Journal #59 February 16, 2010
We live in South Georgia, but over the past two weeks we are having flashbacks to North Dakota. Fortunately, though it’s been cold, we haven’t had the heavy snow and power failures that have afflicted much of the country. But last weekend, when I was supposed to be at ConDFW, all local flights were canceled, from Brunswick and from Atlanta. I thought briefly about trying to drive, but a glance at the Weather Channel suggested that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Dan Robb, who was coordinating things at the con, arranged a telephone Q&A session Saturday, moderated by Lee Martindale. It worked out well. An energetic audience showed up and asked what I was currently working on, and what did my work schedule look like, how did I become interested in archeology, did I outline my novels, and so on. (I do outline, but the end result never looks much like the initial plan.)
The question about my work schedule should have raised a point I failed to make, but which is probably important for anyone planning a writing career. The first draft is the brute work. My goal, when doing that, is to produce a minimum of six pages daily. Every day. No days off, except to go to cons. (If I routinely take off weekends, I inevitably get out of sync.) The six pages will be barely readable, but I can fix that later. What I need is a complete first draft.
I learned early NOT to set aside a given number of hours each day. If I do that and quit, say, at 5:00 p.m., I spend much of my time looking out the window at the blue jays. Much better is to produce the work, the pages, and then reward myself by quitting early.
And I don’t have a passion for archeology, per se. I am drawn by things that get lost. Things that matter. Works of art. Buildings. Acts of heroism or compassion.
Anyhow, I appreciated Dan’s efforts, and the work his staff did setting up the Q&A. And Lee performed with aplomb as the emcee. I’ve promised to attend ConDFW next year. Barring more heavy winter storms.
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I also had an opportunity to speak with students at the College of Coastal Georgia last week. We decided that the primary benefits to be had from a bachelor’s degree center around communications (reading, writing, listening, and presentation skills) and forming the habit of thinking for ourselves.
We tend to talk about a B.A. in terms of how much extra money it means over the course of a lifetime. In all probability, it will. But there’s much more to it than that: It allows a wider selection of career choices, making it far more likely that we‘ll enjoy what we do for a living. Aside from which person we pick as a spouse, I don’t know of any single quality that contributes more effectively to a satisfactory life. The B.A., ultimately, is for us, not for the employer.
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I’ve joined a book club which meets on St Simons Island. This month’s selection: Islam, by Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill. While reading it, I think I figured out the core reason why the Middle East has so many problems: In any society, women, mothers, tend to be more concerned with the education of the kids than their fathers. But when women are denied access to an education, they are limited in what they can do for the kids. Moreover, by treating women as they seem to, stay in the house and do what you’re told, they lose the contributions of half the population. And, if my experience counts for anything, the smart half.