Mike Duron's Blog, page 2
August 19, 2012
Free!
You can download "San Anto" for free on kindle at Amazon from August the 20th through August the 24th. As an added bonus, I've made "Stories for Home" free from August the 20th through August the 22nd.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a review on Amazon!
Please let me know what you think by leaving a review on Amazon!
July 10, 2012
Miss Marple -- "Ingots of Gold," by Agatha Christie
I just finished reading this short story this morning after having had to put it down several times over the past three days. What can I write about it that hasn't already been written a thousand times? I don't know. I guess I can only write what my impressions of it were in context of having read "The Tuesday Night Club," and "The Idol House of Astarte" (each in a separate undisturbed sitting) for the first time also within the past few days.
The first thing I notice about the short stories is the unmistakable hat tip to Chaucer's pilgrims from The Canterbury Tales. I won't go so far as to compare each member of the Tuesday Night Club to any single character (or combination of characters) from Chaucer's work here. I'll leave that up to any reader to explore for herself.
What I will do though is acknowledge the fact I saw that as clearly as Miss Marple apparently sees the youthful silliness of her nephew, Raymond.
"... You are so credulous, dear, so easily gulled," says Miss Marple at one point in "Ingots of Gold." "I suppose it is being a writer and having so much imagination...."
I really do like her -- and the way Christie is allowing us to meet the characters as the short stories unfold.
Like all good genre writing, the story telling is compact, efficient, and loyal to its place in the bookseller's shelf. That is, it doesn't start off as a mystery, then turn into a romance, then turn into a horror story, &c.
This idea that a writer should limit herself to the boundaries of a genre isn't something I could ever respect, personally, as a writer. (I'm the sort of writer who sets off walking, finds the boundary walls, and starts either scaling them, or scratching at the mortar to pull the bricks out, or even digging underneath the foundation.)
Agatha Christie excels at writing in her style. I read her three stories with pleasure and ease. The only time I ever had to google anything was when I got curious about things she mentioned that I wasn't too familiar with, like when she mentions one character taking off or putting his "pince-nez." Who the hell does that anymore?
There is also that fun element of reading something that was written decades ago and using google map to look up the locations mentioned and then going to street view and visiting the location in a sense without ever having to leave your room.
This adds a whole new level to reading old classics for the first time -- or re-reading them if they're just sitting on your bookshelves collecting dust.
At any rate, I'm enjoying these stories by Christie and am looking forward to reading "The Bloodstained Pavement."
Guilty pleasures, I know. But what else am I going to do? Go back to Twilight and try to force myself through another page of that?
The first thing I notice about the short stories is the unmistakable hat tip to Chaucer's pilgrims from The Canterbury Tales. I won't go so far as to compare each member of the Tuesday Night Club to any single character (or combination of characters) from Chaucer's work here. I'll leave that up to any reader to explore for herself.
What I will do though is acknowledge the fact I saw that as clearly as Miss Marple apparently sees the youthful silliness of her nephew, Raymond.
"... You are so credulous, dear, so easily gulled," says Miss Marple at one point in "Ingots of Gold." "I suppose it is being a writer and having so much imagination...."
I really do like her -- and the way Christie is allowing us to meet the characters as the short stories unfold.
Like all good genre writing, the story telling is compact, efficient, and loyal to its place in the bookseller's shelf. That is, it doesn't start off as a mystery, then turn into a romance, then turn into a horror story, &c.
This idea that a writer should limit herself to the boundaries of a genre isn't something I could ever respect, personally, as a writer. (I'm the sort of writer who sets off walking, finds the boundary walls, and starts either scaling them, or scratching at the mortar to pull the bricks out, or even digging underneath the foundation.)
Agatha Christie excels at writing in her style. I read her three stories with pleasure and ease. The only time I ever had to google anything was when I got curious about things she mentioned that I wasn't too familiar with, like when she mentions one character taking off or putting his "pince-nez." Who the hell does that anymore?
There is also that fun element of reading something that was written decades ago and using google map to look up the locations mentioned and then going to street view and visiting the location in a sense without ever having to leave your room.
This adds a whole new level to reading old classics for the first time -- or re-reading them if they're just sitting on your bookshelves collecting dust.
At any rate, I'm enjoying these stories by Christie and am looking forward to reading "The Bloodstained Pavement."
Guilty pleasures, I know. But what else am I going to do? Go back to Twilight and try to force myself through another page of that?
July 9, 2012
This Page has been recategorized as a Community Page....
I'm seriously thinking about downloading and deleting everything I've put up on facebook over the past few years and closing or deleting my account. I have my main account, then two 'pages' I created. One page is a 100 sonnets project I'm working on. The second is just a page I created in order to communicate with readers; however, I found this message when I visited the latter today:
After doing just a few minutes of googling, I found this:
My concern is that I can lose control of this page and any other I create. Why would an author want to create a page to communicate with his readers then have it taken over by the community and lose control of it?
It makes much more sense to me to move everything over to my own website, mikeduron.com, and just operate out of there. I can spike the cannon in a sense by simply posting one last post on each account -- my main account, and each page I've already created -- BUT, what's to say Facebook won't just declare my 100 sonnets page a community-created page in the future?
So ... I think the best course of action actually would be a combination of both plans. Rather than spike the cannon (post one last post as a link to my own website) or simply shove it overboard (delet all content and close the accounts), it may be best to delete everything I can THEN post a link to my own website as a final post.
Something like, "Please visit me at mikeduron.com"
*************
On the other hand, it looks like I'll finish the first draft of my current WIP here in the next few days. I'm planning to publish it to Amazon (after a few revisions of course) on August the 1st of this year.
This Page has been recategorized as a Community Page
Community Pages represent causes, topics and ideas (as opposed to official entities such as businesses, bands and public figures). This change has not affected your Page’s presence on Facebook. If you think your Page has been miscategorized, let us know.
After doing just a few minutes of googling, I found this:
...
On the community sign-up page, Facebook states that you can Generate support for your favorite cause or topic by creating a Community Page. If it becomes very popular (attracting thousands of fans), it will be adopted and maintained by the Facebook community....Please note that you will not be able to edit the name of a Page after it has been created.
The key here is adopted and maintained by the Facebook community. What does this mean exactly? It's Facebook's own way of gaining access to and ownership of your content in the event that it becomes very popular (and hence profitable).....
http://www.guruofsearch.com/facebook-...
My concern is that I can lose control of this page and any other I create. Why would an author want to create a page to communicate with his readers then have it taken over by the community and lose control of it?
It makes much more sense to me to move everything over to my own website, mikeduron.com, and just operate out of there. I can spike the cannon in a sense by simply posting one last post on each account -- my main account, and each page I've already created -- BUT, what's to say Facebook won't just declare my 100 sonnets page a community-created page in the future?
So ... I think the best course of action actually would be a combination of both plans. Rather than spike the cannon (post one last post as a link to my own website) or simply shove it overboard (delet all content and close the accounts), it may be best to delete everything I can THEN post a link to my own website as a final post.
Something like, "Please visit me at mikeduron.com"
*************
On the other hand, it looks like I'll finish the first draft of my current WIP here in the next few days. I'm planning to publish it to Amazon (after a few revisions of course) on August the 1st of this year.
July 5, 2012
Behind my Reflection...
looking coyly sideways is the next work I want to get to after the short novel I plan to publish on August the 1st....
(I'm almost done with the first draft and plan to keep working on it like a Sade in a prison cell so I can have it ready for you by the first of next month.)
Keep an eye out for somebody from "Stories for Home" who walks on stage for a few scenes in the new work to come in August!
(I'm almost done with the first draft and plan to keep working on it like a Sade in a prison cell so I can have it ready for you by the first of next month.)
Keep an eye out for somebody from "Stories for Home" who walks on stage for a few scenes in the new work to come in August!
July 3, 2012
4th of July Free Download!
Please take advantage of the free download of my e-book "Stories for Home" at the following link tomorrow:
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-ebook/d...
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-ebook/d...
June 30, 2012
What to Do!?
In October of 2004, I first started putting into words a story I had conceived a few years earlier. I've had several false starts over the years. I tried telling the story from the third person omniscient, discarded that, tried again from one particular character's pov, discarded that ... nothing seemed to work.
Finally, after all these years, the story is practically writing itself. Even when every day life's annoyances get in the way (get car fixed, go to day job, deal with this, deal with that) the story seems to find a way to get itself into words. I feel like I'm along for the ride on this one.
I'm up to 34,127 words and I have a feeling I'm about three fourths of the way to the end. The strange thing is, I don't feel in a rush to get to the end. I don't feel like it's a challenge I have to complete, or a deadline I have to meet. The way the story is unfolding, I know the end will come soon enough -- and I have a vague idea of what that ending will be -- but I'm not 'dying to get there' as so many people who write novels seem to be.
Nabokov once wrote that he just wants to get this one done and move on to the next one. Asimov said he worked in parallel so that if he didn't have anything for one story his day wouldn't be wasted with 'writer's block'. Instead, he just worked on something else. Henry Miller described something like a combination of those two. Every writer has his or her way of looking at it but I think Bruce Lee wrote something once that would fit well in describing the way this work is coming together.
I think it was in The Tao of Jeet Kun Do (and I'm going from memory here, so please forgive me Bruce Lee fans). He wrote, basically, that when he first started studying martial arts, a kick was just a kick, a punch was just a punch. Then, the more he studied the more he realized that a kick was so much more than just a kick, a punch so much more than just a punch! Finally, though, after mastering all he could, he realized -- a kick is just a kick, a punch is just a punch.
That's exactly how I feel. I know most of the tricks and dangers of writing fiction. I know to avoid the passive, &c. But now, I feel I'm "in the zone."
Going back to Nabokov (I love that guy) -- I remember him writing once that, when he writes, he basically follows his characters around with a pen and a pad.
That's exactly the way I feel right now. I'm exhausted and I want to go to bed, but the story keeps wanting to tell itself to me. What to do!? :)
Finally, after all these years, the story is practically writing itself. Even when every day life's annoyances get in the way (get car fixed, go to day job, deal with this, deal with that) the story seems to find a way to get itself into words. I feel like I'm along for the ride on this one.
I'm up to 34,127 words and I have a feeling I'm about three fourths of the way to the end. The strange thing is, I don't feel in a rush to get to the end. I don't feel like it's a challenge I have to complete, or a deadline I have to meet. The way the story is unfolding, I know the end will come soon enough -- and I have a vague idea of what that ending will be -- but I'm not 'dying to get there' as so many people who write novels seem to be.
Nabokov once wrote that he just wants to get this one done and move on to the next one. Asimov said he worked in parallel so that if he didn't have anything for one story his day wouldn't be wasted with 'writer's block'. Instead, he just worked on something else. Henry Miller described something like a combination of those two. Every writer has his or her way of looking at it but I think Bruce Lee wrote something once that would fit well in describing the way this work is coming together.
I think it was in The Tao of Jeet Kun Do (and I'm going from memory here, so please forgive me Bruce Lee fans). He wrote, basically, that when he first started studying martial arts, a kick was just a kick, a punch was just a punch. Then, the more he studied the more he realized that a kick was so much more than just a kick, a punch so much more than just a punch! Finally, though, after mastering all he could, he realized -- a kick is just a kick, a punch is just a punch.
That's exactly how I feel. I know most of the tricks and dangers of writing fiction. I know to avoid the passive, &c. But now, I feel I'm "in the zone."
Going back to Nabokov (I love that guy) -- I remember him writing once that, when he writes, he basically follows his characters around with a pen and a pad.
That's exactly the way I feel right now. I'm exhausted and I want to go to bed, but the story keeps wanting to tell itself to me. What to do!? :)
February 27, 2012
#AmWriting
Hashtag Am Writing ... and loving it.
This yarn is finally spinning itself. After seven years and four months from its initial conception, this baby is 17,933 words into its new form. Sure, I've thrown several false starts into the trash, sure, for years I wasn't sure from which side of the field I wanted to enter this game, but now, this first draft is a keeper -- and I no longer have to worry about what side of the field I'm coming in on, because this monster is pulling me onto the field. I'm not carrying it on and creating the players and scenarios.
The players and scenarios are creating themselves -- I'm just following behind like Nabokov famously wrote ... taking notes.
Since pinterest is one of the most popular sites on the web right now, and a lot of writers are using it to supplement and promote their books, I almost went ahead and created a page for this WIP, but I decided against it after reading some concerns some pretty savvy people have had regarding the site's TOS -- and how the place can potentially rob you blind or get you sued.
So, for now, no pinterest for this WIP, but I do like the idea of a site to supplement the work. The main problem I see though is that the web is so dynamic that sites (and especially pages within sites) come and go so quickly that most of the pages I had bookmarked in October of 2004 (when I first conceived this work) have vanished. I was smart enough at the time to save the pages as offline files but even those files aren't easy to read with current browsers!
If I create something on mikeduron.com, it'll be self-contained and not linking to any external sites unless I absolutely have to do so. I'll see what happens with that, but, right now, I'm just very happy this story is coming along so nicely.
This yarn is finally spinning itself. After seven years and four months from its initial conception, this baby is 17,933 words into its new form. Sure, I've thrown several false starts into the trash, sure, for years I wasn't sure from which side of the field I wanted to enter this game, but now, this first draft is a keeper -- and I no longer have to worry about what side of the field I'm coming in on, because this monster is pulling me onto the field. I'm not carrying it on and creating the players and scenarios.
The players and scenarios are creating themselves -- I'm just following behind like Nabokov famously wrote ... taking notes.
Since pinterest is one of the most popular sites on the web right now, and a lot of writers are using it to supplement and promote their books, I almost went ahead and created a page for this WIP, but I decided against it after reading some concerns some pretty savvy people have had regarding the site's TOS -- and how the place can potentially rob you blind or get you sued.
So, for now, no pinterest for this WIP, but I do like the idea of a site to supplement the work. The main problem I see though is that the web is so dynamic that sites (and especially pages within sites) come and go so quickly that most of the pages I had bookmarked in October of 2004 (when I first conceived this work) have vanished. I was smart enough at the time to save the pages as offline files but even those files aren't easy to read with current browsers!
If I create something on mikeduron.com, it'll be self-contained and not linking to any external sites unless I absolutely have to do so. I'll see what happens with that, but, right now, I'm just very happy this story is coming along so nicely.
September 10, 2011
Doing the Underground Timewarp ... Again
There are some masterworks of literature I find myself moving through at such a slow pace that time seems to melt away for me in a way I can only ever experience otherwise when I am ~creating~ -- whether the medium be poetry or paint or fiction. Dostoyevsky's NftU is that rare sort of fiction that, were it a dessert -- say a rich chocolate/pudding/moist,warm cake sort of thing -- I could spend days, weeks, MONTHS on! It's like that perfect, peatty, warming, haunting single-malt scotch at the perfect moment ... on that perfect evening.
How many times have I read and re-read the transition between chapters five and six of the second part? I don't know -- and I really don't care; I flip back and forth like a kid watching a DVRd magic show. And this writing, I'm convinced, ~is~ magical. Well, at least it will be until I pull out the dissection tools of the ruthless critic and take this butterfly apart ... joint by joint.
September 6, 2011
Reading Notes: Notes from the UndergroundWhile reading th...
Reading Notes: Notes from the Underground
While reading through this phenomenal work by Dostoyevsky for the very first time, I'm amazed by the similarity to other (later, contemporary, and much later) works I've read. First and foremost is the similarity to the narrator's voice in Henry Miller's Tropics books -- and even Black Spring. Where once I thought Miller fresh, bold, hysterical and profound -- many things, but mostly original -- I now see that while he was one hell of a writer, he was not as original as I first thought. It's sort of like when I first noticed the similarity between Cubism and the art of the Ancient Egyptians -- where objects seen from different perspectives are depicted on the same plane. Where, before having learned of this similarity, I thought Picasso brilliant -- impossibly original -- I now think of him as a gifted genius but not as original as I first thought.
There is in Dostoyevsky's NftU a quality that seems so far ahead of its time that it gives me the chills at times. For instance, the section in Part 2 -- A Propos of the Wet Snow, Chapter 1, where he describes that long, ridiculous one-sided feud with the unnamed officer he works so hard to challenge at the Nevsky -- the same officer he feels he could have educated, improved, had the officer but given him the respect he deserved! This is Humbert Humbert speaking here! Who could fail to recognize Humbert in those lines -- also the echo of Charles Kinbote from Pale Fire!
Maybe the impression that his work is so far ahead of its time is created by the sheer fact that Dostoyevsky influenced so many of the great writers who came after him. And Dostoyevsky is not immune to such influence either. I can clearly discern the voice of some of Edgar Alan Poe's narrators in later parts of NftU. Sure enough, looking at publication and birth/death dates reveals an obvious overlap where it is possible -- though how probable I don't know -- that Dostoyevsky could have read Poe's work. This is something I suspect but not something I've had the pleasure of researching yet. I wonder if there is any literature out there on the influence Poe had on Dostoyevsky?
At any rate -- this I would include right up there with Don Quixote, War and Peace, Moby Dick, and The Old Man and the Sea, Lolita, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and those few others as one of the greatest of all novels ever written.
Funny thing about this Part 2 of the story though. If you read (as so many tend to do these days) about this book rather than read it, you'll wonder even several chapters into the second part what ever happened to the prostitute everyone comments so much about. Interesting how everyone who has a lecture on youtube or a paper published online seems to neglect the wonderful anecdotes shared in the first two or three chapters of the second part of NftU....
While reading through this phenomenal work by Dostoyevsky for the very first time, I'm amazed by the similarity to other (later, contemporary, and much later) works I've read. First and foremost is the similarity to the narrator's voice in Henry Miller's Tropics books -- and even Black Spring. Where once I thought Miller fresh, bold, hysterical and profound -- many things, but mostly original -- I now see that while he was one hell of a writer, he was not as original as I first thought. It's sort of like when I first noticed the similarity between Cubism and the art of the Ancient Egyptians -- where objects seen from different perspectives are depicted on the same plane. Where, before having learned of this similarity, I thought Picasso brilliant -- impossibly original -- I now think of him as a gifted genius but not as original as I first thought.
There is in Dostoyevsky's NftU a quality that seems so far ahead of its time that it gives me the chills at times. For instance, the section in Part 2 -- A Propos of the Wet Snow, Chapter 1, where he describes that long, ridiculous one-sided feud with the unnamed officer he works so hard to challenge at the Nevsky -- the same officer he feels he could have educated, improved, had the officer but given him the respect he deserved! This is Humbert Humbert speaking here! Who could fail to recognize Humbert in those lines -- also the echo of Charles Kinbote from Pale Fire!
Maybe the impression that his work is so far ahead of its time is created by the sheer fact that Dostoyevsky influenced so many of the great writers who came after him. And Dostoyevsky is not immune to such influence either. I can clearly discern the voice of some of Edgar Alan Poe's narrators in later parts of NftU. Sure enough, looking at publication and birth/death dates reveals an obvious overlap where it is possible -- though how probable I don't know -- that Dostoyevsky could have read Poe's work. This is something I suspect but not something I've had the pleasure of researching yet. I wonder if there is any literature out there on the influence Poe had on Dostoyevsky?
At any rate -- this I would include right up there with Don Quixote, War and Peace, Moby Dick, and The Old Man and the Sea, Lolita, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and those few others as one of the greatest of all novels ever written.
Funny thing about this Part 2 of the story though. If you read (as so many tend to do these days) about this book rather than read it, you'll wonder even several chapters into the second part what ever happened to the prostitute everyone comments so much about. Interesting how everyone who has a lecture on youtube or a paper published online seems to neglect the wonderful anecdotes shared in the first two or three chapters of the second part of NftU....
