Ninja Kitty Practice

Okay. I promised myself that I would never write on my blog about my cats. But, damn my cats are cool.

I have three who are all "rescue" cats. One was a feral kitten who lived under my porch and I live trapped him because I didn't want the coyotes around our neighborhood to get him. He's a beautiful sleek grey cat who is terrified of people. He likes you if you are quiet and make no sudden moves. He likes to hang out with me while I write.

Jiji is named after the cat from Kiki's delivery service. His name is unfortunate. Makes him sound like a french poodle. He is affection seeking which is really odd for a cat. Also, he is incredibly submissive and will lie on his back in doorways so you have to encounter his submissiveness. Oh, and did I mention he is a groper? Yup, be forewarned if you are standing at the sink doing dishes. He will come up behind you and reach and stretch and... You get the idea. He quit doing it to me after the first time because I instinctively kicked him. Nobody gets to touch my behind without my permission. I don't care if you are a cat.

Then there is Pyewacket. When I first met Pyewacket she was in a cage at the pet store down the shopping plaza from the bookstore where I worked. A rescue group had brought in several cages of kittens for adoption. I looked at her and she at me. The look she gave me said, "Ya, I know. I am down on my luck. Bail me outta here and we'll be partners." She was a ferocious kitten. I brought her home and she totally cowed the two boys in an afternoon. She doesn't put up with anyone treating her like a pet and when she was an adolescent if you angered her she would do things. Things like flipping the valve on the bottled water crock and allowing five gallons of water to flow onto the kitchen floor. Or knocking pictures off the top of the book shelves in the middle of the night to wake everyone up. She refuses to be picked up and held and considers this a grievous insult. However, if you are sitting down and she wants to be scritched and stroked, she will come and sit in your lap. If allowed, she walks on my head to wake me up in the morning. If I am down, she perches on the back of my chair and drapes herself onto my shoulder to purr encouragement and affection into my ear. She hates coffee and makes motions to bury it whenever a cup is left on a surface she can access. She is not enjoying the stirring up of things that is happening as I am preparing to move and has been very affectionate lately.

This morning, Pyewacket has been tearing around the house in that urgent "I am a cat and must be on my way somewhere important" sort of way. She raced through the kitchen, took the turn at the dining room to enter the livingroom, kicked an empty water bottle with her back leg as she passed it, continued into the livingroom, vaulted the hassock, leapt onto the back of the reclining chair, jumped to the side table, and did a perfect landing on the wing-backed chair where she stood and surveyed her course. I smiled. I could almost hear her thinking, "Damn, I'm good. Ninja kitty material."

All in the details

Reaching in my pocket, I pull out keys, a Burt's Bees lip shimmer in the shade of rhubarb, a pink coin purse, and a to-do list that includes 1. organize writing reference materials; 2. fill out forms for housing/call about housing; 3. crit something on critters; 4. print out comments on caper and begin plotting the heist/look for holes and ways to avoid guards and technology; 5. work on space android story; and 6. walk to library to get items on reserve.

The contents of my pocket speak volumes if someone is paying attention. The specific details give insights into my character.

I am going to write two different versions of a cluttered room and see if I can give a reader a complete idea of the character of the occupant.

Version One

Muted light filtered in through the thick glass windows and cast elongated trapezoids across the heavy wooden table and the wooden floor. Upon the table a pair of bird's wings lay inert as though ripped from a passing cherub. Slender sticks of vine charcoal rested near several leaves of ivory parchment that showed drawings of fantastical beasts, serene women, and flying contraptions. A brass astrolabe pinned one corner of the parchment to prevent it from curling. A silver goblet with the ruby remains of the previous night's wine held the far corner. Spirals cut from parchment hung from the heavy beams of the ceiling and twisted on a draft. A framework made of light, carved wood mirrored the stretched structure of a hawk's wings set to glide on an ocean updraft. Drawings depicting the unholy dissections of corpses were nailed to the timbers of the walls. The young priest inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and made the sign of the cross to ward off the unholiness present in the room.

Version Two

Sunlight streamed through the double hung window and was fractured by the mulleins to stretch rectangles of illumination across the heavy wooden desk. The dark, water ring pocked writing surface of the desk was only visible around the pile of haphazardly discarded bead bracelets, a pile of magazines whose slick covers had caused them to shift in a disarrayed fan, and several papers left in a disorganized path. A collection of books slumped at the back of the desk held upright by a massive tin can packed with pencils on one side and a book flopped on its side on the other end. The Complete Rhyming Dictionary could be read on the spine of one volume through the stand of a podcast microphone. Handbook of Poetic Forms, The Synonym FInder, and Chambers Synonyms and Antonyms were visible behind a bottle of rubber cement, a knocked over picture frame, and a tube of sandalwood scented hand and body lotion. A letter taped to the wall at the back of the desk read: "Thank-you for your submission. We regret to inform you that we cannot use your short story...."

I could have just written that the room held a table or desk and that it was cluttered.

Plan A, B, or C

I was reading an advice column early today in which a gentleman had written in to say that his wife left him because she couldn't face the thought of caring for him into his old age and dealing with his MS. He complained that he was having a hard time getting the motivation together to date again and he wondered why anyone would want to date him because of the MS. He asked if he should just resign himself to a life of solitude.

The advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, gave the right answer in my opinion. She wrote:

"I think we'd all be better for resigning ourselves to a life of solitude. Not in a woe-is-me sense, but in the sense that we are the only people we can be absolutely sure we will be with us at every stage of lives."

She then goes on to outline the three plans that we all have. Plan A is what we have right now. Plan B is the anticipation of change and that anything any of us have right now could be gone tomorrow. And Plan C is the wild card. She talks about how for a large number of people, their lives don't resemble anything that they expected.

I decided that I am definitely in Plan C and banking on Plan C. Hopefully, Plan C from the karmic roulette wheel brings me something fabulous.

Science News: Odd Sex Studies Found While Looking For Info on Asexual Reproduction

I have been just cruising the internet tonight. I am a little tired from cleaning and holding a yard sale the last few days. I got a nice bowl of crushed strawberries with angel food cake to eat and I am making the rounds on the science news websites that I read.

I know. It's Saturday night and I lead an all too exciting life.

But hey.

I am *thinking* about sex. Or rather reproduction. Asexual reproduction.

I got this story idea for a society of asexually reproducing aliens with a kinship system based on roles. Did you know that tribbles reproduced asexually? Also a search on google revealed that the movie Enemy Mine is considered to have a character that is from an alien species that reproduces asexually.

Besides I read an article on the Science News site from 2003 that said that women just naturally eat 5 to 25 percent less when they are ovulating and obviously because I am eating dessert I am not ovulating. So, sex would be a waste of time. Right? And another article on Science News said that a couple really only needs from 3 to 13 minutes to have complete sexual satisfaction. I could not find an author for that article which was from Penn State. I would be willing to bet however that the article was written by a man or that the lab that found these results was run by a man. And anyway. If sexual satisfaction only takes 3 to 13 minutes, I'd still have time to eat my angel food cake and cruise the internet looking for info on asexual reproduction.

Have you wondered why we evolved to have sex? I mean what's wrong with asexual reproduction? No competition for mates. No proving your worth to attract a mate and get that 3 to 13 minutes of sexual satisfaction. I read another study about how male chimpanzees hunt down monkeys and give the female chimpanzees meat in exchange for sex. Seems the oldest profession is not exclusively human. No hiding your bad ass boyfriend from the family if we all reproduced asexually also. Did you know that female chimps don't squeak during sex if there is a chance that other females in their family group will know that they are doing the deed in the bushes according to a study from Zoology vol. 174, July 19, 2008?

I do have to wonder who comes up with some of these studies and what is their motivation. The article about the study stating sexual satisfaction happens in 3 to 13 minutes said that the article was trying to clear up the false belief that a couple needs hours of sexual activity to obtain satisfaction. Uh, huh. Sure. But somehow I don't think it is a secret that sex can happen in fifteen minutes or less. Another study had trained sexologists watching video tapes of women walking and then predicting whether or not the women had a history of vaginal sexual orgasms based on their gait. LOL. The conclusion was that the women who walked with a longer stride and more confidence had orgasms. This study has so many possible things to poke at. Uh, I didn't mean to phrase that *that* way. But you get the drive of what I am saying. First, trained sexologists? Uh, huh. Second they sat and watched videos of women walking? Uh, huh. Third, they made predictions about whether or not the women had a history of orgasms and confirmed this with a set of questions that the women filled out? I would love to see that list of questions and the description of the study that they gave each of the women in the study. I wonder if only leggy model types were filmed?

Imagine if we reproduced asexually. Think of how much more time there would be to get things done. No need for primping. No need to spend extra money on clothing to look good. Although clothes are toys for me so I am not sure that I would want to do without resale shops, thrift stores, and my wardrobe derived from such. Besides, if we asexually reproduced, we would all be genetically the same so maybe we would need the clothing to distinguish one another. Hmm. I wonder if an asexually reproducing intelligent species would have a strong notion of individuality?

Anyway, my strawberries and angel food cake are awaiting consumption.

Magical Fantasy Powers (to make Tink look like the gnat she is)

Recently I asked folks that I knew about fantasy magic and what magical powers they would like to have and what powers that they would not like their significant other to have. Think about it. What fantasy magical powers would you like to have? What powers would you not like your significant other to have?

Now, granted that I want my teleportation device and I can sympathize, but a number of people that I asked said that they wanted to be able to fly or tele-transport. For me this would be a marvelous super hero trait potentially. But I think the power of magic deserves wider consideration. After all, it's magic.

Other responses included things like reading minds, talking to animals, healing, changing appearances, changing things into other things, and getting the dishes done. Seriously, one friend said getting the dishes done. I think I need to go over there with some liquid refreshment, dish soap, and my cd of Fire in the Kitchen by The Chieftains.

Me. I want to fold time and space and create worlds. By golly, if I am going to have magic, I want to do it up right. Talk about getting the dishes washed-- just fold time and space until it has military corners and can bounce an asteroid. Dishes done dude. And this little pesky problem of global warming? No BFD, just make a new world. Hmmm... I think the platypus needs another animal created to take the spotlight off that little bugger. He's been ridiculed for far too long. Perhaps something in lime green fur with a long snout and gecko padded fingers that honks like a goose and farts like a golden retriever after Thanksgiving dinner.

As for what powers people didn't want their significant others to have? Ding Ding Ding. And the top response is..... no one wants their spouse to be able to read their mind. Psst. Ya. Come a little closer. What are you all thinking about that is soooo naughty?

One person said that he didn't want his lovely wife to have super strength on the few occasions that she throws temper tantrums. Yowza.

Me. I want to be unstoppable. I want my significant other to have no power over me. Bwahaha.

Seriously. It's magic. I would take an oath of benevolence before attaining my powers. Honest. Well unless coffee were involved.

Why are some books considered lit and others scifi?

Swirling thoughts like dervishes in cinnamon colored coats are spinning in my head this morning.

You have been forewarned.

I have been reading "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass. In this book, he talks about how some writers who are considered to be literary authors have written "breakout" novels that are science fiction. And how this bums out some science fiction authors. He writes that he believes that while there are many very good authors with outstanding works in the science fiction genre, they don't always achieve a level of amazing success because the stories are dark and have unsympathetic characters. Maass writes:

"Readers love speculative elements, but even more they love a layered, high-stakes story about sympathetic characters who have problems with which anyone can identify. Perhaps that is why mainstream writers more often break out with speculative elements than dark-toned, hard-edged speculative novelists in the mainstream."

I am trying to wrap my head around the whole this because it sounds to me like he is saying that The Handmaid's Tale and The Sparrow are more upbeat than most science fiction and have more sympathetic characters and I am not sure that I agree with this. Earlier in "Writing the Breakout Novel", Maass validates the idea that scifi writers sometimes get ghettoized and then kind of says that scifi writers shouldn't be down on The Handmaids Tale but rather write more upbeat stuff. I thought The Handmaids Tale was good, but not particularly upbeat. Also, there are some scifi authors who are just plain old knock your socks off and are upbeat. Connie WIllis (who has won nine or ten hugos) springs to mind. But even Connie Willis has not experienced mega sales. Nancy Purl in her book, Book Lust, calls Connie Willis an author not to miss and singles her out rather than including her as one of the recommendations in science fiction.

Yesterday I was at the mega-chain bookstore where I work part time. Marketing has been proposed by some folks as what will make a book huge. I talked books for a solid four hours yesterday. Jim Butcher's newest is out. Jim Butcher finally now merits an actual display. Probably because they made his Dresden series into a television show and sales of his books were up last year. I am mentioning this because marketing seems a capricious thing unless based on sales. I can honestly say that the publishers sink money into authors who have a following and whose books have sold in the past. Mega chains have buyers who talk to publishing reps and everybody figures out a print schedule for books. Sometimes it is accurate and sometimes not. I have seen the books of reeeaaaallly big authors over printed and end up as bargain six months later. Bargain books sometimes are an indication of the anticipated mega-hit that didn't happen six months prior. Most authors don't get much of any kind of marketing. At least not marketing that originates from bookstores and publishers-- but they get marketing from people who read their books whether it is good or bad. So I am not so certain that the marketing that comes from categorizing matters-- except that readers who won't go near scifi with a ten foot barge pole will read scifi from the lit section.

I do think most authors kind of labor in a type of obscurity, even if published, and if marketing helps to get them seen by people and entices risk avoiding readers to try their books that is good, but I am not so certain marketing is the holy grail.

If you are a writer and had the chance to be published under the literature category, as say Chabon, Atwood, or Mary Doria Russell, or under science fiction, which would you choose? Why? Would it matter? What would have happened to Salman Rushdie's career if he had been published under science fiction? What would have happened if Connie Willis had been first lumped in literature?

Carrying the what-if's further. What if John Scalzi wasn't such a nice guy with a really funny blog?

I don't have answers. More or less exploring the topic and wondering about stuff. I was kind of wondering if anyone had any ideas on why some books that are science fiction/fantasy end up in literature and others that are equally as good are science fiction. I was trying to see if anyone had any theories on this.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that categories are bad. And arbitrary, but they have loads attached to them. Not a new conclusion for me. Science fiction has a bad reputation and turns some readers off. But there are gobs of science fiction and fantasy in the literature section.

Carrying this farther, should a writer cater his/her writing to the audience? Yes and no. I think a writer needs to write what they feel impassioned about and tell a good story, but I also think that if they cannot find a publisher or an audience they aren't going to be writing for long. I don't think anyone should try to imitate another author or aim for a category that isn't in keeping with their writing style or the stories they want to tell, it would be false. Inauthentic. The writing would be derivative and just plain lacking. I think if a writer can dig deep in themselves and write fearlessly, something good will come out. People encapsulate their lives in stories and thoughts are the front soldiers for passionate beliefs.

If you are a writer, where do you think that your ideas come from? What do you think is necessary for an author to make a standout book? What is the line of delineation between a midlist book and a "breakout" book?

So I am not reaching conclusions, just tossing out my thoughts on the table. I am not sure there are conclusions to be reached, but the exploration of ideas might be worth the effort. It is giving me a place to work from to edge my ideas and writing up. Thoughts proceed other stuff for me.

No Deep Thoughts

No heavy thoughts this morning. I am laying on my futon, trying to ingest the requisite amount of caffeine in order to boot up my beleaguered brain cells, and contemplating going through bins and bins of fabric. Oh and sorting through more books. Damn I have a lot of books. Heavy books. Books that take up boxes when packing.

You see because I will be moving at some point in the nearish future-- I cannot take it all with me. You never get to take it all with you. Somethings it is good not to take along. For instance one of the books that I found last night on my shelf: The One Hour Orgasm. The cover shows a woman all tuckered out. I'll just bet she's worn out. And I am a little alarmed that it was on the shelf next to another book entitled Fun with Architecture. Hmmm... Not pursuing this one.

Art supplies, fabric, sketches, notebooks. Some of this I cannot let go of. My dyeing and batik supplies and all of my drawing and painting materials are coming with me if I can manage it. Some of the sketches I'll keep. Most of the notebooks?

And then there is fabric. OMG is there fabric. I love color and when you combine color with the textures that various fabrics provide-- oooo shivers. Who needs a book on one hour orgasms?

I have this lovely brown velveteen to make a Victorian era waistcoat from.

I have yards and yards of flowing deep purple sheer fabric for curtains.

I have flannel printed with flowers.

I have cotton batiks in rainbow colors, silks in rich jewel tones, wools in heathery hues. So much fabric. I have to decide what to keep and what to let go of. I have made the decision that if the fabric does not send me into moments of delight, it is yard sale fodder. So if you are local and reading this, come on by Memorial Weekend for the first wave of clearing out the house.

How can you be liked and be yourself? Louise Bourgeois

How can you be liked and be yourself? - Louise Bourgeois



A couple of years ago a very young and very insightful art instructor of mine assigned to me to do a presentation on Louise Bourgeois. When I first looked up her work, I was horrified by it. I very much did not like it. It had penises and breasts and eyeballs and spiders and broken glass. It was incredibly uncomfortable to look at.

Since that time Louise Bourgeois has become one of my heroes. She is an inspiration to me. She was part of the Societe Anonyme early in her career and left them and Paris to go to New York in part because she felt that they were too much of an old boys network. In the 1940's she exhibited her work and experienced some acclaim and success, but it wasn't until the 1970's, when she was in her sixties that she achieved recognition. She is a difficult personality and has intimidated many reporters. She has lived her life fearlessly, put forth her vision, and she is still creating art now even in her nineties. Most recently she had an exhibit that ran through January of 2008 at the Tate Modern. I hope that someday I can offer half the inspiration to my daughter that this woman has offered to me by the very act of pursuing her own vision.

Where have the visions of the future gone?

Let me preface some of what I am going to write in this post by saying that I am still researching and processing things-- in other words I am not done yet and there will be further posts on this as I read more and think more. Also, I am certain that there will be people who have their own thoughts on the state of science fiction and can more readily point to examples of "whatever" than I can. I am not claiming expertise, but rather just expressing my opinion.

I saw the latest addition to the Star Trek franchise last week. For me it was a slightly disappointing, nostalgic experience. Whereas The Watchmen movie took me back to the late eighties, reminded me of when the series first came out, and made me contemplate the difference in the political atmosphere of that decade to the current decade, the newest Star Trek movie only reminded me of the importance of the original series. It also made me sad because I left thinking that it held in some ways too many self conscious nods to the original series for me and also hinted that it was reinventing the new series for the commercial purpose of making more movies and a truckload of money. This may be harsh but to me it was a gutted, soulless endeavor only made more palpable by the performance of Zachary Quinto. The story felt uninspired--a vengeful time traveling Romulan mining ship captain who sets out to wreck havoc. How many Star Trek movies involving time travel and the potential destruction of the earth need to be made? I want a fresh story with an interesting script. How about boldly going forth, rather than rehashing the past of what was once a truly dynamic television series that inspired a potential vision for the future, and making some outstanding new science fiction that pushes the boundaries and further drives the imagination of what could be? How about showing us a story set on a truly alien planet? Perhaps showing us a scenario where the human heroes have inadvertently violated the prime directive. Perhaps a story where the aliens are not the bad guys.

I read and write science fiction and fantasy and I have been to several lectures, presentations, and conventions where I have heard quite a few different authors and speakers adamantly assert that science fiction as a genre is alive and well. The very fact that this assertion keeps being put forth makes me suspicious of its claim. This morning after being awoken by a window rattling thunder boom, I began cruising the internet and just doing some casual research about the genre. While there are some marvelous authors who have been consistently writing well written short stories and novels, notable among them in my mind are people like Connie Willis who has won nine Nebulas and six Hugos and Ted Chiang whose short stories and novellas are incredibly well crafted pieces, the number of names showing an unwavering presence in the field is not as large as was the case in decades past.

I began wondering about this. There are the popular phenoms like Neil Gaiman whose work is outstanding and J.K. Rowling, but both are really fantasy writers. So I began to try to break this down for myself.

The first conclusion that I came to was that since the 1970's science fiction being presented on television and in the movies has grown. In the decade between 1960-1970 there were approximately 35 science fiction television series. From 1970 -1980 the number jumped to approximately 52. In the years between 2000 and 2004 this number jumped and I counted approximately 186 television series internationally and I am not going to stand by that count as an accurate number. Further, many of the television series that I counted were anime, loose fantasy series, and others dealing with themes of the supernatural. In addition to the number of television series dealing with science fiction or fantasy themes, there has been the growth of video games over the last three decades. Now the question that springs to my mind about this proliferation and popularization of science fiction in media other than print copy, is whether or not this helps or hurts the genre. It certainly indicates a mass appeal for the flavor of science fiction and fantasy. In regards to the publication of printed material, I think that this has hurt the genre. Fans can simply get their fix in a different form. Further, I think that we are in the midst of an information evolution and visual media has become much more readily available. Kind of like when the printing press suddenly made printed material much more available. I could cry out about the evils of visual media but I think it would only show that I am a dinosaur to be left behind. I do think that we are in the beginning stages of developing the art forms of the feature length movie and the episodic television series. We haven't begun. Currently, I think that the novel in printed form is much more sophisticated and offers a greater depth for artistic expression to the author and meaningful engagement for the reader.
I will advocate as Norman Spinrad did that novelizations of television series or movies should not be eligible for Nebula awards. The award is given for outstanding writing and I think that any piece deserving of this award should have fresh ideas and original characters.

The second conclusion that I came to after researching for a bit was that the number of names writing science fiction seems to be greater but they are publishing slightly less than authors in the past and they don't seem to have the stamina of authors of the past for decades long writing careers. I am not sure what to make of this. I read one article that described how in the decade of the 1990's many authors who had had little problem getting their books published previously suddenly were without publishing contracts or their advances dropped in value dramatically. I have read many articles about the plight of the mid-listers who languish at a mid level of sales. They make enough to keep writing but barely and they don't receive the support of their publishers. Further, in recent decades the mid-list crowd has been thinning. Two thoughts that occur to me are that it takes time for an author to reach a certain level of name recognition and become a thing and, secondly, that it takes time for an artist to mature in their craft and become truly outstanding. As a society driven by quick profits, it may be that we are not offering enough monetary incentive to beginning authors and they give up the dream of being a writer before they have matured in their craft out of economic necessity.

The third conclusion that I thought about is still swirling, but I noticed that while science fiction seems to be dwindling, fantasy is experiencing growth. This could be that the kids who grew up with Harry Potter are looking for what's familiar and continuing to read fantasy and hence there is a market for fantasy which fuels the production and publication of more fantasy. This doesn't so much address the dwindling amount of science fiction as it does the growth of fantasy, but allow me to turn this one around and look back at the past for a moment. When I was growing up, Sputnik propelled the U.S. education system into creating a more rigorous science curriculum. Because of my introduction in elementary school to the ideas of space exploration, model rockets, beautiful pictures of nebulas in space, astronomy field trips to learn the constellations, I began to read Heinlein's juvenile novels. I grew up with science fiction. I also grew up in an era when science seemed the limitless answer to a thousand possibilities. There was an optimism about science and its potentialities that came through into the science fiction. A future could be envisioned.

Now, educational funding has been cut. This morning I read a blog post sighting Norman Spinrad, who was a president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, as follows:

"In a society where the distinction between astronomy and astrology is probably blurry in more minds than not…where very few viewers see anything wrong in spacecraft executing banking turns in a vacuum…and where the teaching of science in primary and secondary schools is itself in steep decline, surely the potential readership for hard science fiction must be dwindling even faster than that for science fiction in general."

Further, while one can still find Heinlein's juvenile novels, there aren't many science fiction novels for elementary students and young adults. The only ones that spring to mind are Scott Westerfield's novels--Uglies, Pretties, and Specials and Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. The kids aren't inspired by science. There is not a great abundance of science fiction for them to read. And we are not growing avid science fiction readers.

This is bad for the genre. The genre of science fiction needs more readers to support it and flourish.

I am going to take this another step farther. In the past there was a cycle where science fiction offered a vision of the future and science pursued it. I have written about this before. Currently, it seems to me that the discoveries of science over the last few decades have been extraordinary and growing at a dizzying rate. But at the same time one hears constant stories about potential pandemics, global warming, the mass extinction of species, etc. There is a proliferation of doomsday stories. This is nothing new. The 1950's had constant stories about The Bomb and the potential of nuclear war. The difference was in the level of optimism. In decades past, science was going to be the high achievement and saving grace of humanity. Our science would save us. Our vision for the future would lead us past our troubles. Currently, there is a pessimism that pervades and while science makes leaps, it seems that science will not save us, science has caused many of the problems by injudicious application, and the vision is lost. I am not going to naively suggest that if writers of science fiction offer glowing proposals of utopian dreams where science has salvaged the environmental ruin that we have made of our planet all will be well, but perhaps a new vision of possibility needs to be created. Perhaps, science fiction has lost some of its readers simply because of a lack of forward thinking. Where are the visions of future science? What will our society look like in 3010?

Again, this is a long and rambling post. I am still thinking and probably will revisit this topic at another time. Any thoughts that anyone has for me to consider would be greatly appreciated.

Reading on Writing

Yesterday I went to the library to see if I could find a particular workbook on writing. They did not have it. However, they did have several shelves of books on writing-- writing poetry, writing fiction, writing magazine articles for fun and profit, etc. I have been reading "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass. He discusses issues such as developing a unique premise, raising the stakes, using the context of setting, creating a plot with meaningful conflict, and other things like how to use subplots, develop voice, and advanced plot structures. Typically, I don't really care much for books on writing, but I am finding the information in this one useful.

Another book on writing poetry that I have been picking my way through is "The Ode Less Traveled" by Stephen Fry. It is very entertaining and informative. I have learned a great deal about reading poetry from reading that book.

So, while I was at the library yesterday I checked out six books on writing.

Stephen King's "On Writing"

"Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association" edited by Mort Castle

"How To Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction" edited by J.N. Williamson

"World Building" by Stephen L. Gillett

"Sometimes the Magic Works" by Terry Brooks

and "Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction" by Patricia Highsmith.

In the past I have been dismayed by some of the writing advice that I have found in writing books, but I figured I would skim through these and see if anything catches my eye. Currently, I am writing a caper, a soft science fiction piece, a collection of poems, and developing a fantasy novel that I have been working on for about a year. My writing has been moving in fits and starts through what has been a very hard year personally and I badly want to make some significant progress. Yesterday I wrote about the blog "Write to done" and that that blog asked for what three tips anyone would give an aspiring writer. I have been following the comments since yesterday morning. Most who comment and saying that writers need to write and read. So, I am off to write and read.

What would you recommend to an aspiring writer?

This morning on one of the blogs that I follow called "write to done", which can be found at http://writetodone.com/ , the question was asked "what three writing tips would you give a beginning writer?" Now, keep in mind that I consider myself a beginning writer, but I answered to actually sit and write, read, find someone that you can trust to give honest feedback, start sending things off for publication, and grow a thick skin. I know five things instead of three, but wasn't the request for three pieces of advice just arbitrary anyway?

What would you recommend to a beginning writer?


I am also reading "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maas. So far most of what he is saying makes a ton of sense. Also after having worked many years in bookstores I can attest to the power of word of mouth to create a bestseller. People buy books by authors whose works they are already familiar with and enjoy and they will buy books based on a real and sincere personal recommendation from another person. One of the questions that Maas asks in the beginning of "Writing the Breakout Novel" is what three books are your favorites that you read over and over again.

I don't tend to read books over and over again because I want the new experience. Ones that I have read repeatedly are Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising", George Selden's "A Cricket in Times Square", and E. L. Konigsburg's "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. All of these are children's books. The latter two I read for the first time when I was in middle school. "The Dark is Rising" I first read in college. I used to be a teacher and I introduced these books to children that I worked with because I adore these books. Working at the bookstore I have recommended these books to hundreds of people looking for a good book for a young relative or friend.

When I was in high school, I read Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" many times. I am very leery of reading it as an adult because I don't want my adolescent fondness for the book diminished. In college books that I read more than once included Frank Herbert's "Dune", Margaret Laurence's "The Diviners", and Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca".

All of these books have multiple dimensions. They have significant themes. The authors stretched to create dynamic, powerful characters and rich and elaborate worlds. The books sweep the reader away and transform.

What books would you recommend to an aspiring writer to read for inspiration and as an example of great writing?

The Importance of Star Trek

I went to see the new Star Trek movie this evening. Don't worry I won't give any spoilers. But if you want to see what a green skinned Venusian girlfriend might look like, go see the movie.

I grew up with Star Trek in reruns. My uncle loved Star Trek and made sure that my cousins and I watched Star Trek. Roddenberry's vision of a utopia where people are not motivated by money and where the pursuit of knowledge and exploration have become dominant was part of my childhood. We learned much from the parables of Star Trek. The importance of camaraderie, the destruction of war, etc.

And then after the Star Trek television series, there were all the movies and Next Gen and Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Roddenberry's vision has become part of our collective consciousness of what the future might look like. Teleportation, warp drives, tricorders, communicators-- they have all become part of what we expect the future to hold because of Star Trek. Already one of the space shuttles was named Enterprise. Our cell phones look quite a bit like communicators. Perhaps, a mini version of an enhanced diagnostic MRI machine will be developed that will look and act like a tricorder. Perhaps teleportation is not far off. Perhaps faster than light speed travel via a type of warp drive will be developed-- if so it might be that Roddenberry's ability to bring a real vision of the future has inspired and shaped the direction of scientific and technological development.

Sometimes science fiction is dismissed as being an inferior genre of fiction, but the example of Star Trek shows its power to inspire and spark real development. Recently, I read an author's opinion that science fiction was in demise. If this is the case, then it is dreadfully unfortunate and something to pursue reversing. Science fiction offers the seeds of possibility. Would we have visited the moon without H.G. Wells or the vastly optimistic science fiction of the fifties and sixties in which anything seemed possible? The New Wave movement, cyberpunk, and the New Weird all have shown marvelous creativity and explored current themes important in our society, but have in some ways led us to a more pessimistic outlook in science fiction and perhaps inadvertently narrowed the grand vision of science fiction. While alternative histories explore aspects of history and show us what might have been, they don't always lead to a vision of the future. Science fiction offers a unique opportunity to explore via the imagination the possibilities for scientific advancement and technological breakthroughs and how these might impact humankind. It can lead the way towards a new future. If science fiction is in demise, then our future is diminished as well.

How Many Chances?

How many chances do we get in this life?

This is my question for today. Nothing more.

Home

I am visiting a place that I will be moving to over the summer. It is vastly different from where I have lived almost consistently since I went to college. When I first visited Colorado a couple weeks ago, I saw these beautiful black and white birds. Magpies. They are everywhere. It was a subtle thing but their presence struck me. In Michigan we have big fat robins with orange-red breasts. One gets used to seeing them. I have only seen one robin in Colorado and no cardinals or blue jays. In Ann Arbor there are coffee shops everywhere and quite a few tea shops. My veins are not filled with blood. I do not have much extra money and I live very cheaply, good coffee and tea are my indulgences. I cannot find a coffee or tea shop anywhere.

In Michigan, the scenery on the western side of the state where I grew up is dominated by Lake Michigan, its white dunes, and the progression across the landscape from dune to deciduous to hard wood forest. There is water everywhere and indeed the entire state of Michigan is one large aquifer. In the spring Michigan goes from being dirty, grey, and gloomy to green in a matter of a couple weeks. In southeastern Michigan where I have lived for the last several years, the landscape is unremarkable.

Where I will be living in Colorado is nestled into the Rocky Mountains. The landscape is dramatic. Snow capped mountains can be seen in the not that far off distance. Big horn sheep nibble grass along the side of the highway. The highway meanders alongside mountain rivers and streams that cut passages through the mountains and the car travels past sheer rock. The sun shines in Colorado and the air is clear.

When I was growing up, I didn't have much and I don't need much. It has always been a kind of freedom for me. I have been thinking about what I need to feel at home somewhere.

Growing up, I used to need long periods of time by myself to sort out my ideas, fuel my creativity, and decompress. I would go into the woods or ride my bike to Lake Michigan and sit and stare at the lake. When I was in college this transformed into sitting at coffee shops by myself where I could stare into space because I lived in co-operative houses with many other people and I needed my "alone" time. Even now while I love interacting with people, I need quiet for at the least a few hours of the day. Currently, I walk to be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes I need to be alone for days and only interact with people that I trust. My patterns to get my alone time will have to shift-- perhaps back to something similar to when I was growing up.

Another thing that I need to feel at home is books. I need to know where the library is. I found the library this morning in the area where I will be moving to. It is a good size library and the librarians seem very friendly.

I also need to keep learning and taking classes. I am decidedly over-educated, if that is possible, but my brain itches to learn new things. I found out today that there is a community college in the area around where I will be living and they offer, amongst other subjects, math and art classes. I am very excited about this.

The internet is another thing that I need to feel at home. I have become so used to being able to e-mail friends and talk over video chat that I would be lost without internet capability.

So, the actual things that I need to move to make my new residence a home are not that many-- my great grandparents' wedding photo, my great grandmother's sewing box, the china tea set that my Grandma Hansen painted for me, and my teddy bear that survived being boiled when my cousin had meningitis being the absolute essentials. While I like my collection of coats mostly purchased at thrift stores, they are not necessary for my happiness. Most of my material things aren't what make me feel at home. New habits and routines and just getting comfortable in a new area will hopefully eventually make Colorado feel like home.

What do you need to feel at home somewhere?

Fear of Purple Prose

I write. I write daily. Much of it is hidden in badly organized files, stacks of disarrayed papers, and scattered notebooks. Far from the vision of others. It is wordplay.

You see. I am of the worst kind.

Send your children from the room. Cover the eyes of your innocent pets. If you are of a sensitive nature, reader discretion is advised.

I am a lover of words. I adore scanning my eyes over the sensuous curves of print contrasting brazenly with the white of the page. I enjoy finding a virginal word fresh from the thesaurus or dictionary, whether it be a noun, verb, adverb, or my favorites-- the juicy adjectives. I glory in whispering these newly discovered jewels from the land of language. I thrill to the experience of wrapping my tongue around a fresh word, allowing it to touch my lips, inserting it into sentences, exploring all its nuances of meaning, and ecstatically learning the whole of it until it lies limp and I am satiated with the experience.

You may gasp and call me a fiend. OOooo such a lovely descriptor. Fiend. A fiend of words. I have been accused of being a criminal wordsmith. The charge levied against me was that of brandishing purple prose.

But, I tell you I am innocent. I am a victim of my own disease. Pity me for I secretly write poetry. Yes, I am a poetess. Ballads, sonnets, cinquains, sestinas, pantoums-- they all sing scandalously in my heart and compel me to find my bliss in the company of words outside of the steady promise of fiction. I try to be virtuous and turn away from the orgiastic nature of purple prose but the temptations at times draw me in. I am a weak woman. You are right to fear the purple prose. Its enticements lead only to the downfall of those who would be published, but the joys of lyricism bring their own marvelous delights. It is a daring thing to edge close to the abyss of excess, teetering near the brink with sweat dripping from one's literary brow and adrenaline enlivening all of your senses, then the page comes alive with meaning beyond the mere presence of the few graphemes scrawled, and you cry out with accomplishment and collapse with the release of completion. Ah, yes. Fear the Purple Prose.

Doors slamming

Thoughts are tumbling through my mind today. I have decided I hate the sound in my mind of doors slamming shut. Opportunities slipping away. I keep telling myself it is all just belief. Supposedly whenever a door slams shut a window opens. I think this is rubbish. Doors slam shut and you are locked out or locked in. By thoughts as solid as doors.

We all have a type of magic within us. Very powerful magic. But very few of us ever realize it and fewer still use this magic.

Mostly, we look around at our situation and nestle into it. We can not envision beyond the obvious. We dare not take any risks. We are burdened by what is and give up on what is possible.

Imagine if each of us believed for one moment at the same hour and day that we could build towards a world where economic inequities were a bad thing. Or simply that the stranger was a potential friend.

Would you give up comfort for your heart's desire? Would you give up surety to achieve a lifetime dream?

The doors are slamming shut. I am trying to find ways to slip through keyholes, walk through walls, and rise up through the roof. I know the passages are there.