Monday, January 27, 2014

Stream of Consciousness

            There’s a writing exercise called “Stream of Consciousness”. What you do is write down your thoughts as they come into your head. I was thinking it would make for an interesting blog post when I remembered how terrible I am at it.

            My first problem with writing a stream of consciousness is my typing speed. I can’t keep up with my brain. Being a writer, you’d think that I could write pretty fast – not so. I can only type twenty-five words per minute. Granted, that’s one handed and I can maintain that speed with either my left or right hand. Mathematically, that means I should be able to type fifty words per minute with both hands together, but no – two hands somehow drops my speed to twenty words per minute. As a frame of reference, office jobs usually require a minimum of fifty words per minute.

            The next problem for me is that I don’t actually think in words. At one point, in school, I was taught that there were two ways that people thought – either in pictures, or words. I immediately baulked at the idea because I didn't think in pictures and I knew that my thoughts needed to be translated into words before I could express them. Eventually I realised that there must be a third way of thinking (unless I was an anomaly) and, after giving it a large amount of consideration, I decided that I think in emotions. On top of that, I have several layers of thought constantly running through my head and only the one that seems most important at the time gets translated into words.

            Which brings me to my third and final problem with writing a stream of consciousness. Whenever I try to do one, my efforts to focus on what I'm thinking about inevitably focus on what I'm doing and becomes all about the exercise I'm trying to attempt. Here’s an example:

            Okay so I'm supposed to be doing a stream of consciousness thingy. I hate these things... so... what am I thinking about? Well, duh, I'm thinking about writing a stream of consciousness. As an example to the people who read my blog. Yeah I'm doing a really great job, I know, ‘cause all I can think about is what I'm supposed to be writing and, as a result, I'm writing nonsense about how I'm not writing what I should be writing because my brain refuses to switch topics.


            See what I mean? It just doesn't work for me. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting and fun exercise to try out. You should try it at some point, unless your brain is wired like mine (in which case, you have my pity) and you just keep getting caught up on what you’re doing. In that case, you should focus on writing things that don’t put your shy brain in the spotlight.




Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.



If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Monday, January 20, 2014

And so it Begins

            This weekend was spent behind the Ringcrafts table at Tri-Con, an anime, comics and gaming convention. Not only was this show the first one of the year for us, this was the first year for this particular show – and I must say, wow! What a great start. If this show was an indicator of how well we’re going to do at shows this year, my wife and I may find ourselves with more chainmaille to make than we can keep up with.


            For a first year show, Tri-Con drew in an enormous crowd. So much so that it will most likely become an annual event – especially with all the press that showed up! It was wonderful to see a small event getting so much attention. This articledescribes it perfectly (and happens to mention yours truly). I can’t wait to see how this event grows over the years and I look forward to a time when I can say I was there from the beginning.


            As always, the fun of a show is followed by exhaustion, and heralds the time to look towards the next events coming up – the most exciting of which is Toronto ComiCon in March, which we were just accepted as vendors for. This is a show so big that I'm expecting the dealer’s room to be packed shoulder-to-shoulder, which is terrifying from my side of the table. With all the ideas I have and extra stock I’ll need, I expect to be very busy for a while.



            My brain tells me that I should be writing more, but I'm too tired. It’s time to go sleep off the effects that large groups of people have on introverts.










Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.




If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Life Under a Rock

            One of these days I'm going to sit down to write a blog and have no clue what to write. Although, to be fair, that describes almost every week. What I really mean is that I’ll have no clue and I’ll remain clueless so long that I’ll be left without a blog.


            I guess it would help a bit if I didn't live under a rock. If you consider that I rarely leave the house more than once a week, I don’t have access to TV (and wouldn't watch it if I did), I don’t listen to the radio and the only news I find out about is what filters to me through social media sites, it’s actually pretty impressive that I can find as much to talk about as I do.


            It might seem like an odd life choice to be so cut off from what are staples for most of society, but for me it comes naturally. I grew up without TV (it was replaced by my dad’s extensive movie collection) in a household that didn't even bother with newspapers. No one was interested enough for it to be worth it.


            Since the invention of the printing press, it has become more and more important for people to know what’s going on in the rest of the world. At first, it was just news being passed on, along with propaganda, but now it has evolved into entertainment. Because of that, news has become a series of one catastrophe after another – after all, the core of all entertainment is conflict. The end result is that the news is depressing and nothing is achieved by knowing it, so I figure I'm better off without it.


            I’ll admit that keeping on top of world (or even local) events is important for some people, but for me (and probably most people) it really doesn't matter. I know there are lots of things wrong with the world; I don’t need to be reminded. What will knowing about current events accomplish? I don’t have the time or resources to do anything about it. The best I can do is vote for a government that will do what they can (at which point I do research that negates the need to be constantly deluged with global issues).


            The result of this? I get to live a happier life. It could be argued that I'm uninformed, but, in this day and age, any time I need to know about something, I can just look it up. Personally, I think that living a happier life is more important than knowing about events I have no control over. I may be living under a rock, but it’s nice down here. Plus, I have the added bonus of being able to poke my head out to participate in the world whenever I want (which, admittedly, is not often).



            The moral of the story is, you can’t get stuck between a rock and a hard place if the rock is working for you. Come live under a rock and be happier. But not my rock. It’s occupied. Shoo.








Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.





If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Monday, January 06, 2014

Imagination

            Imagination is a wonderful thing. I can’t imagine a world without it – and in a world without it, I couldn't imagine anything at all. So, I find it strange that imagination is so often labeled as a childish thing; something we’re supposed to grow out of.

            I think that a lot of people never stop to think about how much we actually rely on imagination. The truth is, we would have nothing without it. We would be hunters/gatherers living in caves without tools – because the first tool was just a thing that someone imagined could be used for something else. Homes, too, are a product of imagination. Someone imagined a way to create their own shelter, then they built it. I don’t even need to mention all the technology we rely on.

            Even our languages – spoken and written – came from imagination. Someone imagined a certain combination of sounds could paint a picture of a person, place, thing, or action. Then someone did the same thing with squiggles in the dirt or paint on a cave wall. What creative people they were!

            I’ll admit there is a down-side to imagination, and that’s fear. We can imagine all kinds of terrible things far worse than what is actually out there. As an example, the other night I turned out the light before going to bed, but instead of getting straight into bed like I usually do, I crouched down beside the bed and was as silent as possible. Colleen, who was already in bed, knowing that I was in the room somewhere and that I enjoy scaring her periodically, was terrified. She was sure I was going to jump out at her, although I told her later (and got swatted for it) that I had no intention of doing so because I knew her imagination could scare her far more than I could.

            But that’s one negative point, and it actually branches into a positive one – entertainment! What would life be without entertainment and how could entertainment exist without imagination? Everything from the simplest game to books and movies required imagination to create. So unless someone does nothing but eat, sleep and work, their lives rely on imagination in some way.


            All things considered, I think that imagination is the most valuable thing we have. Imagine that. If imagination is childish, then I’m perfectly happy to stay a child forever. A world without imagination is a world that shouldn't exist.





Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.