Sliding Down The Razor's Edge

More Things I Believe

Once again, thank you for taking the time to not only find my blog but read it (and special thanks to those of you who left comments).  I’d like to take this opportunity to share some more of my beliefs.  I believe that the guy who invented speed bumps – especially the one you hit so hard that it knocks the fillings out of your mouth – needs to be slapped.  Then hugged because some kids haven’t figured out that they’re not supposed to run between cars or play in the street.  I believe that Muhammad Ali was the greatest, despite losing his best years in the ring to the US government because he had nothing against those Viet Cong.  I believe that writers write.  It’s all about the words and telling a story.  But that doesn’t mean that procrastination and distractions aren’t vital parts of the writing process, or key components of creativity.  And I believe that the internet has created a world of opportunities for writers to find their audience through e-publishing, literary zines, and blogs, even if some of the literary traditionalists don’t agree.  I believe that while Shemp was an underrated and unappreciated Stooge; not a single Marx Brothers movie hinged on the comedic talents or acting abilities of Zeppo.  I believe that The Wire was one of the best shows on TV, following closely by Homicide.  I believe that grown-up men should never use emoticons unless they want to look like teen-aged girls.  And I believe that everyone, no matter who they are, cranks up the volume and sings along with Aretha when R.E.S.P.E.C.T. comes on the car radio.  That’s all for now.  I hope you come back for more.

Things I Believe #1 (original post from March 4th)

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog – I know you’re busy, so this shows a wonderful commitment on your part in sacrificing some valuable time…..time that can be better spent watching reality shows or catching up on the latest episodes of Charlie Sheen and The Porn Stars.  So while I have your attention, I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some of my personal beliefs. I believe that everyone thinks they can write. This is not true (there is some kind of prevailing thought that a bunch of monkeys locked in a room with laptops can bang out the equivalent of War and Peace). This is not possible – what is possible is that they could ghost-write the latest books attributed to the cast of Jersey Shore.  It is also true that everyone can criticize and they often do, especially when it comes to the efforts of writers.  Good writing is a craft and the best ones take the time to work at their craft, honing their skills, and fine-tuning their abilities.  On the other hand, it takes no skill whatsoever to be a critic, and there are no shortage of critics ready to offer an opinion, no matter how blatantly ill-informed, mis-guided, or erroneous their facts.  I believe that the Laws of Karma do not apply to writers, where talent-less hacks get book deals from large publishing companies while other more skilled writers toil away in anonymity, praying for one big break or one good review in a magazine or online literary journal.  I believe that Johnny Unitas was the greatest football player ever.  I believe that I’ve spent my life expecting people to behave in a certain way. I believe that when they didn’t behave according to my expectations, I became angry, sad, confused and occasionally violent. As a result, I now believe my expectations are the real problem. I believe that everyone has this very same problem, and each of us needs to change our expectations. And I believe that every guy who came of age in the 1970’s still rolls down the windows and cranks up the car radio when “Radar Love” by Golden Earring comes on one of the classic rock stations.  Once again, thanks for reading.  Please be sure to come back again for more….

BUY THIS BOOK OR I’LL SHOOT THE DOG

With the release of LOST EXIT last week, I’ve taken the next step in a long journey.  In some ways, writing the book was the easy part – the hard work of growing an audience, building demand, and increasing sales for that book starts now.  The next few weeks will be consumed with book reviews, ARC’s, blog posts, and press releases (while waiting for Oprah to call….).  While all that is going on I will still be writing – moving forward with three or four short stories that I’ve committed to writing and plunging into my third book.  Time was never a friend but for years we maintained an uneasy balancing act and tenuous alliance.  Going the independent publishing route has changed that dynamic but I’m okay with that.

As always, there are critics.  I’ve been told that I’m going to lose focus, worse, that my artistic vision will suffer.

Artistic vision and voice are very important as a writer, but exposure is equally critical.  Writers write but we also want to get our words and stories in front of as many readers as possible.  You can’t rely on somebody else to do it for you.  You need to make it happen yourself – take every opportunity to find that audience and get every reader’s attention by any means possible.  Every one of us who writes is confident people will fall in love with our words once they read them, but first you have to convince someone to pick up the book and shell out their cash to read those words.  That means doing what you have to do to create a buzz, find an audience, and sell your books. 

Writing is a business.  Plain and simple.  Always has been and always will be.

You can’t change the world if nobody hears you.

Coming in January:

LOST EXIT

doctorswithoutborders:

Haiti: Six Months After - The Burn Unit at Saint Louis

MSF has opened a burn unit in Saint Louis Hospital to replace the one at La Trinite that was destroyed in the earthquake.

Visit the website to learn more about MSF’s role in Haiti.

By Dana Milbank, Washington Post, July 13, 2010
We’re two weeks into Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s new campaign for more “coordination and discipline” in the military’s public statements—and everything seems to be going according to plan.

On Monday, six months after the earthquake in Haiti…

"We slowly see some more children that are malnourished. They get diarrhea because of the bad living conditions here…We are also slowly starting to see and to deal with situations of sexual violence. And domestic violence because so many people are living close together…There is more uncertainty and more aggression now."

Marleen Steerker, a doctor at MSF’s mobile clinic in Haiti, in the Haiti - Six Months After the Earthquake podcast.

Listen to the podcast.

(via doctorswithoutborders)

A Culture of Swine

          It’s been six months and there are no noticeable differences in anything in Haiti, at least to casual observers.  Rebuilding is non-existent.  Cardboard villages have been replaced only by tent cities.  Roads are blocked by debris that some Haitian officials estimate could take 20 years to remove.  Medical supplies and doctors are still in demand but that need remains unfilled.  Disease and sickness are still prevalent, and lack of food and clean water remains an issue as does toxic run-off from the debris that leaks into the soil every time it rains. 

          Six months after the earthquake that wrecked devastation on Haiti, killing more than 230,000 and leaving 1 in 9 Haitians homeless, the nation remains one mired in misery and suffering.

          The scale and scope of the disaster is overwhelming as are the enormous challenges of rebuilding an entire country – a country that for years has been steeped in corruption, scandal, and violence.  It is a government that has its roots in chaos, filled for years with grifters, cheats, liars, thieves, and criminals.  A government where thugs cared more about lining their pockets than in feeding its people.  Even years after elections swept out the criminals, the government of President Rene Preval is still a hindrance to international aid organizations.  According to the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, only 10% of the $5.3 billion that governments have pledged in aid has actually been disbursed.

          Ten percent.

But the blame is not entirely on the Haitian government.  Of the $2 billion pledged by the United States, less than $30 million has reached Haiti because Congress has failed to pass the aid bill.  According to Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “The window of opportunity is rapidly narrowing for an effective, coordinated international and Haitian effort that can make a real difference.”

          After dominating the news and briefly consuming our consciousness, stories about Haiti have been pushed off the front page.  Instead we have been subjected to tales about inept red-headed Russian spies hiding in plain sight, or incoherent political posturing by a former Alaskan governor.  Or worse, un-ending reports about where LeBron will takes his talents in search of a basketball championship and a bigger paycheck for himself and his cronies.  Six months later, Haiti and the relief efforts to rebuild the nation have become old news – afterthoughts in our collective quest for front page news that is newer and more exciting.

          Six months can be an eternity to people and an impoverished nation who have nothing and need everything.

Michael Downing

It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner’s report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand to conceal the bad investments that led to its undoing.

The report, compiled by an examiner for the bank, now bankrupt, hit Wall Street with a thud late Thursday. The 158-year-old company, it concluded, died from multiple causes. Among them were bad mortgage holdings and, less directly, demands by rivals like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, that the foundering bank post collateral against loans it desperately needed.

But the examiner, Anton R. Valukas, also for the first time, laid out what the report characterized as “materially misleading” accounting gimmicks that Lehman used to mask the perilous state of its finances, Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin report in The New York Times…..

AT A CERTAIN POINT, YOU HAVE TO STAND UP AND SAY “THIS IS BROKEN AND IT NEEDS TO BE FIXED…..” Can anyone really be that surprised by Lehman’s actions?

Are we finally in a recovery? Who’s “we,” kemosabe? Big global companies, Wall Street, and high-income Americans who hold their savings in financial instruments are clearly doing better. As to the rest of us – small businesses along Main Streets, and middle and lower-income Americans – forget it.