When I was young, many years ago, we were taught “never judge a book by it’s cover,” yet that’s all we seem to do now. We all know that the “look” of a person, place, or thing, -pick a noun, doesn’t define them, so why are we so consumed with being or having “the look?” I’m guilty of it myself, I struggle to find book covers for my writing that will “stand out,” “be seen,” or “draw market shares.”


More than ever before in history, we have become a culture of faces, voices, videos, and images, each of them competing with one another for our attention. I’ve always known that the sighted have a benefit of laziness that the blind do not. The sighted rely upon their vision to interpret probably 80% of their world – there you go fact-checkers – I have not checked this fact.


To me, it seems, as if the global community at large has become a world of three-year old’s all clamoring for attention, saying, “watch me, watch me.” Why is this necessary? I always thought I could become a marketable writer without ever having to put my face on a single book.


So far, that’s been my marketing plan and so far, I’m not on the best seller list. Obviously, my marketing skills need some upgrading. It’s become almost vital in order to compete on a world market to become a talking head – as they used to be called – pardon the Baby Boomer-ism. However, those in my generation – at least for me – I was taught not to be vain, do not draw attention to oneself, do not stand out, in essence – do not become prey.


We Baby-Boomers were taught to excel at a skill set and that would make our name, reputation, and from that we would become known. There were celebrities and royalties, yes, but those were some distant and alien race of people that lived in some far off place, who led manufactured lives for our entertainment. They weren’t like ‘us’ they didn’t have “real jobs” they were just faces on screens.


At first, they were voices, small, static voices, that came from our radios – eventually, their faces appeared on television screens. Even then, the programs were live, people made mistakes, fumbles, performed their own live commercials where laundry wasn’t always cleaner than clean, coffee didn’t cure marital woes, and cigarettes were still smoked by doctors in hospitals. My Mum even had a doctor prescribe smoking menthol cigarettes for her to help aide in clearing her sinus congestion. Oh, those were the days – but I digress.


Faces became famous and with fame, we craved new faces. To be “discovered,” to become the “new face” meant you’d made it into the elite and popular. Cameras and television improved. We were no longer satisfied to listen to our icons of entertainment, we wanted to see them – up close and personal. Fast forward sixty or more years and now tiny children are recording their faces and voices as if the act itself instantly makes this “someone special.”


Does it? Is this the new identity? If so, I’m pondering which one and whether I must get another one. I’m an introvert, to the extreme, and I’ve spent most of my life disappearing to now be foisted into a world where I must be ‘seen’ to be ‘heard?’ Que horror! Ask any of my friends, hardly any of them have a picture of me.


I’m hearing more and more that this is the new trend of marketing and if I want book sales, I’d better get used to the idea of pictures, videos, and podcasts, v-logs, etc. The idea of video-recording my face espousing bits of wisdom (ha!) to others is a terrifying idea – but I can take to a page with confidence. I need no face to write. Just a voice-to-text program and I’m good. I never think about the faces of
Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, Rod Serling, Shirley Jackson, Dean Koontz’, et al, while I’m reading their words. It’s irrelevant to me, I’m seeing their characters, not their authors.


I would love to be a best-selling author whose books sold millions of copies but no one would know me by sight. I always wanted my words to stand for themselves and not have to rely on my face to act as my voice. What does it matter what I look like if you hear a ring of truth, humor, love, or sadness, in my words? I can’t be the only person out here that feels the same and if I am, then it’s going to be very lonely for a long time because the days of modesty, self-respect, and privacy, seems to be things of the past.


Does seeing everyone acting the fool out there make us feel better about being foolish? Perhaps. Does seeing other people rant, rave, be angry, racist, bigoted, hateful, sanctimonious, cruel, make others think it’s okay for them to behave the same way? Maybe so, seems like it. I can still hear my Mum saying, ‘and if all the other kids jumped off a cliff would you do it, because they’re ALL doing it?’ No, we’re not lemmings, we shouldn’t behave like lemmings.


Flip that coin over to the other side, however, and I’ve also seen more generosity, bravery, altruism, care, love, selflessness, and joy – check out any animal/pet video – than ever I could have seen without social media and video clips. Perhaps that is the blessing to combat the dreadful tide of humanity’s worst features which seem to jockey to expose themselves for our vanities entertainment. I hope we as a people will concentrate more on the positive side of exposing ourselves.


I’d like to see more of us, as a people on this planet, being our better selves. Acting in a united power to heal this planet of the damage we’ve caused it. Provide for the lives we’ve created here, preserve the good things we’ve begun so they may continue to perpetuate for the future. Let’s learn from our mistakes, not repeat them for recordings and video hits.


If you have time to record it, you have time to intervene or dial 911. Be involved in your own life before it’s gone. It’s not a movie – there may be a sequel but you don’t get to redo the original. Just a macabre musing, y’all.

Have a good night and write on!
Faintly~

 “When do you find time to write?”

“Where do you come up with ideas?”

“Help! I want to be a writer but I don’t know where to start, what do I do?”

These are the top three of the most often asked questions I’ve heard or read (on social media or personal texts I’ve received) and they always give me a grin. Not because they’re silly or foolish questions but because I’ve heard the same questions presented to one of the most famous writers of my age, Mr. Stephen King.

I was fortunate enough to attend a public lecture given by Mr. King when he came to Wichita, Ks., in 2014. He’d come to my hometown to promote his latest book, at the time, "Revival" and a dear friend of mine bought me the ticket to attend as a birthday present. The line for admittance was long, the day was bitterly cold, and we waited well over an hour in the cold to get inside. The overflow of the conference was herded into another room where we were able to watch the interview style lecture on closed circuit camera. It was fascinating.

Right away, he got those “usual” questions out of the way and I was interested to hear his reply. I was surprised to find his answers predictable, at least for me, and I believe, for most writers. I found myself smiling and nodding, given that his answers were quite similar to my own with a few exceptions.

When do I find time to write? It’s not when but when do I not? I don’t think I ever stop. I may not be physically writing – and especially now that my disabilities have caught up with me so that I can’t type or write as fast or as much as I have in the past. I find it more difficult to find time to cook, clean house, or do laundry, than I do to write, so it’s a matter of prioritizing what’s important. Writing helps me save my sanity, even if it does disable my hands for several hours or days later.

I think it’s more difficult for the novice writer because family and friends don’t always take their attempts to create dedicated time for writing very seriously. Often, if someone enters the writer’s “work area,” they may find them “just sitting there.” People may even say, “I’m not bothering you am I? I mean, you were just sitting there.”

Believe me, when writers are “just sitting there” they are thinking over something; a plot point, a character arc, a twist in their tales, something that has put a stop-point in their creative process that needs to be ground through the grist-mill of their imagination for a bit.

Writing is an on-going art. When writers aren’t physically writing, they’re thinking about writing. They’re listening, observing, remembering, reflecting, comparing, and they’re storing up snippets from all of these varied sources that are revisited through their writing through the mouths or actions of their characters. It takes time, environment, and for some it takes rituals.

When I began my first published novel, my desk was in a laundry room. I would sit down and write between loads of washing, drying, and folding. That gave me breaks and time to contemplate my next move for my story while I folded, sorted, or put away clothing. To this day, every time I smell laundry detergent or fabric softener, I think of the character’s in my book, “Mr. Pockets: Love Never Dies.”

Smells and sounds are a strong trigger for many of us, so new writers should be aware of those things with which they imprint themselves as they write. They should also remember it’s a vital part of the life experience and to include their reader in the scents, sights, and sounds, of or experienced by their characters as well. For example, how many vampires kissing young excitable women are there now days? Too many to count but how many of them really think about how foul the vampire’s breath would be from living on a diet of blood, whether obtained from livestock or humans. I think I’ve made my point. If the oversight of the authors to this matter had been attended, there might be fewer twinkling vampires and more serious attention given to the matter of the undead swains. Again, it’s just my opinion, after all.

Where do we come up with ideas? From our lives, from our experiences and the lives and experiences of others. From history, both personal and cultural, from movies, television, radio, songs, music, and work. Ideas sprout from every aspect and avenue of life as we confront or accept it. We find ideas in all of those aforementioned sources as well as our own reading. For me, reading is an important part of the writing process that’s as vital as the pen.

I’ve heard of writers who’ve said that they never read but I don’t understand how that’s possible. Surely, they must read their own work – but I suppose with success one could pay others to do their reading for them. What a loss. Mr. King also said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” I believe that. I began writing because I’d read almost every fiction and most non-fiction book in our small town local library when I was young and couldn’t find “THE” book I wanted to read, so I started writing it.

“Help! I want to be a writer but I don’t know where to start, what do I do?” Also, from the wisdom of Mr. King, who stated, “How to start? One word at a time.” That’s basically it. Writing doesn’t have a standard set-up except the tools with which one comes to the table. Some write by short hand, others by long hand, while some, (as I’m considering) are using speech-to-text programs. It doesn’t matter what medium one uses as long as it is used, frequently and habitually. Writing, like any other work or exercise must be given a dedicated place or time in which one can allow free rein to one’s imagination and not be afraid to let loose of it on the page.

Some people light candles, listen to particular music, wear a certain outfit. Some writers have to clean their entire house before they can sit down and write “guilt-free”. I usually have to make sure my dishes are done but I try to avoid any “must do’s” so that I don’t leave myself another imprint such as the detergent scent that still triggers my mind to cast back to that particular novel once more. I do make myself playlists of music that prompts my muse to recall the mood or settings of the project on which I’m working and that helps jump-start my mind to get it “in the mood” to go back to that momentarily disrupted conversation, interrupted love scene, thwarted argument, or heinous murder, I was about to explore before I ran out of time for that 24 hours.

I think that it differs for everyone and it should. Each writer should bring to the table a unique voice and perspective that makes their story their own. Whether writing fiction, non-fiction, writing journals, magazine pieces, or diaries, it doesn’t matter, each writer has their own voice. Finding it is half the battle when first writing, keeping it is harder. That’s why I don’t read anything but my own work while I’m writing. When I’m done writing or taking a hiatus because my project has become stale or forced, I’ll set it down for a month or two and start up reading again.

Since I’ve taken up beta reading and editing for new writers, this provides me an ample supply of new books to read, see “Fiction/Authors” tab. I’ve also met wonderful new writers along the way. You can check them out in the “Fledgling Fiction Writers” tab. I know they’d appreciate a word of encouragement from you or I’ll be happy to pass on any words of support.

Whether you’re a writer or a reader, it comes back to this. We write because we must. We write because it’s important for us to get either one or multiple messages out of our heads and onto paper, or the digital facsimile thereof. We are one of the few workers who spend hours, weeks, months, and sometimes years working our craft, revising, honing, and polishing our work before ever getting paid. Imagine going to the doctor and telling him/her that you’ll pay him only if you get well or like the taste of the medicine? It would never happen, but that’s the life of a writer.

The chances of becoming a best-seller, in a field that is flooded with competition, is like winning the lottery. Rare, but it does happen. A good story is still a good story. I hope you’ll take a look at some of the one’s we offer here and lend your support to the writers. Writers are the unsung heroes of your entertainment, give them the credit they deserve and support their work by buying it, reading it, and reviewing it. It’s the only way they’ll know you’re reading their work and their efforts aren’t in vain.

I’ll close with another favorite quote of mine of Mr. King’s.

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
― Stephen King

Until next time – Ta Ta For Now (TTFN).
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~Faintly~

There are times when one feels the urge to write but there is a lack of confidence or response from friends or family.  It is to these new or 'secret' writers that I appeal, please don't stop. We need your voices, your written words, your views from the perspective of your imagination. 

I didn't have this reaction with my own "tribe" so I find it difficult when other writers tell me that their friends or family are non-reactive, not interested, or worse, extremely critical. I understand that it may be due to many issues: familial fractures, sibling rivalry, parental narcissism, or worse, they simply aren't readers. It's a hard thing to grasp that a family of non-readers could spawn a literary genius in their midst, but it does happen quite a lot.

I've found many brilliant writers hiding in the shadows of family dysfunctions. They've used writing as a way to give voice to their pain, anxiety, depression or grief. While others have used it as an escape route from the dull, daily life, others have ventured into the land of their own imagination to work out problems in a safe, and healthy, way.

Even though my writing was embraced and accepted by my family, others haven't had that opportunity and it is to them that I appeal --- Please keep writing. I will read your work, I will help you edit your work. I believe every writer has something to say. It may not be good, well-written, grammatically correct, or even palatable, but it's your voice and someone should hear it through the words on a page and I offer my eyes to "hear" your voice. 

I believe that all of those people who have that 'need' to write because they can't help themselves to do anything but to write, they should. There is something within them  that needs expression. Some writers have one book within them, some have no books, but blogs, journals, short stories, poetry, diaries, essays, and simply thoughts that need expression.

I believe we will always need writers to shake and rattle the cages of conformist thinking, either to support the majority or rebel against it. I'm a strong believer against censorship of our libraries and books in general. I read "Fahrenheit 451" in school and the idea that a society would ever ban a book, or burn them, terrified me. How else are we to discover new ideas that might save our society?  How else can we give ourselves a break from the horrors of our daily lives and the world around us when it gets to be too much. (Other than prayer and I do believe in that, too.)

 “No thing under the sun is new” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) hints that all ideas, thoughts, etc., have already been thought, written, spoken, etc., but we can find ways to present them and make them understandable to a whole new generation who hasn't yet heard, read, thought, or seen them.  We need, as a society, to rekindle our best ideas and concepts. We need to rewrite some of our histories to better explore the truth of our past events so that all peoples are represented, not just the winners.

I hope you'll join us here to share your ideas too. I'd love to hear from you in comments, or if you'd feel more comfortable, drop me an email (see Contact page.) You may also follow me on Facebook. (Just look for Faintly Macabre.)

Until then, write on!

~Faintly~

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