Panoramics #2

Panoramics #1

On the farm in Nebraska:

A year of new experiences...

One year ago, I was settled in a comfy job, living in a cabin in the woods, wrapping each day up with a nap while my kids watched television; spending each day just going through the motions. I had it under control. I was boring.

In the last year, my wife and I quit our comfy jobs, moved to Colorado (into an apartment), started pursuing our higher educations (she is getting a PhD in theater, and I am getting my MA in secondary education), visited four foreign countries, and camped and hiked ourselves silly. I published a book that I've been thinking about for a long time, and had a great time discovering the process. I'm going to keep writing and publishing without regard for the low sales numbers. I love setting aside time to live in my imagination. As a parent of three boys (ages 4, 6, and 8), it's difficult to find time to be by myself, and writing is both an excellent excuse to do so and an amazing way to make that time fulfilling.

My children have benefited greatly from this change. they don't notice that we're living on half the money, and frankly, I rarely do either. We've experienced more together as a family in the last six months than in the last three years combined. What could be more valuable than providing your children with positive experience? The more that kids see of what is possible, the more that becomes possible for them as they grow. I know this comes off as self-righteous, but I am proud of this year; I am proud of the courageous decisions that we made as a family.

So, in summary, I'd like to offer up my resolution--the one that I made a year ago, and the one that I will keep building upon and investing in: I will do new things. I will take advantage of opportunities. I will be who I am, not who self-administered platitudes and external negative elements try to make me. I will live at least once.


If you are comfortable, but bored; if every day is the same; if you are still young, but feel that you have less control, less liberty, each day; if any of the above are true, I encourage you to seize that control away from Safety and Comfort. They aren't using it to full effect. They will drown you. Take back your life and use it. After all, I think that you would agree that it is your life, and not vice-versa. It is scary, but you must take the wheel and live.

Another possible book cover for Silver Gate #3...

"The Kind Man #3", Corel Painter 11

Revision and Editing: Like killing your children...

I had a professor in college (Dr. Shirley Lumpkin) who said that the revision process was "like killing off your babies". I've been all up in this process' junk for a couple of weeks now, and I'm just feeling ADD and bored. If that's what killing my babies would be like, then we have problems.

You see, I'm a particular kind of jerk. I probably should have been a music producer, literary agent, or movie critic. I like picking things apart to see how they work, but I enjoy fixing the rough edges even more. Well...no...that's not true. I like identifying the rough edges, but I want someone else to do the actual work of smoothing out a project.

That said, when you are a writer--and by "writer" I mean someone who writes because writing is a much-loved past time, not necessarily because they are paid to do it--you HAVE to go through the revision/editing process. If you don't, everything you ever turn out will be half-baked. So I do it, and I take it seriously. I'm a teacher and father of three little boys; I don't have a lot of money. I'm not signed to a publishing house, and so the work has to be done by me, the author. Writing can be so personal. How do I maintain an objective eye?  Maybe being a teacher, reading hundreds of papers, stories, and poems each year, has prepared me well for distancing myself from my own work. I always cover my students' names on the papers so that i can separate myself from the relationships that I have with each student. This habit allows me to remain objective in the face of papers that range from amazing to not-so-much. I can give the comments that need to be given without worrying about accidental favoritism. 

So how do I read my own work? I read and mark up the text like it's not my work. I can be as critical as I want to be, and I have the benefit of not being capable of hurting my own feelings. It's worth the effort. You see, my job is to serve the reader. I don't feel sentimental about things that make the reader's job harder. 

None of this changes the fact that by the fifth time I've read my book, I'm just BORED.AS.F#%K.

I hate the revision/editing process. Here is an average page of manuscript for my book. GAH!

You can't go home again...

I love my West Virginia family like crazy. They are the most interesting, awesome people. Seriously. My wife is doing an off-broadway show, my brother-in-law is a professional singer/dancer/actor, my sister-in-law...well...

Continuing: My mother-in-law was Mrs. America in 1984 

Mother-in-law on the left. Brother-in-law on the right.

And the list goes on and on. I am easily the most boring person in this family, and I miss them like crazy. I also miss my awesome cabin. (It looked so amazing at Christmas time.) My job was righteous, and everything was fine.

But now that we're back for a visit, I can't wait to get back to my apartment in Colorado.

You can't go home again. Don't even try.

As I've previously posted, I like to paint on my computer using Corel Painter 11. Here is my newest painting, based on one of the most beautiful places in Colorado. (Can you guess the location?) This painting is also currently in the lead to be the cover of Silver Gate #3.

Some of you have asked me where I got the lines under the name of my blog. They come from a poem I wrote for National Writing Project during the summer of 2010. I think we were discussing the future of literacy and I had a minor argument with Amy McElroy (who I respect very much) about whether or not the media that our words were served on mattered, or if it was just a matter of cultural perspective. My take was that technology is great for literacy. The creation of public texts has always been a portal that was guarded by the literati, the rich, or the academic. Technology is democratizing the way that we write and read, which surely changes our literacy, but definitely feeds--rather than stifle--the flames of communication.

“Writing”

I hear the

skritching of pencils,

but even as I type this,

I know it as

a dying sound;

fingernails on a chalkboard.

And you will groan,

“The systematic pumping

of expression through keys

is a caustic instrument!”

Of course you will.

To me, the thk-ing pulse

of keys mimics

the sine-wave tongue of the ocean, licking

away at sand that clumps

and then melts into the strand.

And I will moan,

when invariably people

leave the keys behind.

Of course I will.

But every man (or woman) (or child)

with a voice—

Everyone—

will be able to sing their words

to the world.

And we will be

back, at a better beginning. 

Since I shared a painting that didn't make the grade for a book cover, here are the two that have so far:

 This is the cover for Silver Gate #1: Father & Son, which I released in October of 2011 on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Gate-ebook/dp/B00678E6WW/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1).

This is the unfinished cover for Silver Gate #2: Spirit of the Rajarra. The release date is December 31st.

I created both of these on my laptop using Corel Painter 11 and a WACOM Intuos4 pen tablet. I bought both back in early October. It's taking me some time to get the hang of them, but I think I'm coming along. They're definitely cheaper and more convenient than using physical art supplies, which is a big deal. I have three young boys, and time and money are at a premium right now.

So. What do you think?

First Blog

What's playing: Jeff Buckley's Grace
What I'm avoiding: Packing for my 10th Anniversary cruise (five countries in seven days!)
What I've been doing: Creating paintings for the 3rd installment of my serial novel, Silver Gate

So, it's been awhile since I wrote a blog. I'd sort of given-over on the idea of shooting my words and feelings out into the ether as DOA, since the only people who were reading it with any regularity were good friends of mine who I already had access to in real life (or on Facebook). That said, I used to keep a number of paper journals, and since last year (when I became laptop dependent), I don't seem to be writing in them anymore. Social media has stifled the impulse to write about myself in any constructive manner. I also keep a journal for each of my boys. I'm a journal junkie. Put me in a shop with empty journals, and I will buy one.

Anyway, that's not what I'm doing here. Or maybe it is. The purpose of this informal blog is to talk about my writing...mostly. I'm sure a fair number of food pictures will make it in--I love to cook. I also do the paintings for the covers of my books, so I'll post my paintings and talk about those processes. I may talk music, or photography, or education as well. Okay, okay, okay...this might just be another journal. BUT! it's a journal that I am sharing with you.

I'll be posting again, later today. I have so much that I want to talk about!

To tide you over, here is a piece that I painted the day before yesterday when I was working on the cover of Silver Gate #3: The Kind Man. This one was rejected--not because I don't like it; it's just not doing for me what I want done on that front cover. Enjoy, and I'll talk to you soon!