Winter Voice

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A thought on senses and their uniqueness to each of us. I think that Les Edgerton's book, Finding Your Voice has me thinking about this, and I'm glad that it does. He talks a lot about bringing your own unique view of the world into your writing, letting your experiences color the way you describe things.

Just tonight I was sitting down to write, the chill of the witching hour setting in. I nudged the thermostat as I started to boil some water and listened to the wall heater start up. That's when this thought came to me.

Winter sounds like the hallow burning of a furnace that clicks as it gets warmer, it tastes like a hot cup of cocoa, smells like almond wood burning in the fireplace, and feels like the warm curve of my wife's body pressing up against me in bed, flannel sheets wrapping around us.

These things are all unique to me. Sure, others may share some, but not all. I need to remember this unique view of the world when I write because it is my voice and it is what I know.

So I wonder, what is winter to you?

Sum Total Characters

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I was out getting construction supplies this weekend, sitting in my folks' big 16 foot box van. It's one of those ones where you sit on the engine and the front of it is all flat glass and bumper so you get a really good view of the road (and your impending doom should you run into the back of a semi).  

While I sat at a stop light I looked out on a woman crossing the road in front of me. She walked a shiny Walmart mountain bike that didn't really go with the men's jeans she was wearing. The bike fit her, being for a child and she about the height of a junior high student. Her hair, probably capable of great things in her youth, was left wild and frizzy, shocks of white tearing through it like a ghost trying to escape a grave. There might have been a crook to her bulbous nose though I couldn't really say for sure. Maybe it was that faded black t-shirt that she wore like a teenage grunge boy that made me think it should be crooked.

As she passed I couldn't help but wonder what had gone wrong in her life. Who might have abused her, touched her, used her, pushed her around and left that sneer on her face. Lovers, mothers, fathers, uncles?

And then I thought, “Does she know?”

Does she think of those things and how they effect her? How those experiences make her decisions for her? How many of us really do?

Just a thought.

We are all the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences mold us into who we are, but we rarely think of them. Even our characters are nothing more than experiences. And we should bear in mind that they don't always realize that they manipulate their actions.

Monday Funny Angry (feet)

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So today's little funny comes from over the pond. It sort of goes with what I wrote up for tomorrow, so I thought I'd share it in spite of the strong language. Yes, there is strong language, he's actually going to say what we tend to think on a daily basis. 

Did you get that kiddies? If not: WARNING. . . STRONG LANGUAGE (this message may be inappropriate for ill mannered children or old fuddy duddies)

Changes to this blog

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Quitting?! Me? Never. 

Okay, so it crossed my mind. Then I realized that in hard times we don't quit, we adapt. Over the past week I've been doing some assessing of my own goals and have taken a hard look at what I've accomplished. I also got some great feedback from readers, which I'll share with you since it mostly came off-board.

My dear friend Amanda had some great ideas about formatting:

Hey David,

I was just reading your post today, and I have a suggestion that I thought might help. Maybe it's not the length of the post that's keeping people from reading, but the way it's presented? It reminded me of what job coaches tell you about a resume - you only have a few seconds to sell yourself; no one wants to read a block of text, they want bullets and titles that stand out so they can see what you're about at a glance. There's one blog that I frequent (http://www.facebook.com/l/29918;zenhabits.net) that takes advantage of his reader's short attention span by doing just this. Here's an example: http://www.facebook.com/l/29918;zenhabits.net/2009/09/the-habit-change-cheatsheet-29-ways-to-successfully-ingrain-a-behavior/#more-4644

Les Edgerton wrote in with this bit of wisdom:

Hey David,

I just wanted to comment on your post about cutting back on your blog. My thought when I see a blog that comes out as regular as your does is, "When does he ever have time to do his own writing?" A good example is a couple of weeks ago, I was gabbing with agent Don Maass and we were talking about Nathan Bransford and his daily blog. We both wondered when the heck did he find time to do any agenting. Well, he does and he's a great agent and somehow finds the time, but I just know I started a blog once and had to quit fairly soon into it as it was eating great chunks of my available writing time up. I think if you post, say once a week, you'd find it worked better for you. I had a similar problem years ago when I was a hairstylist. I'd talk about the novel or whatever I was working on all day long to clients and when I got home at night found I wrote very little. The reason? I was "writing" all day long when I was talking to my clients! Since I figured that out, I quit talking to anyone about what I was working on, including my wife. That helped a ton. Hey, if you think this will help anyone, please feel free to post it on your blog. I just can't figure out how to do that!

BTW, I really enjoy your postings!

And my writing mom, Viki, had this to say:

First of all, a lot of the stuff you've written here has been tremendously helpful to MY writing. There have even been a few of those "coincidences" that what you've written DIRECTLY speaks to an issue I'm having with my story, or my process, or even my motivation for writing at all! So, for me, your blog has often helped me get back to a writing mojo....& it has also made me smile & then laugh out loud. AND, I have quoted it to many writing friends.

And cos of that, I'm probably not truly objective. But that's okay too. Inspiration & direction is subjective, and your blog has provided both for me. I don't think you need to change a thing about it. (so sue me!)

That said, & purely for the sake of trying to at least offer SOME kind of suggestion: Would it be feasible to decide on one subject/thought/theme for each week, then write about it over 3-5 days? Each post building on the last to a conclusion? Giving you an opportunity to expound? Is this a way of telling you that there have been many times that I wanted more? Yeah.

What I learned

Formatting: I need to spend more time on it

Time: I don't have it

Loyalty: Just because some folks are forced to take a break doesn't mean they aren't coming back and I should be here when they return

Length: It's the length of my posts that's killing me

Goals: My main goal is to write and publish, but I'm spending a good chunk of my writing time putting together posts

Comments: Sometime in the near future I might have to abandon this blog theme for one that is better about comments

Friends: I've got a lot of great people out there that love and support me and I appreciate all of them

And the Verdict Is:

I'm going to keep the same format. Five days a week, extras on the weekends if the mood strikes me. The difference is going to be in length. Rather than struggling to put together four fully developed posts, I'll have small thoughts like yesterdays for three of those days and then one post a week will be a well developed article, complete with formatting, witty headings, and pictures. It's all that extra stuff that I try to put into the articles to make them easier on the eyes that really eats away at time.

This should free up time for both you and me to get our writing done. You won't be trying to wade through long posts, and I won't be spending all my time writing them.

Did I miss anything? If so, and you weren't able to comment before, you're always welcome to drop me a line and share your thoughts. If there's something you'd like to see more or less of, say so. After all, it's the feedback that I get from you guys that makes this all worth while. 

Hope everyone's lives are getting a little less complicated and that you're finding adequate time for your writing. 

Back-Burners

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How many things do you have on the back-burner? Me? Tons. I had to go out and get extra stoves just so that I could have more back-burners to put things on.  

Take a moment to consider how many things you have on back-burners. Right them all down. Make a big long list, (you might want to do this in a word processor). Then organize that list, not from most important to least, but from most frustrating to least.

For instance, I have dogs that keep getting off of their tethers and wreaking havoc (still can't find my other hiking shoe). While finishing off the inside of the house in preparation for winter is more important, I'm going to focus on getting the dog kennel done first because it is a constant source of irritation.

One by one, pull those pots and pans on the back burners up to the front. Focus on them one at a time, dedicate time and energy to completing one project rather than simply making progress, and I think you'll find the stove-top of your mind a little less messy and a lot more manageable.

Tomorrow I'll reveal my plan for going forward with the blog. Stay tuned.

Critique this Blog

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So, what’s going on with the blog? Good question? I think I’m posting too often and I mean that with regards to everyone involved, both you, and me.

For you folks, I’m just way to wordy. I find myself doing it on other people’s blogs too. I tune in, look to see how much I have to read, sigh, tell myself I’ll come back to it later, and then don’t. I do that all the time with David Farland’s Kicks. They don’t work as kicks anymore because they’re too damned long. Save for when his brother does them for him. In those instances they act more like kicks.

For me, I’m just not getting things done because I’m spending all of my free time working on posts. Last week, ahead of our trip to Colorado, I was busting my butt to get posts done ahead of time so that they would be ready while I was gone. That meant that while I was on the plane I was working on critiques for my critique group and posting those things late.

My reward for all of this hard work? Another low readership week. The lowest in six weeks.

Obviously something has to be done. I just don’t know what it is. So I need to test out some things. The first thing I’m going to test out is posting less often. For a while the numbers seemed to say that I should post as often as possible, but I think that has oversaturated readers. That and there seems to be this collective busyness taking over everyone’s lives right now, my own included. It’s not summer anymore, and we just don’t have the time.

So, here’s the question, what is a good posting schedule for Divining the Words? Should they continue to be every weekday but broken up into smaller segments, maybe spread an article out over a week? Post one full article a week? Every other day? You tell me. You are the reason I do this after all because it sure as hell isn’t for the money. J

There you go. I’m opening DtW up for critique. If you don’t want to publically broadcast your opinion, send your thoughts over to noceti.david@gmail.com. And remember, I can handle criticism of all shades, so send your nastiest and most kind, I’ll take them all.

Thanks,

Your humble servant,

David

Monday Funny: Marriage

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In honor of my sister's wedding this past weekend and my officiating of the ceremony. 

With dipping readership numbers over the past few weeks, I'm considering making some changes to the blog, so stay tuned for that. 

Until tomorrow, I bid you a happy Monday. 

Heroes How NOT to Character Motivate

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The writers for the Heroes television series have had long enough to straighten up their act after the union strike. Last season was lack luster, and if the premiere I watched this week tells us anything, season four is going to be comical.

Never mind the opening with the casket where my first thought was, “This guy is totally going to be an earth mover and he's going to cover the casket with his power.” (Actually, he's probably an empath or whatever the Sith lord called Peter, because after all, he's playing the role of father Patrelli in this rehash of every other season so far.)

My biggest problem with Heroes has always been character motivation. There is none. People just do things for the sake of moving the ill conceived plot along. This premiere was proof enough of that.

Claire moves into college and a dorm room with a power hungry, straight A student (save for that B+ in Poly Sci or whatever it was) who knows just where she's going in life, has it mapped out, and happens to be gorgeous as well (because aren't they all, did you see the hotties at the other lunch table?). And like all roommates do upon first meeting someone new, she berates Claire about her life plan and teddy bears no more than two minutes into their stay together. In fact, those few moments that they spent together were more than enough for her to then fill in Claire's father about how good of a student Claire could be if she just applied herself. People do that sort of stuff all the time in real life. Don't they?

If Annie, the roommate isn't unbelievable enough, Claire's fatal flaw, tell the truth even if it kills you and the ones you love, is almost as unbelievable as Noah's fatal flaw of lie about everything even if it costs you your family, but even more unbelievable than both of those is the reset button hit during every season with these two. It always goes back to “Oh I love my father with puppy dog eyes, I heart him, I really really do” after every season in which Noah turns out to be a scum bag and Claire proves how much of an idiot she can be.

And what's the most inconspicuous thing a super powered idiot can do? Apparently jump out of their own dorm room window, because no one would notice on a college campus. Everyone knows that college students go to bed early, save for the stalker/murderer/super powered Gretchen. (Yes, I'm calling Gretchen out as the invisible woman, “So I heard that you didn't see a suicide note.” Uh huh, riiiiight. In another show that would be a slight of hand, in Heroes it's the writers thinking they're witty.)

Then we jump to Hiro and Ando who have decided to go public and advertise their services as heroes. Really? Richest guy in all of Japan, he's saved the world more than once, watched his mother and father die, and he's still pretending to be a twelve year old trapped in a man's body? Really? Oh, but it's because he's dying. I gotcha. I mean what better time to act like a child than in your last days.

Oh, and let us not forget Peter. If you don't remember, Peter's fatal flaw is that he is fatally optimistic. Why be subtle about saving people's lives after you've been hunted to near extinction for an entire season? Just jump around New York like Spiderman, (or PETER Parker) and rip the doors off of wrecked cars in front of onlookers. I'm sure no one will notice. And if they do, hey, they'll appreciate that you're helping someone and applaud like they should. Besides, if saving lives is your new form of crack, who really gives a damn.

Even when a Heroes character starts to make sense, like with Tracy Strouse and her quest for vengeance, the writers do their damndest to frack it all to hell and back. Sure, sure, Tracy has always been cold and calculating, so much so that she became the ice queen, but why not turn her into the ray of sunshine in Noah's life because she saw a dirtbag that absolutely no one cared for, die. That's perfectly believable to me. I'm always meeting people who are willing to drown to death four men in a row and then suddenly turn into Rainbow Fracking Brite.

To sum up the rest of my feelings, I hope Sylar kills that pantywaist Parkman (no relation to Peter PARKer) and takes over his body. And then I hope he finds Suresh before he can make an appearance in this season and kills him too. Then he needs to make his way to Nathan and kill him before he has another bizarre coming to Jesus moment that totally changes the fate of the world. After all of those messes are cleaned up, we wait and watch Hiro die so we don't have anymore time slippage idiocy.

Unfortunately, where Heroes lacks in developing characters who portray believable motivations, they excel at killing off those characters who do have believable motivation. Case in point: Speedster girl who thought Parkman was an idiot for falling in love with her based on a dream. That's believable, and of course, that's why she had to die.

Images: NBC/ Chris Haston

The Danger of Making Stuff Up

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So I'm sort of at a loss for today's post. I had this really witty witticism all witted up and ready to go, and now I can't use it. What I was going to say was that today's small cleaning task was knocking down cobwebs. I started in one room and then moved one by one, twirling up all kinds of webs and watching daddy longlegs try to flee by zip-lining away from the brush only to find that I was twirling the rod that said brush was attached to, pulling them in like a wench.  

Most would try to cut their line, choosing instead to take their chances with a fall to the ground. With the brush swinging back and forth over my head I found myself worrying about one of them going kamikaze and falling on me instead. But I remembered something. Even though daddy longlegs are the most venomous spider on the planet, they don't have the proper mouth with witch to bite us. What a wonderful correlation with a character's fatal flaw. What better way to explain how someone's strength can also be their weakness.

Now, why can't I use that example? Because Daddy Longlegs aren't the most venomous spider on the planet. They (the scientists) don't even know how venomous they are. It's never been tested. This is just another lie spread by the disinformation era where any idiot with access to the net can pretend to be a scientist and send out senseless drivel. That's how elections are won, folks.

And that's my short thought for the day: FACT CHECK EVERYTHING. Don't do it just because we want to stop the spread of disinformation, do it because when your reader gets to something like that and knows otherwise, they're going to stop and say, “This joker doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.”

Granted, in my case that might be true, but don't flat out tell people about it. As a writer you want to be sure that the only time your reader pauses to think about things is when you want them to, and you especially don't want them to pause because they're questioning you. It stops the story, pulls them out of the scene, reminds them that “hey, this is all made up.” I should know, because I just made this all up.

Kidding. It's true. Really. No, honestly, it is.

Writers Are Known For Their Writing

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I grew up with a man that can do anything. When I was little he was a bus mechanic, I got a little older and he started building houses, older still and he went back to college to become a science teacher. My dad knows way too much about politics, dietary health, and exercise. When other dads were buying their first computers my dad was bringing home the components so that he could build his.  

That same can do attitude has haunted me through much of my life. There's never been something that someone else can do that I looked at and didn't think, “Anything you can do I can do better.” Some might call that conceit, but I think it's a great attitude to have in life, just so long as you don't let it go to your head.

I honestly believe that anyone can do anything they put their minds to. It's not that I think I'm amazing, it's that I really don't think that there is much that separates two people in what they do aside from the time that they've spent working on it. And there in lies our problem. Time.

You see, each one of these new tasks that I take on requires an investment in time. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not the time spent learning something new would be better spent furthering progress in something you already know. Concert pianists don't learn their trade, get some diploma, and then stop learning and practicing.

If you want to be the best at something, or even noteworthy, you have to dedicate yourself to it. There is no special Jack-Of-All-Trades award presented every year. Thomas Jefferson might have been a great politician, architect, and thinker, but he only became recognized for the second two because of his dedication to the first.

So as you're getting ready to code and design your own website and blog, then quickly pick up Photo Shop so that you can design your book cover, and oh, while you're at it become a master at digital photography so that you can shoot all of your own photos, try to figure out how much of that time might be better spent on honing the craft of writing. You know, that thing on which all the others hinge upon.

If you have the money, it might be a wiser decision to find someone who has chosen one of those aforementioned fields and made it their own. Especially when it comes to marketing. Take it from a graphic designer turned carpenter turned writer turned. .  . okay, so I don't practice what a I preach. Sue me. But wait till after I take the Bar. (Kidding)