Ron Scheer's Blog

pictures

My family just had some photos taken. Now first of all the photographer did a great job. She made my family look great with an awesome fall backdrop, and probably most impressive of all, she made me look good. Having said that, It makes me think how similar a good photographer and a good editor are. Both are going to make you look better than you truly are. Not that its a bad thing. I mean seriously, everyone wants to present to the world the best of who they are. Whether that be by having someone tighten up their writing, or photoshop out an unsightly blemish. As storytellers it's our job to capture the reader with setting, characters, and an intriguing storyline. The photographer does the same thing with her camera that I do with a keyboard. But whether it's a picture or a story, it's all in the details and that's where the editing comes in. Every magazine out there, has photos that are altered (photoshopped) for good reason. Perfection sells, or to keep it real, the illusion of perfection. (unless they're intentionally going for imperfection) Regardless, this same perfection is what makes an editor so essential to a great book. Editors make Manuscripts better, it's a fact and no matter how many books an author writes the work will always look better after an editor gets their hands on it.

"good enough" isn't

For those of you who don't know, I'm a carpet installer by day, writer by night. The other day I had a customer really impressed with me because I didn't settle for "good enough." It wasn't really that big of deal, There was one spot in the carpet that I didn't get tucked in under the wall trim quite as well as I should have. I didn't notice this minor imperfection until I started vacuuming, (which is one of the reasons I always vacuum--it lets me catch little slips like that.) Anyway I had to go back out to the truck to get a tool I'd already put away to fix this small mistake. The home owner said, "oh don't bother, I've got a dresser that goes there and no one will ever see it. It's good enough." That lady gave me every excuse to pack up my tools and call the job done. I couldn't do it. I drive by that house all the time, I don't want to look at it and know that I could have done it better. That one more minute's work would save me several hours of sleepless nights. (ok that might be a bit of an exaggeration, I might have lost a little sleep over it, but probably not several hours.) The point is, If you're not going to do the best job that you can, how can you expect to be happy with your work?

Tolerance

I had an interesting discussion with one of my children's upcoming school teachers. It had to do with grading handwriting, and whether or not a spelling word that had a letter incorrectly formed should be marked as wrong. I'm not going to get into our separate opinions, but rather the fact that as two intelligent people we listened to each other. We tolerated the other's opinion even if we disagreed with it.

Why is this such a hard thing to do? Whether it's politics, religion, coworkers or simply a parent and a teacher trying to understand each other, it seems that no one is willing to tolerate an opinion contrary to their own.

Different opinions are what makes the world interesting, but it's also what starts wars. How many different Christian religions are there around the world? All of them believe basically the same thing, but each seems to think that they're MORE right than the next.

There's another aspect of Tolerance that doesn't get talked about much. Why is it that those who demand tolerance don't practice it. I've seen far to many groups and organizations that demand equal treatment, yet ostracize those that dissent.

In the end what I want to say is this. I'm a person, I have opinions, I'll listen to yours, but just because I listened doesn't mean you changed my mind.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Just got back from my first ever book presentation/signing. Even though my novel is only published as an e-book it was still so fun presenting the book to everyone. I loved answering the questions people asked. From who did the cover (Carolina Bensler) to what my plans are going forward. (write a sequel) I opened the event with these words: "This is my first presentation, so I'm just a little nervous. They told me to just imagine everyone in their underwear, but I know way too many of you for that." It got a big laugh and sort of broke the ice for everyone. Can't wait to do it again next month in Lincoln.

excited

Tomorrow is my first ever book signing and presentation. I'm a little nervous. It's at the local library, so I don't except to have a whole ton of people. I think my folks are coming and maybe some of my other relatives so I'll have to make sure to keep the jokes clean. Actually I've got a pretty good idea as to what I'm going to talk about, mostly the history of THE FORAGER and how my writing classes influenced the book.
I like standing up in front of people so that part won't be a problem. I'm just a little worried that no one (other than family) will show. I guess if that's the case then at least i'll have my family there to support me.
next month I've got a bigger signing scheduled at a Barnes and Noble. That's a dream come true for me. I can't count how many times I've walked into that store dreaming of being the featured author. Now I get to.
Everyone keeps asking me the same question: How do you sign and an e-book?
I've got postcard sized prints of the cover that i'll be signing and handing out to whoever wants one. I'm not even going to require that you buy a book to get one! But you do have to be present! That signing is on the 20th of August at 6:00 p.m. at south pointe pavilions barnes and noble, Lincoln NE

whine and moan.

Have you ever noticed that the phrase, "I'm not the type to complain," is never followed with "so I won't." Not only that, but from my observations the people who tend to use that phrase ARE the one that complain the loudest.
Hey, everyone, at some point, gets a hair in their food, or gets their toe stepped on in an elevator. If you want to complain, make sure its something worth complaining about. Like "I can't figure out what I'm going to wear today, my house burned down last night." That's a legitimate complaint. Not, "I've got a closet full of choices but I just can't find anything to wear."

CLOSED

Ron's ramblings.


This happened a while back in my town, but the humor of it still makes me chuckle.

The city closed a downtown street to completely renovate it. When the project was complete and the street finished. they had a grand opening of their new street. The band played, the mayor spoke, hot dogs were served, and popcorn popped all on this brand new road that was CLOSED FOR ITS GRAND OPENING!

think about it

Look, I'm just an average guy, but like all people, I've got opinions. I hate having my freedoms taken away from me simply because one of my fellow Americans wasn't smart enough to use some common sense. Did anyone see the article a few weeks ago about the boy that was injured when the bounce house blew into the air in high winds. It seems now there is a small group of people who think it'd be a good idea to put regulations on bounce houses. Give me a break. Every time we let someone take a freedom away from us, no matter how small, or how trivial, we will NEVER get that freedom back. Be very careful, therefore, on the bills and laws you support.