Random Thoughts – Page 18 – The ramblings of an addled mind.

Discussion vs Argument

Discussion vs argument As Christians, should we have an open mind toward opposing or alternate viewpoints or close our minds and hold steadfastly to our beliefs? Can we learn anything valuable from those who disagree with us or engage us in argument?

First, can we learn anything from our antagonists? Yes, we can learn what it is that causes them to have an opposing opinion. When we learn that, we may be able to counter the conditioning that helped them form that opinion – or find that their opinion was simply passed along by someone else, not based in any experience. Continue reading “Discussion vs Argument”

The Vagabond’s Dog

I recently posted an article on how dogs are used to sniff out fear and stress in order to stop panic attacks, P.T.S.D. episodes, or persecuted school kids flipping out.

Aside from being an interesting topic all on it’s own, this is of particular interest to me because I’ve started a new book that uses this topic as a major plot motivator. The book is fiction, but the main character is my dog: Cochise. He’s so thrilled! Continue reading “The Vagabond’s Dog”

Conversation with Non-existent People

This quote is not entirely true: psychotic people talk to … voices in their heads, or their invisible friends, or the demons who pursue them, so having conversation with an empty room is not the exclusive domain of writers. But we do it too. However, we do it with purpose not out of madness. Well, not generally out of madness. A little madness spurs creativity.

The only way to tell if dialogue between characters sounds natural is to read it aloud – preferably using the voice you hear in your mind for that character. By acting out the conversation you can tell if it flows naturally — or if it comes off as stiff or cornball. This is one reason many fiction writers do their editing when the family has gone on an outing – or in a soundproof room, in a sub-basement.

Cochise is my Helper — Cochise says, “Let’s get to work Doug.”

On a related note, my dogs have become accustomed to me talking aloud when no one (no other person) is there. Cochise “humphs” at me (as in a forceful sigh) if I’m disturbing his slumber, but he knows I will go on regardless of his commentary. It’s different if I’m having conversation with the dogs (I do that too) because they’re involved in that. Being disturbed is okay then. Of course, if he’s helping me, then he’s awake anyway and enjoys offering his opinions.

Most of the time I’m proofreading. It is not possible to properly proofread an article by reading it silently, especially if you just wrote it. Maybe if someone else wrote it, but not your own work because you know too intimately what it is SUPPOSED to say and your eyes will tell you that what is on the page is what was in your brain. Small things will slip past you. Read it out loud and you catch those little goofs that will otherwise stand up and wave at you only after you click “Send” and fire it, irretrievably, off to the publisher.

Putting the Past In the Past

0102 Don't Let the Past Control Your Future We have all made mistakes. We have all celebrated successes. The mistakes were painful, the success joyous. Then time continued to flow and these moments became part of our past. If we have learned from these experiences, they will help us shape a bright future. If we get mired in these past experiences we stagnate.

Past success is great, but we cannot rest on those laurels for long, we must move on and work toward more successes.

Past mistakes and disappointments will hold us back and prevent growth if we do not leave them in the past. Granted: some mistakes will play a larger role in our future than others. God can and does forgive us of our sins when we confess to him and repent of them (repent means turn away from them, change our mind about them, not just feel sorrow over being caught), but man is not so forgiving. Some mistakes may yield prison time or damage to our bodies that will play a role in the rest of our mortal life. Still, we must accept that responsibility and move on.

Philippians 3:13-14 says, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (ESV). Just as a boat cannot be steered unless it is moving through the water with the rudder getting a purchase, God cannot bless us with growth if we are drifting along with the current. Don’t let the past become your spiritual Sargasso Sea.

Writing for Profit or Pleasure: Where (and how) to Publish

Why publish?

You have a desire to write; to make your thoughts and inspirations known to others. Perhaps you are knowledgeable and wish to share your expertise with others, passing what you know to another generation. Maybe you are creative and enjoy entertaining others with stories of fiction. Or perhaps you are insightful and like telling factual tales about places, people and events; helping others to understand.

Whatever your particular bend is, to share your work with others means acquiring a means of publication. These days, publication comes in many forms, but some forms are better suited to different tastes, depending on your expectations. Particularly the expectation of payment for your efforts. Continue reading “Writing for Profit or Pleasure: Where (and how) to Publish”

Breaking Into a Publishing House: Ground-work

Getting a book published by a traditional or mainstream publishing house is the gold medal of the writer Olympics. In an age where anyone can self-publish their work, regardless of the quality of that work, having your book accepted and printed by a “brand name” book publisher is the most authoritative stamp of approval that says “I am a talented author”. How do you get there?

Approaching a Publishing House

On a very rare occasion a major publishing house will invite new authors to submit manuscripts in a particular genre for their consideration but, generally speaking, the usual way to gain admittance to the hallowed halls of the big time publishing houses is through a literary agent.

A literary agent is to the writer what a talent agent is to the singer, dancer, or actor. Many times an agent will also act as your editor, helping to improve your work before it goes to a publisher. An agent is the “Inside Man” (or woman) who has the connections within the publishing industry to get a manuscript read, knows what each publishing house is looking for and which publisher would be best for your current book.

Developing a writer-agent relationship will be the most important step in building your business as an author. Select your agent carefully.

But First…

Before you go shopping for an agent there are some things you ought to do that will ease the task and help good agents take you seriously. Continue reading “Breaking Into a Publishing House: Ground-work”

Sacrificed Alive

Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 hold a wealth of information when we take a close look at them. It begins “I beseech you”: I, being the apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome. Beseech means to beg, implore, urgently request. “I beseech you therefore,”: Therefore is a conjoining word or hinge-pin that ties what the speaker in about to say back to something he just said, so what was he just saying? Paul has spent the past few chapters talking about how Christians are saved by a genuine love for God and faith in Jesus, not by adherence to a set of rules and behaviors. So he’s saying, “Because God has set us free from the Law (and the condemnation of unbelief) through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, I beg you by the mercies of God”: Paul is able to write to them, to impart his knowledge, because God has been merciful to him, “…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice”.

Baal worship religion, sacrifice, sacrificed — A temple to Baal

Sacrifice is something that Paul’s original audience knew well. Most religions of the time involved sacrificing something to a deity. Even the Hebrews sacrificed livestock, grain, and wine, to Jehovah. Pagan religions extended their appetites to the children of their adherents and to virgin women. Sacrifice was carried out in a variety of ways: throat slitting, stabbing on an alter, burning alive, but in all cases, sacrificing a life meant death. So this statement of being a living sacrifice would have come as a contradiction. How do you offer yourself as a sacrifice to God AND remain alive? Continue reading “Sacrificed Alive”

Valentine’s Day Tech Support

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and I came across this humorous look at romance and marriage that melds l’amour and technology. I did not create this (I don’t know who did) but decided I’d share it with you. Enjoy!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance — particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.5 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: “http: I Thought You Loved Me.htm” and try to download Tears 6.2. Don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, over-use of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background, that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).

Also, do not attempt to install the Boyfriend 6.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9

Good Luck,
Tech Support

New Personal Best

birthday This morning I celebrate a new personal best. It could be measured in a number of ways. Today marks 21,915 days (including leap year days) of life. Or I could say I’m celebrating 20 years of life — for the third time around. Or I could say I’ve broken into the realm of hexagenarians (but if you repeat that, make sure it’s spelled correctly!) Or I could just come out and state that today I turn 60 years old. No, let me rephrase that: 60 years of age. You are only “old” when you give in to that mental image.

I will say that I am surprised I’ve lived this long. I have not been particularly gentle on or cautious with my body and the joints and sinews do remind me of this carelessness. There have been a couple of times I wasn’t so sure my sojourn through this world wasn’t over. But God did not see fit to release me yet, so I stood up and walked on. In fact, today I am feeling better than I have in quite a while. To continue the analogy, there is a spring in my step. There are fewer pains to plague me, and I seem to have encountered a refreshing of the mind in the past week that has me once again humming and singing to myself, and to God, throughout the days. I credit that to the Holy Spirit, who is writhing around in me more than normal, holding out the promise of something good being about to happen.

Normally I don’t look forward to birthdays. I don’t hide from them either, just try to brush them off as merely another day. But this one is sort of a milestone. A personal best similar to when 200,000 miles rolls up on the odometer and the wheels haven’t fallen off. There is a sense of accomplishment in it that fuels my desire to make it to the next milestone. But today, I’ll take a few moments to relish this one and celebrate a little. Tomorrow I’ll set out on the trek toward 70.