I’ve completed Under the White, which is surely one of my best stories to date with the possible exception of Left at Last Shadows.

It’s not the plot development I want, or the ratcheting tension I’d like to convey, but it’s clearly better than my prior attempts. And it ends well! (I know, odd indeed for a Wulfish work)

Check out the excerpt (above); for those of you who enjoy such things, I’ve posted it for critique on the Circle.

Air is optional.

I hear so much about how people “need” this and “need” that. So what is it that we really need as a person?

You might argue that, to survive, a person needs food, clothing, shelter, water, and air. But who needs to survive?

At first, I’m sure that question sounds absurd. Let’s try it this way: What is more important to you than your own survival? An ideal? A country? Your family? If your answer is nothing, you’ve ranked yourself beside the guppy in nature’s equivalency test, who gives birth to young and never thinks on them again–unless particularly hungry.

So what do you need? And where am I headed? Obviously not advocating that anybody stop breathing–some sort of oxygen strike. Although I have to admit, to my shame, that I have on occasion wished certain people would do just that.

What I want to challenge are our self imposed limitations. Those things we tell ourselves we can’t live without, like our house, job, or love interest. See, while these things may define our situation, they do not define our heart and inner composition.

Those are defined by our conviction and beliefs, the core of which are truth, honor, and faith.

I submit to you that these are the true things we cannot live without. Everything of this world can be taken from us, even air. So be it. Come what may.

Truth, honor, and faith are the three facets we must cling to. These are the things that comprise our inner identity–not our possessions and successes, thank God, though the world crams that lie in our faces day after day. 

Air is nice, and I’d be sad if it were gone. But I cannot be unsettled by a world that threatens my material composition.  I leave you with the immortal words of two great men who explored this truth so much more intimately and eloquently than I…

Letter to Admiral Son Ko-i:

My life is simple, my food is plain, and my quarters are uncluttered. In all things, I have sought clarity. I face the troubles and problems of life and death willingly. Virtue, integrity and courage are my priorities. I can be approached, but never pushed; befriended but never coerced; killed but never shamed.
Admiral Yi Sun-shin

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
       My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
      I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley

Reality burped when I woke up today. Or perhaps vomited…

IM keeps opening windows telling me so-and-so has “left the conversation” we weren’t having. Is this like the emacs therapist, trying to tell me I’m not communicating?

A software vendor assured me that a “feature” of their product was, in fact, intentional and not a bug. Then in the next sentence told me they’d change it. What is that? Designer humor?

My computer “forgets” every couple hours which keyboard layout I’m using. Unfortunately it doesn’t revert to the default but to one I’ve never used before, making for some interesting sente,.cpgaeoie’s.

I purchased a photoshop license, but photoshop says it’s a bad serial number when I type it in. (The license says it’s a bad photoshop.)

And the final kicker… When logging in to check the status of my return, Turbotax reports that I didn’t e-file my taxes. I do have a receipt for the “alleged” event that never occured; though, at this point in the day, I’m only moderately certain I didn’t forge it in an alternate reality.

Please tell me you have days like this and it’s not just me.

I’ve stuck with my month of Dvorak, doing the tutorials for one week and completely switching for the next three weeks. I’m happy to stay that I’ll be sticking with the new layout.

I learned quite a bit that should be helpful to others considering a switch, and I’d like to share some of that here.

Read more… »

In the real world, information is everything. It starts wars, ends them, reveals the truth, obscures it, catalyzes invention, saves lives and destroys them… it’s all about what information gets into which hands.

Great story tellers utilize this effectively to build tension, twist plots, and rake their readers over the coals. I’m going to spend more time exploiting this great insight in my works, you should too. Here’s a quick primer into ways I’ve seen in used for great effect:

• Two characters know enough bits that, if put together, they could prevent impending tragedy. However, because of space, conflict, time, or the simple fact that the subject never comes up, they don’t put two and two together.
• Good guy thwarts enemies because he knows something they don’t
• Antagonist (and reader) know something hero doesn’t. But hero trusts antagonist who leads him farther from the truth — a great twist for the romance elements (“Didn’t you know she’s in love with Handsome Dude? You don’t stand a chance”)

Also, keep in mind the implications of this principle on your life.  The largest obstacle of families, businesses, and even nations is the proper dissemination of information. That includes sharing the stuff that needs to be shared and also keeping information out of the wrong hands.

The toddlers aren’t mature enough to deal with mom and dad arguing, they need a unified front; teens do need to understand drugs and sex so they don’t think them mysterious and exciting and do think of the consequences; a wife does need to hear that you love her and think she’s pretty; she doesn’t need to hear that you think the potatoes are too plain; friends do want to know they matter, your sister doesn’t need to hear that you think her husband is a jerk.

In a country where manners and denial of self are naughty words, knowledge is the cure.