Category Archives: Uncategorized

Have You Read Any of These Banned Books

Posted on by under authors, books, dailies, Uncategorized, writers, writing

As both liberal readers and conservative church folks know, there are books that should not be read, indeed, should be banned. But liberal readers will ignore banned books and read them with great delight. So will many church folks, otherwise, they say, how can I truly know how evil the book is.

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was created by the Catholic church centuries ago to protect the flock from literary wolves. The books banned were considered heretical, or lascivious, or if it is really good, both. The list is a veiled way of pronouncing that you must agree with us on all things; we will think for you.  After all, we have your best interest at heart.

The list of authors and their books make quite a literary hall of fame. And many are surprising, such as Johannes Kepler (excluded from list 1835), because of his books on astronomy. God forbid Kepler could explain much about the universe and the heavens that conflicted with the church. Actually, neither God nor Church could forbid scientific explanations. Thank God.

Jean-Paul Sartre made the list, as did Victor Hugo (excluded in 1959), Spinoza, Kant, Copernicus, Francis Bacon, John Milton, Galileo, and David Hume among many.

Who did not make the list over time is more surprising. The works of Charles Darwin did not make the list, nor did D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, and John Cleland. Dante was banned, but then reinstated like Kepler and Hugo. As was Justine and the Marquis de Sade. The Church was more considered, so it has been suggested, with blasphemy and heresy; less concerned with  sexuality or hate. Mein Kampf by Hitler, outlining his plans for power and hatred of the Jews was not banned.

The Index lasted over six centuries and was discontinued in 1966. But that has snot deterred other church organizations and even school districts from creating a banned book list. Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain comes under fire every year in more than one school district. Being considered a great work of fiction, and perhaps the great American novel means nothing to the righteous. 

“Forgive my asking you to use your mind. It is a thing which no novelist should expect of his reader…”
― Owen Wister, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains   

Unfortunately none of my e-books are banned. But I remain hopeful.

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Sue Grafton on Learning to Write; a Novel Approach

Posted on by under authors, books, creative writing, dailies, fiction, fiction writers, Uncategorized, writers, writing

There is always someone who has not heard of a famous person, so I will not assume each of your are aware of Sue Grafton, but she is a best selling mystery writer whose titles have used the alphabet, going from A to Z, such as her first book A is for Alibi. According to her website, her latest book is “X” and that means two more novels, then . . . who knows.

She said the following about writing:

“There are no secrets and there are no shortcuts. As an aspiring writer, what you need to know is that learning to write is self-taught, and learning to write takes years.”

I remember hearing writers years ago saying one could not learn to be a writer through taking creative writing classes, that either you are a writer or you are not, and the best a writing class can do is make you a better reader, and understand the ‘craft’ or ‘art’ of writing.

Everyone has their opinion, but there is something to that. I think you can learn to write by reading and breaking down what writers do, even though there are different approaches, different styles, and the more variety you read, the better you should be as both reader and writer.

And Grafton is correct in that there are no shortcuts, and no matter how many webinars and conferences you attend, and no matter how many ‘how to books’ you read, there are no secrets. Most writers that I have learned about did teach themselves, trial and error, working through grammar, structure, metaphors, imagery, character creations, and everything in between and after; in truth each story, each book is an experiment, considering that the word ‘novel’ means strikingly new.

If you write then the more you write the better your writing should be. At least we hope so, and I think it is for the majority of us. It is a matter of being open to what you are doing and not doing, always challenging your ego to do better, not thinking you have it all figured it out. That is the learning process, and the process never ends.

There are and always will be, ways to improve. With each story you write, consider yourself starting from scratch, beginning a new. It is a novel approach.

My e-books on Amazon:

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Defining The English Language through slang, jargon, and “The Arrival”

Posted on by under dailies, language, Uncategorized

In the preface to Dictionary of American Slang, Stuart Flexner defines different aspects of the English language. I quote his definitions along with my American Heritage Dictionary (AHD).

  1. Slang, ” body of words or expressions frequently used by or intelligible to a rather large portion of the general American public, but not accepted as good, formal usage by the majority.”

No offense to Mr. Flexner, but that is a stiff, academic definition. My American heritage Dictionary is more fun. ” a vocabulary of casual or playful, often short-lived expressions, especially for humor, irreverence, or striking effect.”

I can wrap myself around that definition. The Flexner definition comes from a 1967 copyright copy of the slang dictionary. Perhaps words become more clearly defined over time, an evolution of meaning if you will.

     2. Colloquialisms, as defined by Flexner, “familiar words and idioms used in informal speech and writing, but not considered explicit or formal enough for polite conversation or business correspondence.” He adds, “Unlike slang, however, colloquialisms, are used and understood by everyone in America.” He cites an example of “Friend, you talk plain and hit the nail right on the head,” as a colloquialism.

I always wince at ‘polite conversation’ as the phrase makes me think of boring conversation; after all, polite indicates being nice and not offending anyone, and what fun is that. The AHD defines it as simply, “informal speech and writing.” 

3. Dialects, again by Flexner, “words, idioms, pronunciations, and speech habits, peculiar to specific geographical locations.” AHD says ” A regional variety of a language.” Essentially the same definition, just with fewer words. Though, in this case, I like Flexner.

     4. Cant, jargon, and argot, are “words and expressions peculiar to specific segments of the population,” according to Flexner, and that sounds like his definition of  colloquialisms, but going deeper, cant is ” idioms . . . understood only by members of a specific occupation, trade, or profession.” Jargon is “technical, or even secret vocabulary of such a sub group; jargon is ‘shop talk.’  I plead stupidity as I see no difference, only different words in defining terms. Argot is ” both cant and jargon of any professional criminal group.”

AHD defines cant, much the same way as Flexner, but as secondary usage, the primary usage being ‘Insincere speech full of platitudes or pious expressions.” Is this a case of a word perhaps evolving into a different type of meaning? A generation or culture can change the meaning of words over time. Consider the word ‘gay’ that has gone from a meaning of gaiety and fun to sexual preference.

AHD then says of jargon, “Nonsensical or incoherent talk,” as the primary definition, once again using Flexners definition as secondary. As for ‘argot’, they are in agreement.

What does it all mean?

It means words are something we understand, though we may not always be in agreement with meanings. There are nuances, slight changes, and evolving language over time, even interpretation. If we are not in agreement it leads to miscommunication, and on a larger level, perhaps arguments, even wars. Think of the difficulty of language in the movie The Arrival, not just with the aliens, but with all the countries trying to understand each other as well as the aliens. Understanding words and meanings are important-and fun to study, if you love language.

Language is a virus from outer space- William S. Burroughs.

Here are my viruses e-books on Amazon

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How Literature is defined 40 Years later. . . and Today

Posted on by under books, e-books, fiction, Uncategorized, writing

Do you know the meaning of literature?

Some may think the term literature is reserved for the works of great writers like Dickens, Twin, Dostoyevsky, Austen, Lawrence, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Melville, and on and on. Literature, I am sure these folks think, should be set apart from popular fiction, especially genres like westerns, mysteries, science fiction, and those romance books, that women love so much.

I have a college textbook I used while completing my Bachelor degree. It is called A Handbook to Literature and is essentially a dictionary of sorts, in that it defines words, phrases, anything you need to know about literature including distributed stress, four senses of interpretation, Gaelic movement, sublime, plot, and sometimes things that sneak in like five points of Calvinism. It covers everything you need to know about literature, poetry, and in between. But it is missing one thing.

How is it a handbook about literature does not itself have a definition of literature? The closest it gets is litterateur defined as a ‘literary man, one who occupies himself with the writing or criticism, or appreciation of literature,’ but there is no definition of literature.

In college I did not bother looking up the word as I believed it was a broad term for everything written, whether fiction, poetry, or plays. And I assumed the word literature was reserved for creatively written books of depth and substance with great incite into the human condition, not those from Louis Lamour, Mickey Spillane, Jules Verne, or one of those Harlequin romance things. 

Indeed, when I typed in the word in Google Search asking for definition I find ‘written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.’ But I wanted to know the etymology of the word, so I Googled further. The online etymology dictionary says this. ‘ early 15c., “book-learning,” from Latin literatura/litteratura “learning, a writing, grammar,” originally “writing formed with letters,” from litera/littera “alphabetic letter” also “an epistle, writing, document; literature, great books; science, learning” (see letter (n.1)). In English originally “book learning” (in which sense it replaced Old English boccræft); the meaning “activity of a writer, the profession of a literary writer” is first attested 1779 in Johnson’s “Lives of the English Poets;” that of “literary productions as a whole, body of writings from a period or people” is first recorded 1812.  

And there it is. Forty years after college. Did you see it? “Originally” (as in the beginning) “writing formed with letters.” Not epistolary letters, not the Scarlet Letter, but simply using letters to create words, that create sentences and thus writing. That seems to encompass everything, including those Harlequin things.

Of course literature is also used to describe the works of a period in the cultural period of a country. And we can further go into more usages, but I think, in the end I will let Ezra Pound have the last word.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. [Ezra Pound, “ABC of Reading”]

The following are my e-book contributions to literature of the 21st century, writing formed with digital platforms.

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Are You A Book Collector Or A Reader ?

Posted on by under books, dailies, Uncategorized

I believe it was Diogenes who said “To own books without reading them is like having a painting of a bowl of fruit.” Philosophers say things like that. I would say it is like having a bowl of fruit on your dining room table, but not eating any. A book, after all, is there for you to read at any time, as the fruit is there should you get hungry. You can only eat a painting if you have a mental disorder.

I don’t have a bowl of fruit, but I do have about 300 unread books. I am working on it, however.

There are two types of bibliophiles, or so I have read. One is a collector of books, a mania really, where the hunt is the thing. Collectors like to create libraries, whether they are all first editions, or all editions of certain writers, or rare books of any genre or age; basically any idea for collecting that grabs you. Some collectors have over 10,000 books and manuscripts. But they do not read them all. Who has the time?

I have no true rare books, none worth more than $60-$70, but I do like to collect books that need homes, as well as books I want to read. If I live long enough I might get to 1,000 books, and would be there now, but somehow books have gotten lost during moves, or I gave some away, and some evaporate into thin air, going I know not where.

Then there are the bibliophiles who are inveterate readers, buying and reading with voracious, lustful appetites.  Both types of bibliophiles are compulsive, whether to collect or read, they both have a mania.

Jacques Bonnet, a French bibliophile, says, “An inextinguishable curiosity drove me to find out what lay behind the words and phrases, and the unknown reality on to which I had stumbled . . . the fanatical reader is not only anxious, he or she is curious.”

I think readers can identify with that statement. I recently read “To Fetch a Devil” about an unsolved 1938 murder of a socialite woman and her 23 year old daughter in a desert near El Paso. I was curious, not only because it was unsolved, but how the author, Clint Richmond, put all the clues together and came up with a plausible, though circumstantial solution. And the solution was fascinating. And believable, even with all the complications and people involved.

Words. Sentences. They are magic. And writers are magicians.

So we collect, we read.

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My Obsessive Compulsion Is Really Weird

Posted on by under books, dailies, Uncategorized, writing

There are those with obsessive compulsion disorders like constantly checking the stove to make sure the burners are really and truly off, or always washing their hands, or rechecking the door to make sure it is locked when leaving the house, or always looking at their legs to make sure you did not leave the house without pants.

Mine is different. It has to do with quotation marks.

No I am not kidding.

Here is how it works. I write say ten chapters of a new novel and I decide to proofread these ten chapters before continuing the novel. I try to read close, often word by word, comma by comma, but those quotation marks get to me. I will read a chapter twice, three times, looking to see if the quotation marks are there. Not only that, but to make sure there is a comma, as in “I don’t know what to say,” he said. Sometimes a period sneaks in before the closing mark, so I need to see the marks, see the comma, then of course there is the split quote, as in “I don’t know what else to say, ” he said, “but I can tell you show you something.” That is four quotation marks and two commas to confirm.

Sometimes happy fingers hit this – ‘ rather than this- ” and I must make sure I have the correct mark.

The thing is, even after checking two or three times in the first chapter, if I find a problem in the second chapter it makes me think I missed something in the first one, especially if in the second chapter I found the error on the second or third reading. So I reread the first chapter. This could go on for years. Honestly.

Some writers have a mental block about writing. I have a mental block proofreading with quotation marks my bugaboo, my white whale, my Waterloo. I could give quotes about this disability, but I would have to check to make sure the quotes I used are correct.

If you find any quotation errors in these books, please forgive me. Sometimes I miss the quotation tree through the forest.

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Do You Agree With Pliny’s Quote about bad books?

Posted on by under books, dailies, Uncategorized, writers

“It is very rarely that a bad book does not contain some merit in the cultivated man.”- Pliny the Elder.

Writers will notice Pliny used the word ‘very’ and writers know to use that word, if at all, sparingly, very sparingly, but we must forgive the Roman Pliny for he lived from 26 AD to 79 AD and was unfamiliar with modern grammarians.

I admire Pliny for he loves to read, loves book, even bad ones, for he can find something of value where others can not.

But . .

Notice the phrase ‘cultivated man.’ The implication is that if you find nothing of merit in a bad book, something to take away from the book, you are not cultivated, therefore, or as Pliny would say ‘ergo’ you are unsophisticated, uncultured, unrefined, ignorant, perhaps outright stupid.   

Well who wants to be uncultured?

So we who want to be cultured, must of course, according to Pliny, find something in all books, no mater how bad, that we can learn from, or that brings up a pleasant memory, something we understand, that connects with us no matter how tangentially, anything at all.

I have tried. I have started books that had great reviews, or at least great blurbs on the back book jacket, and after twenty pages or so I am bored. I get what is going on. I just don’t care. Books talk to us. Each of respond differently to words, sentences, stories, just as we respond differently to food. Our taste buds are different. Sushi-never for me. Moby Dick-never for me.

Conversely, I have read books without any burbs whatsoever and found the story, the writing, everything about the book an absolute delight. Sometimes we are lucky and find these little treasures.

I do try to find something of merit Mr. Pliny, but I have many unread books, so I can set aside something that doesn’t taste quite right at the moment and try something else that looks more appetizing. But I do agree, every book does contain something for all of us, it is just a matter of connection.

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Why I Celebrate Being An Indie Writer

Posted on by under authors, books, fiction, Uncategorized, writers

Most writers want an agent, a three-book publishing deal, an author tour, speaking engagements, and everything in between and surrounding the dream. Few achieve it.

Assuming you get a deal, how long does it all take. I found this in a blog from Steve Laube at his agency:

“What is average?

In my experience:

From idea to book proposal to your literary agent: 1-3 months
From agent to editor and book contract offer: 2-5 months
From contract offer to first paycheck: 2-3 months
From contract to delivery of manuscript to editor: 3-9 months (sometimes longer)
(From delivery of manuscript to editor actually working on it: 2-5 months)
From editor to publication: 9-12 months

Total time from idea to print: approximately 2 years

Your mileage may vary.”

I have read similar timelines from other agents, though the two year window is more often for non-fiction, and fiction maybe a year, a year and a half. The bottom line is that is a long time, but as an Indie author, I can write and proofread and when ready I can click on the publish button on Amazon and my e-Book is ready.

Agents seem to be trained to say no. Which is a main reason best sellers so often are rejected over and over, but persistence finally found a publisher. Stephen King getting rejected with his first novel. Yes. Everyone gets rejected.

I am used to rejection. The army rejected me for flat feet. That meant I was not going to Viet Nam. Some rejections you can live with and say thank you. Others, like getting turned down for a date by that cute blonde, brunette, and the redhead is another matter. And when you pet rejects you have problems.

I can live with rejection, but I want my stories in the marketplace, I want to connect with readers sooner rather than later. Being part of the Indie Cyber world provides me more interaction and more control. I can set the price, I can control the advertising. In fact I can control everything from beginning to end.

This month Amazon is celebrating Indie authors. They have a landing page where you can explore Indie writers, so give it a try. There are many good Indie writers.

As for me, here are my indie e-books. At the top of the page you can click on titles to read more about them as well as review quotes.

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Why Word.doc IS a Writer’s Tool Despite What Some Think

Posted on by under creative writing, e-books, fiction writers, Uncategorized

The following revised and updated blog entry was first published in 2013 in my first blog that I wrote under The Quill, the e-word, the looniness. I like the title, but though it had many followers, it was too long of a title, so I reset to this blog. This was my opening blog, my first entry into blogging. I hope you like it:

“There is a bestselling writer, definitely old school, who is adamant that using Word doc. is not writing. He contends writers write longhand, or, his choice of weapon, the typewriter.

Sholes typewriter, 1873. Museum, Buffalo and E...

Sholes typewriter, 1873. Museum, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I must say the statement was made some years ago and I am only 95% sure of who made the statement, and he may have revised his original opinion in the interim, which is why I won’t reveal his name.

I have written two e-book novels in my loony series (three now) and his statement fits within my view of the world. We are all a bit loony.

But consider the absurdity of the statement. Shakespeare used a quill pen to write. Had the typewriter been invented during his life, would he have rejected it because only a true writer uses a quill? Old Will would have learned how to use the new tool and be thrilled not to be continually dipping his quill in ink over and over.

The quill was the tool of Will’s day. A typewriter is a tool. A PC with Word doc. is a tool. All writers are storytellers and they use the tool that more easily tells the story. And writing in Word is far easier than a typewriter that has no spell check, no grammar check, nor needs reams of typewriter paper. With Word you can revise as you write.

That being said, the experience of Word and formatting, in my case, blogs, movie reviews, and e-book novels, is far from easy. Word may be easier than the quill and the typewriter, but both Word and Cyberspace bring their own set of problems.

And that is what led me to create a blog, one I hope you, whether a writer or not, will interact with me on, to discuss the looniness of writing in cyber world.

Speaking of spellcheck and looniness, as I wrote the previous paragraph a red line popped up under ‘looniness’ indicating it is misspelled or is not a word. But my American Heritage dictionary says otherwise.

So I hope you will join me on this journey, sharing the looniness of writing in cyber world. Quill pen anyone?”

I did not use a quill, pen and paper, or a typewriter in creating these cyber books.

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How Can A Four Star Amazon Review Hurt-Read And Learn

Posted on by under authors, e-books, fiction, Uncategorized, writers

There was a new review of my e-novel mystery Loonies in Hollywood, based on the true life unsolved mystery of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Of course my fictional screenwriter amateur sleuth solved it.

But . . .

This is not a complaint about the four star review.

However, you need to read it see what we must chat about: “This book was very entertaining in that it provided a believable solution to the murder of WDT. I was quite disconcerted, however, with the amount of spelling and grammatical errors; it’s as if the entire book had been edited by a third grader! Therefore, while the book was entertaining, the experience of reading was compromised.”

What happened?

I used a software formatter to change the Word. doc to a file for Amazon. Before doing that I checked through my document dozens of times. I did a spell check in Word, found no errors. My formatter found no errors. Two for two. When I loaded the book at Amazon I did their spell check. No errors. Three for three.

So what happened? I did everything I could to insure the reading experience was good. So I went to the formatter and sent the same file to Amazon. After the book was uploaded, there was a spell check and Amazon found no errors. 

I believe the person who wrote the review. No one is going to give a four star review and complain about spelling and grammar mistakes.

Clearly something goes wrong. So I checked with Amazon. Here is what they said:

“I checked and confirmed that there were 4 potential typo errors found by our spellcheck tool, but no grammatical or other errors were found.

Here are the ones:

booklegger: location 1425
jimjam: location 28
melo: location 2343
xxxxxx: location 2709

I understand that the above mentioned errors may actually be contextually accurate so no action would be required to correct them which is why the tool also gives the option to ignore them. It’s possible the issue is with their device or reading app that some spacing or other formatting errors may appear.

Rest assured, we’ve not received any complaints regarding the content of the eBook from any customers that we could confirm were present. We would’ve certainly notified you of the same since we strive to maintain very high standards for content published through our platform.”

Now that drives me a bit crazy. Amazon found no issues other than the four above mentioned, and all are slang words or used contextually. Is the problem with the reviewers Kindle? I don’t know.

We all want the best experience in the digital world of reading. I am sorry the customer had a bad experience, but am grateful for the four star review.

Amazon also said it is possible to contact the customer and leave a comment. And that I did.

If you purchase any of my e-Books let me know if you have problems. Thanks. My Amazon Page

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