Free Range Thinker

Archive for the ‘Novel: Recycled Heroes’ Category

Tune in to Talkin’ Sports Saturday morning at 10:00 as our guests will be “Baseball in Fort Wayne” author Chad Gramling and Indiana Tech Athletic Director Dan Kline.

Read more here.

I happened upon a Winston Churchill quote today:

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.

Oddly enough, just yesterday I finished another “affair” with Distant Replay and I am hoping to kill that monster by firing her off to the public. It took less than 24 hours to get my first rejection following our break-up.

But I still hope to shake this beast so she might be shared with the world. Pray that I will fare better with future queries to other agents and/or publishers.

[tags]books, writing, queries, rejection, Churchill[/tags]

Well, if you have been paying attention (even remotely) to the sports scene, you have undoubtedly heard about the idiotic statements by Tim Hardaway. If you really analyze the situation, you can learn a very simple method of creating the story. Here’s the formula:

Step 1: Wait for a sports personality to open up a controversial topic. In this case, it’s former NBA player, John Amaechi, revealing that he is gay – and was while he was a player.

Step 2: Suddenly, this topic is a talking point. Bring in as many people as you can that has a remote connection to the sport and ask a very open ended question to them all. In this case, the question is as simple as: How do you deal with a gay teammate? (note: previously, there would have been no reason to ask this question)

Step 3: Pay attention to the answer: This strategy will play well for both you and the person you interview. It will allow them to take a high road that is so politically correct, the discussion will go into the massive vault of pointless interviews and add to your experience resume. But it will also allow you the chance to pounce on an opportunity that presents itself when people are speaking too openly.

Step 4: Politely thank the guest or go in for the kill. If they take the high road, thank them and go on to the next chance to draw blood. But, if they say something stupid, pounce.

In this case, Hardaway responds by saying: I don’t think that is right. I don’t think that he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room, and it’s just a whole lot of other things and I wouldn’t even be a part of that.

Step 5: If you smell blood, go for the kill! This is where Le Batard follows up by saying (accusing): You know what you are saying there is flatly homophobic? It’s bigotry?

The response from Hardaway is: Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States. So yeah, I don’t like it.

This, my friends, is where Tommy Boy would murmur out of the side of his mouth, Jackpot. Congratulations Mr. Le Batard, you are now the catalyst for creating a national story and drawing unprecedented attention to yourself and a silly debate that has very little to do with sports. In the process, you have disrupted an entire team that now must deal with increased scrutiny, fueled a surefire controversial and likely endless debate and contributed to all that is bad with sports reporting these days. But at least you will be up for a couple extra industry awards this year, right?

[tags]Le Batard, Hardaway, homophobia, sports reporting, bigotry, stupidity[/tags]

Anna Nicole Smith, the Playboy Playmate turned reality TV star and tabloid starlet has passed away at the age of 39. I have never much followed her career and this post is not an attempt to priase her life or the legacy she leaves; rather, it is an observation.

Smith’s life stands out to me as unique, to say the least. While much of her maligned lifestyle and the occurances during her time on this Earth were much of her own doing, she was a person. Clearly, she was troubled. Clearly, she experienced many moments of heartbreak, distress, trouble and perhaps abuse.

She often is credited (more like ridiculed) for creating her successes and rising to unheard of prospects. She represented glamour, chaos and the persistent ugliness that often exists in our society during her time. It’s safe to say, there are few – if any – who represented our current times like Anna Nicole.

[tags]Anna Nicle Smith, Playboy Playmate, Reality TV, tabloids[/tags]

Okay. This is probably old news to most, but it’s new to me.

Last night, I was flipping through the guide on my TV screen. Rarely do I ever find myself stopping at FUSE, but I saw that Pants-Off Dance-Off was on. If you haven’t seen this, you just have to watch it to understand it. It’s kind of like when people tell you not to stare directly in the sun during a solar eclipse, but you do it anyway.

Anywho, I had watched it only once before and I figured I could kill a few minutes seeing what sorts of characters were trying to gain fame by making an ass of themselves on TV. So, I reluctantly hit select on my remote. A few minutes later, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

Little Stephanie “How Rude” Tanner from Full House fame was hosting the show. I’m sorry, but it just wasn’t right. How in the world could this little girl, this sweet little girl go from being Stephanie Tanner to encouraging people to come on TV and “get nekkid”?

But, it seems I really lost touch with little Stephanie since the day I declared no more Full House in my house. Since then, Steph . . . er, Jodie Sweetin has been married, in rehab and divorced.

Right here is where I would normally make a comment about “man, how did I miss that Full House moral moment?” or an “I can just hear Uncle Joey telling Stephanie to ‘Cut-It-Out” but the welfare of one’s life really is not a funny matter.

It’s great that Sweetin was able to come to terms with her own identity and recover from personal struggles following the pulling of plug on her show:

“It is kind of hard to figure out who you are when you’ve lost your job at age 13, when that was basically how you identified yourself . . . I really hope this isn’t the last people hear of me. In fact, I would like to make this [rehab] a footnote in my career, not the end.” [Source: ABCnews.com]

I wish you much luck in your continued career and life success, Jodie. Godspeed.

[tags]Full House, Pants-Off Dance-Off, Jodie Sweetin, How Rude, FUSE, Stephanie Tanner[/tags]

I have been thinking a lot about personal credos as of late. I am not talking about a creed in a spiritual or religious sense, though many will undoubtedly consider me sacrilegious and narcissistic for professing that I have a personal credo.

I started thinking about this a little while back as I was developing my book (the one I actually have a publisher for). I realized that I may be asked by at least a couple people to sign a copy for them. That realization sent me into shock:

“I can’t even write my name legibly!”
“I don’t want to sign just my name.”
“I have not idea what I would write.”

So like I do with everything; I thought about it and then I thought about it more. Then, more again.

Surely, if I were to write something, I want it short and concise. Something I can write easily. BUT, it also MUST be relevant.

So, I thought about it more. Then, I started to reflect upon how I had gotten to this point:

When I was seventeen and a senior in high school, I decided that I would one day write a book and see it on a shelf or display at a store. There it was; my ultimate personal goal. Then, I went through college, got a job, got married, had a child went through college again and have led a prototypical and “normal” life.

I was somewhat content with that situation. But in the back of my mind, I was starting to wonder if I would ever REALLY pursue that dream. Honestly, I think I may have given up.

Sometime later, I ran into my old friend Brian while he was in town for a CHRISTMAS family gathering. He proudly confirmed what his brother had told me just a week later earlier; that Brian had landed a job with a company he had always dreamt of working for. It wasn’t the career Brian sought, but the work. Brian is an artist. He worked through multiple degrees, which included a program at a prestigious art college that is not easy to enter.

Despite financial hardships, a limited job pool and having no head start like many folks do, Brian accomplished his dream. I was proud of him. I was disappointed in myself. He continued to pursue his dream, while I gave up on my own.

Days later, I began writing a novel. It took me about two years to complete because I started and stopped many times as I continued to complete my master’s degree. On January first of this year, I announced to many people that I had completed my book, redesigned my website and was going to go all out to get it published.

I was going to pursue – and achieve – my dream.

But a funny thing happened on my way to the dream factory. God provided a different path.

Through e-mailing with an acquaintance I knew professionally, an opportunity to write Baseball in Fort Wayne for Arcadia Publishing was presented. Surprisingly, my original e-mail had nothing to do with writing or publishing. It was by chance, luck and perhaps a little divine intervention that this opportunity came about.

So, four months into pursuing a publisher for Distant Replay, I was already putting it on hold to develop ANOTHER book. I still hold hope that I will find a publisher for the novel, and have even begun developing an exciting concept for a sequel. After my responsibilities with Baseball in Fort Wayne have subsided, I am sure I will pick up the momentum with great force and continue to pursue the dream.

So, back to the subject of personal credos. Taking the chain of events I just described into consideration, I realized that I have felt very alive while pursuing a dream that has taken about half of my life to accomplish. This, of course, is all in addition to living out my other life dream of having a strong family with my wife and the children that God chooses to bless us with. (Currently it is just one, but she has the energy of twelve).

As I have reflected upon all of this, I have concluded that without dreams, there is no life. Without life, there are no dreams. To make it more concise, I have developed my credo;

Always Dream – Always Live!

As I have told some of you, I have often felt that God was literally feeding me words to write at times when I was putting together the manuscript for Distant Replay. There were many times where I stopped writing simply because I was stuck and had no clue how to get the plot where it needed to go.

Then, at some of the strangest (and often most appropriate) times, God spoke to me. Hours upon hours of writing would follow afterward.

After finishing the draft, and thanking God for having been able to do so, I began reading the Bible with the intent of finishing it in 90 days. A few days ago, God spoke to me about the Distant Replay again. This time, it was to reinforce the message of the book.

Having sat on the book for about a month, I haven’t really thought about it much. When people have asked what the book is about, I would sometimes struggle to concisely sum it up to sound like I actually wrote the thing.

Then, while reading in chapter 9 of the book of Jeremiah, God did it:

4 “Beware of your friends;
do not trust your brothers.
For every brother is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.

6 You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the LORD.

Wow. God summed up a book of nearly 70,000 words in just 11 lines. God Rules!

Whenever I tell people I have written a novel and that I am going to try and get it published, the very first thing I am asked is either “how long is it?” or “what’s it about?” To this point, I have had a very difficult time telling people what it is about. It has been so tough, I have struggled and despaired over providing an answer. I started with the very simple premise that quickly became quite complicated.

You see, I am a fan of prose that forces people to think and consider both the realm of possibility as well as potential pitfalls in our lives and the world. Tonight during a special event at our church, I finally had an epiphany. I think Distant Replay fits into both those categories.

One of my recent posts was about the old White Lion song, “When The Children Cry” that was more recently redone by Seventh Day Slumber. Without a doubt, this song has had an impact on me, and tonight, the Lord made everything come full circle in my own mind.

I hesitate to tell anyone that I want to become a “Christian Novelist” because I really am not trying to do so. However, there will probably be a Christian sentiment to everything that I ever write. This is definately true for Distant Replay. The basic story is pretty much the way in which society fabricates heroes through sports, government, film, music and all forms of celebrity only to tear those heroes down to nothing before all is said and done. In other words, I might have titled the book “Faux Hero” and been a little more descript.

However, there is more to the plot than sheer entertainment. Tonight, for some reason, I realized how much I fear for our society and our world. Anyone who thinks things are getting better are very far off from reality. We are in a constant state of war, we are all but telling Christians that there is no place for them in popular culture and we are certainly telling the world that we are individuals who need only ourselves to be happy.

Sadly, what we are telling the world is all wrong. Wars do NOT need to be perpetual. Christians belong AND ARE NECESSARY to the world and life is about serving OTHERS BEFORE YOURSELF. I gotta think that if Christ were among us today, he would say the same thing (but who am I to put words in the mouth of Christ?).

So, when you ask me what my book is about, I can now tell you that is about “the fall of fabricated heros and choosing to follow the one AND ONLY hero that there ever was or will be.” Wow. That wasn’t so difficult after all. I just needed to wait for God to give me the words. Funny how that works out.

(By the way, the book is about 70,000 words long).

I’ll admit, I have gotten into a few reality shows like “The Real Gilligan’s Island,” “The Joe Schmo Show,” and for some reason, I always watched “The Surreal Life.” But for the most part, I hate reality television. Can refuse to watch turn to CSI until the last credits for Survivor have run and American Idol is an absolute waste of time. For that matter, any reality show on Fox is not worth anything of entertainment or moral value.

However, I read this today. If you’d rather not click, I’ll tell you the jist: In a reality ONLINE series called “The Runner,” a person must travel the country and avoid capture (by whom I am uncertain).

The game will take place both in the real world and online, with audience members competing for a cash prize. Players speculatively will share information about the whereabouts of the runner.

It is also beleived that the show, being launched by Yahoo!, will incorporate

Yahoo!’s other assets, such as enabling players to use Yahoo!Maps to find a location or Yahoo!’s travel tools to investigate a flight or hotel. Clues could be spread via Yahoo!’s instant messenger.

This is an amazing concept and I hope it happens. It’s the perfect evolution to blend technology, entertainment and life. Pretty soon, there will be no differentiation between the three and we’ll all live in this warped reality that was created by our own consumerism. YES!

Sarcasm aside, this does look interesting. I’m surprised this is not something Google hopped on board with first. You can also read more about it here.