It’s November 30. With this post, I have completed . The irony is, I wasn’t participating. I didn’t even know about it until I think last week when I saw it mentioned on a couple blogs I came across. I didn’t set out this month to post every day, but I did.
I did not, however, complete any of the goals I’ve actually set for myself through the course of the past year. In a month, it will be New Year’s Eve and time to set some resolutions for 2010. Not that I ever set resolutions, but I think this might be my year.
A list of my failures:
Read a minimum of one book per week.
Write a minimum of one hour per day.
Cut WAY back on television (I have cut back a little, but I still fall back on it when I’m tired or bored or lazy).
Diversify what I cook and eat, and cook something new every week.
Stay off the computer 90 percent of the time while I’m home.
Pay off my debt (or at least pay it down).
Lose the rest of the weight and finally hit goal (I gained back 10 pounds instead).
Exercise a minimum of one hour per day average, no matter what.
Win (I have fewer than 10,000 words as of November 24).
Yep. I suck. And I wish I could say I really, really tried any one of those things, but honestly, I didn’t. They were always in the back of my mind, but I managed to justify not doing each and every one of them one way or another. This has to stop. I need to stop fearing failure. I need to stop making excuses. I need to just do it (see last Thursday’s post).
I’m not waiting until January 1, 2010. I’m starting now. Today. This is the end or procrastinating and dreaming but never doing. I’m committed and that’s that.
Luckily, there is some good news in all of this: I seem to have moved past my writing block. I have learned to just write. To stop listening to that voice in the back of my head telling me it isn’t good enough. To stop rewriting and just push through. I can revise. I can get feedback. I can do this. It may take longer than 30 days, but it will take less than a year. I vow this to myself. I need it. I am suffocating in my life and getting published, or the prospect of getting published, will give me hope. And if I’m lucky, freedom.
Mailbox Monday is one of my favorite memes – a big thanks to Marcia of for hosting it. I had a great book week, since most of the books I received were wins. Here’s what I found in my mailbox last week:
Monday
by Sophie Hannah was a Twitter win from
by Max Brenner was a Twitter win from Little Brown ()
by Chuck Fischer was sent by at the request of its paper engineer, – this is another gorgeous pop-up book
Tuesday
by Claudia Pineiro came from Meryl Zegarek Public Relations, Inc
by Peter Rudiak-Gould was a Twitter win from
Wednesday
by Amy Sohn was a win from
Friday
by Lynne Hinton came from for the with the author on December 15
I have a love/hate relationship with people who cut up books or make them into things, but sometimes it just has to be done. Most encyclopedias are not worth the paper they’re printed anymore as they go out of date before they’re printed and the internet has made the search for information so much easier and faster. I do agree that it’s nice to have the paper and it’s much easier to have multiple volumes open at once with multiple pieces of paper marking an incredible number of entries, but on the internet it is just that much easier to find things. So, sometimes when I see something like , I get a little excited as it makes use of encyclopedias which would otherwise be thrown into the recycling bin. I particularly like these ones as they’re book shelves so you get books supporting books, I think it’s great but I await your comments with interest.
If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a little obsessed with . And when I say a little, I mean a lot. He’s my favourite writer EVER and probably my favourite person ever too. Not that I know him (well I once went to a book signing of his, but I don’t think this counts), but there’s something about his work that makes me think that he’s probably one of the most remarkable human beings that have ever existed.
Neil Gaiman is a science-fiction and fantasy writer. He’s not really that famous (unless you’re a bit of a geek… or a goth). He’s been writing for many years and his most popular work is the comic series , which truly are fantastic. He’s not only a comic book writer though. In fact, he can write ANYTHING:
-Young adult: the first Neil Gaiman book that I read was . I can’t really remember when that was, maybe over 6 years ago. I fell in love with it immediately, and ended up buying it compulsively as a birthday/Christmas present every time I had the chance. ‘Coraline’ was made into a by Henry Sellick. It was released this year and I went to see twice. Last year Gaiman published , which I loved to bits. If ‘Coraline’ was a dark twist to ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘The Graveyard Book’ is a dark twist to ‘The Jungle Book’, and they both are superb tales.
-Short stories and poems: Gaiman has written lots of these over the years. Many can be read in the anthologies and . Some of his short stories and poems are funny, some are scary, some are happy, some are sad. Some are based in real life, some on imaginary worlds, some talk about the future, some about the past. ‘Smoke And Mirrors’ is the last Gaiman book that I bought. I never read the last story, so that there’ll always be something of his that I’ve never read (at least until his next book is published).
-Novels: my favourite Gaiman book is . It’s one of the best novels I’ve read in my life. ‘American Gods’ is very long, very complex, full of data, names and information. But it’s also so worth it. And so clever. So intelligent. It has a spin-off, , which I actually read before… Gaiman also co-wrote with that I have to confess I haven’t read (I’m just a bit suspicious, as I’m not very fond of Pratchett). He also wrote the very lovely , which I actually read on the plane when I moved to London. ‘Stardust’ was also made into a really fun, 80s feeling a couple of years ago.
-TV + Film: a few years ago Neil wrote the script for the British TV series , script that he later turned into a . He also co-wrote the scripts for and (directed by his friend and usual illustrator ). I must say that none of these are personal favourites, though.
-Blog + Twitter: Gaiman is strong on the internet. He writes and also has an .
Neil Gaiman’s work may be about ghosts, mythological creatures and non-existent worlds; but there’s something about it that transcends it all. His books, all of them, are about life, about being human and what that means. His books are full of human quality, like I’ve never seen before. Anywhere. And I think that’s what makes them special. They make you wanna be a good person, they make you believe that not all is lost in this world.
And now let’s go back to this entry’s title and QUOTE NEIL GAIMAN:
‘And there are always people who find their lives have become so unsupportable they believe the best thing they could do would be to hasten their transition to another plane of existence.’
‘They kill themselves, you mean?’ said Bod. He was about eight years old, wide-eyed and inquisitive, and he was not stupid.
‘Indeed.’
‘Does it work? Are they happier dead?’
‘Sometimes. Mostly, no. It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.’
(The Graveyard Book, 2008)
* * *
Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn’t a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their own song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their songs instead.
(Anansi Boys, 2005)
* * *
There are stories that are true, in which each individual’s tale is unique and tragic, and the worst of the tragedy is that we have heard it before, and we cannot allow ourselves to feel it too deeply. We build a shell around it like an oyster dealing with a painful particle of grit, coating it with smooth pearl layers in order to cope. This is how we walk and talk and function, day in, day out, immune to other’s pain and loss. If it were to touch us it would cripple us or make saints of us; but, for the most part, it does not touch us. We cannot allow it.
[...]
“No man”, proclaimed Donne, “is an island”, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other’s tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others, by our island nature, and by the repetitive shape and form of the stories. We know the shape, and the shape does not change. There was a human being who was born, lived and then, by some means or other, died. There. You may fill in the details from your own experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as any other life.
[...]
We draw our lines around these moments of pain, and remain upon our islands, and they cannot hurt us. They are covered with a smooth, safe, nacreous layer to let them slip, pearl-like, from our souls without real pain. Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives.
Not yet available but coming during the month of December. Less and More is a huge book, 808 pages about the work of Dieter Rams during his whole career at Braun.
Another graphic design book, like I don’t have enough. This one looks really good actually and it is always good to be updated.
Desire_The shape of things to come. It looks amazing, great product design, cool ideas, I’m sure it will be quite inspiring and usefull.
Power Shop 2, from the makers of Frame the amazing interior and architecture magazine comes a 2 volume book on shop interiors. It is about 100 pounds but worth it.
Beyond Architecture. Explores unconventional approaches to the practice and imaginary spaces. It bursts with creativity.
James Hayon and the amazing body of work the studio has produced over the years, with amazing images, sketches and technical details of the construction of pieces and environments. A fantasy world.
And last on this first least, although I had no particular order, Strike a Pose_Eccentric Architecture.
So if anyone does not know what to give me for Christmas here are a few hints. I would be happy with any of these. Everyone always says how difficult it is to buy me presents when I think it is not difficult at all and when in doubt about something always go for books, robots, dvd’s. I know clothes, shoes and accessories are a risk but with the other options you are in safe territory and they can always be exchanged. For people interested in getting this ones for themselves try the Magma website, or the Gestalten website as all of these are published by them and available on the website. You should also check all the books published by Viction:ary, I posted some of them last week and they are always great. Very good content and a great layout. Surely you won’t be disappointed.
Hello everyone , come listen to me read my inspirational children’s book Dreamwalking at Wordsworth , Gardens Centre , Cape Town at 10 am on 19 December 2009. It will be losts of fun and i might play a song or two from the children’s CD, The Goodnight Songs. I’ll be happy to sign copies of the book and CD too.See you there.
“It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision for which the nature of the subject admits, rather than to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible.”
Aristotle 384-322 BC
Aristotle wasn’t a follower of Jesus. He lived 300+ years before Jesus was born. But he was a pretty smart guy. Since the above quote is a mouthful and wasn’t written with Bible Study in mind, I would like to rephrase it and make a point that will help us in our daily Bible study.
How about:
“Speak where the Bible Speaks and Be Silent where the Bible is Silent.”
Or, “Don’t make the Bible say what it doesn’t say!”
Many of the teachings that have divided God’s church originate from someone’s interpretation or opinion of a Bible doctrine that they forced on others. God has revealed a lot but only a certain amount. When we go past that revelation and then tell others they are going to Hell for not arriving at our same conclusions, we are in trouble.
For the sake of having a consistent systematic theology, or sometimes to win arguments and debates, we arrive at dubious conclusions. We often make the Bible be specific about something for our sake, when God has left it vague.
Whether it’s human nature or our western Greek heritage, we like everything neatly organized in lists, charts, and categories. But sadly, we crave that so much, that we often abuse the Word of God to make things fit.
I am not totally against a systematic view of Scripture. There is a great benefit in that. But too often, it comes down to spending a lot of time and focusing on things that God either didn’t say explicity or didn’t say at all.
We need, like Aristotle, to be satisfied with the “degree of precision” of God’s revelation on any given subject, and not try to force some precision for precision’s sake.
I am not saying we should give up short of an exhaustive and comprehensive study to make sure we know what God has revealed, but I suggest caution in our conclusions.
C’était la quatorzième nuit que nous étions ainsi ballottés sur l’Adriatique quand, vers le milieu de la nuit, les marins ont eu l’impression qu’on approchait d’une terre. Ils ont jeté la sonde et ont découvert que le fond était à trente-sept mètres. Un peu plus loin, ils ont recommencé et trouvé le fond à vingt-huit mètres. Comme ils avaient peur de voir le bateau s’écraser sur quelque récif, ils ont jeté quatre ancres à l’arrière en attendant avec impatience la venue du jour. Alors les marins, qui voulaient s’enfuir du bateau, ont commencé à mettre à la mer le canot de sauvetage, sous prétexte d’aller amarrer une ancre à l’avant.
Mais Paul a dit à l’officier romain et aux soldats:
—Attention, si ces hommes ne restent pas à bord, vous ne pourrez plus être sauvés.
Alors les soldats ont coupé les cordages retenant le canot et l’ont laissé tomber à la mer.
En attendant que le jour paraisse, Paul a encouragé tout le monde à manger:
—Voilà quatorze jours, leur a-t-il dit, que vous êtes dans l’attente, sans rien prendre à manger! Je vous encourage donc vivement à prendre de la nourriture maintenant. Vous en avez besoin pour vous tirer de là. Encore une fois, croyez-moi: aucun de vous ne perdra un cheveu de sa tête.
Après avoir ainsi parlé, il a pris du pain et il a remercié Dieu devant tous; puis il a rompu le pain et a commencé à manger. Alors tous les autres ont repris courage et se sont aussi mis à manger. Nous étions en tout deux cent soixante-seize personnes à bord. Une fois rassasiés, ils ont continué à délester le bateau en jetant le reste des provisions de blé à la mer.
Mais lorsque le jour était venu, aucun des membres de l’équipage ne reconnaissait l’endroit. Ils entrevoyaient seulement, au fond d’une baie, une plage de sable. Ils ont alors décidé d’y faire échouer le bateau, si c’était possible. Les matelots ont coupé les câbles des ancres qu’ils ont abandonnées à la mer; en même temps, ils ont délié les courroies de deux grandes rames servant de gouvernails et hissé au vent la voile de misaine au mât d’artimon. Ils avaient mis le cap sur la plage quand le bateau a touché un banc de sable battu des deux côtés par la mer et s’y est échoué. L’avant s’est enfoncé dans le sol, s’immobilisant définitivement, tandis que l’arrière commençait à se disloquer sous la violence des vagues.
Les soldats avaient l’intention de tuer tous les prisonniers, de peur d’en voir s’échapper à la nage. Mais l’officier désirait sauver Paul et les a empêché d’exécuter leur projet. Il a donné ordre à ceux qui savaient nager de sauter à l’eau les premiers pour gagner la terre ferme. Les autres suivraient en s’agrippant à des planches ou à des épaves du bateau. C’est ainsi que tous sont arrivés sains et saufs sur le rivage.
Une fois hors de danger, nous avons appris que notre île s’appelait Malte. Les habitants, qui ne parlaient pas le grec, nous ont témoigné une bienveillance peu ordinaire. Ils ont allumé un grand feu et nous ont tous accueillis à sa chaleur, car il s’était mis à pleuvoir et il faisait froid.
Paul avait ramassé une brassée de bois sec et il allait la jeter dans le feu quand la chaleur en a fait sortir une vipère qui s’est accrochée à sa main. En voyant l’animal suspendu à sa main, les habitants se disaient entre eux:
—Pas de doute: cet homme est un criminel! Il a pu échapper à la mer, mais la justice ne l’a pas laissé vivre!
Cependant, Paul avait, d’une secousse, jeté l’animal dans le feu et ne ressentait aucun mal.
Tous s’attendaient à le voir enfler ou bien tomber subitement raide mort. Après une longue attente, voyant qu’il ne lui arrivait rien de fâcheux, ils ont changé d’avis et se sont mis à dire:
—C’est un dieu.
Tout près de là se trouvait un domaine appartenant au premier personnage de l’île nommé Publius. Il nous a accueillis très aimablement et nous a offert l’hospitalité pendant trois jours. Or, son père était justement cloué au lit par la fièvre et la dysenterie. Paul s’est rendu à son chevet, a prié en lui imposant les mains, et l’a guéri. Après cela, tous les autres malades de l’île venaient le voir et ils étaient guéris, eux aussi. Cela nous a valu toutes sortes de marques d’honneur et, quand est venu le moment de reprendre la mer, on a pourvu à tous les besoins de notre voyage.