Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

secrets September 5, 2011

Filed under: Pondering,Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:23 am
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In the entire history of our marriage, it was the only secret I kept from her, and eventually it became impossible to fix.  With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.

Water for Elephants.  Sara Gruen.  p. 415

This is a valid point, don’t you think?  Whether or not the thing you conceal is important in later years, it can become a “Why didn’t you tell me?” sort of thing.  Mind you, I also know that shrug that says, “Well that’s no big deal!” and just accepts the fact that some people are nervous about sharing news that they think will be taken badly.  Some people get all worried about things like that, and others shake it off.  In the past.  Water under the bridge.  Who cares now about such things?

What do you think?  When is keeping the secret bigger than the secret itself?

 

Wow September 4, 2011

Filed under: Grace Awakening — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:00 am
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Wow. I am a little stunned here today. I just discovered a website that tracks the iBook chart data and posts Top 100 for various genres. To my joy and astonishment, apparently Grace Awakening “has appeared 55 times” in the Top 100 Fantasy or SciFi/Fantasy in Canada this summer. It reached a high of #34 the week after release.

Wow. Pretty good for a brand new book from a brand new author! I’m looking forward to charting Grace’s adventures as word spreads.

Pretty cool what you can find on the internet.

Oh, yesterday was also a big day because I got a new fan on my Facebook Author Page: a high school student from New York who writes very enthusiastically of the book. I’m thrilled 😀 Word is spreading!  I’m so happy that Grace is off finding new friends in faraway places!

How about you?  Are you a new friend of Grace?  Where do you live?

 

25 things September 3, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 8:34 pm
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This is an interesting article that hits on quite a few interesting points about the new realities of self-publishing.  I like that he applied the exchange student mantra:

Not better.  Not worse.  Just different.

Oh- language warning.  The diction is a little blue.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/08/30/25-things-you-should-know-about-self-publishing/

 

gone, not forgotten September 2, 2011

Filed under: anecdotes,Friendship — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:24 am
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Once upon a time I had a friend who was a middle child.  She was an eldest daughter between a precious son and an adorable daughter.  She was the kind of child who chafed at constriction, who felt injustice and inequality, who was determined to have her own way even if it hurt.

She made some choices that were painful for friends and family alike.  But time wore down the edges, softened attitudes and then life blossomed.  She joyfully awaited the birth of a child.  Like many things with her, it was a high risk endeavour.  She didn’t do things the easy way.  Doctors said they’d ensure the delivery was a safe one.

The child arrived, but the delivery wasn’t safe.   There came baby, blood, coma and after a time of lingering, she left.  A final injustice.

She didn’t get to see her baby grown into an amazing young woman.  She didn’t get to become all she could have been herself.  But she lives on in our memories, and on her birthday, a tear may fall…

Thinking of  her today.

 

purdah September 1, 2011

Filed under: Grace Awakening — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:12 am
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In Grace Awakening Myth, Bright comments that purdah is a “curse word.”  Just for clarity, I thought I should include a thorough definition of what it actually is.  In short, it means separation.  It is the act of separating female family members from public. There are variations of practice depending on location and faith.  Knowing Bright, you will be able to understand why she thinks it’s a curse word.

In 1925 Marmaduke Pickthall, a British convert to Islam and translator of the Quran, gave a lecture in Madras entitled “The Relation of the Sexes”[7] which condemned purdah in the Indian subcontinent, and also criticized the practice of face veiling among Muslim women.

If you read the article, you will have a clear understanding of the real definition, and have a historical context for a practice that exists in some places even today.

 

watering elephants August 31, 2011

Filed under: book reviews,Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:41 pm
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I just finished reading Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants which is my book club’s September read.  It’s hard to say what I loved most about this book.  Sara Gruen is a masterful storyteller, and she does a brilliant job of flashing between the present in a nursing home and the 3.5 months in depression era Benzini Brothers Circus.  Her narrator is protagonist “90 or 93” year old Jacob.  It is a testament to Gruen’s skill that he rings entirely true.  She has thoroughly captured the frustration of strong mind being caught inside a feeble body as Jacob remembers the joys and horrors of  life on a circus train.

I remember loving circus books as a kid, and plainly that hasn’t changed.  When I reached the last 50 pages, I couldn’t see how on earth it’d be possible to wrap all the conflicts in so little time, but she does.  I loved the ending as well.  I didn’t see it coming and it made me happy.

Great book.  Highly recommended.

 

kiss August 30, 2011

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:45 pm
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your eyes meet mine and

your lips beckon mine to seal

the hint of promise

 

Concordia August 29, 2011

Filed under: Grace Awakening,Mythology — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:44 am
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In Greek mythology, the goddess in charge of unity and agreement is Harmonia.  In the Roman pantheon, it’s Concordia.  Concordia has some responsibilities that Harmonia doesn’t have.  Concordia is responsible for marital harmony and connection, as well as the unity of mankind.  In Grace Awakening, Concordia was given the surname Iugo.  Iugo is Latin and reflects this role.  According to the Google translator  iugo encompasses the following verbs:

join, joint, join together, bind together, band, link, connect, inosculate, interlace, interlock, bridge, couple, rally, compound, amalgamate, clasp, leash, pair, marry, yoke, wed, complect, harness, aggregate, conjoin, pan, agglutinate, commingle, lark, conflate, compact, unite, fun, mate

You get the idea.  Concordia’s job here is to join couples.  To ensure strong bonds of communication, she has a ceremonial rite of bonding.  Ben takes advantage of this opportunity to strengthen his ties to Grace.  He is trying to tie them together in a way that ensures no one can pull them apart.

What do you think about this?  If you had an opportunity to layer the bonds between you  and your beloved so that your communication was clear and no one could separate you, would you take advantage of it?  Or do you prefer a little mystery in your relationship?  Do you want to maintain more privacy than Grace is able to have after she’s bonded?

 

location! location! August 28, 2011

Filed under: Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:26 am
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I have discovered that I have a particular pet peeve about books set in places I know.  I expect them to be right.  If you’re describing a real place, a real street, a real region, a real country, then you need to do your research.  You need to know what time the sun sets there, for your time of the year.  You need to know the local language and customs.  You need to research, research, research.

Because if you don’t, some of your audience are going to know, and they’re going to be a vocal part of your audience.  They will hate with a passion and they will shout it from the roof tops.  They will be so distracted by the errors, that they won’t be able to see the good things about your book.

If you don’t know a place intimately, and you aren’t going to research, then make up the place.  Make it ‘like’ a known place that you model it after, if you want, but don’t give it the same name.  Because if you make mistakes, people are going to jump all over that.

Man, I hope there are none of those moments in my books!  I think I’ve kept close to what I know, and researched for everything I needed to check.  I hope my settings stand up to my own standards.

 

masks August 25, 2011

Filed under: Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:37 pm
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“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”   Oscar Wilde

It’s an interesting idea, don’t you think?  I can see how character and philosophy oozes out from between the lines of an author’s work.  I know that people who know me laugh when they read my work, because they can hear my voice in the style.

What do you think?  Do you think you reveal more about yourself by your action and writings (particularly writing in character) than you do when responding to others?

PS.  Still looking for the short story “Masks” as per this blog