Brother Kang's RANTS

Journal of a Novel

2010-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

My favorite example of these types of journals are two volumes of Steinbeck letters that are available.; Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, and Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath.

What he did and what I am thinking about doing is you write a long series of letters in the notebook he also wrote the novel in. The right side of the page is where you write your novel, and the left side of the page is where you keep the letters. Steinback said he used to do it to get his mind in the zone. Any writer knows how much of a key issue this is in the writing process. No matter what other kind of external influences are going on at the time, if you are in the zone, have the focus and discipline to immerse yourself into the world of your story you know as well as I do is that this is the place were your words come from. So I am willing to follow in the footsteps of those masters that have come before me and adapt their tactics there methods.

I would also like to get copies and read both of Steinbeck's books as all I have read are romantic descriptions of them. In one way though I would like to just keep that thought and do them how I imagine they are instead of reading and copying his style.

One of the things I do know about his technique that I am going to adapt is that he would set down to write, sharpen his pencils and start of by warming up and writing letters to his publisher and friend on many subjects.

I have a great idea of how I am going to do it. I am going to write a letter to someone who is new to the art of writing and has not read the books. For those of my readers who are occult inclined I am going to do a sort of writing version of Magick Without Tears by: Crowley.

Of course now I am at the point when I am trying to read like 15 books at the same time. My room is starting to become a path of books leading to the bed, books and music. Not that I think that is too much of a bad thing really.

I am going to and read for the rest of the evening and then tomorrow begin this work!

Anderson, Faulkner, and Me!

2010-01-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

I was shopping in a local bookstore the other day and found a book by Faulkner I had not know existed. It is called New Orleans Sketches, and it is amazing, One of my favorite books is Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. I have always considered working on a similiar work of inter-connecterd short stories. New Orleans Sketches is Faulkner's verions of Winesburg.

I think I am going to adapt this style for my crime novel. I worked a lot on plot stuff yesterday, and it went very well. I think I have an outline of some of the "sketches" I am going to do. I am going to spend the first half of the novel just doing character sketches on each of the main characters, and some of the locations totally described.

I am going to set the whole novel in a small town called "Fair Hill". It is a small mountain town in the Ozarks. So with it being a small town there will only be probably 8-10 characters total, so I am think probably 20 or so chapters/sketches. I am going to try and write one sketch a week and I am also going to start submitting them to short fiction magazines. I want each of the stories to be tight stories that can stand alone and also that will form the chapters of some connected novel.

I am planning on going down to the office twice a week and writing a rough draft of story by hand, then spend a day typing it and doing first revision, then step back for a day and not think about it (start working on new story idea), then I will comeback and spend 2-3 days revising the story and then the 7th day or so I will submit that story to magazine. Then after all that my plan is just to rinse and repeat.

Okay I am going to go make some coffee now and work on some more plot stuff I will keep everyone up to date on the novel progress as it happens.

Read these amazing books now!

Guest Post: A SHED OF ONE’S OWN

2010-01-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a series of Guest Posts by fellow writers about writing conditions and techniques. I want to give other writers a outlet to voice their opinion on writing; how, where, and what they write.
So the first in the series is by my close friend and fellow writer; Don Lee. You can check out his blog; Whiskey Bottle Over Jesus.

"The conditions under which the working writer writes seem to be of universal interest. I think on some level it’s part of that desire in all those who write or aspire to write, at least up to a certain point, to find out “the secret” of successful writing – the actual physical act itself, that time when you sit down and put words down and somehow sometimes they flow out and it’s as if someone else wrote them, and you kinda sit back and go “Wow.”

Some prefer to write by hand, then retype, while others compose straight into the keyboard. I have been writing longhand for years and am trying to shift from the latter to the former right now.

For some writers it’s an issue not of how but of where. I used to write a lot in coffee shops when there were several good ones handy. More recently, living alone, when the weather permits I have a work station set up on the front porch of the cabin where I live in the woods. (I also enjoy writing in bars, although there is a limited window of usefulness there and one wonders about developing a Pavlovian connection between the two events, the writing and the drinking. Probably sounds better than is, in the long run.)

It is important whenever possible to have your own place to write. For one thing, a certain amount of privacy is necessary – uninterrupted time and space to think and compose. The downfall of the coffee shop – or bar, for that matter – is that once you’ve become a regular, you’re forced to deal with both well-meaning acquaintances and/or slack vampires who have nothing better to do than suck up your writing time. “Hey, buddy!” Your options become either rudeness or changing locales periodically so you won’t encounter people you know.

Earlier last year I lived for a few months with a wife who had a seven year old son. Finding a place to write away from home meant being away from home, often not an option. But there was a shed out back, concrete slab floor and a roof that didn’t leak – and best of all, electricity! – and this became my sanctum. It was just close enough to the house to be within yelling distance if yelling need occur, and just far enough out that I wasn’t in the loop of the usual dealing with a manic seven year old. I wrote a lot of journalism out there and a chunk of a novel that I dropped about the time I moved out.

If you are a writer and unless you have an incredibly secure, understanding mate, or none at all, the chances of finding privacy to write at home are low – but if you have a shed, I think you’ve got a shot at it. It worked for me."

If you are interested in being a guest blogger please email me; regier.writer@gmail.com and we will get something set up.

The Sacred Text of Writing

2010-01-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

The weather here is going insane. Been snowing almost non-stop since yesterday afternoon. Everything is covered in snow and ice. When I went to the office yesterday it was crazy slick and the computer says it has been snowing all night, but I have not looked outside yet. I got a few more things at the office last night and now I am rethinking both my sacred text.

I really need to have two sacred text I can fall back on when I am writing and I do not change one of the very often, and this time it looks like I may change both of them.
I am going to replace The Writing Life with another book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. I read the first 15 pages last night and it is amazing so far. It is written in the same style as The Writing Life, but seems more polished perhaps. I will not know really until I get more into the meat of the book itself. I think this will be a great sacred text and should keep my on track with my writing projects.
She talks about getting in print in the introduction and it makes me think. Always makes me think of short fiction. Perhaps I should try to work on some mystery/crime short fiction and submit that. I can write and polish a short story in a few weeks. If I could write a rough draft in a week and then spend two weeks revising it, and then send one story a month off to a magazine then surely I could publish this year. That would be a big step for me and would give me a chance to work on the mystery genre without worrying about novel length stuff.

Okay I am going to go spend a few of these morning hours making some coffee and reading on that Silva novel.

Blogging in the New Year!

2010-01-03T14:00:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have been thinking about the subject of New Years resolutions since writing my last post. I have been feeling unmotivated the past few days and have spent all day in my head searching for the reason and trying to figure out how to get motivated. I hope taking on a fiction project for the new year will give me some of the motivation I am seeking.

The reading I have been doing lately is also in hopes of lighting a fire under my ass in the fiction department. I have been reading the type of fiction I want to start writing in hopes of it rubbing off on me in some way. I also have not turned to my usual sources of writing motivation, so maybe that is effecting me also.

I usually turn to one of two books when I need to start writing; The Writing Life by: Anne Lamott and also A Moveable Feast by: Hemingway. I think now though I may have added the third book to this list of sacred text; The Triumph of the Thriller by: Patrick Anderson.

We will see how well it works in about a week. I have found that while I am actually doing the writing I can not read too much fiction or it influences the work I am doing. So I think I am going to finish reading the Silva novel while I outline the novel. I may continue reading because I am working in a genre I am not familiar with.

My usual writing routine however is to hand write my first draft, then type and then do revisions on a computer. I can not usually write at home, so I usually go out and work. My best writing is done at coffee shops and bars. The office will not work either because there are too many distractions. So I think I will start going to the coffee shop across the street from it to work. I also need some music on my MP3 player so I can tune out everything. be more zen about it all. I have to be careful on my music choice though. I can not work if the music has words, so I am limited to classical, techno, and jazz. So I need to start working on getting some music together for that.

I need to be very simple to get work done. I do not need much, but the things I do need have to be just right; the right kind of pens, a new notebook, the outline index cards, my MP3 player with good music on it, and a book. Anything else I have with me will only distract me.

One of the other distractions I have to avoid when I am writing is also the most difficult for me; the Internet! It is also the reason I can not write fiction on a laptop really. This is why I am trying to get money for a NEO Alphasmart word processor.

Okay I am going to quit ranting about this for now and go start on the outlining for the novel. I promise to keep you, my dear readers, updated on my progress.

Happy New Years!

2010-01-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! It will be a good year for all of us! 2009 was an interesting year for me. I learned a lot about myself, a lot about writing, a lot about this virtual world we all live in. I hope to learn as much or more in 2010!

I usually do not make new year's resolutions, but this year I decided to make a writing oath to myself.

I have been studying The Art of Dramatic Writing by: Lajos Egri for a few months and it is going to be my guidebook on the quest I am embarking upon. My quest is none other than the search for the Holy Grail itself. It is my opinion the reason that man has been searching for the grail for hundreds of year and has yet to "find it" is that, in essence, the grail quest is a personal quest.

I will write a play this year! This has always been a mind blowing undertaking to me, but I think I am ready.

I am going to attempt to do a crime/mystery play. I got a copy of The Major Plays by: Anton Chekhov to use as examples. I have only read one play by Chekhov; The Sea Gull, but the book I just got has all five major plays, so now I have more reading than I can handle right now.

Also me and my friend Brother Catfish have been talking about planning on moving to New Orleans in the fall, so I would like to have my first play done by then.

Okay I am going to go read till I pass out. Still recovering from last night. Good party and I have people in from out of town staying with me too.

BRK and Simple Living

2009-12-30T23:40:00.000-08:00

I want to say first off, sorry for not posting yesterday. I was busy preparing this huge rant you. Hope this makes up for the lack of reading material yesterday...

This just goes to show you, Wisdom never appears were you think it will. It always turns up in the most unexpected places, that is part of it's charm. For me wisdom appeared on a cold night in Michigan City which is one of the many far reaching suburbs of Chicago. I was in Chicago staying with a friend who lived in a wonderful farmhouse and was married to a International Stockbroker who also had a house 20 minutes from hers. On certain weekends they both got there visitation with their children from their respective exes. On these weeks due to the space in the house I would stay at his house in Michigan City.

On the night in question I was looking through a stack of books on the coffee table and ran across a book I had seen at the book store countless times but had not looked at; Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by: Roger Lowenstein

I picked it up and thought I would read the introduction and see what this guy is up to. I had no idea when I picked up that tome that my life would change, my paradigm shift, at that moment. I did not read the whole thing cover to cover or anything like that, but I the seed of change was planted from that moment on. I did read the introduction and the first chapter. I began to see Warren for something beyond what I had originally thought.

Here was this man, a man who was he richest (and sometimes 2nd richest) man in the WORLD. A man who grew up dreaming, and thinking of nothing but making money. A man who was too teach me and make me see more clearly the idea of a simple life. It took me by more of surprise than I could have ever expected. I left Chicago on a train on Christmas day to head to New Orleans for New Years and then onto Florida, where two things would happen. I would spend the winter on the beach and I would read and re-read the book that shifted my paradigm yet again, I am self-admitted paradigm hopper if such a think exist.

In a classic round about, ranting fashion this leads me to my review for this months issue of Harpers! January 2010, and what a wild year I think it is going to be. The article was a piece by: Mattathais Schwartz, The Church of Warren Buffett. The title sets the mood for the rest of the article, it is set at the Berkshire Hathaway Share Holders Meeting. For most people in the investment industry this is their Mecca.

I think the key quote that made me need to write a "review" for this article. This was attributed to Marsha (no last name given),"When you grow up poor," she told me, "all you want is enough money so you don't have to worry. Money is freedom. Someone helps you, you got to pay it forward." This quote lays forth the spirit of Buffett's philosophy that I want to live by. I grew up poor and this quote hits home with me. I understand the freedom she speaks of and it the kind of freedom I want.

I am struck really by the day to day life of Mr. Buffett he lives simple, stoic, almost monk like in his pursuit of a pure form of capitalism that almost no one else can achieve and frankly most other people can not even grasp in their mind's eye. This is the exact kind of routine that I want in my life.

I do not want to be the next Warren Buffett, for one thing I do not think it is possible for anyone to be "the next". I would however like to use him as somewhat of a model for life though. The article states "What Buffett had done was sit in a room and think." and unfortunately Mr. Schartz also makes the correct assessment that, "Like most drudge work, thinking a undertaking that Americans would rather sub-contract to someone else." I wish that statement was not true but for most of the public I think it is.

I try not to think that way or associate with people that do. I instead would like to focus on the positive thoughts on the matter that come from the mind of the master himself, "Inactivity strikes us as intelligent behavior." He spends most of the day in a small room at his desk reading, and when he is not busy reading he is playing bridge online. That sounds like a pretty great way to live to me.

R.J. Meurer says of Warren and I agree "He's in the business of thinking the unthinkable" I think this a great description of him. He sits in silent meditation for hours at a time trying to come up with that next good idea, the next investment.

As Shai Dardashti says, "The answer is cutting away the noise." and Warren does this to the extreme which is what is needed to achieve his level of success in the way he has chosen to do it. Shai is a follower of Mr. Buffett's way of life he says of his work ethic "There's no one yelling or screaming. I set here, go through stuff, absorb information, and try to com up with three or four good ideas a year." That sounds like an amazing way to work and live to me. I must start right away on this way of life, this way of thinking, shifting into this paradigm.

I am going to end this rant and call it a night, but I do want to leave you with two quotes which I find comforting in the age we live in. I would like to get both of these framed and hang in my future office. The first one is by Sherri Gregory, another Buffett follower she says "He chooses not to complicate his life with things, with stuff."

The other is by the master himself,"We don't have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest."

I think if you enjoy Mr. Buffett and his way of looking at life you should go out and buy the new issue of Harpers to be able to read the article for yourself and pleased offer your opinion on his ideas here. I will be ranting about him in the future also, and I am always on the lookout for new posts ideas.

At the Office on a Cold Winters Day

2009-12-29T13:02:00.001-08:00

I am at the office again today. It has been a week since I have been here since it is so cold. It was worth coming out for several reasons. One, is the new issue of Harpers is out and the cover story is on Warren Buffett who is amazing, also I was getting slight cabin fever yesterday. It has been a week or more since I left the house to do anything other than check the mail. Also I needed coffee and they have great coffee here.

I have been reading a lot of post on Problogger as I am going through the 31 Days program I started on xmas day, which I think is going very well. I am only on day three but can already see and feel good changes.

Also this morning, early, I finished Michael Connelly's books The Closers, it was very good. It had 40 or 50 pages that were a little slow like 3/4 the way through the book, but other than that it was page turning and very good. Engaging story and characters I could identify with. I am going to start my first Daniel Silva book now The Kill Artist. I want to spend the next few monthes reading main stream mystery/thriller fiction. I can not help but think of what I think Robin Cook said the best way to learn how to get on the New York Times bestseller list is to go out and read every book right now on the NY Times Bestseller list and then copy what they are doing.

So with that in mind I have about 10-12 bestselling thriller/mystery novels stacked next to the coffee table and I am going to do just that. I figure if I learn one or two things from each of them then it is all worth it. Plus they are pretty good reads overall.

I am also on the advice of a close friend, going to go today and get index cards and try to outline a novel on them. This is suppose to help you see the novel in full even if it is not written yet. Plus in mystery it will help with foreshadowing and leaving clues for the reader to follow.

So after I leave here I am going to go to the store and get some index cards and bagels. The cornerstone of any good writing sesssion. I will post again later this evening I just wanted to get my thoughts of the moment down on paper.

"I write for the same reason I breathe -- because if I didn't, I would die."

2009-12-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

This is my third attempt attempt writing a post today. I have been considering taking the day off, but I don't really think I can. It feels strange now to think about not posting. With that said though I am in a very weird mood today and do not know how this post will come off to everyone.

I have been reading blogs all day and wondering what I really have to say today. At this point I am still not totally sure but I know I have to say something. Reminds me of a Issac Asimov said, "I write for the same reason I breathe -- because if I didn't, I would die." I feel this way most days but today I really feel it.

A couple nights ago I watch the movie Terminal for the first time and it made me think about a lot of things in my life sort of reassessing of things. For those of you have not seen this great movie I say two things. One; See it, now! I am serious. It is amazing. Two; It made me see things in a different light and one that I really enjoyed watching because I can see how it could be done.

I think one of the main ideas presented in the movie was one of simple living. Tom Hanks' character lives in an airport terminal. I do not know if it gets more simple than that. This movie got my mind working on all kinds of ways. I have gone through the first two weeks of Frank Kern's Mass Control Program. At first I thought Kern was all about marketing and product launches. Then half way through his first video I realized there was much more to him and his program than I thought in the beginning.

He suggested an exercise that I have been putting off and thinking about for a month now. What he wants his students to do is to visualize and write down in as much detail as possible your ideal life. He says you can not really get what you want if you do not know what you want. So I have been thinking about it alot the last month and after watching the movie stuff just started clicking and I have been busy at it for a couple of days now.

I now have some sort of rough plan of where I want to be in my life in the next 10 years. Very interesting feeling. Now I am just working on the details. Once I get the thing down on paper i can start working on how to achieve it. Perhaps I will share some of it with you my readers at some point. Two words describe the feelings I have about my ideal life: Simple Life!

So I leave you with a question now; what is one aspect of your ideal life? Care to share it with us?

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part Two

2009-12-27T16:31:00.000-08:00

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One, Part Two

Starting next week I am going to start weekly State of the Industry updates. I will be posting every week on the state of the publishing, and writing industry. I will bring you the latest in trends, innovations and changes in all things writing.

Now though, as promised in my last post, I am going to give you two more free writing tools to assist you in all your writing endeavors. I will of course bring you more tools and resources in future posts.

Google Docs: One of the problem in today's culture is that once you type up documents you may need to have access to them at any time. Google Docs can deal with this “problem”. Another benefit of such a service is most people who have documents that have to travel with, keep them secure on either a laptop or some sort of flash memory either with a jump drive or a external hard drive. Google Docs makes these documents even more secure by storing all your important documents on a external server that is password protected and tied into all your other Google services; Gmail, Adsense, Analytics, and even your blog.

Blog: The most important thing for some writers is to have an outlet that allows them to share their work. Luckily the Internet provides more of these types of outlets that most writers can handle. One of the most popular and in my opinion the best one is the blogging platform. Blogs can reach hundreds or thousands of people who would just a few years ago, not have had any access to the writer's work. That is now changing in very interesting and mind-blowing ways. The blogosphere is changing every day in ways that can not even be predicted from week to week. The main benefits of such an outlet is that it is totally customizable and there are many good free blogging host available such as the popular Blogger, which I use for this blog.

I am very interested in your experiences with these tools or if you have any alternatives to offer please comment. If you have a greats story to tell about using any of these or if you have a
great resource or tool to offer your fellow writers.

I am looking forward to “seeing” your comments and getting to know some of my readers in my new weekly column on The State of the Industry.

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One, Part Two

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One

2009-12-26T19:07:00.000-08:00

Part One, Part Two

The Internet has changed the face of writing and publishing more than even the most visionary science fictions writers themselves could have even predicted. With the advent of ebooks, self-publishing, print of demand, advanced word processors, and the latest innovation; The Kindle and other ebook readers. But the one thing that has not changed in all this time is the need of the writer to follow their passion, that is to write.

Several things have changed the way writers deal with writing, and publishing. The amount of resources and tools available to us online can be overwhelming. With this in mind I am going to use these two posts to explain some of my favorite free tools and resources that have served me well over the past few years.

Open Office: Several thing have been said for and against this versatile program. Once I started using it three years ago, I have not used anything else. There are several benefits to this program and I will cover what I think are most important here; The first and most important factor to most users is that Open Office is free. Most of the commercial programs available charge a hefty fee for there use.

Open Office also includes a one button PDF conversion right on the main toolbar. This feature is very important for Internet Marketers and those that write and sell ebooks. Also Open Office has very customizable tool bars and more options than some commercial programs. The one disadvantage to Open Office is the lack of any sort of grammar check. This is a big problem during the editing phase of writing but just forces the writer to pay more attention to his own work. Hopefully the crew responsible for Open Office hears out cries and gives us a grammar check sooner or later.

Jdarkroom: One of the main problem that all this new technology presents to the writer is the shear amount of distraction available with modern portable computing. I know this can be the plague of some writers. I recently read a post on Problogger on how to increase productivity in your daily blogging that included such things as shitting down all your social media and messaging programs.

This program takes care of all that. It provides you a full screen distraction free writing program to work with. The screen is all black with old school green lettering. The only functions the writing program has is word count and save. It allows you to type totally distraction free and then when you are done you can easily cut and paste the text into your favorite word processing program for editing and formatting.

I hope you enjoy these tools and they help you in your future endeavors. In my next post I will bring you two more free tools I use on a daily basis.

Four Free Tools for Writers; Part One, Part Two

Happy Holidays to all my readers!!!!!

2009-12-25T15:48:00.001-08:00

I am going to start Probloggers "31 Days to Build a Better Blog" program today. So even though this is a fairly new blog expect to see changed happening in the next month. But not to worry, the changes will be good, and make you blog life easier.

I was going to start a new blog today and just use it to chronicle my progress using this system, but the blog network I joined is not easy to navigate and it is difficult to modify the blog itself. So I have emailed the person running the network and am waiting to hear back from him before I start posting links to it. So in the next week I will add a new link list to the right sidebar so you can follow more closely the changes I am going to be making here.

White Christmas

2009-12-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve, it is always interesting. It's like people are in anticipation of Christmas Day, so they can eat too much, get presents, and spending time with there whole family. I know for some it is wonderful and for others it is torture. Since none of my family lives close by I will be here with my online family instead. I have a really good friend who is spending her first Christmas single so I will talk to her some I am sure and also I am excited about starting Problogger's Program, "31 Days to Building a Better Blog"

I want to chronicle my work with this program but I do not think I am going to blog about it here. So my plan is to start another blog. I will use this other blog to discuss the day's lesson and my progress. My readers will see the changes take place here, but can read about what exactly I am doing on my other blog. This will allow me to go through the program but not rant about it too much here.

For now though getting everything in place on the other blog. I am going to spend the rest of the night reading Michael Connelly's book; The Closers and spend tomorrow working hardcore on this blog and tweaking the other one. It will be a good Christmas!

My friend Brandon has requested that I give him something for his weekly podcast, which you can listen to here. He is looking for other people to contribute to them too, so if you think of anything you want to rant about let him know. He is a very good Brother and good people!

Okay dear readers I am going to go and read for the evening. Will have a lot to post tomorrow. So stay tuned!

Plot, Structure, and The Big Lie

2009-12-23T19:24:00.000-08:00

I went today to look for a book that a friend requested for Xmas and in fact found two copies at the local bookstore. I went ahead and grabbed both of them, one for him and one for me. The name of the book is Plot and Structure by: James Scott Bell. He is a author who writers suspense, mystery, and historical fiction. I have a few other book in the series so I thought I would check it out. To my surprise I was totally sucked in after the first page or two. He begins by talking about how he became a writer and the First Rule of Writing:

"...writing can't be taught."

This is what he calls "The Big Lie" and goes on to give some examples of why he thinks this is true. He decided at the age of 34 (lucky for me, I still have a couple of years) that he wanted to be a novelist. He went to the local bookstore and got the two writing books that had been recommended to him the most:

Writing the Novel by: Lawrence Block
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by: Syd Field

He claims that these two books taught him how to write, what plot was, and that is the cornerstone of any good novel writing attempt. He then goes on to list the six things that one must do as a writer to discover what plot is and why it is so important to all of us.

Get Motivated.
Try Stuff.
Stay Loose.
"First get it written, then get it right."
Set a Quota.
Don't Give Up.

He covers each of this points with a paragraph or two and then goes into the meat of the book. He ends the introduction by putting forth questions to the people (writers) reading his book. I will exert the few line here so you will have something to think about;

"Are you ready now? Are you convinced of the Truth? Do you dream of writing novels with plots that keep readers up at night? Then come along. I'm going to do my very best to show you how."

The "Truth" he speaks of is that anyone can be taught to write if one applies themselves. Writing can be taught as he was taught from Mr. Block and Mr. Field's wonderful books.

I have always know I was going to be a writer. It is my Will and no matter what happens in life I do not feel quite right about it until the writing is done. It has always come natural to me. But some people need to learn the craft of writing from books, schools, mentors, and others. Where as some people just have the knack for it. Now I think the truth is neither of these approaches are "right" or any "better" than one another. These are just different approaches to the supreme craft we all find ourselves surrounded by.

Once I get more into this amazing looking book I will rant about it further, but for now I will leave you with another question;

What books, teacher, mentor, writer influenced you or gave you the strength to write?

Get your writing juices flowing #1

2009-12-22T22:55:00.000-08:00

Spent most of the day reading blogs, working on blog design and getting all the social buttons and RSS feed information set up. I have been trying to think of ways to encourage readers to interact with me on the blog in the form of blog comments. In my reading today I ran across an article on the Writer's Digest Website. I wanted to ask the same questions the author did of her readers and generate some comments while helping you with your writing at the same time.

So please think about this question and answer it as honestly as you can. It will help you and help other writers like you. Because when it comes down to it we are all in the same writing boat together so lets get together and help one another now.

What one thing—in your workspace, on your computer or otherwise—would your writing life not be the same without?

I am just going to start by asking this question and see how the response is. If I get any response at all then I will continue these questions as a weekly series.

I suppose I should start this process, so the first comment will be mine. I hope all my readers will help me out and comment on this one. The more people that answer the more we all learn.

Mystery Scene Review/Commentary #1

2009-12-22T00:10:00.000-08:00

Setting here at 2 a.m. with a Shiner Bock on coffee table next to me. I have spent the last couple of hours researching professional blogging since I think this is what I am going to be doing for a while. Blogging my brain out here so you can read it.

Thus begins my review of Mystery Scene Magazine, Holiday Issue, 2009 This is my first issue of Mystery Scene, and so far so good. I am going to continue to read it monthly till it gets boring or dies. Let me start off by saying I am a writer by profession, passion, and hobby. Right now I am reading a bunch of mystery novels and working on some mystery fiction myself. Another thing to keep in mind is that this will be my commentary also and not just a straight review.

Castle/Stephen J. Cannell: First thing I want to say is that Castle is one of the best shows on T.V and gets my vote for best mystery series ever! It is a mystery show about a writer who helps solve crimes in order to do research for a book series. The publishers did something also that has not been done to my knowledge before, they published a book by a fictional character on a T.V show. On the show Richard Castle writes a series of books about a character named Nikki Heat who is based on the cop he is working with. I have not read it yet but it is on my list. Will review after I read it. So there is a scene in an early espisode where Castle is playing poker with some other writers, real writers, Micheal Connelly (who I am reading a book by now), and Stephen J. Cannell. Stephen is the one who gives him the key information that ends up leading Castle into conflict, and therefore breaking the case. It was great to see some real mystery writers getting face time on a popular TV show. I hope there will be more of this in the future.
Intelligence: This is the first time I have heard about this show but I am hooked just by the short description in the magazine. It is the Canadian Broadcasting Channel's Crime Drama show. The quote that made me want to watch it is "Intelligence may just be the antidote for those who miss The Wire and The Sopranos." I am in and ordering it off Amazon ASAP.
Dixie Noir: This is another new genre that is hitting the mystery scene in a big way. Dixie Noir is gritty realist crime fiction set in the deep south. The article in the magazine is written by the man who is leading this amazing movement Kirk Curmutt who is the author of the book that the movement is names after Dixie Noir. If you have ever read Daniel Woodrell think noir set in the deep south in stead of the Ozark moutains. My blogging friend and fellow blogger Don Lee wrote a great review of Woodrell on his blog that you can read here.
Xmas Gifts: The issue had a full color xmas gift idea section and couple of the things really struck me as wonderful and thing I need sooner or later. The first was a coffee mug from Thinkgeek.com called The Melee Mug and the second thing was Credit Card Lockpicks. Both things very amazing. Check them out for your loved ones or for me if you love this blog.
Lawrence Block Column: I think this was the best thing in this issue and apparently it is the first in a new series of columns by the master mystery writer himself. I was very excited, the first mystery novel I ever read (outside of Holmes) was The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrain it blew my mind and made me realize I could write mystery fiction. His photo in the magazine was very good and the column was pretty good too; years ago he wrote a memoir, but it was not what people thought he would do or expected of him it is a book about walking and his passion for walking; it is called Step-By-Step: A Pedestrian Memior. So due to popular demand he is going to publish his memoir in a series of columns in Mystery Scene. In this issue he recounts a story that happened to him, Donald Westlake, and an editor/writer Stanley Ellin. Block's favorite book by him is The Eighth Circle and he explains why in this article and a lot of other great stuff about the three of them. I suggest getting this issue for this column if for no other reason.

So remember everyone, Please comment and lets get some interaction going I want to know who I am blogging for. John Taylor explains in his wonderful book that you should envision your ultimate blog reader and write with them in mind. So please tell me something about yourself so I have something to go on when I sit down to rant. See you all in the afternoon at some point.

Evening Reading List

2009-12-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

I was going to work on this mythic mystery scene review, but instead I got sucked into reading blog post and writing articles all evening. Now as the night descends on the Ozarks I will give you some links to things I have been reading and a few words on them...

Writing to a quota: This article is on the amazing LA Writers Store. Most of thier seminars, and books are geared towards screenwriting since this is THE screenwriting store in Hollywood. This article covers a very important issue for all of us. Writing under pressure. If you have ever done any online content writing, or any sort of writing on a deadline then you are familiar with the feeling of panic and presssure that comes with that type of writing life. Well this article has a few good ideas about this "problem" and perhaps for some of is a solution.
Blog Money: This blog post comes to us from Copyblogger and is a very good analysis of how to make money with a blog. It offered a real look at this format of writing and how in effects our income. This is a good article for people who want to make money with their blog. It pointed out a few good things I had not thought of. But I will let you read the article and find them out for yourself.
Problogger Workbook: I am thinking about going through this workbook. I think I have a copy of it somewhere. I going to look in a few minutes and if not I will buy a copy ASAP. If I decide to do this program than you will hopefully see this blog transform. I think I will out this workbook on my Xmas reading list.

Well now you see what I have been up to this evening. I am going to watch a hour of My Name is Earl and look for that workbook on my computer. I will post back here later with the review hopefully.

Mid-evening Rant

2009-12-21T18:10:00.001-08:00

Mid-evening rant-- I am watching reruns of House and now Lie To me... both great shows that everyone should watch.

I was cruising around the web looking for other great blogs and found (or should I say re-discovered) two that I had forgotten about Problogger and Copyblogger. I used to read both of them in the past six months, but had put them out of my mind for some reason. now with this new blog and trying to make it as a copywriter or better yet copyblogger than I should read both of them religiously.

Going to spend some time tonight and in the next few days reading the past month of blog posts on both of these blogs.

Problogger also has a great blogger job board that I need to keep an eye on. I applied to one of the jobs, it was a compnay needing a travel blogger. Seeing how I spent almost a year backpacking around the country I know I can pull that off. So I think also in the next few days I will be posting an overview of my 6 months of travel last year.

I am going to go check on this pizza in the oven and get back to the TV and reading blog post. I will post again here later on this evening. Still have to make the review post about Mystery Scene.

Explosion in the Blog-o-Sphere!

2009-12-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a lot of blogs the past week trying to get ideas for this one; getting ideas for the layout of the page and also seeing what people are talking about in the worlds that I inhabit. I have noticed one thing that some blogs have that this one does not yet... comments!

I have been looking at a lot of gaming blog, D20 blogs, and game design blogs. Besides doing research on gaming PPC (pay-per-click) ads for gaming websites and design sites. Plus I am going to enter a game design contest run by Pazio publishing. The one thing that I like about the other blogs is the amount of conversaiton that go on in the comments on the blog posts. For a wonderful example check out The D20 Source Blog and especially the conversaiton I got involved in about the Vow of Poverty which readers of my past few posts will know about.

So what I want to say here is that the only way to cause any motion in this great blog-o-sphere of ours is to post comments on peoples blogs... this one included. This serves several purposes a short list of the most important ones I think follow.

Great conversation is the key of any blog I think. I want this blog to be not just for me to rant at you, my reader, but I want interaction with you.
Also one of the most important things comments do for use the bloggers is they let us know what you want to read about. If no one tells me what they want me to rant about I will rant at random, which I do not mind but I would love to offer you the chance to pick my brain, so the speak, and have me rant about what you actually want to read about.
Traffic. Most of the time you would think that traffic only effects the person who owns or controls the website or blog, but that is not true. Traffic effects how much a blogger post and what they post about. The more traffic a blog gets the more energy the blogger is going to put into it.

With that said this blog is gettig pretty good traffic so far, so with that said I plan on ranting and ranting at random till someone tells me different. Comment everyone! I want to get to know my readers... More soon all. Today I will post a magazine review I promise!

"Creation of a Genre" or "Orwell and Ferriss"

2009-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

There is a crazy type of books that I like. I do not know if they all fall in the same genre, other than mind-blowing, life-changing text, but then again I do not know if that is a genre in the proper sense of the word. And all loyal readers (all two of them at this point) know that I must have everything proper.

Okay so now that I am feeling the coffee and slightly rambling I will share with you the books I have by my side that will form the backbone of this new genre I am creating as I go. I am going to try to track them in order if I can so you can see the evolution of this genre.
Now the two books I am reading now are the first and newest books in this genre. Okay here is the list I may go more in-depth in some of them at later dates:

Down and Out in Paris and London by: George Orwell
A Moveable Feast by: Hemingway (probably my favorite book EVER!)
Tropic of Cancer by: Henry Miller
Vagabonding by: Rolf Potts
Dishwasher by: Pete Jordan
The 4-Hour Workweek by: Timothy Ferriss

Now I think this represents a small selection of books in this genre, the Canon perhaps of the new way of looking at life. I will steal a term from Ferriss and call the genre "Lifestyle Design" I am going to start using that term when discussing this type of thing.

Okay the two beside me now are Down and Out, which I have never read before. It is amazing so far. I am only 40 pages into it now, but the writing is so forward, and ranting like. It is one of the main text that inspired me to do this blog. His way of just laying out what is going on now matter how harsh or real it is. He is not scared to write about anything, which is of course true also in his later works. I will rant more about this book later in it's own post after I read more of it.

The other book is the Expanded and Updated version of 4-Hour Workweek, which is a mind-blowing book that everyone who is reading this blog or in fact anyone that reads at all should get now and read. Ferriss is amazing and coined the term which I named this genre after; Lifestyle Design, and he explains how to do just that is a very easy to read and informative way. I say this not having read the new version yet, but having read through the older version multiple times and also listening to the entire book of CD as I was traveling. WOW is all I can say. You will notice I have a quote at the top of the blog that will change from time to time; (I am quote junkie as you will learn) the next few quote will come out of this amazing book as he is a more of a quote junkie than me or Brother Catfish are.

Okay now coffee is empty and I need a refill. I am going to go get some more coffee and mess with Mafia Wars for a little while before the game. More in-depth reviews and breakdowns of these and many wonderful books coming in the future.

Red Belt

2009-12-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched Red Belt a movie by the master David Mamet. I had read stuff about it before and wanted to see it. It has been in my Netflix Queue. I thought it was going to be some martial arts/MMA movie done by Mamet. It however is much more than that. It is mystery movie that has all the great elements of any Mamet movie. Also some of the great actors he always uses. The greatest of them of course is Ricky Jay, who is one of the best magicians ever, the author of Card of Weapon, which is one of the most interesting books ever written on playing card combat.

Okay I am going to go finish reading through Mystery Scene while watching episodes of CSI. Will post more in a little while.

Magazine night...

2009-12-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

Once in a while nights come along when multiple magazines you read all come out on the same day. Then for a couple of days you have nothing else to rant about. So with that in mind the following magazines are ones I try to read everytime they hit the shelf:

The New Yorker (double size x-mas issue)
Writer's Digest (90th Anniversary issue)
The Writer
Mystery Scene

They all have at least one or two things in each one that I have to read and rant about. Also superpowered a few books tonight too, but will cover the books in my next post...
Tonight I am going to go shot a few shots of something, lay on the couch, and read for while.

Everyone should play Mafia Wars!!!! I am going to put a link on here soon.

Rantings...

2009-12-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what I am going to do with this blog except just free form ranting about what ever happens to be on my mind when I set down to write it...

Right now I am at my office, Hastings coffee shop, so from now on when I say office that is what I am talking about.

I am going to set up how this things looks tonight and start my full ranting either tonight or tomorrow for sure. I just wanted to get something up today to feel I have accomplished something this evening!

It is my plan to do all sorts of things with this blog. I have many other blogs but none of them are really in my voice. They are all IM (Internet Marketing), and business blogs, so this one is going to be personal my voice rantings on a everything.

Okay more soon for all of the two readers I have at this point. Please leave comments on posts so I know what to rant more about...