Bryce Moore's Blog, page 136

It’s Often Not about the Performance. It’s about the Competition.

[image error]I’ve been watching the Olympics since they started last week, and I was very excited to see Shaun White’s gold medal run last night in the half pipe, as I was to see Chloe Kim’s gold. We let Tomas and DC stay up late last night to see the final runs, and it was pretty riveting stuff.

As I was watching, I compared my investment in the event with the amount I was invested in the female halfpipe a couple of days ago. It was markedly different, and I wondered why that was. Kim and White both have compelling stories. There were strong reasons to root for both of them, but for Kim’s runs, I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, eyes glued to see what would happen.

The difference, of course, is the competition. In Kim’s event, she was in the lead the whole time. She seemed like she had the rest of the field simply outclassed. Her first run was a 93.75, which put her in first place by almost eight points. The second round, someone came within four points of her, but by the third round, everyone knew she’d already won.

With White, his first run was a 94.25, only a bit above Kim’s. But there was someone in second place with a 92. Already, he seemed more vulnerable. That score didn’t feel as ironclad. Like Kim, White fell during his second run. But for White, someone stepped up and took first place. Suddenly, he was losing by a point. So when he went down for his final run, everyone knew he’d have to do better. Everything was on the line. Kim ended up with the higher score, but White ended up with the better story.

In writing, this is something that can be easy to forget at times. I’ll be working on a novel and trying to get the main character just right. I want them to be relatable and realistic. I want my readers to be invested in what happens to them. But often the solution to unlocking that isn’t found in the character at all. It’s found in the circumstances around that character. Who he or she is up against. The odds they’re facing.

Generally speaking, if you want the climax to be memorable, you don’t do it by adding more pyrotechnics to the scene. You don’t get it by having the main character be even more awesome. You do it by raising the stakes. Making the opponents stronger and more fearsome. Increasing the odds. The Miracle on Ice isn’t remembered because the favorites won. It’s remembered because the underdogs pulled off the upset.

And there’s your bit of writing advice for the day.

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Heavy Meta #14: Interview with William Geller

Up this week, a fascinating interview with William Geller, who’s been researching sporting and logging camps in Maine. To see all his books published at the Digital Commons at the University of Maine, . I learned so much about things I knew nothing about during this interview. Check it out!

Right click to download audio file.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $7/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

Happy Birthday DC!

Hard to believe it, but DC turned ten years old over the weekend. We took some time to look back at the pictures from back then. We’d been in our new home in Maine for just half a year. It was our first winter, and we had no snowblower and no experience to draw on for how to run a house in a Maine winter. It was our old wood stove, we had much less insulation, we were getting pounded by tons of snow.

And into all of that, we had our second child come into the mix.

Frankly, I’m surprised we weathered it all as well as we did. We still love snow and still love winter in Maine, and if that first year didn’t do in our love for those things, I don’t know what could.

DC had a small friend party on Saturday, and then we celebrated her birthday yesterday as a family. Denisa and I got her various crafty things. (On her wishlist this year? A nice pencil sharpener, and pencil erasers. She inherited her mother’s penchant for asking for reasonable gifts.) MC got her a gift too: she gave her a cold. Actually, MC, DC, and Tomas were all in bed sick yesterday, so it wasn’t quite the huge celebration she might have hoped for.

She got to pick her birthday dinner and dessert. After being temped by mac and cheese and chocolate cake, she ended up going with . . . spinach soup. I am not making this up. Spinach. Soup. And sourdough biscuits. It was without a doubt the most un-kidlike dinner choice I’ve eaten. That said, I love spinach, and Denisa made a delicious soup. Tomas was less than enthused about the choice, however. For dessert, she asked for lemon poppy seed cake with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

DC remains a wonderful daughter. She’s by far the most responsible girl I know. She takes her duties on the chore chart very seriously, and loves knowing what the rules are and how following them can help her. She’s become a much stronger reader this last year and is now working on finishing book 5 in the Percy Jackson series. She’s also an avid video gamer who beat Zelda Breath of the Wild not too long ago and is now working her way through Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2. She’s always up for a board game or a craft project, and she loves playing her cello. Her room stays surprisingly neat.

Really, she’s just a great all around daughter, and I’m so happy she’s in our family. Happy birthday, DC!

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My Favorite Olympics Story

[image error]As we get ready for the Olympics to start tonight (well, technically they were already  on last night, which was this morning in South Korea, which means it was still today, right?), I’m pumped for another two weeks of thrills and chills. This is also the second winter Olympics I’ve watched since I ditched satellite. Having some experience with watching the Olympics online, I can that for a while, it left much to be desired.

NBC would stream things, but they wouldn’t stream everything, and there’s a BIG difference between streaming the live feed of an event and streaming it with NBC commentators. Yes, sometimes those commentators really irritate you, but when you’re watching a sport you don’t know a ton about, it’s difficult to tell when someone’s doing well if you don’t have someone there to . . . tell you that. So often I would just skip an event instead of watching it with the live feed.

These days, I believe they’re planning on doing a better job of that. (Though judging by the commercials on the app last night, they haven’t gotten around the “same commercials all the time” problem, though it’s a bit better. Why they can’t just have the internet run the same commercials as the TV is beyond me.)

Still, I discovered that often NBC would tap into some pool commentators. I have no idea who they were with. They were always British, so I kind of assumed the BBC, but I don’t really know that. The commentating was okay, and not slanted to any one nation, so I took what I could get.

However . . . four years ago, I was watching figure skating. The long performance, as I recall, so it was for medals. And I was watching it with the British commentators. From what I knew, there were supposed to be something like 8 or 12 people competing, but the commentators seemed convinced it was only 4. They really got into it, describing how it was a race to the end with these final four skaters, and after they were done, they congratulated the skaters who were in first, second, and third. They thanked everyone for watching, as the crew came out to fix the ice.

I kept watching, still confused, and still convinced there was more skating to come.

And the mic stayed hot. And a muffled British voice could be heard saying, “What do you mean eight more?”

Once the ice was fixed, the commentators came back on and did commentated for the other eight skaters. Didn’t miss a beat. Didn’t apologize for getting things wrong. Just pretended it had never happened.

And you know what? I didn’t mind at all. It was funny. I laughed. But I was there to watch figure skating, and I didn’t mind them screwing things up.

The moral? Sometimes you will do something totally idiotic, and you’ll feel like an idiot, but if you just keep going, you might be surprised how little everyone else minds. We’re the hero in our own stories, but we’re just extras in most everybody else’s. That can be depressing at times, I suppose, but when you’ve just made a big blunder? It can be great to keep it in mind.

Happy Olympics, everybody. Go USA! And Slovakia! And Germany! And I don’t really mind if some Czechs do well, either.

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Project: Bathroom

[image error]Over ten years ago, when Denisa and I were house hunting, we had a few “must haves” on our list. A garage. Four bedrooms. Two bathrooms. But as we went from house to house (more than 20 in two days), we began to see that a list of “musts” for a house is kind of like a list of “musts” for a spouse. There’s the ideal, and then there’s the reality, and sometimes you have to let some things slide. Sometimes, your “musts” turn out to be “would prefers”.

So when we bought our house, it only had 1 bathroom.

And in the years since then, we’ve plotted. Planned. Schemed. Every renovation we did had an ultimate end game in mind: a second bathroom. Because bathrooms.

I’m pleased to say that as of yesterday, we’ve finally put that end game into motion. The bathroom is being built. Not only will this mean we have a second bathroom, but it’ll be right next door to my new bedroom, which will be ever so much more convenient. (Score!)

How serious are things? Well, serious enough that I’ve already bought the toilet. A guy just doesn’t go around buying toilets for fun. (At least, I wouldn’t recommend it. Yesterday I had a part day due to snow, so I stayed at home and pored over all sorts of fun products. Which toilet should we buy? Which vanity? Lighting fixtures? Tiles? Towel racks? I was in decision overload by the end of it, let me tell you. Glad that’s done.)

So if all goes according to plan, the stuff should arrive next week, and construction will be finished two or three weeks after that.

And in case you were wondering, we’re going with a shower-only, but we’re also putting in some nice perks like an electric heater, heated tile floors, and a hibachi grill. (One of those things isn’t actually going in the bathroom. I’ll let you guess which.)

Will it be noisy and dirty around the Bryce household for the next while? Yes it will. Do I care? No I do not.

Because I want that second bathroom. Wish us luck! (Well . . . wish our contractor luck. I personally will not be touching many power tools on this job. I hope.)

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Closer to Mars

[image error]In case you missed it, yesterday SpaceX (the company owned by the Tesla car guy, Elon Musk) tested their biggest rocket yet: the Falcon Heavy. They live streamed the event, so you could watch it at home, and they stressed ahead of time that all sorts of things could go wrong. The rocket could blow up. It could malfunction. It could do nothing. Or it could work as planned.

If all went according to plan, three booster rockets would fire in tandem, launching a payload into an orbit that stretches beyond Mars. Then, after the rockets were done, they would turn around and fly back to where they launched, landing themselves upright, perfectly balanced.

It sounded way too cool to be possible. I’ve always loved the history of space exploration, and this sounded like something not to be missed. It ended up being spectacular. Here’s the whole launch:

And check out this picture perfect landing of two of the rockets. I was dumbfounded:

That’s just incredible. Yes, the third rocket didn’t manage the same feat. (It ran out of fuel for some reason.) But it’s still remarkable what they managed to achieve. The payload was delivered: Elon Musk’s personal Tesla is now rocketing to Mars, blasting David Bowie’s Space Oddity as it flies. You can see a live video of it here:

Musk has been talking for years of his plans to put a colony on Mars. It’s seemed like an outlandish goal to me, especially when he starts talking about his timeframe. Five years? A decade? But when I watched that launch and saw just what he’s capable of doing so far, it sees much more tangible. He’s got plans to send an enormous rocket carrying 100 passengers over to the red planet, where they’ll establish a foothold on Mars, and then grow from there.

He’s been talking about doing something on the moon as well, because why not.

I looked at pictures of his planned colony, and I actually thought about what it would be like to live there. Not in a fantasy/sci-fi vein, but in a real, “I wonder if they’d need a librarian” sort of mentality. (In case you’re worried, I decided I’d much rather live on Earth. I like my creature comforts too much.

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How Did You Choose Your Career?

[image error]I’ve been involved in a couple of job searches recently (not looking for one personally, but on hiring committees), and it got me thinking: how do people end up doing what they do for work? How do you go from high school to a 40 hour/week job?

For me, it all came down to a fairly random set of circumstances. I had come back from my mission, and I was back at BYU. I needed a job, because money. My sister had gotten a job at the BYU library, and she suggested I work in her department, because it was a good job and paid well. I applied and was hired.

Up until that point, it wasn’t like I’d had this life long urge to be a librarian. The “paid well” part of what my sister told me appealed to me far more than the “good job” part. The BYU Periodicals Department paid something like $8.30/hour, which at the time was one of the best paying jobs on campus.

That job got me a job at Orem Public Library while I was getting my Masters in English. I enjoyed it, but I still didn’t really view it as a Career until my plans for going to get a PhD in English grew shaky. So when the outlook became precarious, I began reevaluating things I had been doing. Lo and behold, I discovered plenty of people don’t just work at libraries as a stop gap. They work there as a Career. I applied to a Library Science program at Florida State and got my degree.

Even then, I wasn’t sure what kind of librarian I wanted to be: academic or public. I double majored to prep for both. I’d worked in both types, and I liked both types. I applied for Young Adult librarian positions and Academic librarian positions. I got offers in academia before I got offers in the public area.

And here I am.

So as I take a step back and look at things, a lot of different factors had to come together for me to end up where I am. That could lead me to think this whole Career thing is pretty random. Except I had done other things before I became a librarian. I had worked at McDonalds, read gas meters, been a writing tutor, taught Freshman English, been a missionary for two years, and interned in Public Relations. I’d dabbled in computer programming, tried writing books, played instruments, done drama, worked at the school paper, and taken a slew of classes in different subjects. I’d majored in linguistics and English.

At any point in time, any one of those other paths could have sparked an interest in me. If I hadn’t enjoyed working at the library, I would have quit. Money only gets you so far when it comes to a job. If you’re miserable, you start looking elsewhere. What I mean to say is that it’s easy to look at the path I took and think it was a series of happenstance, but I think once you take into account all the different ways I could have done something else, it comes more into focus.

Choosing a career (for me, at least) boiled down to being drawn to a particular area over time. Deciding to major in English instead of physics (my second choice, believe it or not). Quitting reading gas meters to return to the BYU Periodicals Department, even though it meant a substantial cut in pay. Over time, I eventually honed in on something I enjoyed and excelled at. If libraries hadn’t worked out, I would have kept on searching.

Taken in that light, I think it makes sense to dabble as much as you can in your early years. Try a wide variety of things. Ditch what you don’t like, and stick to what you do.

But that’s just my path. I’m curious: how did you arrive in your current career?

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Newsflash: Overeating is a Bad Idea

[image error]You would think after years of living and tons of experience with eating and overeating, I would learn my lesson eventually. But you would think wrong. I had quite the weekend, with a Groundhog soiree on Friday followed by a Super Bowl party yesterday. (That game was incredible, by the way. So much fun to watch, and I had a great time viewing it with some die hard Patriots fans. I like both teams, but I was definitely leaning hard for the Eagles, simply because I like to spread the love around some, and Philly really *really* needed that win.)

The unifying factor between both parties was mass consumption of food.

Now that I generally eat more healthily than I used to, lots of things in life are better. I get sick less, I sleep better, I have more energy, and my self esteem is better. However, I’m continually discovering one serious side effect: I can’t eat large amounts of junk food and not feel awful later on. Gone are the days when I could just go to town on an array of desserts, eating all the brownies, and feeling fine afterward.

Of course, I wonder if it’s more that I always felt yucky afterward, but it was harder to tell, because I didn’t feel as good to begin with. I don’t know. What I do know is that if you sit me to watch a 4 hour football game and place a variety of cookies, cake pops, chips, salsa, queso, bread, hummus, and brownies in close reach, I will end up eating about three metric tons of food. This despite all my dieting practice, and knowing from experience that I won’t feel all that great afterward.

So why do I do it? Some of it is old habits. The way I used to celebrate was by eating a lot of food. So any party I go to doesn’t feel like a real party if all I do is graze on a bit of treats here and there. To really have a great time, I’m supposed to eat and eat. Plus, it tastes good. And just as I’ll stay up later than I ought to, despite knowing how awful I’ll feel in the morning, I’ll eat and eat and eat, even though I know I’ll feel sick to my stomach.

Sigh. Getting old is the pits. Back in the day, I could eat an entire large pizza all by myself and not even bat an eye. Who came up with the idea of being responsible and mature? I’ve got another party on Friday (it’s the Olympics!). Will I learn my lesson by then, or will I decide it’s okay to live it up one more time?

The sad thing is I think the safe money would be on me living it up again.

How do the rest of you manage to moderate at parties?

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My Favorite Groundhog Tradition

[image error]It’s Groundhog Day (of course!). And if you’re wondering, yes, Phil did see his shadow. (Six more weeks of winter!) I’m having a party this evening. There will be groundhog treats and a groundhog yankee swap (white elephant, some call it). Those are always fun, but I’d have to say my favorite groundhog tradition of all time is one that’s developed over time.

A few years ago, I got a groundhog hand puppet one year. Each year, we’ve gotten more and more decorations for the holiday (yes. I’m strange), and the hand puppet was added to the crew. One day, I put it on, snuck up on Tomas, and then surprised him with it, shouting out “It’s Groundhog Day!” over and over. Scared him half to death.

And the tradition was born.

Each year, everyone tries to find ways to scare other people in the family with the groundhog puppet. You’d figure we’d catch on and remember, but you’d be surprised what you can forget over the course of the year. This year, I think I almost gave Tomas a heart attack, jumping out at him as he came out of the bathroom.

A small furry creature flying out at your face out of nowhere can be really intimidating.

So, if you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate year after year . . . maybe buy a hand puppet. Click on the pic at the top of this post and buy one for next year.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’m looking to get to $10/month to justify the amount of time I spend on this blog. I’m at $6/month so far. Read this post for more information. Or click here to go to Patreon and sign up. It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out.

We Can Both Be Successful

[image error]I came across this article today, describing how a group of 2,000+ DC Comics fans are banding together to give Marvel’s new movie coming out (Black Panther) negative Rotten Tomato scores as soon as possible. Their goal? To give it an artificially low rating, thereby hoping to harm Disney and Marvel. Their reasoning? They believe Disney has been trying the same thing to DC movies, blaming that for the box office failure of Superman and the like. The Last Jedi suffered from the same sort of attack, and there are now stories out that it’s underperforming in the long term in the box office, so they have hope this could have similar results.

This is so wrongheaded on so many different levels, I’m not sure where to begin. First of all, having watched DC and Marvel movies, I’d have to say the reason DC movies aren’t doing better in the box office has more to do with the fact that they’re mediocre films than any clandestine smear campaigns. If you want to make a boatload of money, start by making fantastic movies.

Second, the concept of lying about reviews is something deeply disturbing to me. It’s this mentality that makes people give things 1 star on Amazon, because they’re upset something has too high of a rating. As if they need to give an extra harsh review to “balance” the ratings.

Ratings don’t need balance, people. They need honesty. That will naturally cause the ratings to end up at a balanced point. That point will be different for each item. Ideally, that’s how review aggregators work.

At the same time, anyone who listens solely to review aggregators to decide whether or not they want to read or watch something is someone who needs to reexamine their media consuming criteria. There are plenty of things out there I loved that many other people strongly disliked. Am I wrong for loving them? Of course not. Would I want to deprive myself of the chance to watch them, just because other people might think those shows/movies/books were bad? Never. That’s why I give new media a shot. And there are times I hate stuff other people love. That’s okay.

In the end, I hate the “us vs them” mentality behind this whole concept. That somehow there’s a limited amount of money out there, and in order for one book or movie or show to do well, it needs to show why other things are worse. That’s not how it works. Successful superhero movies make people want to go watch more successful superhero movies. A smash like Harry Potter didn’t kill all other fantasy books. It made a ton of new fantasy fans.

As an author, I *want* books in my genre to succeed. I want them all to succeed. The more that are bad, the more people might get turned off of a genre. The more that are good, the more fans I might attract. There is no “them” in “us vs. them.” It’s all just “us.”

I can’t imagine my words will convince anyone in that group to change their mind, but I still wanted it out there.

And for the record, I continue to love love love The Last Jedi. Just a fantastic movie. Here’s my review.