Lights Out

            This week’s blog is brought to you courtesy of a massive ice storm, although it may be coming late for the same reason. It’s really quite remarkable how, when the power goes out, everything in life just seems to... stop. There’re no lights, no heat, only battery-powered electronics which must be conserved, and no internet (unless there’s data around). However, there’s something else that vanishes, too: pressure.

            Our lives have become so reliant on technology that as soon as it’s no longer there, all those important things we have to constantly be doing no longer matter. Yes, there’s an element of anxiety about not being able to complete required tasks, but the power is gone – it’s out our hands; there’s nothing we can do about it, so it’s easy to push aside.

            We’re then left with our biggest problem: what do we do with ourselves? To me, it’s astonishing that it’s so hard to figure out what to do with myself when the power is gone, because I’m right in that age group that transitioned from very limited technology use to constantly being plugged in. I remember a time when I had far more free time, and yet I still managed to keep myself occupied, but somehow I now have no idea what to do when technology ceases to function.

            I think a big part of it is shock, because looking around I can find things I do fairly regularly that don’t require technology. Reading. Conversing. Board games. Drawing. The activities exist, but it’s a so much smaller pool of tasks that the brain is easily tricked into thinking there’s nothing to do.

            Yet, at the same time, there’s that element of reaction. Not only is there less we what to do, there’s less we’re able to do. Our technology has given us the ability to do lots of things very fast, sometimes many things at once. As we became used to this, it became an expectation not only that we could accomplish so much, but that we should.

            Then the power goes out, and everything slows down. Our attention is drawn to all the things in life that we take for granted. We have to remind ourselves of other ways of getting things done, and of other things we have to do.

            I’d be the last person to claim we need less technology in our lives, but at the same time I think it’s important to pause and remember that we don’t have to constantly be going so fast; that, in fact, without all our technology we wouldn’t be able to. What better time to reflect upon this than when the power vanishes and all the lights go out.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

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

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


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.

Opinionated Facts

            We humans have a very bad habit of assuming our opinions are facts. It seems a strange thing to do, but we do it nevertheless, and, once they’re formed, we will defend our opinions ‘til the end of the world, often regardless of other information.

            The fact that a man lies dead in his bed is indisputable. Yet, with no other information than that single sentence, you just formed an opinion about the cause of his death. If you readers were to express those opinions to each other, there’s a good chance you would end up arguing about it. Some would say the man died of natural causes, comfortably in his bed. Others would say he was murdered. Some might even posit that an accident occurred where he slipped and bumped his head on the side of the bed.

            A few more facts would only fuel the argument. The dead man is splayed on the bed, face down. It can be argued that this is how he sleeps, possibly tossing and turning. Of course, it could also be that he was killed, and that’s how he landed – or perhaps he was smothered. The splayed position also works for someone who has fallen.

            A glass of some clear liquid lies spilled on the floor beside the bed. That may sway some of those who believe that this was a natural death to the side of the murder-believers, but the staunchest supporters will insist that he could have knocked it off the bedside table as he slept. On the other hand, it could be poisoned. Is it even water? Perhaps the man had been drinking, which led to that fateful bump on the head.

            Facts are points of information, but what they mean is so often opinion. This is evident in the scientific process – when an experiment is designed, it is done with the intent of proving a specific theory – which means that there is already an opinion about what the results will reveal. If there is any room for interpretation in those results, what do you think the findings will be?

            The more we discover, the more humans become aware of this discrepancy. It has led many to believe that there is no such thing as reality – that facts are only there to support reality. This has led to all kinds of confusion and even beliefs that the facts, themselves, may be changed to suit one’s needs.

            However, there obviously is only one reality (the one I believe in, of course), otherwise we wouldn’t be able to interact in it. The real trouble comes from the facts – or, rather, either the lack of facts, or the way the facts are presented. For there is far too much information in the world for one person to discover on their own, and the only way to get a sufficient amount of facts is through someone else’s opinion.

            That means we are required to trust someone else’s opinion in order to gain the information we require. That seems reasonable enough – only, why would you trust the opinions of someone who has a different opinion than you?

            So, the facts are that a man lies dead on his bed. He’s splayed face-down, and there’s a spilled glass of a clear liquid on the floor. There’s also a red silk scarf wrapped around his neck. How did he die?

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

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

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


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.

Unstoppable Creativity

            You’d think I would have learned by now. Because I haven’t, I’ve now broken my cardinal rule. That’s right, I’m working on more than one book at a time.

            It may not seem like such an important rule. Loads of people work on more than one book at once, so why is it such a big problem? Well, it’s a problem because it gives the writer an excuse to not finish a project. The Dark Lord of the Alliance of Worldbuilders is a prime example – he’d written 100,000 words or more in a single month (wow!) and yet, to my knowledge, he had never completed a book (we all give him a hard time about it).

            Now, in my case, I couldn’t help starting a second project. As I mentioned a few blogs back, I’m currently working on rewriting a project. Apparently, after seven years of writing every day, rewriting isn’t enough of a creative outlet for my brain. After a while, an idea surfaced that I couldn’t resist – so now, here I am, splitting my writing time between two projects when I should be focusing on one.

            It just goes to show that creativity is a habit. Once you get into it, you just have to keep going.

            Feel free to take that as encouragement to build a creative habit – or a warning to avoid doing so. Whichever suits you best.

            Either way, know that you can’t stop the creativity. Creators must create.

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

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


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.

Habits

            It always astounds me how easily we get into habits. Or the things that can become habits, even when we are not expecting them to.

            Take writing, for example. I very deliberately developed a habit of writing every day. I made the decision to write every single day six years ago and I haven’t looked back. What I didn’t expect was the secondary habit I didn’t even notice I had until earlier this month.

            Once I finished writing my first book, I set a goal for myself to write a book every year. I managed it for the first five years, but last year I decided to switch it up a bit. I wanted to take the year to really focus on building the world I write in – developing people, places, cultures and maybe writing a few short stories.

I focused on that for about three months before I found myself with a book idea I just had to start right away. So, the new book took on much of my writing time until I had yet another idea. I focused on the world building around that idea, while still taking some time to work on the book until I’d developed the idea to the point where I was ready (and extremely excited) to start the new book.

            So, I did something I promised myself I would never do – I started the new book without finishing the previous one. What has all this got to do with habits? Well, I’m getting there.

            January rolled around and during my year of only world building I had a quarter of a book and a half of a book. However, for the last five years, January has been the time when I have started work on a new book. An idea started tugging at my brain – an idea for a book I’ve had for a while, but now my mind was trying to start writing it even though I have two unfinished books to complete first.

            That’s when it hit me. I’ve actually developed a habit of starting a new book in January. It is so ingrained in my brain that it tries to do it whether I want to or not.

            Apparently habits can be built into our systems on an annual calendar. I find it astounding to think our minds can pick up on something happening with such a large time gap in the middle and still make a habit out of it.

            Now I must go resist starting a third work in progress.

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.

Defeating the Dastardly Ball

            I really need to start writing my blogs before Dungeons and Dragons. Such a fantastic idea; I think I’ll start doing it as soon as I get back on the ball.

            Of course, getting on the ball is the real trick, isn't it? Even harder is to stay on it. Last weekend, after Colleen and I had been talking about how poorly we’d been doing at keeping up our various work and chores, I said to her “Don’t worry! As of Monday, you and me, together, we’re getting on the ball!”

            And it worked...! For the first day and a half. Then Colleen got sick and, as a result, we both slipped back a bit. But we still ended up having a better week than the previous few. Once again, this weekend I said, “As of Monday, we’re getting on the ball!” After all, if a horse bucks you off, you get right back on!

            Naturally, all of this got me to thinking about why it’s so hard to get back into a routine once it’s been broken. The answer seemed pretty obvious – when a routine is broken, a new one is formed and you follow that routine instead. Our brains are wired for routine. We’re creatures of habit.

            That’s an interesting phrase, actually... looking at the rest of the world, aren't all living beings creatures of habit? Pets expect to be fed and exercised at regular times, flocks of birds migrate seasonally and just about every animal I know of follows some sort of routine. Interesting...

            Reminds me of my dad frequently saying humans are pack animals while pointing out groups of cars clustered together on the highway where it’s far safer to keep as much distance between yourself and other cars as possible.

            Where was I...?

            Creatures of habit! Right. Colleen and I are good at setting our routines – you need to be when you work from home. No boss to tell you what to do. Unfortunately, the routines are too easily interrupted – usually by shows. We can be happily working 40-50 hour weeks leading up to a show, but as soon as the event is over we often drop to 15-20 hour weeks. Why? Well, because shows interrupt our fantastic routine and tire us out enough that we feel we deserve a day off. By the end of the day off, a new routine is established and it’s hard work to get back into the old, good routine.

            So, here we are, jumping on the ball, bouncing off and trying again. I think we’ll manage it this week – after all, it’s just in time for another show to interrupt us in another two weeks. Ah, but now we’re one up on that tricky ball! We've caught onto its routine of routine breaking! Now we’re prepared take that ball and practice jumping on and off it until there’s no doubt about who’s in charge of the routines around here! If it throws us off, we can just give it a good kick!

            Then go chasing after it as it goes bouncing off down the hill so we can fetch it back and get back on it.

            Seriously, who writes this stuff? Oh yeah, me...

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.