A Newsweek Article and My Take On It

I was really inspired to write a post today trashing Christians, but after spending a few hours reading Newsweek’s recent article, The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin By Kurt Eichenwald. I decided poor Christians have been trashed enough for one week.

Am I a Christian? I’m really not sure. I love nature and this wonderful planet. I love what has been created and it’s insane to believe our beautiful earth was created a few thousand years ago. Since humans weren’t here during the process, the controversy of by design or by nature, the way the other trillions of planets were created, is somewhat up for grabs.

I try to love my neighbor as I love myself. I try my very best to be a good person and I don’t need a bible or an edifice to do this, as society, any society pretty much demands this automatically or suffer the social consequences of not doing so.

I guess certain Christians would dub me immediately a sinner, but doing so, according to the Gospels, makes them a hypocrite. I’ve really never felt the need to go to church. I’ve always felt I didn’t need to prove my faith. After meeting many avid churched people who claim to be followers of Jesus, I’m not sure I would want to be in fellowship with them. I, like most people I know, are just really confused about this whole church thing. Let me see if I can be clearer.

Some time ago, I spend a couple blissful summer days when on vacation in Northern Michigan reading the Four Gospels. When finished, I truly felt that I knew what Jesus asked of those who would follow him.

So did I run to the nearest church, fall down on my knees and start praying? Nope. Actually, I did just the opposite. I walked outside into the glorious day and marveled at what God had created. A dark, dusty, musty church would be the last place I wanted to be on such a beautiful day. I imagined what it must have been like to walk in the sun with this wonderful man and wondered how they, those who said they loved him, could have betrayed such a gentle soul. But then, being somewhat familiar with my fellow faulted humans, I could understand what drove them—jealousy, fear, misunderstanding, the usual faults we all deal with on a daily basis.

Churches were built by man to satisfy man. The earth and all its inhabitants were created by God. Maybe that is why we don’t understand. Maybe that’s why we humans make simple things so complex. Maybe Emerson was right when he said that we are so frightened by nature that we feel we must destroy it to show our dominance.

We don’t need a church to meet God. All that’s needed is to meet Him. It’s not complicated. Humankind made the whole man/God-relationship complex because of control issues. If people understood that God is completely accessible then there would be no need for preachers, priests or any of those who profess they know God better than ordinary folks.

One funny thing happened soon after I read those 4 short chapters of the New Testament. I was asked by a family member why I never went to church and I quoted what Jesus had said in one of His most famous teaching moment.

It’s called the Sermon on the Mount. His message is considered complicated, but it’s very simple when read in context. Jesus didn’t like the hyper political and privileged Sadducee and Pharisee. His sermon, therefore, was a denunciation of what they stood for. That’s part of the reason I don’t go to church. Jesus didn’t need a church to get his message across. He just needed a small hill in the sun—the church his Father built.

I don’t believe in churches or Sunday and why I do not feel the need to pray in them is written very plainly in Mathew 6, verse 5 through 9 of which I’m only going to quote a small portion of here. If you want to read more, it’s totally accessible.

“And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.”

If this isn’t clear enough then I don’t know what else to say. Apparently it’s sinful to even construct a so-called place of worship. To construct a temple, humans probably should go by the laws and directions set out in the Old Testament. But then they’d also have to be a Hebrew priest to do it correctly.

There are so many places where Christians defy God with their silliness. Another example of this is changing the Sabbath to Sunday, a day set aside to worship the sun, not the Son. But then again the Newsweek article’s title actually says it all: The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin.

It’s All About Those Rights, Those Rights, No Trouble.

I was having a conversation today with a friend and author about marketing—what else, you might ask. When the conversation ended, it got me to thinking back when I was an agent and a strategy I used a couple of times successfully—get published by a small publisher, market the hell out of your book and, when it’s successful, sell the rights to a major publisher.

Like I said, it worked a couple of times for me and my clients. So now I’m a publisher and so I try to encourage our partner authors to market, but I think something got lost in the transition or the translation.

Everyone is so busy these days and one wonders how authors find the time to write novels. But writing is fun and relaxing, whereas marketing isn’t. Because it’s such an unpleasant chore, most authors put it off or expect their publisher to do it for them. When sales languish, they blame their small publisher for being small.

This is a shame. To draw attention from big publishers who are always looking to buy the reprint rights, a book beat them over the head to get their attention. Books don’t have to be bestsellers; they just have to have a solid sales record to get on some major house editor’s radar.

So what does it take to get solid book sales? The good news is it doesn’t take as much time as writing a book. Marketing can also be fun if it’s done right. Readers like authors who are accessible—so be accessible. Do not, however, go on Facebook and yell—Buy My Book, Buy My Book!! Why? That should be obvious. Social networks are all about, well, being social and soliciting a book is not being social. So how can I market if I can’t let them know I’ve got a book?

One of the best ways to sell anything is to be you. Be honest, helpful; knowledgeable—give something to get something. Be a friend. If your nice, people like you and if they like you they’ll want to know you and guess what? They’ll find out you’re an author and want to possibly know what you’ve written—because they like you. Wasn’t that easy?

But social networks are not the only way to market. They are just one of many ways. You should be on them, but they are not the end all. The main thing is to be known as an author. Find people who like you and like what you write and cultivate those people. One fan is worth 100 followers on Facebook—ten fan worth a 1000. Fans will help you promote so that you don’t have to do it all yourself. Lastly, your publisher can help, but he or she cannot create fans. You have to do that part.

You Can’t Fix Stupid!

It’s a proven, scientific fact that most human suffering is caused by ignorance. Ignorance is all around us. It multiplies and feeds on itself like a forest fire feeds on dead brush. Ignorant people make bad choices and bad choices put entire populations at risk. The ignorant believe the stupid are smart because the stupid say things the ignorant understand and therefore want to hear. True intelligence is fearful and beyond the realm of the ignorant person’s understanding. The ignorant put the stupid in charge of things which eventually lead to pain and suffering while the ignorant unsuccessfully try to fix stupid.
Stupid leaders make stupid choices then try to pin their stupidity on others. Stupid people other stupid people in charge in an attempt to fix dumb problems made by stupid choices. As a last resort, stupid leaders always war because the stupid feel their stupid mistakes are always someone else’s fault.
Despots are stupid but crafty. Through craft, the media, and military strength the stupid can, for a time, control the ignorant masses. However, despotic rule eventually ends leaving anarchy to fill its vacuum.
In modern times, we’ve seen multiple tides of ignorance led by stupidity morph into anarchy as the ignorant try to fill leadership vacuums with more stupid people. Leaders fall and leaders rise but the stupid remain forever. Stupidity breeds ignorance which brings forth more stupidity and ignorance. Anarchists bring destruction, poverty and disease because their only concern is power. Ignorant masses which they help build will eventually destroy them. History repeats itself again and again because we are too ignorant to fix stupid.
Today we see this story being playing out before us in Syria, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in what seems to be constant revolution in African nations. Hunger and poverty and ignorance leave a populace unable to feed itself, let alone educate its next generations.
One would think the world’s educated would treat ignorance as a disease and eradicate it at all costs, knowing the destruction ignorance is capable of causing. However, there’s a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance can be fixed through education, but there is no cure for the stupid people even the educated put in charge.

Writers Are Word Dancers

My wife and I love competition. Because there aren’t many sports that a couple can engage in fully clothed, we chose competition sport dancing. Sport dancing, or DanceSport, is an international sport much like soccer is international.

Like any sport, DanceSport requires coaching, training, dedication, and practice to compete successfully. There many levels of competition in divisional categories based on whether a couple is amateur or professional, just like there are many levels of writing based on whether you are an amateur or a professional.

In addition to dancing, I also write novels, and sometimes I can’t help but compare potential success in writing to potential success on the dance floor. After all, each has its share of winners and losers. As mentioned above, as a dancer I must be coached and trained to be successful.  Is this true in writing?  Of course it is.  Having worked in nearly all facets of the publishing industry, I’ve always found this to be the case. However, I find that many writers feel they can compete with no training at all. Yes, almost everyone can write just like almost everyone can dance. However, everything changes when you go from just writing to wanting to be a published author, just like everything changes when you step off the social dance floor and onto the competitive dance floor.

For example, presentation becomes not only important, but vital. Step on the competition dance floor in jeans, and you’re not going to get a lot of the judges’ positive attention and that will distract them from getting the full impact of your dancing. The same goes for a manuscript. A sloppy manuscript is fine for your personal read-throughs, but when you decide to ask a reader to buy your work, your book needs to be polished so that it doesn’t distract from the story or readers will never buy another one of your books.

Also, even at the lowest levels of dance competition, the interpretation of the music is key. Just going through the patterns is not enough, even if they are technically perfect. If there’s not emotion, no connection with the music, there’s nothing for the audience to connect with. The same goes for your book–story is everything. If you have no real story, nothing your readers can connect to and enjoy, then you don’t have a book.

In dance, we practice and practice and practice to compete for anywhere from 5-20 minutes, depending on the competition. In publishing, books that take months to write and revise often only get about the same amount of time to wow the reader. Each requires a great deal of effort with little time to impress the intended audience, so the stakes become incredibly high.

Writers for years complained about gatekeepers who they felt were standing in their way and preventing them from being successful authors.  But as with dancers, writers also have those who judge their performance and it’s not just agents and editors anymore.  Even now that most gates are wide open, the indie author is still being held accountable by the same gatekeeper who has always judged them—the reader.

When you decide to go to the next level, whether in dancing or writing or something similar, you have to be prepared to understand, first of all, that competition is fierce, that there different levels and requirements, and ultimately, success of performance is directly proportional to how much time and effort is spent in preparation of the final product and its presentation.  And, as it is with competitive dancing, performance is everything.

Print Books Here to Stay

Johnny Reads

Photo Credit: Julie Griffin

Okay guys, anyone who reads about books or the publishing industry on any kind of regular basis has read at some point in the last couple of years about the demise of printed books. I know I have. I’ve always been the person to roll my eyes and acknowledge that those writing such pieces had no real information to back up their claims that printed books were a dying product.

I know what you’re thinking. What about Kindle? Or even iBooks or the Nook? Ebooks have certainly changed the publishing industry, there’s no doubt about that, but to say that ebooks have moved printed books toward the brink of extinction has never been close to reality. Obviously when something new comes along everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Ebooks saw triple digit rates of growth for years, until 2013 saw the rate slip into the…

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Cars and Such

I love cars. I always have from the very first car I owned to the one I currently drive. What amazes me is how far we’ve come from the car of yesteryear to the super vehicles we drive today.

I drive Hondas. I’m now on my third Accord. Because I lease Hondas, it allows me to drive a new one about every two years. Because I don’t put loads of miles on my leases and because I take good care of them, they’re premium grabs for the used car market. But that’s another story.

The first Honda I leased was a 2009 Accord LX. Leased cars usually come with just about every goodie accessory on them. The 2009 was a nice car and I really loved driving it. My next one was a 2011 Accord SX. The SX is really just an upgraded LX. Honda does this when they change designs to encourage buyer to own a Honda. This one came with heated leather seats, larger wheels and other goodies, for instance. Although very much like the LX I drove prior, for some reason this car seemed to have move punch. For a small engine automobile, it could go from 0 to 60 in less than 10 seconds. The only objection I had to this one was road noise.

All in all, I thought the SX was a great car until I leased my current 2014 Accord EX. The EX is sits near the top of the line with only the EX-L above it (the L version has heated leather seats), and is loaded with goodies. This car also has just has a 4 cylinder engine, with an optional V-6. Again, you’d be blown away with how much power this relative small engine develops. Of course the 6 speed, no shift transmission helps, giving it no lag at shift points.

When you push down the accelerator, this little monster roars and even burns a little rubber. And the great part is that it gets almost 40 MPG at highway speeds in the economy mode.

I don’t know how fast this little car will go. The speedometer goes up to 160 and I wouldn’t be too surprised if it wouldn’t do all of it. I’d like to take it out on the track once to see. Cars of today have stuff in them that only formula race cars had in the past.
Outstanding engineering allows the modern, comparatively small four cylinder engine to develop racecar-like power and apply it directly to a six speed automatic transmission. Couple this with rack and pinion steering and race car suspension and you understand why Fiona in Burn Notice said this to her passenger when he accused her of driving like Mario Andretti, “Mario Andretti never drove a car like this.”

Oh No, Not NaNoWriMo

I’m beginning to be irritated. I don’t like to be irritable but come on people!! November (must be because it begins with N instead of M), is NaNoWriMo month. I get this way as November approaches. Those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is must live in a cave.

During this time, the month of November, every Wa-Wa-Na-Na-Be with a word processor (and probably even a cell phone), tries to throw together a complete novel in a month. This fact alone irritates the shit out of me. Some even fail (all or them in the minds of readers), and I’m on their side. Because in the mouth of December, most of them decide it’s also their destiny to be published. They do this as a gift to mankind–or whatever.

Like someone said on Write Me a Book John recently, “editing is a bitch.” No, actually, editing is fun if you know what you’re doing. Writing, real writing, is a bitch, or as Hemingway said to an aspiring writer: “You shouldn’t write if you can’t write.” Of course, today, we all think we can write if we force ourselves.

As I sit here musing about what to bitch about next, there comes to mind the question: Why was it when there was only the typewriter there were so few writers?

I also have to laugh at the gentleman who said, I don’t like Twitter because it limits me to only 140 characters. I say to him: if you can truly write, 140 characters are too many. I wonder if he’s one of those who plasters Twitter with pictures? Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but there weren’t that many pictures before smart phones.

And that brings me to: you’re not a photo-journalist just because you can take a selfie with your Iphone. This also applies to writing.

Why I Dance

The room is crowded with men and beautiful women dressed in dance apparel. As numbers and name are called, each couple entered the dance floor and face each other.
Then the music begins:

The Autumn leaves drift by my window
The Autumn leaves of red and gold.
I see your face, our summer kisses
Those sunburned hands I used to hold.
Since you went away, the days grow longer…

Such grace, such beautiful music can be more fully appreciated with your arms around a gorgeous woman as you glide down a polished dance floor. The motion, the song’s lyrics mean so much more in the excitement of competition as pit your skills against those around you. This meshing of movement and song can only be fully appreciated in dance. No other sport can match it. This is why I dance.

I Didn’t Like Spam When It Was Just Canned Meat…

This spam came into my inbox this morning and only reason I didn’t delete it immediately is because I needed a subject for my next post. Thanks for the favor, Bookarama.

The Trust Factor

“Independent and self-published authors have weathered a lot as the industry has shifted from big publishers acting as the gatekeepers—deciding who’s in and who’s out—to a marketplace of free-flowing ideas. The publishing industry, like any other, is complex, and there’s a lot to learn. It’s not easy to navigate, especially if you’re trying to figure it out by yourself.”—from spam e-mail from Bookarama

This is actually kind of funny, but I won’t let you in on the joke. Just yet. Seems as though someone needs a reality check. Let’s go on…

“It’s not uncommon to hear of authors who invested their trust and finances in a “helpful resource,” but ended up with a substandard product. In short, they got rooked. If you’ve heard the scam stories or have been a victim yourself, it may be hard to trust another provider who says they want to help you. But we do!” —from spam e-mail from Bookarama

Do you feel it? Everyone is a scammer but “us”. TRUST “US”. Yes, there are those who will take advantage of you–if you let them. One of the best ways to spot a scam is when someone says exactly what this ad is saying—“Trust us.” Scammers pray on telling people that everyone is a crook but them. Usually, the deal the scammer offers is always too good to be true.

“In fact, Bookarma envisions a world where people can discover books that provide solutions to their problems and/or fulfilling entertainment from independent authors—authors who are no longer constricted by the traditional publishing model and can now reach a global audience. What’s our goal? It’s connecting indie authors with every reader.” —from spam e-mail from Bookarama

 Isn’t this called Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo? No? But that’s where I go to find entertainment or information from independent authors. I just use an online bookstore’s very convenient search engine and search on the subject. That’s not how you’re supposed to do it? Then…wait for it…The solution to all your worries and problems are just around the corner. Are you ready? Here it comes.

“In order to build your trust, we’d like you to try before you buy. We want to help as many authors as we can to get global exposure that they could never achieve on their own. So we want you to have your first month free. The monthly subscription doesn’t cost much in the first place — only $15 — and the first month is on us. Go to Bookarma, sign up, start a Campaign, and use the coupon code getkarma at checkout. You won’t pay a cent for your first month!” —from spam e-mail from Bookarama

See, I told you it was just a matter of time. Yup, for only $15 a month awaits the solution to ALL your problems—and they are going to throw in the first month free—but I assume they’ll want your credit card number to get that first month free. That’s how most of these places work. Of course you can stop your subscription at any time. Do you know these people? Do you trust them with your credit card number? OMG, if life were so simple everybody would be jumping on this bandwagon and Bookarama (or is it Bookarma) would be so rich they wouldn’t have to clutter up my inbox with their unrequested crap.

All this tenderness makes me want to weep, this Trusting and stuff. As usual though, this is one of those things that is just too good to be true. People, you don’t need this. There’s literally tons of FREE information everywhere. All you have to do is ask the question: HOW DO I DO THIS or HOW DO I DO THAT? It’s called Googling the Internet. Learn to use it. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s free.

Yum! Fall dish recipe

As I grow older, I find I’m a pretty good recipe cook for someone who rarely cooked when younger. Yesterday I prepared a dish that has a fall feel to it, probably because the original recipe called for pumpkin. I’ve tried this recipe with a small pie pumpkin but found that butternut squash is much more flavorful than pumpkin, so I now use squash instead.
I’ll walk you through the recipe. If you’d like to try it, give me some feedback on what you think. The recipe serves two, nicely, and calls for:

1 medium butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into 2” chunks.
4 (or whatever a small bag contains) shallots, peeled and quartered.
3 tablespoons of olive oil (I generally use more)
3 tablespoons of dry sage
Sea salt and pepper
12 oz. of rigatoni
2 tablespoons margarine
5 oz of crumbled goat cheese. (I find the flavored kind is best).

I cut the squash crosswise into about 4 pieces and then peel it by laying the pieces on their side and slicing the skin off slicing around sqush. This speeds up the process some. Yes you waste some squash, but squash is cheaper than labor.
I find peeling the shallots takes the most time, but these little devils are worth the effort,

When finished, cover a medium baking sheet with foil, coat the foil with olive oil and scatter the squash and shallots evenly on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with dry sage and salt and pepper over the pieces. This is where putting additional olive oil beyond 3 table spoons comes in handy. When all is on place, turn the pieces over to evenly coat them with spices, seasoning and oil. I find it easier and less messy to use a flat spatula for this task.

Heat oven to 450 degrees when up to temp, place the baking sheet filled pan longwise in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes using a timer.

Next, fill a large pot with water, add salt but do not heat yet.

When the timer goes off, toss the squash and shallots. Again use a spatula. You’ll know why as ingredients are now soft. Turn the pan 180 degrees and place back in the oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes and apply high heat to the pot of water. When the water is at a rolling boil, add rigatoni and stir occasionally.

Cook pasta for about 12 minutes or until done al dente. Reserve I cup of pasta water, drain pasta and return it to the pot. Add back pasta water and set pot on low heat.

Remove squash and shallots at 15 minutes.

Add margarine, goat cheese to the pot of rigatoni pasta and stir until melted. Add squash and shallots from the baking sheet to the pot of rigatoni, goat cheese and margarine and stir gently.

This dish is great with a good bottle of pinot. Bon Apatite