I just came across this excellent website that reviews YA fiction. If you’re looking for something good to read, check it out:
car game… August 3, 2011
When you are on a long drive, it’s a good opportunity to talk to your mate. It’s hard to find time in our busy every day lives to actually have uninterrupted conversation. You can discuss difficult subjects, because no one can walk out. It’s also an opportunity to discuss really positive stuff without being overheard. Privacy is great in a car driving through the Rockies.
I invented a game on our last road trip. We had just had one of those ‘hard conversations’ and needed to re-establish some positive feeling.
The frame was,
“Dear XXXX. One thing I appreciate about you is…”
example, “Dear OJ. One thing I appreciate about you is how there is never any food left on our counters.”
Then it’s the other person’s turn to use the same frame to respond.
example, “Dear Mommy. One thing I appreciate about you is how you always leave tasty snacks in unexpected places, like your purse, as special presents just for me.”
At the end of the trip, we felt pleasantly attached to one another, and thoroughly valued and appreciated. These are very important aspects of relationship maintenance.
plop-ripple-ripple-ripple August 2, 2011
Today I’m thinking about the small “what if” moments that change our world. A small decision can alter the universe, because it has a ripple effect.
For example, about 2 years ago I was reading a blog written by my nephew in Alberta. I had the rambling thought, ‘he reminds me of Violet.’ Violet was one of my students a couple years before. Over the next few weeks I was reading Violet’s writings, and his writings, and the thought just kept getting stronger. Those who follow the ‘mind your own business’ school of thought, would have just left it there.
Eventually, I gave up fighting it. I made a small decision.
I asked each of them if they’d like an introduction. At the least, they’d enjoy each other’s literary and philosophical observations. They agreed. One September day they were introduced via Facebook. He lived about 700 km away from her, but they wrote frequently. They did enjoy each other’s literary and philosophical ramblings. A lot.
In October he came to meet her. He had a dozen red roses in hand.
In November she went to meet his friends and family.
In December he came to meet her family and experience a completely different Christmas than he was used to.
and so the ripples spread…
In the spring came an engagement, and last October there came a wedding.
Today, I am meeting a very tiny person. A sweet, baby girl is a lovely ripple in our world.
Kind of awe inspiring, isn’t it?
The end of the bookstore August 1, 2011
I love bookstores. I love wandering in them. I love scanning titles. I love the smell of ink and paper. I love the graphics of gorgeous covers. I love horses, too. They’re majestic creatures. Riding one is fun, but I prefer to go to Vancouver by car.
Times change. It’s not a value judgment; it’s a fact.
Here is an excellent article by Dave Bricker about the changing publishing world. He ruminates about the bankruptcy of Borders Bookstores and the future. Hint: it’s ebooks!
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A World Without Borders – The End of the Bookstore
Harry Potter vs. Twilight July 31, 2011
This quote is making the rounds of Facebook statuses these days:
”Harry Potter is about doing what’s right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.”- Stephen King
With all due respect, Mr. King. I disagree. That is a weak, simplistic statement simply designed to create controversy. It is also completely erroneous.
Twilight is about the power of love, just like Harry Potter is.
In Harry Potter, you see this power in Snape’s obsessive love for Lily. That love was a fundamental component that weaves through the entire series. In Twilight, the mutual obsession of Edward and Bella drives the plot. In both series, the obsession leads to protection. Edward fights to protect Bella. Snape’s obsession with Lily protects Harry, though secretively.
The theme of love as protection is another theme the two series have in common. Lily’s sacrificial love for Harry provides the blood protection that allows him to survive amid constant threat. The same concept applied when he sacrificed himself for those fighting at Hogwarts. Edward fights to protect Bella. Jacob fights to protect Bella. Both would have willingly died for her. Because of love, Bella trains to be able to protect everyone. Because of love she endures pain to develop her gift and fight to protect the Cullens and the Quileute wolves.
Harry Potter is about doing what’s right in the face of adversity, sure. Being willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the world is a pretty amazing thing. However, Twilight shares this theme. In New Moon, Edward chooses to sacrifice his happiness for what he considers a better life for Bella. His choice nearly destroys them both, because their love is too powerful to allow them to be separate. Adversity takes many forms.
Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend? No way. It’s about how having the right life mate fills your world with pain and joy in equal measure. It’s about how the challenges of a relationship (like wanting to eat your true love, for example) need to be worked on, but that those challenges can be overcome. It’s about how overcoming those challenges is worthwhile. It’s about how learning to be together can make life more complete.
Harry Potter knew that, too. When he got through with the task of destroying Voldemort, he married Ginny. He knew love was important to have in his life. That was the whole point of defeating Voldemort, after all.
Peace and love. They both take effort. Twilight and Harry Potter are different, but they come to the same conclusions.
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PS. They are the same conclusions that Grace discovers in Grace Awakening
Norway Peace Invocation July 29, 2011
In the peaceful country of Norway, known for its celebration of progress and innovative thinking, the unthinkable has happened. Promising futures are destroyed by narcissistic, self-deluding ideology
While there is war within a broken heart, peace can not reign within. Let us be mindful of our duty to promote peace within ourselves, for the individual must be at peace before a family can be at peace. A family must be at peace before a land can be at peace. Land must be at peace before a nation can be at peace. Nations must be at peace before the world can be at peace.
Let us take responsibility to mend wounded hearts and share peace with those around us.
Let us be thankful today for the health and safety of those we love, and thankful that the world grieves collectively this injustice. We are still a culture of peace, even amid destruction.
“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
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Available for free use within Rotary; however, please indicate in the comment section below that you have used it at your club (date and name).Create your talent July 26, 2011
“You don’t believe in natural talent?”
“The premise can be insidious. If we find something doesn’t come naturally, we might conclude we have no talent for it and abandon the pursuit, even if it’s to our detriment.”
“So what causes success?”
“If you believe in deliberate practice, artfully designed hard work and always stretching beyond your abilities. It’s not as simple as ‘Practice makes perfect.’ It’s continually focusing on your weakest elements and trying to improve them. Those who persevere are high achievers.”
“…The key lies in knowing what you deeply want. The more you want something, the easier it is to sweat through the deliberate practice.”
“So you make your own luck?…”
Kerry Reichs in Leaving Unknown
Kerry seems to be describing Gladwell’s Rule of 10,000. The concept is quite simple. If you put 10,000 hours into something–anything–you will be successful. Whether you begin with ‘natural talent’ or not, those hours (3 hours a day for ten years apparently) will turn you into a master. If you aren’t willing to put in the time, you’re not going to have the success.
This might explain who so many first time novelists are in their 40s. If you’ve been raising kids, you probably haven’t been able to get in your hours!! I tend to think there is something to this. You have to apply yourself to your passion. Luckily, passion makes the hours go quickly.
So what do you think?
Best friend’s wedding July 25, 2011
I was just making some Jell-o and so I decided to look for some quotes about Jell-o. I arrived at the IMDB site for My Best Friend’s Wedding. I have this DVD in my collection. The pathos and comedy of the relationships in this movie are bittersweet and hilarious. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie. I think the fungus one is my favorite. Sometimes we’re fungus. It’s nice to have friends who love us anyway.
FYI: Juliannne is the protagonist who is a writer. Michael is her best friend. Kimmy is Michael’s young fiancee. George is Julianne’s gay editor and the voice of reason.
- Julianne: Well, he’s sort of wondering why you haven’t told your parents that the wedding’s off.
- Kimmy: Well, I’m still hoping for a miracle, I suppose. I mean, how could he think that my father and I would do such a thing?
- Julianne: Only a minor insight, you understand. Maybe Michael couldn’t commit to this marriage so he created a delusion, produced an unconscious, psychosomatic manifestation of… I’m better with food. Okay, you’re Michael, you’re in a fancy french restaurant, you order… creme brulee for dessert, it’s beautiful, it’s sweet, it’s irritatingly perfect. Suddenly, Michael realises he doesn’t want creme brulee, he wants something else.
- Kimmy: What does he want?
- Julianne: Jello.
- Kimmy: Jello?! Why does he want jello?
- Julianne: Because he’s comfortable with jello, jello makes him… comfortable. I realise, compared to creme brulee it’s… jello, but maybe that’s what he needs.
- Kimmy: I could be jello.
- Julianne: No! Creme brulee can never be jello, you could never be jello.
- Kimmy: I have to be jello.
- Julianne: You’re never gonna be jello. Now you have to come clean with your parents, because if you’re waiting for that “Do you take this man” part, it’s considered poor form.
- Julianne: I’ll make this quick, or I’m gonna have this massive coronary, then you’ll never hear it, and you have to. This is, by far, the dumbest thikng I’ve ever done in my entire life. Uh, so dumb, in fact, that, uh, I can’t… Ohh, but I’m gonna.
- Michael: What’s wrong?
- Julianne: Michael, I love you. I’ve loved you for nine years, I’ve just been to arrogant and scared to realise it. And, well, now I’m jut scared. So, I realise this comes at a very inopportune time, but I really have this gigantic favour to ask of you. Choose me, marry me, let me make you happy. Oh, that sounds like three favours, doesn’t it? [kisses him]
- Julianne: [on phone] It is not going well! This is what comes of telling the truth! Or even part of it. You know, getting what you deserve isn’t fair!
- George: [on phone] Where are you?
- Julianne: [on phone] I have stolen a bread van and I am chasing Michael down Michigan Avenue. George, this is all your fault! I-I-I told him the truth, I said that I loved him and I kissed him and this is what’s happened.
- George: [on phone] Jools, a question. When you kissed Michael, did he kiss you back?
- Julianne: [on phone] What do you mean? We were lip-to-lip!
- George: [on phone] I mean, was there anything on the other side of that kiss that leads you to believe that this chase will end happily?
- Julianne: [on phone] That’s beside the point, we were interrupted.
- George: [on phone] Who interrupted you?
- Julianne: [on phone] Kimmy! She ruined everything, and Michael started chasing her before he could answer me!
- George: [on phone] Michael’s chasing Kimmy?
- Julianne: [on phone] Yes!
- George: [on phone] You’re chasing Michael?
- Julianne: [on phone] Yes!
- George: [on phone] Who’s chasing you? Nobody. Get it! There’s your answer. Kimmy.
- Julianne: [on phone] No!
- George: [on phone] Yes. Jools, you are not the one! Now, for God’s sake, the wedding is at 6pm, you have a small, but distinct, window of opportunity to do the right thing. [hangs up]
- Julianne: I have done nothing but under-handed, despicable, not even terribly imaginative things since I got here. But I was… Michael, I was just trying to… to win you. To win you back. But that doesn’t excuse any of it. I’m… pond scum. Well, lower actually, I’m like the fungus the feeds on pond scum.
- Michael: Lower. The pus that infects the mucus, that cruds up the fungus that feeds on the pond scum… On the other hand, thank you. For loving me that much, that way, it’s pretty flattering.
- Julianne: Except it makes me fungus.
- Michael: Well, that part I knew
Smashing! July 24, 2011
According to the July 21, 2011 site update from Smashwords.com, they uploaded 6,500 titles in the last 30 days. Wow. I had heard that Amazon was getting 1000 titles a week, but if Smashwords alone uploaded 1625 titles a week in the last month, there must be closer to 2000 titles being uploaded every week.
Wow.
Say it again,
Wow.
That’s a lot of authors taking advantage of the opportunities offered by e-books.
If you have an e-book reader, you already know some of those opportunities for you as a reader: the convenience of carrying an entire library in one slim volume, the ease of acquiring your books, the huge numbers of books available to you, etc. You may also have discovered the pitfalls, in particular the large amount of poorly written books to weed through. The preview is the most valuable defense against this. I dismiss a lot of books a couple pages into the preview.
For an author, there are different considerations. If they are already published, it provides a way for them to release out of print titles. If they are not published, it allows them to skip the long, painful process of waiting for a publisher to take interest in the book, and go straight to the readers.
There’s a problem with this though, because sometimes it isn’t a good idea to go straight to the readers! Too often authors are in love with their words and their ideas and they don’t recognize that they need to edit for flow, form and grammar. There can be a little bit of conceit here or a bit of naivete.
The story has to follow the rules. It has to make sense. It has to be written properly. It has to have good grammar and punctuation. If it doesn’t, the readers are not going to come. If you upload a novel before it’s ready, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot, and earning a reputation as a poor writer.
The easy road can be a dangerous one. The harder road provides enough road blocks for the project to be perfected along the journey.
Of course, we’ve all come across books by reputable publishers that made us shake our heads and wonder how it came to be published. With the e-book scene growing like crazy, hopefully we’ll soon see many talented authors that don’t have paper editions, developing a well-earned following. Those authors aren’t getting there on their own, though. They must have a team of readers and editors helping them to fine-tune their work.
Success is a team effort. In e-book publishing, the author is the one in control of the team, so it’s important that it’s a good one!
If you’re considering e-publishing, there is a lot to know. Read and learn. Ensure that you’re putting out the best possible product. Know your audience and your genre. Be sure that your work has been read and reviewed by your audience. Your reputation is important, you need to keep it shiny.
Shawn L. Bird 
Quatrain August 4, 2011
Tags: awakening dreams, grace, Grace Awakening, poetry, postaday2011, quatrain, reality, truth, wisdom
Reality is a dream awoken
Truth is perception spoken
Wisdom is a lifetime’s token
Grace is long love unbroken
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