New Articles

Just dropping in a note about a new series I'm writing for Suite101.com, focusing on the function of the British House of Lords, what it does and what the current reform proposed by the government might mean for the future of the chamber, and the United Kingdom.

Part One can be read here, and has a link to Part Two. A Part Three is also forthcoming. Feel free to check out other articles I've written there, too!

Also, I will be getting some fiction out there soon. Promise!

Yes, I'm Back!

Apologies for my random hiatus! Life happens and such things. No matter now! I'm in a transition "between jobs" for the moment and so I currently have down time to contribute here, as well as publish more for the good people at suite101.com! Currently waiting on the editor to get back to me about a piece, actually. Hope he isn't too busy.

I also hope to have enough time to work on a few submissions for some fiction journals. It's been way too long since I've got to play around with actual stories (my first love!) and so I hope, while avoiding absolutely poverty (cross your fingers!), I'll be able to draw up an inner "starving artist" and get some works done. More on that as things develop!

Jeff Kinney's Gateway Drugs

On my way to work, I regularly listen to On Point with Tom Ashbrook. If you're not a regular listener, I highly recommend you start listening in. The show often has interesting and different interviews and angles, and I enjoy the hosts of guests that cycle through on each broadcasting. The particular interview that caught my ear today, however, was one with Jeff Kinney, who is perhaps most famous as a children's author for his series The Diary of a Whimpy Kid. The edge on the piece was about children's literature, particularly the diveregence of the classics likeTreasure Island or The Wind in the Willows vis-a-vis the newer "kid's fiction" such as the popular series written by Kinney, has sold over 40 million copies and have be turned into three movies, to date. Something that Kinney really commented on that I found interesting was his inclusion of cartoons in his books, because our kids are visual and they like having something they can look at with the text. I'm not too sure that's a good thing. Isn't part of the reading experience to enter into the text and meaning of the story? To visualize for yourself the world you're entering into? That's something I've always enjoyed as a reader.

Granted, I did not grow up with books like the Whimpy Kid series, but I remember such books being around books like it that utilize the same kind of backdrop in their writing and incorporate copious amounts of drawings and cartoons to "keep kids interested." This was all very puzzling to me as a kid, having grown up with Roald Dahl, Madeline L'Engle and C.S. Lewis. Why would kids want to read stories about boring kids in school doing silly things, when they could read about kids with enchanted forests, flying fruits and interstellar intrigue?

Reading for me as kid was about escape. I guess that's why I still enjoy fantasy/sci-fi writing, it's an escape into one's own mind. But it's also literary, there are points being made in the narrative. I've never cared too much for a good story without a reason, even if the reason is that there isn't always one (which is still in and of itself a philosophical assertion). Of course, I've grown to enjoy other types of literature as well. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Stephen Harper's The Red Badge of Courage opened up to me a world that was literary and real. It wasn't full of knights, castles and magicians, nor were there spaceships, laser beams and aliens. However, one thing remained constant: character development. The people in the story learned something that was important. Their lives were changed. They had overcome adversity, and that had changed who they were and they way they viewed the world. What's a story worth if the characters don't learn, grow and adapt to their new lot in life? What's the point of the narrative if no true struggle occurs? In my opinion, it's not worth anything...no point...why bother?

I'm not saying that books like Kinney's don't engage the imagination and show character development. I have no true way of knowing because I haven't read the series. I also have to include that Kinney considers the books like Whimpy Kid as "gateways" to more classical reading, using such light-hearted books to get kids reading before they start tackling theTreasure Island's and The Wind in the Willow's type classics. So, for Kinney, his books aren't an end for reading, but a beginning. Whatever they are, let's give kids some credit where credit is due, and make sure they're reading books that engage their minds, both in deep thought and in imagination.

Grab Your Hats!

If you're reading this, you've stumbled upon one of the most inconspicuous, secretive places on the internet. Not because I've got secrets, mind you, but because I'm brand new and, most importantly, because this is a blog about anything, everything and nothing. I'm a start-up writer, freelancing for a few different clients in my spare time, and everyone wants to know where my blog is, and I didn't have one to give them! I thought it quite superfluous to have one, since I didn't really have anything to say on one of the things, but after receiving the same inquiry ad infinitum, as most of humanity, I resign myself to supplying a somewhat satisfactory answer to those requesting in order to adhere myself to the social norms being external imposed.

Thus, on this insipid and somewhat tedious day, I have finally blazed the trail and settled myself on being a blogger. This isn't my first excursus into the so-called "blogosphere", rubbing elbows with the wannabe politicos and religious zealots offering an unsolicited two cents as well as the new moms drooling over every drool of their newborn as if such events have never before occurring in the history of mankind. I used to be some of the above (obviously not the lattermost, as I find myself ineligible by gender when it comes to assuming the title of "mommy") but I must admit to political blogging in my past, simply for the sake of full disclosure from the outset, lest such dark secrets be exposed later on. However, I was relatively obscure (read: totally unknown) and so I hope it will not be held against me here.

It's also my hope that those who read, given the above paragraph, will understand the semi-sarcasm found in the previous paragraph. I don't hate blogs, or bloggers, and follow quite a few. You'll see these pop up from time-to-time as I comment and link to them. Some are authors, some various religious, and some are those random doting mothers (sorry, they're personal friends and I have a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours approach to these kinds of things). I also don't hold this blog or myself up to be something great. I'm not a "literary blogger" if such a thing even exists. This will be for the dumping of pithy thoughts, interesting snippets of things I find on the interwebs and random comments on whatever gets stuck in my head that particular day.

Essentially, this will be a place to link to other stuff I'm doing, stuff I like and a dumpster for everything I don't have another place for. Posting will, no doubt, be sporadic and free-form. Being quite the meticulous person I tend to be, this will be an interesting experiment for me to have and run something that is meant, by design, to not have design. An enigma wrapped in a mystery and coated with a paradox, as some might say.

So, we'll see how this deliberately random thing goes. Hold on to your hats, because, quite frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing.