tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62023622449377097362024-02-20T04:24:35.641-06:00The Write WindExploring the role of inspiration, motivation, and direction of the writing spiritMichael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-91732535850966307712014-08-30T09:28:00.000-05:002014-08-30T09:28:03.256-05:00Writing Poetry: Get Inspired<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poetry, as any academic will teach you, is about more than rhyme and rhythm....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay. Anybody who hangs around the lonely poetry corner at the local bookstore knows that poetry is about more than rhyme and rhythm. But few poets are so free with their concept and practice of writing poetry as Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In his poems "Poetry as Insurgent Art" and "What Is Poetry?" he takes the practice of composing from the restrictive to the liberating in, of course, poems. These are two excerpts.</span><br />
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<br />Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-89953346662207501792014-07-08T15:39:00.000-05:002014-07-08T15:39:40.165-05:00Drive into the Discomfort Zone: Four Roads of Counterintuitive Inspiration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Inspiration is an elusive goal.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Just when you have the perfect theme, the ideal character, and the ideal setting; just when you have pumped life and wit into a beautiful balloon called a story, it happens. You sit at your desk or computer, and you begin to type. Without warning, that balloon slips from your fingers, flies crazily about the room and, phthhp! The last breath peters out of it. It hangs momentarily in the air, then drops limply to the floor. Spent. Lifeless. Flat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">You try to bring it back to life. You type the same sentence five times, hoping something different will magically appear. You consult thesaurus after thesaurus searching for the right word. Any word! You </span>scream obscenities at the insensitive walls. You get a nasty phone call from the elderly lady living upstairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Eventually, you just give up. The effort is as worthless as trying to teach a wombat to steer a golf cart. There's just no point.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Before throwing your monitor into the recycle bin at the local Best Buy, however, you could try a less </span>drastic alternative:<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> View the re-inspiration process as a road trip.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Road trip?</i> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of course. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">You know your destination––a good story. You simply have to chart a course to get there. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You could take the normal roads, like buy an encyclopedia of writing prompts, listen to Beethoven, build a cabin in the Massachusetts woods. Heck! You could even watch reruns of Ren and Stimpy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;">The well-traveled routes, however, are not necessarily the most exciting, rewarding , and effective paths. Instead, try this. Drive into your discomfort zone, that route that leads through the uncomfortable, the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">unsettling, the scary.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The discomfort zone is rife with negative emotions: fear, anger, frustration, lonely, disgust, etc. Amazingly, these negatives can result in a positive. When focused, they remind us of what we want our story to be, what we want our characters to portray, and the value of conflict in both the reading and writing process. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With the inherent conflict </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> the zone, accompanied by </span>our human "God wish" to fix things, we have the promises of a great story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So how does one enter the discomfort zone? Here </span>are four<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> ways:</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Do something you don't like</b><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. This could range from the simply irritating to the daunting. Easy tasks could be to purge your closets, your kitchen, or your library. Another could be to wash the week's dishes BY HAND. To make the </span>uncomplicated<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> more difficult, leave the mower in the garage and cut the grass...with a weed whacker. For a major shake-up, consider a new apartment, change your day job, or investigate that funky smell inside the refrigerator.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Examine your past. </b>Remember that old English assignment "Describe your most embarrassing moment"? Do it again, this time for you. Don't worry. You don't have to be literary. The only one to read it is you. However, to make the account uncomfortable, include enough detail to be cringeworthy. Ideas: <i>The time you mistook the finger bowl at a fancy restaurant for a dessert drink. The time the faucet in the restroom at a crowded Wendy's sprayed the crotch of your pants. The time you learned how babies were made and realized that your parents did that. </i>Sure, these events are humiliating, but so what? We're all messes. Use those times. They're what make you human. When you fictionalize the events with hyperbole, what could have been, and what you wish had happened, you have a wealth of material to use.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Try something new.</b><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> For some psychological reason, most of us resist change, whether good or bad. "I've never done that before, and I'm not gonna" becomes our mantra. Instead, enter the discomfort zone and embrace change. A new cuisine, perhaps, like Cajun, Texan, or North Dakotan...I know. I need to get out more. Give into the Rosetta Stone commercials and learn a new language while investigating the people who use it. Start a new hobby, like </span>collecting ceramic<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> ducks. All new challenges result in failures, challenges, and accomplishments, all of which can find their way into a successful story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Reach out. </b>The most unsettling, yet potentially rewarding, venture into the discomfort zone involves people you don't know and probably won't like. However, as a minister once told me, all people have unsurpassable worth. To find it, we need to encounter them; talk to them; find out what, how and why they think as they do; and learn what we all have in common. That doesn't mean we have to like what we discover, but we will at least know and understand somebody we didn't before. As a writer, you may even discover something about yourself, which can find itself into your story. Self-discovery is a great theme.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One attraction of fiction writing as a profession or h</span>obby<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is the opportunity and ability to control a world of your own making, particularly the story's resolution. By driving into the discomfort zone, you will discover conflict and the inspiration to fix it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Resolving real life conflicts, of course, is another matter, but know this: You solve more problems by facing them than by avoiding them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The first step is </span>driving<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> into </span>the<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> discomfort zone and breathing air back into the inspiration balloon.</span></span></div>
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-77266739824117975062014-05-21T15:42:00.001-05:002014-05-21T16:37:18.465-05:00Go with the Flow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNyRf78_v_y867Ducw3gbd4jhZld6KVshjiDEs6zgzyTmpC8bMDivq668FAqyZJNO_mFF3aXqEeFBztg7P-YnKR0hPwfTopY8PMyjuigXrx24I0QnpEzdgScWbsGGtbtERiGeAGGEfGXGi/s1600/Lower+Falls+Sepia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNyRf78_v_y867Ducw3gbd4jhZld6KVshjiDEs6zgzyTmpC8bMDivq668FAqyZJNO_mFF3aXqEeFBztg7P-YnKR0hPwfTopY8PMyjuigXrx24I0QnpEzdgScWbsGGtbtERiGeAGGEfGXGi/s1600/Lower+Falls+Sepia.jpg" height="400" width="271"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;">For better or worse, the solitary writing world exists in a cosmos of mass distraction. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While millions of sensations bombard us every moment, we write.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While we blot out the chaos, we write.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While we ignore base instincts like eating and sleeping––sometimes for hours, sometimes for days––we write.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We sit at our office desks, our kitchen table, the local coffee shop, the library––wherever––and we breathe a different air, an air that excites, intoxicates, and captivates.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We focus our minds on a story that must be told. We write and we write. Not just to earn a living. Not even because we want to. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are enthralled! We write because </span>we <i>have</i> to.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So hours later, we </span>glance<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> up at the clock, gasp and marvel, "How did that happen? What was I thinking?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The answer is we weren't; we were simply ultra-motivated.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But what kind of motivation erases reality? </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Historically, the two most employed motivators––the two utilized most often by governments, religions, parents, and teachers––are reward and fear. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"Eat your vegetables, and I'll give you a cookie."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"Be good or you're goin' ta hell!"</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"Why, I oughta.... I tap my foot at you!"</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The use of reward and fear as motivation has been long chronicled, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Susan Cain explains in her bestselling book </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.</i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Cain says “Since the days of Aristotle, philosophers have observed that these two modes––approaching things that appear to give pleasure and avoiding others that seem to cause pain––lie at the heart of all human activity.” (p. 171) </span></div>
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But those factors are not enough to explain "binge writing," are they? </div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No. Cain adds that such a philosophy "runs counter to the experience of people who just love to do their work." People, like writers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Instead she cites psychological research, particularly that of Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi, who calls total task absorption "flow." Cain defines flow as "the state in which you feel totally engaged in an activity. In a state of flow, you’re neither bored nor anxious, and you don’t question your adequacy. Hours pass without your noticing.” (p. 172)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In other words, no thought of "What am I gonna get?" or "What's gonna happen if I don't?" “The key to flow," Cain states, "is to pursue an activity for its own sake, <i>not for the reward it brings</i>.” (p. 172)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How can that happen? By breathing the air mentioned above. Using Csiksgentmihalyi's words, Cain explains that flow occurs when people "become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. To achieve such an autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">She continues: “In a sense, Csikszentmihalyi transcends Aristotle; he is telling us that there are some activities that are not about approach or avoidance, but about something deeper: the fulfillment that comes from absorption in an activity outside yourself.” (p. 172)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Things like time and space become meaningless. Csikszentmihalyi says that in flow, “a person could work around the clock for days on end, for no better reason than to keep on working.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While unexpectedly waking up to a new date on the calendar can intimidate anybody, it should not frighten writers. In fact, later in the chapter, Cain encourages us to abandon all restraint on the urge to write without ceasing. She says, “[F]ind your flow by using your gifts….[W]hen you’re focused on a project…your energy is boundless.” (p. 173)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And don’t let anybody or anything try to stop us.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“…[S]tay true to your one nature…. [D]on’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multitasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you incalculable power to go your own way. It’s up to you to use that independence to good effect.” (p. 173)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To utilize an old cliche or two: Don’t fight the feeling. Go with the flow AND WRITE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br></span></span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-51137828528780437472014-05-02T17:15:00.002-05:002014-05-02T17:40:18.727-05:00Characters: Don't Cheat Your Children of the 3 C's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We all have our favorite literary characters. Characters like Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes, and Bullwinkle J. Moose.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously, some are more literary than others.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One shortcoming these three have in common is they’re all adults. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sort of.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why is being an adult a shortcoming? Because maturation destroys the most precious qualities children possess: consciousness, curiosity, and credulity. <b>The 3 C's.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Children see. They wonder. They believe.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adults? Not so much.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Children see everything, touch </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">everything, taste everything. They are sentient creatures. They are sponges disguised as human beings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adults? More like rocks disguised as human beings. Dull. Doubtful. Dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The problem for writers? Most of us are adults. Our world is populated primarily by adults. And we tend to only write what we know. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, we know children exist, so we might add one here or there to our stories, but for the most part, we </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">force child characters into the background where they exist merely as scenery or annoyances. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Unless you want to explore themes of consciousness, curiosity, and credulity, like</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Harper Lee did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Children are especially </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">conscious</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> of the what is happening around them. Much as we deny it, we adults forget more in a day than we learn our </span>whole<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> lives because our sick brains figure that little of what we experience is really important to our existence. The child brain, on the other hand, believes <i>everything</i> is important. Everything is new. therefore, children pay close attention. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Whether it seems like or not. Whether we want them to or not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Like to whatever we do, say, or insinuate. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Dickens was a master at showing <b>consciousness</b> in such memorable characters as Pip in </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Great Expectations</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> and Oliver Twist in….well, </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Oliver Twist.</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> The reader learns </span>early in both books that while t<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">hese boys knew little about their background, they certainly suspected much. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dickens revealed the answers to the mysteries through childlike eyes. Through young characters, he reminded us what it is like to be a child by recreating the child's world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Meanwhile, Twain epitomized a different essential aspect of childhood in two of his most famous characters, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. While many academics dwell on the boys’ mischievousness and imagination, the trait that enables them to deal with life's difficulties is actually <b>curiosity</b>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Their inquisitiveness has never failed to appeal to readers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even today in the 21st Century, child readers delight in <i>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</i> because like them, Tom seeks to understand the workings of the world, the Mississippi River culture, and people in general. Like them, he looks for answers in literature and experience. Like them, he makes mistakes, but through bravado, ingenuity, and experimentation, he learns. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The more Tom learns, the more he wants to learn. In his quest, he encounters––or creates––adventures that excite his own and the reader’s imagination.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But Twain </span>doesn't stop with Tom Sawyer. He also gives his readers a chance to grow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Inspired by Tom Sawyer, young readers<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> turn to </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, not simply because Huck is a </span>contemporary<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> of Tom, not simply because they are </span>growing<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> up and Huck seems more mature than Tom, but because, through trial after trial, Huck maintains his childlike innocence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Throughout his trip down river with the slave Jim, Huck questions, doubts, and reflects on the actions of the adult world. What he learns, he doesn’t like. Nor do we. However, unlike the adults Huck encounters, he retains his curiosity, rejecting the world-weariness of the people he is told to emulate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Creating genuine child characters is not exclusively a male thing, as evidenced by Harper Lee’s Scout in <i>To Kill a Mockingbird.</i> Whereas Pip and Oliver represent consciousness, while Tom and Huck display curiosity, Scout totally embodies <b>credulity</b>, the willingness to believe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Credulity is the childhood trait most quickly lost, not on</span>ly<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> in literature, but in real life. The more often a child is disappointed, the more quickly credulity vanishes. For example, when a child learns the truth </span>about<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy, trust in the adult </span>world vanishes. Doubt becomes a constant companion<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Scout, however, maintains her belief in her father, her brother, and the basic goodness of people despite the anger, violence, and bigotry of Depression-era Alabama. She sees a handicapped black man, Tom Robinson, falsely accused of raping a white girl. She watches as an angry mob threatens her father, Tom’s lawyer. Shortly afterward, Tom is killed by law-enforcement officers trying to escape. Scout herself is attacked as she walks home from a school program.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite these assaults on her welfare, Scout maintains faith in the goodness of people. The peaceful integrity of her father Atticus, the protection of town outcast Boo Radley, and the virtue of everybody important to her all vindicate Scout’s belief in humankind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The three C's––consciousness, curiosity, and credulity––are only three childlike attributes authors can use to celebrate childhood. Others include a child’s willingness to persevere through disappointment and pain, their infectious and joyous laughter, and their instinctual reaction to new people. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Not everything about childhood is praiseworthy. For example, you may want to avoid the screams of fast-food restaurant play areas, the savage games of dodgeball on the elementary school playground, and the pink and blue sticky fingers from eating a truckload of cotton candy. Just as you may want to avoid the profanity of highway construction sites, the pension fraud, and rumor-mongering when examining the adult world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But if there’s anything we can learn from Dickens, Twain, and Lee, it is that child characters can teach us lessons that adult characters can only hint at.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The traits of consciousness, curiosity, and credulity can infuse your story, particularly your theme, with childlike hope and wonder. The best way to show them is not with adults, but with children themselves.</span></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-91933430493066806372014-04-16T16:50:00.001-05:002014-04-16T16:50:57.491-05:00Completing Your Novel: Three Keys to Avoid Distraction<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgua25KzzDLEF7XalX3-lJnlx2b9Zuiyfy3LhQoTrekJEhuXo_7hE2INJk97p6cMYJi-KqoWIZjH7h2vIo1ZMZz3mcgmfiiLQsFszSZZ_hyphenhyphen8oCxUxzzEMJetMKrQCYoPQcrs4mWD5NHZXsO/s1600/Emerson+pace+of+nature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgua25KzzDLEF7XalX3-lJnlx2b9Zuiyfy3LhQoTrekJEhuXo_7hE2INJk97p6cMYJi-KqoWIZjH7h2vIo1ZMZz3mcgmfiiLQsFszSZZ_hyphenhyphen8oCxUxzzEMJetMKrQCYoPQcrs4mWD5NHZXsO/s1600/Emerson+pace+of+nature.jpg" height="640" width="433" /></a><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I hate distractions!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Oh, look. It’s snowing.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What? Again? Noooooo!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sorry. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where was I? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, yeah....</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One of the greatest problems of completing fiction projects is the constant intrusion of distractions. No, not the </span>weather; <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">not the Terrible Trio of Chores, Children, and Chaos; but the inherent distractions of the the writing process itself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each new character, each new setting, each complication you encounter in the composition process can send your thoughts spinning off into all sorts of unintended directions that can alter your whole plot and purpose. Returning to your original intent can take days, weeks or months of diligent crafting and problem-solving that can prove either miraculous or disastrous. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How does one avoid these unnecessary trips into potential oblivion? One of the best ways, is of course, <b>outlining</b>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Outlining focuses your story and I highly recommend it…as long as you follow your outline better than I follow mine. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For a great guide into the process of writing and using outlines, I highly recommend K.M. Weiland's <i>Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As instrumental as outlines are, though, Weiland and the authors she interviews caution us that becoming a slave to them has its dangers, most significantly the stifling of inspiration. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A second key, then, is to <b>be flexible, </b>keeping open to the urging of your muse. For example, sometimes a small but insistent </span>voice tells you it is imperative<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> to kill one of your favorite characters, not because you dislike him/her/it, but for all the possibilities that the character’s demise opens up for tension, complication, or resolution. Here's a hint: Do it!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you cling to your original outline, those doors remain forever closed and the story will remain dull or flat. Listen to the voice and let the story develop in ways it must. The excitement of discovery will engage your mind so strongly that all diversions will vanish.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So key #1 is plan or outline and #2 is to be flexible. Those are </span>pretty<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> common and easy-to-recall rules. Right?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is a third key, however, that came to mind today only when the park behind the house disappeared under a veil of thick, sloppy, white gunk. It is also one of the most important lessons any parent can teach a foot-stomping, frustrated five-year-old. Remember this conversation?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Mom, when am I gonna grow up?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“A little while longer, dear.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, Mom, I wanna grow up now!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Don’t worry, honey. It will happen sooner than you know. Just remember: Patience is a virtue.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"I don' wanna be patient. I wanna be big!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As time goes on, we discover the truth of our mother's admonition. Adulthood comes soon enough, as long as we patiently endure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the purposes of the writing life, the same advice applies. <b>Patience</b> is not only the key to enduring childhood; it is the third key to avoiding the distractions preventing you from finishing your novel. Particularly when the ending seems so far away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, ideas build on ideas. Subplots divert and expand the theme. Revision leads to more revision. The whole story devolves into an incomprehensible mess...or so it seems. But patience and diligence can and will guide your story through the baffling and exasperating labyrinth to a logical and satisfying conclusion. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just like they will get us through this incessant winter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">At the risk of becoming tedious and boring, today, in the middle of April, it’s snowing yet again. AGAIN! </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s frustrating! I want to claw out my eyes and bite off my fingers, but that's not a totally bad thing. Seriously. It reminded me of Mom’s words from long ago: “Patience is a virtue.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Heeding her lesson, this morning I turned to a writer whose poems and essays never fail to calm the turmoil of the moment, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Grabbing my worn and highlighted copy of his collected works and also scanning his numerous maxims on Brainy Quotes, I found the following: “Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I </span>took<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> a deep breath, swallowed, and claimed the virtuousness of composure. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I closed the curtains and resolved to apply the same restraint and sense of calm to finishing my latest project. I decided even though the end seems far away, I will write! I will sit at my keyboard and type until the story is completed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I will complete it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m pretty sure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When the snow stops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I hope.</span></span></div>
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-52268311773638514142014-04-10T12:30:00.002-05:002014-04-16T09:25:12.822-05:00More Than Normal: Cultivating Fascination in the Commonplace<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yzRtCF_BgDLBceBUuyptwil5dyXbNM2k9c1z9Gl41N0S2f0EoZBzuw-Hn86DwGLlYnFgNr9A8R3L-s13QjkO48DNr6vC1nP_lLlJ72zTXzjAZ_Mw9aJ_IA93rpxVUCYzhDnPwtcC1J6e/s1600/1047961_10151685834312042_1742985446_o+-+Version+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yzRtCF_BgDLBceBUuyptwil5dyXbNM2k9c1z9Gl41N0S2f0EoZBzuw-Hn86DwGLlYnFgNr9A8R3L-s13QjkO48DNr6vC1nP_lLlJ72zTXzjAZ_Mw9aJ_IA93rpxVUCYzhDnPwtcC1J6e/s1600/1047961_10151685834312042_1742985446_o+-+Version+2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If I ever needed confirmation that there is wonder in the ordinary, I found it this week. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everyday, we adults are exposed to a multitude of repetitive events and sensations, so many that we barely notice them any longer. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Somewhere we have lost the joy in discovery we had as children. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">That is unfortunate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Remember the days when you wondered why the sky is blue? The days when you chased lightning bugs at twilight? The days you tried to flush your sister’s Barbie dolls down the toilet just to see if you could and what would happen if you tried?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay. Maybe that was just a warped thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The point is we all used to wonder why things happen. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everything. Even the objects and processes we say every day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But then we grew up and learned to ignore what </span>didn't slap us upside the head and say, "NOTICE ME!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What we as adults now fail to realize is that the<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> commonplace is not as simple as we think it is. Just because we have experienced </span>grass growing or<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> spring snowfall innumerable times does not mean the occurrence of either is simple or dreary. As adults, especially for us writers, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the complexity of simplicity. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Take thought itself, for example.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When was the last time you thought about thinking? It’s something we all do daily––or claim to. In fact, we think so often, we fail to consider the intricacy of the process.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week, I picked up a book that has been sitting unread on my shelf for some time: <i>Escaping the Matrix</i> by pastor Greg Boyd and psychologist/therapist Al Larson. What I found there about brain function at once fascinated and frightened me––<i>fascinated</i> because of the sheer enormity of the process and <i>frightened</i> because I realized how much I miss of what happens around me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First, the fascinating numbers. According to Boyd and Larson, "The average adult brain consists of more than 10 billion neurons communicating with one another through more than 10 trillion synaptic connections....[T]he number of possible connections in the brain is more than all of the stars in the known universe (approximately 50 billion galaxies with an average of 10 billion stars each). Although the average dendrite is a fraction of a millimeter in size, if you were to line up all the dendrites in your brain, the line would circle the globe five times!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ack! And that’s in just ONE average adult human brain. And right now there are over 7 billion humans on earth! How many dendrites are there? How many have there BEEN? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My head hurts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But that’s just what is IN the brain. How can all those components operate at all? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evidently, quite well Boyd and Larson continue: "[T]he brain communicates much faster than you can possibly count, and it operates along millions of neurological pathways all at once. Were this not the case, it would take several lifetimes to think a single thought!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The most overwhelming part of thinking, however, is not what the brain obtains. It is what the brain discards. Boyd and Larson explain: "During this process, you're being impacted by an estimated 100 million bits of information per second. The reticular activating system of your brain deletes 98 percent of this while the rest of your brain filters the remaining 2 million bits of information. From all of this, your brain brings to your conscious awareness only five to nine pieces of information per second it believes is most relevant to you at the moment.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So the main function of the brain is…forgetting? Huh? I guess my brain works better than I thought it does.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, more importantly, how much more should I know? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And how much more is there to know? Now, my head REALLY hurts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The point of all this for writers is, if all of this is going on when we think––one of the most commonplace occurrences––how much more is happening in other activities like growing, eating, loving, or simply existing?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">There has to be a story there. Or two. Or a billion...</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which means everybody, every occurrence, every time is fodder for exploration, explanation, and exposition. Tapping into the childlike fascination we once had is the best start.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wonder what else is on my bookshelf.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Credit</u></b>: Boyd, Gregory A. and Al Larson. <i>Escaping the Matrix: Setting Your Mind Free to experience Real Life in Christ. </i>BakerBooks: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005. 31.</span></span></div>
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-29651188935727127882014-04-01T21:58:00.000-05:002014-04-01T21:59:58.490-05:00Wonder: The Sixth W<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"The death of journalism is at hand!"</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Despite that dire warning, despite having a steady job teaching and coaching, and despite a mountain of self-doubt, I decided to regroup and peruse a life change. </span>News writing<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> seemed a perfect fit for somebody with a degree in both English and social studies. What I didn't realize was that the switch would require a return to square one.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Journalism 101.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Lesson #1. <i>Writing the news is not writing a research paper. Short paragraphs</i> (1-2 sentences) <i>are required. The inverted pyramid style</i> (most </span>important information first)<i> is mandatory. Most importantly, the length of the story depends on the news hole</i> (the amount of space left over after allotting advertising space).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Which leaves what?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>The 5 W’s and the H. Get those down and move on.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">W</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">ho</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">what</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">when</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">where</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">why</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, and </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">how? That's it?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>That's all they want. Just the facts.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Creativity? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Dissuaded</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Concise, sterile, and clinical?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Please.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stale and downright dull?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The purpose of the news is first to inform the reader of who did what to whom when and where. If there is space in the news hole, include how it was done with maybe a paragraph/sentence/phrase indicating why it was done or why the reader should care. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Anything else we leave to</i> <i>the feature stories, not the news.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That was when I decided that I preferred to write features and fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After I made that my goal, I discovered that the 5 Ws and the H were not enough. Features and fiction require a sixth W, an ingredient relied upon by scientists and theologians–– wonder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wonder has too often been ignored in the name of objectivity, when it is actually the foundation for discovery and innovation, philosophy and art. All we as a species originated with a fascination with the unknown. As Socrates explained succinctly, "Wisdom begins in wonder." By the way, Socrates was a pretty smart guy.</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Consider this about your favorite books or stories: How often do you want the author to simply tell you the hows and whys of the plot? The old adage "Show, don't tell" originated from a common trait readers share: People want to discover. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As writers, then, we must first generate wonder, sparking the reader's curiosity and desire for knowledge. That wonder can arise from all aspects of </span>the story:<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> characterization, setting, conflict, and complication.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How then do we create wonder? The answer comes from an unexpected source, Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. He said, "Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand."</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That does not mean that we should all be writing crime novels with staggering body counts and unfamiliar motives, however. What we need to do is trigger questions, ones like "Where are we?" "Why did that electrician say that?" </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -27px;">"Why did my favorite character die in the first twenty pages?" </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;">"How did this boss become such a weenie?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;">To be fair to your readers, be sure to answer these questions...eventually. Note, however, that the wonder materializes from waiting for the answer. Gratification is a good thing, but <i>delayed</i> gratification is excellent. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;">Action excites. Humor entertains. Sex sells. But wonder...</span><br />
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<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Wonder captivates. It entices. It enthralls. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Wonder transform reading from a hobby to an addiction. Questions lead to answers. Answers give knowledge. Knowledge leads to more questions, more knowledge, more questions....The reader cannot and does not want to stop. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Without wonder, a book is </span>simply<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> prose. With it, the book is art. As Albert Einstein (another really smart guy) said, "Wonder is the source of all true art and science."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">From a business viewpoint, wonder sells; dry dusty prose...not so much.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Maybe that's why J.K Rowling has </span>proliferating<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> disciples and the </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Washington Post</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> has vanishing subscribers. Is it any wonder? </span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Okay, I promise not to use that 6th W again...at least until I </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">can't remember where I put my thesaurus.</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-indent: -27px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For more quotes on the word for the day (</i>wonder<i>) check the </i>17 Quotes on Wonder<i> page.</i></span></span></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-82690498056318900182014-03-25T14:05:00.001-05:002014-03-27T10:11:35.443-05:00Sherlockian Exposition: Exploiting the Essential Facts<div style="margin-bottom: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Starting a story reeks! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">You can develop the most unique concept in literary history. You can map out the conflict/plot in minute detail. You can create characters that outshine Hamlet, Medea, and Forrest Gump. You can have the most significant theme since “Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat.” But brainstorm and outline as you might, the page will still sit there mocking you, daring you, intimidating you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The block comes not from lack of preparation, but from knowing</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> that if you don’t grab your audience at the outset of the story, it will be difficult to grab them at all. The resulting dilemma is that too much information may bore them now, while too little may confuse them later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Hence, your fingers hover over the keyboard, your brain turns to pablum, and you have an overwhelming urge to make a trip to the bathroom. That first step––writing the exposition––is impossible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">For good reason. Exposition is </span>frightening<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> beast. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;">By taking on the task of composition, the writer is mandated to establish setting, characters, mood, and conflict. But he/she must first decide how much detail is necessary and how much is too much. Make the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">wrong choice and the monster will gulp him/her down whole, belching loudly, and patting its gurgling belly.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That’s where Sherlockian exposition becomes crucial. Mastering it will fight off the fiend of inaction.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his classic Sherlock Holmes stories, he made a point of giving his readers all the information they needed in order to solve the crime right along with the famous sleuth. If the reader paid attention, all the detail one required to appreciate the detective's reasoning, the setting, and the characters––all the essential information––was provided at the beginning of every story.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As we writers begin our stories/novels today, our role is the same. We must decide what information our readers need to know from the outset. Is our female protagonist's Winnie the Pooh tattoo going to affect her ability to combat the unholy alliance of Darth Vader, Lex Luthor, and Jimmy Kimmel? Will the butler's runny nose lead to a terrorist attack by agents of the Teddy Bear Lovers of America? Does it really matter that Congressman Abraham Conklin's orange plaid tie does not match his green polka-dotted shirt?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If those details are integral to the story or to the impression we want the reader to form, we want to use them as quickly as possible. We need to lead the audience where we want them to go. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Unfortunately, too many facts can be a problem. In Doyle's "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," Holmes points out that “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Maybe that is your goal––deception for interest's sake. However, deception should not be our aim as writers. Unless we want to be known as arrogant </span>poopyheads<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Rather than the quality of misdirection, our detail,</span> like Doyle's, <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">needs import. What Doyle's most famous character proves in every story is not that it's fun to fool people. What he demonstrates is that the most innocuous detail can become the most significant. It is this quality which gives the Sherlock Holmes's tales their appeal.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Why?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While reading, the interactive reader will be asking questions like "Why is this person nervous?" "Why is it raining?" "Is it important that this person likes kumquats?" When the reader discovers the significance of these initially trivial details, there is a sense of satisfaction with the realization. Happy readers are avid readers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For over a century, devoted Doyle readers have tried to </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">outthink the genius Sherlock Holmes by observing as well as he did. They examine every scrap of information, every piece of clothing, every grimace included in the exposition, knowing that everything could be important to solving the case. The gratification from reaching the same conclusion as the great detective is immense.</span></div>
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Due to Doyle's most famous protagonist, the way the cases are introduced and solved, and audience involvement, Sherlock Holmes has become the most dramatized literary character in history. A writer would do well to emulate Doyle's storytelling methods.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here is a word of caution, however. There is danger if the reader is fooled by detail, even when the deception is due to the reader's own inattention.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Think about the times you’ve scoured every closet in the house for the winter cap that has been sitting on your head ever since November. Remember rummaging through every drawer, shelf, and waste basket for the car keys you already held in your hands. Consider when you asked a stranger for the time while standing under the tower housing Big Ben. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Do we ever blame ourselves for our inattention in those situations? Of course not. We look for something or someone to blame: Our little sister, our dog, the barometric pressure in Pompeii. Our readers may have the same reaction, blaming us for trying to disgrace them. Not a good idea.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Remember, humiliation is never a good feeling, but recognizing the origins of events, realizing we are the smartest kid in class, is. It's our job as writers to help the readers achieve the latter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Does this mean we should all be writing mysteries a la Sherlock Holmes? No. It means that description for description's sake is pointless, particularly at the outset of a story. On the other hand, description with an aim is vital, whether our story involves a master sleuth like Holmes or a lonely person gazing out the window of a New York high-rise apartment </span>contemplating whether to eat a Snickers or a doughnut<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The point is, as a writer, we can use the mundane to create some of the most fantastic characters, settings and plots ever conceived with just a little Sherlockian exposition, providing seemingly trivial detail that changes the whole course of your story.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So how do we start a story? Think about what's fun to read. That's how best to write and avoid the paralyzing beast. Plus, Sherlock Holmes would be proud.</span></div>
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-18157551175037029522014-03-17T19:14:00.001-05:002014-03-17T19:21:58.026-05:00Life's #1 Rule: Becoming The Expert Non-Expert<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3RHJS9nvdZpExPhiLMZvTyW9SS2DV9mDcfhxh65k1qHeWj6MDbVaU0J9Z9Toplm38Wu0LdMlzY4jUqWtmTLaBl0kpb1pIvCq_Nsbg97JWEPqm9u6I-PWfjcfHnJWjeV3RPnG-SkF3lGv/s1600/%231+Rule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3RHJS9nvdZpExPhiLMZvTyW9SS2DV9mDcfhxh65k1qHeWj6MDbVaU0J9Z9Toplm38Wu0LdMlzY4jUqWtmTLaBl0kpb1pIvCq_Nsbg97JWEPqm9u6I-PWfjcfHnJWjeV3RPnG-SkF3lGv/s1600/%231+Rule.jpg" height="400" width="182" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Life is filled with rules, and marketing your material is evidently no exception.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Writers and consultants I've read and heard suggest a myriad of rules to follow: Build a platform. Get a website. Blog. Expose yourself...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">I think that means make your name and work known. At least, I hope it does.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">A recurring suggestion states that the writer should become an expert in an area that makes him––and henceforth, his book––salable. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The advice feels sound. Based on the evidence the advisers provide, it </span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">is </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">sound. The </span>problem for us marketing neophytes, however,<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is determining what that area could possibly be for us. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I presented that issue to my wife one day as we emptied a </span>trunkload<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> of books into the garage. She said, “You have two bachelors degrees, went to graduate school, taught for 35 years, and have a library full of fiction, nonfiction, and reference books. You must be an expert on something!”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sadly, no.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">That’s not false humility. I speak from experience. Every time in social and professional gatherings, whenever discussions veer into my </span>favorite<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> topics, someone knows more than I do. The problem, I have learned, is that despite my ego, it is quite obvious that there’s no subject where I know all </span>there<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is to know.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I had a revelation: "Hey! That' s my area of expertise! I am the expert non-expert. In fact, that is my greatest asset."</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I have absorbed life's </span>greatest<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> lesson: The more I learn, the more I know I need to learn. No time for resting on laurels. No time for medal/trophy polishing. No time to boast. Time to just shut up and learn.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A degree in </span>history<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> earned forty years ago? Times have changed. There's a little </span>catching<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> up to do.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A degree in English? Good chance I missed a few books written before 1976. There's an even better chance of having missed a few since.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Journalism? The practice and laws governing the practice have altered a tad. What was once only print and broadcast has morphed and now includes </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cyber pages, blogs, and Joe-Bob Wampeter forwarding fuzzy and creative “news” to anybody with an email account, a smartphone, and an IQ over 27.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Teaching e</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">xperience? Every year at the front desk, one notices that techniques and students change. Science discovers more about how the brain works. Materials and delivery systems change. Technology improves. Subjects, programs, and entire professions disappear. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">As trends and appreciations transform, students teach as much as </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">instructors do. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Spiritual </span>knowledge? Every truth leads to more questions. Every question leads to more answers and more truth, BUT more questions. The cycle continues ad infinitum. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's the issue: </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Many of us find uncertainty and constant change frustrating.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">If we are honest with ourselves, however, </span>uncertainty<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> and change are, in fact, liberating. Realizing how incomplete our learning is frees us to learn more. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">And that is the main problem we have accepting the title of expert. To accept the mantle of expert only confines us to what we already know, a position surely to be outpaced by events and discoveries. Only by realizing our inexpertise in EVERY area can we learn what we need to know.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Becoming an all-knowing expert is impossible. We cannot learn all there is to know about any subject.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">What we can become––and be as long as we breathe––are authoritative learners, people knowledgeable on certain subjects, aware of our deficiencies, and willing to learn more about everything of which we were once so sure.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">So how does one market being the authoritative learner, the non-expert? </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Learn all you can. Then, l</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">ike all the world's "authorities," follow Life's #1 Rule: Fake it and fake it big.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With a few decades of practice, I'm kind of an expert on that.</span></span></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-44566299750304274132014-03-11T14:09:00.000-05:002014-03-13T11:56:18.346-05:00The Dizzying Effect of Observation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRpIRXG5HDniuZAVS2mZEMxPgjxpIyQdDjACvApMA3P-x8pXuoJ433hRvSmGDJ7ca3NWRZFNAm8cPgtR1nGlvO0bFjjcftxiiw7k16Q6M2IHwjLauIuUHRuQDCeQw8DVd3zsUzWHqUHmy/s1600/IMG_1728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRpIRXG5HDniuZAVS2mZEMxPgjxpIyQdDjACvApMA3P-x8pXuoJ433hRvSmGDJ7ca3NWRZFNAm8cPgtR1nGlvO0bFjjcftxiiw7k16Q6M2IHwjLauIuUHRuQDCeQw8DVd3zsUzWHqUHmy/s1600/IMG_1728.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRpIRXG5HDniuZAVS2mZEMxPgjxpIyQdDjACvApMA3P-x8pXuoJ433hRvSmGDJ7ca3NWRZFNAm8cPgtR1nGlvO0bFjjcftxiiw7k16Q6M2IHwjLauIuUHRuQDCeQw8DVd3zsUzWHqUHmy/s1600/IMG_1728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is writer's block and then there are the stone walls of procrastination, distraction, and pure laziness. I have to admit I've hit the block and all three walls the past couple of weeks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've hit them face-first so hard, I swear my nose is coming out the back of my head. Searching for inspiration, concentration, and perseverance has been like riding a skateboard against freeway traffic. Hopeless and painful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rather than fight the traffic, I've been bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What's irritating is that for years I've known many ways to overcome these obstacles. For example, just a few months ago, I wrote about the advantages of people-watching, particularly at McDonald's. As a teacher, I always told students that if you don't have anything to write about, write about not having anything to write about. I even constructed brainstorming lists on separate pages on this site to serve as stimuli.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I have no excuses for not writing. Except sometimes I'm just a goomer with no excuses. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was so frustrated I just wanted to get away. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And it worked, though almost as painfully as running into the previously mentioned stonewalls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember in ninth grade when the teacher assigned you to write about an embarrassing moment? It wasn't because he/she wanted to get dirt on you. It was because embarrassment is at once memorable and instructive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which brings us to Washington, DC. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last week, my wife needed to go there on business. Since my mind was mush here in Minnesota and because I love exploring that city, I decided to get away and meet her there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently, she had been there and had eaten at the Skydome Restaurant in Crystal City. She raved about the food and the panoramic view of the city. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Hmmm," I thought. "Maybe that can shake something loose in my brain," so that is where we went our first night in town.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just so you know, there's the something-loose-shaken brain and the totally spin-dried, God-schmucked brain. I got the latter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When the elevator door opened on the fifteenth floor, I could barely move. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The view stunned and riveted me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To our left was the Pentagon, the Air Force Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Across the Potomac from them stood the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Old Post Office tower, and the Capitol. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the right, a jetliner rose from Reagan National Airport and streaked away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I stood speechless, attempting to drink in the beauty, the bustle, the vastness, and the palpable air of history shimmering over the entire spectacle. I didn't want to move.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then the waiter said, "Follow me, please." My wife gently pushed my elbow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know if it was my gaping mouth or my twisting and turning as we crossed the room, but she smiled and whispered, "I told you."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We sat at a table near the window, but I wanted to see more. I kept craning my neck to see more while muttering, "Wow." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This was the first time my wife laughed at me. It was a restrained chuckle, but laughter nonetheless.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was not offended. I understood perfectly well why she did. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here she was with an incoherent country boy babbling and gawking at the big city, impressed by what natives consider commonplace and mundane. If I saw the same thing, I'd laugh, too. I smiled with her and ordered a steak dinner to comfort my bruised ego.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Throughout dinner, we discussed our separate flights from Minnesota, our plans for the next day, and other assorted minutiae. It was a perfect conversation in a perfect setting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then the noise from the kitchen and the television above the bar began to distract me. Annoyed, I thought, "I wish the waiter hadn't put us so close to all the noise. I wonder if he'd move us."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evidently, my scowl gave voice to my thoughts. "What's wrong?" my wife asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"It's kind of loud..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Yes, but it'll be over in a few minutes," she assured me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To my frustrated and grumpy mind, that seemed unlikely. "Why?" I asked innocently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"We'll be past the bar," she said, tilting her head in that "Don't-you-get-it?" way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"What?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"We're moving."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Moving? What?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"It's a revolving restaurant. Didn't I tell you that?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Moving?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Yes. Why do you think they put a number on our table?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"I...I don't know. I thought it was like Arby's or Culvers'."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She didn't exactly cough up her gall bladder laughing, but not for lack of trying. Had she not struggled to keep the sound in, she probably would have. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Embarrassed by my own naiveté, I made the mistake of averting my eyes from her and looking out the window. Then I saw the disturbing truth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We were moving! In a circle!! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't care how slowly; we were moving in a circle!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I didn't feel so good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Are you dizzy?" My wife asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I gulped and nodded. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This time her laughter was not silent. I can't blame her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After recovering my equilibrium back in our room, I realized that besides the great food and majestic vista, this whole dinner had been illuminating. Not just about my lack of knowledge, not about my wife's patience and sense of humor, but about life in general. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As mortifying as the experience had been at the time, I learned it's easy to get distracted by both the overwhelming and the ordinary. Amidst the spell-binding and the unremarkable, you can miss the important and meaningful. This is especially true for curing writer's block.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eventually, you have to stop and observe what's happening around you and what's happening to you. What you see and what you hear will awaken not only your senses, but your thoughts, your conscience, and your creativity. It's when you fail to pay attention that you shut down and miss the obvious, the significant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Waking up can make you dizzy, sure. It can be embarrassing what you've missed. But when you get by all that, life will be so much more fascinating and spectacular that you can't help but have material to write and thoughts to share.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It all begins with observation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just for your edification, you may want fly over the stone wall of embarrassment rather than running smack into it like I did. Unless you like your nose sticking out the back of your head.</span><br />
<br />
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-KhfGeWszY-U%2FUx9EeVehKkI%2FAAAAAAAAB2w%2FMM5nsRn8sF0%2Fs1600%2FIMG_1728.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRpIRXG5HDniuZAVS2mZEMxPgjxpIyQdDjACvApMA3P-x8pXuoJ433hRvSmGDJ7ca3NWRZFNAm8cPgtR1nGlvO0bFjjcftxiiw7k16Q6M2IHwjLauIuUHRuQDCeQw8DVd3zsUzWHqUHmy/s1600/IMG_1728.jpg" -->Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-81989945829504909422014-02-18T17:17:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:47:54.487-05:00The Great Unplug: Breaking Through the Bleh <div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoA2lT4C7x8_Yzc9TEfslzoZL0lgxylnCneAr8rt4Ur7POJ854ukdEP2IPGcYXc30OUKN9A7CsH63ncYzpbpVLjpzUR4tecpYbUOOWVIHTlH7b10nMZ8c9vfT-MWZgxOkY2b01tTx1QUjq/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoA2lT4C7x8_Yzc9TEfslzoZL0lgxylnCneAr8rt4Ur7POJ854ukdEP2IPGcYXc30OUKN9A7CsH63ncYzpbpVLjpzUR4tecpYbUOOWVIHTlH7b10nMZ8c9vfT-MWZgxOkY2b01tTx1QUjq/s1600/photo.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Writer's block is not the worst occurrence in the writing life. If you don’t write anything, at least you don’t say anything stupid.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Writing bleh, on the other hand…</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
Writing bleh occurs when everything you write is verbal mucous. Brain phlegm, if you will. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And you want to fix it. You really do. You simply can’t. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What frustrates you the most is you should know how. You’ve taken all the writing classes. You know all the rules. You’ve learned the techniques of revision. Your numerous thesauri lie next to the keyboard, anxious to give you direction.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It sh</span>ould<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> be easy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So you highlight what your congested mind coughed up before, take a deep breath, and...hack up a lung!</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In frustration, you search your bookshelves for a helpful writer’s guide. You slog through the Internet for worthwhile exercises. You search for <i>the</i> inspirational quote from the world’s greatest authors. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You try to write and again nothing.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Do not worry. There’s a far more efficient way to stimulate the mind.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Walk away.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Notice that I did not say, “Throw away.” No, leave what you have on the screen and <i>WALK </i>away. To another room. To another house. To another county.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Before you throw up your hands and </span>lunch<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> in disgust, think of this solution as resetting your computer when the only thing you can do to make the darned thing work is to unplug it, count to 30, and start over.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What happens is miraculous. All the programs that mucked up the system before, now work flawlessly, and you’re back in business.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When I ask techies why unplugging works to re-establish a working computer, none of them can tell me. “It just does,” they say.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Just as your computer gets clogged by trying to do too much with too much, so your writing also gets clogged with critical-analytical overload where all the creative writing/editing “programs” you’ve learned over the years try to kick into gear at once, clogging up your brain until <i>NOTHING </i>works. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The only thing you can do is unplug.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Unlike the 30-second computer model, however, to unplug your brain, take at least 30 minutes and do something else. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Wash the dishes. Build a snowman. Take a walk to McDonald’s and have a Shamrock Shake. (Unless you’re on Weight Watchers and the 660 calories doesn’t fit into your daily point total. Then I suggest coffee, tea, or diet soda.)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After your McDonald’s Moment, go back to the computer, bring up what you wrote earlier, and see how much easier the process is. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With all your “programs” reset, everything you already know simply works without prodding or cajoling. Like the computer geeks who recommend the Great Unplug, I can’t tell you why walking away from your writing rejuvenates your work. It just does.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No more brain phlegm. No more anxiety. No more bleh.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
When exasperation and anxiety mount, remember the old commercial and smile. "You deserve a break today."</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
Just unplug.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-46442747719269748382014-02-10T20:49:00.000-06:002014-03-13T11:44:56.497-05:00Writing Tools: Pencil Boxes, Book Bags, and the Trouble with Tribbles<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOg3gag6oJwn_wix2QOexZCiNKEg5pb2HDsaHorSEpgjHDXqrkdWE34-EV9AKwt84pjWaybud8EfMy59NYtugwRbYDhvUo1NyRB8RMIKDDFIgsow59YfYXVryz2ibiDM9BPjPTyefAmh2/s1600/IMG_1715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOg3gag6oJwn_wix2QOexZCiNKEg5pb2HDsaHorSEpgjHDXqrkdWE34-EV9AKwt84pjWaybud8EfMy59NYtugwRbYDhvUo1NyRB8RMIKDDFIgsow59YfYXVryz2ibiDM9BPjPTyefAmh2/s1600/IMG_1715.JPG" height="252" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For nine months this pencil box has sat next to the computer pleading with me to stop sputtering and ranting at the idiotic comments in the local paper. Channeling Ernest Hemingway, the box quietly states, "The writer must write what he has to say, not speak it."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stupid box. When I need your help, I'll ask for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnVCU-BYKE5-7zmueggJUhz7sWtEqwae2yxU8-ZWAvLyFWN9ulNPkeUb8AscYltGSk-6h_7Mvk6avrvKjpDQrEmYyXfxsgpnRyebefQjTw_uguhQkc-EPepYoQbOl0O3TNzsE_fwDwuzq/s1600/IMG_1718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnVCU-BYKE5-7zmueggJUhz7sWtEqwae2yxU8-ZWAvLyFWN9ulNPkeUb8AscYltGSk-6h_7Mvk6avrvKjpDQrEmYyXfxsgpnRyebefQjTw_uguhQkc-EPepYoQbOl0O3TNzsE_fwDwuzq/s1600/IMG_1718.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is especially irritating about the engraving is that the box just sits there looking great and inspirational on the outside, but the inside is empty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nothing to write with. Nothing to write on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Empty. <b><i><u>EMPTY!!!</u></i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kind of like a person's head after watching fifteen minutes of afternoon television.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Blech! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some people would say it's a nice decoration, but it shouldn't be a decoration. Far more than a fancy container, it was made for a purpose. It was given to me with a purpose. And I've been ignoring it...kind of on purpose. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's difficult to ignore because even though it speaks silently, it speaks loudly. It reminds me that I have work to do and this is my toolbox.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I hate the term <i>work</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One could justify the box's emptiness, I suppose, by asserting that pencil boxes have lost their usefulness in the age of computers. That's a copout, however. If nothing else, pencil boxes are symbolic of a writer's toolbox, and as such, should be filled. Which started me thinking, "What should be in the writer's tool box?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The teacher instinct kicked in and proclaimed, "Let's make a list. Or better yet, let's make THREE!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here they are: The Old School List, the Digital Age List, and the Book Bag List. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Old School</u></b> pencil boxes are made to accompany piles and piles of journals, loose-leaf notebooks, and legal pads. The most obvious element inside would be, to nobody's surprise,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1. Pencils</b>. And their cousins the pens. At the initial stages of brainstorming ideas, writing utensils are probably enough. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, as your project evolves, you may want to add...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2. Highlighters.</b> Fluorescent markers make words stand out. If you come up with something particularly witty, the luminescence of these markers make the writer look smarter. Unfortunately, if you're particularly mundane or foolish, they only accentuate your kinship to a lethargic wombat, but...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3. Mini-Moleskine notebooks and Post-it pads</b> are great for ideas and mess-free edits. On the other hand, if you really want to get rid of ridiculous phrases, Sharpies are great for blotting them out forever while conserving paper and the salvable material. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And let's not forget every teacher/secretary/writer's friend, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4. The paper clip/binder</b> for keeping your good stuff together. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It may be hard to tell, but the Hemingway box above, and maybe yours, is large enough to also contain an</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>5. iPod</b> with accompanying earbuds. What songs should be loaded onto it? See the page published earlier "Artists for the Perfect Playlist."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For those who have given up on long hand or who have the penmanship of a flopping carp, the previous list may seem pretty prosaic and boring. "What about digital writers?" you ask. I have answers, but I</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> also have to preface my list here admitting my preference for the Mac. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you are a PC person, I'm sorry... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's not nice. Sorry. I assume there are PC parallels for what I am about to suggest. I just don't know for sure. I'm willing to learn and share.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><u>Digital Age</u></b> pencil boxes usually come embedded in your device. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">computer, laptop, and tablet usually has some form of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1. Word processing</b> like Apple's Pages or Microsoft's Word. Google has Docs or something similar and useful. Speech-to-text features even take away your need to be a good typist. It's a good time to be a writer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking of Google...Sorry. Didn't mean to give you mental whiplash. But speaking of Google, a really good </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2. Search engine</b> is invaluable to the digital pencil box. Some people like Bing. Others, Yahoo. Still others have access to academic search sites. Personally, I find Google and Wikipedia useful for background information in writing fiction. For more detailed information, use as many engines as possible. (Oh, for former students railing against my prohibition of Wikipedia lo, those may years ago....note that this is for BACKGROUND information. For more detail, Wiki can still be valuable if one follows the linked citations.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3. Dictionary/thesaurus</b> apps usually come with your device, but I also suggest you make sure you have access to Dictionary.com as either a bookmark or as a separate app. That site uses numerous sources, great etymologies, and provides access to both a dictionary and thesaurus in one place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4. USB jump drives</b> are simple ways to store your information, as are external hard drives. And make no mistake: Backing up your work is vital. The hard drives have more storage capability, but the jump drives are smaller and simpler to transport. Unfortunately, that size makes them easier to lose as well. Just be careful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>5. Music</b> can be your friend or enemy, so take this advice with caution. iTunes works in two great ways for those who want access to their music. Your downloaded playlists can travel with you on your devices, or if you're daring and like surprises, the new iTunes Radio makes some great selections. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That being said, I still like Pandora and am playing with Spotify. So any great choices on both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For more information concerning music and writing, check in the August 2013 archives for the article entitled "Writing and Music: Building the Inspirational Playlist."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>6. Organizational tools</b> abound in the App Store, but let me point out one of the most useful that incorporates the best of the Old School and Digital Age lists: Scrivener. Designed with Mac in mind, one can assume correctly it works best in that format, but according to reviewers, the PC adaptation has retained the functionality of the original.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What does Scrivener do? It formats your material. It allows you to search, rearrange, outline with or without digital notecards. Writing tools include a dictionary/thesaurus in both British and American mode, a name generator, and many more. As great as Pages and Word are, Scrivener is much more powerful and writer-centric Because of all Scrivener can do, it also has a learning curve that will slow you down at the beginning of your first project, but the program makes the compilation of material super simple. The online manual and tutorials are, in a word, wonderful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The third list features the catch-all contraption that follows good writers wherever they go to compose, the inimitable </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><b>Book bag.</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The book bag can hold lots of good stuff, not the least of which is books. What kind of books?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1. Inspirational books</b> are staples of every trip to the library or coffee shop. These are not necessarily for information, but more for motivation and encouragement. Books like <i>Tao te Ching</i>, <i>The Spiritual Emerson</i>, Dale Carnegie, Will Rogers, and <i>Walden</i> are in my bag because their simple presence can spark a train of thought, an image, or a theme that can keep one writing for hours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, they are not the only books to bring to the table or desk. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2. Reference books</b> are good even if you have a laptop with all the reference apps. A particularly useful reference is, believe it or not, a hard-copy thesaurus.Occasionally, the right word is just not in the digital thesaurus because the writers don't always think the way you do when keying in a reference word. The <b>ONE</b> thesaurus that always seems to have the right synonym is <i>Roget's Super Thesaurus </i>by Marc McCutcheon, published by Writer's Digest Books. Honestly. No other thesaurus, including the massive Roget's, comes close to the usefulness of this reference. Even with Dictionary.com, Scrivener, and Apple, the <i>Super Thesaurus</i> is a must-have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And no author's book bag is complete without</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3. Writing books. </b>It's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of selections in the writing section of Barnes and Noble, not to mention Amazon. What-to-write, how-to-write, and when-to-write books are about as numerous as pizza joints in the local strip mall, but there are a few that are especially helpful to have in your book bag. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Four of the most helpful are <i>The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers</i> by Christopher Vogler; <i>Gods in Everyman: A New Psychology of Men's Lives and Loves</i> and <i>Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women</i> by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.; </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vex Hex Smash Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Constance Hale</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; and </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How to Write and Sell Your First Novel</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Oscar Collier with Frances Spatz Leighton</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vogler and Bolen deal with archetypes that can guide plotting and characterization, two of a writer's most important tasks; Hale brings a different method to empowering your language; and finally, Collier gets into the culmination of writing––publishing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> There are many other books just as valuable that can give you guidance, including ones by such luminaries as William Golding, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King. Find what works for you and which you will actually use and put them in your bag.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Books are not the only thing to go into your book bag, however. There's also the ever-important</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4. Assorted stuff</b><i style="font-weight: bold;">. </i>"Stuff" can be <i>real</i> notecards, journals, staplers, three-ring binders, three-hole punch, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ruler, and a rubber rattlesnake just to scare some unsuspecting frump hiding in the library stacks or an annoying child at the window screaming at his inattentive, head-banging mother locked outside in a Mercedes listening to Black Sabbath on noise-canceling </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">headphones. Anything that might prove valuable on your excursion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiv5D0LiiViLYVRr9fWr9wbRoo-ZEOI98QtmcPyCf6988lk7LRJiOoOf0MtInCZw3XqVt5CA4vxeF2bZWfTQ-mcUWJx9Bs4QFpWyGyXWLRm8E_bKSuSYOv3kombk0ANhqPfdXwgZ_zrNvZ/s1600/IMG_1721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiv5D0LiiViLYVRr9fWr9wbRoo-ZEOI98QtmcPyCf6988lk7LRJiOoOf0MtInCZw3XqVt5CA4vxeF2bZWfTQ-mcUWJx9Bs4QFpWyGyXWLRm8E_bKSuSYOv3kombk0ANhqPfdXwgZ_zrNvZ/s1600/IMG_1721.jpg" height="287" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">CAUTION:</u> A word of warning about the use of book bags: It seems these totes have been infected by the tribble virus and tend to multiply exponentially if not kept under strict control. Untamed stacks can leap out of closets and cupboards, causing severe cranial damage without the slightest provocation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That advice aside, t</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he important lesson today is to fill your pencil boxes and book bags with the tools of the trade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Trade</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's the word. Much better than <i>work</i>. I probably could have found that in the thesaurus. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which is the second lesson: Use the tools.</span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-15578367997959812062014-02-05T22:04:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:35:56.871-05:00The Final TaskAccording to Jean-Paul Sartre, we only have one small job to take on: <span id="goog_1228425827"></span><br />
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What do you think?</div>
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<i>from The Dyslexic Canine</i></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-50967640428006667092014-02-03T13:10:00.000-06:002014-03-13T11:34:20.232-05:00Rockin' Rebellion: Get Down with Your Real Self<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizyeAG4vqyYy7A5wl-Q0XJdQxynkpFtN3SY4plCBrHHk_0-Gi3vCxXQRzoKil3L0tceDiTHZdp-c1KKV_GJ8eoLpiyatbHDvv0Nj1hryagbi2rm9UZHFgoufA1bwqiHgoXvbjuO7BE04U/s1600/DSC_0976.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizyeAG4vqyYy7A5wl-Q0XJdQxynkpFtN3SY4plCBrHHk_0-Gi3vCxXQRzoKil3L0tceDiTHZdp-c1KKV_GJ8eoLpiyatbHDvv0Nj1hryagbi2rm9UZHFgoufA1bwqiHgoXvbjuO7BE04U/s1600/DSC_0976.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I have to admit I’m a Beatle fan. Always have been.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So central were they to my life that I bought all the albums from </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Revolver</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> on just to prove Paul was dead and that we should have an international day of mourning. (Luckily, the music was as </span>brilliant<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> as the marketing scheme with all its graphic and musical symbolism.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I was so moved by the band's innovation that, except for a maternal scowl that could have shattered Gibraltar, I would have bought the sitar advertised in the Sears catalogue just because George Harrison had one. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Even though discouraging social convention of a small town prevented hair long enough to reach the eyebrows or cover the ears, in honor of The Beatles' pilgrimage to the Maharishi in India, I wore a Nehru jacket complete with medallion necklace for school picture day. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I liked ‘em!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So las week when Michael Tomasky released his new book <i>Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Beatles and America, Then and Now</i>, I had to have it.</span></span><br />
<div style="min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thankfully, Tomasky doesn’t rehash the biographical histories written over the past 50 years. Rather he shows how and why they were so revolutionary musically, socially, and culturally. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Great Rebellion called Beatlemania, Tomasky shows, was not about being rebellious in the insubordinate nature of motorcycle gangs or punk rockers. Instead, the insurgence came from being authentically original. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In other words, The Beatles didn’t <i>try</i> to be different; they simply <i>were</i> different.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Authentically different at a time the world needed them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which brings us to today and writing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Daily, book critics assert that fiction needs something new. I </span>cannot<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> disagree, but like those critics, I have no idea what it needs specifically.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Except that whatever that something is, must be like The Beatles––authentic and real.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I look back at the classic authors prescribed for teaching in Advanced Placement English classes, the one common thread among them is their originality within their genres and time. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ray Bradbury, for example, was not the only sci-fi author, but few others brought the humanity to the genre that he did. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters were not the first novelists, but they were the most insightful. Particularly of women.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Edgar Alan Poe was not the only Gothic/Romantic writer of his time, but he was the most…out there. "Out </span>there"<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> in a his own unforgettable way.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So how do modern writers become authentically different?</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Strangely, there are “rules” for being original. Gretchen Rubin, writing for the blog <i>World of Psychology</i> at the website <i>PsychCentral</i>, found just such a list from an unlikely source: Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most inventive writers ever. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Ironically, Vonnegut discounts the value of such a </span>list by<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> claiming that America’s greatest short story writer was Flannery O’Connor and she broke all eight of his rules except one. And, he says, all great writers do the same.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So much for the authority and control of </span>rules.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, Vonnegut's list has value. Rubin relates it thusly:</span></span><br />
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<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Start as close to the end as possible.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.</span></i></li>
<li><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.</span></i></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For a more information (like which rule did O'Connor follow) and a chance to respond to the psychology of such admonitions, you will find Rubin’s article at <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/07/23/kurt-vonneguts-8-rules-for-writing-fiction/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/07/23/kurt-vonneguts-8-rules-for-writing-fiction/</i></span></a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember, rebellion simply for rebellion's sake attracts nobody and as such ,accomplishes little. To rock the world as The Beatles did, requires authenticity, truth... YOU! As we cool kids used to say, “Get down with your bad self.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unless, of course, you’re not bad…or cool…</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The important thing is be real.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which means it's probably time for me to put the Nehru jacket in a bag for Goodwill and stuff the sitar under the stairs with the banjolele and musical conch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Later.</span></div>
Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-66100038355281192662014-01-27T15:36:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:31:07.920-05:00In Sympathy for the...Teacher: Poem with an Attitude<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I discovered a poem all about attitude this weekend that jumped out and bit me in the face, and I just had to share. Unfortunately, I showed it to our good friend Crabby (the Crabby Curmudgeon) first and he insisted that I let him read it on video. Sigh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore, let me throw in this disclaimer: I did not write this poem. I do not subscribe to the thoughts expressed. I highly recommend if you find yourself feeling this way on your job, you immediately seek other employment...PLEASE! Especially if you deal with children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That being said, here is the Crabby Curmudgeon reading D.H. Lawrence's poem "Last Lesson of the Afternoon." The text of this selection is available at </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=cQYRp8EQrzUC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=last+lesson+of+the+afternoon+lawrence&source=bl&ots=l7HGniMzVH&sig=yADHE7RE4DokfMYc081NhovSgbE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pKTmUvzeI8iIyAGblIGQDA&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=last%20lesson%20of%20the%20afternoon%20lawrence&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=cQYRp8EQrzUC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=last+lesson+of+the+afternoon+lawrence&source=bl&ots=l7HGniMzVH&sig=yADHE7RE4DokfMYc081NhovSgbE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pKTmUvzeI8iIyAGblIGQDA&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=last%20lesson%20of%20the%20afternoon%20lawrence&f=false</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/p-sOjN8ADS8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Crabby Curmudgeon comments:<br />
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<i>Hey. Crabby Curmudgeon here.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You ever try to teach a composition class to a bunch of 8th grade boys the last hour of the day?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Let me tell you, it's not fun!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>And it's never been fun! Just listen to these words from poet and novelist D.H. Lawrence written 1911. You'll understand.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b><u>POEM: "Last Lesson of the Afternoon" by D.H. Lawrence</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<i>Oh, yeah. That's found in the book </i>The 20th Century in Poetry<i> edited by Michael Hulse and Simon Rae.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>So if you've never been a teacher with afternoon classes, now you know what what it's like. If you have, you have my sympathy</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I'm the Crabby Curmudgeon. Talk to you later.</i>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-46506118932510987212014-01-22T14:52:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:27:32.695-05:00Characters: They Are Worthy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQazPVAlJdAQmsMXNGdtGRCyKOtWSjNvf1-L_4nNGTaRCPFwajywNux6utlzsXrjMq8Z20RLWwgUdMXbKO8G95AJqdzp-aKZzOninItqIXcFj4xJBfEtDKaAbV2PHWcrJufd9CfJtJyCs/s1600/DSC_0466+-+Version+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQazPVAlJdAQmsMXNGdtGRCyKOtWSjNvf1-L_4nNGTaRCPFwajywNux6utlzsXrjMq8Z20RLWwgUdMXbKO8G95AJqdzp-aKZzOninItqIXcFj4xJBfEtDKaAbV2PHWcrJufd9CfJtJyCs/s1600/DSC_0466+-+Version+3.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my favorite scenes from the movie <i>Wayne's World</i> occurs when Wayne and Garth spy rock gods Arrowsmith, begin groaning inarticulately, then fall prostrate before the band, raising and lowering their arms while proclaiming, "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's right up there with the two protagonists head-banging to "Bohemian Rhapsody."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But then again I also used to watch <i>Gilligan's Island</i> and <i>Hee Haw</i>...on purpose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a recent vacation I began thinking of that word <i>worthy</i> in a different context––in connection to a variety of sermons and writings by Minnesota pastor, scholar, and writer Greg Boyd where he talks about how every human being who ever was, is, and will be is of "immeasurable worth" to God; hence, the sacrifice of Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Boyd encourages us...rather, exhorts us..to see and have compassion for the invisible, to acknowledge our fellowship with the scorned and reviled, and to reject judgment of them in favor of loving them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, I could get off on a spiritual treatise here, but that's for a different venue than <i>The Write Wind</i>. If you're interested in what Boyd has to say, I suggest three of his books: <i>The Myth of the Christian Nation</i>, <i>Repenting of Religion</i>, and <i>Benefit of the Doubt</i>. You may also hear him speak by clicking on the "Semons & Media" tab at <a href="http://whchurch.org/">whchurch.org</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What I would like to talk about here today is bringing this God-like attitude to your treatment of your characters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but hear me out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as the the Almighty formed the physical universe and all within it, you create the world of your story. You create the scene and all the people who inhabit it. For their sake, as well as for that of your readers and your own satisfaction, it behooves you to ensure and recognize that those people are, indeed, worthy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Too often, writers fill their stories or books with so many underdeveloped characters that if perchance one should show up later in the narrative, the reader is forced to scramble madly back through the pages to figure out, "Willie Armsdorfer? Who was that again? Was he the guy who ate fried okra during the demolition derby while wearing an orange fedora? Or was he the lawn tractor repairman's third cousin on his mother's side?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After vainly searching for hours, the reader's eyes glaze over, his fingers cramp up into arthritic balls, and he punts the book through the picture window while muttering not-so-vague obscenities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The lesson to the writer: Don't turn your readers into book-punting, window-shattering, arthritic curse mongers. The way to do this is to make your characters count.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do you do that? Here are five ideas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Know your characters.</b><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"> </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First, remember that i</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n a metaphorical sense, you are God of your story. That means when it comes to the inhabitants, you are omniscient...or at least should be. You should know what the characters think, what they do, why they act, what their roles in the story are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That being said, when it comes to describing these people,</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Avoid the superficial.</b><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"> </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, specific clothes, coiffeur, and possessions can help identify a person, but...Unless what a person wears reveals a person's propensity for dalmatian fur, unless his/her hairstyle symbolizes the pro-Siberian husky nature of the character's mother, unless you as a writer are getting mega-product-placement-dollars to identify the smart phone your protagonist uses, shut up and move on. Give the reader what is needed and get back to the story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That does not mean be cursory in your description. It means look deeper and</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Seek the unexpected.</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> When Boyd talks about the people we walk by everyday as being invisible, he refers to our tendency to discount or ignore what those people have to offer the world, often to our own disservice. As bad as that is for humans in real life, it is especially wrong for the deity (the writer) of your imaginary universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As stated twice now, in your story's world, you are God. You must know what qualities these people have. Or how to discover them. To accomplish this, as the story progresses, dig until you find what the characters are hiding. Reveal it. Relish it. Use it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When you are thoroughly acquainted with their true selves,</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Assure that your characters contribute. </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you're going to introduce a person into the story, make sure they intensify the atmosphere, the conflict, the rising action, the resolution...SOMETHING. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How? There are lots of ways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maybe the fry cook at the truck stop gives a million dollars to the construction of a new hospital. Maybe the town drunk saves a little girl who falls through the ice at the skating pond. Maybe the babysitter actually sits on babies. Let your characters do something besides simply exist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally, learn one of the greatest lessons in life:</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5. Less is more. </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Architect Mies van der Rohe used this sentence to strip design of decoration and artifice in favor of function. His buildings are noted for their spare, clean lines, their simplicity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In literature, the adage can apply to the number of characters in your story as well. A few characters that the reader grows to know and love (or detest, depending on your purpose) is preferable to plethora of bodies that meld into a mind-numbing mass of bleh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The key, then, is to promote your characters from the scenery to the foundation of your narrative. Take, for example, the person in the yellow box in the picture above. Let us know who he</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, what he</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and why the heck he's in the yellow box in the first place. In other words, take him out of the tinted yellow box and expose him to the clear world you created for him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let him know, as Stephen Tyler did for Wayne and Garth, "You're worthy! You're worthy!" Both your characters and your readers will thank you for the assurance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As an added bonus, you might discover, as Greg Boyd tells us, we <i>all</i> have "immeasurable worth." Kinda good news, don't you think?</span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-55253725698734272202014-01-14T17:27:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:25:27.576-05:00Change for Thought<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week, Diane and I are on vacation...of sorts. Something/Some people are leading us to the conclusion that changes are in the wind. Write Wind or otherwise. Hence, I looked for an inspiring quote to further lead us. I found this oldie by excellent-ie from one of the most thoughtful people ever, Mahatma Ghandi.</span><br />
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<br />Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-69988899300269809192014-01-06T18:27:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:19:51.171-05:00The Crabby Curmudgeon: The Three Naps of Rumination Monday<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5DYzSy_g0s3pDSKC11DvPX3rR55Ek-zDTVjbYrHaQSDOwyAfT5tii8KgDVBuWnuCCaHGAoqHjk7-_ZHG6eKbyqoiQK6WLskymQ7XsmXe9xPLwj4BvQHFSlQu1Sy_zlSHWQvfnMJlV62o/s1600/DSC_0179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5DYzSy_g0s3pDSKC11DvPX3rR55Ek-zDTVjbYrHaQSDOwyAfT5tii8KgDVBuWnuCCaHGAoqHjk7-_ZHG6eKbyqoiQK6WLskymQ7XsmXe9xPLwj4BvQHFSlQu1Sy_zlSHWQvfnMJlV62o/s1600/DSC_0179.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s cold outside! -45ºF windchill.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know. It’s winter in Minnesota. What would I expect?</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be that as it may, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While some people think this is a normal state of affairs here, the things that make life different today is that the governor closed the schools, many stores and institutions have shut down, and traffic outside is virtually nonexistent. Stuck inside, I’m wondering what I should be doing.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can hear you scream, “You should be writing,” but my main inclination is to hibernate by burrowing under a mountain of blankets and waiting for spring. But that wouldn’t accomplish anything.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or would it? </span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Crabby Curmudgeon has an idea.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><u>Video Transcript</u></i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are you making fun of my hat? Really?</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, let me tell you something. I have to go out here and get the mail later and it’s cold enough to freeze a penguin’s…bill off. I’m just gearing up for the trip. Then it’s right back into the house for Rumination Monday.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“What the heck is Rumination Monday,” you ask?</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s one of the most important writing activities any writer can partake in. Especially if the brain is locked or distracted… or frozen. It’s taking time to think.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know. I know. You always think when you write.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But sometimes it pays to think before you write. That’s where a day away from the keyboard can help. And especially on a frigid Monday afternoon, you have a perfect excuse.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the way I found that works the best is to divide your activity… and yes, thinking is an activity… into three segments that I like to call naps.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hey! When you get to be old you’ll understand the whole concept of naps.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The three naps are called visualizing, synthesizing, and energizing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Okay. Now. The first nap <b>visualizing</b> is taking time to close your eyes and see. I know. It sounds contradictory, but it works. Believe me. You see your characters. You see the setting. You see their situations. You see their reactions.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s difficult to do this before a computer screen. Now, what you can see with your eyes closed... much more accurate.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, because it’s a nap, you need to lie down. Seriously. A prone position allows the sights, sounds, and smells to flow, unimpeded by transferring a thought from mind to the keyboard. Yeah,</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, when you’ve got a passel of images running through your head, it’s time to get up, eat a sandwich and maybe some chocolate, and regroup.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On returning to the couch or the bed or the bare floor, lie on your back, and with your eyes open, though barely focused, you <b>synthesize</b> the images you saw earlier. Okay. What did you learn about the people and settings that you didn’t know before? What will influence the story? What is that hanging on the ceiling?</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay. You may want to close your eyes until you can concentrate a little better. I'm a </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">little distracted by the cold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Anyway...Maybe before lunch, maybe some more lunch, a cold run to the mailbox, or an extended potty break '</span>cause when you gotta go, you gotta...go...<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.Well, anyway...</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The final nap of the day usually doesn’t include any somnambulant activity at all. And that’s okay. That is <b>energizing</b>. This features the fiction writer’s most important tool, the big question “What if…”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With your new knowledge of people, places and things in your story, become the troublemaker and ask yourself “What if so-and-so did such and such?” “What if this happened?” “What if this didn’t happen?”</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtd5a5Ou7QcafJSS-_jOSln9W11W34D2wKDoGQLQFrz3qIFYmTNezFjrbC8Q_Pk8W_5ra-VvG3zAlqLeTS3kc2rS77ILcW3kgZM-MCb0D0v0cnSGadwXqiwhwpk-iPOksAd_OsKmSNgitl/s1600/DSC_0182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtd5a5Ou7QcafJSS-_jOSln9W11W34D2wKDoGQLQFrz3qIFYmTNezFjrbC8Q_Pk8W_5ra-VvG3zAlqLeTS3kc2rS77ILcW3kgZM-MCb0D0v0cnSGadwXqiwhwpk-iPOksAd_OsKmSNgitl/s1600/DSC_0182.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You really do need to lie down for this part because for some reason, in the upright “awake” position, the internal censor tends to show up and rebel against your thoughts, yelling, “NO! NO! That can’t happen. Be reasonable.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a dream state or a near dream state or physical position, the writer can more easily ignore the censor and let the characters and plot grow. With all this new stuff, you’ll be a writing machine when you get up.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Best of all, with a a creative fire burning inside you, you’ll forget how cold it is outside.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Something to ruminate about.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m the Crabby Curmudgeon. Talk to you later.</span></span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-89158963677540103922013-12-31T00:22:00.000-06:002014-03-13T11:00:45.095-05:00Ten Ways to Tighten Titles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have to admit that I wish I had researched this subject before titling my novel <i>The Storyteller.</i> For eons, the working title gelled, set, and solidified in my mind until until it would take an act of Congress to change it...which meant never. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Until publication loomed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The "send" button loomed on the screen. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was ready. I was psyched. My finger hovered over the keyboard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Hit it," I murmured.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Wait!" my wife said. "You know..."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whenever she starts a sentence that way, something important is coming. I stopped and turned slowly and apprehensively to her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> "I never really liked that title," she continued. "It's too long and it just doesn't tell me anything about the story."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would have lashed out with a stream of obscenities, except for one thing. She was right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She makes a habit of that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After many trials, we both agreed that <i>The Storyteller</i> said exactly what needed be said. With the revised cover approved, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the finished project </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">zoomed off to cyberspace. At which point, a search of Amazon revealed there </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">were more books named <i>The</i> <i>Storyteller</i> than there were Johnsons in Minneapolis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which taught me "Pay as much attention to your title as you do your story." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew that. I once taught that. I forgot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm blaming it on old age. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, the title is important. After all, the title that grabs the reader's attention. It's the most memorable part of the book until the reader opens the cover. More work up front can only eliminate grief and consternation at the end of the project, not increase it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In retrospect then, I decided to examine the titles of other works I've read, watched, and listened to. This exercise revealed ten ways titles can be constructed, tweaked, and clarified. There may be more, but these work for now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember, these are only choices. Doing all of them would be daunting. I've given up daunting for the new year. Rather than dealing will all ten, I'm going to pick just one. Just which one, I don't know. See which of these works for you:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1. Alliteration–</b>This is an oldie but a goodie. For some odd reason, alliteration sticks in the brain longer than cold oatmeal on the kitchen wall. To make your title memorable, this is at once simple and fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alliteration also has the added benefit of fitting almost any genre. Jane Austen used it with her romantic novels <i>Pride and Prejudice, </i>as well as with<i> Sense and Sensibility. </i>Pastor Greg Boyd used it with<i> </i>his theological book<i> Repenting of Religion. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A word of caution, though. Once you establish the alliterative mold, varying from it can bring disappointment. Having seduced potential readers with the titles <i>Golfing with God</i> and <i>Breakfast with Buddha</i>, Roland Merullo broke the pattern with <i>Lunch with Buddha</i>. Given the response, he probably should have had brunch first. Who knows what will happen if he tries to have <i>Dinner with Buddha.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2. Animals–</b>For some reason people like animals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cows. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dogs. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pigs. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Orangutans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who doesn't just like saying the word <i>orangutan</i>?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe we like animals because they make us feel we are not alone on this planet. Maybe because many are more moral than humans. Or maybe because they walk funny, and that makes us feel superior. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be aware, though, that while readers like animals, not all animal titles work, but some of the catchiest ones do. On this frigid Minnesota night, three come to mind writing handbook <i>Bird by Bird (</i>Anne Lamott), novel <i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</i> (Mark Haddon), and children's book/CD <i>Frog Trouble</i> (Sandra Boynton). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have no idea what that has to do with Minnesota. Sorry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3. "Catch" Phrases–</b>One of the main purposes of the title is to grab your reader's attention by using an intriguing image or phrase. One of the best is Suzanne Collins's <i>Hunger Games</i>, which is eye-catching even if you haven't heard of the book. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While you may expect a food fight or a hot dog eating contest, most people are nervously aware that games involving hunger might have a more sinister origin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What does she do for the first sequel? Two things. First, she literally catches our attention with the word...<i>catch</i>. Now that my seem a bit obvious and lazy, but then she uses the television reporter's favorite device of setting that mundane word ablaze, resulting in <i>Catching Fire</i>. One can almost see a news person breathlessly panting into a microphone and backlit by a billowing inferno and the flashing lights of firetrucks, police cars, and over-sized SUVs looking for attention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By the way, Collins was not the first to use the literal <i>catch</i>. See J.D. Salinger's <i>Catcher in the Rye</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4. Character Names–</b>Using a character's name in your title is fraught with danger, but the technique has proved successful if the character's name is unusual or intriguing, if the person is famous, or if there is an inherent "What?" resulting the name. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For example, the title of John Irving's novel <i>A Prayer for Owen Meany</i> makes one wonder if Owen has a cruel demeanor and how it will reveal itself. Shakespeare's history plays needed only a monarch's name to attract an audience, like <i>Richard II</i>,<i> Henry VIII</i>, and <i>King John</i>. Wendy Wasserstein threw a 20th century "fluff name" in with a term for literary epic to entice audiences to her play <i>The Heidi Chronicles</i>. (Who cares that she was an art historian search out her own feminist identity? The title brings to mind cheerleaders building a pyramid during the halftime of a football game.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>5. Contrast and Irony–</b>These literary and rhetorical devices are most often used within a text to make an impact on the reader. It only makes sense to use them in titles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sharp contrast used in the name of Irving Stones's classic </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Agony and the Ecstasy </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">about Michelangelo</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> almost sucks your head off your shoulders and screams,"Read me!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using misdirection is not only fun, but can be a tool of discovery that the reader uses to unearth interest previously unheard of. In a recent nonfiction book, Simon Garfield used a familiar phrase for his main title </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just My Type</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which to most sane, albeit self-absorbed, people would indicate a book on relationships. Imagine the surprise of finding the striking subtitle </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A Book About Fonts</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>6. Events–</b>Using events in titles only works works well if the event is included in your story. Unless the event is big enough, at which point using it in your title is a no-brainer. Stephen King recently used it in <i>11/22/63</i>, commemorating the assassination of JFK. The band U2 immortalized the Irish conflict with their song "Sunday Bloody Sunday." And then there was the movie <i>Woodstock</i>. Only the biggest rock event <i>EVER! </i>In all three cases, no more needed to be said to find an audience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>7. Length–</b>How long should your title be? There is no hard and fast rule here. Some of the most memorable titles are almost unbearably long, while others can be as effective with a single word. For example, compare Paul Zindel's play <i>The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds</i> with John Patrick Shanley's <i>Doubt</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>8. Numbers–</b>Numbers attract. I don't know why. They just do. For some reason, people like to quantify, identify, and deify with numbers. That's fine, but caution here. Numbers used to identify sequels can be an instant turnoff, whereas others attract immediate attention. The movie <i>Once</i> and Ray Bradbury's <i>Fahrenheit 451</i> exemplify the latter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Immediately the viewer wants to know "Once what?" The reader knows that Fahrenheit 451 is a temperature, but of what? Strangely, even when the answer is given, it's difficult to stop reading...which is the sign of a good title.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An offshoot of the previous caution is the use of dates. Historical dates work well as <i>1776</i> (David McCullough) and <i>1493</i> (Charles C. Mann) show. Future dates can cause a problem when the date comes and goes. George Orwell's <i>1984 </i>is a classic, to be sure, but the story lost some of its impact the farther the world passed beyond the date depicted. The less said about the movie <i>2012</i> the better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>9. Objects–</b>Common everyday objects make for great titles, because the more ordinary that object is, the more curious a reader will be to find out its significance. Examples: <i>The Notebook</i> by Nicholas Sparks, <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and <i>Dead Man's Cell Phone</i> by Sarah Ruhl. You want to know what was the notebook used for, which letter was red and why, and what's up with the cell phone and how did its owner die? Questioners become seekers who ultimately become readers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wasn't going to mention the last one, but...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZeMzHn7twAZhZeJyFZSx3K1WIdB2jKegGWcyWju2H4na2k6msQUpQRnjYRN9k9JCteupMKkavT3ThZtpssqqHgi1hsyXobyvWNoCCDFcipK_1PB9_QEoe9R2XO-5I29baH2TROrwwrRF/s1600/Tightened+Title+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZeMzHn7twAZhZeJyFZSx3K1WIdB2jKegGWcyWju2H4na2k6msQUpQRnjYRN9k9JCteupMKkavT3ThZtpssqqHgi1hsyXobyvWNoCCDFcipK_1PB9_QEoe9R2XO-5I29baH2TROrwwrRF/s1600/Tightened+Title+2.jpg" height="320" width="183" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>10. Sex–</b>Sex sells. There's no doubt about it. Okay you don't have to use sex to get attention, but I assure you it will. And this is nothing new. The concept goes way back. Look at <i>The Rape of Lucrece</i> by Shakespeare. And you don't even need to be that brazen. You can hint at it as William S. Burroughs did with <i>The Naked Lunch. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, there are so many others, but somebody will call me a dirty old man, and I already have enough image issues.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which brings us to the crux of the issue: How many books does the title sell? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have no idea. But the more attractive the title, the more apt readers are to investigate the book. The more they investigate, the more apt they are to buy, read, and recommend it to friends and colleagues. Word of mouth will spread, and that word of mouth is invaluable. And it all starts with the right "tight" title.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, and you may want to check how many others have used the same title already.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For these and other examples of strong titles, as well as a weak title list, see the "Titles, Titles, Titles" page.</span><br />
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-79813855414213800522013-12-26T15:53:00.002-06:002014-03-13T10:54:33.596-05:00Rules Revisited: Beware the Brussels Sprouts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Ki4r8h2xGV50rXBP7d1PLM9mRKBy88nlJmhPrk_EYV8sKdONpB0yk8M6d44IzkeSWqBthAXAMR3v-VMSFGNTn5oMZtHgcCKbNK4Z-Q1u1FaAKDhwlExwpxjnv34BJsacGNvcz1pr3Q8m/s1600/DSC_0564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Ki4r8h2xGV50rXBP7d1PLM9mRKBy88nlJmhPrk_EYV8sKdONpB0yk8M6d44IzkeSWqBthAXAMR3v-VMSFGNTn5oMZtHgcCKbNK4Z-Q1u1FaAKDhwlExwpxjnv34BJsacGNvcz1pr3Q8m/s1600/DSC_0564.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't mean to beat a dead horse here...or a horse statue...or even a wooden hobby horse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Violence is wrong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Watching a three-day <i>Green Acres/Petticoat Junction/Beverly Hillbillies</i> marathon is wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cooking Brussels sprouts for anything other than insect fumigation is wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Giving books for Christmas is good. Receiving books for Christmas is even better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday, while I griped and grumbled about the notion of putting Brussels sprouts on the same menu as cherry pie and stuffed baked potatoes, the family placated my indignation by passing out gifts. (They're so smart.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I loved all the presents, but one was especially appropriate to <i>The Write Wind</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But not just any book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The 20th Century in Poetry</i>, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">edited by Michael Hulse and Simon Rae.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> (Nothing like having an author in the family who feeds your literature addiction.) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That in itself is a good thing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But what elevated the book immediately in my estimation was a "throw-away" sentence found in the introduction that reinforced the rantings of the Crabby Curmudgeon here a few weeks ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CC said at the end of his tirade: "Learn the rules. Rigorously and repeatedly use them until they’re second nature. Then wreck ‘em! Stomp the heck out ‘em and develop your own. It’s fun."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In response, some readers/viewers saw that paragraph as the blasphemous raving of an old man, while others exhaled in welcome relief that finally the grammar Nazi of their adolescence had joined the real world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In actuality, it was the blasphemous raving of an old man, but be that as it may, Hulse and Rae's introduction confirmed CC's assessment of creative writing, at least in the realm of poetry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And CC was ecstatic about the affirmation. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To the point of nearly letting the Brussels sprouts circle the table without comment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nearly. But he's old and can be forgiven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Back to the book," you say. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sorry. To make a short story long...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to Hulse and Rae, as well as countless literary critics, the 20th Century was a battlefield of critical theory that pitted poets against readers against academics. The likes of Kipling against Yeats against Frost against Eliot against Ginsberg against Plath... Each spokesman claimed the correct theory, while viewing the collective hordes railing against them as heretics and charlatans.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Throughout the century, there were more theories of composition and analysis than there were alternatives to serving brussels sprouts for Christmas dinner. No wonder Hulse and Rae wrote: "The one rule in poetry is that there are no rules."</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VEcM0caWDAsvQwdVbM9LSH8ajvntOGedJpblQYLuzuNGHs69Aqrkvya84Y5oRK3flP2t9ecikhIu7jaU1cpJVVRgXxu_5azRgOUdaBOuhhs9pTdCUHzyk9hbi3MHRww9I3AHEl9cBToU/s1600/Rule+of+Poetry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VEcM0caWDAsvQwdVbM9LSH8ajvntOGedJpblQYLuzuNGHs69Aqrkvya84Y5oRK3flP2t9ecikhIu7jaU1cpJVVRgXxu_5azRgOUdaBOuhhs9pTdCUHzyk9hbi3MHRww9I3AHEl9cBToU/s1600/Rule+of+Poetry.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See why CC was so happy?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While that observation may seem permissive and lazy, the words are, in fact, liberating for poets and readers alike, especially when adopted by writers and audiences of the 21st Century. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Without the strictures of confining and arbitrary rules, the poet is free to say what he/she wants in the way that he/she wants to say it, creating a style most effective for the poem's purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The reader, freed from Pharisaical conventions of what makes good poetry, can step out of the putrid Puritanical temples of tradition and enter ever-expanding fields of fresh verse where poems are scrubbed clean of rancid rhythm and rhyme, purged of muddying metaphors, and shaped into masterpieces so deceptive in their simplicity that their beauty overwhelms the most intricate flowers</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On this day after the Christmas holiday, I am devouring this book of verse with the enthusiasm that my family ate the Brussels sprouts yesterday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think I'm getting the better meal/deal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With fresh material to read and inspiration for new things to write, it's going to be a great new year. May yours be the same. </span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-41017269618732360112013-12-19T14:19:00.001-06:002014-03-13T10:49:18.961-05:00Mountainous Goals<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Year-end reflection and evaluation is a good thing, although a bit disconcerting in some ways. While reviewing the nascent scribblings of my new book "Emergence," I came to an important conclusion, reiterating the words of Guy Johnson: "</span><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is my desire to be a great writer. I know that I still have a mountain to climb to achieve that."</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Time to abandon the distractions, put on the old hiking boots, and start climbing!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"></span>Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-11646221947723739772013-12-16T13:56:00.001-06:002014-03-13T10:41:43.437-05:00The Music Church: A Christmas Story<div style="min-height: 13px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLG1RR8IQ5iRV4iS-0PYx1hPL0ZEB0vS5vj9BQWTSKtGuYrSSfU40iw7dpxDlavSsIFtttZRn-4VSan4K3aqvIoh1RMNT1SvJ7giJB7RIJ-1aLAsadqlL9nzL1ZYmpjEUNvok2T2558kT_/s1600/The+baby+smiled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLG1RR8IQ5iRV4iS-0PYx1hPL0ZEB0vS5vj9BQWTSKtGuYrSSfU40iw7dpxDlavSsIFtttZRn-4VSan4K3aqvIoh1RMNT1SvJ7giJB7RIJ-1aLAsadqlL9nzL1ZYmpjEUNvok2T2558kT_/s1600/The+baby+smiled.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>As mentioned last week, this has been a difficult season, remembering the people lost in the past year. I found this story in my archives of material written years ago. It helps me. I hope it will do the same for you.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Mike Frickstad</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Grandma’s top bookshelf, amid the Ellery Queen and Perry Mason novels, the encyclopedias and Readers’ Digests, sat the musical church – a plastic music box in the shape of a cathedral with doors which opened and closed to the tinkling strains of “Silent Night,” revealing a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus. The baby smiled.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason loved that church, and on his frequent visits to his grandparents he always asked permission to play with it. But every time when his grandfather rose from his special chair to bring the church down, his grandmother always stopped him saying, “Save it for Christmas, Grandpa. Otherwise it won’t be special anymore.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reluctantly, Grandpa always sighed and agreed, placing the church back on the shelf. “Sorry, pal. Grandma’s right.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason stood far below the shelf, anticipating the Christmas season when he might get to wind the precious “music church."</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, Thanksgiving was the big day. After the unending meal, after all the dishes had been washed, his grandmother took him up to the attic to dig out both the the outdoor and indoor lights, the nativity set, and the Christmas candles.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandpa and Jason’s dad strung the outdoor lights around the windows and doors. His mom put the Santa Claus, reindeer, and tree candles in their holders and spread them throughout the house. In the meantime, Grandma and Jason arranged the nativity scene, making sure the angels, the wise men, and the shepherds were in exactly the right place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With all the decoration finished and only the tree to be added to the scene, Grandma looked down at Jason. smiled, and said, “Okay, Jaysie. It’s time.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then she climbed onto a chair, took the church carefully in one hand and brought it down to the eagerly awaiting boy. “Sit down in Grandpa’s chair,” she told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason glanced at Grandpa to ask, “Can I?” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">His grandfather gave a fake scowl, the grinned broadly and nodded. Jason climbed into the soft, green recliner as his grandmother brought him the church. Grandma wound the spring and the notes of the familiar carol rang throughout he room.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Enthralled, Jason watched as the doors opened, then closed, then opened, revealing the Christmas scene with the smiling infant. When it was finished, he </span>looked up and <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">asked, “Can I try it, Grandma?” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“All right," she told him, "but be careful. We don’t want to break the spring.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Carefully, Jason wound the tiny crank on the back of the church until the music began to play and the doors began to move. He then held it on his lap and </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">watched as the doors closed, opened, then closed. The music stopped. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“That’s not right,” he thought.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Grandma, the doors are shut,” he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She shook her head. “Hmm. Try agin,” she told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again Jason wound the box, and again as the music slowed to a stop, the doors shut. “Grandma, you try. Okay?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandma squeezed into the chair next to Jason, then set the church on her lap. She wound it, but this time, when the music finished playing, the doors remained open. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She and Jason looked at each other, confused. She tried again. The music played. The doors opened, shut, and opened. Every time Grandma wound the music church, the doors stopped open, but when Jason tried, they always stopped closed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After the fourth time attempting</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> tries with his grandmother, Jason began to giggle. Then Grandma started. Before long the living room sang with laughter at the music church doors that would stay open only for Grandma. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Jason pointed to the picture behind the doors. "Jesus is happy," he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">"Yes, he is," Grandma said, kissing Jason on the forehead. "Where do you think we should put the </span>church<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> season?" she asked him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">"I know!" Jason down, carried the church across the room and placed the church on the television. "That way you and Grandpa can see it every day, right?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">"You are so right," his grandmother said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Then, as Christmas neared, Grandpa </span>brought home and set<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> up the tree. Grandma, Jason's mom Nancy, and Jason </span>decorated it.<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> Grandpa and Jason's dad Ken brought the piles of neatly wrapped gifts Grandma had hidden in the upstairs bedroom and arrange them under the tree.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While those presents intrigued Jason, especially those with his with his name attached, he had no trouble keeping his patience when Grandma went to the television for the music church. The church with the doors that would open only for her. The church with the baby that smiled.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was a great Christmas time. It was a great Christmas day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The next Christmas, however, was different. Thanksgiving was at Jason’s house. His mom was there; his dad was there; Grandma was there; but his grandfather was not. The funeral had been the week before.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason’s mother cooked the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, corn and pumpkin pie. As good as it all was, it was not the same as at Grandma’s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nobody talked to each other, other than to say, “Pass the butter. Pass the turkey. Pass the milk.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Halfway through the meal, Jason’s mom got up and ran to her bedroom. Jason thought he heard her crying. Grandma put down her fork, folded her napkin, and asked Jason’s dad to take her home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are you sure you want to be alone?” he asked her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I…I don’t know. I just know I want to go home. I need to go home.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Maybe Nancy could…”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“No, Ken. She needs to be with you right now. Just take me home. I’ll be all right.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“If there’s anything…”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I know. Thank you.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandma looked across the table and saw Jason stirring his cranberries with his fork.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Ken, do you think it would be all right if Jason stayed with me a couple days?” she asked her son-in-law.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are you sure you want to…?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Would it be all right with your, Jaysie? We can decorate the house for Christmas. Your dad can pick you up on Sunday.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason brightened and looked inquiringly at his father.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“You can bring whatever toys you want. I’ve got lots of room,” Grandma said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Is it okay, Dad?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a moment’s hesitation, his father said, “Sure. I’ll tell your mom.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two days later, Jason wasn’t sure why his grandmother had wanted him to stay with her. She took care of him fine –– feeding him, tucking him into bed, picking up his toys, but they had not decorated anything.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The lights, the candles, the nativity set, all remained in the attic. There was no tree. There were no presents. And worst of all, the music church remained on the top bookshelf, the </span>doors shut<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandma barely talked, seldom came out of her room, and let Jason do pretty much as he pleased –– although he didn’t feel like doing much. He didn’t want to disturb her. When Saturday night came, the house remained in the same condition as when Jason had arrived.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunday morning Jason awoke late. He didn’t know what time it was, but he knew he should be getting ready for church. Grandma hadn’t awakened him yet. Quietly, he padded down the stairs, wondering if something were wrong.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When he reached the living room, he saw his grandmother sitting on the couch, her head resting on her right hand, staring at his grandfather’s empty recliner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason looked at her a moment as she sat lost in her memories.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Grandma? Are we going to church?” he asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There was no answer. He wanted to ask her again, but knew he shouldn’t. Instead, he crawled onto the couch and laid his head in her lap. Gently, she looked down, stroked his tousled hair, then returned her gaze to the silent, lonely chair.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a moment of quiet, Jason spoke again. “Grandma?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There was a pause. Then, “Yes?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are we gonna have Christmas?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He heard a sniffle, then turned up to see tears forming in his grandmother’s eyes. Her lips trembled. She looked down at him as she wiped the tears away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“What do you mean?” she whispered, haltingly, patting Jason’s chest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason looked up at the bookshelf and pointed. “The music church.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandma smiled, nodded, and patted Jason's chest again. She rose, got a chair, climbed onto it and brought down the box. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Sit in Grandpa’s chair,” she told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason looked at her quizzically, unsure what to do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“It’s all right,” she told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason scrambled into the chair and Grandma squeezed in beside him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Can I try first, Grandma?” he asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Be careful,” she told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I know. The spring.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Slowly, Jason turned the crank on the back of the church. When the music the began, he stopped turning. Both watched as the doors opened, then closed –– and opened again. The music stopped with the doors open.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Grandma, the doors are open!” Jason shouted.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I know,” she said, amazed. “Try again.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once more Jason wound the church and again the music stopped with the doors open. “They’re open again, Grandma!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“They sure are.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Here, Grandma. You try.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Jason, I don’t…”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Come on. You try.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jason’s grandmother took the music church in her hands and then paused.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Come on, Grandma. Wind it!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She took a deep breath and wound the spring as she always had. The music started. The doors closed, opened –– and closed. The music stopped.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandma and Jason looked first at the church, then at each other. Laughter burst from them both at the same time. The laughed and hugged –– and laughed and hugged.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Abruptly, Grandma placed the church on the floor, stood up, and said, “Come on.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Where are we going?” Jason asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“To the attic,” she said. “We’re going to have Christmas.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yea!” Jason shouted, and hugged his grandmother’s legs. The, suddenly, he broke away, and said, “Just a minute.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before his grandmother could ask, he picked up the church and wound it once more. When the music stopped with the doors open, he nodded at the picture of Mary and Jesus and placed the church on the television. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grabbing his grandmother’s hand, he led her to the stairs and said, “Okay. Let’s go.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The baby smiled.</span></span></div>
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Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-16479027950458341272013-12-09T12:02:00.001-06:002020-12-07T10:47:54.859-06:00The Art of Authority: Eliminating the Boss and Embracing the Mentor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Life would be wonderful, wouldn't it, if those darned people in charge would just get their act together."</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Yeah, especially if they could just treat us like human beings."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">" Yeah, I hate my boss."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sound familiar? It's a conversation that arises daily around the world. Writers about their publishers. Workers about their employers. Voters about politicians. Seemingly, the whole world is revolting against authority that is, frankly, revolting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This is going to seem </span>weird<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> to some, but since I retired years ago, I miss dealing with people both under and as an authority figure, mainly because my life has been blessed with an abundance of superb coworkers, students, and supervisors. In fact, as 2013 draws to a close, I have been reflecting on the people I worked with, the ones that shaped my careers, my values, and my life. I wish everybody could experience what I did.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This has been a </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">tumultuous year with major disruptions by uncontrollable events from the government shutdown to a shift in my spiritual life. More traumatic, however, was the death of key family members, friends, colleagues, and authority figures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This has been an especially difficult week. When I was leaving town, I learned the man who made a teacher out of me passed away, and his death revived memories of how this one person shaped my life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This man, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">master teacher </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jerry Slough, taught me how to deal with students, colleagues, and parents. He taught me the discipline needed to prepare, adjust, and evaluate my performance in and out of the classroom. His words were equal parts praise and correction, reflection and laughter. He was an inspiration and just plain fun to be around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He was the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> supervising teacher when I finished my college education as a student teacher. He was the department head when I began work. Later, he became the assistant principal. Yes, he was always an authority figure, but he was never my "boss</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rather, he was advisor, guide, counselor, mentor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mentor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That word gets thrown around loosely nowadays, so I use it with caution. As I think about my friend, though, I realize it is the most accurate word to describe him. His job, his mission in life, was never to boss. He was an educator, a helper, a seeker of excellence in himself and his school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So he was never <i>boss</i>. He was always <i>mentor</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is the difference between a boss and a mentor? The following definitions may seem hyperbolic and simplistic (I tend to be that way at times). They are, however, based on observations—and, yes, my prejudices, so you can take them for what you will.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u><i>Boss</i> and <i>Mentor</i> Defined</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When people talk negatively about bosses, two common traits emerge. Yes, the <i>boss</i> is an authority figure, but he is also self-centered and motivated by personal gain or profit (Profit usually refers to money, but can also apply to power and prestige.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The <i>mentor</i>, on the other hand, is other-oriented and motivated by more intrinsic rewards than monetary abundance, opting instead for a prosperity measured by a sense of accomplishment and respect for and from others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stanford professor Robert Sutton's naughtily titled book <i>The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't</i> accurately describes the <i>boss</i> mentality and habits, recounting the abuses that destroy the creativity, loyalty, and contentment of the very workers the <i>boss</i> needs to survive in the business world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's not to say there aren't exceptions to Sutton's premise. For example, he says, Apple flourished not because of its boss Steve Jobs, but in spite of him. That said, I highly recommend Sutton's book as a guide to anybody in a position of power, whether employer or educator, parent or pastor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Beyond Sutton's <i>Dirty Dozen</i> behaviors, I present seven traits of the <i>boss</i> and contrast them with those of the counterpart of the <i>mentor.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Boss and Mentor: A Collection of Contrasts</u></b></span><br /><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Bosses dominate. Mentors cultivate.</b> Bosses love power and love getting their own way. Their goal is conformity to their wishes and their techniques. Meanwhile, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">mentors cultivate a climate where every worker has value, creativity and progress are fostered, and input is welcomed. Instead of exerting power over their workers, mentors solicit loyalty by exhibiting trust, gratitude, and support.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Bosses discourage. Mentors encourage. </b> Lost in a narcissistic world, the boss </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">discourages honest criticism and suggestions. This is done through bitterness, anger and retribution. Mentors, on the other hand, not only supervise the actions of workers, they seek to learn from those workers as well.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Bosses use fear. Mentors use faith. </b>Somewhere, somebody convinced the boss that the surest method to retain control is by instilling fear, often to the point of making workers avoid encountering the boss in the in hallway or the elevator (<i>a la</i> Steve Jobs). Mentors, in contrast, uses compliments and expresses faith in employees' ability, assuring them they can accomplish the task set before them.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Bosses love rules while for mentors, love rules. </b>The boss thinks good rules make good </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">works. "Do what you're told the way you are told, you'll do fine," the boss says. The mentor believes good workers need no rules since their motivation comes from inside. "I don't believe in rules," the mentor will say, "but I do follow this one norm: I will treat you with respect, knowing that you will treat me the same. Deal?"</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Bosses mandate. Mentors delegate. </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Bosses enjoy </span>the<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> importance that comes with the authoritarian position, essentially, appointing themselves gods, attempting to </span>control every aspect of their company's operation. The mentors accept their limitations and their humanity, delegating the appropriate tasks to the appropriate workers for the greatest good of their customers and workers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Bosses coerce. Mentors convince. </b><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Bosses uses </span>manipulation<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> to get what they want, utilizing threats and promises that are easily broken. The mentors will appeal to the "</span>better<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> angels of our nature," by appealing to what is beneficial for all involved—the business, the worker, the customer.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>The word of a boss stings. The word of a mentor soothes. </b> Criticism has its place in any human endeavor. The attitude of criticism, however, affects its effectiveness. Bosses sit in judgement of every aspect of performance. "Can't you do anything right?" is their motto. Mentors smooth over mistakes and praise successes. Their mantra is "You can do it. I know you can."</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know what some people are thinking, that these thoughts may fit in small organizations like schools and neighborhood stores, but not in the modern world of big risk, big business. However, these are not "pie-in-the-sky" observations by some old guy holed up in his private home office reminiscing about the good old days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Au contraire. Take the example of Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Here was a man who originated and built an an airline from the ground up by embracing human contact and respect. He said, "The core of our existence ... are dedication, devotion, and loyalty—the feeling that you are participating in a crusade."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the Southwest culture, EVERYBODY is valuable—customer, worker, shareholder. And as an institution, everybody's welfare is important. Kelleher also said, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.” (For more insight on Kelleher and Southwest Airlines, check this link: </span><a href="http://www.logomaker.com/blog/2012/05/21/9-inspirational-quotes-on-business-by-herb-kelleher/">http://www.logomaker.com/blog/2012/05/21/9-inspirational-quotes-on-business-by-herb-kelleher/</a>)</div>
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And the mentor fosters that love more than the boss. Therefore, for our sanity and our success as leaders and followers, it behooves us to eliminate our attraction to the boss and embrace the mentor.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSk4PqVDc1gBGBGe-tGGgxAmUOZc2VypBBwSgj-7vI1URtj67E_3AQmds-ZWdXx0sm2L9Kq1C37ZVJn51_uv5EiWg2pxpyetcBtSve-w4lAOPA5UIu923e1izupvMYYOus4Bxqetow6Tff/s1600/Jerry+Slough.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSk4PqVDc1gBGBGe-tGGgxAmUOZc2VypBBwSgj-7vI1URtj67E_3AQmds-ZWdXx0sm2L9Kq1C37ZVJn51_uv5EiWg2pxpyetcBtSve-w4lAOPA5UIu923e1izupvMYYOus4Bxqetow6Tff/s1600/Jerry+Slough.jpg" width="125" /></a>Thanks for reminding me, Jerry.Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-33262901941029969782013-12-03T18:41:00.000-06:002014-03-13T10:27:56.046-05:00The Most Excellent SearchAs writers, as readers –– Heck! As human beings! –– we're on a life-long search for ideas, for direction, for purpose. LBJ tells us what the most noble search is:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLybkG2h9yn_FjAzXTBBwQrs5VRZVRtgy1dC3H9dWrsLkS0IGbec-GwyuVwD3Mz9ILuBHv4TmIbGjFd-z4GbASPnyXa3vXU8WcFzk5QfH0xbBqLaBgOqhqBWnIDvf7_CgJWGeHQS3iJS3/s1600/Johnson+on+Excellence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLybkG2h9yn_FjAzXTBBwQrs5VRZVRtgy1dC3H9dWrsLkS0IGbec-GwyuVwD3Mz9ILuBHv4TmIbGjFd-z4GbASPnyXa3vXU8WcFzk5QfH0xbBqLaBgOqhqBWnIDvf7_CgJWGeHQS3iJS3/s1600/Johnson+on+Excellence.jpg" height="450" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202362244937709736.post-44635733966021850532013-12-03T17:34:00.005-06:002014-03-13T10:26:13.939-05:00In Case of Arrogance...When The Write Wind gets a little bit...or a lot of bit...overbearing with its pronouncements, please remind us of this quotations from President Truman:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWvSmjruvJUKxocBtreTUcvHJy3922TEFq2kc4OJ-5mUA-P6dHo8wvYWmKAUiOPQd0_PHHFo_qtSq2mvmwy7nsTcbz7B8GHtOgaBI69_TursPW3DkqtHWAvnPqB6201V1tl4KZq5BbN4J/s1600/Truman+Things+Worth+Learning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWvSmjruvJUKxocBtreTUcvHJy3922TEFq2kc4OJ-5mUA-P6dHo8wvYWmKAUiOPQd0_PHHFo_qtSq2mvmwy7nsTcbz7B8GHtOgaBI69_TursPW3DkqtHWAvnPqB6201V1tl4KZq5BbN4J/s1600/Truman+Things+Worth+Learning.jpg" height="498" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Michael Frickstadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07066570391948706175noreply@blogger.com0