I've noticed recently that due to having a teaching job involving three face-to-face classes, another teaching job online with a required 48 hour turnaround time for everything, being in a rock opera about the zombie apocalypse, doing music for Christian Challenge on campus, and trying to still spend time with important people, I don't really have much free time for writing. That should change slightly come November 4 or 5, when the online class is over, but for now it's what I have to deal with.
The point of mentioning all that is not simply to vent about it. I mention it because it's getting in the way of my writing. I have practically no time to dedicate to my own creative endeavors at the moment. In fact, right now I'm supposed to be grading homework for Basic Writing classes, but I can't bring myself to do it just yet.
Because of all of this, I have come up with a strategy. My plan is to build a story out of a single word. It seems a single word may be all I have time for at the moment. But if I have a word, I can create a sentence around that word, and from there (when I have a couple more minutes) a paragraph. I think it may eventually progress into a story, even, given enough motivation. I'm thinking of calling it a word-based story, which could be easily taken out of context, which I am fine with.
Do you have any suggestions on what word/words I should start with?
JF
13 October 2011
10 October 2011
Protesting
Recently, I've noticed a trend. It's a trend that's swept America before, and usually it means some form of change is coming. There have been more noticeable protests in the last little while (I realize they go on all the time, but there are some gaining wider recognition of late).
I think it may be that, over time, we grow uneasy in our complacency. Not everyone takes a stance in the protests, but we almost always find ourselves siding with one entity or the other (i.e. the protesters or the protested). I find it an interesting method of effecting change, or at least of attempting to.
While I find the protests themselves interesting and I'm still deciding where I stand on one of them (the two I have been seeing a lot on specifically are the 99% protests and the online protests of Columbus Day, the latter of which I already have a firm position about), I do not appreciate protesters being shown as violent/riotous simply because a pesky idiot-"journalist" wants a story and tries to incite violence himself to get it (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/reporter-incites-occupy-d-c-riot-write-180750896.html).
As for Columbus Day, I have three questions:
1. Why do we consider him to be a hero?
2. What did he do that actually benefited society?
3. Would we celebrate someone today who was responsible for the same things?
What are your thoughts on these ongoing protests, and what do you think the results will be with either of them?
04 October 2011
For You and for Vince Gilligan
Dear Vince Gilligan,
Thanks for your recent work developing/producing Breaking Bad. I appreciate it. There was some extensive research that went into that show--either that, or you have some serious explaining to do. Regardless, I have come to appreciate the intensity of the show; there is tension even in the calmest moments. But every once in awhile, a moment of utter clarity occurs (often it is a humorous moment) wherein the viewer receives an unexpectedly well-delivered payoff for dealing with and being invested in the dramatic tension that is the core of the show.
Mysignaturehere
This is not meant to be a plug for the show, although it is something I would recommend, if you like good television; plus, the first three seasons are on Netflix instant. Rather, this is thanks to a producer for a quality product that inspires my own creativity. I have developed a number of plot and character ideas while watching the show. That isn't to say I'm taking his characters and trying to use them as my own--that's not the case at all. But I do see various elements in the characters' interactions that seem to speak to me as a writer, more than as a viewer. It's a nice effect.
For all of you: what is something (maybe something recent) that inspires you to do what you do?
JF
Thanks for your recent work developing/producing Breaking Bad. I appreciate it. There was some extensive research that went into that show--either that, or you have some serious explaining to do. Regardless, I have come to appreciate the intensity of the show; there is tension even in the calmest moments. But every once in awhile, a moment of utter clarity occurs (often it is a humorous moment) wherein the viewer receives an unexpectedly well-delivered payoff for dealing with and being invested in the dramatic tension that is the core of the show.
Mysignaturehere
This is not meant to be a plug for the show, although it is something I would recommend, if you like good television; plus, the first three seasons are on Netflix instant. Rather, this is thanks to a producer for a quality product that inspires my own creativity. I have developed a number of plot and character ideas while watching the show. That isn't to say I'm taking his characters and trying to use them as my own--that's not the case at all. But I do see various elements in the characters' interactions that seem to speak to me as a writer, more than as a viewer. It's a nice effect.
For all of you: what is something (maybe something recent) that inspires you to do what you do?
JF
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