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Sigh.  I think I’ve had enough of them.

2012.

Planets coming to smash our own.

UFOs denied and/or propagated by our own government.

But I still might write one more manuscript (ms) dealing with UFOs. I started one months ago and got sidetracked.

I realized—years ago—that when I worked on any novel ms topic, I end up working on it for some 2 – 3 years. That’s a long time to focus on one area of interest that’s a “dark and cloudy” mindset.  I don’t like it.

I mean, sure, I like the weird and supernatural and paranormal, and all, but with all this focus on the end of the world, et cetera, well, I think I’m over it (people have been forecasting the end of world as long as there have been people, BTW…). And regarding that ms mentioned above, I’ve been trying to find a way to deal with its content without getting all pessimistic and dark and whatnot. I’m not like that. I’m an optimist. A believer in the good of life, so I don’t like focusing on the opposite. And I really do believe we create our own lives, our own realities, and I certainly don’t want to be a part of one that involves any literally “earthshattering” moments, if you know what I mean. I believe there are infinite probabilities to any one line, or track, to life, and though I don’t know the intimate quantum interactions of how things happen, I know I’ve attracted certain things into my life by the way I lived my life.

For example, I found that when I focused on the religious and prayed for stuff—I got them.  Praying worked.

When I left the religious mindset and consciously decided to bring in only certain events  to my life by focusing on the positive and attracting things that way—it worked.

The common denominator?

Beliefs.

I started down this path of conspiracy theorists as a way to research another ms I’d written and which is being shopped around by my agent, regarding UFOs. It started with Whitley Strieber’s Unknown Country website.  I’ve since found this man is deep into the darkside of life—and though I’ve read all his “Communion Books,” and understand (as much as someone in my position can understand) his journey, I don’t have to support it. I understand and applaud his delving into his own dark issues in a way that I understand as him trying to understand his own life, but I don’t have to be a part of it. I thought his site would be more optimistic (given his Communion Books), his e-mailed newsletters the same, but they’re not.  So, Mr. Strieber, I wish you luck on your journey toward a better understanding of the whys and wherefores of your life…but I unsubscribe.

That was the start of things.  The more I looked, the more depressing this stuff got.

The long and the short of it is that given my beliefs—that we attract what we focus upon—why would I want to attract this kind of life? Sure, makes for great sound bites and movies, but it’s not who I am, and what I want to live and say about my life. I want people to think about what they’re doing and thinking and make life better.  Not to worry about the end of life on Dec 21, 2012. And whether or not I’m full of it, I’d rather believe in the positive and optimistic than the alternative. It’s just healthier on many levels.

Make your life about living and positive attraction. Make it about growth and learning. Reject these negative concepts—because, really, that’s all they are. My dad had a good thing to say the other week.  He said, why worry about things over which you have no control?  While I understand that sentiment and agree in part to elements of that statement, I say we have control over far more than we realize.

So, I’m looking for a different angle to bring this one ms to completion. I like the angle of what I have in mind…it’s a different approach I’ve still not seen done in books or movies (not that I’m all that well read)…so, I think I have a way around the dark and gloomy.  But I really want to get to more optimistic efforts, of which I have several.  A lot of books seem to be written about really nasty shit that amazes me people want to read!

And people wonder why there’s such doom and gloom in the world?  Look at what you’re focusing upon! Murder. Rape. Incest. War. Lying. Cheating. Violence. Good, God, look at these books being published—the movies being made—it really astonishes me.

So, if I’m lucky enough to have some people out there reading this post, I simply ask, to yourself—there’s no need to tell anyone what you’re doing—to yourself, try to focus on the more positive, the more uplifting. Don’t focus on any kind of hate or negativity. If you have fear, acknowledge it, know it to be a human emotion brought about by circumstances you do not have to accept as real.

Or pray.

But, come on, do you really want a life that continues to echo what all these conspiracy theorists throw out there?

I don’t.

I just completed and submitted my WWII tail gunner (see previous post) story. I’m quite happy with it. 2,200 words.  And it seems every time I read it, well…a part of me gets  a little choked up.  I hope it has the same effect for others, but I’m aware I’m coming at it from a different perspective than most are probably going to come from.  I’ve talked about the feeling that I’ve lived other lives, and, I feel one of them was as a WWII tail gunner that went down in the manner I’d described in my story. Take it or leave it, but that is my conviction, and I certainly don’t require others to step in line behind me. Others have their religions and beliefs…this is mine.

But whatever the reason, I’ve always felt (along with other similar feelings, like regarding the Civil War or the Titanic) a deep in-the-bones emotional intensity whenever I see pictures of WWII.

Not WWI.

Not Korea.

But WWII.

And pictures involving flying, especially B-17 (the Flying Fortress) bombing runs over Germany, the ones where aircraft lose pieces in-flight, really hit a note with me…but it has only been recently that it took such an unrelenting hold of me and simply would not let go. I felt that someone was reaching out to me for some reason—it doesn’t matter what that reason, or if I even understand it—just that “he” had. The imagery, the thoughts, the reaching out from “wherever.”  Call it what you will…active imagination, wandering mind.  Doesn’t matter.  But I finally decided to give it the attention it deserved.  I’m glad I did. 

The short stick is that I believe things all happen for a reason.  There is only apparent randomness. Call it synchronicity, causality, or whatever, I feel we attract what we get.  In my life I’ve felt “odd” about certain things that only because of this sudden sharp focus of attention the past several months seem to be making more sense. Such as always having an “odd feeling” while being in the very back of airliners (you know, the very last seat, or standing in the galley back there), or, as a kid, I got the book Flying Fortress:  The Illustrated Biography of the B-17s and The Men Who Flew Them, by Edward Jablonski…the odd feeling when I had been at the prone in-flight refueling station aboard a KC-135. The fact that all “this” started with the thoughts and images of “said guy” at the gym (I had been stretching in an empty martial arts/yoga room…and a lone ceiling fan [propeller images!] had been on, too, if you must know…)…only to shortly thereafter find the Memphis Belle movie on TV…and, further, that I ignored this movie the entire night, then only “happened” to channel surf back to it during the in-flight collision scene where the empennage of one B-17 (in the movie, Mother and Country) was separated through a mid-air collision.  Or how disturbed I feel every time I see photos (or watch that dang Mother and Country scene…) of B-17s falling out of the sky in pieces—sometimes damaged by their own mistakes (such as upper levels of B-17s inadvertently dropping bombs on the horizontal stabilizers of their own aircraft beneath them) or by whole wings shot off by flak or aerial dogfights.

It all quite unnerves me.

It’s almost like I could feel the falling.  The screaming out of the sky in a fiery death.  Sure, I feel for the other planes and the lives lost in the fighters (not to mention those on the ground), et cetera, but the feeling, as I recently analyzed it, just isn’t the same as with the Forts (B-17s).  It may not affect you, but for me…those B-17s…they affect me.  Always have.

So, in this story I wrote, I (unconsciously at first) found myself creating the structure of falling…and once I consciously noted this, I immediately set about trying to enhance that structure.  I hope I’d succeeded.  And now I feel conflicted.  I’m glad I finished the sorry, but feel a sense of loss…at the same time I feel I’ve helped someone.  It’s never good to continually focus on the “past,” but try to learn from it, give it the energy it deserves without invalidating it, then move forward.  I liked working on the story, doing that research.  “Revisiting old stomping grounds,” if you will.  As I’d described in the Genghis Khan exhibit post, I felt a sense of “coming home,” here, too.  Like I’d revisited an old friend, one I might have inadvertently put off a little too long…and now we must go our separate ways.  I wish him well!

I’d like to thank all the research avenues I pursued in creating this story, from the paragraphs from Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns book The War:  An Intimate History, 1941 – 1945, dealing with the B-17 crews and some of their stories, to the websites, like the one honoring tail gunner Sergeant Glen E. Seeber, or the pages on Eyewitness To History detailing B-17s, and the pages on Dave’s War Birds, detailing battle-damaged B-17s. Also thank you to all of those who got back to me about my questions about battle-damaged B-17s.  I appreciate your time and efforts.

To my own personal tail gunner who just would not leave me alone, I hope I helped.

I did it for you.

Yesterday I visited the Genghis Khan exhibit in Denver’s Museum of Nature and Science, with my wife and Mother-in-Law.  Short of traveling all the way to Mongolia itself, this was a très cool experience! I really enjoyed it. I’d wanted to visit this exhibit since I’d heard about it late last year, and I’m glad I finally got there. There was a lot to see, and though I thoroughly enjoyed it (and the two demonstrations we’d seen, with a musical and contortionist presentation) there was one area of disappointment, which I’ll hit below.

Walking into the special exhibit section’s doors, and seeing the image of the Great Khan elicited such a deep sense of familiarity within me.  I don’t know if it was because of all the research I’d done, or any other metaphysical considerations, but, yeah, it kinda felt like I’d “come home.”  When I wrote one of my still on-the-rounds novel manuscripts (mss) that involved Genghis Khan, I did a lot of research, and while researching, I remember feeling that deep sense of familiarity and calm when I saw the open plains (steppes) depicted on page xxvii, of the Paul Kahn’s translation and adaptation of The Secret History Of The Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan, which I read and reread during the writing of my ms.

But here’s my issue:  yes, those were rough and brutal times, and Genghis (or Chinggis, or Chingas, or any other derivative) was just as ruthless and violent…but if he was so much the absolute incarnate of evil that much of the world seems to make him out to be, then what of his Great Yasa that he (yes, he) created in order to bring, well—order—to life?  The absolute freedom of religion he allowed?  The “importing” (okay, “importing” can mean plundering and pillaging, here, but he also did seek out talent in other, non-violent, ways, too, if I remember correctly…) of skills that the nomadic tribes of Mongolia utterly lacked? The incorporation of writing into a largely oral culture (the exhibit talked about how it was thought that the Mongols had brought in the Uighur language and modified it, but I’d read a couple years ago that there was a more modern consideration that they might have actually created their own script)? What about his shamanistic side (he wasn’t “just” a warrior, my research had found he was also considered a shaman), and his statesman side?  His pure genius? Yes, the exhibit did mention these, some of them more than once, but with all the apparent focus on his weaponry, violence—even with constantly rolling film part way through the exhibit that I only saw depicting battles and violence—I really felt it simply didn’t do the Khan justice in this often ignored respect.  I only now just thought of this, but there were two Mongolian performers there, and I’d wished I’d asked them what they’d thought about my thoughts.

This is my point, one I’ve made many times in the ten years since I started researching and writing that novel ms:  just like in today’s world in which it’s the “in thing” to be “connected” to technology every waking and sleeping moment, back in the 13th century, I feel the “in thing” was violence. Being tough.  I mean, let’s face it, if Genghis was the equivalent of sweet-talkin, philosophizing thinker…he would have lost his head (and no doubt other body parts) in an instant. You live in a violent era, you either play within the rules—or die. And the nomadic tribes of that location were totally and utterly violent.  Like the museum videos said, there was one rule:  you wanted something, you took it.  And there was no escaping vengeance.  If you wronged some tribe or individual (which seemed to be easy to do…), they would keep coming after you and your family (and your cats and your dogs and your goldfish…). So, really, to effectively put an end to that kind of behavior, a ruler really had to decimate entire populations. Because they’d simply keep coming after you and yours, like the Hatfields and McCoys, like my Mother-in-Law so-aptly put it. To rule violent people, in violent times, you simply had to be ruthless. Had to be able to “put up, or shut up.” And I feel that’s what he did. He made rules (and, from what the exhibit showed, one had to be caught in the act, it wasn’t based upon any hearsay).  You steal—you die.  You commit adultery—you die.  You lie—you die.  You betray—you die.

Really, how else you gonna keep a nation of ruthless warriors in line?  With spankings?  With “No dinner for you—go to your ger!”?

If he was so frigging evil, why would he do this?  Why would he want better for his people?

I’m not saying he was a saint—he was a pure and perfect product of his times, and I don’t agree with everything I’d read he’d done. But those were the times, and that was all they knew.

And one other thing I’d like to mention.  I’d also found in my research that one of the reasons researchers felt the Mongol warriors were so fierce and unafraid in battle was their belief in reincarnation (among other things—check out this link; it’s definitely eye opening). And if, as this link discusses, they believed in excellence in everything, this could also surely explain their “enthusiasm” for warfare.  But let it also be noted (again, by my Mother-in-Law), that their handiwork in weaving and spinning clothes was so incredibly detailed.  I also noted their attention to detail in their incredibly detailed inlay work on trunks, near the end of the exhibit (the method used started with a “T,” I believe, where you infill etched lines with a compound, then buff it down so it’s all flush).  Simply incredible work—imported or not! But if the Mongols believed they were all reincarnated, then death is but a mechanism to other things.  Again, this is not an endorsement of me of their violence, I’m just parroting what I’ve found, trying to give a better depth of understanding to the life and times of Genghis and his people (I’ll also have to reread this link, myself, since it’s been a number of years since I’d last read it, so don’t nail me because I missed something in it; I’ll repost). But it helps explain some of their behavior, that’s all I’m saying.

So, Genghis rose above the common people. Exhibited genius, innovation, statesmanship. Created order.

What I’ve gathered, much or all that has been written about him, was not written by him. And much of it came years after his death, in August of 1227. And, let’s face it, he did piss off a lot of the world, and those who came after him wanted to make their own marks in the world…so, really, who knows exactly how the Great Khan was, what he was thinking? I’d read that he frequently went off by himself to “think.”  Perform his shamanistic communing. I don’t feel “evil incarnate” would act like this. “Evil incarnate” is about “you want something—you take it”  Uninhibited plundering. A self-fulfilling philosophy that would eventually collapse upon itself (which eventually, the empire kinda did not long after Genghis’s death).

So, I say…take what you hear with a block of salt (and this can be applied to most things, I find). Genghis Khan was a man ahead of his time who tried to better the plight of a battered and fractioned people, through the only tools he knew. The only “way” he knew. He wasn’t perfect, but he learned and improvised and improved upon his and his peoples’ situation.  And he should be better recognized for that, and not simply as one who was simply a brutal, vengeful, and ruthless warrior.

But, what do I know.  I’m just running off at the mouth 783 years after his death.

The past month or so, I’ve been having this persistently strong urge to write about a WWII B-17 tail gunner, so this week I began the story.  Am ten or so pages into it.  I got the urge last month or so, while stretching in the gym.  I was overcome by powerful emotion about a guy shot down over Germany during a bombing run. The imagery continued to plague me, so I knew I had to do this.  It was emotional, it was fearful, it was tragic. Then a short time later, while channel surfing at home, I spotted the Memphis Belle movie on TV.  I didn’t bother with it (though mentally noted the synchronicity), but later that night I again crossed paths with the movie, and sat and watched it for a spell, hitting the record key.  As I watched it, the last half hour, it showed a bombing run over Germany, and the scene where another B-17 in the formation was struck by a German plane that the Memphis Belle had just shot down.

This was my story.  The imagery in my head that wouldn’t go away.

Hope I do it (and the gunner) justice.

Having been a military officer in charge of people, I can unequivocally state the following:

When wearing that uniform, you are a resource.

Period. End of story. Sorry if that offends your civilian sensibilities.

Most people do not understand that when you are sworn into military service you take a legal and binding oath. For officers part of that oath is “…to protect and defend the constitution of the United States.” For enlisted personnel part of their oath is to: “…support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” and to “…obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice” There is also a line in there that states “…without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion.”

This is legal, this is not playing around, this is eminently serious.

I know that Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo has since reversed his decision, but I’m going to try to clarify the situation and address the rampant indignation the best I can to help give those not hip to the military way of thinking a better understanding of the involved mindset. I’m sure Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, in his reversal, was just doing what his civilian leadership recommended he do, for the military is ultimately led by civilian leadership. Now, I’m not in any way speaking for Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, or anyone else in the military or government, these are just my thoughts based on first-hand experience. And no one has to like them; I’m just trying to better clarify what might not be all that well understood. I’m not a flag waver nor one who joins Vet organizations (not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not me). I’m simply ex-military and this got my attention and I felt a need to comment. And, unfortunately, the way life seems to be, a military appears to be needed. The only way to change that is to change the way we as Humans do business.

Yeah, go tackle that one. Actions speak louder than words.

Many get into the military so that they can get school paid for, learn discipline, straighten out their life, get some of the best training in the world, or whatever, but what many civilians simply may not realize is that when you take that oath…you just put YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE to defend the United States. Whether or not you “have an opinion” on the war, the president, or your new attire, you keep it to yourself and perform your new professional duty as a soldier, sailor, marine, or airman. Frankly, you just gave up most of your nifty civil rights and civilian status to what many deem a higher calling. You gave up sleeping in and just went on-call 24X7. Doesn’t matter what “job” you get while in the military, whether it’s an administrator or flying jets, the government has every right to pull you from whatever you’re doing, shove a rifle into your nervous little hands, and point you toward the front lines (and be thankful we don’t have a draft, because this really applies across the board, friends). You give up your life for service to 308 million others.

The military, especially during times of war, doesn’t have the luxury of debating every order it delivers. Many at the receiving end of orders simply do not have all the knowledge, or the need-to-know, about what they’re being directed (note: not asked) to perform. There are many elements and reasons for this, but one of them is time. If an order comes down, you have to have faith in your superiors and your civilian leadership that they know more than you, and that they’re making the best decisions, given the circumstances.

Of course, when you lose faith in your superiors and their direction, then we have problems…but that’s not the subject of this post.

So, when something like the current topic of interest—military pregnancies—becomes an issue, it impacts a command’s—the country’s—ability to discharge its duties. You want to know something even more odd? It doesn’t have to be a pregnancy.

It could be a sunburn.

A hangover.

Screwing around while on duty.

It can be absolutely anything that keeps the Government Issue (aka “G.I.”) from faithfully performing what they said they would do, and if that behavior takes down others with it, then there will be hell to pay. It’s that simple.

“They” don’t use the term “G.I.” for nothing.

So, no, N.O.W., no, N.O.W. President Terry O’Neill, it’s not about throwing women in jail just because they’re pregnant. I think I can also unequivocally state that it has absolutely nothing to with “women being pregnant.” It has to do with reducing a commander’s national resources to perform his civilian-directed mission of fighting for his or her country (again, issues with the war itself, or its commanders, notwithstanding).

And another thing I’ve seen mentioned in blogs: when entering the military, G.I.s are expected to perform to a higher standard, a higher level of behavior. It’s not about succumbing to all that ails you, whether it’s relieving sexual stress or what-ev-er, “because you’re Human.” It’s about learning and applying discipline for a “higher good” (again beliefs about the war and its commanders notwithstanding…). It’s about service to those 308 million other reasons I’d mentioned above. We and they are not and never treated as slaves in the military. The military is called upon to do sometimes extremely drastic things so that others can blog and play and sleep soundly, and in discharge of said duties you simply can’t have a “soft” G.I. You can’t have them live in luxury and be able to do all the fun stuff civilians—whose lives are not on the line—do in a war zone. You need to keep a military mindset. You need to keep “your edge.” It’s much harder to get someone who’s waking up in a nice and cozy be-blanketed and comfortered bed to go out into a harsh climate and perform sometimes brutal acts, than to get someone sleeping and living in Spartan quarters and surrounds. Even those who work stateside and have to perform “extreme acts” have said it’s very hard to do when they then go home to the wife and kids. I’m not saying its right or wrong…I’m just saying. But also, as one comment poster mentioned, yes those in the military are human, and as such, they are some of the most compassionate people around. Look at all the disillusioned around us. The disaffected. There are always exceptions, but many and most of those I’ve dealt and deal with in uniform put to shame most civilians when it comes to compassion and behavior (politeness as well as respect) for their fellow human. They are some of the most well-mannered individuals you will ever meet. They have not lost their “right to live.” What they have done, which may be hard for most to really internalize, is that they have (and read this next line very carefully) CHOSEN to give up their life for YOURS. Whether or not they actually do it, depends on what situations they are called to, but the fact is, they freely swore without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion to do this, which means they’ve accepted the conditions of their new role in life.

They are not slaves.

And, BTW, I’m sure police and other similar professionals have the same oath. So, if you go back on that oath—for whatever reason—there are consequences, just like if you chose to run a red light or shoplift. The military consequences are more harsh, simply because they have to be. This ain’t kindergarten.

And, yes, G.I.s can change their mind—I did—but I had to do what I signed up for, even though I did try to get out early. There’s no harm in asking. But when you get your answer, you deal with it in a professional manner. A commander of mine once said, when your desires and those of the military’s take on divergent paths, it’s time to get out. I realize that people can change their mind, but what people also have to realize is that sometimes you can’t change you mind on a dime. Joining the military isn’t like trying on a pair of pants or a skirt. It’s a serious frigging commitment. One where your life is on the line. Think hard about that decision. Because now it’s a choice—there is no draft—but there very well could be.

As open-minded a person as I am, I agree with the general’s decisions—both of them. He was in a rock and a hard place and his civilian leadership counseled him and he did what he did. But he was not wrong in his first place. But I challenge each of you who take such a righteously indignant opposition to what the general “decreed” (again, it was and will always be in force to take action against any “dereliction of duty”) to see what any of you would do were you in a war zone and you had enough attrition due to G.I. pregnancies that you thought this a necessary emphasis to bring to the forefront, and you were fighting a war. And no, “Well, I wouldn’t be there in the first place” is not acceptable.

If you don’t want situations like this, the changing of the war mindset starts at home. With each and every Human on this planet. If you laugh and dismiss this idea, then of course it will never happen. But war and the military is composed of individuals. Look in the mirror. Just because we were or are in the military does not change that fact.

Happy holidays.

Or do I?

I read in an earlier version of a publishing trade magazine this month that an industry professional I’m not going to identify could not figure out why a certain hugely successful author (I’m also not going to identify) hit it big when this certain hugely successful author had not gone through all the hoops that (according to the industry professional) all other authors had gone through: years of practice, rejection letters, critique groups, and editing.

In a very real way this bothered me.

Here’s someone in the publishing industry who cannot seem to figure out how someone hit it big…because they trashed the traditional paradigm? That’s what bothered me. In a previous post I’d discussed that I’d thought there really is no secret to writing, but here was someone who professed to “know things” because this person was a professional who trafficked in authors. Had “answers.” Presented at conferences and made money off his/her knowledge.

My problem is with the industry professional’s mindset—and I’m bettin, like in my previously posted blog—this is the exact same mindset used most everywhere else in the publishing world these days: rigidity. And it’s not just symptomatic of publishing, it’s in many other areas of life. Individuals seem to get so wrapped up in the mechanics and structure of whatever it is they’re doing and forget to let the creativity of the act take them along. This heavily applies to the craft of writing. Many of my writer friends (many also published) seem to intensely focus on the “craft” of writing. They beat it into the ground. Teach classes on it. Write articles about it. Talk about it at parties. And, again, as mentioned in a previous post, I mean absolutely no disrespect to any one of them—including the industry professional in the abovementioned article. In my humblest of opinions, I feel some of the intense focus is, indeed, deserved…but I feel this also hints that perhaps all of the laser-like focus is because this is one area that humans can control, especially in the world of writing. Learning about verbs and sentence structure. Story structure. Following rules. And when some young upstart like the author cited in the mentioned article comes along and blasts that all to hell…well, it’s upsetting to “this way of thinking.” I understand that. But to go on and profess an utter disbelief and stymied mentality as to why our mentioned author became so successful without any real “schooling” in all-things writing baffles the hell out of me. I have read many a published book that absolutely stunk, in, again, my humblest of opinions. I have read many books (again, IMHO) that I truly felt stunk yet others felt were absolutely great. I have read many a book (some of which stunk, and some of which did not) where I was editing as I read, even correcting grammar, and I’m not anywhere near a expert grammaratististist….

My point is, is this industry professional just making a point…that he really does understand that there are factors and variables out there that just overtake all so-called rational and knowledgeable “rules,” or is he really in the dark? Good lord, I hope it’s the former.

But I’m not convinced.

And I think this has a lot to do with what is killing the success for many authors. In my previous post I’d mentioned that it’s the industry professionals that are making such a “big deal” about what a piece of writing must or must not be to succeed, and I really think this to be true…I think at times some of this reasoning, as I’d already explained, is valid…but to base all publishing decisions on it I feel is faulty (but, hey, I’m not a publishing professional, just a guy on the outside looking in…nose pressed up against the glass…). In the old days (I was told by those who were there), editors ran the shows. They found authors they could grow…cultivate. Nowadays (again I’m told, since I’m still fighting my way into this rarified bunch), it’s all about instant success. Nobody, it seems, has the money to put towards “growing” anything. Budgets are dwindling, profits not (or never) what they need to be. And I even understand that.

But along came this upstart author. A person who beat the traditional business model and utterly trounced the competition. Frigging de-stroyed it. This shows that “it” can still happen. That an unknown can take the world by storm and surprise (a real, no-shit “shock and awe”). Readers just want a good read. They’ll accept a few off-words and errors in a book (and may not even really notice), but they just want to get lost in a story. It’s good that industry professionals are there to make sure that the best possible product gets put out on the streets…but I just ask that we all not get so lost in the forest for the trees, and try to insert a little more mystique back into the process. To think outside the boxes and spreadsheets and rigidity. Accept that there is not any one (or three) path(s) to success. Authors can focus as much as they want on the craft, but there’s also the heart. The creativity of a story. I’ve read extremely well-crafted prose that didn’t take me anywhere.

To everyone out there in the publishing business (yeah, reading my little post!)…please, keep an open mind. Don’t just talk-the-talk about wanting “new” and “fresh,” and “different…walk-the-walk. Take the time to cultivate authors. Sure, a business has to make money, but why not also put a little heart and creativity back into a business that is supposedly requiring this of the very products they deliver.