Revisions are Worse than Mondays

So... I was thinking last night and finally I figured something out. Or rather Di, one of my lovely CPs, said it and I had my light bulb moment, and here is what she said, paraphrased... At some point you have to call it good or revisions will never end. I hadn't thought about it before, but she was right. I have different CPs with different strengths. And after it has been through all of them one chapter will change so much, it's practically new. So, I ask you, how do I know if it's any good? It's already been through all of my CPs and now it's completely different changed so much it may as well be a first draft. Again. But she's right, I have to just call it good. It's been through the wringer. Issues have been addressed and now it's up to my betas to tell me whether or not it totally blows. Anyone else treading the shark-infested revision waters with me, or I am the only one with the dilema? How are you doing these days? When do you "call it good"?

Mood

In God We Doubt

Adventus posts a review of a book of that name by John Humphrys, which is in itself worthy of a follow-up; and although the entire post is, as always, worth spending some time with, i enjoyed this piece right out of the starting gate: Humphrys writes about his own spiritual journey, and along the way takes a swipe or two at Richard Dawkins, which is always a good time: Militant atheists seem to have enormous difficulty in understanding why so many people, many of them just as clever as they are, manage to live by their beliefs.

Here’s what Dawkins told Laurie Taylor in New Humanist magazine: “I don’t know what it would mean to say that we live by faith in our daily life. There is, I suppose, a sense that we are sometimes too busy to reason everything out, but otherwise I don’t know what it means”. Just on the scale of reason alone, the very idea that Dawkins “reason(s) everything out” is simply laughable. David Hume would have a field day with that remark, not to mention Kant, Kierkegaard, Socrates, Sartre, and Derrida. I can only imagine the comic novel Voltaire could make out of that innocently naive comment on that matter.

Happy Monday

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone

This is an absolutely adorable story. Not great literature, but tremendous imagination and story-telling. Which is just as important, I think. People have urged me to read Harry Potter for a while, saying I would like the books for their human plight. Little Harry is abused and unwanted by his “adoptive” family (his aunt, uncle and cousin), until he learns he is a heroic and famous wizards in the magical world that thrives under London, where people above-street are “Muggles” and little harmless spells are sometimes permitted. But honestly? I liked this book for its disgusting surprise vomit and earwax jellybeans. And for the staircases that sometimes don’t lead where Harry and the other students at Hogwarts expect. And for the doors that want to be tickled in exactly the right place before they will open, and that sometimes are only pretending to be doors. And for the chess pieces that heckle their players! And for the prankster ghosts and the portraits that point, laugh, and whisper together, and for the guardian paintings that sometimes go out on social visits, leaving people trapped behind doors without guards. (All of which brought Alice in Wonderland to mind). Little Hermione with her anxiously uplifted classroom hand is adorable. The Quidditch chapter is innovative and exciting! (I could see the whole game! I love Harry dipping and lurching on his super-cool, top-quality showroom broomstick). The twist in the storyline when the “bad guy” is revealed had me rushing through pages!
 

All of the classes the kids go to felt so matter-of-fact I almost believed they could be real. Emphasis is placed, not on hocus-pocus, but on the stress Harry feels studying for tests, the rivalry between the students, the fact that he misses his parents (whom he never got to meet), his longing to fit in, and his annoyance with Hermione’s Type A personality and insistence that he study and follow the rules. Harry is a kid trying to do what every other kid does, fit in. He just happens to be doing this as a boy wizard who has only just learned he’s a wizard and is a bit uncomfortable with the palpable expectation everyone has that he will somehow make a difference. I love Dumbledore. I want to go to Hogwarts. The rivalry between the different houses feels so authentic, it is easy to forget the rivalry is between wizards and witches, and begin to believe that the magic part of the story isn’t the focus so much as the desire to succeed, to keep learning, to not be ignored or laughed at, but to be accepted. Even in a magical underworld, that is what Harry wants most of all: friendship, respect, kindness, and the love of two parents he never knew. I think ultimately (vomit jellybeans aside) that’s what I love about Harry Potter and Harry Potter coloring pages. Yes, it’s set in a ridiculous world that isn’t real. But that’s not really what the story is about. It’s about bravery, and growing up, and being a team player, and having a hero, and knowing the difference between right and wrong. It’s about ignoring those who claim you are nothing and stepping forward to make a difference.

Garage Sale

Life is Not Simple

Well it is simple, if you lead a simple life. Work towards acceptance, learn to laugh at anything that bothers you and to embrace everything as both absurd and wonderful at the same time... It's not for us to be perfect... It's up to us to be ourselves. It's up to you to be Joe. No matter what others might think, you just need to be yourself. Just don't ever ever, try to force someone to be what you think they should be. That is a sin. Even if you know in your heart someone else is doing something wrong, while you can discuss, talk and debate, you should never preach or force your ideas, since then you have lost if you do. To be alive is to feel time, so take the time, go outside, feel the wind, the sun, feel life, embrace it. Pause, stop for a second and take all that energy focus inside your heart, spirit, your own spiritual motion to become who you want to be. 

Love and help those around you, by being yourself first and foremost. If you do that, then you can help the world. This is why I share a personal tao for free. For precisely this reason. We do make a difference, just be being ourselves. I have already made a difference in helping you, and I didn't have to do anything other than be myself, to reach out and say hi, and share a moment with you. May you have peace in your journeys. So anyways I have been chewing this over for few days and decided to share it since: I know I have helped others. Just by being myself. We don't have to change the world. We don't have to change ourselves. We just need to be ourselves. Everything then, sorts itself out with time.