November 6, 2011
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Fiction, Football, & Financial Occupation
Fiction: I have reversed my position on fiction.
What the heck am I talking about?
Well, for years, I wrote fiction and very much enjoyed it and eventually made money from it and perhaps the pinnacle of my fictiony endeavors was a science fiction novella entitled One Day, which is sadly (for me) no longer available for purchase online, or I would happily link to it.
Then, one day, due to a terrific mix of unfortunate circumstances, I decided to quit fiction.
To be honest, this was mostly due to the market on fiction having dried up in the freelance arena, with publishers and even content farms leaning much more toward a model that rewarded knowledge-based non-fiction work.
However, the straw that broke the me-camel’s back was… chronicled in this rant.
In short: My writing style, upon formal examination, is criticized for not meeting standards — yet today’s best-selling authors do not meet those standards.
What a stupid environment.
Yet, here I stand, about to start writing fiction again. Just submitted a couple short stories (flash fiction, specifically) and even a few poems (gasp) for a money-at-stake-for-top-three-finishers contest. I imagine I will submit more pieces in the upcoming weeks and months. And, in years, will likely write another novella, if not a full-length novel altogether.
Despite my hatred for how standards are deemed and maintained and such, my position has changed and I am willing to give it another good ol’ try for one perfectly frank reason: At this point, the market for any type of freelance writing online is drying up, and to not be open to certain marketable needs that I may be capable of filling because I have a negative opinion on something would just be silly.
If I can get paid for fiction, I am going to write it. Period.
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Football: I am, painfully this season, a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, by virtue of having been born in Indianapolis then living there for 20+ years before moving to Bear country. Since I enjoy the product that the NFL has to offer, I naturally have to pick some sort of allegiance, and the Colts have been a rewarding franchise to follow.
But, as to my thoughts on this season, on Peyton, on Andrew Luck, well, I almost hate to say it, but: I would be totally cool if the Colts tanked it this season, got Andrew Luck, and traded Manning. Is that blaspemy? Maybe. But is this the best time to trade Peyton, before he shows his decline? Yes. Is he getting old? Yes. Does he obviously now have some serious, permanent health issues? Yes. Wasn’t he the last quarterback to be as highly touted as Luck is now? Yes. Wasn’t it totally worth it to endure a rocky season or two before he became one of the greatest pigskin-slingers of all time?
… that bit is actually debatable, and maybe I will go into that with another post (summary: for as good as he was at his best, he should have won more than one Super Bowl, though it hardly sounds fair to “complain” about “just one” of those), but basically, the point is one last question: Would I gladly go through the risk, growing period, and potential upshot of Andrew Luck? Yes. Yes I would.
Oh, but American football is different from soccer, which is what most of the world’s population knows as football (or futbol, etc.), and this is relevant because I found this video of a French humorist (?!) that happens to have MIND-BUSTINGLY amazing skills. Seriously, this is awesome stuff:
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Financial Occupation: A lot (A LOT!!! I AM TYPING IN ALL CAPS AND USING MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS TO EMPHASIZE THIS DESPITE ACCESS TO BOLD AND ITALICS!!!) can be said about the Occupy movement, but, as far as all that Occupy Wall Street stuff goes, my position is this:
If the point of the Occupy movement is to highlight the fact that in America it is absurdly too easy for some to acquire wealth while absurdly too difficult for others, then count me in. 100%. I am there. Sign me up.
Because, indeed, the system has flaws and sometimes it flat-out sucks and makes too many things too many difficult for too many people too often. Period. I love the economic concept of capitalism, but when those who wield power over it exhibit unethical tendencies, the result is definitively bad.
Comments (10)
glad you’re getting back into fiction again. and good luck.
i need to submit short stories and flash again. it has been a long while for many reasons.
re your reason for supporting the occupy movement: right on
i played futbol with some friends in Munich one afternoon. one of them had been offered a shot with Bayern München but he chose a career in teaching instead. i sucked of course. this guy though, holy crap when he dribbled it the ball seemed to be tethered by an invisible bungy cord to his feet.
re financial occupation: when doors are open to corruption people lacking in moral fiber will take advantage and people with such fiber will be left in the dust. deregulate crime and society is overrun by criminals. unregulated capitalism would work if everyone was enlightened but then so would any system.
you have to follow your dreams and talent in writing.
Probably there is no reliable formula for good style in writing. ”You can make generalizations,” I offered, “that will guide you most of the time. But there are always exceptions.”
“In the end,” I commiserated, “good writing follows Potter Stewart’s formulation.” Writing about pornography, he opined, “I know it when I see it.”
Ha ha here is the case where I ought to have said “said.”
@bonmots@TheSutraDude - Thank you for your support, and affirmation of the sentiment that we all ultimately just end up making a choice one way or another as to our passions.
@we_deny_everything - Haha. Thanks, for that. :p One of my favorite quotes on writing goes like this:
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” — W. Somerset Maugham
If you’re enjoy writing fiction, you should join the writing contest. The #1 prize it not much, only US Dollar 150, but it’s better than nothing.
@RestlessButterfly - And if you enjoy people joining the writing contest, you should really, really provide them with more details — at the very least, where they could find more information on this vague “the writing contest” you are referring to… #JustSayin’
@theericbailey - I thought you know about it because we been blogging about the contest for weeks. I’ll give you the link and I hope you’ll enter the contest. You’re a very talented writer.
The details of the contest is here XWWC MAJOR UPDATE
http://bmojsilo.xanga.com/756498183/xwwc-major-update/
@RestlessButterfly - Ah, sweet, thanks!
@theericbailey -