Escape Reality - Dark Mirrors Blog

Pieces of Joy

4/16/2021

Last night, I was putting some things up in the closet when I noticed my favorite purse, and wondered why I wasn’t using it. Then I remembered: I figured what was the point of carrying a designer handbag when you’re in lockdown? I switched to something easier to handle with masks and gloves and didn’t go back – until yesterday.

It’s not the first time this has happened to me since the “return to normal.” I’ve run across clothes and jewelry I forgot I had (because why bother when you’re working from home?). Today I’m wearing a shirt that shoved behind others, that hasn’t seen the light of day in over a year. The past three weeks I’ve been slowly finding pieces of my old self that got lost in the lockdown.

I talked about taking advantage of getting comfortable with your authentic self while we were isolated from outside influences, but what about those little things that fell away, unintentionally, that you’re rediscovering?

It’s interesting. I’ve spent the last several weeks getting new décor and rearranging my cubical at work because I wanted it to better reflect who I became in the past year, and now I’m finding pieces of my old self that have me asking “how did I forget about that?” Purses, shirts, necklaces, bracelets, hair clips, belts, and even a book I forgot I bought are small things, but finding them again is bringing me joy. That’s a nice surprise in the return to a normal that’s shaping up to still be strange an unusual in some days and ways.

Self-discovery is a never ending process, and that’s good. Each and every one of us is unique and multifaceted, and working through mosaic of identity takes a lifetime. It’s a good journey, though, because anything that brings you joy is a good thing. Frankly, I think we could all use some good surprises after a year of COVID-19.

That’s all today. Keep your eyes open to these unexpected pieces of joy. Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

Free Yourself From The Victim Mindset

4/12/2021

This past weekend, I was bombarded with advertisements for motivational speaking. I’m not sure why I kept seeing these ads. I’ve been reading and researching my typical scifi and mystery stuff of late, like I always do. Who knows how they figure these algorithms?

I think I “got it” this morning on my drive to work, when I heard the DJ’s on the radio talking about post-pandemic self-improvement. They were asking listeners to call or log in and tell them what they plan to improve to become “your best post-pandemic self” as we come out of lockdown and back into day to day reality.

I was listening to Christian radio, but I think it would be nice to have a mainstream push in this direction. The past year has been anything but normal, and I think we need some motivation to make an effort to come back better than we were before. All of us have room for improvement, and there’s a sticking point that I think we could all afford to address if we want to create a better post-pandemic world.

We need to get rid of the “victim” mindset and get comfortable with being ourselves.

I mentioned a year ago that the pandemic was a great opportunity to find your authentic self. Good grief, we were working from home and isolated from the outside influences telling us what they wanted us to be! Unfortunately, that isolation was leveraged to create reactions and overreactions to social events that have given rise to a terrible victim mindset plaguing society as bad (or worse!) than COVID-19. Everybody is whining about being a victim of something: race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, financial prosperity (or lack thereof), politics, employment, personal interests, cliques, clothes, intelligence, talent, abilities, health status and conditions – good grief, we’ve found a million ways to judge one another. Stereotypes are as old as time itself. You’d think the human race would have evolved past this nonsense but alas, it seems we’ve done the opposite and found more creative ways to put one another down.

And what does it really do? It keeps us in bondage to the status-quo, because you can’t mine your full potential until you file the chip off your shoulder. Anybody can scream about the injustices of society. The ones who succeed are the ones who rise above the pettiness of these distractions and open their eyes to working toward bigger goals.

I’ve been told I’m disadvantaged because I’m a woman, because I’m over 40, because I don’t have children, because I won’t pursue higher job titles, because I have sinus issues, and lately because I’m mourning the loss of my Dad. And that is so much hogwash that I can smell the sewage from here because it doesn’t take much mental power to figure it out: how many women are there in the world? How many people over 40? How many people without children, with sinus (and other chronic health issues)? And death is part of life in this world, so all of us are grieving.

Good grief, I’ve even been criticized because I like to read, and I like sci-fi. There’s your proof that it’s all just excuses to keep us in our place, folks. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you claim the power to be the person you were meant to be. You are unique in the combination of things that make you who you are. Don’t let people pick those traits apart to minimize you. Each trait makes you similar to millions of others. It’s the combination of those things that make you a unique creation. No one thing puts you at a disadvantage unless you allow it to.

Sure, stereotypes exist, and you will run up against them every now and then. You have the right to reject that judgement as much as they reject that trait and move on. I still am who I am by the grace of God, and you know what I’ve found? I actually get along better when I decided to forget about what other people thought of me and decided to focus on being my best self. When I got comfortable with who I am, other people did too. Yes, I got a bit more introverted in the process, but that also isn’t a bad thing. I didn’t need to have so many opinions anyway, and I channeled the energy into my writing, which has done much better in the past year.

My point is that we were saying a year ago that we wanted to come back and do better, but there were powerful forces that distracted us. We don’t have to listen to it. Good things can still happen, and they’re more likely if you make an effort to find the internal drive to do good work and be your best self. Here's an idea: instead of letting these things divide us, why not unite with others who have similar issues? Think about it: if a generalization is that broad, then it means you have something in common with lots of other people. Stand up to the mainstream criticism by uniting and finding the merits in these differences, instead of letting them be used as a weapon against us.

That is how you can perpetuate good things happening. So let’s bring about that change we were talking about a year ago by rejecting the petty judgements tripping us up, uniting with others, and accepting new discoveries and possibilities in a new reality. It happens by making better choices a day at a time.

There’s your motivational speech. Now get out there and conquer the world in amazing, awesome, and creative new ways.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Getting Back To It

3/30/2021

March started out with the release of Domino and five awards in the 2021 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards, and ended with completing a cross-stitch project. But in between, I was diagnosed with an ulcer caused by a bacterial infection, got hit with car maintenance, got sent back to the office full time, had my first COVID vaccine, and life generally exploded into “COVID is over” mode.

In like a lion, indeed. March has been about getting back to it. The question is, how is the muse handling the transition?

The pandemic was a boon for my writing, obviously, but I heard other writers complain that the lockdown made it more difficult to write. I can’t explain why it was easier for some of us, while others struggled. I was already working on Domino with plans to expand it into The Sentience Series when we went into lockdown, so the flow was already going. Calls from people doing lockdown anthologies got the short stories rolling again as well, and the extra time from everything being closed and not getting dressed and commuting because of work from home gave me extra time and energy to keep the inspiration flowing and the muse busy to fill the gaps. My struggle is continuing with the writing now that we’ve gone back to “normal.” But here again, where I’m at with my writing is a factor. I just published Domino, and Phantasm (Book Two) is with beta readers and a reviewer right now, so I can’t do anything with it until all of that feedback comes in. Writer’s block is common for me after I publish. It’s not surprising after the work I put into The Sentience Series in January and February.

So I turned to finishing my cross stitch, which I completed yesterday and will take to the framer this weekend. I planned well, but now what? I’m adjusting to the “getting on with it” faster than my muse is. Such is the way of being a writer. As with people, sometimes you and your muse are out of sync.

I’d like to get on writing flash fiction and short stories again. They’re fun to write, and it’s good to do something different in between novella/novel drafts. The problem is that the muse is still reeling from the lion of March, and I can’t force the inspiration to come back. Heck, writing this blog has been a challenge.

All I can do is get back to it, and roll with the muse when it’s ready. Maybe it’s divine timing for me to take life as it comes for a while as I continue to adjust. I’ve discovered that some things are different, some are the same, and I’m reconciling it all into life today. We all are. Eventually, the muse will catch up and form it into fiction however he sees fit.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Tips to Adapt to Post Pandemic Reality

3/22/2021

After my last entry, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about strategies I’m using to adapt to post-pandemic life. It is a struggle, but now is the time to take advantage of opportunities that are available in this strange new world.

Be intentional about your habits and routines. Habits and routines are handy, because they save us mental power on mundane, repetitive tasks. It’s easy to fall back on the same old ways you did things before the world locked down last year, but do you need to? It’s possible that you’ve found better ways to do things that can be implemented in your daily routine. For example, I switched my laundry days to Mondays and Thursdays, and have decided to continue this routine because it frees up some time on weekends. I know it’s hard to remember and implement this stuff after a year, and now I’m talking about changing things – but now is the time if you want to do it. Set your routines based on what works for you now, not on what worked before because it’s less mental work. Believe me, it will become habit soon, and hopefully give you a better daily routine than you had before.

You’ll probably need to set reminders for yourself to stay on track, until you get used to things over the next few weeks. That’s ok. Make use of the reminder, calendar, and note apps on your phone, or use sticky notes and lists to keep you on track. If you prefer to write things down by hand, I suggest getting a Rocketbook to help you keep track of your notes and lists. These are great, because you can scan the files to save in an email or cloud storage drive, and you can wipe off and reuse the pages.

Address issues now, while you’re settling back into a different “normal.” This piggybacks on the previous suggestion, because now is a great time to address things that were a problem for you before. For example, I was bad about running 5 – 10 minutes late getting in to work because I’d overestimate what I could do in the mornings. I decided the return to the office is the time to address this problem, so part of my “new morning routine” is segment my mornings with benchmarks to keep me on track (Bible reading done by a certain time, hair and makeup done by a certain time, dressed and settling in the birds at a certain time, and out of the door by a certain time to allow me 5 minutes to settle in at my desk and start my day). So far, it’s working.

We all have issues we struggle with during the day that tend to throw us off track, so address them as part of your new routine. Whether you need to get a handle on your health, start a diet and exercise routine, get more organized, get more sleep, learn how to handle stress better, be on time, or get a handle on your schedule, now is the time to do it. Take advantage of this opportunity to make sure you’re embarking on post-pandemic life as the best “you” that you can be.

Create new personal standards. I’m not talking about being a radical rule breaker. What I mean is that rules have wiggle room, and there may be ways for you to incorporate some of your pandemic preferences into post-pandemic life. For example, if you quit wearing high heeled shoes during the past year and the thought of putting them back on makes your feet hurt – don’t! You can still look professional and meet your company dress code in flats, so don’t tear up the tendons in your foot for the sake of looking like everybody else in the office. Believe me, I know. I quit wearing heels after I broke my foot in 2015.

Of course, you can’t wear jeans and t-shirts every day, but maybe you can convert to wearing pants and nice shirts instead of dresses and skirts. Or if you quit with nail polish, don’t go back (I haven’t polished my nails in years – I don’t have the time or patience for that). It’s ok to experiment with new ways to dress and do hair and makeup now that you’ve discovered your true style and comfort levels. I joked last Friday that they were seeing my “pandemic hair” because I chose to wear it pulled back in a headwrap that day due to windy weather. Be creative. You can be comfortable (mostly) and still meet your dress code without a problem.

Keep pursuing personal goals and pursuits. Getting back to normal is exhausting, but that doesn’t mean that your personal life has gone down the drain. Were you working on that novel that you always wanted to write, but didn’t quite finish it? Were you taking an online class that you didn’t finish yet? Were you working on an art project that you were so close to finishing (this is my situation). Keep doing it! They can’t take your lunch hours or weekends away, so carve out time in those new routines to incorporate writing time into your schedule. You may have to settle for slower progress, but that’s alright. Any progress is good, so keep at it and don’t give up. Keep your eye on the prize of completing the task, and you’ll feel fabulous for meeting those goals despite the fact that work-from-home time ran out before you were able to finish it. It’s not failure unless you quit, so stick with whatever you were doing and see it through to completion, even if it takes a bit longer than you expected. Which leads me to my final suggestion –

Be patient and kind with yourself, and others. Transitions are always difficult, and we’re all going through it at the same time. Not only that, but life went on during the pandemic, so you don’t know what issues people are bringing back with them. You’re going to stumble and falter sometimes, so don’t despair when you do. For example, last Friday was a schedule nightmare for me. Another reason I had ‘pandemic hair’ that day was because I couldn’t stay on schedule or get things going smoothly. The day went ok, but it was harder than I felt it should be. These things happen. So whether you’re having an ‘off’ day or you hear somebody locked in the restroom stall sobbing, don’t panic. It’s hard for us all, and we’re doing the best we can. It’s going to take some time to settle back into this post-pandemic life and find our way to what works best for us again. Be kind to yourself and others. Listen, and talk to trusted people, if you need to. You aren’t a pathetic person. You’re whole life is turned upside down. It takes a while to adjust.

We’re changed people coming back to a world fighting to go back to what it was before the pandemic, so that clash has us all struggling. Fortunately, we have a choice on how we come back to this world. It’s ok to be different and to see things in a new way – in fact, I think that’s a good thing. Perhaps if enough of us are true to ourselves and stick to what works, then we’ll carve out a post-pandemic reality that can be better than the one we had before.

That’s all today. I hope these suggestions from how I’m handling post-pandemic life are helpful in your own journey into this brave, strange world. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Lockdown Realizations in a Post Pandemic World

3/18/2021

The world is trying to transition back to normal now; having proclaimed the COVID pandemic over since a vaccine is available. People are re-entering workplaces, restrictions are lifted, social events are resuming, and people are flocking to travel once again (I know, travel is how COVID became a pandemic, but logic doesn't win against the desires of the heart).

But can we really go back? We’re pushing hard to return to “normal,” but should that be everything that was before? What are the consequences of returning to 2019, a reality that spawned the pandemic, when you live in 2021, and are trying to make a way post-pandemic.

I do hope we’ve learned some things. I certainly don’t think or feel the same way about life and the world that I did a year ago. Some things shift your paradigm and cause permanent changes within you that cause a jolt when you try to go back to the way things were. It’s hard enough to transition to working from home to returning to the office; even harder when you aren’t the same person who left last year. We may talk a good game, but the truth is that this past year has traumatized us, and we’re all struggling to figure out the reality we have now. Say you’re excited to “get back to it” all you want, but the truth is that nobody knows what comes next. We don’t know what the post-pandemic world looks like yet. We’re taking it a step at a time and watching it unfold as we go. That’s often how life goes.

One thing I learned about myself is that I’m more of an introvert than I realized. I’ve always been in that awkward place where I teeter between being withdrawn and wanting to talk to people, but as the world shut down, I found that I was becoming more comfortable with myself. That, in turn, caused me to become more comfortable with others, so when I was out and about, I was more willing and able to talk to them. But only to a point. I still need to pull in to process it all; in fact, maybe a bit more than I did before. It was nice to have that time and space during the pandemic to deal with life and all of the changes happening in the past year.

I wonder if more of you have discovered this about yourself. The reason I say this is because I’ve heard several readers say that they loved Domino, Book One of The Sentience Series, perhaps more than my other works to date. I’m happy that readers like the novella and it resonates with them, but one thing about Domino is that it’s more confined that my other novels. Most of my other works have my characters thrust out into the big, bad world, fighting it along with their personal demons. Domino (and the rest of The Sentience Series) breaks from this with fewer characters and a limited setting. While The Earthside Box Set had a worldwide scope and characters joining or conflicting with one another from various outside interests trying to manipulate them, The Sentience Series is limited to the research team and the lab they work in. The conflict in The Sentience Series has a worldwide impact, but the focus is almost exclusively on the research team who developed the technology in question, and a couple of parties from the outside that were drawn in by the conflict. The world is mentioned, but they are in a situation where they almost have to shut it out in order to resolve the problem. It’s a bit of a reversal from the scope of my normal work.

And yet, people seem to like it. My reviewer and beta readers have reacted positively to Phantasm, Book Two of The Sentience Series, to date. While readers are more introspective and introverted as a group, it makes me wonder if the events of the past year have drawn you to realizations about yourself that are similar to my own. It’s good to connect, and interesting to see how this change is resonating with readers more than my previous works.

The good thing about fiction is that readers draw their own meaning and message from the work. As writers, we hope that we’re offering something that resonates with you, and helps you to feel less alone in this world that’s gone crazier than usual in the past year.

I think the truth is that we’re all different now than we were a year ago, and that’s ok. Things do change you – that’s how you grow. Let’s just hope that we, both as individuals and as a society, continue to grow in a right way and a good direction.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

Another List of Recommended Reads

3/3/2021

It's been an exciting week for me. Domino released on Monday, and already has a 5 star review on Goodreads and Amazon.uk. I also got word that I won five silver medal "recommended read" awards in the 2021 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards.

It's nice to have my writing going well, but authors need to support one another. I usually do a blog about once a year on books I've particularly enjoyed, and realized that I haven't done that in nearly 14 months. Well, why not now? Today, I'd like to give you an update on my list of recommended reads that I couldn't put down over the past year. Get your Kindle ready. Here are some titles that are guaranteed to keep you up late reading:

The Fossil, by Joshua T. Calvert. An impossible discovery in Antarctica in 2018 connects with another impossible discovery on the first manned mission to Mars 24 years later. I reviewed this novel for Reader's Favorite last weekend, and couldn't put it down! An amazing science fiction tale about turning the origins of man on it's head. This book comes out on March 15, 2021.

Goldenears, The Whispering Mountain and Goldenears:The Pale Skulls, by Jane H. Wood. This young adult series about the unique bond between a teenager and a wolf he saves on vacation with his Dad. Both are excellent tales, but I liked The Pale Skulls more because it has more of a paranormal element and more intriguing characters.

Murder on Tyneside, by Eileen Thorton. Recently widowed Agnes Lockwood decides to visit her old hometown in Northeast England when a jewel thief strikes at the hotel where she's staying. The detective on the case turns out to be an old school friend, and she finds herself in the middle of a theft and murder investigation. If you like British mysteries, then this tale is just right for you.

Quantum, by Patricia Cornwall. Captain Calli Chase detects an alarm deep below a NASA research center on the eve of a blizzard. She rushes to investigate what happened, only to find it's connected with a complex scientific plot that involves her twin sister, who recently went missing. The race is on not only to unravel the mystery, but to clear her sister's name - and the weather is the least of her problems. Scifi fans will love this fast paced thriller.

Top Producer, by Laura Wolf. Mara finally has a lucky break when she lands a job with one of Chicago's top realtors. It doesn't take her long to learn that success in the business comes with a price - especially with this boss who is willing to sell her soul for success, and has no loyalties. Will Mara break free, or will she become a victim of a monster fighting to become the city's top producer? This is a fast paced, intriguing tale that mystery/suspense fans will love.

These are top picks, but I've read a lot of great books over the past year. Feel free to friend/follow me on Goodreads if you want to see more on the books that enrich my life.

That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Domino is Coming - What's It About?

2/24/2021

Domino, Book One of The Sentience Series is coming out on March 1, and today I’d like to talk about what inspired this novella/series.

Domino takes place in the year 2175. Human beings have neural chips implanted in their brains prenatally to help them integrate with technology better, and to enhance healthcare and mental functioning. The neural chips are the first step toward integrating man and machine. The next step: create a program that copies the neural maps and information from the chips online, so the information can be accessed after the individual passes away. A program called Domino is created by two of the descendants of the man who worked on the neural chips at a small university in western South Carolina. The team has been working for years to integrate terminally ill patients into the system, and to prepare them for integration with the World Wide Web. This isn’t just the next step toward evolution, but the first step toward immortality.

Too bad it doesn’t work.

The research team discovers that the information downloaded from the neural chips isn’t integrating to Domino like it should. What’s worse, the individuals they access through the system seem to be “stuck” in the state they were in when their code was downloaded. The code isn’t continuing to build and grow as it should. Then there’s an accident in the lab, and the University wants to pull the plug on a project that they see as not only doomed, but dangerous. In desperation, one of the team members, Kasei Marculya, downloads herself into the system. Unfortunately, she finds herself in Domino with a virus that succeeds in killing her physical body. Her “code” survives and escapes to the Internet, but she realizes something shocking: Domino doesn’t work because somebody is sabotaging it. Now she must find out who and why, while trying to adapt to life inside the system.

The theme of Domino is learning to live with things you can’t change. I think we’ve all had experiences with people not understanding that there are some things you can’t change, and you have to learn to live with them. This is an issue I’ve been dealing with first with the loss of Chloe, my companion parrot, in 2017, and more recently this past summer with the loss of my Dad. As I wrestled with learning to live with these voids in my life, I was shocked by the number of people – some of them in their mid to late 30’s! – who didn’t seem to understand the concept that not all things can be controlled or fixed. In fact, very little is actually under our control. All we really can control is how we respond to the strange nature, events, and circumstances of life. I learned this lesson when my grandparents died when I was in pre-teens, and I’ve been building on them as an adult over the past 3+ years. Apparently, most people are more fortunate than me in that regard, because they make it well into adulthood without having to deal with this ugly truth.

There’s a reason why people don’t understand it until it socks them in the stomach: our culture doesn’t acknowledge this truth, and it's one we all experience throughout life. We live in a society that believes there’s a fix for everything and worse yet, tends to cast blame when something bad does happen to you. There is a blame culture when you experience tragedy. It’s part of the reason why I don’t like to talk about Dad’s passing. People are so scared of trauma that they try to avoid it by developing explanations and even casting blame for the unexplainable.

Nobody gets through this life without being touched by the chaotic nature of the universe. We need to know that sometimes our best efforts will fail. We need to learn that experiencing failure doesn’t make us a failure. We need to know that things happen with permanent consequences that we can't and never could control. We need to learn that the unexpected happens and can throw everything we know about life off track. We need to learn how to continue to move forward and grow in the face of the unexpected. The world isn’t safe. It also isn’t predictable, or controllable. But it’s possible to still have a good life if you can learn how to live with the pain that goes with the joy of being alive.

I hope Domino helps in this regard. I’ve found that people tend to take these messages better through fiction than they do in reality. I think it’s because fiction allows them to experience the story through their own perspective, and decide how it applies to them. It holds up a mirror to let them see themselves through an outside perspective that might reflect things they aren’t able to know solely from the inside. We all need that outside perspective to help us see the bigger picture. Our tunnel vision only widens when we open ourselves up to the wider world.

Domino is available for pre-order now at Amazon and Smashwords for $0.99. To celebrate the release, I’m also offering a couple of Kindle Direct Deals on Amazon for some of my other works (since Amazon is where most of my book sales occur). The Tanger Falls Mystery is free through Friday (February 26) and The Earthside Trilogy will be free March 1-5.

Happy reading, folks! I hope these ebooks inspire and entertain you.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

Three Pieces of Advice That I Disagree With

2/18/2021

Today, I’d like to talk about three pieces of popular advice that I disagree with. The problem isn’t that this is bad advice. It’s that I so often see it misapplied that I believe telling people any of these three things ultimately creates more harm than good.

You must give up something for Lent. Chocolate, caffeine, sweets, sugar, soft drinks, red meat, salty snacks, social media, and smoking. I didn’t find out that these are popular things to give up for Lent from research. I found out on Ash Wednesday every year, when friends and colleagues had long, in-depth discussions over what they’re giving up for Lent. Here’s the problem: you aren’t supposed to be talking about it. Your Lenten sacrifices are supposed to be a personal “fast” that takes you away from selfish distractions and closer to the Lord. If you’re loudly reminding people of what you gave up everyday, then you missed the point. I’ve found in my adult life that Lenten sacrifices have become more drama and theater than actual spiritual enrichment.

I tried giving up things for Lent, but got away from it for a different reason: I felt I was more focused on what I gave up than on what I was supposed to gain from the sacrifice. That too is a perilous distraction from the greater purpose, so I wisely decided that if I couldn’t focus on it properly, then I didn’t need to do it. You know you have a problem when complaint replaces gratitude and prayer.

I’m not saying it’s useless. This practice has survived for over 2,000 for a reason. I just hope that somebody is getting something out of it out there, somewhere, because I certainly don’t see it happening around me.

Write every day. This well-intentioned advice that real writers write every day (no matter how good it is) doesn’t serve as the kind of encouragement that people think it does. Why? Because creativity doesn’t work that way. Forcing yourself to turn out a word count every day is treating the creative process like a thermal well – just inject more words in there, and maybe something good will steam out of it. The problem is that creativity is more like a water well: it has to flow naturally through proper nourishment in the core of the creator. If you’re tired, burned out, sick, anxious, depressed, or worried about something, then forcing out a word count every day is only going to frustrate you further because you wasted time writing crap that you’ll delete later. I don’t care what they say, quality does matter. You can’t break through writer’s block by forcing more writing any more than you can force a broken bone to heal faster. Creativity takes time and patience. If the conditions aren’t right, it won’t work, so stop trying to force it. Take a break if you need to. Trust me, the inspiration will return, and when it does you’ll more than make up for any missed word counts.

If it doesn’t bring you joy, let it go. This is the most dangerous advice I’ve ever heard. Why? Because people don’t understand that it’s context-specific. It’s one thing to decide to get rid of that ugly lamp that you inherited form a relative that died when you were an infant. It’s another thing to make a major life change because there’s one thing that’s driving you crazy. Here’s a true story of the misapplication of this: many years ago, I worked with a person who quit a great job because she didn’t get along with her boss. Two months later, the boss quit. Of course, the agency wouldn’t hire her back for her old job or her old boss’s job, because if you’ll quit once, then you’ll quit again. She was popular too, and this one action turned her friends against her. She let go of a good thing because of one thorn in her flesh. As far as I know, she never got another job back in that place again.

I wish I could say that was the only time I saw somebody do something this drastic because of one irritant in their life, but the fact is that I’m seeing it at an increasing level. Just over the past year I’ve heard stories of people quitting jobs without notice, selling houses and moving to a new city on a whim, purchasing things they can’t afford because it made their heart skip a beat, marrying somebody after a first date – it seems people are getting more spontaneous. Unfortunately, it’s for major life decisions, and this kind if instability is dangerous. Actions have consequences, and people making these impulsive decisions don’t realize that what makes you happy today can make you miserable tomorrow. Case in point: how can you retire when you haven’t had a stable job to save up money for retirement? How can you build up equity and a solid financial house when you buy new homes and cars every two years? How will a divorce affect your personal life, finances, and family when you realize that Mr. Wonderful isn’t wonderful three months later? That’s the problem. Today’s happy doesn’t care about tomorrow’s security, or even how it affects other people.

Seriously, get rid of the lamp if it’s hideous and you can’t stand to look at it anymore, but if your job pisses you off then remember: nothing in life is perfect, and all things pass in time. Trust me, I’ve been in the same job for over 21 years. I’ve seen a lot of seasons and you know what they all had in common? They passed. So be visionary, consider the costs, embrace stability, and look at the big picture before you make a big change.

It’s not that this is bad advice, it’s just that it’s so misapplied that I feel it’s better to not give it or take it at all. But then
again, I suppose you could say the same for all advice. Anything can go bad given circumstances and/or intent.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

The Evolution of Storytelling

2/5/2021

Today, I’d like to address a topic that I feel is important in all forms of entertainment: the evolution of story telling. How we tell stories, be it in movies, on television, or in print, has changed in the twenty first century. Most people point to Amazon and Netflix as the contributing factors for change, but the shift was happening long before they came on the scene. At best, it was the advent of the Internet that started the shift, although I suspect it was in motion long before dial up connections assaulted our ears (and nerves).

The basis of this blog is an article I read on the WandaVision series on Disney+. The author of this article addresses complaints that the series is too slow, and that instead the problem is that viewers have forgotten how to watch TV. I respectfully disagree. It isn’t that we’ve forgotten how to watch TV (or to read, for that matter). It’s that we handle content differently than our parents and grandparents did generations ago, and we handle it differently because the world is different. We have more information coming to us in a day than our predecessors had in a lifetime. I realized yesterday that my watch alone delivers not only the time, but the date, the weather, news alerts, texts, emails, a fitness tracker, calendar events, reminders, and even a timer and an app that measures the decibel level of noise in the area. That’s all coming directly to me through a device strapped to my wrist! Do you know what my Granddaddy’s watch did? It told him the time. That’s it. If he wanted more, he had to find it himself, and that information might be dated by the time he got it.

I think we all know that we’re inundated by information, so naturally our attention spans are shrinking. We’re used to the main points being delivered quickly, so we expect it everywhere, including our entertainment. I’ve been writing for 20 years, so I can testify to the fact that the advice that plots need to move faster and you have to “grab them with action” started coming when the ebook revolution hit. It seems movies and television are the same: there’s plenty vying for our attention, so you have to pull us in quick to win the race for that precious focus. Nobody had the patience for the “slow burn” method to story telling anymore. Tell us immediately what it matters, or we’re on to the next thing. Writers are even advised to skip book prologues and flashbacks as much as possible. Get to the story, please. Nobody’s got time for setup, thank you very much.

As I said, it isn’t that we’ve forgotten how to watch TV (or consume any other information), it’s that we’ve adapted to a changing world. This, in fact, is probably the first step of our evolution in life with technology. Is it a good thing? I guess it depends on how you look at it. I like that plots are faster paced and get to the point quicker. We live in an interconnected world that doesn’t need three chapter setting descriptions, or an entire first season exploring the background and development of each character before you can actually get to a story in Season 2. I’m also a plot junkie, so of course this works for me. Others, like the author of that WandaVision article, obviously don’t feel the same way. There are still fans of the “slow burn” method to story telling out there, but I’ve noticed it usually comes with a disclaimer so people like me don’t bombard them with bad reviews over personal tastes and misunderstandings over what they’re getting.

Story telling has always evolved. I remember in the 90’s when there were complaints about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine going to a story arc for the Dominion War. They felt they were rewarding dedicated viewers, but the complaints came hard and heavy from casual viewers who felt they shouldn’t have to watch every week to understand and enjoy the show. Except for soap operas, story arcs weren’t done in TV then – now, they’re the norm. Getting straight into that arc and handling all of the other elements within it is the next step in evolution.

You can resist it, of course, and there are those like Marvel who are successful enough that they can afford to take a risk in breaking the rules, because they know their fans will come back to the next show if they don’t like this one. Actually, you don’t even have to be successful to take the risk. You can go for it, if you wish, but understand that you are taking a risk and it may or may not work. And if you’re the consumer, you have to decide how patient you will be in seeking out the rule breakers, and how gracious you will be when you don’t get what you expect.

WandaVision nearly lost me, and might still. Last week’s episode finally gave me what I wanted from the show, but I’ll admit that I didn’t hurry to watch it (I didn’t watch it until Saturday). We’re mid-season, so we’ll see what happens in today’s episode and whether I hang in there or hang it up. Hopefully, the Loki series will get back to what I expect from Marvel, and tie it all together in the ways this fan likes it.

That’s all today. Happy Friday, and have a great weekend.

Bye!

Paper Dolls

1/26/2021

Frankly, I must admit that I’ve unplugged the world these past few weeks. I thought being informed was a good thing once upon a time, but the political climate of late has proven that the opposite is true: perhaps there is merit in “ignorance is bliss.”

It’s not that I’m scared, or offended. Rather, I’m absolutely disgusted by the widespread neuroticism that has taken over society, crumbling us into a mass of angry, screaming fear-mongers. This is ridiculous. I’ve never been able to understand why some people thrive off drama, but it’s becoming the norm now, and I refuse to accept it. I’m tired of people trying to control me through threats and fear. The Lord has provided for me my whole life, and frankly He’s proven more trustworthy than anything else. At least His success rate is 100%. Other things in this world – not so much.

Don’t you wonder why the media wants you in such a state of anger and fear?

Answer: because anger has tunnel vision, and scared people are easy to control. Logic is no friend to power.
I’m not here to get into a political diatribe. Actually, my message is much more personal, because I’ve had recent experience that’s taught me what really matters. One day, you will get news that devastates you. It will shatter your world. Then you’ll realize how blessed you were in this moment, and regret that you weren’t enjoying all you had while you had it.

It’s a bitter lesson. Unfortunately, it seems to be one that’s only learned from experience. Coming face to face with the hardest reality that some things can’t be fixed, and you have to learn to live with them is devastating. If politics stir you up that badly, then real problems will break you. And there’s no mental health support or services available to help out in the age of COVID, either. I looked after Dad got sick and passed. You’re on your own. You have to be suicidal to get anybody to listen to a second sentence out of you these days.

And that, perhaps, is why the world is in the chaotic state that it’s in. There is no real leadership or guidance to inspire
people to seek a better way. It’s all more of the same chaos and madness that’s reigned for far too long.

I know that all of this nonsense isn’t worth it, which is why I’ve elected to shut it off and immerse myself in things that build me up: writing, reading, and taking in media that entertains me with encouragement and humor. You do hold the remote, folks. The key is in your hand. Will you choose to embrace blessing, to seek opportunity, and to have the vision to make the best of life? Or will you keep letting them tell you what you should think and feel?

One hard thing about being a visionary is seeing the big picture of life in four dimensions, while others see it in two dimensions. There’s a lot more to it all out there, folks, if you just open your eyes. So what will it be? Will you keep playing with paper dolls in a small, flat world? Or will you embrace the entire picture, and live it in fullness of all dimensions?

That’s all today. Think about it, take care, stay safe, and have a great week.

Bye!