Lyle Nicholson's Blog, page 2

I was at this dinner party several weeks ago when this lady told me that she was once a dancer. Her life was filled with a passion for dancing, it was all she wanted to do.

“What happened?” I asked. I knew some of her history, and that she had retired from years in a high level marketing position.

“My mother wouldn’t allow it.” She said. And then with a wistful look, she told me how many of her friends went to Las Vegas and Radio City Music Hall in New York to become dancers. What I didn’t mention, and wanted to say, was that her friends, the ones who made it to the chorus lines and the bright lights wouldn’t have made the money she did.

The real truth is that the arts do not pay much. As in very little. The surest road to poverty is through the passion for the arts.

Every truthful writer, musician, artist, and sculptor will tell you that the passion for the arts, although it has it’s own true rewards, pays “squat,” as in very little.

Yes, there are stories of the artists who do well, but for every one of them, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, whose paintings adorn the walls of relatives, whose sculptures sit in rock gardens, and whose prose line the bottom of desk drawers.

Ernest Hemingway was rumored to have captured pigeons in a park in Paris for his lunch and dinner. He used his morning baguette as bait. I’d sat in that very park in Paris, and wondered if the Pigeons were the true inspiration for his book, “the moveable feast.”

Long before Stephen King became the celebrity of the ghoulish and macabre, he was a very broke school teacher. His mother had implored him to become a teacher, as she knew most writers made little money.

Stephen wrote sci-fi articles for men’s magazines, and worked as a janitor in the summer to make ends meet. His first book Carrie, came about while he was mopping floors in the women’s washroom. His vision for the book propelled him out of his poverty into stardom. But if it hadn’t? I think Stephen King would have been happy to have kept teaching English, and writing. Such is his passion.

I have high school friends, so passionate for their love of the arts, that they never took jobs more demanding than parking attendants or truck drivers. Their off hours were painting or playing music.

Years ago, on a flight to my home town on a business trip, I met one of my old high school friends. He was checking in cars at Hertz. He was still painting, playing a guitar and living his life like he’d always had. His own pace, his own rhythm. And my god, he looked so less stressed than I was.

There is this saying I’ve heard, that when someone enters the world of the arts, in either college or university, that program should have a course in being a “Barista,” as they will probably end up working for Starbucks or some other coffee house upon graduation to make ends meet.

There is a story from Steven Pressfield, in his book The War of Art, how he lived in a trailer, and pounded on an old typewriter for years before he had any kind of a breakthrough in his writing. He followed harvests and picked fruit to survive, while he wrote another novel that didn’t sell.

Yes, he made it though his poverty. But how many are really willing to do so? It seems that I’m not one of them.

My own story, is that I began writing over 30 years ago. I was accepted into journalism school, but balked when I found how little money I’d make. Yes, money over passion for writing. How many other’s have gone down that road? I would only take up writing on retirement, when book sales didn’t mean livelihood. That was the safe route for me.

I met a young man at a writer’s seminar. He was a journalist. He’d graduated from the same school I’d contemplated studying at many years ago. Yes, he admitted he made almost next to nothing working for a small town newspaper, but at that seminar his children’s book was nominated for a prestigious award. I don’t know if he won that evening. But, my goodness, I’ve never had one of my books nominated for anything. My kudos to that brave young man.

At the end of this, yes, there is little money in the passion for the arts, but what of it? If not for those who make little return but the satisfaction of what they create, where would this civilization be?

If you wander into a museum in Amsterdam, Paris or London, you’ll view the paintings of El Greco, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Vincent Van Gough. What do they have in common? Most of them died impoverished. Their work was never appreciated in their lifetime.

To those, musicians, painters and writers out there, just keep at it. The desire you have, for the gift of passion for the arts you have…no one can take that away.

As for the lady at the party who said to me, “I could have been a dancer. I could have been in Las Vegas.” That said it all to me. The look in her eyes, as to what she missed.

I hope all of you who have a passion for the arts, that you won’t let the lack of financial renumeration get in the way. To create something in art is wonderful. Whether it be a chord of music, a brush stroke or a line of poetry, or some dialogue that stands out and rings out to the world, who knows, Shakespeare made very little from his works in his lifetime. But he left the world a legacy.

Maybe you will do the same, or maybe you’ll just enjoy the things that money just can’t buy. The passion of creation. Enjoy!

After reading a great post from K.M. Weiland about books she thought were the best she’d read for writers this year, I thought, well, what about some of the books I’ve read that have defined my life. Some have even sent me on journeys…and I thought I’d share a few in this blog.

I grew up reading books. My father was an avid reader and so was my mother. My dad, as a Canadian of Scottish heritage read the collected poems of Robert Service. From him I learned of Canada’s harsh north and ballads of the World War I.

The poems were both beautiful and gruesome in their nature. Robert Service was the first “Cowboy Poet,” and his poetry spoke of both the beauty of life, and how life could be cruel.

His best-selling poems were, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” and the “Shooting of Dan McGrew.”

I perhaps attainted a taste for black or gallows humor at an early age. My father died when I was 15, and I would find my own books. I embarked into the world of books, not as entertainment, but to taste the world. You can do that through books, even more so than through television.

I would read the books of Leon Uris and his Mila 18, and Exodus. I have no idea why I’d read books on the struggle of Jews. I’m not Jewish, had only two Jewish friends, but their struggle spoke to me.

At the age of 18, in 1971 I’d taken planes trains and automobiles to Tel Aviv, and lived on a Kibbutz, (collective farm) and would work in the orchards, the chicken houses, and would fall in love and have my heart-broken by several Israeli girls.

I doubt if that was the intention of Leon Uris in writing his books, but that’s how it worked out for me. The struggle of Israel was very real when I was there. The Egyptians threatened to “have Israel in the ocean,” by New Years, and the Israelis said, “Let them come, this time we’ll march to Cairo!”

I got to see all of this first hand, just by being inspired to go on a journey of exploration from reading books. I wouldn’t have another great inspiration until I returned home and went to College.

My time in College was brief. A total of 18 months, but it was awash in books and ideas. In the early 70’s Marshal McCluen was telling us, “The Medium was the Message,” in his books, and Leonard Cohen had come out with his book, Beautiful Losers.

There were also numerous books regarding spiritualism. Herman Hessee had written Siddartha, about the journey of Buddha. I read that and numerous other books and would take another journey, but this one only had me closing my eyes to look inside, to the world of meditation.

I would spend 5 years in an Ashram, also know as a Monastery from 1973 until 1977. Great years of studying silence, and also of reading the Bible, the Koran, the Bahagavita, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and the works of Lau Tzu. What did I find? They all seemed to point to the silence within.

Some would think I was sidelined, or went on a detour for all those years, but really, I spent time that many will pay great sums of money to go to retreats and sit in silence, and try to achieve a quiet mind.  Okay, I have to admit there was no sex, which can put a damper on things and is probably the reason I left after 5 years and got married.

I would then enter the world of business and sales. Yes, I think I was called the “talkative Monk,” in my Monastery days. A trait that would serve me well as I delved into a career in sales and marketing.

I’d read books like the One Minute Salesman, and realized that  you only have seconds to get someones attention when talking to them. I actually became a good salesman.

My sales business made money, and then I read books on investing in real estate. I made money at that to. Funny how some knowledge when applied can work.

Then somewhere in all of my selling, and business of investing and working with real estate, I got back to the world of fiction. Who knows why. I think the real world is wonderful, but the world of fiction tugs at the outer edges of our imagination, and makes us dream bigger.

I started to read writers like Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. I was actually reading him again. He was one of the writers I read extensively in my brief College career.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. reminded me of Robert Service, the Cowboy Poet of Canada, the man with the gallows humor. Vonnegut was also spoke openly against war, against governments who sent people to war, and his books detailed a world were people went off into other existences, like Slaughterhouse Five.

My wife introduced me to Douglas Adams. His books were the HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life the Universe and Everything, and So Long and Thanks for all the Fish.

Why was I so enthralled with these books that many thought were almost slapstick? I really couldn’t tell you. But I do know from my 62 years on this planet, that we are the sum of all of our experiences.

It could have been my father’s cowboy poetry, my four months in Israel, (wandering on the Kibbutz to look for bomb shelters, and find they’d been made into photography dark rooms,) or my years in silence in the Ashram. Who knows?

I now write my own books. And strangely enough, they are dark humor. I tell my readers that,”People die, but only those that deserve it, or didn’t see it coming.”

Am I trying to emulate Kurt Vonnegut or Douglas Adams? I don’t think so, I think they were such unique individuals that no one will ever perfect their style. I believe all writers can develop a unique style if they allow themselves to delve into what makes them individuals.

I wish all writers great writing, and all readers great reading. May your reading take you on journeys of discovery or just provide you an adventure from your armchair.

There’s something that writers don’t want to talk about, but invariably they can’t help themselves. It’s how vulnerable they feel when they give their work to finally be read by an actual reader.

That single most important person, is after all the reader, unless a writer assumes they will  leave all of their manuscripts to age like fine wine in a dark cellar – never to see the light of day. In that viewing there is the vulnerability, but also the magic.

That magic is where the reader gets to see how the writer has taken characters and revealed them. Hopefully the writer has taken a character through some kind of journey. It could be by space ship, cruise ship or time warp, or perhaps a journey of spirit.

What I’ve learned over the past few years of writing, is all readers love to see the vulnerability of a character revealed, then made into a strength, then solve some sort of problem or situation. Essentially, this is called the story arc.

In a writing class from James Scott Bell he had us watch a segment from Casablanca. He showed our class how Humphrey Bogart who is shown as this hard night club owner shows vulnerability in saving first a young lady from the commandment, then Ingrid Bergman and her husband. Yes, a classic love triangle, but we eat it up. There is vulnerability there…and we love it.

In another movie, James Scott Bell showed Harrison Ford in The Fugitive in a hospital scene. Here is Harrison trying to get out of the hospital, but he stops to help diagnose a sick kid, then he escapes. You can hear the audience melt in the room.

James Scott Bell had a term for this, it’s actually a writers or screen writers’ term called “pet the dog.” This is where a character shows vulnerability and endears themselves to the audience or reader.

Do readers fall for this, this obvious vulnerability scene? Well, yes it seems we do. As a reader who consumes two to three books a month, I love when I see an obvious “pet the dog,” scene. I know the writer is bringing forth another element of the character, one that will make the character seem vulnerable, but in revealing it, we see the real strength in the character.

Character strength is something that writers agonize over. Too much and you have a Cyborg in the Terminator, and too little and we’re talking Sponge Bob Square Pants.  I’m sorry for those of you who think Bob is a strong character.

The essence of the struggle a writer faces was laid out to me in an article in Writer’s Digest  by Grant Faulkner called NAKED (ON THE PAGE) AND AFRAID. His lead quote was;

Good writing requires courage – first to give voice to the truth at the heart of every             story, and then to share it with the world of readers.

Grant went on to write that it’s a common fear that one’s life will be confused with the text on the page. I couldn’t agree with him more. In every book I write, I wonder if someone will see some kind of vulnerability in a character in me, and yet, to be true to the work, I need to put that vulnerability out there.

That is what readers really demand. They demand real vulnerability. If they didn’t then the   multi-million dollar industry of true romance wouldn’t be what it is. Sorry I can’t write true romance, but if I could, I’d start with a vulnerable character and build them up until they consumed the world, but have them do with grace, charm and probably really good shoes…yep…I can’t write true romance.

The strange thing about vulnerability is no one wants to show vulnerability, yet we love to see it revealed in novels that have characters overcome their failings and prove their worth. Do all readers see themselves in this. Are we all the voyeurs that I think we are?

Someone who has totally nailed this topic is Professor Brene Brown, she did a TED talk several years back called The Power of Vulnerability. Did people like it? How about over twenty million views! I’d say people were interested.

I’d suggest, now this is just from my point of view, that you take the twenty minutes to hit Youtube, and check out this talk. That is if you aren’t one of the twenty million that have seen her already.

Dr. Brown gave a very refreshing look at what we see as vulnerable. To me, what she revealed is that when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we allow ourselves to be creative.

Perhaps that is because we come from behind our masks and shields to where creativity really lives. This is how it feels to me, that old adage is the “turtle only gets ahead when it sticks it neck out,” is perhaps the essence of what I’m getting at in vulnerability.

My goal, is to keep surfing the edges and then to dive into my own vulnerability as I write, perhaps it will access deeper creativity. Who knows, what lies ahead when I and everyone else sticks their necks out…perhaps we’ll all just move a few paces forward.

I wish everyone happy writing and happy reading.

Some of you may know that I was able to write my latest novel, Circling the Drain, during the NaNoWriMo, NATIONAL WRITE A BOOK IN MONTH OF NOVEMBER competition. The prize is really that you wrote a novel of over 50,000 words in 30 days, and somewhere the gods of the Muse are happy.

I let my novel sit for a whole two months, then went into a serious editing, which I call getting down to basics, things like… “Does this even make sense?” The very thing that readers will ask when my book gets published.

The premise of the book, a successful real estate tycoon is diagnosed with cancer, gives all his money to charity, then finds his diagnosis was fake and his millions are gone and so is the doctor who gave him the diagnosis. Yes, it’s far fetched but all good stories need to start with a strange series of events.

I then have the police investigate my real estate tycoon, let’s call him Carson Winfield, because that’s his name.  You see, his wife also died of Cancer, the same doctor made the diagnosis. They think he may have planned to kill his own wife with the doctor’s help, wrap up his estate and flee the country. Without spoiling too much of the book, we have the epic  battle between the accused, the lawyer, and of course the police and detectives.

This was where I decided to send a draft copy to my good friend , who is a real criminal lawyer who deals with real criminals in court everyday, here in Canada. Although he calls all of them “clients.”

My wife once asked our lawyer friend if any of his “clients,” were actually innocent,  and he replied, “Some of them had good alibi’s.” He was joking of course, but the clients he worked with in his city were petty thieves who had his number on speed dial.

What I got from my lawyer friend in feedback was a remarkable look at the justice system in North America.  He basically told me that I had the premise of my story down, but was missing the fine points of how the lawyers and the police function, how they battle each other. He filled me in over several hours over the phone, and here are some of his nuggets.

The Police can lie to the accused,  more-so in the USA than in Canada.

I wasn’t sure how to write this part in my story. Here I have my accused, Carson Winfield brought into the police station for questioning. The police have what they think is a case, but they can’t prove it without a confession.  Now, my story takes place in California, so I had to I had to do some research on the American legal system.

It was my lawyer friend who told me how to have my lawyer in the book instruct my character, Carson Winfield. He gave me so many tips that at one point I thought I should have him as my co-author on my next book.

What I did learn is how lawyers work in the two Countries of Canada and America. In Canada when a person is arrested, or about to be arrested, they call their lawyer, and here is where my lawyer friend coaches them to “not say anything.” He even gives them a ten to fifteen minute lecture in person or over the phone before they meet with the police.

In America, the accused or person of interest gets to show up with the lawyer, and the lawyer may even be in the interview. In Canada a witness is advised that they do not have to answer any questions if they don’t want to. In America, they get to take the 5th, as in the 5th amendment, and say nothing.

Which according to most American Lawyer’s would be the really smart thing to do. The accused who decides to “tell some of the truth,” or to “set the record straight,” it seems is the one who puts the noose around his or her neck.

Okay, I’m really paraphrasing on this, but from all the other information on the web regarding the American legal system, it’s evident that people should not talk to the police without having a lawyer present. I found this great video lecture on this from Professor James Duane , his lecture  is on youtube https://youtube.be/i8z7N5sgik

I did have a good time with this one, as my lawyer was constantly berating his client, Carson Winfield, to “quit handing the police evidence that would hang him.” I admit that was fun, because from my research, I could see that even “person’s of interest,” can get themselves into trouble. The video from Professor James Duane is quite adamant on this point.

The other subject I got into was the search warrant. I just had my detective character ask for one, and sure enough my lawyer friend instructed me further on the subject.

The Search Warrant. It really is a big deal for the police to get one.

This part in my research got interesting. I, like everyone else who watches television shows assume that all the police have to do is ask nicely for a search warrant, and there it is. Kind of like the drive through at MacDonald’s, where the police ask to “biggie size me,” and get a “search and seizure,” on the side.

It turns out it’s not that way. Again, there has to be some probable cause, because defense lawyers love getting evidence thrown out of court that was brought about by an improper warrant, or the improper exercise of the warrant.

Writers can have a good time with this one. I had my detective having to convince the Assistant District  Attorney he had enough for the warrant, and the ADA telling him it was on thin ice, “Like the spring ice in Minnesota.” Okay, I got a little caught up in my own words, but you see what I mean.

The search warrant really is a major hurdle for law enforcement, and we should be thankful we have this vehicle in North America, otherwise, there’d be someone at your door looking to investigate that strange tall plant in your window that you call catnip, or muscle relaxant…or whatever.

At the end to the day, will my novel be a break out similar to John Grisham? I doubt it. I don’t think I’m qualified to carry his briefcase. However, my little novel, which is a black humor of only 59K words has been looked over by a real criminal lawyer to ensure I got the main parts right.

The best part was, he couldn’t figure out the ending. He was almost late for court as he read the end to see who did it. Now that, was worth writing the book.

I wish all of you happy writing, reading, and to those who wish a life of crime, please watch professor Duane’s video, at least once.

My book, Circling The Drain, will be out in July. If you get a chance, I’d love to know what you think of it.

A few weeks ago I watched my wife approach the deep end of the pool with her swimming instructor. She’d just learned to swim, finally after 55 years, and this was the test – the deep end.

She got as far as the yellow line in the pool where the depth changed from 1.4 metres to 2.8. My wife is about 1.93 metres tall. She had to make up the depth difference by treading water or swimming.

The previous week she’d learned the forward crawl with the proper breathing technique and to float on her back and even tread water. The swim coach taught her some drown proofing as well.

I was impressed. These were things I’d learned years ago, but as my wife was being taught, I started to practice them again. Like learning it for the first time.

But that day at the deep end was too much for my wife. Her face was set in a grimace of tension as she treaded water for a quick 30 seconds and swam back to the safety of the shallow end where her feet could touch the bottom.

What had happened I asked? She told me that the very fact of having  no pool to put her feet on panicked her. I understand that. Some 50% of North American’s do not know how to swim, and of those that do, a great percentage will stay in shallow water for fear of drowning.

Notice when you go to the pool, or the beach, just how many people are in deep end or swimming effortlessly out in the ocean. It’s actually very few. We as humans seem to have this fear of being in over our heads.

This strange notion came to me as I realized that 70 percent of our earth is made up of water, why are we not naturally taken to the water. Does our fear keep us out of the deep? Or is it our lack of knowledge of water?

SURPRISE – WE ALL FLOAT

I learned this from a site called relaxnswim.com , that the buoyancy of water reduces your body weight by 90%. Also, a full lungful of air acts like a ballon in your chest keeping you afloat.

Then I read further on this website, and had that “ah ha moment,” it said, “Feeling buoyancy in water is all about presence in one’s body – feeling while swimming – is most valuable when a swimmer is not distracted by the pool bottom.”

There it was, the reason we keep ourselves out of the pool. We’re worried about where the bottom is – or isn’t.

A CONVERSATION WITH A 74 YEAR OLD SWIM COACH.

One day, my wife an I were in the pool, and she was doing her laps to improve her swim stroke and work on that treading water technique – the one to get her over her fear of the deep end.

We met Jamie at our local pool. Turns out he’d been on a swim team at a major US University in his youth, then taught competitive swimming. Jamie was great, he went over the techniques of swimming with my wife, and talked about how we humans are all born to float. He said, “It’s just that we don’t know it.”

Jamie would teach people to swim by first telling them to try to stay underwater with a full lungful of air – none of them could. What he taught them was the law of the human body, water and psychics. If we have air in our bodies we’ll float.

“Then how do we drown?” I asked.

“Simple, we get excited  and take in water.” He said.

MY OWN SWIMMING LESSON BEGAN FROM ALMOST  DROWNING

My wife asked me how I learned to swim, and I told her it was from almost drowning. I was about 5 years old, and wading in a lake, it had a serious drop off that I obviously did not know about, or forgot.

I still remember to this day, walking off that edge and my body plunging deep into the water. I could see the light on the surface growing dimmer as I went deeper. I even remember my life flashing before my eyes, fortunately for me , at 5 years old it was a short flash.

I started kicking and clawing my way back up to the surface. A lungful of air never felt so good. I ran back to my mother, probably cried my eyes out and my dad taught me to swim that afternoon. He held me while I kicked my legs and thrashed my arms – I was a swimmer.

DEVELOPING NEW TECHNIQUES TO GET OVER OUR FEARS

So, why am I talking about the deep end and the need to learn the techniques of floating to get over our fears? I know, I thought it strange myself how this fits in with my fiction writing, but this blog is really about learning things to overcome our fears.

If it’s true that all people float, but 50% of us won’t even try, then what does this tell us about so many other things in life that we never attempt because we think we can’t do it.

It could be the writer too afraid to show people their writing- that would be that fear of the deep end. Or that career or business you wanted to start but were afraid you’d fail – losing touch with the bottom of the pool is what that might be called.

Perhaps these are over simplifications of things, but in the sense of overcoming our fears, it really comes down to the basics, learning new techniques and trusting ourselves.

THE FINAL CHALLENGE

I’m happy to report that my wife did finally swim over that dreaded deep end. As a matter of fact she swam a few lengths. When she tired, she just flipped over onto her back and floated leisurely towards the shallow end.

“How did it feel?” I asked.

“Fantastic!” She answered. My wife now loves to swim, and is upset if we travel to some place that doesn’t have a pool.

My story of losing momentum actually begins over 40 years ago. It was taught to me by an old Engineer of a freight train. I was working for the railway in Canada’s far North. The location was Hay River, North West Territories. The same coordinates as St. Petersburg, Russia. That far North.

On a Sunday,I got a ride on an Ore Train in the front engines too see a friend of mine some 60 miles south. As we approached my friends place the Engineer slowed the Ore Train down to around 5 miles an hour. He turned to me and said, “Son you’re going to have to jump. I can’t stop this train for you. She’s too hard to get started.”

I knew what he meant. The Train  had four engines, and all four of them had strained to get that long Ore Train moving. Stopping this train for me, an eighteen year old kid,wasn’t going to happen.

The Engineer gave me some good advice, he said, “When you jump from the train, keep moving. If you try to land and stick your feet, the momentum of the train will send you into a tumble.”

The Canadian term he’d used was actually,”Ass over tea kettle,” which needs a lot of explaining -so I won’t.

I looked down at the ground and thought of what a tumble to the left meant – under massive train wheels. As I’m writing this Blog with both hands and alive, you can assume that didn’t happen.

I did jump from that slow moving train. The  Engineer waved at me as I jumped off and did exactly as instructed by hitting the ground running, and slowed down to a jog to watch those mighty wheels of the Ore Train sink the tracks as they pressed their heavy loads on the gravel rail bed. Yes, I was happy I’d heeded his words.

Why do I mention this? I thought I could venture onto the wonderful island of Oahu, in Hawaii and take my writing projects, and keep my momentum going and just keep writing.

What happened? I slowed down, no not to a mere 5 miles or 7 kilometers an hour, no I slowed to a grinding halt. And, as in case of the long train, I found it hard to get my momentum.

Do I blame it on the beaches, the Mai Tai’s (a strange cocktail of rum mixed with several ingredients that allows a Ukulele to sound good), no I blame it on me, and trying to push the odds.

I thought I could go to a resort, a lovely place with pools, and beaches and a great gym and I would get up every morning and just do some editing for a few hours, then some reading and then blog a or two. Who was I kidding?

My results? I did get 50 pages of editing done. Not very good for one month away. But I did see whales, dolphins,  and several Albatross and Monk seals that seemed almost happy to be seen.

My wife and I spent most of our time roaming the island searching out farm to table bistros that offered food that was Hawaiian focused, and I wrote about my food experiences on TripAdvisor.

I received 4,550 reviews on TripAdvisor in one month. According to my wife, if I got that many reads of one of my books, I’d go from a highly unsuccessful writer to an almost successful one. I assumed she was joking,  she was finishing her second Mai Tai at the time.

Did I learn anything  in my one month in Hawaiian Paradise? Well, I did learn that a beach chair has three positions. Upright is conscious for reading books or watching waves and whales. Semi-reclined results in semi-consciousness, and all the way flat means a total lights out or sleep. There seems no way to remain awake in a lying position in Hawaii while gentle trades winds waft over you.

You would think all the bodies in various states of repose, that look curiously like sleeping Monk seals (without the nice fur) are catching a nap to do some great activity later. The activity unfortunately is Happy Hour. That’s where the Mai Tai’s and Ukulele’s come out.

I do think we all need rest at some time. The body and mind wears out when under too much stress. But too little stress for too long a time, can be just as taxing. I think we do need some constant momentum in our lives…even hanging out in paradise.

Like that Engineer said to me so many years ago, “Kid, you got to keep moving.”

What the Engineer   stated was the obvious, that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Simple physics, that we human beings need to heed, because eventually we will be a in flat position, so we need to keep up our momentum until then.

I wish all of you writers happy writing, and all you readers happy reading.

Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:

Last time, we talked about how to deepen characters and how EVERYBODY LIES (thank you Dr. House). Lies are critical for great fiction. To become excellent writers, we need to become great secret-keepers. Denial is more than a river in Africa ;) .

I’d started a series on this a few months ago and Shingles got in the way of the next posts I had planned. But, the first of the intended series was about THE WOUND.  Check it out if you have a bit of time.

Most of us don’t go around lying because we are pathological liars. We lie because of our wounds. And, if you read the post, wounds don’t have to be big to be BIG.

Newer writers sometimes think we have to have a rape or death for it to be “enough” but never underestimate “smaller” wounds. They are far more common, very damaging, and…

View original 1,477 more words

I confess I’ve been a “multi-tasker,” for years. I was proud of my ability to juggle several projects, and switch what I thought was seamlessly between one task to the other.

In my former business life I ran a successful sales company that represented several different manufactures. I prided myself in the fact that I could keep the sales up in each product line, keep my customers and manufacturers happy, and also run my own investment company on the side.

I was a total “multi-tasking phenomenon,”…or was I just kidding myself and really doing a half a job and only just getting by?

There is a major case building that we multi-taskers are doing just that -just getting by.  That “Single-tasking,” and single-focus is the real way to go. Instead of shuttling from one thing to another, to really focus on one thing at a time, get totally engrossed and involved…and then move on.

In my second career in writing, I thought I could take my multi-tasking methods with me…it seems that writing will not withstand more than a singular focus. Anything less, and the writing shows the results.

I came here to Hawaii with several projects. Two books that need editing, another blog that I’m working on that would be a history of all the books that have ever affected my writer’s muse and writer’s voice, and I got here…and it all seemed to stop.

I’m not sure if it’s the great temperature. Everyday a perfect 80 degrees with light trade winds, and clouds that drift by that may threaten rain, but do so only with a few apologetic drops and move on.

Or if it’s those endless waves that roll into the bay, and break across the shore with a sigh of satisfaction. As if they’re happy to be here as well.

And then I realized it must be the Hawaiian people themselves. They seem relaxed, happy, and going about their business without a need to be doing several things at the same time.

I’ve noticed few iPad, iPhones, or other extra  electronic devices on the beach, and then as I watched I understood why.

Have you ever watched someone surf? A surfer takes nothing on the board but swim wear and perhaps a t-shirt. Some do carry a knife or wear a watch. But you will see no phone, or any kind of ear bud hanging from their ear. At least I never did.

The surfers I spoke to told me that when a surfer falls into the wave their surfing, that wave still has an immense amount of power and force. Anything loose on a surfer gets lost into the ocean. Sunglasses cellphones, hats…whatever…it’s taken by the force of the wave.

Surfers have one thing – one singular thing, and that’s their surf board. They attach themselves to it with a sturdy line and the line is wrapped around one leg, it’s the only thing they want to hold onto once they’ve been dumped in the water.

Now, that is single tasking. If you’ve watched  a surf competition, and it’s hard not to here at this time of year, you’ll see something else that is amazing. A surfer has to sit on their board and patiently wait for the right wave. Not just any wave will carry them in with the force they need to perform their many turns. The wave has to be just right – so they wait out at sea for that wave. All the time the clock is ticking on the event.

I’m not saying that to truly single task, we need to be surfers, I feel, however, that we can learn from them. Is there really any need to be multi tasked and multi connected in this world in order to experience it? I think that’s what I’m getting at.

I was also able to view a great video on YouTube while I was here. It’s from the Kona Brewing Company, and if you hit YouTube and Single Tasking and Kona Brewing company it will come up.

The video of course makes fun of us as they address the Dear Mainland. I really hope you watch it. It has a great message, and the very end of it is “You have one life…don’t blow it!”

I couldn’t think of a better reason for single tasking than that last message.

Happy Single Tasking!

I was having lunch in Palm Springs last month with a group of people and one of them turned out to be a writer.  She was a writer of business books, who had also been a professional speaker and was happy to learn I was a writer as well.

“What is your expertise?” She asked.

“My expertise?” I said. Somewhat taken aback as I tried to digest her question along with the short ribs and cornbread. I think I took an extra gulp of pale ale to get it all down.

“Yes, what is your background of expertise to write your novels?” She asked.

“Ah…I use my imagination,” I answered, “And I have these crazy ideas…sorry…that’s all I have.”

Well, she laughed. But in a good way. She said, “That is fantastic, I can’t wait to read your books.”

Well, I don’t know if she has read any of my books, and doubt if they are her type, but then who knows? But this does bring up the question of expertise over imagination and ideas. Which is of more value?

I propose we need it all, but without imagination where would Gene Roddenberry be. Yes, the vey man who gave us the wonders of Star Trek. Gene was an air force pilot, which could have given him some expertise in flying, but he wasn’t an astronaut. And how he’d ever come up with Captain Kirk and Spock beaming down to a planet was probably not in any flight manual. He’d used his imagination.

And before him, there was Jules Verne. He was considered to be one of the father’s of Science Fiction. His expertise was he was trained to be a lawyer. Neither of these men were rocket scientist and yet they gave us this wonder of space and science fiction.

Now, take a look at J.K. Rowling’s who gave us the Harry Potter series. Is she a bonafide Wizard? I’m not sure, but I think her area of expertise is more in the area of her wonderful imagination.

Yes, in writing, we do need some expertise. In planning to write my very first book, although I had the plot, the character and the action thought out, I hadn’t the foggiest idea of how to do dialogue.

I started with Writing Level One at Mount Royal University, and sat in back of the room (yes the old grey haired guy) and learned this fascinating craft of how to make characters talk to each other. To me, it was like seeing that the Wizard of Oz could actually come from behind the curtain.

There was something else I learned. You can have all the ideas and imagination but without the effort and the hard work of sitting down and putting it on paper, none of it will mean anything.

I just read this quote from Stephen King, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

And there you have it, right from King’s mouth as it were. Here is Stephen King with some of the greatest volumes of work in the market for readers, and his claim to fame is he was an English Teacher who loved to write.

Now, that begs the question, will all English Teachers, and people who study English become great writers? I mean after all, that is their area of expertise – you’d think the world of writers would be full of English majors.

Well, I did have another conversation that same day, and it was on the golf course with a some friends from Canada. My friend remarked to me how his wife had a degree in English and was a great editor, probably one of the best he’d ever seen.

“Why doesn’t she write something?” I asked.

“She says she doesn’t have any ideas,” My friend answered.

So here it is. I think expertise is great, but without imagination and ideas all the expertise in the world  just lies there like a unused sports car all full of gas and no idea of where to go. With a little imagination and just a the germ of an idea there can be one hell of an adventure.

You can make up the rest of the story from there…you get the idea.

If you are a Canadian independent author or a reader of Canadian independent authors you’ll be shocked to know that no Canadian can get onto the new NookPress website to download their books. This site is the new Barnes and Nobel one, and is their attempt to of course shut out Kindle.

At present the website is available to authors from the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium.

I was told when I asked when would Canada be included, “To please check back with www.nookpress.com regularly for updates.” They decline, when asked to provide any kind of time line, as in maybe spring of 2015, or even the fall.

What amazes me, is of all the countries that would be first in their sites, besides their own of the US and the UK, which has avid writers, you would think that Canada might be a no brainer!

We are the largest  English speaking country in the America’s outside of  the United States and Belize, and although we do have a large French population and a population of NewFoundlanders who sometimes need subtitles to understand them after a few rum and coke, you would think we would qualify as an area of key contributors.

I wonder if we’ve done something as Canadians to make NookPress and Barnes and Noble mad? I can only think it might be Justin Bieber. I think this because when in California recently I was asked by a California, “How can you Canadians be so nice and let Justin Bieber out of your country?”

Yes, he is embarrassing, and I replied, “I’m sorry for Justin, but our RCMP are hard at work hunting down really bad guys, and we can’t stop people from leaving the country who are about to do silly things.”

I gave him my heartfelt apologies. An dear NookPress, if it is Justin, on behalf of all Canadians, I apologize. But please do what we do when Snooky from Jersey Shores appears on the television. We turn it to hockey.

So, here we Canadian independent authors are with multiple titles ready to download, and locked out by NookPress. Yes, you can find us on Kindle, and Smashwords, and CreateSpace and even Apple books.  All of these have room for Canadians, and as a matter of fact just about every other author around the world.

But NookPress, no, just the US, the UK and a few other fortunate countries are able to have their books there. Why? Well, I cannot get an answer. I’ve asked twice, and keep getting told to check back later. You know like…are we there yet? Are we there yet?

If you as an author or a reader and have read this blog and would like to find out from the good people at NookPress when they might let Canadian Authors into their site I implore you to go to www.nookpress.com and under the contact us file, just send them a note.

“Hey, when do Canadian authors get in…eh?

Also, if you happen to know more about when NookPress might let us Canadians in, or a way around this please respond on this site.

I thank all readers and writers for reading this blog.