Check out my short story, Robber Baron. With Todd’s rent increasing soon, he has taken on a second job just to make ends meet. He hopes to finish editing his sci-fi novel, but he can hardly make any progress on it given his exhausting work schedule. He’s been looking for a new place to live, but can’t find a place that’s affordable in his area. Will he make the bold step to move somewhere else, or will he endure until he finishes his novel?
Month: January 2022
Nap
A nap can take us by surprise. We can fall asleep without realizing that we are–without intending to. Besides, all we wanted to do was close our eyes for a minute and lay on the bed. We were going to get up in a minute, right?
It’s only after a nap that we wonder why we took one in the first place. Did we not get enough sleep the night before? Had we over extended ourselves in the past several days? Did we not get in our 8 hours of sleep each night?
A nap is a natural remedy for tiredness–a tiredness that we’ve been ignoring, or maybe we weren’t even aware of. During the day, we might not feel tired, although tiredness has been slowly building up like a pressure cooker. We’ll go about day, getting things done, without realizing that our bodies are starting to shut down, telling us to take a breather and get some rest.
The tiredness is so subtle that it’s not enough to make us go to sleep. But we begin to yawn, rubbing our fatigued eyes, and soon enough, we’re laying down on the bed, falling asleep. Three or four hours later, we wake up, and it’s dark outside, and we wonder if it’s morning or evening.
Reading List 2
I wanted to expanded upon my last post and describe two different reading lists that I had made in the past. Many years ago, I made a reading list based on what others recommended (i.e. from academia or the literary world) as being great books. It included the classics, nonfiction books, and some modern books. The books I read included The Meditations, Heart of Darkness, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, The Great Gatsby, etc.
Several years later, I made another reading list, although this was based on my own selection. This list included Wool, Frankenstein, White Fang, Emma, and several novels by Philip K. Dick. My experience was that this list was much more enjoyable than the first, since these books appealed to my interest.
The first reading list was based on what others recommended as being great books or were deemed as classics. Although some of the books were enjoyable, I found myself struggling with others. Not that they were difficult to read, but I just couldn’t connect with the story for one reason or another. Because this was the case, my experience overall was a mixed bag, since I forced myself to finish books that I either wasn’t interested in, or that I found long or tedious (it’s kind of like sitting through a slow movie, hoping that something exciting happens (or for the credits to roll)).
In the second reading list, I didn’t select them based on what others suggested, but they were based on genres and topics that interested me (i.e. science fiction, drama, suspense, dystopian stories, etc.). Thus, most of the books I read were great, or at least, enjoyable (I say most, since you don’t really know if it is great until you’ve reached the end).
Like movies, each person is going to have a different reaction to a book. What some will regard as great or amazing, others might regard as just okay or boring. Since each person is going to have a different opinion, a reading list has to be tailored to the individual that is reading the books. Although it is definitely possible to read books based on others’ suggestions, the experience will probably be uneven, and it will leave the reader wondering why some books are on that list in the first place.
Reading List
Having reading goals can be worthwhile, although it depends largely on the books that we have on our list. For some books, we can breeze through them in a matter of hours or days, while others can be a challenge to finish a chapter. In that case, it could take us weeks or even months just to finish that particular book.
Thus, whether or not we finish a book depends on a number of factors. Some factors include an author’s writing style, the coherency of the plot and writing, and if we’re even engaged in the story (if it’s a non-fiction book, we might ask ourselves: am I even interested in this topic?).
I used to make my reading list based on books that others recommended, but now, I’ve made it more about the books I’d like to read. As mentioned above, certain books are more difficult to make headway in, not because they’re long or complex, but because I don’t have an interest in them. And when I’m not interested a story, it’s like I’m only reading the words, but I’m not grasping what’s going on in the story. In other words, I’m not invested in the story, and if I can’t get invested in it, then I’d rather read something else.
So for me, I prefer to pick and choose which books I want to read, and make my goal about reaching a certain number (i.e. it can be one book a month, two, or three, etc.). That number can look different for all of us, since our schedules look different, and the speed at which we read will vary as well.
Dictionary
Before I had the internet, I’d have to look up words in a dictionary to know what words meant. I obviously couldn’t just look up the word on Google or use a dictionary app. So after saving my place in a book, I’d open the dictionary, and then leaf through the pages until I found the word I was searching for.
And if I was looking up multiple words, I’d constantly be flipping back and forth in the hefty-sized dictionary while trying to memorize what the words meant (since I couldn’t keep them open on a tab in a web browser). In the process, however, I’d learn the definitions of words I didn’t intend to look up. So instead of learning the definition of one word, I’d learn the definitions of two or three words on the same page.
This laborious process certainly hindered my reading pace, but as a result, I would spend hours reading and learning new words. Overtime, I found myself using the dictionary less, since I had expanded the breadth of my vocabulary. Even though I still use a dictionary (on the web or on an app), I don’t spend as much time looking up the definitions of words like I used to.
Overall, there’s a catch to having the answers at our fingertips. When we can find an answer to our question by just typing it on the computer, we’re less likely to probe further. But when we don’t have that option, we have to keep digging, and in the process, we’ll find hidden treasures.
New Ideas
When trying to come up with new ideas for a story, we have to be aware of what ideas we’ve already used. It can be hard to come up with new ideas when we’re used to using the same themes, characters, and storyline. We have to break away from old habits, think of ideas outside the box.
We often have to experiment with different ideas, ones that seem strange or offbeat. But that’s the only way we can grow. In the process, we’ll discover something new about ourselves, see a new side of ourselves that will take us by surprise.
In the process, ideas that we hadn’t considered before now seem possible. By taking on new storylines, themes, and characters, it’s as if we’ve become a new writer.
New ideas can provoke a new understanding of our past work, and they can stimulate us to think deeply about long held notions about what’s good and not good in art. Instead of using the same themes and formulas again and again, we have to see what else we can come up with, and if we’re willing to try them.
Short Story: Departure
Check out my science fiction short story, Departure. One morning, Phil is going about his daily routine when a stranger shows up at his house. Soon, Phil will discover the truth about his life–one that will put the fate of the world in his hands.
Stuck On a Sentence
It’s frustrating to be stuck on a sentence while editing. It’s as if everything else is fine except this one sentence that needs to be changed. Even when we rewrite it, it still doesn’t sound right. Maybe it’s the choice of words. Maybe it doesn’t flow from the previous sentence. Or maybe it just doesn’t fit in the paragraph.
Being stuck on a sentence can disrupt the momentum of the editing process. It can bog us down, drain our concentration and focus. If we get stuck for too long, we can lose motivation to edit the rest of the piece. It was as if this one thing–as small and minor as it seemed–kept us from finishing a work we had spent hours on.
Whenever I get stuck on a sentence, I’ll try to fix it for awhile, and if I’m still not satisfied with the corrections, I’ll move on to the next sentence. When I come back to editing the part that I was stuck at, the solution will come to me right away as if all it needed was for me to step away.
Free Time
Free time is something that can either be a luxury or a conundrum. It’s a luxury when we have options–when we can spend that time to relax, take a nap, read, create, go on a hike, or spend it with friends and family.
But it can be a conundrum when we have a lot of things to do. If we have a laundry list of chores, or if we have unfinished projects that we have put on the back burner, then free time functions more like a to-do list schedule than time we can enjoy.
Besides, free time is the time that we have to ourselves when we’re not working. We can spend that time on our hobbies, interests, or long term projects. Or we can spend it on things such as cooking, shopping, fixing and repairing things, or cleaning. But if we’re spending that time on things that aren’t recreational or fun, is it still considered free time, or is it something else?
Perhaps free time depends on how we define it. If we ignore self-care and the chores that need to be done, then our lives would be more difficult due to the problems that arose by neglecting them. If we spend all of our free time on hobbies, what about the pile of dirty dishes and laundry, the car that needs maintenance, and the host of other things that need to be addressed?
Perhaps free time can be categorized into groups such as leisure time, chore time, reading time, etc. Or maybe free time is just an illusion, and we are always busy working on something or addressing an issue.
Morning Snow
When we wake up on a workday and see inches of snow on the ground, it can be a challenge to even get on the road. Warming up the car, shoveling snow, and brushing off snow from the windows can delay us as if we had been stuck in traffic for a half hour.
As we’re driving down the snowy road, we’re at the edge of our seat, gripping the steering wheel tightly, hoping that we won’t get stuck or swerve or drift down the road. It’s a tense and disconcerting experience, one that makes us pay extra attention to the road without caring for what’s on the radio or singing to our favorite song.
Once we’ve made it to the parking lot, we let out a sigh of relief. Thanks to the snow plowers and road treatments, we made to work safely. Most of the snow and ice from our windshields have melted because of the defrost and heat. The cabin is toasty, and we don’t want to step out into the frigid air. We sip our coffee (or tea) and gaze out at our place of work, hoping that it doesn’t snow again when we clock out.
Fallton Havenstonne 