Zachary Ricks's Blog, page 19

Trust30 #8 – Believe It!

Note, I'm not saying believe in yourself, although that's an aspect of what I'm talking about. One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite anime series – Gurren Lagann (available in full at hulu.com or Netflix) – goes like this.

Don't believe in yourself! Believe in ME! Believe in the ME that believes in YOU!

It is simultaneously one of the most bizarre and yet strangely awesome quotes I've run into to date. Of course, it's not Emerson. Here's Emerson's quote.

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A little personal background may be in order here. Those of you who are familiar with my personal life know that I happen to be a practicing member of the LDS church. I'm a Mormon. And I attended BYU for my undergraduate studies.

Every Tuesday morning at 11:00 AM, classes stop, and the whole campus gets together for a weekly devotional meeting in the Marriott Center – where BYU plays basketball. Some of those devotional speeches – both the new ones and classic ones from years past – are released in podcast form, and I subscribe to that – getting a little boost weekly even though I'm no longer attending the Y.

In 1999, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk that I liked so much that I took the text and created an ePub that I could carry around with me on my phone. The name of the talk is "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", and is available from the BYU speeches website. The title of the talk is taken from Hebrews 10:35, where the apostle Paul is talking to members of the church who may have gotten discouraged because they run into trials, tribulations, hardships.

Stephen Pressfield calls it Resistance. And if you ask him, he'll tell you that he believes it's an intelligent force, opposed to you doing the work you were meant to do. It's not for nothing that one of the names that Christians give the Devil is "Adversary". In your work – in that thing that you were meant to do – you are going to run into discouragement. You're going to run into fear. You're going to run into adversity – into resistance. From Elder Holland's address:

Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt – seemingly free, seemingly on our way – only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and to give up. (Emphasis in original)

So, whatever your work is, whatever it is that you know you're supposed to do, do it. Press forward. If you don't know what that work is, honestly seek it. And once you've gotten the answer, once you've decided on the path, once you see the goal, press forward. We refer to it as "enduring to the end."

At this point, I could reference a lot of different things – Frank Lebby Stanton's poem "Keep A-Goin'" comes to mind. But I think I'll swing back to my anime fandom, and refer to one of my family's favorite shows: Naruto. We started watching Naruto while I was in law school – watching the fan-translated, subtitled cartoons that we would download via BitTorrent. And once a week, me, my wife, and our daughter would pop some corn, pull the couch over to where the computer was, and sit down and watch twenty-odd minutes of cheesy, fun, occasionally awesome ninja action. The Queso Kid wasn't reading yet, so we would read the translations to her. It's one of my favorite memories. It's since been licensed here in the States, and is available on DVD. (I'm only slightly ashamed to say that I tear up when I think about how the Naruto/Hyuuga Neji fight ends.) The reason I bring it up is that Naruto is a total screw-up. He's got the least talent of anyone in his class. Everyone in town knows he's a screw-up, and they treat him like dirt. But he's determined. In his heart, he knows that one day he will be the number-one ninja in the village. And that belief – that utter unshakable faith in that vision he has for his future, and his determination to work as hard as it takes to get to the top is what wins the day. Not just that, but it inspires those around him to strive harder also.

Naruto has a saying. It's really just a word, something that he uses to emphasize his sentences. He uses it at least once an episode. It's "Dattebayo!" I'm don't think it has a real English equivalent, but Funimation translates it as "Believe it!" And that's the challenge – to find that vision, believe it strong enough, and then get out there and do the work. Dattebayo, peeps. Dattebayo.

Because THAT is my ninja way.

Trust30 – #7 – Agreement

There will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions, so they be each honest and natural in their hour. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What would you say to the person you were five years ago? What will you say to the person you'll be in five years?

To the person I was five years ago… start writing. Yes, look for work, but start writing. It's not going to get any easier to start, so you might as well start now. And then don't quit. Also, this podcasting thing is fun, but it's going to have a fairly profound effect on you, your associations, the way you think, the people you know. You'll be glad you stuck with it.

To the person I will be in five years, dude, I hope you're happy. The kiddo will be off to college soon. I hope we enjoyed the time she was home. Dang. That's not a lot of time.

 

 

Trust30 – #6 – Faith

Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I've said on recent Galley Table podcasts (available at flyingislandpress.com/flagship), I made a committment to bring a completed manuscript to Balticon next year. And failure would mean… DIRE CONSEQUENCES. This is a scary thing. On many levels.

There's a reason that you haven't seen any of the books I've written for NaNoWriMo. That reason is, I'm pretty convinced that they suck. BUT… Pressfield makes a good point when he says:

"Next to Resistance, rational thought is the artist or entrepreneurs worst enemy. Bad things happen when we employ rational thought, because rational thought comes from the ego. Instead, we want to work from the Self, that is, from instinct and intuition, from the unconscious.

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Its only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate." - Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

So, I'm giving myself permission to turn that rational thought off. You will see to the side of the blog here that there's a new feature – a word count feature. Realistically, the thing I'm editing is maybe going to suck.

But for the rest of the year, at least as far as my writing is concerned, I'm giving myself permission to believe. To have faith. And as I'm fond of quoting, "Faith is the motivating cause of all action".

And what says action like ghost bears?

Trust30 – #5 – Live Now

Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm writing this after having just recorded a Galley Table podcast, and one of the things we debated discussing is the question: what's holding you back? 

For writers – well, for me, it's a perceived lack of time, and a very real perception of fear. I've heard people say that you should make a list of all of your obligations, and look at what you can cut out.

With FlagShip taking up a lot of time, and the community volunteer work taking up a lot of time, and a day job, and a family, it can be a challenge finding a quiet space and some quiet time to write. In fact, it can be well nigh impossible. The TV is always on in the front room. A lot of the time, the tv is on in the back room as well. The office will have my wife or my daughter using a computer. The available spaces to sit down and be able to focus on writing are limited. And that sounds like an excuse, and maybe it is, in part, but it is a fairly significant hurdle.

There are things that I can do. I can go write in the garage… maybe. I can get up earlier in the morning and write when everyone else is still asleep. It's a matter of figuring out the space, and maybe the only way to get the space is to adjust the time.

All right. Whining over. Time to get on it.

Trust30 – #4 – Being places

If we live truly, we shall see truly. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The question that came with this prompt asks if there's one place you'd like to see before you die, what is it, and what are you going to do to make sure you can get there?

I've been a lot of places. Seen the Mississippi. Lived in the Philippines. Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. And I really love being here in Austin. For me, I can't think of a better place to be. I enjoy the people, the weather, the atmosphere, the food. The only thing that would make this better is if we owned our own home. That's the place I want to be. Home ownership.

But seriously, Austin is one of the coolest places on the planet.

On Snark

No, this isn't a Trust30 post. Yes, I'll be making two of those a day for the next couple days. This is something related, but separate. I just wanted to talk something through.

Today my Snark-detector got pegged, and I'm just tired of snark. Cynicism, snark, sarcasm, sneering at those things that don't live up to whatever standard we might hold up… is something that I'm frankly tired of. And if this is the defining characteristic of our age, I think that's sad.

If I've been snarky like that in the past, I'm sorry, and I'm going to try not to do that again.

Trust30 Day 3 – Your Work

Thought I wouldn't get this in, didn't you?

Yeah. Me too.

Here's the quote:

That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. Where is the master who could have taught Shakespeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? . . . Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson has a point, but it's one that I have a small beef with. Someone taught Mozart the scales. Someone taught Shakespeare to read. The basic tools are the same for all of us, it's what we choose to do with them that tells.

I'm one of those folks that believes that our talents are gifts from God. We do what we can to develop them, and to serve our fellow man. I think writing can do that, just as chemistry can, physics can, art can, law can, and music definitely can. We strive to do good, to help our fellow man, and to develop those talents we've been given. Writing – story – is meant to help, inspire, and encourage. Maybe it teaches, or causes someone to reflect on who they are and what they should be doing. Sometimes it's a rest – a chance to lay down the burdens of the day and escape for a few moments.

I once heard an interview with Brad Thor where he said that the work that you're meant to do is inevitably that work which scares the living bejeebers out of you. I suppose in a way, that's true with me and writing. The writing happens, occasionally, but actually showing someone something I've written? I haven't done that in a long while.

That's going to change here in a couple of weeks, when I take a story I wrote to the local writer's group. It's a follow-up to a piece I co-wrote with Scott Roche, The Battle of Wildspitze, available now on Smashwords. The survivors of the Battle of Wildspitze return home to face a board of inquiry as to what happened to the Columbia. Before the board's decision is brought down, there's intrigue, sabotage, evil brownies, and the Fae. I like the piece, and I'm hoping to get some good criticism out of the group. Without good criticism, how can you hope to improve, right?

So, what's the next step for you?

Trust30 Day 2 – One Strong Belief

See yesterday's explanation if you're curious.

Today, the Emerson quote is this:

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

And the question asked is "What's one strong belief you possess that isn't shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?"

I belong to a fairly active and fairly creative online community. I count them as among my closest friends, although they live hundreds of miles away. And I find myself close to being the only conservative in the group. It doesn't come out too often, but every now and then…

For example. Last weekend was Balticon, and I was wearing a lanyard that said "Empower Texans". And as soon as I showed up in the hotel, someone immediately asked "Empower Texans? Empower them to do what?" Now, I wasn't really looking to get into a debate, so I said "Well, it's encouraging people to educate themselves, and get involved." Oddly enough, when the young lady who was asking me about it found out I was from Austin, she immediately relented. "Oh. Well, okay then. There are some Texans I'd like to disempower."

Now, Emerson would probably tell me I'd blown it. Heck, sitting here writing this, I think I blew it. But remembering that means, I hope, that I'll be less likely to smile and nod (remember how that gets me into interesting situations?) in the future. At least I hope so. At least part of this Trust30 process has to be identifying the places where you can do better, and here's a big one for me.

Trust30 day 1 – Character

So, Seth Godin's Domino Project has created this 30 day challenge. Each day they send you a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance", and you're supposed to reflect on it and write a post. And since I apparently need some kind of external motivator to get my fingers over a key board and making the clickity-clack sounds, I signed up.

Here's today's quote:

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative."

The force of character is cumulative. Boy, isn't that the truth. You build it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. I was talking to a friend of mine about my smartphone the other day, and how because of the "plasticity" of the device – the apps, their placement, the backgrounds, etc. – the device becomes a reflection of the person who holds it. Character is the same way, only infinitely more so. After all, after a few years and a contract expiration, you can get a bright new fresh smartphone. Character, however, has no carrier switching. And the price is the same for everyone – good character comes from consistent good action. And I mean action in the broadest possible sense – in as much as thinking is a verb, your thoughts are actions. Your thoughts, beliefs, focus, and discipline have just as much an impact on your character as anything else. Maybe more so, as thought precedes action.

Not only is character cumulative, it can be dispersed in a heartbeat. An inappropriate statement, an act of passion, a flash of temper, a biting comment, a lapse in self-discipline, can destroy character whether there's anyone there to witness it or not. I'm not talking about reputation here. I'm talking about inner strength.

Emerson says that conformity tells us nothing about you. (One could get into the weeds of who or what are we conforming to, but maybe we'll discuss that another time.) Let's say that I was in a place where other people might question my beliefs. Could be my politics, my religion, my views on family. Or it could be my preference for Mac or PC. For Star Wars or Star Trek. For Tolkien or Butcher. In an unfamiliar situation, in a place where you feel like the minority, it can be easy to stay quiet, or nod and smile. (Nodding and smiling can apparently get you into interesting situations, I found out this weekend.) Not standing up and not standing out can be tempting.

But when you do that, you erode your own character. You weaken your resolve. You make it easier to sit down and shut up next time. I'm all for picking your battles.

But I'm all for having them, too.

In order to rely on yourself, you must have a self to rely upon. And that self is made up of your own personal choices. You decide who you are. You show the world who you are by those choices – the actions you take. Stand up. Speak out. Decide what you want, and start taking steps toward it. Decide what you want to be – who you want to be. Show the world – and yourself – that you are that person by acting accordingly. In a sense, you participate in the act of creation every day as you create your character. Make yourself.

Relief!

Wife apparently let me sleep in a little. Just woke up from some crazy nightmare where I'd lost this domain name and I couldn't find a mouse to see what was going on.

Yet another reason I