“There is no answer. There never has been any answer. That’s the answer.” – Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein (photo credit: Carl Van Vechten via Wikipedia)

Do you read self-help book after self-help book – or business book after business book – looking for the One Big Answer that will solve your most important problem?

I have. And I can tell you this:

The One Big Answer isn’t in a book.

It’s not in a guru. It’s not in your best friend. It’s not in any religious text.

It’s not anywhere…because it doesn’t exist.

It’s a truth that everyone keeps forgetting. Even me. I see a new self-help or business book and think, this is what I need to turn it around. I buy it, read it – and still don’t have that One Big Answer.

Why not?

What worked for the author may not work for you, even if you do exactly as they did. The people you will face won’t react like the people they faced. They did what they did in a different time or a different industry. And luck, of course, is a bigger factor than most of these authors want to admit.

You may not be able to do what they did, at least not right now. You may not have enough money or the right contacts or the skills. You may not have the right product, or even any product.

So is it time to just throw in the towel?

Not so fast.

Life is not One Big Answer. It’s a series of little ones.

We can make plans for five years, ten years, a lifetime. But we can only live one day at a time. One hour. One minute.

What can you do right now to start in the direction of solving your problems?

It can be as simple as doing research on the people that you admire that you want to contact, and ask advice from. (I say, connect with people who do what you want to do.)

It can be as simple as calling your debtors and asking if you can work out a realistic payment plan.

It can be as simple as writing one more blog post which can reach and teach people…and I am doing that right now.

Small movements, added up, can lead to big changes.

NaBloPoMo: Do I have the fortitude?

I recently made the decision to enter National Novel Writing Month (which is always in November) and today, I found out that there's also a National Blog Posting Month (which is sponsored by BlogHer and WordPress).

As I have written before, my 2013 posting output took a dive after May. I wonder if the challenge of NaBloPoMo will get me back on track. (After all, if I post for every day in November, I will exceed my yearly post quota of 48.) 

Do you think I can do it - and still write my novel (and everything else I'm writing) at the same time?

I think I can.

The root of human rights

What is the basic human right?

Most of us would say freedom. 

Freedom is, of course, important, and it would be intolerable to live without it completely. 

But freedom is a double-edged sword...does it include the freedom to destroy the lives of others? Does it include the freedom to kill, rape, steal, bully?

If someone is attacking you, how much freedom do you really have? 

I say that human rights are rooted in another place...and it is spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

When we start off with respecting each other, we see the human being in front of us. Not the symbol, not the punching bag, not the blame magnet.

When we see the human being, we cannot help but realize that he or she is just like us more than we ever imagined.

Respect is for everyone. For the newborn baby. The difficult child. The cranky co-worker. The political opponent. Even the prison inmate. 

You don’t have to love everyone (no matter what the Bible says). That can’t be done in any event. When you respect people – even if you know you must limit your contact with them for your own sake – you strengthen your connection to humaneness.  

If we all respected each other, what kind of world do you think this would be?

Take time to think about it.

Who moved my post?

...evidently, I did, but I don't know how.

I wrote a post titled "The beautiful boy and the terrorist" back in May. Today (October 15) I noticed that one of the labels was misspelled, so I fixed it. But now it shows up dated today.

Just to let you know.

P.S. On November 4, I figured out how to move the post back to May. Now I feel better.

Writers, never be ashamed of your subject matter

Photo credit: lucianotb (stock.xchng)

If you write about taboo, difficult, or controversial subjects, you will encounter people who will try to make you feel ashamed of your words:

You have a filthy mind.

Why do your characters have to cuss so much? You have more imagination than that.

Violence is cheap conflict.

That is racist/sexist/homophobic language, and it will cause unnecessary pain.

Statements like these are not about the writer. They are about the critic and his/her personal dislikes, which are as individual and as idiosyncratic as a fingerprint.

You can’t pull back your words because someone, somewhere, will dislike them. Because that is a guarantee, no matter what you write. You can write the mildest “inspirational” (i.e., conservative Christian) romance possible, and someone will still hate it.

Sex is a part of life. So is violence. Anger. Strong language. Bigotry. Thoughts that are not nice, polite, or civilized.

They are all things that happen in life.

Is it wrong to speak about things that happen in life?

We writers must write the scenes and use the words that our story demands. Not edit them based on fear of a real or imaginary critic.

I used to be ashamed of my controversial writing. No more. I have too many words left in me to waste time on shame.

And so do you.

It's been a strange summer

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you can tell that my posting quota has gone out the window this summer. From January to May, I have been posting four to five times per month. That has not been true for June, July, and August (September’s final total, of course, is yet to be seen).

What is going on? Why did I write proudly about a quota that I eventually failed to follow?

How do other bloggers explain lack of posting?

“I’ve been too busy.” Not in my case.

“I’ve been hired to do an important project.” I wish.

“I haven’t been motivated.” That sounds like a lame excuse...but it is close to the truth.

I have not been doing many of my usual activities this summer, not only the work-related ones (looking for new projects and clients, blogging), but the things I enjoy (reading, walking, meandering).

What is wrong with me?

I think my thoughts may be the root of the problem.

Instead of pondering a multitude of ideas, I have been thinking of one subject 90% of the time. Perhaps 95%. Or even more.

It is not a happy subject to think about.

It is not a dream I can realistically attain.

It is not a story which is likely to have a happy ending.

It is something I miss, even though I have never actually encountered it in the first place.

Or have known in any meaningful way.

You may be asking, why am I wasting my time with this subject?

My answer is, am I really?

I have written over 25,000 words of (completed) fiction about this subject. That is more than half the minimum needed for a novel (40,000).

I wonder if I can turn this idea into an actual novel that can be sent out into the world...before I lose interest in this subject completely.

That is up to me, of course.

This summer, I have been as tightly closed as the flower in the photo above.

I think it’s high time I opened up again.

Don’t you?