The Scrawl Lives!

Its funny. You start out a new endeavor all bright and bushy tailed. Only to feel like no one cares and to let your new toy fall to the wyside. Then there is that little dose of acknowledgement. Someone to tell you that they appreciated what you wrote and it re-awakens the idea that made you start in the first place.

I don't know if I'll ever be a consistent blogger, but I think I will try to be better than I have been. Baby steps before you can start running.

Changing Tastes in Authors

It always strikes me as weird when I decide that I no longer like certain authors. Perhaps I have just grown jaded as I've gotten older, but authors that I remember reading and enjoying have often lost their appeal to me. Maybe they're writing has grown stale, maybe they were never any good in the first place, or maybe I'm jut older and wiser (hah, tell that to my wife) and I've learned something.

This doesn't mean I won't pick up one of their books, but it does mean that I rarely enjoy reading them like I did when I was younger. There seems to be far more I can write better than that thinking going on. The latest example is R.A. Salvatore's The Ancient. I can remember when I first picked up The Crystal Shard, I was engrossed in Salvatore's action scenes. I still think he does a good job of technically describing what is going on in his battles; you can tell that he has thought through the physical give and take. The problem is that is has become the literary equivalent of a Steven Segal movie, every movie good ol' Steve broke someone's (or three) arm with the same tired ass slow move, and now I feel the same about Salvatore's fights. The detail has lost its pizazz.

The story isn't that bad, its just little things bother me now that I probably glossed over before. Maybe I'm just finally growing up but it makes it hell for enjoying the things you enjoyed when you were younger.

Library Thing

I ran across this website the other day and was immediately intrigued. It allows you to enter your books (by author name, title, ISBN no., etc.) and then can provide you a virtual library of all the books that you possess.

I can hear some of you asking, why in the hell would you want to do that? Well for me, it is a nice reminder of what I have read, authors that I like, books that I would like to read again (I have a pile of six or so right by my desk), but most of all it fulfills my need to sometime create order. This is something I have always seesawed with. There are times when everything around me is chaotic and then I impose strict order, but I am never good enough to maintain the order an things tend to degenerate again.

There is more to library thing that makes it a great time waster: you can look at other libraries, the ever present forums, it will recommend books to you based on your library, there are reviews. All in all its a fun way to waste some time that doesn't involve the omnipresent pron that dominates the net.

Oh yeah. Slainte. Raise a pint this St. Patrick's day for all those who are Irish, all those who were Irish and all those who claim to be Irish, if just for this one day.

Good thoughts for the Weekend

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

I ran across this Irish toast the other day and thought that it was a good thing to keep in mind as I roll through the things that life throws at me. Short and sweet thats all for this post. Maybe more for St. Patrick's day.

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

I just finish reading Wintersmith, the third in Terry Pratchett's nominally young adult series, about the 'big wee hag' Tiffany Aching. For those few of you who have never heard of Terry Pratchett you have missed out on one of the comedic gems of the literary world.

When the almost thirteen year old Tiffany Aching, witch in training, accidently joins in the Dark Morris dance that marks the end of summer and beginning of winter, she comes to the attention of the Wintersmith, Winter himself. Winter, being a elemental force, doesn't know how to handle being in love with a mortal girl and causes all kinds of havoc trying to woo Tiffany. Tiffany herself isn't sure on whether she likes the attention, but it is kind of nice to have every snowflake look exactly like her.

Terry Pratchett has a keen ability to take what could be stereotypical characters and breathe full of life and humor. All three of the Aching novels are set in the Lancre mountains of his Disc World. The easiest way to let you know what you are in for when you open a Disc world novel is that the world is flat, resting on the backs of four giant elephants, who in turn stand astride a ten thousand mile long turtle that is swimming through space. Mr. Pratchett uses this bizarre magical world to hold a mirror to our own and has explored a wide variety of themes in the dozens of books set in the Disc World.

Wintersmith is classified as young adult, and that is the section I found the book at the local library, but there is nothing dumbed down or limited in his taking standard mythic fare (heroes, elemental forces, gods and humans interacting) and standing it all on it ear, shaking it a bit and watching the interesting things run around the room.

Most fun of all are Pratchett's little blue fairies the Nac Mac Feegle. Imagine if you would a tartan kilt wearing, sword wielding, red headed man six inches tall, instill him with the will and desire to fight anything and everything, drink whatever alchohol is close at hand, or not so close as the case may be, and take away any sense of property rights or privacy and its no wonder the pictsie Feegles are the only fairies to ever been kicked out of the homeland. Ach, crivens the verra thought is 'orrible, wailey wailey!

For the Feegles alone this book and its predecessors The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky are worth hunting down and reading. I'd rate it a solid 4 stars out of 5.

As an aside, Mr. Pratchett recently announced he has early onset Alzheimer's, hopefully he continues to write and entertain. The loss of his voice will be a great blow.

Little League Baseball

Two of my three children play little league baseball. My youngest, Alana, was not interested in playing t-ball this year, but she loves to hit the ball in the backyard, so maybe next year. Youth sports is an interesting phenomenon. For the last three or four years I have coached one or both of my sons' teams as they play soccer or baseball. Unlike some people I have yet to have a bad experience. There have been no bad parents, very few bad kids, but I know I have been lucky. I have friends who run other leagues and have stories about coaches telling their pitcher to hit opposing batters; I have heard of people wanting to get into fights over pee-wee (6 year old) football; you hear of volunteer umpire's and coaches getting assaulted.

Sometimes the response becomes well why do organized sports? The answer is the kids have fun. What should always be kept in mind is that the kids don't truly care about winning and losing. Don't get me wrong, they love to win (even t-ball age kids will ask who won a game where no one keeps score), but within minutes after winning or losing they have moved on.

My oldest son, who is 8, was on a better than average soccer team this last season. They came in second in their league and made the regional playoffs. Ultimately they came in third place overall out of 116 teams. I didn't hear a single kid bemoaning the loss that kept them from playing in the championship game, they were truly happy and excited about the great season that they had, not the could-have-beens.

Being involved in your child's youth sports allows you to meet their friends, to become involved in who they know, to get a real sense of who your children are becoming. I want my children to succeed, it is exciting when they win; but win or lose, I want them to try their hardest, to constantly be learning, to be good sports, and above all to be active and healthy as they grow and become the people they are going to be.

First Words

The first words of any work are the hardest to put to paper. There is always a fear that you are going to be wasting your time, say the wrong thing, make someone mad. It isn't unil you push past that fear-actually put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard as the case may be-that something worthwile might develop.

For me, writing has become my lifeline. I have always dabbled at writing, a short story here, a few paragraphs there, but for the last six months I have been seriously working on a variety of projects, (all Fantasy or Science Fiction) one of which I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It is exciting watching a book form beneath your fingertips, I find myself staying up past midnight, fingers flying over the keyboard, hoping that what I am putting down has some semblance to the story I set out to tell. It is strange how the story that I originally thought was about a twenty something professional thief has grown into a look at her childhood and how the loss of loved ones over the years has affected her. Each change has led to new insights and new directions for the characters.

These are the first words on this blog. I don't know as I write them if anyone will read them. I don't know where these words will take me. I do know without the first word, there will never be a second.