Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Zora & Me

I had the great privilege to visit a national landmark this past week while on our honeymoon. We were in Kissimmee, FL, and traveled twenty minutes north to the small town of Eatonville (just north of Orlando) to visit the Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts.

I have been a fan of Hurston since high school when in English class we read her most famous novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. It may sound cliche, but this novel might have just changed my life. Aside from seeing black characters not simply as props, her writing depicts authentic characters and African American dialect that I grew up around my entire life living in South Carolina.

It was not until my wife and I visited the museum that I realized how much of an influence Hurston has on my writing. Honestly, I had not read the Their Eyes for 15 years, but apparently some part of me retained Hurston's allegorical writing style and her use of Southern vernacular. I did not pattern my writing after Hurston, but the dialogue and use of symbols and rural imagery clearly suggests her as one of my writing influences.


More intensely, I can see that Hurston's themes and motifs abide comfortably in the bosom of my writing. Once I became enlightened by the rest of her works at the museum, I realized that both she and I use allegory in our writing. Her novel Moses, Man of the Mountain is based on the Biblical story of Moses. Speaking of which, Hurston also used Biblical motifs unsparingly in her characters and her themes. In her first novel Jonah's Gourd Vine, the main character John Pearson becomes a preacher who struggles with the lusts of the flesh. In my upcoming novel City of David (which allegorically can be related to the Biblical giant slayer and king of Israel) the main character David Johns reaps the consequences from similar temptations as John Pearson.


Dust Tracks on a Road, Hurston's autobiography
Finally, Hurston is a master at infusing her novels with autobiographical text. She illustrates the town of Eatonville, where she lived as a young girl, in several of her works, including Their Eyes Were Watching God in which she draws from a past relationship to manifest the compelling love affair of Janie and Tea Cake. She also depicts the relationship between her father and mother in Jonah's Gourd Vine. Similarly, my novel City of David exhibits elements of my experiences in college and marriage.

I was completely floored and humbly inspired when I realized these similarities existed between my writing and that of Zora Neale Hurston. She has influenced the great writers of our time such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Ralph Ellison. Countless other authors will testify to Hurston influencing their works. I could be discouraged that someone else has already written in the style that I am attempting to now. Nonetheless, I remain encouraged that someone has already gone before me and has successfully laid a marvelous blueprint for the literary fiction I am trying to write. I can now learn from her victories and her setbacks in order to make my career as a writer a fulfilling one. I am grateful and eager to learn all I can from Hurston's life and writing. It is a wonderful thing to belong to a family tree whose branches somewhere from the roots connect Zora to me.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Update for 2013

I'm uploading this web video as an update on the publications I have in the works for the new year! Just click either of the links below to view it. Enjoy this season of giving, and anticipate a glorious 2013.

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Are You a Worrier or a WARRIOR?

This question was dropped in my spirit last night as I lay in bed. As a writer, there are tons of things to worry about and consider on the road to publication and eventual "success" (a relative term at best). The myriad of questions for writers leads down a treacherous path of worry, stress, and even depression which all lead to apathy, inactivity, and the destruction of our dreams. The ultimate goal of worry is to destroy our faith--not just spiritual faith, but faith in ourselves or our own visions and goals. Some of those dream-killing questions include:
  • How do I know if my work is any good?
  • Why am I not seeing results in my writing like others?
  • How can I market my writing when no one is interested in it or me?
  • When is it time to quit on my dreams?
Any worrier can attest to the fact that worry leads to more worry. It doesn't stop unless we draw the line and make it stop! The solution is just moving forward. We can reach a destination if we are always stopping at rest spots along the way. We have to keep moving!

I submit to you these bullet points from motivational speaker Craig Harper about worriers and warriors.

Worriers:
  • Find things to stress about
  • Are generally reactive (not proactive)
  • Over-think the shit out of everything
  • Are people-pleasers (and not in a good way)
  • Avoid the things they should address
  • Allow fear to run their lives
  • Don’t stand up for themselves
  • Hope things will (magically) work out
  • Love routine, predictability and familiarity
  • Beat themselves up often
  • Procrastinate
  • Apologize unnecessarily
  • Waste emotional energy on stuff they can’t change
  • Waste time, talent and opportunities
  • Are exhausting to be around
Warriors:
  • Take chances
  • Are prepared to get uncomfortable
  • Make the tough decisions
  • Persevere when most would give up
  • Ask the hard questions
  • Don’t look for permission, sympathy or approval
  • Explore and exploit their potential
  • Finish what they start
  • Talk less and do more
  • Are solution-focused not problem-obsessed
  • Acknowledge their flaws without any hint of self-loathing
  • Don’t shirk responsibility
  • Are inspiring to be around
  • Are adaptable and cope well with change
  • Fight for what they believe in
(craigharper.com)

The only way to overcome the plague of worry is to cut it off, to slice it out of our minds, to burn it up from our psyche, to kill it--like a warrior would do. Whatever your worries are (and mine), let's agree to fight them today until the bitter end.

Whenever I think of warriors, I think of these two men: the iconic wrestler the Ultimate Warrior and the epic King Leonidas from the movie 300. These men personify the warrior spirit although they are fictional. Whoever is a warrior to you, I challenge you to get their picture in your mind when worry creeps upon you. What would they do? They would fight!

Therefore, I give a war cry to all my writers. Despite the many tough questions, obstacles, and shortcomings in this industry, don't throw in the towel. Embrace the warrior spirit and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Why I Love the Classics

I had the opportunity to write a guest blog entitled "Why I Love the Classics" for the Cola chapter of the South Carolina Writers' Workshop.

http://columbiawritersworkshop.blogspot.com/

Friday, November 16, 2012

DVR Dilemma

A revelation that I have too much TV experience.

DVR Dilemma

Fast forward
Now rewind
Ok fast forward
No now rewind again
Ok forward
NO YOU PASSED IT
Now back again
Wait forward some more
Now back a little bit
Right there!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

They Want My Manuscript...Now What???

My mother taught my sister and me when we were growing up to always keep our rooms and our house clean so that if we ever had an unexpected visitor, then we would not appear slovenly.

I recently "tested the waters" of the publishing market to garner interest in my novel about the rise and fall of a college campus ministry. After sending a query to a publisher about my novel, they have asked to view the manuscript. There is definitely a certain excitement and satisfaction that comes with this news. It validates the endless hours of imagination poured on pages. It manifests the goal writers have initially before they set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. It breeds confidence in our abilities, talents, and gifts to expresses in writing the issues of life in stunning detail. One dilemma exists with this new development in my progress: the novel remains unfinished! With that aforementioned excitement, validation, and satisfaction, an anxiety is now present. There is an "Oops!" in my conscience that exists because I never truly thought there would be much buzz when I sent the query.

I instantly flashed back to my mother's cleaning method. When I began the novel, I was writing some each day which became every few days...which became once a week--you get the idea. Now that I have a "visitor"--better yet a suitor--to see my work, it is incomplete and not what I desire it to be.

Therefore, the best advice for any writer--as I now have learned--is to keep writing! Away with the insecurities about who wants our work or what entity will reject us next. We must keep writing! Away with excuses for not getting to a place where we can devote our time to our passion instead of explaining why we are writers with no evidence of our work. Away with the fear that people will not "get us" or will not understand who we are and why we write. We must keep writing! Whatever is preventing us from achieving our goals and seeing our dreams manifested, we must escort those things out of our path, out of our minds, and into the same pile where our rejection letters lie. We must reject the rejections! We must make the insecurities insecure!

In essence, the manuscript request was a wake-up call. Who knows if it will be accepted, but being caught with my house not in order has again set my passion for writing ablaze. We never know when the moment we have been waiting our whole careers for will be laid before us, so we must be ready.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some "cleaning" to do...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Referee vs. The Playmaker

It was tough to decide what analogy would best juxtapose the dilemma of being a college professor who continually edits essays with being a writer who invokes imagination, creativity, and uniqueness. I have settled on the opposing roles of a sports referee and a superstar sports figure.
 A referee maintains order during a game so that players will play within the rules. I believe this is why they wear black and white because there should be no gray area in their decisions. They govern each contest according to the laws of competition. I often refer to myself as the "grammar police" for maintaining the rules of Standard American English as best as I know how. If a grammar issue needs further review, then I will consult either a higher authority, or I will consult the rules themselves. The keys in the referee's function are order, systems, and rules.

Obviously, this existence limits any room for creativity and innovation by the referee. We do not expect--nor for that matter desire--referees to show imagination. If a baseball umpire does attempt to exalt his position by tossing out a player or manager who argues a blown call, then the crowd will jeer him and throw all manner of debris on the baseball field. Fans, players, and coaches do not want to even know that the referees exist until the referees benefit them. That is the life of an editor. With little to no glory, their lot is to provide an authority on the rules of play (Standard American English) to writers who may stray from the rules.

Conversely, the role of the players exists to entertain fans, to create a spectacle, and to invoke cheers while primarily leading their teams to victory. Their primary goal is to win at all costs, but the best players will display exceptional talent in the process. Players who stand out are known as playmakers. Playmakers can, in effect, change the course of a game with one hit of the bat in a clutch situation, one dynamic throw of the football, or one spectacular catch, and they do so with creative abilities such as agility, speed, strength, or even intellect. In basketball, a clutch play usually results in a buzzer-beating shot to win a game (i.e. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James). In football, a clutch play is defined by a quarterback driving his team down the field in the last two minutes for a game-winning touchdown (i.e. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning). These players remain synonymous with the term playmaker.
 As writers, we are expected to excel in the spectacular, to make the unbelievable believable, and to entertain readers with a mastery-level command of language and diction. Honestly, a writer does not have to know all the rules of Standard American English to exhibit imagination creativity just as a playmaker does not need to know every rule in the rule book to be great. We are cheered and celebrated, though, for giving readers something to cheer about. We are to leave the readers wanting more of our work with anticipation and excitement: something that will leave them in awe to tell their friends and family about.

For those of us who desire the mantles of both a writer and an editor, the juxtaposition can be tricky and often frustrating. We do not have an on-off switch that tells us for one minute to be imaginative and the next minute to be deliberately orthodox. I challenge anyone to find a referee who transcended his position to become a superstar athlete or an athlete who resigned to become a "zebra" (as the refs are called). Many believe it is easy for a teacher or an editor to write stories or poetry. Actually, it is difficult to transition from one purpose in editing others' writing to another in allowing creativity to reign. Writers can lose their edge for individuality if they are constantly thinking about grammar rules, and editors can lose sight of the imagination in others' writing if they have the blinders of Standard American English in full gaze.

These gifts of both an editor and a writer can be daunting, but the greats have learned to master this practice. One that comes to mind is the American icon and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. As an editor, a professor at Princeton, and an author, she has perfected the art of literature and has developed a signature style that others attempt to duplicate or from which to derive inspiration. Some of her thoughts on writing and editing are marvelously woven together. For example, in an interview she once said, "What I can do very well is what I used to do, which is edit. I can follow [other writers'] train of thought, see where their language is going, suggest other avenues. I can do that, and I can do that very well" (Jaffrey Interview 1998). However on inspiration, she counters with "I can't explain inspiration. A writer is either compelled to write or not. And if I waited for inspiration I wouldn't really be a writer" (Time Magazine Interview 1998).

To her, the two mantles of writer and editor compliment one another rather than work against one another. In fact, Morrison declares that they must in order for a writer to become not only great but also complete and content with their own work. "I love that part; that's the best part, revision. I do it even after the books are bound! Thinking about it before you write it is delicious. Writing it all out for the first time is painful because so much of the writing isn't very good. I didn't know in the beginning that I could go back and make it better; so I minded very much writing badly. But now I don't mind at all because there's that wonderful time in the future when I will make it better, when I can see better what I should have said and how to change it. I love that part!" (Bakerman Interview 1978).

Therefore, if we as teachers and editors can endure the process of the draft, then we can bask in the paradise of revising unto greatness. The pressure of writing a great draft should be nonexistent. All drafts are edited at some point, so the need for perfection in drafts remains an unnecessary burden. Becoming both the referee and the playmaker sets us apart. Even writers who are not necessarily editors should take on the editor's role in their own work, allowing them to view the work through a different lens.

I accept the role of becoming more versatile as a professor and a writer. So many have done so with success. I seek to join them. When both great playmakers and great referees are on the field at the same time, the result usually is a flawless spectacle for the world to enjoy: the battle cry for my works as a writer.