Chad Hunter's Blog

Quotations – “When I am not…”

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Right your Story – Be the Author

[image error]Each of us lives a Story and it has a Plot, Characters, Twists and so on.  It is up to us to be more than just Characters.

From The Online Etymology Dictionary, “c. 1200, autorite, auctorite “authoritative passage or statement, book or quotation that settles an argument, passage from Scripture,” from Old French autorité, auctorité “authority, prestige, right, permission, dignity, gravity; the Scriptures” (12c.; Modern French autorité), from Latin auctoritatem (nominative auctoritas) “invention, advice, opinion, influence, command,” from auctor “master, leader, author” (see author (n.)). Usually spelled with a -c- in English before 16c., when the letter was dropped in imitation of French. ”

Powerful stuff.  The word “author” is founded on concepts such as authority, right, command and master.  When it comes to your Story – your life, your legacy – do not be just a Character or, even worse, a Supporting Character.  Be an Author.  Be organized.  Be prepared.  Embrace challenges and seek the higher road in all things.  Help those who in need and pursue your dreams and goals with a fury so intense that all will use words such as master, leader and authority.

Be the Author of your tale.

When left with your Story, make sure to Right it.

Right your Story

When given the opportunity to speak to a collection of high school students, I presented them the idea, the challenge to “right” their story.  Not “write” it but “right it.”  Not scribe it or put it to paper but correct it and put it on the best path.

Each of us lives a Story and it has a Plot, Characters, Twists and so on.  It is up to us to be more than just Characters – people who are moved and affected by the Story – but instead we must be the Author – empowered, flexible and ultimately able to chart the path of things to come.

When left with your Story, make sure to Right it.

Goodbye to a New Hope – Carrie Fisher

[image error]It is as clear as yesterday – I’m sitting in a giant dark room.  The big shape of my big brother is next to me.  A mammoth brightly lit rectangle is in front of me.  And it flickers and dances with images of galactic struggles, cosmic adventures and the unending battle between good and evil.

I’m three years old and I’m watching Star Wars.

Like countless others, I am touched by the December 27th passing of actress Carrie Fisher.  Her career was long, her characters memorable.  Yet to many of us who grew in the warm bask of the 1970s and 80s, she will always stand tallest as a strong-willed princess in the Star Wars saga.

As a writer, there have been many influences which had a hand in inspiring me, in motivating me and in stoking the flames of creativity within. Amongst the greatest of these influences was the night my brother took his snot-nosed tag-along sibling to go see a film called “Star Wars.” That night, I went to bed with sheer wonder in my eyes; my mind raced with heroes, villains and adventure. Ms. Fisher was part of that breathtaking movement which, for me and countless others, illuminated not only our minds and our dreams but a galaxy far, far away. Like any artist, she lives on in her work and in her work’s neverending reach.

Goodbye to a New Hope.

Dispelling myths of Writers’ block

It comes for us all.  We the wordsmiths, the builders of books, the scribes of journals the wielders of words (sounds cool.). It gets us no matter how strong our writing ritual is or how powerful our collections of text and literature.  It is Writers’ Block and it stops us in our tracks.

However, it is not some eldritch demon that we cannot defend against.  It is not a beast that cannot be battled.  Writers’ Block is to writers what “the Wall” is to runners.  It is the moment or period of time when you sit at the keyboard or notebook and nothing comes out.  You cannot write.  You cannot find the right words, deleting and crumbling up everything you’ve put to screen and paper today.  Or you may not even find any words, you may be haunted by the mocking blank sheet in front of you.

Even with that being said, there are myths of Writers’ block.  Ancient man feared the night, thought leeches cured everything and was certain of a person’s witchiness if they were too tall, too short or had red hair, etc.  Big scary things are meant to be dispelled.

Myth – Writers’ Block is unavoidable.  TRUTH – There are countless writers, authors, journalists, novelists, bloggers, etc. who write and never experience the block.  Given either their creative make-up or thru practice, they are always flowing with ideas.

Myth – Writers’ Block is very serious and damaging.  TRUTH – Cancer, unemployment and other such topics are “serious and damaging.” Writers’ Block is a pain, an inconvenience and annoying but we’re not going to empower it as our boogeyman.

Myth – A writer cannot tap into writing at whim.   TRUTH – Writers the world over, either through creative makeup or thru practice and environment, can write at the drop of a hat.  Many such writers have a system (e.g. Starbucks, the beach, classical music, coffee) that when they put it together automatically allows them to flow.

Myth – Writers’ Block cannot be cured, it must go away with time.  TRUTH – No.  Having a writing system in hand allows creatives to put themselves in their environment and knock the block out.  It isn’t a matter of time but a matter of having the right antidote for a simple problem.

 

Holiday shopping for your Writer

The holiday season is upon us and everyone has a writer in their life.  Be it a journaling teen, a novelist father, a blogging mother or another member of family or friend, chances are you’ve got a writer to buy for.  Writers are notoriously complex so here are some ideas to help you complete holiday shopping for your writer.

Surface Pro 4 – If you’re just passing these out, hook me up!  For the hardcore writer in your life and if funds allow, make this perfect plunge of technology meets replacement laptop meets replacement tablet.  Writers become an entire production staff on the go.  They can write, sketch, blog, update sites and save to cloud storage all on the Surface.  Est. price $999
Scrivener software – Maybe they’re working on the next best-selling trilogy or maybe they’re working on the next article for their job.  Whatever the literary product, every writer can find a place for Scrivener in their toolbox.  The specialized writing software allows a state-of-the-art tree structure for creating any literature known to man.  Est. price $35.00
Subscription to cloud storage – The days of keeping novels, novellas and novelettes on a thumb drive are gone.  Hardware goes bad or gets lost.  With multiple avenues available such as Dropbox, Box, GoogleDrive and OneDrive, your writer can gain access to more available space on the go than ever before.  Most of these offer a free membership to a healthy amount of storage for free.  Paid subscriptions get more.  Est. price – varies
Notebook – While considerably cheaper than a Surface Pro, a large multiple-topic notebook is still essential to a writer.  To this day I personally still use several notebooks to track ideas, platforming ideas and other topics that I need at my fingertips and not necessarily on a keyboard.  As simple as it may sound, a notebook is still a valued asset to a writer.  It never runs out of power, needs no internet connection and never has to update!  Est. cost – varies
Calendar – Just as a notebook is low-tech and low-price gift, do not overlook the importance of such a tool to the writer.  Calendars allow authors, bloggers and journalists the chance to keep deadlines, plan projects and track author events.  Most writers have to also handle the business side of their careers and keeping track of their days and time is an important ability.  Est. cost – varies
Coffee shop gift card – Maybe it’s to Dunkin Donuts or maybe even Starbucks.  Every writer has a place where they enjoy writing.  Knowing this and make the gift about this place not only gives them a paid vacation to writerland but also lets them know that you are aware of what is it that they do and who they are.  Est. cost – $25

So there you have it- holiday shopping for the writer in your life made easy.  The only other thing you could get a writer is the ending to the story they’re working on.  But since you can’t, any of the other gifts will suffice!

 

A writer’s thankfulness & gratitude

Thanksgiving is upon us and now everyone posts, snaps, texts and messages words of thankfulness and gratitude.  We are discussing what to appreciate and how to put into focus as we enter another November’s end.

And there is something unique about a writer’s thankfulness and gratitude.

If you are a writer, be thankful for the ability to write.  Yes, duh, Chad, of course I appreciate being able to write.  Yet, seeing as how it comes to us like water from a faucet, we have a tendency to overlook how its flow for us is like a desert drip for others.  Not everyone can write.  Not everyone is a wordsmith that can craft reports, articles, novels and screenplays.  We have a unique, creative spark that was God-given and we must acknowledge it and be thankful for it.

If you are a writer, be thankful for the freedom to write.  There have been far too many who have taken up quill and scroll only to be silenced for their expression.  There have been too many authors, writers and journalists, poets, expressionists and the like who have met sword and bullet simply for speaking their hearts and minds.  We have a unique chance in much of the world to put thought to paper and screen.  We must be grateful for there are too many of our brothers and sisters of the word who have no freedoms at all.

Finally, if you are a writer, be thankful for the little things that lead to the big and the big things that can be broken down into the little ones.  Be grateful for what senses you do have that bring creation into your heart and soul through your eyes or your ears.  Be thankful for the fact that while the built world expresses itself with worlds, we build worlds with words in order to express.

God bless and Happy Thanksgiving

Chad

 

 

Creativity Quotes – “No one else…”

Writers & Our role in Change

The world got an answer it did not expect in the American presidential election.

Half of us are in shock.

Half of us are celebrating.

All of us have no idea what to really expect.

Maybe this is the end.  Maybe lunatics will now be at the helm and take this ship right into oblivion.

Or maybe not.  Maybe instead of the Blue, the Red get a chance to “do what they said they would and figure out that politics is, at best, a balancing act, a machine that only allows so much deviation before one is swatted back to the reality of status quo.

So in this land of the question mark, what do we writers do?  What is the role of the scribe in times of change?

We document.  We inspire.   We are either the lens through which humanity will be viewed or we can be a light helping it see.

We write what happened, how it happened, when it happened and even possibly why.  It is our job to make sure that the details of a time are immortalized as well as the voice of those in the change.  Even if we write fiction, our stories will have the flavor and sound of the time.  Our writings will have the unique fingerprint of an era woven between the words.  If the concept of documenting seems daunting, look to writings of Thomas Paine or to the more recent works of Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation.

Writers inspire, fan the flames of hope if change is terrifying or we quell the waves of uncertainty if change is optimistic.  Economies may fall.  Dictators may have armies.  Diseases may have infected.  But writers will always have words and they are countless and outnumber any opposing force.  Many a dark time in history has been influenced the by writings of one or of many.  If you doubt this, merely look to the Diary of Anne Frank, Alex Haley’s Roots and even the Bible itself.

So pick up your pen.  Power up your laptop.  As times change, write about their shift and light a candle in the dark.

 

The importance of Writers in Politics

This week, we in the United States will decide our next President.  We will also be voting on other seats of political power – everywhere from the top seat in the office down to local school boards and everything in-between.  That having been said, we the people have been bombarded by ads, fliers, posters, robot-calls and even more.  We’ve been polled, tallied, surveyed and numbered every way possible.  So it may be mind-numbing to think that in this morass of pledges and mud-slinging, there is a job to be held high – maybe as high as those running – that job is writer.

The importance of writers in politics may be a muddy thing to see at first but it clears itself quickly.  Everything that is said, printed and read whether it be for slinging or proclamation is honed and forged through a writer.  Look back at the noble wording of the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence and you will find the manifestation of ideals put through the lens of a writer.  In many cases, the Founding Fathers were writers themselves and put to paper their hopes and dreams.  While the execution of such dreams have been far from perfect, their birth in the form of words has been.

And the writer has impacted politics far more than just Franklin or Hancock.  Writers had impact on statements of how a people must live with their land such as the writings of the Native American scholars and leaders.  Writers influenced law with Hammurabi and his code.  And, at the risk of bouncing through history, the writer in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. manifested itself onto paper as politics was influenced and bowed down to a nation’s need for healing and civil rights.

The importance of writers in politics is to be a tool – an object that takes a candidate’s ideas and frames them in an order and style that moves a people.  And like any tool, a writer can be used for good or ill.  A writer’s words can turn a people towards the light or push them into the dark.

So if you are a writer, remember that you are more than just a smith of letters, nouns and clauses.  You are a steward of emotion, thoughts and ideas.  You are a level of conscience that with the stroke of a pen or the tap of a keyboard can lead others to their higher self.