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Reinventing T-Day

25 Nov 2014 by KRAG

Simple LivingI don’t like turkey.

This will come as a shock to my family, who as I grew up watched me order a turkey sandwich every time we went out to eat. It didn’t matter where we went or when–breakfast at IHOP, dinner at Denny’s, a special meal at Sabella’s–I always ordered a turkey sandwich. (I was also always served last, but that’s an entirely different story.) I would order the turkey sandwich, the club sandwich, or (in a pinch) the hot turkey open-face sandwich; it didn’t really matter as long as it had turkey.

I loved turkey. Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture, Food | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

I’m Sorry, Dave

20 Nov 2014 by KRAG

HAL_9000I’ve finished nine novels, but I’ve probably started a hundred.

Not a hundred different ones. Just the same ones, multiple times. And that’s where I am now.

Starting a project is, for me, a difficult transition. There are so many pivots to make–away from research, away from outlines and characters and structural thinking–and so many habits to suppress, that I get locked up, caught in a loop like HAL9000. Each time I start putting words on paper, questions arise, doubts are sown.

It’s hardest when it’s a brand-new project…like The Wolf Tree, the one I’m struggling with now.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments »

Taking a Breath

18 Nov 2014 by KRAG

The weather has turned cold here in Seattle. Nothing like what most of the nation is experiencing, to be sure, but cold nonetheless. The leaves that haven’t fallen are withered and frostbitten on their stems, and the remnants of Autumn’s glory now lie in patches of brown detritus scattered across the gardens.

Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, WAOn clear, cold afternoons, when the sky is a robin’s egg blue and the sun has just melted the frost off the shaggy lawns, I hear the machinery of modern yard maintenance fire up. Mowers, blowers, strimmers, and edgers set up a whirring, sputtering rumble that blankets the neighborhood as homeowners take advantage of a rainless November day.

For myself, I prefer to use manual tools when possible. The lawnmower, the strimmer, these I keep and use, but on bright autumn days I reach instead for the rake, the broom, and the shovel to tend my garden. I spend so much of my day working nothing but my mind–analyzing systems, cross-checking code, diagramming solutions, navigating interoffice politics–that the thought of surrounding myself with machinery and noise is abhorrent.

Before I step outside, I bundle up with scarf and gloves and quilted overshirt, but soon, as I warm to my task, these layers drop away. It takes me longer to tidy my garden than it does my more mechanized neighbors–yesterday, after a couple hours’ work, I only cleared out the patio and lower section of the back garden–but it’s a quieter time, and that’s what I want.

Peace. Serenity. Take in a clean, cold lungful of air and let it out in a frosty breath.

Repeat.

k

Typewriter

Posted in Culture, Low Tech | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Music for a Bad Week

13 Nov 2014 by KRAG

Chairman MeowThe week started badly, and ended with a…  What? It’s only Thursday?

Well, Hell.

So, it’s been a trying week, so far. I’ve had injury (wrenched back), illness (rhinovirus), family issues (no comment), excitement (took our neighbor to urgent care after an accidental toddler-induced head-butt), day-job frustrations (left hand…have you even met the right hand?), and finally, last night, disbelief (I pressed the button to close the garage door and watched as the motor bucked, juddered, and then, with a thunking crunch, deposited bits of plastic, pieces of metal, and one long, greasy chain onto the top of my car).

And it’s only Thursday.

So, what’s a cowboy to do? Or, more apropos, what’s a crabby old fart with barely a scintilla of patience to do?

As I did before this wretched week started, I shall turn to music. Continue Reading »

Posted in Music, Seattle | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Happy 35th 25th

10 Nov 2014 by KRAG

This weekend past, two friends celebrated birthdays. They’re both a good bit younger than I am, but that didn’t bother me. After all, a lot of people are younger than I.

This weekend past was the 25th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall came down. Yes, a quarter century since the end of the Cold War. But that didn’t bother me, either. It was a good day, full of joy, and easily remembered.

What did bother me was that, this weekend past, Rickie Lee Jones was also celebrating a birthday.

Her 60th birthday.

Wh–wha?

Sorry. Rickie Lee Jones is not 60 years old. Nope. Can’t happen. Can’t be true.

Rickie Lee Jones is twenty-five years old, always has been. Always will be. I refuse to concede the notion that she ages along with the rest of us, even if it means that I am now more than twice her age.

It’s not that I’m an avid RLJ fan. Yes, I do have most everything she’s recorded, but that’s it. I listen, I like, but I don’t “follow” or read up on her projects, her life. Nor do I have a mad crush on her or anything; I don’t, and never have. In fact, it is precisely because these things are not true that she remains unchanged in my mind. Were I to follow her career more closely, I would have been exposed to photos and interviews in which it was apparent that, yes, she’s no longer twenty-five years old.

But I don’t.

And so, RLJ is forever that smoke-filled-saloon-chanteuse, that beret-wearing finger-snapping retro-beatnik I first heard back in the ’70s. Rickie, the queen of slide-singing and the vocal fry, is the sound of my youth reverberating across the decades. Other voices from my past have aged along with me, but not RLJ. Her music continues to make me smile, make me cry; it fills my lungs with youthful air and lifts aged weights from my shoulders. I cannot have her music on in the background, for her voice always creeps forward, steals my attention, and holds me rapt as she sings her bittersweet tales.

So, happy birthday, Ms. Jones. Happy 35th 25th birthday.

k

Kanji character Raku: happiness, music, joy.

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Anatomy of a Smackdown – Pt 3

06 Nov 2014 by KRAG

Dragons Ahead

Time for specific answers to burning questions. Just what were the WTF moments IoD slapped me with? Are they legitimate?

(If you’ve just joined, here’s where you can find Part 1 and Part 2 of this conversation.)

The book I submitted was Unraveling Time, which I still feel is one of my best books. It does, unfortunately, suffer from having one of the roughest opening sections I’ve ever written. There are reasons the opening is so rough. The reasons do not excuse or justify its roughness, but they may be instructive to any writer rushing toward self-publication.

So below, after some backstory, I will examine the IoD charges, set down my verdicts, and wrap up this series of posts.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Anatomy of a Smackdown – Pt 2

05 Nov 2014 by KRAG

Dragons Ahead

There are several things that, in younger years, I might have done with such a scathing critique as I received last week from Jefferson Smith’s Immerse or Die report.

(If you’ve just joined, Part 1 of this conversation can be found here.)

Most of these reactions are defensive in nature and, as such, they bring nothing to the table aside from their protective value. As I enter my dotage, I can safely say that one thing I’ know is this:

I can always learn if I want to do so, and I will never learn when I don’t.

And in this case, I want to.

So, here’s what I will not be doing in response to my IoD Smackdown.
(Writers: Pay close attention to Item #4 on the list.) Continue Reading »

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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