Day 3 – The Straightness of our Rows

So, last night I hinted about talking somewhat about the quality of, nature of, need for… work.

I grew up on a potato farm in Idaho, and the one thing my dad tried (to varying degrees of success) to drill into my head was the need for work. That work could be its own reward. That productive labor was good for you in both mind, body and soul. And as I was listening to one of my favorite shows today, I heard him talking about farming and straight rows. It reminded me of my Dad.

To paraphrase the conversation I heard, this particular person was talking about how he had recently bought a farm and was cutting alfalfa. And how as he would drive around with his wife when they were out on the farm, he would stop every now and then and just look down another farmer’s field.

“Look at this guy’s rows,” he would say. “They’re so straight. You can tell this guy is a real artist.” Which isn’t usually the term you use for farmers, but it was appropriate in the context.

My dad, back in the day as I was working on the farm and riding the tractor, told me the secret of making straight rows. “Don’t look down,” he said. “I mean, look down a little to double check every now and then. But if you want straight rows, you look ahead to the end of the field. Pick a point over there and drive to it. And your rows will be straight.” Now, unfortunately at least once I did drag a cultivator over one of the irrigation spigots. Which he had told me to look out for. About ten minutes or less before I ran it over. (That ride home was a little awkward, let me tell you.) But that’s the secret to a straight farming row. And it’s probably the secret to a straight course in a lot of other areas in our lives as well.

In life, it’s easy – REALLY easy – to be bogged down in the immediate. In the here and now. In the mundane. In the thing that’s going under your wheels right this very second. That’s understandable. And you need to be aware of where your tires are. But if you really want to succeed in your goals, they need to be the fixed points in your life that you’re driving towards. You take them seriously, you put in the necessary effort, and you just… drive to them.

That doesn’t necessarily take into account a lot of stuff. Setting a goal of writing a book, or a play, or a piece of music isn’t necessarily the same thing as getting in a tractor and driving across a field. Stuff happens. Life happens. Distractions happen. Troubles happen. But the principle – set a fixed point and go to it – is one that I’m seeing the wisdom of more and more. It’s been easily twenty years since I’ve been on a tractor. It would take me some time to get the hang of it again. But I do see the wisdom of those things I learned there from my Dad.

Now, this person I was listening to then went on to lament that he hadn’t spent more time with his grandfather learning on the farm. Which made me think of my own grandpa. Grandpa Ricks was a tough ol’ hombre. Knew his business. But I knew exactly why I didn’t spend more time with him. Because he was constantly yelling at us “D#$@ KIDS! GET OFF OF THERE! WATCH WHAT YOU’RE DOING! YA D#$@ KIDS!” I giggle about it now.

Quick aside. From my father, I learned the Ricks Family Rules for cursing. You’re allowed to use two words. The D-word and the H-word. And you are allowed to use them in two contexts – dealing with farm machinery, and dealing with critters. So I guess we kids counted as critters. It’s accurate enough. I know I used those terms liberally moving pipe. My daughter doesn’t have much opportunity to curse out farm machinery living where we do. But I suppose she has plenty of experience with critters.

Meanwhile, without further ado, here is the new cover for Crown of Exiles Book 1: Battlehymn.

LASER GUITAR STRINGS!

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty awesome. The artist, Madeleine Fisher, did a fantastic job and I couldn’t be happier with it.

One note in particular, if you look at the shoulder of that ‘mech, and you see the japanese writing on it, the writing actually says “Kami” for the Kami cohort. It’s little things like that which make my geeky little heart go pitter-pat.

I may have mentioned it yesterday, but it’s on sale right now for 1.99 at Amazon and BN.com – ebook only. It’s part of what I and some other authors are calling a Human Wave Garage Sale (there’ll be a new post up tomorrow early letting you know who else is involved and what the books are).

But what do we mean by Human Wave?

Sarah A Hoyt outlined ten points in this post, but I need about a hundred more words, so I’m going to outline them below.

Human Wave is meant to be entertaining. If it’s not as compelling as you can make it, you’re doing it wrong.
Human Wave is not anti-human being. You know that bit in The Matrix, where Agent Smith is telling Morpheus about human beings and how they’re a virus? Too often in science fiction, I get the feeling that the author is trying to say that about human beings. All human beings. You can’t do that and write Human Wave.


Just as Human Wave is not anti-human being, it is also not anti-male, anti-female, anti-skin-color-of-your-choice, etc. It’s fiction. Not agitprop.
It’s not all about the message. You can have a message (and you will, it’s inevitable), but the message is secondary to writing entertaining fiction. See rule #1.
Clear choices. Heroes and villains. Stakes. Conflict. These are necessary to entertaining, compelling fiction. Again, see rule #1.
A positive feeling to the story unless absolutely necessary. Not utopian, not dystopian, but… hopeful. Even if that hope doesn’t pan out at the end, let your character have a goal that they’re working for and believe in.
Understandable language. Human wave is accessible.
You’re allowed to counter “current scientific understanding.” Make it plausible, give an explanation, then go for it.
Don’t be boring. Again, see #1.
(more meta) Don’t whine about how your boring is better than someone else’s boring. Shut up and write. (Plant your rows.)

So, a bunch of authors have put their heads together and effective for at least 24 hours and potentially for a few days, a number of works are being presented that at least take a good swipe at meeting those goals.

Why not read something fun?

I have set a goal of blogging at least 1000 words a day for 40 consecutive days. This is day three. I will see you here again tomorrow. Possibly to discuss political correctness, or possibly to discuss wuxia stories. Because I didn’t get to the  Shaolin vs. Lama thing today. Kumite Mage. As soon as I’m done with Lamentation. OR while I’m getting Lamentation going again. Maybe I need to talk about time management.