Looks like we might get a good Christmas this year. We're in the middle of the second of four snowstorms set to pass through in the next week and it's supposed to stay cold through the end of the year. We're hoping to add onto our living quarters this spring, so that's good news.
This current storm is also dumping in southern New England, so people from down there are calling, apparently just noticing that winter has started.
My parents, siblings, and their spouses are in Hawaii at the moment. I'm guessing they have a different view out their window than I do.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Some Interesting Writing Stuff
I'm reading a book called The Plot Thickens, by New York agent Noah Lukeman. Here is an excerpt about creating living characters that I read today that I found interesting.
Seeing other people for who they are is not as easy as it may seem; to wake up one day and remove your blinders and acknowledge something for what it is (especially if it has been harmful) is, at the same time, to acknowledge that you had been wrong in your judgment. It would force us to face ourselves, to travel down the road of self-realization. This, for most people, is scarier than anything; many would rather live with the harmful person than come to such an admission about their own judgment.
So we live, instead, with blinders on about others. Until one day, if we're lucky, we can wake up and see people for who they really are. The abused wife finally wakes up and realizes what a jerk her husband is; the employee realizes what a jerk his boss is; the cult member realizes his group really is a cult; the rebellious son realizes his mother has always been good and kind to him.
While realization about others is a profound journey in its own right, it is still only a partial journey. The abused wife might get ride of her husband, but a year later fall back into the old relationship, or find an equally abusive husband; the cult member might finally leave, but might end up in a new cult a year later. Removing the symptom does not necessarily break the pattern. To do that, the person would need to embark on an even more profound journey: that of self-realization.
Seeing other people for who they are is not as easy as it may seem; to wake up one day and remove your blinders and acknowledge something for what it is (especially if it has been harmful) is, at the same time, to acknowledge that you had been wrong in your judgment. It would force us to face ourselves, to travel down the road of self-realization. This, for most people, is scarier than anything; many would rather live with the harmful person than come to such an admission about their own judgment.
So we live, instead, with blinders on about others. Until one day, if we're lucky, we can wake up and see people for who they really are. The abused wife finally wakes up and realizes what a jerk her husband is; the employee realizes what a jerk his boss is; the cult member realizes his group really is a cult; the rebellious son realizes his mother has always been good and kind to him.
While realization about others is a profound journey in its own right, it is still only a partial journey. The abused wife might get ride of her husband, but a year later fall back into the old relationship, or find an equally abusive husband; the cult member might finally leave, but might end up in a new cult a year later. Removing the symptom does not necessarily break the pattern. To do that, the person would need to embark on an even more profound journey: that of self-realization.
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