Jan Notzon's Blog, page 21
January 18, 2022
Theism
I recently watched an interview with Stephen Meyer by Peter Robinson of "Uncommon Knowledge". I find the interviews by Robinson to be the most stimulating I have encountered.
This one concerned Meyer's book "The Return of the God Hypothesis", positing that all the evidence from the biological, physical and cosmological disciplines point to the conclusion of Intelligent Design.
Meyer is a scientific historian, I believe, and so incredibly articulate without being overly abstruse. And he is so warm and engaging: he presents his theses not to salve his own ego but in such a...what's the word I want..."sharing" way.
I have read Hugh Ross's book, "The Fingerprint of God" which deals with the same idea.
So, I ordered Meyer's book. I just hope he's a intelligible a writer as he is a speaker.
This one concerned Meyer's book "The Return of the God Hypothesis", positing that all the evidence from the biological, physical and cosmological disciplines point to the conclusion of Intelligent Design.
Meyer is a scientific historian, I believe, and so incredibly articulate without being overly abstruse. And he is so warm and engaging: he presents his theses not to salve his own ego but in such a...what's the word I want..."sharing" way.
I have read Hugh Ross's book, "The Fingerprint of God" which deals with the same idea.
So, I ordered Meyer's book. I just hope he's a intelligible a writer as he is a speaker.
October 24, 2021
Grateful
I recently had to put my eleven-year-old dog down due to kidney failure. I was quite taken aback by the acuteness of my grief. It was anything but sudden; I knew for months that the end was coming. Despite that, I actually howled in pain, all the time thinking to myself, "Jan, this is too much. It's way over the top!"
But I could not stop myself.
I wonder what it says about me that I've experienced the death of father, mother, sister and brother and never really felt great loss. I did feel a sharp pang of rootlessness when we sold our ancestral home.
But for the two dogs I've had in my life, their deaths were a journey through hell. I notice that when I walk on a greenway or in a park that I have a great urge to meet every dog I see but pay little attention to the people with them.
I wonder if this is unhealthy. I have come only lately to the realization of the critical importance of friends and family. On Sheba's death, I immediately went to my cousin Sylvia's in Georgia with their five dogs and one cat. The solace I there received pulled me out of the searing pain.
Thank you Sylvia, Kirby, Steve and Rachelle. And thank you Andrea and Mark for your kind regrets.
But I could not stop myself.
I wonder what it says about me that I've experienced the death of father, mother, sister and brother and never really felt great loss. I did feel a sharp pang of rootlessness when we sold our ancestral home.
But for the two dogs I've had in my life, their deaths were a journey through hell. I notice that when I walk on a greenway or in a park that I have a great urge to meet every dog I see but pay little attention to the people with them.
I wonder if this is unhealthy. I have come only lately to the realization of the critical importance of friends and family. On Sheba's death, I immediately went to my cousin Sylvia's in Georgia with their five dogs and one cat. The solace I there received pulled me out of the searing pain.
Thank you Sylvia, Kirby, Steve and Rachelle. And thank you Andrea and Mark for your kind regrets.
September 29, 2021
Scams
Boy, the scams keep coming and coming. One from a "Marty Smith" of "New Age Literary Agency" who "only" wanted $2,000.00 to submit my novel to a reader who would evaluate the work for film production.
I had a lawyer friend call them. The result: They were supposedly constituted in the early part of the century but only active in 2021, have never had one book made into a film.
Then I got a call, supposedly from Harper Collins UK offering to take over publishing rights for one of my books. I'd "only" have to pay the lawyer's fee. How much? Oh, between 5 and 6 thousand, dependi... Click.
I'd like to post this on The Authors' Group to warn my fellow authors, but can't figure out how to do it.
I had a lawyer friend call them. The result: They were supposedly constituted in the early part of the century but only active in 2021, have never had one book made into a film.
Then I got a call, supposedly from Harper Collins UK offering to take over publishing rights for one of my books. I'd "only" have to pay the lawyer's fee. How much? Oh, between 5 and 6 thousand, dependi... Click.
I'd like to post this on The Authors' Group to warn my fellow authors, but can't figure out how to do it.
September 22, 2021
Editor's comment
This is what the copy editor of my new novel said when she finished it.
ommented [IDJ13]: Wow. I am bereft of words to describe the feelings I have on finishing this book. Perhaps the tears that started to fall as I read these final words say it all.
This is masterful, epic tale, evocatively and beautifully written. Thank you. I feel honored to have been your editor (although you left very little to be edited – rarely have I been a assigned a book so eloquently written.) - IDJ
From her lips to God's (and my agent's) ears.
ommented [IDJ13]: Wow. I am bereft of words to describe the feelings I have on finishing this book. Perhaps the tears that started to fall as I read these final words say it all.
This is masterful, epic tale, evocatively and beautifully written. Thank you. I feel honored to have been your editor (although you left very little to be edited – rarely have I been a assigned a book so eloquently written.) - IDJ
From her lips to God's (and my agent's) ears.
August 19, 2021
Title 2
I would ask my goodreads friends once again to look at a short list of possible titles for my next novel. I'm having the deuce of a time trying to decide. I'm looking for one that might catch the eye and entice a potential reader. These are what I've got so far:
And The West Wind Moaned
Those Who Cannot Create
Culture Wars
A Question of Culture
Liberty and Servitude
The Creators
The Creative Destroyers
"I Shall Not Live Forever"
"But I Shall Not Live Forever"
Thank you all so much for your suggestions.
Jan
And The West Wind Moaned
Those Who Cannot Create
Culture Wars
A Question of Culture
Liberty and Servitude
The Creators
The Creative Destroyers
"I Shall Not Live Forever"
"But I Shall Not Live Forever"
Thank you all so much for your suggestions.
Jan
August 5, 2021
Title
I'm coming up on the home stretch of my sixth novel. Like with "Song for the Forsaken", I'm having a dialog with myself about the title I'm going to give it.
It follows the lives of two families in 19th century Mexico--or New Spain as it was called then--and one in Texas around the time it went from being a province of Mexico to an independent state, and then a member of the United States.
I'm trying to tell the story, through the eyes of these people, of the formation of an independent Mexico and explore the possible reasons its province of Texas was lost.
It is a continuation of my last novel, "Suffer Not The Mole People", as the matriarch of the Kaczmarek family comes to marry a Texas rancher.
I initially was going to call it "Those Who Cannot Create", which works just fine thematically, but I don't feel would grip the potential reader.
I'm also entertaining an alternative of "And The West Wind Moaned" or "And The West Wind Howled" or maybe just "And The West Wind" thinking that leaving it without the conclusion might make the prospective reader curious.
I'm still looking at other possibilities but would appreciate any feedback my friends on Goodreads might have.
Thanks.
It follows the lives of two families in 19th century Mexico--or New Spain as it was called then--and one in Texas around the time it went from being a province of Mexico to an independent state, and then a member of the United States.
I'm trying to tell the story, through the eyes of these people, of the formation of an independent Mexico and explore the possible reasons its province of Texas was lost.
It is a continuation of my last novel, "Suffer Not The Mole People", as the matriarch of the Kaczmarek family comes to marry a Texas rancher.
I initially was going to call it "Those Who Cannot Create", which works just fine thematically, but I don't feel would grip the potential reader.
I'm also entertaining an alternative of "And The West Wind Moaned" or "And The West Wind Howled" or maybe just "And The West Wind" thinking that leaving it without the conclusion might make the prospective reader curious.
I'm still looking at other possibilities but would appreciate any feedback my friends on Goodreads might have.
Thanks.
July 11, 2021
Complaint from an Old Fogey
Ah, to be a millenial and know well the secrets of computer technology!
I find that I miss quite a few contests and submission requests because of my Neanderthal computer skills.
Everything has to be in PDF, and all excerpts have to be copied and pasted in PDF. Now, I can easily copy and paste in Word, but PDF just baffles me.
Other people are kind enough to do it for me but then I have to do it myself when the time comes to enter it in the submission request.
I'm sure any millenial will laugh at this post and at me and with good reason. I'm sure it's quite simple for many. But I've been online with Adobe geeks and still cannot do it. In fact, one of their geeks took almost an hour to copy and paste one short passage.
Ah well, some things are just not meant to be, I suppose. But I do wonder: if it's so easy in Word, why is it so complicated in PDF?
I find that I miss quite a few contests and submission requests because of my Neanderthal computer skills.
Everything has to be in PDF, and all excerpts have to be copied and pasted in PDF. Now, I can easily copy and paste in Word, but PDF just baffles me.
Other people are kind enough to do it for me but then I have to do it myself when the time comes to enter it in the submission request.
I'm sure any millenial will laugh at this post and at me and with good reason. I'm sure it's quite simple for many. But I've been online with Adobe geeks and still cannot do it. In fact, one of their geeks took almost an hour to copy and paste one short passage.
Ah well, some things are just not meant to be, I suppose. But I do wonder: if it's so easy in Word, why is it so complicated in PDF?
June 16, 2021
Viciousness
Boy, I just found out that boosting a post on facebook is a terrible idea. I didn't realize people would be so hateful. Perhaps because of the anonymity of the web. Some of the comments...no, MOST of the comments were too vulgar to repeat--even from the women.
OK, lesson learned. I will never advertise on facebook again.
OK, lesson learned. I will never advertise on facebook again.
May 5, 2021
Faith
My fourth novel, "Song for the Forsaken" actually started out as a one-act play. It came to me during the time I was an MFA candidate in theatre at the University of South Carolina.
At the time, I was a committed (and, I have to confess, very angry) atheist. Hence the questions of faith in the face of so much suffering.
Mandy MacDaniel, the protagonist, has watched her mother suffer in pain for months until she finally died.
Mandy's life in her very poor Appalachian home has been one of blind faith in her religion--basically the only solace in a hardscrabble and very tenuous existence.
Watching her mother suffer and especially her non-verbal request that Mandy put an end to her suffering has absolutely decimated that faith.
She's coming home to the younger sister she has single-handedly raised with the knowledge that her loss of faith will tear them apart.
I suppose the story came out of my own ambivalence--even my hostility to a God that would permit such suffering in the world.
I have read all the vindications, the justifications, the theodicies for permitting such evil.
When I first wrote the one-act, I think I was making the point that faith is inimical to relationships on this earth--that religion keeps us apart rather than bringing us together.
Now, so many years later, I wonder.
At the time, I was a committed (and, I have to confess, very angry) atheist. Hence the questions of faith in the face of so much suffering.
Mandy MacDaniel, the protagonist, has watched her mother suffer in pain for months until she finally died.
Mandy's life in her very poor Appalachian home has been one of blind faith in her religion--basically the only solace in a hardscrabble and very tenuous existence.
Watching her mother suffer and especially her non-verbal request that Mandy put an end to her suffering has absolutely decimated that faith.
She's coming home to the younger sister she has single-handedly raised with the knowledge that her loss of faith will tear them apart.
I suppose the story came out of my own ambivalence--even my hostility to a God that would permit such suffering in the world.
I have read all the vindications, the justifications, the theodicies for permitting such evil.
When I first wrote the one-act, I think I was making the point that faith is inimical to relationships on this earth--that religion keeps us apart rather than bringing us together.
Now, so many years later, I wonder.
April 17, 2021
The Need for Violence
I think part of what inspired me to write "The Id Paradox" was an incident that occurred when I was still living in a pre-gentrified neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I was at home and heard a commotion next door. Out of that house came a young man dragging a girl out of it by her hair. She was screaming "No!" No!".
I went immediately to intervene. This gentleman(?) had her in the car and was getting in the driver's seat. I went and put hands on him and (strangely) said, "Come on, man. Let her go." As though I could appeal to the conscience of a young tough who could actually drag a girl by her hair!
I have no recollection of what occurred after that until they were sewing up my lip in the hospital.
Obviously, one cannot reason with someone who would do what this person did. I remember my father telling me when I was about 13 or 14, "Jan, there are people in this world who only respond to violence. The only thing that will stop them is force."
Being a young adolescent full of myself, I thought, "Stupid old man. What does he know?"
That incident answered my arrogant questioning of my father's wisdom in spades. One cannot appeal to reason or morality with a man who would drag a young girl by her hair and force her into his car.
The only proper response, as my father advised me, was meeting this jerk's violence with like violence. And the ability to find that violence in oneself is, at times, an absolute necessity.
BTW, The girl got away, at least.
I was at home and heard a commotion next door. Out of that house came a young man dragging a girl out of it by her hair. She was screaming "No!" No!".
I went immediately to intervene. This gentleman(?) had her in the car and was getting in the driver's seat. I went and put hands on him and (strangely) said, "Come on, man. Let her go." As though I could appeal to the conscience of a young tough who could actually drag a girl by her hair!
I have no recollection of what occurred after that until they were sewing up my lip in the hospital.
Obviously, one cannot reason with someone who would do what this person did. I remember my father telling me when I was about 13 or 14, "Jan, there are people in this world who only respond to violence. The only thing that will stop them is force."
Being a young adolescent full of myself, I thought, "Stupid old man. What does he know?"
That incident answered my arrogant questioning of my father's wisdom in spades. One cannot appeal to reason or morality with a man who would drag a young girl by her hair and force her into his car.
The only proper response, as my father advised me, was meeting this jerk's violence with like violence. And the ability to find that violence in oneself is, at times, an absolute necessity.
BTW, The girl got away, at least.
