Some Lessons from the Chinese Zodiac

I never would have described myself as one interested in the occult but I have mentioned the tarot before, and today I am going to talk about the Chinese Zodiac. Make of it what you will.

Now, the tarot is something I have fun with now and again but I wouldn't go so far as to call it accurate or to have any supernatural power, for me it's a means of thought. A random card applies an external context to a factor of my life that is sometimes very illuminating, but I digress.

The Chinese Zodiac is extremely accurate and I have a large amount of trust in it at this stage. Time and time again its rules have proven themselves true in the interactions I have witnessed in my life, so if you have an interest in that sort of thing I recommend you investigate it.

My animal is the Tiger and my element is Fire, along with everybody else born in the Chinese year of '86. This would mean a lot of things, but one of them is that I deal in bursts of energy. Even when I was a kid I was aware of this, even feeling empathy with the Tyrannosaurus Rex when he was described as being able to attain very fast speeds temporarily while pursueing prey but in general being a pretty slow Dino. That image of a titanic beast hurtling forward as an unstoppable mass of sinew and teeth only to revert to a panting pile of used up Dinosaur really resonated with me.

But I like that, for a while he's something special, for a while he's an ace, a legend.

I feel I'm like that sometimes, wasted from my last great charge, from my last attempt at something. But I am a tiger, and part of being a tiger is being an exhausted lump of fur burnt out from the hunt. Every other creature knows however, that it will not be too long before the hunter is back on form. Until then, there's Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes to vegetate in front of.

Not so far from the Norm

I've always looked down on those hooked to a particular form of entertainment, or mix thereof. I've poo-pooed televisual feasters and pa-paed people who play video games all day, but, am I so much better.

I was once what one might call "addicted" to a little internet based program called IRC. Or internet relay chat. Anywho, this little program let me go online in anoynominity and at worst have some fun messing with peoples heads and at best actually meet some pretty cool people and have night long conversations with them. I became aware of the addiction after a few years however and helped by the fact most of the people I had enjoyed talking to had gone already I was kicked the habit a few years ago.

So, I still chat to a few select people online, I don't really consider that the same thing. What I still do however is spend hour upon hour browsing from website to forum from newgrounds to something awful looking for something to laugh at or be amused by. This is normal right? The thought struck me tonight that it is in fact normal, normal as being hooked on a tv, normal as being dependent on any other quick fix, instantly gratifying form of entertainment. So there you go, I guess I'm not so better after all.

True, I do read the odd book, listen to the occasional piece of classical music but it is actually an effort to pull myself away from the internet. This source of information but, in fairness, mostly a source of quick laughs and distracting content. I've got another habit to kick, and it's going to be tough.

A Little More about the New Book

“That’s possible. Maybe he is so convinced of his own superiority no amount of power could appease his ego, and he knows that. He finds himself seeking out alternate paths to fulfillment to other men. He find himself turning from the conventional, and towards the transcendental.”
-Crystal

So, we are moving into the deep end now. Who are these people, I wonder to myself, that I have created. It's certainly less cut and dry than my previous novel. The thread of the story is not contained and controlled as much, I find it is much more centered around the personality of a central character.

But that's quite cool, I think the psychology of the main character in my previous novel was certainly a weakness so this shift to the close third person is really making me work harder on fleshing him out. Before, the first person allowed me to justify decisions internally, if that makes sense. It was the situation that I used primarily to manufacture the story.

The same is still true of course but there is definately a dynamic shift. Also being able to fly over to other characters whenever I like is pretty cool too.

A warning to the potential evil of this method can be found in the the second Nightwatch book, the first book had me hooked on the massive energy of the first person and this was diffused so much by the use of the third person that I was really disappointed. Not to say that it wasn't great in it's own way but I did feel like something exceptional had been reduced to something all too mundane. But we will see!

New Post, New Post

So, it looks like I'll be moving away from Dublin for a while. Mixed feelings about it but that's that way things turned out.

I am determined to stay on the positive side of things, maintain some momentum in all my pursuits but also keep my eyes open for a new direction. Something eludes me still, some vital ingredient of my life that has it left lacking something.

But these are questions that all need to be asked and solved, these are all things I need to face so I can not complain. Now is the time to mend and improve, now there is time to resolve the things I buried for so long. I am very thankful to have to chance and in the end I think it is going to make all the difference.

I'm planning to learn how to drive and get my SCJP qualification. Branch out into real world achievements. Try to find a mix that works, well, one has to keep trying.

Some Incidental Advice

There was some advice on that slip which I've been thinking about over the past few days. It recommended that instead of using the standard query letter and synopsis that you just write out the blurb. (The bit written at the back of a book that encourages you to buy it by making the story seem exciting and interesting.)

Write out the blurb and stick some sample chapters on the end. Bada bing bada boom, right? It certainly makes sense to me, it does seem like a better approach in the Fantasy genre and it would be good practice for me so I think I might give it a go. Of course if you have been following my blog my previous incarnation of my query was essentially just this I didn't really go all the way.

Perhaps it will be different now that I am less personally invested in my first novel and will be able to perceive it more objectively. Well, we will see. I'll stick whatever it is I end up with on here.

How is the writing thing anyway?

Well, I received another rejection slip in the mail today and that kind of reminded me of something. This blog is supposed to be about my journey to writerdom.

Okay, well, first of all, yes I am still writing. It usually takes the form of an hour or two every morning and a good amount of sitting around in a catatonic state pondering what the hell is going to happen next in the plot. I'm happy to be back in novel mode but hell is it harder. Sure, even if I do have a good idea does it fit into the storyline? Will it pull things in a direction I don't want to go in. Well, yeah, there's definitely more things to consider but yes, it is a lot of fun too.

I do wish I was doing more but I supposed I am still in a bit of personal turmoil but that looks like it's going to be a permanent fixture in my life so I'm going to have to figure out how to work with it sooner or later I guess.

I'm heading up to Dublin soon and will prepare another wave of query letters for my previous novel. This is the game we are playing, still. Keep firing until the guns glow red!

Almond Filibostron

No, it's a trap. The explosion rattled the fillings in his teeth as he dived through the resultant wave of glass. It washed over him like a sharp rain as he reached for his deaver pistols.

One shot will reign in the apocalypse. They ripped through the building the rocket had come from reducing it to rubble. He heard the rattle of gun-fire however and he dragged himself behind a wall as the spinning balls of lead crashed into the ground around him, tearing the earth into clouds of brown and green.

He was stuck now. There was another explosion and the gun-fire stopped.

Slowly, he stuck his head over his cover to see his old comrade Bundwurp holding a soviet era rocket launcher and a grin that said, "You owe me one."

He leveled his pistol at bundwurp and said.

"Trust is something I never give, to soldier, politician or otherwise."

So much for game theory.

Back on track - If I could figure out where the track went

So, I've been out of work for a while now and I've had my holiday and I've had my sleeping in and constant relaxation and it's been great I can't complain.

I do realize that the time is now upon me to get back on track with everything, most of all my writing. While there has been some progress I really need to start focusing on it more and get into a real routine. Hopefully I'll be able to write more easily in wherever I live next (lease is coming to an end soon.) But we'll have to see.

I should also try and get another wave of query letters out, I still haven't used any using my new format and there's never any harm in trying. Today I got an email response to one I sent out months ago so there's no harm in keeping that cycle going.

Finally the job will continue, it's been pretty slow so far to be honest which to be fair I kind of did expect. The main thing is to keep myself out there and stay focused on what I want.

I enjoyed lying around in bed but it's something that rule, less is more, stands truer than ever. Have to get back to work building that track to where I want to go.