Go with the Action Verb: New Year's Resolution

Not the noun resolve or resolution but the verb resolve.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of resolve was in the 14th century, Middle English derived from the Latin word "resolvere to unloose, dissolve, from re- + solvere to loosen, release."

Here are desires, goals, thoughts, dreams--call them what you will--writing action-steps that I resolve for 2011. That's right, I unloose and release them into the world.

• The Stone Dragon: I resolve to rewrite this novel to simplify and clarify its language. This will be the 7th major revision, with a lot of minor diversions, as in "version 2.1 or 4.3." The rewrite will renew the concept for me, allow me to confidently renew my quest for representation, and lead me to the first rewrite of the first draft of Dragons of Blood and Stone.
• Love Ya Like a Sister and Bare Ruined Choirs: Now that I have accepted the proof of LYLAS, my printer Lightning Source will send me books and place the book on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites for sale--within a couple of weeks. I resolve to allocate regular time for marketing these books.
• Ebook publication: I resolve to research ebook publication requirements and to publish Love Ya Like a Sister as an electronic book. My first three ebook publishers to research? Lightning Source, Smashwords, and Kindle. LS, since I already am a publisher with them. Smashwords because of the company's universal publishing strategy, and Kindle because Amazon is such a major player.
• Author "Platform": For a little over a year and a half, I have been developing connections with folks who are interested in writing and reading--and a lot of other things: my Facebook writing page and LinkedIn, the most prominent social networks. That's the way it is with social networks and the whole "friends" phenomenon. I resolve to allocate time to keeping connected. For most of 40 years, I wrote and didn't worry too much about publishing. Time to share my words. 

 These writing goals obviously interconnect. My social networking connects with marketing. Ebooks are a quick and less expensive access for readers for recreational reading--and I feel Love Ya Like a Sister fits that category. Literary agents and publishers look to see if an author is connected and can help in promoting a book. And finally, as a creative writer (in the most literal sense of the word), I want to be passionately interested in my current writing project. I want to create.

These goals seem enough, but I haven't even mentioned the goals for my other profession--teaching (the one that, more or less, pays the bills). Nor have I mentioned personal goals for health and happiness--my marriage, my time in the garden, and riding my bicycle.

At least as I move into the new year of 2011, I won't be troubled about having nothing to do!

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Love Ya Like a Sister: final steps

Novel Manuscript and Proof Copy

I've been saying this for a while, but I believe it now to be the real thing: the novel will be out soon!

The above photo is of the manuscript of Love Ya Like a Sister and the proof from my printer, Lightning Source.

I was hoping that the proof would be perfect, and then I could have finalized and ordered books a week ago. However, I found some small changes (and a couple larger) and so will need to upload another book block and then look over another proof.

Also, I had some last-minute challenges with a couple of the interior photos, so I substituted them for photos that I took--no problems with possible legalities that way!

I believe I will have to accept that going through the proof and finding more changes is a necessary step for me, even if it costs an extra seventy dollars. Reading the book is a different experience than reading on a screen or even reading the hardcopy manuscript. I look at the words more objectively--as if for the first time.

This book, though, I feel that I put together myself. Yes, I certainly had great guidance, but my hands were those that worked the computer. I'm learning!

My routine for this book was to work until I got stuck or had significant questions. Then I invited my expert friend out to lunch, brought my computer, and we talked. I went home and worked away until I needed help again--and then another free lunch for me friend. It was fun, actually.

Unless I experience unexpected glitches, I expect I should have completed copyright procedures, have copies of the novel in hand, and for the novel to be available through Amazon by the end of January at the latest.

I'll keep you posted.

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Endangered Alphabets: a book, an exhibition, a vision

Cultural integrity is embodied in language, and here is a project that recognizes and celebrates that: the Endangered Alphabets Project, fathered by Tim Brookes.  

 Individual copies, signed and inscribed, can be purchased for $29.95 plus $2.50 for packing and mailing, the PayPal link available via the website links.

The Project's wonderful website explains itself, and I will use its words to introduce it.

From "The Exhibition":

The world has between 6,000 and 7,000 languages, but as many as half of them will be extinct by the end of this century.

Another and even more dramatic way in which this cultural diversity is shrinking concerns the alphabets in which those languages are written.

Writing has become so dominated by a small number of global cultures that those 6,000-7,000 languages are written in fewer than 100 alphabets. Moreover, at least a third of the world’s remaining alphabets are endangered–no longer taught in schools, no longer used for commerce or government, understood only by a few elders, restricted to a few monasteries or used only in ceremonial documents, magic spells, or secret love letters.

The Endangered Alphabets Project, an exhibition of carvings and a book, is the first-ever attempt to bring attention to this issue.

 From "The Book":

Endangered Alphabets, with an introduction by David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, is now a reality!

The goal of Endangered Alphabets, the book, is to act as a catalogue to the exhibition, but to go farther and raise questions about writing itself: how it develops, what it expresses beyond straightforward meaning, how it is being affected by all the rapid changes in technology.

In his Introduction to Endangered Alphabets, David Crystal writes:

"This is an unusual book, combining elements of linguistics, aesthetics, biography, and travelogue. The vocabularies of art and linguistic science become bedfellows, and each seems comfortable with the other. Its honest account of the trials and tribulations of a woodcarver will be a revelation to anyone who has not thought about how such things come to be. The dispassionate observation of a script, seen through the carver’s eye, adds a fresh dimension to our understanding of how a writing system emerges."

 "The Blog" contains links to Brookes' articles on a variety on topics related to his project: language as magic, endangered languages/endangered cultures, and endangered "signage" (traffic signs that include an endangered language, such as Cherokee from the Gallery tab). One favorite is an article on new languages developing in India.

I think equally as fascinating as the Endangered Alphabets book is the fact that Tim Brookes is carving examples of these alphabets for the exhibition and for "signs" to be posted in libraries and various other sites. The article about carving letters on an exotic wood called "Padauk" (the slab bought for Brookes for his birthday by his daughter Zoe) is a wonderful record of the author and artist's love not only for language but also for wood.

Author Tim Brookes provides a number of videos on YouTube, one of which introduces the project and the others that discuss some of the endangered languages: Tifinagh, Balinese, Cherokee, and Baybayin. The videos are "home video" quality records of Brookes briefly describing endangered languages. Their charm consists of his passion and the interesting details he includes. I've included his introduction to the Endangered Alphabets Project below, but his short descriptions of individual languages on the other videos are more interesting, I think, available through Brookes' YouTube Channel.

Tim Brookes is also the head of the Champlain College writing program, a cutting-edge initiative that engages its students in actively using the most current technology to publish books. Endangered Alphabets: a fascinating website, a fascinating project, a fascinating book, created by a fascinating man.

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved.

Photo citations available on the Endangered Alphabets site and its linked pages

The Jade Christmas Tree: Ho Ho Ho!

This year we have opted for a small "Christmas tree." I think my wife's creativity quite beautiful, actually. We are combining East and West. We are using a sustainable practice. We are providing an additional glamor to the beauty we already cherish. We are enjoying ourselves.

P.S.: It helps that our youngest child is twenty-one years old!

We wish everyone all joy, health, and prosperity in the coming year.

Zane Grey: my love/hate relationship with his writing

I love Zane Grey's writing; I hate Zane Grey's writing.

His description of the West--the canyons and rivers, the sage and sky--just beautiful. His action . . . I should smile it's good! And the Romance demands the capital letter--love greater than the small self, transforming the characters.

And then Grey will throw in some slur to Hispanics or Native Americans or African Americans, some derogatory stereotyping of a racial or ethnic or religious minority--not to mention those plucky but delicate heroines--and then I want to use the book to start my campfire.

But I have a cold today, and Zane Grey is the perfect medicine--sweet with an after-taste of bitter medicine. My pharmacy was a free ebook from Project Gutenberg for my nook.

It takes a very special human to totally transcend the limitations and prejudices of an particular time. We know and revere those few, special individuals. And we regret the lack of greatness in others and ourselves when we perceive it.

I like to think that Zane Grey, if he had lived in our times, would have written books that were even better, were even more universal in their appeal.

I read and accept and forgive . . . and hope that others forgive me for my errors, writing or otherwise.

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Guest Blog: delanceyplace: 12/15/10 -- Take Your Time

"Delanceyplace is simply a brief daily email with an excerpt or quote we view as interesting or noteworthy, offered with commentary to provide context. This blog lists the content of the daily emails distributed to our subscribers. There is no theme, except that most excerpts will come from a non-fiction work, mainly works of history, and we hope will have a more universal relevance than simply the subject of the book from which they come. You can sign up for the email at delanceyplace.com."

In today's encore excerpt - for those who are already expert at their craft there are perils to rushing or over-rehearsing. Here Paul Shaffer frantically tries to reach Sammy Davis Jr. to select a song and schedule rehearsal before his appearance on the David Letterman show:

Every time I called [Sammy Davis Jr. to try and select a song or discuss rehearsal] he was either working or sleeping. He never did return my calls.

The morning of the show I was feeling some panic. Sammy was flying in and we still didn't know what he wanted to sing. At 10 a.m. the floor manager said I had a backstage call. It was Sammy calling from the plane.

"'Once in My Life' will be fine Paul" he said. "Key of E going into F."

"Great!" I was relieved.

I was also eager to work out an arrangement. We whipped up a chart, nursed it, rehearsed it, and put it on tape. That way when Sammy arrived he could hear it.

Then another backstage call. Sammy's plane had landed early and he was on his way over. When I greeted him at the backstage door with a big "We're thrilled you're here," I was a little taken aback. He looked extremely tired and frail. He walked with a cane.

"We have an arrangement, Sam. You can rehearse it with the band."

"No need baby. Gotta conserve my energy. I'm just gonna go to my room and shower."

"I wanna make it easy for you. So I'll just play you a tape of the arrangement on the boom box. That way you'll hear what we've done and tell me if it's okay."

"Man I know the song."

"I know Sam," I said "but what if you don't like the chart?"

"I'll like it, I'll like it."

"But what if the key's not right?"

"Okay, if you insist."

I slipped the cassette in the boom box and hit "play." To my ears the chart sounded great. Sammy closed his eyes and in Sammy style nodded his head up and down to the groove. He smiled.

"It's swinging man," he said "but think of how much more fun we could have had if I hadn't heard this tape."

His words still resonate in my ears; the notion still haunts me. Sammy sung that night but as he was performing, I couldn't help thinking that his carefree feeling about time - as opposed to my lifelong notion of the pressure of the time - was coming from a higher spiritual plane. As a musician, I've always thought I rushed. I still think I rush. The great players never rush.

It reminds me of that moment when I watched Ray Charles turn to his guitarist just as the young guy was about to solo and say, "Take your time son. Take your time."

author:	Paul Shaffer
title:	We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives
publisher:	Flying Dolphin Press
date:	Copyright 2009 by Paul Shaffer Enterprises Inc.
pages:	234-235

Learning English as a Second Language (ESL): YouTube Videos

If my opinion, the first thing to realize is that videos helping individuals learn English are not just for English Language Learners (ELL). 

When concepts are broken down to their basics, that fundamental knowledge can be of use to any language user, whether that individual is learning English as a second language, or whether that individual is native to the English language.

YouTube now boasts at having 1,530 videos to help in learning the English language.

I've checked them out. (No, not all of the videos!) And, for anyone who has interacted with YouTube, it will not be a surprise that content and technical quality varies. However, with over fifteen hundred videos, even if only ten percent of the videos were usable, that would be a large number (assuming one can find the diamonds among the gravel).

Examples:

Academic Writing - Parts of a Paragraph: In this video, a lecturer uses a white board to explain the parts and organization of a "North American paragraph." The presentation is boring, yet the information is clearly presented. Don't look for Gandalf and the Balrog discussing how to use transitions, but important ideas are conveyed fairly quickly.

How to Do Something: Here are varied step-by-step videos, such as how to answer a phone or how to make a potato salad. Not only can these be useful for English language learners, but videos such as this can be useful for teachers in demonstrating speaking skills for younger students. (Even negative or non-examples can be productive. "Okay, students, how could this have been done better?")

20 Irregular Verbs: This category is simply a quick review or drill of the major conjugations of verbs: draw, drew, drawn, for example. Music, a young woman providing some visual connection, and a quick once-through are the key elements of this video.

Other categories include travel, slang, stories, grammar, vocabulary, business English, and many more. From a teaching perspective, the key element in all these videos is modeling, seeing how to speak, hearing how to speak, many times within an appropriate context. Beware when reading that a New Zealand or British usage may be different than one used in the USA.

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Figment: Write Yourself In (a new writing site for young writers)

They're out there--the sites where writers can upload their writing and get feedback from others.

Figment is a new site, organized and catering to young adult writers, although there are no restrictions on age (after all, I'm a member). However, one of Figment's moderators, Lindsay, is twenty-two, according to her forum post.

"What is figment? Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you're into, from sonnets to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all here."

In a recent article titled "Web Site for Teenagers with Literary Leanings," the Wall Street Journal discovered that the creators of the site had originally envisioned a sort of "literary Facebook for teenagers." They discovered, though, that teenage writers wanted something different.

“I really went into it and thought, ‘We’ll be the social network for young-adult fiction,’ ” said Mr. Lewis, a former managing editor of The New Yorker. “But it became clear early on that people didn’t want a new Facebook.”

The young people on the site weren’t much interested in “friending” one another. What they did want, he said, “was to read and write and discover new content, but around the content itself.” 

 To me, an apt comparison is that Facebook is standing on a street corner and chatting. Figment is sitting in a coffeehouse or bookstore, friends gathered round, sharing the literary ambiance.

Even in its days-old infancy, the site has the challenges one would expect. An avatar which contains a four-letter word beginning with "F" that ain't fish or fork. Folks on the forum complaining about the concept of "appropriate material" and asking all kinds of questions about exceptions. In other words, normal stuff.

The tabs bar icons for the site read as follows: home, figment library, figment features, contests, forums, blog. The personal signed-in tabs read my desk, my writing, i'm following. Yes, this really is a site for text-messaging writers; the "i'm" is not capitalized.

I'm following and interacting with the site for a while. If it looks dynamic and nurturing, I'll recommend it to my students. In the meantime, I've uploaded four pieces: some flash fiction, a poem from my book Bare Ruined Choirs, and the first four chapters of Love Ya Like a Sister.

Enjoy!

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

David Lynch, Clint Eastwood Are Helping Soldiers Deal with Post-Traumatic Stress

The online digital media company and website Tonic has just published an interview with film producer and director David Lynch about teaching the Transcendental Meditation Technique to military vets in order to cure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).




Journalist Jo Piazza begins with the following hook:

We made a valiant effort to chat with David Lynch about the amazing work his foundation is doing to spread Transcendental Meditation. And we only asked him about 'Twin Peaks' twice. We're still fuzzy on who killed Laura Palmer.

Tonic reporter Piazza's first question for David Lynch is "What exactly will Transcendental Meditation do for returning vets suffering from PTSD?"

In the interview, David Lynch responds, in part, with the following:

 From what I have heard, the veterans with PTSD are suffering big time. I have learned that 18 veterans commit suicide every day. One of the treatments is to show veterans programs of violence until they finally get numb to them. This to me is inhumane. You give them Transcendental Meditation and it is like giving them the key to the treasury within every human being.

The Wall Street Journal has also written an article on Lynch's efforts to help veterans.

This article provides further insight into Lynch's efforts:

"Now, Mr. Lynch wants to bring this approach to help the thousands of war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"'These men and women have a lot of honor for what they have been through and don't want to appear weak or admit suffering,' he says, pointing to high suicide rates and incidence of PTSD among veterans."

A fund-raiser gala event, "Change Begins Within," will raise money for the David Lynch Foundation to further its efforts to help veterans and others throughout the United States and the world to begin the Transcendental Meditation program.

Addendum: "Russell Brand, Clint Eastwood Join Meditation Project." Lifeline Live.

Copyright 2010 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved.

Images from corresponding websites.

Love Ya Like a Sister: moving to completion

Love Ya Like a Sister is a big girl now, all grown up. And she looks pretty in pink.

I've read three manuscripts returned from my Beta readers, and now I'm fifty pages away from completing my final read-through of the book. Perhaps two other readers will get me the manuscript before submission, perhaps not.

I now know why birds push their babies out of the nest. There comes a time when it's time to move on. I expect to submit my files to Lightning Source by this next weekend.

A friend told me the mark of a creative person is when you can't wait to move on to your next project. If that's the case, then I suppose I'm feeling pretty creative right now. Marketing, of course, will take its time, but I can manage that time.

I look forward to the rest of the cold season, me huddled around my laptop, keeping warm, happy within my blankets and my imaginary world. I think I'll buy a pair of those thin cotton gloves and cut off the fingers. I'll get a large cardboard box and put it in my office. I'll crawl in with my blankets, my gloves, my sock hat, my mini laptop. I won't shave. I'll speak in grunts and mono-syllables. My wife will be awed by my creative lifestyle for about three seconds.

I'm a writer, and I've got an idea. Stand back--this might get messy.

Copyright by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved