy.  We administered his diabetes meds and we tested his sugar levels, which looked good.  We put him in front of his food bowl, but he wasn't interested in eating.  We set him in front of his water.  He sniffed it, gave it an apathetic lick, and then returned to his cushion by the couch.

The next day CW took Buddy to the vet and learned that he suffered from cancer and a failing liver.  The vet ran all possible tests and determined that nothing could be done to save his life, and that the painful end was imminent.  Buddy was an old cat and his time had come.

It was a sad weekend.  It's always sad when a family losses a loved one.  The reason I'm telling this story is because I learned something important.  CW and his wife went into the room with Buddy.  They held him tightly, said their goodbyes, and were with him in his final moments.  They faced their grief head on and showed their love for Buddy, regardless of how hard it was.  This may seem like common sense thinking, but there are some who may not know how important it is to be with them until the very end.

No one likes death.  No one wants to die, but we all do.  The important thing is that we are surrounded by those we love when it's our turn.

#213 Missing The Point

Earlier this year, a widely known indie writer named JA Konrath participated in a debate over the following statement:  Amazon is the reader's friend.  JA Konrath agreed with the statement, believing that Amazon has proven over years of consistent business practices that they seek to keep prices low and their customers happy.  Readers, in this instance, qualify as customers.  Scott Turow disagreed with the statement, offering the alternate view that too much power in one entity's hands will not be good for anyone, readers and writers alike.

I watched the debate.  If you haven't seen it, and you care about the changing landscape of literature, then I suggest you watch it as well.  Here is a link, that also includes JA Konrath's thoughts on the debate.

I don't wish to dive into the points of the debate, as Konrath and Turow did a good job of that already.  But I do wish to talk about a problem I've noticed in our political system that this debate exemplified.  The problem is this:  the way we discuss major issues (the debate format) allows us to quibble over the specific words used to frame the argument, instead of focusing on the point of the argument itself.  Turow exemplifies this with his first argument in this debate when he says that Amazon is a company whose first priorities are to make money for its shareholders.  Thus, it cannot be a "friend" to anyone but itself.  Since the debate was framed around the statement: Amazon is the reader's friend, I believe Turow wins this debate on this single technicality.  He is correct.  The fact that it is a company means it cannot be a friend to anything but the bottom line.  Everything else is secondary.

But that misses the point of this gathering.  Konrath and Turow were not getting together to discuss whether or not a business can also be a friend to a particular segment of the population.  The heart of the debate was supposed to focus on whether or not Kindle Direct Publishing is good for readers and ultimately for literature.  Because of Turow's lawyer-esque manipulation of the statement (which he has a right to do under the debate format), no real progress was made in the debate.

I do not fault Turow for this.  I am trying to shed light on the vehicle of discussion, not Turow's specific argument here.  Because I see this technique of focusing on how something is poorly worded is used to ignore the point of a particular discussion, and in the end, no progress is made.

#212 The Far Side of Writing

There's an old Far Side cartoon with retired cartoonists sitting on a porch reminiscing about the old days.  One cartoonist, with his arms spread wide open, says to the others, "I once drew a nose this big!"

I've always liked this cartoon, probably because I have a big nose that only a cartoonist could love.  Now that I'm a full-time writer, however, this particular cartoon has taken on a new meaning for me.  I devote much of my time to my craft and only some of my time on self promotion.  I spend NO time with other writers, sharing the burdens creativity, solitude, insecurity, and hours trapped inside my own head can create.  I follow several writers on Twitter and will spend time perusing their tweets.  I take comfort in their messages and enjoy the occasional line back and forth.  I like the online culture exercised by hundreds, even thousands, of indie and traditionally published writers.  But it isn't enough.

I've joined a writer's group in Dallas, but the focus of this group is writing.  Not the writer.  We spend our time critiquing and discussing publishing like Sunday morning bible class.  I still go occasionally, and I'm happy to discuss stories with other writers.

But I'd like something a bit different.  I'd like something more personal.  I'd like to get to know other writers and share in their experiences as I would want them to share in mine.  I want to drink wine or beer and discuss the writer life.  The act of writing is a solitary endeavor.  But it seems to me that writers like to live and experience things.  So I'd rather be out with writers experiencing life instead of cooped up in a room discussing the proper way to write a query letter or the importance of active verbs.

I've begun searching meetup.com for other writers interested in something similar, but have only found writing groups focused on critiquing.  I've not yet posted my own meetup group, and don't know that I will.  Writers are a tricky breed, the porcupine of humanity, and I'm not sure how to coax one out without risk of serious injury.

#211 Eyebrows On Fleek

I went to get a haircut today.  After she finished, she spun me around and studied my face closely.  She focused on my eyebrows and said, "Do I normally trim your eyebrows?"  I shook my head.  "Well, honey," she said, "I'd recommend you let me take care of these for you."

I'd never had someone tell me how unruly my eyebrows were.  Well, except for my wife, who tells me how unruly everything is.  This woman had no qualms with telling me exactly how she saw me.  There was no fake politeness.  There was no rose-colored glasses.  There was only me and the simple fact that my eyebrows needed to be trimmed.  She wasn't gonna let a little thing like politeness get in the way of improving the way I look.

This exact relationship should exist between a writer and an editor.  There should be no fake politeness.  No rose-colored glasses.  The editor must focus on the writing and feel free to communicate the blemishes without reserve.  Feelings should not factor into the equation.  All that matters is the brutal truth.  If you aren't getting that, then you need to adjust your relationship with your editor.  Or consider finding another one.

The revision process is not an easy one.  But it's an important one.  You want your writing to look as good as it possibly can.  You want someone to look at your eyebrows and tell you they're out of control.  That way, you can get them cut so that they'll look like this:

#210 Identity Revisited, Again

I've written posts on identity and selling yourself as a writer.  And still, I find myself struggling with the concepts in my own life.  I write pretty much every day and I've published (indie-style) two books.  I am close to completing my third and am vigorously working on my fourth.  I've been at it more than a year and will dedicate the remainder of 2015 to getting more books out.  There is no doubt that I'm a writer.  Except for one teensy detail.  I don't yet make enough money to support myself.

That is one important detail.

We recently went to Vietnam for a two-week vacation.  We met several people on our travels.  Every conversation included the question, "What do you do?"  My wife answered, "Attorney," which garnered a polite smile and a respectful nod of the head.  I answered, "I'm a writer."  This never failed to bring a surprised expression and the follow up question, "Really?"

YES, really!

I don't take offense to the skepticism...I really don't.  Here's the problem.  Doubt exists within the mind of every working author.  And not just within the minds of budding authors like myself.  This includes the moderately successful ones, and I'm convinced it includes the super successful ones as well.  It's tough enough to say the words, "I'm a writer."  Yet for some reason we're made to say them twice.

I'm not trying to complain or change how people respond to writers they meet, both at home and abroad.  I wish to help writers.  So here is my advice: take ownership of the work you do.  Be proud.  Only a small percentage of people can do what we do, just as only a small percentage of people can play professional basketball.  Be confident.  And when someone says, "Really?  You're a writer?"  Nod your head and direct them to your book so that your work finds a reader.  Ultimately, this will lead to you making enough money to support yourself.

#209 Vietnam Vacation

Just got back from Vietnam.  Following are snippets from the trip:

• We arrived in Hanoi, and our first stop was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.  Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, and despite his wishes to be cremated, his remains have been professionally embalmed  in Russia and put on display in Hanoi.  A line stretched for more than a mile around the mausoleum and through Independence Square until it led inside a cold, dark chamber lined with military personnel, who urged us to keep moving.  We were in the room less than a minute.  The sight of Ho Chi Minh's body was as eerie and reverent as the sobbing women who had to be dragged away from his remains.
• The Water Puppets.  These were strange puppets in water.  Enough said.
• Hao Lo Prison.  We walked through the remaining sectors of an old prison dating back to the 1800s.  The prison was used primarily for political prisoners in the early 1900s.  But, it was the prison that housed American pilots who were shot down over Hanoi.  This includes John McCain and Butch's dad from Pulp Fiction.
• Drifting through Ha-Long Bay.  We stayed on a boat in a cabin at water level with our door open and the picturesque scenery drifting by.  One of the few places in the world where you simply sit and feel serene.  In the evening time a woman rowed up to our window and screamed at us that she had cheap beer.  She was from one of the nearby floating villages.  I bought a sixer.  When I tried to negotiate, she wouldn't budge.  Those stubborn, floating village people!
• Moped Street Food Tour.  We rode on the back of mopeds through the streets of Saigon, where guides took us to various street corners to try the local cuisine.  The food was interesting, and in some cases disgusting (fertilized duck egg...), but the value of the tour came with the guides. The guides were college students running the tour to make extra money.  They spoke good English and shared much of their personal lives with us as well as their culture.
• Chu Ci Tunnels outside of Saigon.  This was perhaps the most interesting and historically significant part of my vacation.  For nearly 20 years, Vietnamese fighters lived and operated below ground while American forces bombed and sprayed herbicides across the jungle.  Their guerrilla tactics included miles and miles of underground tunnels connecting villages to strategic wartime targets.  L. and I crawled through the tunnels, and it was a unique and terrifying experience.
• Many Vietnamese people we spoke with declared rice was 75% of local population's diet.  But most restaurants and street vendors served 15 different noodle dishes and only one or two rice dishes.
• Dong is the national currency.  So we saw "Dongs" everywhere we went.  
• Buddhist nation with only a handful of buddhist temples.  Not like other nations we visited in southeast asia.

#208 Minnesota Fats

I remember a house in Tyler, TX on the east side of town right off loop 323.  I visited this house several times a year to drink beer and raise hell with old college friends.  It was a bachelor pad, complete with a pool table in the living room, an above-ground pool in the backyard, no doorknob to the bathroom, and an out-of-work fridge in the kitchen.  The house was void of decoration, save one poster that hung on the wall.  It was a poster of Jackie Gleason holding a pool cue.

This poster confused me.  None of us watched Jackie Gleason films, and none of us were great at pool.  I asked my friend why he had the poster, and the answer I received was, "Dude, that's Jackie Gleason!"

That answer didn't mean much to me.  I knew Jackie from Smokey and the Bandit and his role as Tom Hanks' father in Nothing In Common.  That's it.  Jackie was no pool shark to me, and I certainly didn't respect him enough to hang his poster in my living room.

Fast forward 10 years.  Tonight I'm at home and looking for a movie to watch.  I surf through Amazon Fire for a prime movie I've never seen.  I search old and new movies until I stumble upon a 1960's film titled The Hustler, starring Paul Newman.  Not sure why, but I choose this movie.  Not 15 minutes in am I introduced to Minnesota Fats, the most feared pool shark in the country.  Minnesota Fats steps up to the table cue in hand and says, "Fast Eddie, how about we play a game of pool."

There's the shot.  This is the poster that overlooked my friend's living room for years.  I'd not thought of that room in a decade, yet memories upon memories flooded my mind.  I slept beneath that pool table once.  I wrestled my friend's brother (aka Jim Morrison) in that backyard.  I played quarters in that living room with a girl who needed a bowl in order to play the game with us.  I was asked if I loved karaoke, because all Koreans love karaoke.  My brother earned his nickname "Pretty" in that living room.  And all that time I had no idea what this poster referenced.

Now I know.  And I wonder if I'm the only person in the group that has actually seen the movie.  The moral of the story is this: watch old movies.  You never know when you're gonna reveal the essence behind a particular time and place.

#207 Resolutions 2015

Here are my resolutions for 2015:

• Publish 4 novels.  2 in the Exchange Day series and 2 stand alone stories.
• Drink fewer than 167 bottles of wine.
• Get back into soccer.  Been out of the game since I hurt my ankle last summer.  Ankle is better, I think, so its time to get back out there.
• Review at least 12 books on my blog.
• Buy at least one pair of new shoes.  It's been years.
• Watch at least one movie in the theater.  Even if it costs me $48.
• Show doodle plenty of love.  He needs it this year.
• Help guide Cody through writing his stories, comics, and reviews.
• Clean out the garage.
• Do something about the weeds taking over my yard.
• Graduate Polly from the adult crib to stairs.  Pretty sure this isn't going to work.
• Be less reclusive.
• Do more on the Twitter.  Just learned how to use it in 2014, but I'd like to get better at it.  Starting now.
• Practice more Yoda.

#206 Year In Review - 2014

Time for my year in review.  As usual, I like to do these from memory.

• Wrote and published my first two novels.  Exchange Day and Hand In The Dark.  They're awesome.  Go buy them.  Now.
• Polly's operation.  Earlier this year she ruptured a disc in her spine and lost control of her back half.  The operation was a success.  Though she's still a bit wobbly, Polly recovered and is as happy as can be.
• Drinking 167 bottles of wine with L.  
• Fire pit movies at the Whites.  Before the fire pit was installed, we could only watch outdoor movies.  I think the first one we watched was Big Trouble In Little China.
• Listening to Cody read his short story at the Dallas Area Writer's Group meeting.
• Joining our first wine club.  Jessup Cellars.  We received our first case in November.
• Joe's campaign.  He ran for 258th District Court Judge.  Though he didn't win this year, I'm excited for him to run again in the future.
• Meeting Savannah.
• Concerts
• Alt-J: We saw Alt-J again with Liz, Craig, Ceren, Fro, and Lauren.  Love this band and can't wait for them to return.
• 311:  Cody's first concert.  High energy music that brought back lots of memories.  
• Arctic Monkeys: Totally dig this band, though I was not impressed with the venue.  We felt too far removed from the band.  Hopefully next time they play somewhere else.
• BTE:  We see them every year they come to town.  And as always, we enjoyed the show.
• NIN:  I'd been wanting to see them since high school and never got the chance.  Liz and I drove to Houston and saw them at Cynthia Woods.  Trent still gots it.
• The first annual Chicago Fire Festival, though they had trouble lighting the four bonfires.
• Thanksgiving night with Cody and Meyers.  We played high/low and taught Cody how to play the drums.
• Eating L.'s homemade Pad Thai.  3 times.  
• Halloween flip cup with the Tinman.  And Ceren.
• Seeing Steel Water Blue in Houston.  They played at a wine bar and I got in trouble for requesting new glasses of wine.  The ones they served tasted awful.
• Germany with Katrina and Jason
• The quaint hamlet of Rothenberg.
• Holding my hair on the autobahn.
• Watching Germany defeat Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup in a German bar.  They went on to defeat Argentina in the finals.  
• Monastery where monks have been brewing beer for hundreds of years.  It's also where I ate a pig knuckle.
• Underground bunkers from WWII.  I got in trouble for taking a picture minutes after the guide said no photos.
• Flat tire on the autobahn.  We cruised on the back of a tow truck, driven by a man smitten with my wife, until we reached Wurtzberg (birthplace to the all-mighty Dirk), where we traded our nice car in for an old van.  It had a standard transmission, and I was the only one on the trip who could drive a standard.  We ate dinner at McDonald's.
• The wine tasting party we hosted.  We drank 10 bottles ranging in price from $3-$89.  L. passed out by 11p.  She woke up at 4a and found me stumbling around the kitchen cleaning.  I'd already broken several dishes and two wine glasses.
• Watching Spaceballs twice in one week.
• Losing horribly to the girls at pictionary.  They're really good.  Also, everyone loses when it's strip pictionary.
• Painting the interior of Suanne with the Codester.  We're not the best painters.
• Playing soccer and basketball with the goofball brothers.  One of them is convinced I owe him $20.
• Alice's Restaurant with L. and Solanki.  Later we played Bocce Ball.  L.'s a Bocce Ball prodigy.
• Meeting Griffin.  
• Discussing astrophysics with Gita and Andrew.  If a flea is on a dog that's running on a treadmill inside a rocketship propelled outside the earth's gravitational pull, how much booster power would the ship need for a course correction of say, 10 yards?  And how come the earth doesn't just travel away from rockets shot outside it's gravitational pull?  The rest of the party fled outside because we were just too interesting.
• Going with Dugat to buy his Les Paul.
• Roy and Dee's wedding.  Thankfully I missed LaBare afterward.
• Feeding Blue beer and wine until he stumbled and snorted his way to his piggy bed.
• Amsterdam with Katrina and Jason
• Anne Frank House
• The red light district after midnight.  It was insane.  There were a bunch of guys trying to jump onto a concrete wall.  They were yelling at people and making me nervous.
• The coffee shops.
• Watching The Netherlands in the World Cup semi-finals.
• Jamming with Meyers, P. Courtney, Ceren and L.  We played Amy Winehouse, Lorde, Michael Stipe and Kelly Clarkson.
• Watching Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead in the adult crib.  
• Playing the mandolin and singing the high-pitched vocal track to No Rain.
• Seeing Louis CK and Sara Silverman with the Ballews.
• Helping Cody create his blog, where he reviews beers and posts his stories.  It's called: Chasing Shadows.
• Meeting Sawyer.
• Napa with L. and Meyers
• Drinking 2 bottles of Giana at dinner.
• Surviving the caves beneath Bremer Von Scary
• Drinking Sintilation at Kate's wedding.
• Visiting Darioush and Orin Swift
• The barrel tasting tour at Del Dotto.
• Cody and I tipping our cats to the US Soccer team.
• Recording Why Can't I Be You.  And Blur.  And Last Dance With Mary Jane.

Book Review: Rosehead By Ksenia Anske

Book:  Rosehead
Author:  Ksenia Anske

This is a difficult novel for me to review because it doesn't fit into a genre I read often.  Rosehead hits the younger end of the Young Adult spectrum.  That is to say it's for readers aged 10-16.   A whimsical story with quirky characters and a strong villain.  I like Lilith and Panther, and I wanted to follow them on their adventure through the Bloom Family garden.  I think younger readers will do the same.  The writing style mimics the quirkiness of the story's characters and does a good job to engage the reader's imagination.

Final word: This book is definitely for the young, imaginative reader.

#205 Record Player Fail

My younger brother visits me every week, and we listen to old records while working on our latest writing projects.  Before Christmas he enthusiastically explained to me how much he wanted a record player.  My brother doesn't make a whole lot of money, and records have become an expensive hobby.  My family has told him (and rightly so) that he shouldn't get a record player and shouldn't start collecting records.  I completely agree.  However, telling him no only fuels his desire to get a record player.  So I decided to explore a different tact.  I decided to show him how expensive record players are so that he could make his own informed decision.

My brother came over last night and I showed him my set up.  I explained that a home entertainment system like mine required a record player, an amp, a receiver, speakers and enough speaker wire to suspend Batman from the Empire State Building (my brother loves comics).  He traced his finger through the dust that collected on top of each component and said, "Man, that's a lot of stuff.  Maybe I shouldn't get one just yet."  A satisfied smile spread across my face.  I was making progress.

Today I took him to half-priced books.  We scoured the clearance section for Stephen King books and fantasy novels written by Piers Anthony.  The entire time I explained to my brother that he shouldn't buy a book for more than $3.  I said it over and over.  I stressed value.  I said, "Books are entertainment.  Why buy a book for $12.99 when you could find one for $2.99?"

My brother found a couple of gems and made his way proudly to the front of the store.  He found 2 books, each on sale for $1.  Progress continued.  My brother was learning.

Near the checkout counter stood a behemoth display of record players stacked on top of each other.  The sign claimed each record player to be a portable device with built in speakers that needed nothing more than a power outlet and a record to start a party.  The record player was on sale for $50 + 20% off.  My brother's eyes lit up.  "Look," he said.  "I can get a record player for less than $50!"

"Hold on," I said, eyeing the display skeptically.  "We need to hear what this thing sounds like before we consider buying one."

A record player sat in the center of the display begging customers to "try me."  I grabbed a Van Halen vinyl and placed it on the turntable.  I powered the machine and dropped the needle into the appropriate groove.  The record began to crackle through a small, round speaker built into the side of the player.  

I turned the volume knob to max and my brother nodded along to the music.  Though he could barely hear David Lee Roth's vocals, he said, "This sounds pretty good."

"Does it?" I asked.  "Does it sound better than your mp3 player in your apartment?"

"Well, no," he answered.  "But it sounds better than nothing."

"But you don't have 'nothing,'" I said.  "You have an mp3 player that sounds better than this.  And you have tons of songs on your iPod.  Wouldn't you rather listen to your mp3 player than this rickety record player that you can barely hear?  You need to wait on getting a record player until you can afford all the pieces that make it sound good.  Okay?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right.  This one doesn't sound too good."  His tone reflected his dejection.  But I was happy to see him once again come to the proper conclusion.

My brother grabbed his two books and headed for the checkout line.  He rounded the corner of the record player display and his eyes lit up again.  He pointed to a pile of 311 albums positioned enticingly on the end cap.  "Look," he said.  "311 on vinyl!"

"You already have that album on your iPod.  You don't need it on vinyl."

"Yeah, but I want to listen to it on a record."

"But it' sounds better on your mp3 player."

"But still," he interjected.  "I want to get a good record player."

I pushed him past the 311 display and directed him toward the check out counter.  "No," I said.  "You CAN'T get a record player.  And that's final."

#204 Sick Days

Growing up, I rarely got sick.  I missed so little of school that my mom would let me take one sick day per semester to use how I pleased.  I dedicated these days to horror movies, macaroni and cheese and 4 hour-long games of Risk, when my friends were able to join me.

As an adult, things haven't changed much.  In 12 years at various advertising agencies, I would take 2-3 sick days a year (out of 10 that were given), though I was rarely sick enough to warrant using an entire day to get better.  If I was unfortunate enough to get sick, I would throw my hands up in the air, send a mass email, and set up a cozy pallet on the couch so that I could watch a day's worth of movies.  I'd order pizza, toss thousands of snot rags in the general vicinity of the nearest trashcan, and nap whenever I felt like it.  I didn't feel great, but I didn't let that spoil the good time.  Being sick was like taking a pit stop.  The race was still going on around me, but I was allowed to take a break.

Now that I write full-time, illness has become something different.  It has become a gigantic hurdle, a real pain in the ass.  My head doesn't feel right, my nose won't stop running, and I have too much writing to be done to simply sit on the couch and watch a movie.  I can't concentrate well, but I can't ignore the story either.  The resulting emotion is pure frustration.  I want to work but can't.  It's the exact opposite of when I was in advertising.  Back then, I was glad to take a break, even if it meant I was a little under the weather.  Now, I truly hate it.  I don't have time to be sick.  I have stories to write!

My passion for writing has turned sickness into... well, sickness.  I no longer shrug my shoulders and jump on the couch.  Instead, I frantically take medicine so that I can get better.  That's how I know I'm going in the right direction in life.  So I'll take more medicine, try and clear my head, and write a couple of pages today.  And I hope that all of you out there view sickness as sickness.  Cause if you do, it means you like what you do, and you don't want sickness to take you away from what you like.

#203 My First Year As A Writer

In November of last year, I began writing full-time.  I woke up on a Monday morning, and instead of going to work, I started writing.  There is such a difference between sneaking pages in between work and family on a project over the course of years and waking up every morning with the sole purpose of publishing novels.  Following is a list of what I've learned and experienced during my first year as an Indie Writer.

• Trouble with identity.  I've struggled all year when talking with people about this adventure.  It wasn't easy for me to call myself a writer.  If you want to be a writer, you must call yourself a writer.  You must feel like a writer.  Without embracing the adventure in full, you're only holding yourself back.
• Writing everyday.  A writer must produce pages every day.  I've met several aspiring writers this year who write when they can.  I know it isn't easy to write when you have another career.  But when you devote yourself to this life, you must write every day.  Without exception.  It really helps when you develop a schedule and stick to it.  
• Finish what you start.  If you quit a day job to write, you must produce finished products.  This isn't easy, as it takes months, even years, to complete a project.  But you must have stories for people to read.  You cannot get bogged down and simply move on.  A writer must power through the difficult days.  And trust me, there will be plenty of difficult days.
• Must get physical exercise.  I work out and run.  It's good for the mind, and it helps with focus.
• Animals can be super annoying.  I cannot afford an office.  So I write at home.  I have two cats and a dog, and they do everything they can to interrupt my flow.  You must figure out how to deal with this.  I have two places in my home where I can write without my animals getting in the way.
• I've written roughly 311,000 words (not including blog posts), which translates to about 865 pages.  This equals 2 published novels and 2 novels that will be published soon.  But I've sold fewer than 200 copies.  This is not enough to sustain a living.  I have a lot of work to do to get my novels in front of readers. 
• Continue to improve your craft.  It's not enough to just write.  It is important to strive for better writing.  There are dozens of books on writing.  It's important to read these, find the ones that make sense to you as a writer, and follow the advice.  Implement what you learn and continue to get better.
• Finally, remember this is a marathon.  Don't get discouraged.  You will find little day-to-day support.  You will encounter self-doubt.  You will worry about money, and you will wonder if your writing is good enough.  Push through the doubt and keep working.  Remember to enjoy the process.  If you cannot enjoy the process, then you should consider another career.

The last year's been challenging and fun.  I've made real progress with my writing and with my life as a writer.  But I still have a long way to go.  Year one has come to an end.  Year two begins now.  As always, I will document my progress as I journey toward making a living with my writing.

#202 The Idea Factory

A friend asked me how I came up with story ideas.  What was my process?  She said, "Do you have a secret notebook somewhere full of great ideas?"  No.  I don't have a notebook.  I have a password protected word document.  And yes, it's full of dozens of future award-winning ideas!

So how do I fill that word document?  Where do my ideas come from?  As generic as it sounds, most of my ideas come from random moments in everyday life.  I'm usually minding my own business, thinking of nothing in particular, when I notice something strange and then I try to figure out the story surrounding what I just saw.  For example, the other day I saw a car stop in the middle of the intersection and a young man jumped out.  He sprinted into the middle of the intersection, waving his arms madly about so that cars wouldn't run him over.  "What the hell are you doing?" I said to myself.  Well, turns out he saw an old pair of shoes in the middle of the street and he wanted them.

I spent the rest of my morning wondering why those shoes were so important.  Were they an old gift from a past girlfriend?  Had a new girlfriend thrown them out the car window because she discovered a secret text on his phone?  Or had those shoes once belonged to Mickey Mantle?  He'd found them in his attic along with other sports paraphernalia, and those shoes were to be sold to the Baseball Hall of Fame for $25,000 so that his daughter could receive proper treatment for her asthma.

I play around with the idea in this manner for hours.  Sometimes days.  These mental exercises entertain me while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store or stuck in traffic.  Or when my brother makes me watch the latest Ironman movie.  Occasionally I'll stumble upon an idea that is truly unique and interesting.  A spark ignites.  At this point I write it into my word document so that it's waiting for me when I'm ready to transform the interesting premise into a vision.

Every writer has an idea factory.  Unfortunately, I've not spoken to anyone else about their own factory.  I would love to know how other writers do it.  The one thing I know about my own process is that it should not be forced.  If I MUST come up with an idea on a deadline, then usually it feels forced.  If I'm having fun and spouting off nonsense, I'll accidentally find something I like.  I know real life is not one big playground, and writers don't have all the time in the world.  But, for idea generation, I find that fun is more productive.  Try and have fun with this part of the process. And understand that not all ideas are meant to be explored until completion.  It's okay to scrap an idea and move on.  You never know when today's bad idea will fit in perfectly with tomorrow's good one.