The new King Opus

Undoubtedly the author that I have promoted the most in my life is Stephen King. King is the reason that I started reading for pleasure, and he is easily the author that I have read the most. I was in 6th or 7th grade, and I had probably only read 10 books in total through assigned reading, then one day I picked up a book entitled The Dead Zone. I probably got it because it had the word “dead” in the title, and like all middle school kids, I thought the subject of death was pretty cool. What I got with my first experience with Stephen King, however, was an introduction on how to develop characters in a way that made them both realistic and different from me, all at the same time. I can remember certain scenes from that book, and I have only ever read it once, and that was over 15 years ago.

Everyone who is even slightly interested in the art form of writing should be forced to read King’s On Writing. I have given this one book to at least 20 people in my life so far, which also means that I have actually bought the thing at least 5 different times because some people did not give me my copy back. Friends of mine who are musicians liked how King discusses the idea of creating new stories, while artists that I know said that King’s argument on dedication and time management is borderline perfect. For us writers out there, the whole book is a treasure trove of how to write, what not to do, and a really great example of what solid writing looks like. For those of you who have not read it, the book is part memoir and part technical book. In my opinion, the whole thing is great.

]Today, Stephen King releases his 41st novel Under the Dome (that is not counting his books of short stories, screenplays, and comics that he has also written.) The book is just over 1000 pages long in hardback, and it feels like it weighs 20 pounds or more. So far it has gained favorable reviews, and writers even like Neil Gaiman are claiming it is the best book that they have read all year.

What is astounding about Stephen King is not his massive quantity that he has put out for the world to read (he has a poem and short story in the New Yorker also released this month), rather it is his quality of stories that he has created over the years. Now I am not going to lie to you and say that everything I have ever read by him was good, some of it just fell flat for me, but I will say that even at his worst there is still something to take away from everything King publishes. Also not everything that he writes is horror, in fact if you enjoyed The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, or Stand By Me, then you already know that King just does fine in the drama category too.

But what it all boils down to is Stephen King’s ability to tell you a story and hold your attention. At least he always has with me. Here is the opening paragraph to his short story in the New Yorker. Not the happiest story in the world, but still it captured my attention.

“They’ve been married for ten years and for a long time everything was O.K.—swell—but now they argue. Now they argue quite a lot. It’s really all the same argument. It has circularity. It is, Ray thinks, like a dog track. When they argue, they’re like greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit. You go past the same scenery time after time, but you don’t see it. You see the rabbit.”

Book # 35

Today I finished book #35 for the year. First off I would like to note that this is the largest amount of books that I have read for my own pleasure in one year, and I still have two months left.  Secondly, this last book, Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is something that everyone should read.

The central idea of the book is nothing extraordinary, it is sort of the author’s own look at the idea of living out your life to the fullest. He is extremely persuasive in his argument to get outside of our comfort zones, take risks, and make an extra effort to make our days meaningful, and in only 250 pages he nails the point home. The best way he proves this his argument is by doing it himself, and  also by telling the stories of those people he met along the way that also live great stories.

One passage that stuck out to me particularly was when he was talking about those who give up on working towards a meaningful life and become stagnant. He writes:

“I think this when most people give up on their stories. They come out of college wanting to change the world, wanting to get married, wanting to have kids…but they get into the middle and discover it was harder than they thought. They can’t see the distant shore anymore, and they wonder if their paddling is moving them forward.”

He thought of this while he was kayaking across a big channel of water with a group of friends. How many people do you know that have given up in their paddling? How many people do you know that have just drifted out to sea, and now have no desire to pursue the passions that once ignited their soul and minds? I know a good amount of people who could fit those descriptions, and I have definitely fit into those categories myself on occasion.

But now I am inspired. Now I want to start living a great story myself.

Falling behind…

So it is the 5th day into November and I am already behind in how many words I should have written down for my novel. I am going to try my best to over produce over the next couple days, especially the weekend, but it might already be too far gone. So far the main thing that this experience has taught me is time-management and just how much of our days are spent following things that we are not passionate about. In my usual work day I spend over 10 hours doing something that merely just fills up my day with a little pay at the end, and at the end of the day I try my best to be creative for, at best, two hours.

Robert Frost once said that the only thing he could truly say about the experience of living is three words, “it goes on.” That is way I have been feeling lately. A part of me wants to put the world on brakes and slow it down for awhile so I can try my best to get my head together. I want the time to be my best creative self, figure out what it is I want to do with my life, and try to come to grips with everything around me.

At the same time I have also heard that life is about understanding that we live in a world where we all are constantly being lost. To embrace that fact is to truly understand ourselves and knowing it helps us to move forward to where we are suppose to be going. As it is with most things in life though, it is much easier to write these words here and say them versus the reality of facing up to it.

So here I go, trying my best to live up to “it goes on,” and embrace my world without answers and direction.

1600 Words a Day

On my first day of writing for the NaNo Month (which is an attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words in 31 days) I exceeded my proposed word count goal by 100 words. For it to work out perfectly I need to write at least 1600 hundred words a day. So far so good.

It is an interesting process to take on. I have decided with my novel that I am going to try my best to write it the same way Jack Kerouac composed his epic On the Road, which means I will write it straight forward. This will, most likely, prove to be the most difficult challenge for me. In my writing in the past, I was used to planning out all the scenes, writing and re-writing various parts of the story, and usually composing various parts of the story all at a different time. Perhaps this new writing style will prove to be more beneficial to my overall ability to write.

The story is an interesting one. Even last night as I sat down to begin composing the introduction of it, I found myself taking the story in directions that I had not thought of before. The whole experience, from signing up to Nano Month website to completing my first day of writing has been a thrill for me. I am excited to carry on the story today and see where it takes me.

The title of the piece is Oh for Nothing, which is came from a line in the movie North by Northwest. I figure it was fitting since the character I am writing about takes a road trip from Tampa, Florida to Seattle, Washington. If I ever write something worth publishing, I will post it here so anyone can read it.

A new person every 6 months

In Donald Miller’s newest book, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” he presents a good amount of information and personal insight to what it takes to make a good story. The back story of the book is Donald Miller’s own ambition to write a faithful adaptation to his own memoir “Blue Like Jazz,” and at the same time re-write his own life story to be a little more interesting.

At one point in the book, Miller writes about a conversation he had with a friend. They discussed how much our body changes over time. Lines get deeper into our skin, hair changes color, and so on. But Donald Miller’s friend brought up how our bodies literally recreate themselves every 6 months. He said that scientifically, all of our cells, hair, skin, and blood regenerate themselves completely every six months. So that means the person sitting at this desk, at least cell wise, is not the same person I was six months ago.  

It is an interesting idea. The aspect that I like about that information is that it reflects my belief that we should never be afraid to change. I think that was Donald Miller’s point of adding it in his book too. If our bodies are constantly changing and regenerating themselves, then we too should strive to move away from our comfort zones, and become different people.

So I am going to take that advice to heart. Starting now I, like Donald Miller, am going to try my best to write a better story for myself.

John Creasey and NaNo Month:

John Creasey wrote over 600 novels between 1930 and 1970. According to Stephen King’s great, great book On Writing, Creasey was so prolific because he came up with a unique routine that helped him create plot and guide his stories. Whenever he got stuck with an idea, or moment in the story, he would spin these two big “wheel of fortune” style wheels that contained random ideas and character names. So if he got stuck he would spin the two wheels, and then write down whatever fate came up with. It seems like a phony way of writing, but at the same time he did publish over 600 books!

I am writing about Creasey’s story because I might have to use his same technique over the next month. I have joined up with the National Write a Novel Month organization, which challenges its contestants to write 50,000 words to one story within the days of November. Apparently the goal of this whole thing is to produce quantity over quality, which means I should pry the delete button from my keyboard right now! To succeed I need to write at least 1700 everyday.

This last weekend I sat down, plotted out a couple of ideas and did a little research on the subject I have come up with. So over the next month my blogs here might go down in number. And maybe if I am feeling a little extra giving I might publish some of what I come up with here on this site, so stay tuned. But fair warning, I might not post anything at all, depending on just how bad the story becomes.

Held by the Taliban…read this!

Sometimes a story comes along that can knock you right to the ground. It can be inspiring, thought provoking, and maybe even a little scary. The New York Times article that I read today, “Held by the Taliban,” by David Rohde, accomplishes all three of those emotions, and is easily one of the best articles I have read in long time.

It is presented as a serialized entry, meaning you have to click on parts 1-5 to read the entire story, but I truly think it is worth it. The article is a firsthand account from David about his time over the last year while he was held captive to the Taliban in the northern section of Pakistan. The story highlights the events that took place over his 7 month ordeal, but it also sheds an interesting light on how the Taliban truly works, on their own thought process, and on the courage it takes just to survive.

Throughout my reading of this article I kept coming back to the same feeling that there is not really much in this world to complain about. So my neighbor and I do not agree on politics, so what. The Titans are the worst team in the NFL, big freakin’ deal. There is so much more going on in this world that we will never, thankfully, have to face. The struggles of our own lives, most of the time, are so small comparatively to what it must be like being a woman in a country like Pakistan. I guess you can say that it always good to read things like this article to put things back into perspective.

If you have 30 minutes, give this article (linked below) a read. If you do not have that much time then still go to the sight and watch the interactive video from the author himself, which should only take 15 minutes or so.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/asia/18hostage.html?_r=1&hp

A Sunny Day

My new job in the world of medical research allows me to read some pretty interesting things. I get to spend most of my days reading and trying to figure out sentences like this:

“Multiplicative interactions between the GRS and dairy calorie intake or exercise were examined using the logistical likelihood ratio test, which compared the model, included only main effects with the model that included both main effects and interactive terms.”

Truthfully not everything I read is that complicated and most of it is pretty interesting. I have read reports on why it so important to eat things with Soy in it. There have also been numerous reports that emphasize the importance of eating vegetables, drinking tons of water, and exercising daily.

At first I did not understand why these medical professors still wrote academic reports on such general topics. Recently one of the professors I work for told me that it is important to continue publishing this research because people always need new information, and the human body is such an interesting organism that we have really just started to crack the surface on issues like cancer, obesity, and disease.

Perhaps the article that I think about the most was on why people should not use sunblock (unless you are going to be outside for longer than 30 minutes.) Of course it is common knowledge that our bodies produce Vitamin D when we stand in the sunlight, but I was unaware of just how important standing in the sun can be for our lives. Going outside and getting sunlight on your skin has been proven to lower your blood pressure, alleviate depression, and help the brain function more effectively. It made me wonder why from 7^th grade on we lose afternoon recess.

I would love to go outside every day after lunch to play a little kickball or four square, maybe read on a park beach, or even to just go for a stroll. According to the research, that is exactly what every company, organization, and school should be doing at some point throughout the day. But what happens? We get bogged down by work, the weather gets a little too cold for our liking, and many other reasons and excuses.

So maybe that is the reason this research gets repeated and re-written, so that when we forget just what is good for us, we can read these articles and then good outside and play.

K o L

Everyone is always going to argue the same thing, “I like a band so much more when they play smaller venues.” That is the same a-typical logic as “The book is better than the movie*,” and “watching sports in person is so much better than on TV.” Of course things would be better if we got to pick and choose where our favorite musicians played, but the fact of the matter is that bands (especially good ones) usually get bigger. I would love to see every concert I go to at the Ryman Auditorium, but unfortunately that is not going to happen.

So this last weekend the Kings of Leon played their first Arena sized show in Nashville. The positives were that the stage, and lighting effects were great, the problem was the setlist and the bands inability to put on a great “rock show.” The Kings of Leon are quickly becoming one of the biggest bands worldwide. In places like England and Australia they get chased down the streets (a la the Beatles Hard Days Night), and here in the United States they have consistently sold outs huge arenas from NYC’s The Garden to LA’s Staples Center. Maybe I am just not “getting it,” but I felt like their performance here in Nashville was a little lack-luster. I think it has something to do with them not moving around enough, not getting the audience to participate or not knowing how to create a setlist that keeps building up the energy of the crowd.

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that I went, and will go and see them again the next time they come through. I just hope that before the next time, they sit down and learn the right way on how to make a crowd of 20,000 or more come alive just by some power chords, a bass, some drums and singing.

*This logic works in almost every case, except for maybe the movie The Natural starring Robert Redford. Way different ending in the book, he takes the money instead of knocking the ball into the lights.

More thoughts…

While I was driving to work this morning (listening to the NPR MEGA-thon pledge drive) I got to thinking about how many of my graduate school professors in History said that they only believed in making judgments on events and people from a 10 year perspective. Meaning, the best way to see and understand something fully is to wait 10 years after it has happened and become a part history. Back then I used to think it was such a load of bull, but now I am starting to understand a little bit of what they were talking about.

Thinking back over history it is always interesting how events play out during the time they are happening vs. what they look like in hindsight. Example, everyone used to believe the Earth was flat. Then a few radical thinkers and scientists came forward and started arguing that no, the Earth was round. But, no matter what new science was behind it and no matter what “proof” there was to confirm that it was true, a large number of people refused to believe it. The same example can be put towards almost any scientific revolution, major change in government, breakthrough in education, or development in medicine. I guess the common theme through history would then be that people are afraid of change… but I am not really sure if that encapsulates the entirety of it.

Today in the local Nashville paper the results of a recent poll were published. It revealed that:

“Fully 34 percent of Tennesseans — and 47 percent of Republicans polled — continue to believe that the Hawaiian-born Obama was born in a foreign country.

An additional 30 percent think Obama — a longtime member of the United Church of Christ — is Muslim.”

Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that these people are wrong about what they think. Nor will I tell you that my opinions are right. In the end, time will decide these things for us. My wish is that people would learn from the mistakes of history, and be more accepting of new ideas and efforts made to make a better world that may not fall in line exactly with the way you think our government should be run.

Recently I was re-reading some of my notes from a history class that I took. I am not sure if the teacher said it, or it was a quote from a book, but I wrote down this sentence, “The most successful people in the world are the ones who truly know and understand patience.”

In context, what it said to me was to be patient, and wait to see how my opinions (and yes other peoples’ opinions) play out in the end. Like maybe in 10 years…