Sunday, June 29, 2014

A Writers Life and Continuing Education

Cougar is always a good distraction when I have no idea what I need to do next.

I always said that if I won the lottery that I would go for my Master’s Degree, maybe even a Doctorate but only if I hit the lottery. Advanced degrees are highly expensive and in the field that I would study: English or Creative Writing, that wouldn’t be the best investment in a sure future that I could make. Why? Because I’m paranoid. I make no bones about holding onto my day job, my security and my sanity. Oh I dream of being a Best Seller but I don’t dream of starving or going into debt in the pursuit of it and my luck...well, I am contributing heartily to my 401K.

So, I pursue my obsession in the best and easiest way I can, I practice writing frequently. Sometimes it’s a daily pursuit; sometimes I skip a few days. I search the internet looking for tips and tools, market trends and promotions opportunities all in homage to this craft that I love, writing. Putting words together to weave a tale, sculpting words to make visions and inspire emotions. Obsessions… Who needs classes on being a writer? There’s the library, the internet, lots of books that you can read independently.

I will tell you that to me being published is almost the same as having a certificate of higher learning. Of course it isn’t but still…it’s pretty damn close. However…I am currently sitting at my desk after having finished my morning word count, and I find myself thinking, self you really should be doing something more, for instance:

• Isn’t there a book you should be promoting

• Isn’t there an Outline you should be revising

• Shouldn’t you research a few sci fi publishers for that current WIP you are working on

• Your grammar and mechanics skills are rusty, look up some books to work on that

• Don’t you have a newsletter that is late

• Why are you working on a SF work when most of your ‘brand’ is Paranormal

• Shouldn’t you do some updates to your writers expense report

• How about a plan to get a few short stories and novellas onto Amazon to get more name recognition

Yeah so those are only at the tip of the iceburg, before the headaches start. I have been writing for a while (a long while) now and while I don’t regret signing up for continuing education at a University, I swear I regret thinking that diligence and tenacity were all that I needed.

I’m a writer and some say that I am prone to be introverted but I say that I’m an introvert that happens to write. It has occurred to me that much of the confusion, frustration and ignorance that I have about my writing habit is because I had purposefully considered only one thing, the act of the craft while turning a blind eye on the one thing I could use. Socialization. Active learning. Cranking it out is important sure but I am certainly not prolific enough to have an agent, handler or promo team to allow me to just...crank it out.

I bet writer’s conventions, seminars and workshops have educational tracts that I could benefit from, tips and information that could relieve some of the anxiety I have as a writer, that could bolster the strength of my prose, my brand and maybe even the way I market myself… because although some might believe that all you have to do as a writer is to write….They would be soo wrong.

I have a FB page that I devote to Author Tools. I call it the Author’s Bar, because from the few conventions that I have attended many introvert authors seem to conspire there, myself included, to tap that Dutch Courage needed to socialize. Have I been attending the wrong cons? Possibly. Do I socialize with authors there? No. Am I uncomfortable with parties and costumes and swag showers? Kinda yeah. And to be perfectly dour, I find myself longing for lecture rooms and group circles where text is torn apart both for content and context, where trends are explained with flow charts and attack plans are detailed for success. But the amount of author gatherings with classroom formats are few and far between. (If I am wrong, please post some links to the bar)

Why, I wonder when writing is a very serious and ever changing profession. Sure I am a decent self-learner and I make my word counts, but in other areas I find myself doubtful.

I’m not writing this blog to influence a writer into conventions or higher learning, but simply to reveal what I am searching for and hope one day to find. So, if you know of an event that could benefit me or person’s like me, by all means use that comment box.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Human Race...At The End of The Day!

I don’t have common sense but I do so enjoy ‘Loving Day’ and the spotlight it shows on yet another petty matter that humans use to keep us from progressing further in science, politics and advancement of the species as a whole. Interracial…Race has several meanings, such as:

1. a contest of speed 2. to transport or propel at maximum speed 3. a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock 4. a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

My favorite however is:

5. an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group

Um...Humans!!The come in many appetizing shades!

Why shades should even be an issue isn’t a mystery to me, I do believe in racism and I know that it exists. The why however, is the bigger quandary. Humans come in hundreds and hundreds of shades, they have similarities on the surface and beneath however not one of the so-called races (a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock) is incompatible with another, hence the definition of race as a fundamental ‘interbreeding group within a species,’ is apropos.

That would be the simple way to consider the notion, debate or observations of interracial love but even in this day and time, humanity stumbles over the concept. There are dark and light shades within every race, Chinese, Indian, Native American, African, Europeans. And yes, unfortunately there are caste systems in which a person is either elevated or suppressed due to skin shade. So for those who think it is ridiculous for a person to date someone of a various colored groupings, I have to wonder what they would think if they were ostracized for dating someone of a different shade.

Perfect and perhaps not known example within the African American community: “I don’t date high yella men.” “I don’t date dark skinned girls.” “I don’t mess with brown –skinned women…” It may sound ridiculous, but I have heard those statements and more. I’ll give you the fact that we all have preferences, and I believe that that should be stated as such. A dark-skinned person with a light-skinned person could be considered interracial. Sound ridiculous.

But wait, what about a variance of beliefs, or a difference of culture and custom assigned to a race? What about generalized political affiliations, culinary differences, ideologies…If these are the struts that bolster the framework of race as a source of pride and empowerment…stability even, consider the stagnation of that might occur if any so-called purity could ever be attained. I mean no harm to those who seek what they know and are familiar with, but to ridicule or insult the pairing of two human beings with differences, negate the opportunity for unification stagnates within a group in solitary and prevents fresh and opposing experiences that might be more similar than either party knows.

There is a term, ‘variety is the spice of life,’ and human beings whether they know it or acknowledge it or not, are the product of such an idea. The idea of genealogy and tracing our ‘roots’ has become such a popularity now that there are paid services for the pursuit. Such research often shows variety in our backgrounds.

Now it may not be as poignant as you can obviously point out the white folk in your family, there are several Irish faces in my family tree, a couple of Native Americans, a few Scotts but mainly African descendants.

I consider myself a Black American not because of my background, and certainly not in any negation of the fundamental fact that many or most of are mixed. It's simple and it's the closest description I can come to that defines me in the environment that I was born into. That’s also what I check on the census form when it comes around. It’s easy, simple and requires almost no explanation at all of the scientific fact that interracial unions are not only possible but have occurred since the dawn of time. Many races, cultures, perhaps persons of various religions went into me!

I do so enjoy ‘Loving Day’ or shall I say ‘Keeping it Real’ day if only for the opportunity for people to reflect upon the fact that we are all the same species. Just because one person may be a different, color, culture, shade of ideological set, doesn’t mean that we are incompatible for loving, and that goes for straight, bi and homosexual folk. You're human, damnit.

Hungry aliens won't discriminate, so why should we?

Human is human. The sooner we realize that the sooner we can get focused on real issues, like poverty, discrimination, advancements in science, health and technology. All this separation and flag waving is just moot distraction...by the MAN...who I am probably related to several generations back, so...

Happy Loving Day Human. No matter what race, culture, color, creed or shade you are.

And Now On To The Really Fun Stuff

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Visit the following author and reviewer pages to learn something new or win a prize or two!

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