The Silence Has Been Fed

It's been four years since I started up Feeding the Silence.  At the time, I found that my primary means of talking to the world was via a blog.  First was Infinity Ranch, of course, and when it seemed I couldn't keep my mouth shut for very long, along came Feeding the Silence.  As you'll notice, the post count has dipped pretty severely from that first year.

Is it because I don't have as much to say?  Doubtful.  I'm still as full of opinions as always, although when you've been blogging as long as I have you start to repeat yourself.  The more I tried to make sure I was saying something original and meaningful, the more things slowed down.  Make of that what you will.

Having said that, I've also been doing a lot more off-the-blog writing.  Fiction is just more fun than real life, and at least there I control what happens to people.  The worlds I create in my head might not be any more just than this one, but they're a little more interesting.  I hope.

When I started writing fiction, I did it just to do it.  I wasn't thinking at the time, "I'm writing a best seller!  Look out George R.R. Martin!  Let's get Hollywood on the phone!"  To be honest, I wasn't thinking anything at all, aside from, "can I really do this?"  After some successful NaNoWriMo years, I had to start wondering what I was going to do with these books I've been writing.

Long story short - I've decided to publish them myself.

Technology has changed the way books are published and distributed.  It's given me a chance to do it on my own terms in my own way.  First up, in March, will be a collection of short stories.  If that goes well, things will snowball from there.

Which is all to say that, going forward, I'm not going to worry so much about the stuff I've been writing about here.  I'll keep blogging, but probably with a focus more on artistic and cultural things.  And my own writing, of course.

So, the silence has been well and truly fed.  Thanks to everybody who stopped by.

If you're interested in my newest adventure . . . follow me.

Returning Like May Flowers

How's that for a metaphor, eh?

Hey, everybody - did ya' miss me?  It's been one of those months where I ran out of worthwhile things to say (it happens), found other things to do with my time, and slowly spiraled into not blogging for a month.  Silly me - I'll try to do better next time.

I have not been idle, lest the quiet blog suggest otherwise.  I finished the first draft of The Endless Hills, which is the sequel to The Water Road (the second book in a planned trilogy, of course).  That one has been put aside for now, to molder a little bit until I can come back with fresh eyes and tear it apart.

As for The Water Road itself, it's ready to be loosed upon the world.  Sort of.  I've done all I can do with it and am now polishing a query letter (email, actually) to send to literary agents in hopes of finding someone to represent it and me.  It's a frustrating process, but one that, I hope, will have a happy ending.

Another of my NaNoWriMo projects, Moore Hollow (which involves zombies, politics, and family strife), is at the same point in the process.  That is, I've just about done all I can do with it, save for one final round of critiquing.  Once that's over, I plan to shop it directly to some smaller (probably regional) publishers.  With any luck, it will find a home sometime soon.

But, anyway, that was then, this is now.  On to new things!

What's the Point of a Review?

My Friday Reviews are the descendant of one of the features of my original, hand crank operated, web page I had while I was in college and law school.  There I'd do reviews of just about every album I got, as part of a regular process of listening and figuring out what I thought about it.  I stopped doing those, largely because my reviews were winding up in one of two formats - gushing praise or harsh scorn.  If I didn't really "feel" one of those, I didn't even write up.  I'd like to think I do better now, but it's helpful to be able to pick and choose.

I bring all this up because of an interesting two-person article in the upcoming issue of the New York Time Sunday Book Review which asks the question, "do we really need negative book reviews?"

Now, as a struggling writer, I kind of like the idea of doing away with negative reviews. Who wants to see their work torn to shreds, after all?  But I'm not certain that would really be the best thing.

Francine Prose makes the case for not writing negative reviews.  It's pretty simple:

Even so, I stopped [writing negative reviews]. I began returning books I didn’t like to editors. I thought, Life is short, I’d rather spend my time urging people to read things I love. And writing a bad book didn’t seem like a crime deserving the sort of punitive public humiliation (witch-dunking, pillorying) that our Puritan forefathers so spiritedly administered.

From my reading of professional critics, that seems to be the best part of the job - when they find something in need of a champion, a book or film that won't reach a wider audience without some cheerleading.  It must be more rewarding that writing what shit the latest Transformers movie is or whatever.  So I see the point.

On the other hand, however, that seems a bit too touchy-feely, doesn't it?  To be fair, Prose (good name for a writer!) doesn't argue for lying about the quality of books, just not writing reviews of bad things at all.  Which, come to think about it, might be even worse - being ripped apart is one thing, being ignored quite another.

Zoe Heller makes the case for negative reviews and it is, as well, pretty simple:

most writers do not write merely, or even principally, to escape from or console themselves. They write for other people. They write to have an effect, to elicit a reaction. That is why they scrap and struggle, often for years, to have their work published. Being sentient creatures, they are often distressed by what critics have to say about their work. Yet they accept with varying degrees of resignation that they are not kindergartners bringing home their first potato prints for the admiration of their parents, but grown-ups who have chosen to present their work in the public arena. I know of no self-respecting authors who would ask to be given points for 'effort' or for the fact that they are going to die one day.

Part of being an artist, at least one who shares his work with other people, is the need to deal with criticism.  My father is a first rate grammar-Nazi.  I have him read my fiction, even though it's not the kind of thing he normally reads, because he will be precise and vicious with a red pen.  When my mother asked if I really wanted him to do that, I said, "because editors and agents will be kind and not point out those things?"  Being criticized is part and parcel of being a creative person.

Further, as Heller points out, reviews come with bylines and, hopefully, supporting argument as to whether a book is good or bad.  Real criticism goes miles beyond "it sucks" or even "it's great!"  Critics who are savage just for the fun of it won't garner a lot of respect or readers.

After all, as Prose admits, trying not to write a negative review is like trying not to eat too much at Thanksgiving.  You're bound to find something that rubs you the wrong way, doesn' work, and compels you to write about it.  Even if, as she also points out, in the end, nobody will really pay attention to what you have to say.

These days, when I write a review, I try to have something interesting to say about whatever the subject is. That's why there isn't a review posted every Friday.  Something's got to strike my fancy somehow, either by being brilliant or flawed, but I won't think twice about saying I think something sucks.  I just hope I have good enough reasons to make somebody else think, "yeah, all right."  Agreement, of course, is not required.

So I think the answer is yes, we do need negative book reviews.  Whether we need "bad" reviews is, of course, a completely different question.

Christmas Treats!

To commemorate the festive occasion, have a little Christmas classic, reimagined by our friends in the Great White North:



Alas, not every Christmas song can be of such lasting quality.  Revel in this complete destruction of a disturbingly awful recent example, which is richly deserves (NSFW, naturally):



Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Sweet Saturnalia, etc. from the crew here at FtS!

What I've Been Up To

Hello again, gentle reader(s). In case anybody's wondering where I've been and what I've been up to the past couple of months, here's the info.

Largely, things have been quiet here at FTS because I haven't had a lot to say about what's going on in the world. There's only so many times you can look at political bullshit going on in the world and say, "is't that some political bullshit?" The powers that be provide us with lots of said excrement, but its not really worth talking about.

For the past month I've largely directed my creative energies toward National Novel Writing Month, as usual. This year was different because my project for Nano was a sequel. The Endless Hills is book two of the trilogy that began with The Water Road back in 2009. That tome, along with last year's project, Moore Hollow, are both to the point where I'm ready to do something with them, but I'm not sure what that something should be.

When I started writing fiction in earnest several years ago I never really gave any thought to what would happen when I had a "finished" product.  I didn't do it to find a new career or seek stardom, although it would be nice for people (aside from my lovely, supportive, and insightful wife) to read the stuff.  To the extent that I started with short stories the process there is pretty straightforward - finish story, polish 'til it gleams, submit it directly to magazine/website/anthology. No muss, no fuss, but plenty of rejection.

Speaking of short stories, I've joined an online critique group, Critters, that caters to writers of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.  The deal is that in return for reading and critiquing the work of others, they do the same for you.  I've found it extremely helpful, particularly reading what other people are writing.  It forces you to think critically about a story, what its trying to do, how it might do it, etc.  That really carries over to your own writing.  The feedback I've gotten on a couple of short stories has been very helpful.

I also got a chance to take in my first West Virginia Writers conference up in Elkins. It was a good chance to hang out with like minded folks and learn some good stuff.  It certainly won't be my last.

But back to publishing novels, which is a whole different story from shorts. If you want to publish with one of the big houses, you need to get an agent first. That means sending queries and manuscripts out all over the place and hoping they connect. If you are interested in working with a smaller press you can submit directly to them, but the query/manuscript process is largely the same (frustratingly, just about everybody does it a little bit differently). Either route will give you what most people think of as "real" publishing - an editor, cover designer, layout specialists, and all that. It's the gold standard.

On the other hand there's the increasingly respectable avenue of self publishing, particularly in electronic (Kindle, etc.) format and particularly in the sci-fin/fantasy ghetto in which I live. The author retains completely control (and a bigger cut of sales), but you have to either contract out all the work a publisher normally does or do it yourself, which opens up all kinds of potential problems. In addition, marketing primarily electronic books seems like a real effort. All in all, I'm not sure I'm up for it.

Regardless, any decision on which way to go (or to go one way with one book and another with the other) is put off until the first draft of The Endless Hills is done. It's a bit more complex than The Water Road. That book only had two main characters with stories that paralleled each other. This one's got about eight "main" characters, many of which converge at one point, but many others don't. Lots of plates to keep spinning!

Musically, I've got a song in the can that needs mixed and given a new name. The working title is too stupid, even for me. It starts out heavily indebted to OMD's "The New Stone Age," but then goes in a different direction. I've also embarked on a cover of "Kashmir," so we'll see how that goes.

That's it. Regular service (or semi-regular, at least), resumes next week.

I Am Not Dead

So, hey, everybody – what’s up?

It occurred to me over the weekend that it’s been more than a month since I posted something here. So I thought I’d just pop my head up to say that I’m not dead. I haven’t been set upon by a marauding horde of art snobs or what have you. I just haven’t had much to say that’s blogworthly lately. That and I’ve been expending my creative energies making music and writing (well, polishing) fiction.

I’ll be back, at some point, when I find something about which I can’t keep my virtual mouth shut. Until then . . .

Bloggus Interuptus: Matrimonial Edition

Friends, you may remember that last year the lovely lady K agreed to marry me. The time for us to make good on that promise is upon us! And we just bought a house! So, I’ll be stepping away from FtS for the rest of the month.

See y’all in June!

Check Your Calendars

Yes, friends, if you’ll look to your monthly time keeping tool of choice, you’ll see that it’s almost November. In addition to the thankful end of the interminable election campaign, that also means it’s time for . . .

That’s right, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, during which intrepid souls like myself attempt to produce a novel (or at least the first 50,000 words of it). This will be the fifth year I’ve taken part.

Which means that, like last year, Feeding the Silence will essentially go dark for the month. Focusing on the novel writing last year got me to the NaNo goal of 50,000 words, even though the project cratered shortly thereafter. As it happens, the idea I was working on last year was really more of a short story thing than a novel. I still need to go back and salvage the good parts.

Ironically, this year is flipped around, with my NaNo project being something I originally tried to flesh out as a short story. I think it will work much better in a longer format, so we’ll see.

What’s it about? Let’s just say it plays on the idea that, historically, many West Virginia elections have involved the participation of the dearly departed. But that’s just the underlying idea – we’ll see how it all pans out.

Wish me luck and I’ll see y’all in December!

Bloggus Interuptus

As you’ve no doubt realized, things have been a little slow ‘round these parts the past few weeks. In large part, that’s because I’m nearing the end of the second draft of The Water Road (which has sprouted several thousand more words in the process). I’m pushing to finish that and turn around to immediately begin a third draft, the hard red-pen-in-hand phase.

As a result, I’m going to step away from the blog for a few weeks, at least until that process is well underway. Plus, I’ve got some other business to focus my attention on in the next couple of weeks.

Be back soon!

Where I've Been

Sorry for the lack of posting the last week or so. I was off on the road . . .












Details shortly.

Bloggus Interuptus (Novelus Writus)

Last year, I bailed on National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. But I had a good excuse – K and I took a trip to St. John in the Virgin Islands to celebrate our fifth anniversary (pix here, if you’re curious). It would have been unseemly to take on the task of writing every day while we were away, and impossible to make up for lost time when we got back. But I’m back in the game this year!

This will mark the fourth time I’ve done NaNoWriMo. In 2007 I crashed and burned about 60% of the way to the 50,000-word target for the month, although I expect to revive that novel in a different format someday. I “won” in 2008 and 2009, although neither novel was finished during the month. 2008’s effort is now moldering in a box in my closet, after a second draft convinced me it was shit. 2009’s effort, which is considerably more epic, is set for a second draft in early 2012. I kind of like it, so I expect I’ll push through the polishing it needs. This year I’m taking on immortality and what I might do to people who are and aren’t really cut out for it. We’ll see how it goes.

All of this is a longish way of saying that I’ll be otherwise occupied this month, so there won’t be any updates at Feeding the Silence. See y’all in December!

UPDATE: Track my progress . . .

A Blog By Any Other Name

Those of you who know me are probably thinking to yourself, "hey, wait a sec - don't you already have a blog?  What's this one all about?"

That's true, of course.  The the other blog ran for six years before I shuddered it at the beginning of 2010.  At the time, I felt it had run its course and wanted to focus on some other stuff.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it.  There's only so much popping of and pontificating one can do in the confines of Facebook.

Fine, but why a whole new blog?  Well, for one thing, restarting the Ranch after a post titled "Los Endos" just seems silly. It means "the end," after all.

For another, I wanted to change the focus just a little bit. To be sure, I'll still go off about "the important things in life - law, politics, music, racing, soccer, etc." But I intend for posts to be a little more informed, thoughtful, and in depth than in the old days. No more, "here's a link to a news story + snarky comment."  Also, I'm going to try awful hard to stay away from politics, at least where it doesn't bump up against legal stuff.  I'm just burned out on the "my side uber alles" tribalism that passes for political discourse these days.

I also wanted to shift to a more personal focus. Not to descend into a "what I had for breakfast today" blog, but talk about what I'm writing, reading, listening to, etc. I promise, I won't be bearing my soul in an ugly way.

That being said, what's the name mean? It popped into my head while listening to the (I think) second album by Baltimore proggers Dark Aether Project, which is called Feed the Silence. It's a good turn a phrase and it made me think about one of the reasons I shut down the Ranch - because it didn't seem like anyone was actually reading it. So, if anything, I can say I'll be feeding the silence, even if nothing ever bounces back.