Arrrgggghhhhhh! or Thoughts on trying to Write(Part 2)
“Wives. Great news! God wants you to die and he has given you a husband to help you.”
“Husbands. Great news! God wants you to die and he has given you a wife to help you.”
—Rough paraphrase of Heath Lambert preaching on Ephesians 5
Now where were we…Ah yes lessons in life that will help me become a better friend and a better writer. I have to die.
I’ll let that sink in.
I. Have. To. Die.
I don’t mean breathe my last, heart stop beating, empty my bowels death. That would just be silly, you can’t be a friend or write if you are dead. Even if you somehow come back as a zombie you’re going to have an insatiable craving for living brains that will take up any writing time and will definitely put a dent in any friendships.
I have to die to myself. As a Christian it is commanded to me. My interests have to take a backseat to God’s interests. The chief illustration here is serving others. Spending time I could be using to buy and listen to a CD or read a book with others.
In doing so on a consistent basis my life will be less about me and more about the people around me. A simple truth that is not so simple to act on. You see, if you choose to go this route you will face a struggle each and every day. You will hit a wall and want to do whatever it is you want to do. Some days you will fail. Some(okay most) days you will give into your wants. For me those days look like sitting at home and doing nothing or surfing the web doing nothing productive.
So how does this help me to become a better writer? Most writers will acknowledge that if you want to be a writer you must read. I would add an addendum to that, you have to live too. By being around people, by serving those around me I automatically get to know people. I get to find out what I can bring to people that can be translated into writing.
It also builds within me a greater capacity for reaching out regardless of the medium. The catch, as there always is one, is my ultimate motivation. You can’t die to yourself in order to make a better life on your terms. Whatever gain comes out in my own life and writing should be a by-product of the service itself. The real reward comes from serving and serving well.
So that is where I am. For now it seems that the idea of services and dying to my selfish nature are the order of the day. It has permeated what I’ve been reading, ‘Christianish’ by Mark Steele and ‘The Meaning of Marriage’ by Tim Keller, it has been in the Ephesians sermon series at church, and it’s been in other places. It has been the underlying theme of what God has been speaking to me for years, I just tend to think I wasn’t ready to hear the bold type version of it until now.
Off of their all instrumental album ‘The Mix-Up’ here are the Beastie Boys with ‘The Gala Event’ RIP MCA
Photo reblogged from Minty Fresh 2.0 with 34,659 notes
Kids, back in 2012, your aunt Robin wanted to do something more with her life. So she took her love of guns to an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D and fought alongside the Avengers.
Now, your Uncle Barney and I took it pretty hard; she was getting to spend a lot of time with another billionaire playboy, this guy named Tony Stark. Your Uncle Barney almost went crazy when he found out the guy had a metal suit.
“It shoots fireballs, Ted! He looks like a freakin’ storm trooper!”
Then your uncle Barney decided to fight back.
Source: monday-friday
“#tweetsmart” by J.S. McDougall O’reilly Media
Twitter stands out as a bit of an enigma in the social media world. You are given 140 characters at a time to express yourself. It isn’t about making business contacts. It isn’t about catching up with high school classmates or college buddies. It started as a simple question ‘What are you doing now?’, changed to ‘What’s happening?’, and now resides as small prompt ‘Compose New Tweet’ yet it captivates hundreds of millions of people.
But this book is not about that. You won’t find a history of the company here. There are no in-depth chapters covering how to gain more followers or how to have the wittiest of thoughts. Some terminology is covered, but it really isn’t the point of the book either. Simply put, this books gives you 25 easy to follow ideas and options that you can have fun with on Twitter.
To be fair most of these work better if you are working with some kind of base message, product or company. They are ways to have fun with the system and get name recognition without being an annoying spammer. It is a quick book to read. The style is very easy to follow and the projects are something just about anyone familiar with Internet technology can follow. The author also sprinkles in humorous anecdotes and a few cautionary warnings about how to go about doing things the wrong way.
If you are reading this as ideas for an individual, you may not find as much value in the book. As I alluded to above this books is geared more for organizations to interact with and build an audience without causing too much pain for everyone involved. In fact, these projects should be fun for everyone. As the book states it is NOT a social media marketing guide, it is a guide to interacting with your audience.
Overall, keeping the intention of the book in mind, I give it 4.5 stars. It is concise as well as entertaining and it may even spark some creative ideas of your own.
You can purchase it here in paperback or e-book.
The book reviewed was provided as an e-book as part of the O’Reilly Blogger Review Program.
Arrrgggghhhhhh! or Thoughts on trying to Write(Part 1)
I read. I read a lot. I’ve averaged 11 books or so per year for the past 4 years. Not to mention the amount of blog posts, magazines, news paper articles, and other miscellany. In the past year or two that I’ve decided to pursue(ha ha, ahem) writing I’ve taken up reading a lot blogging advice and what not.
The advice is great, but obviously I don’t follow it too much and I was feeling pretty guilty about that. Here are all of these writers that give pretty clear road maps so why do I still find myself wandering around in the badlands of writing. Obviously I can’t read a map. Then a very important question hit me this week: what is the purpose of a map? Doesn’t a map show you the route from where you are to where you want to be? What if you don’t know your destination?
And there it is. I don’t have a clear goal for my writing. I barely have a clear goal for my podcast and it has changed since its inception. While I have a framework of music and geek culture surround Idiosyncratic Transmissions, I still don’t have a clue how I want to write for the site.
And that doesn’t even cover this blog. It is meant to be a sand box for my writing, but even a sand castle has a plan behind it, even if it is just a kid’s imagination. Does this mean I’m not imaginative? Does this mean I have no business writing?
I am at once relieved and filled with dread by this realization. Relieved in that I shouldn’t really be beating myself up for not writing as much. Filled with dread because I suspect the root cause is much deeper than lack of writing inspiration.
What does a writer do besides put words to paper or screen? In essence they translate their life, their perspective, and/or their expertise into a form that hopefully anyone can understand. I have a voice. I have experience, but I don’t have the ‘why should you read me’ factor because I am not effectively communicating either. And that, I fear, comes from a place of being too introverted.
I’m probably a cabin in the woods away from being a hermit. That’s an exaggeration, but I lean on my introverted nature too much, use it as too much of an excuse. I have close strong friendships with people, but only a small group of people. When I was young I didn’t have problems making friends and I probably wouldn’t now if I hadn’t let the insecurities of adulthood take over.
On a good day, when I’m more out going and alive in a group of people I still have a wall up that says ‘no further.’ I’m not going to get further involved with you and I’m not going to let you get further involved with me either. Looking back it is no wonder that I don’t feel included as much as I would like to be in the lives of people I know. I’m fairly certain it isn’t an intentional snub on their part, though it may be in some cases, I think it is an unconscious reaction to the walls I have constructed.
I don’t make it easy for people to get to know me. At all. Even when answering direct questions about my life I’m either really, really brief or overly verbose.
Not having mastered that middle ground very well takes a toll on my writing as well. Either I’m really brief or I’m going on and on(kind of like this post) without clear direction. Lately I have been pointed to certain truths in my life. These ideas come from God through the bible and from conversations I have had with different friends. I believe they are key issues I need to confront in my life and by doing so I would strengthen my bonds with my friends and bring a new quality to my writing.
Live Long and May the Force Be With You
Phaser or Lightsaber?
The Force or the Prime Directive?
Enterprise or Millennium Falcon?
These are the questions that have launched more and bloodier debates among the geeks of the world. Today it gets decided and everyone wins.
In conjunction with the Mayor’s Give a Day of Service Week in Louisville, the Louisville Digital Association is set to get the word out about and help raise support for the Apple Patch and their efforts to provide therapeutic iPads for autistic adults.
So throw your hat into the ring with the team that holds your allegiance. Purchase an item from one of the following Amazon wishlists: #TeamStarWars or #TeamStarTrek.
Then jump on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, or where ever you hang out and let the world know which side you are on.
If you are in Louisville a victory(and condolences) after party will be at Vint Coffee in Holiday Manor from 6-9Pm.
Maybe Starbucks is on to something
Coffee has always had its market, but a real explosion came in the early part of the 2000’s. Starbucks made a major push into the market and for awhile it seemed like you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a barista serving some grande half-caf skinny mocha-sugar-carmelized espresso iced with a twist. While Starbucks eventually over-saturated the market, in retrospect I can’t help but think they were on to something.
For whatever reason a Wendy’s cheeseburger sounded good for dinner tonight. My wife was out so I was on my own. I went through my options for the closest Wendy’s to our house with the same disdainful outcome: 10-15 minutes to whichever one I chose. That really isn’t that far, but it is just far enough for me to over think the drive. By way of contrast there is a McDonald’s less than 5 minutes from where we live.
Knowing what I do about restaurants and how franchise owners or parent companies think in placement, I imagined Wendy’s thinking process regarding restaurant placement. All of the closest ones to our house take equal in time to drive. Wendy’s most likely wants to keep the restaurants far enough apart so as not to overlap coverage and cannibalize sales. However, McDonald’s has restaurants pretty near to each of those Wendy’s AND they have some in spots in between covering more area.
The point is the distance to a Wendy’s from our house is just enough to make me seriously consider other options. It is a problem, the only one in fact, that McDonald’s doesn’t currently have. If I’m correct in predicting Wendy’s thought process, then they need to add a few more stores in order to cover the market more effectively. The additional sales from ‘on the fence’ customers such as myself would, in theory, balance out any intra-store cannibalization in sales.
The problem is finding the balance point between coverage and over-saturation, a lesson that Starbucks learned as they strained to open more stores past a point in profitability. By cutting back on stores and closing those that were under performing, they’ve found a balance that now allows them to refocus and find new ways to be profitable.
But this isn’t about Starbucks or Wendy’s for that matter. It’s about finding that point. It’s about balancing coverage with cost. Too much and you end up spending more than you profit. Too little and you leave opportunities for others to swoop in and take advantage.
It is a lesson God is trying to teach me, if I would only stop struggling on my own and listen to Him.
Book Review: Building a Life Out of Words by Shawn Smucker
“2009 was not a great year for me. By the time August rolled around, the bursting of the housing bubble had run its course, and my once thriving construction business had us in $50,000 worth of debt. My wife Maile and I decided that the best way forward was to move our family of six into my parent’s basement so that we could catch our breath. We also decided that since things couldn’t get much worse financially, I should try to write for a living for three months. If we couldn’t make ends meet that way, then I’d get a “normal” job.”
Thus begins a year’s journey into the heart of a writer. When I first heard about this book I was interested in what would be contained in the pages. As someone who is struggling to figure out which path in life to follow, of which being a full-time writer is an option, I like to read other people’s stories. There seems to always be a common thread of writing at a young age with it becoming more on and off into adulthood, but the catalyst to becoming a full-time writer(or programmer or musician or whatever) is what makes the journey interesting.
If this appeals to you then you need to pick this book up. It is a quick read at 99 pages. The big picture story is compelling. It alternates between finding opportunities, writing when the words don’t seem to come, and the day-to-day worries of raising a family without a steady income source. These are all things we have to face if we want to break out on our own and it is a comfort to know that others have walked this road with success.
The book is part memoir and part instructional with guest essays by other blogger/authors including Jason Boyett, Andi Cumbo, Bryan Allain, and Jeff Goins. While the journey centers around the struggles of a writer, the lessons learned are applicable to anyone who is looking at making a major change in their life. You won’t find the 5 easy steps to the life you want. You will find wisdom gained from experiences facing down anxiety and just doing/living.
Building a Life Out of Words is available today on Nook, Kindle, or in pdf form directly from the author’s website. It costs $3.99 a bargain, as they say, at twice the price.
Review note: I was given a review copy of this book, but that has in no way colored my review. All links to the book are from the author’s website so I’m not making a dime here. Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate.
Storm thoughts
I’m guessing things haven’t been this bad since 1974 and since I was alive, but not yet born and two states away I have no recollection of those days. Today seems to be a history maker though. One county in Indiana almost completely devastated by two tornadoes so far. It is calm where I am right now, but it is only a matter of time before we get hit as well. Whether or not by a tornado only time will tell, but in the words of Mike Birbiglia’s brother, “Things aren’t looking so good.”
I grew up in Illinois across the river and a little north of St. Louis, Missouri. For no explicable reason I was afraid of tornadoes when I was a kid. I don’t know why. I never experienced one. I’ve never huddled in the path of nature’s fury. The house I grew up in was in the cul-de-sac of the street with the edge of the surrounding woods just across the street. I can still see those trees stirring in the wind anytime a storm blew through.
When I was 11 years old we moved to St. Joseph, Missouri which is near the Kansas/Missouri boarder, about an hour north of Kansas City. In the process of the move we went up with my grandparents and camped in their trailer so we could visit my father and get a feel for the town. One night a storm system blew through. Kansas is a plains state, very flat, and very little to cut the wind down. I remember trying to sleep through the night with the wind that careened across the plains then violently rocked the trailer. It probably wasn’t as serious as my mind remembers it, but it still left quite an impression on me.
As much as I trust God as these storms march nearer to us, I still have fear. It’s silly. My rational mind knows that if this house I’m sitting in is flattened and I’m not killed, we will thrive and live on. I’ve lost a lot of ‘stuff’ in my lifetime whether through a burglar when I was a child or being evicted from an apartment shortly after college.
I am alive. I am in good health. I have loving family and friends. Most of all I have God. I am blessed beyond measure and these things that I know now, when things are still good, I will remind myself of when things get bad. Prayers for those who are already affected, prayers for the rest of us who are waiting.
Dangerously close to nothing
So the project that was supposed to wrap up last weekend did not go off as planned and has had to be rescheduled to a date in a couple of weeks. That isn’t all that upsetting, well it is and it isn’t. It is because I’m really ready for everything to be done. It isn’t because what happened, or more to the point didn’t happen, was totally out of my control. It was a by-product of the external environment that kept us from succeeding in this round. No one in particular is to blame for this, these things just happen from time to time.
It doesn’t make messing up my sleep schedule over the weekend any easier to deal with though. So I find myself in this limbo of waiting for a project to complete before taking on anything else and really needed to do something else in order push forward on my goals. In some ways I’m probably making excuses for my lack of motivation. But this is a temporary setback in usable time that hasn’t always existed.
So why do I find myself never throwing myself into my dreams. Let’s face it, I have a lot of ambitious goals, but I don’t want to apply myself consistently. Sure I have spikes of activity where I go all out and inch closer to the goal, but that isn’t enough. What is it going to take? What is going to push me out of my comfort zone?
I’m dangerously close to nothing. I’d rather obtain more books, more music, more games, than actually read, listen, or play. I can’t be a good writer or a good programmer if I don’t write or program. I’d rather surf the web or watch television. Neither activity is necessarily bad, but left unchecked they will rob me of valuable time. And the thing is I don’t know what motivates me to get through the difficult days.
I know that what I’m facing right now will not be an obstacle in a week or two. I’ll hit the ground running, churn out some music reviews, make consistent entries here, do a few podcast episodes, and things will be looking up. For awhile.
So what motivates you? What keeps you moving towards your goals? Do you have days where you feel like the race is more of a trudge and less of an enjoyable jog?
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