On October 27th, 2016, I give you this:
__
The ones who would do harm are Few.
The ones who are good, who understand the value of life, are Many. Make no mistake in this.
It matters not whether the Many smile, or say nice things, or even agree. None of that is necessary in order to be "good". The Many value life and will not take it. Your fellow man is far, far more likely to be one of the good. One of the Many. Your neighbor, no matter any disagreements, is very likely one of the good. This is true.
It is also true the Few are among us. They have in them the ability to inspire fear. As a reaction to that fear an effort may be made to render all less dangerous.
Do not allow this.
The surest way to empower the Few is to weaken the Many. To take the teeth from all, in the hopes those hidden Few will also become toothless. They will not. For if you seek to weaken all, the Few, as valueless, as morally devoid as they are, will find a way to retain their danger. Only the Many will suffer.
Instead do this. Make the Many MORE dangerous. Make the Many as a lion. As dangerous as they possibly can be, such that their teeth and their claws cannot be mistaken. The Few, then, their numbers so much smaller, will be as nothing against the Many.
And so make ALL dangerous. Encourage it. Let ALL be as strong as they possibly can be, and the world will be safe. Be yourself a dangerous force. When the Many are in their power the Few will be as nothing before them. Fully dangerous, fully as strong as they can be, unencumbered by any effort to weaken, the Many are unstoppable.
Fear, then, will belong to the Few.
- Anon
__
#TeamStarAngel
TeamStarAngel.com
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Saturday, August 13, 2016
A Companion
The universe is a vast place. Not to sound too “Carl Sagan-y”, but it’s true. To imagine any significance to the human-scale events we call epic is really missing the big picture. In Galaxy number 87,314,013,708 of the 100,000,000,000 out there (in the visible universe – in what may be just one of an infinite number of universes) a super-massive star has just gone supernova in such a way that the complete annihilation of life on a dozen habited planets is all but guaranteed. Those people are way more screwed than we’ll ever be. Our drama is nothing compared to theirs. Moreover, in that same galaxy thousands of other worlds won’t be killed but certainly have troubles of their own. Catastrophe, of the sort we like to tell stories about, is, truly, everywhere. Much of it worse than we’ll ever see.
It’s a bit arrogant, then, for us to get all serious about our issues, or to make our fiction out to be more epic than it really is. “It’s the end of the world!”
Hardly.
However, being dramatic with full understanding and appreciation of our place in the cosmos can also be fun. We can laugh, and we can cry – and we should, for life is precious, on every scale – and this is an epic existence we play at. No matter its perspective it’s ours. Kind of like throwing yourself into a football game and being in the moment, painted face and all, even though it means nothing on a global scale and there are far more important things to be done. We can, nevertheless, for those three hours, make that game the center of our universe.
And so we can with Star Angel.
The story only gets larger in scale as it goes, more fantastic, and there’s more yet to come, and to that end we've created a Companion that lays the groundwork for all books existing and those yet to be, and though much of the stuff in the Companion never makes it directly into the story it’s important, very important, world-building for the story’s overall foundation.
It’s also cool to have little tidbits of info to fill in the gaps.
Lord of the Rings had The Silmarillion. The Companion for Star Angel is nothing on that level. But it does give a few little hooks on which to hang our hat, and brings with it a bit more understanding of the events in the saga.
Get your copy of the Star Angel Companion here:
Team Star Angel
#TeamStarAngel
It’s a bit arrogant, then, for us to get all serious about our issues, or to make our fiction out to be more epic than it really is. “It’s the end of the world!”
Hardly.
However, being dramatic with full understanding and appreciation of our place in the cosmos can also be fun. We can laugh, and we can cry – and we should, for life is precious, on every scale – and this is an epic existence we play at. No matter its perspective it’s ours. Kind of like throwing yourself into a football game and being in the moment, painted face and all, even though it means nothing on a global scale and there are far more important things to be done. We can, nevertheless, for those three hours, make that game the center of our universe.
And so we can with Star Angel.
The story only gets larger in scale as it goes, more fantastic, and there’s more yet to come, and to that end we've created a Companion that lays the groundwork for all books existing and those yet to be, and though much of the stuff in the Companion never makes it directly into the story it’s important, very important, world-building for the story’s overall foundation.
It’s also cool to have little tidbits of info to fill in the gaps.
Lord of the Rings had The Silmarillion. The Companion for Star Angel is nothing on that level. But it does give a few little hooks on which to hang our hat, and brings with it a bit more understanding of the events in the saga.
Get your copy of the Star Angel Companion here:
Team Star Angel
#TeamStarAngel
Monday, July 18, 2016
Author Interview
I just had an interview with book review site Serious Reading. You can check it out here:
DGM Interview with Serious Reading
:-)
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
DGM Interview with Serious Reading
:-)
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
Monday, June 27, 2016
The Decision
If 90% of life is showing up, and 90% of getting anything done is mental, attitude, whatever, that means only 1% of accomplishing anything comes down to a real, physical world challenge. The other 99% is, in essence, a decision. Make the decision. Follow through.
It couldn't be more simple.
Yet simplicity doesn't always mean success. Who's ever tried a diet? How much more simple could anything be?
Eat right.
That's all there is to a diet. Any diet. Yet, it's a multi-billion dollar industry of books, plans, supplements, meals, magazines, shows ...
Eat right. That's all there is to it. Simple, yet ... never has there been a better example of the disconnect between the simplicity of what should be and the reality of what is. This sort of disconnect is all too common in life.
But no matter the colossal worldwide energy that goes into dieting, a diet, like anything else, comes down to that same simplicity.
Make the decision. Follow through.
Just because I believe this completely doesn't mean I'm the best practitioner. However I offer it up for your consideration. Maybe you'll be better at it than I am. :-)
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
It couldn't be more simple.
Yet simplicity doesn't always mean success. Who's ever tried a diet? How much more simple could anything be?
Eat right.
That's all there is to a diet. Any diet. Yet, it's a multi-billion dollar industry of books, plans, supplements, meals, magazines, shows ...
Eat right. That's all there is to it. Simple, yet ... never has there been a better example of the disconnect between the simplicity of what should be and the reality of what is. This sort of disconnect is all too common in life.
But no matter the colossal worldwide energy that goes into dieting, a diet, like anything else, comes down to that same simplicity.
Make the decision. Follow through.
Just because I believe this completely doesn't mean I'm the best practitioner. However I offer it up for your consideration. Maybe you'll be better at it than I am. :-)
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Secrets of Writing
Over the years I've learned two important things:
- Just do it
- Train of thought is king
Okay. I'm sure I've learned more than those two things, but they definitely stand out above the rest. :-)
Just do it probably applies to everything in life. It was, I think, one of the best marketing slogans of all time when Nike came out with it. That concept has been with us throughout time. It implies making a decision to take action, and also implies that you probably had something in mind leading up to that, more likely than not a very well formed idea, and that you're hesitating. Just do it. Exercise. Take the next step. Form that business you've been planning.
Write.
Inspiration rarely strikes when you can act on it. Waiting for inspiration leads nowhere fast. You may have experienced this. I'm guessing you have. So ... what to do? If you can't wait for inspiration the thing to do, the only thing, really, is to create it. I've found this can actually be done. Inertia is a bitch and you first have to overcome that. However, if you "just do it", if you sit down and, as some writers have described it, stare at the screen (or paper or wall or whatever) until your eyes bleed ... inspiration will come. I've done this experiment. It works. If you, analytically and with full malice aforethought, sit down to do the thing you know you want to do, remove all distraction and just begin, inspiration will come. Sometimes it takes 10, 15, 20 minutes or more, but it will strike and you'll be off.
Which brings me to my second observation. Train of thought.
This is important, and can derail (badump bump) not only getting started, but making progress. Studies were done some time ago with programmers (programming, like writing, is a highly creative area that requires focus and train of thought), and it was found that it took anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to get into the zone where they were rolling and producing. A distraction in the middle of that and they had to kind of get back up to speed. This applies to writing as well.
If you're getting distracted or interrupted 4 times an hour you may sit there trying to write the entire time and get nothing done. That many little distractions may seem harmless enough, and might only take 4 minutes out of your 60 -- or even less -- but they throw you off your train of thought and, by the time you're getting up to speed again -- another distraction and there goes your hour.
Create the space you need. Distractions come from you as well. Sometimes even more than external. A few minutes in you decide you're getting nowhere and check your Facebook feed (I hope I'm not interrupting your inspiration right now), or think of some other little thing you need to get done ...
It can be insidious. Early on I learned how important it is to make that space and keep your train of thought at full steam once you have it.
I've said this before, but I believe everyone has (at least one good) story to tell, and probably a song to sing, a painting to paint ... Unlike music and painting and other forms of art, however, anyone can write. We can sit down and write our story. It's also easy as hell to share.
So I ask you. Are you writing yours?
#TeamStarAngel
TeamStarAngel.com
- Just do it
- Train of thought is king
Okay. I'm sure I've learned more than those two things, but they definitely stand out above the rest. :-)
Just do it probably applies to everything in life. It was, I think, one of the best marketing slogans of all time when Nike came out with it. That concept has been with us throughout time. It implies making a decision to take action, and also implies that you probably had something in mind leading up to that, more likely than not a very well formed idea, and that you're hesitating. Just do it. Exercise. Take the next step. Form that business you've been planning.
Write.
Inspiration rarely strikes when you can act on it. Waiting for inspiration leads nowhere fast. You may have experienced this. I'm guessing you have. So ... what to do? If you can't wait for inspiration the thing to do, the only thing, really, is to create it. I've found this can actually be done. Inertia is a bitch and you first have to overcome that. However, if you "just do it", if you sit down and, as some writers have described it, stare at the screen (or paper or wall or whatever) until your eyes bleed ... inspiration will come. I've done this experiment. It works. If you, analytically and with full malice aforethought, sit down to do the thing you know you want to do, remove all distraction and just begin, inspiration will come. Sometimes it takes 10, 15, 20 minutes or more, but it will strike and you'll be off.
Which brings me to my second observation. Train of thought.
This is important, and can derail (badump bump) not only getting started, but making progress. Studies were done some time ago with programmers (programming, like writing, is a highly creative area that requires focus and train of thought), and it was found that it took anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to get into the zone where they were rolling and producing. A distraction in the middle of that and they had to kind of get back up to speed. This applies to writing as well.
If you're getting distracted or interrupted 4 times an hour you may sit there trying to write the entire time and get nothing done. That many little distractions may seem harmless enough, and might only take 4 minutes out of your 60 -- or even less -- but they throw you off your train of thought and, by the time you're getting up to speed again -- another distraction and there goes your hour.
Create the space you need. Distractions come from you as well. Sometimes even more than external. A few minutes in you decide you're getting nowhere and check your Facebook feed (I hope I'm not interrupting your inspiration right now), or think of some other little thing you need to get done ...
It can be insidious. Early on I learned how important it is to make that space and keep your train of thought at full steam once you have it.
I've said this before, but I believe everyone has (at least one good) story to tell, and probably a song to sing, a painting to paint ... Unlike music and painting and other forms of art, however, anyone can write. We can sit down and write our story. It's also easy as hell to share.
So I ask you. Are you writing yours?
#TeamStarAngel
TeamStarAngel.com
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Marketing Yourself
Apologies if the title sounds more interesting than what I'm about to say. It sounds like you might come away with some new tip or an exciting idea for how to market, and I'm not sure that will be the case. I'm more wanting to take a moment to share what I've observed so far, to possibly engage a conversation and, in fact, to see what I can learn from those with more experience. There's no doubt I'll increase my own as I continue my personal journey. There's also little doubt I'll look back later and wonder how I ever made it when I knew so little. :-)
Let me start by saying the world is filled with creators. This is a good thing, and I think it's also only natural, as this has always been the case -- we're all artists and creators -- but it's only just now, at this moment in history, when it has become impossibly easy for every artist -- which is all of us -- to find an audience. In fact, it's become so easy we can now do it out of pure boredom. We almost can't NOT do it. We've all got access. Extreme access. We can make a little doodle and, potentially, share it with a billion people if they'll look. And if we've all got access, and we're all creators, who's the audience?
It's us, of course. We're sharing and consuming around the clock, and while there's still the big sensations, the Taylor Swifts of the world, the David G McDaniels (just checking if you're paying attention), there's also tons and tons of smaller groups, niche bands, poets, filmmakers, furniture designers and origami masters you'll never hear about ... yet they have a following and fans, and how do you find them and how do you, as an artist, get found among the sea of noise?
I wish I knew.
Marketing ourselves is a game we're all playing. How do others find you? How do you make it stick, and grow? There's no screening process like there was decades ago and everyone's clamoring. You can immediately get to anything and everything and it's all there and you've mostly got to sift through it to find what you want, and while you're doing that you're also putting your own stuff out there into the same process ...
For me it's been an eye opener. I suppose I knew, intuitively, how much action I'd be diving into, but part of me thought -- probably like everyone else thinks -- Oh, once I start ... of course people will notice. Fans will come and it will all unfold beautifully into everything I imagine.
I wonder if that's actually happened for anyone just getting started.
Maybe it has. Probably it must have. Just by the law of averages a few of us must hit it big right out of the gates. But for the rest, even the ones that go on to become hugely successful, there's work to be done. Lots of work. And my struggle has not been with the effort -- I'm more than willing to put in the time, and I do -- but where to actually focus that energy. I keep getting these Ah ha! moments where I think I've figured out the exact right thing ... only to discover it's a waste of time. Or has very low returns.
And so my quest continues. Part of me thinks it's a numbers game, and that may be true. Continue to network, I tell myself, continue to learn, continue to apply, continue to post (the sum total of the world's servers must be massive, truly, to hold all our crap), continue to persist (is that redundant?) and don't give up.
I'll close with that. For all you fellow artists out there, and by that I mean everyone, I believe this: We never fail. We only give up. We might quit, but I don't think we ever fail. This is just my opinion, but it kind of makes sense, right? How can you fail if you never give up?
#TeamStarAngel
Let me start by saying the world is filled with creators. This is a good thing, and I think it's also only natural, as this has always been the case -- we're all artists and creators -- but it's only just now, at this moment in history, when it has become impossibly easy for every artist -- which is all of us -- to find an audience. In fact, it's become so easy we can now do it out of pure boredom. We almost can't NOT do it. We've all got access. Extreme access. We can make a little doodle and, potentially, share it with a billion people if they'll look. And if we've all got access, and we're all creators, who's the audience?
It's us, of course. We're sharing and consuming around the clock, and while there's still the big sensations, the Taylor Swifts of the world, the David G McDaniels (just checking if you're paying attention), there's also tons and tons of smaller groups, niche bands, poets, filmmakers, furniture designers and origami masters you'll never hear about ... yet they have a following and fans, and how do you find them and how do you, as an artist, get found among the sea of noise?
I wish I knew.
Marketing ourselves is a game we're all playing. How do others find you? How do you make it stick, and grow? There's no screening process like there was decades ago and everyone's clamoring. You can immediately get to anything and everything and it's all there and you've mostly got to sift through it to find what you want, and while you're doing that you're also putting your own stuff out there into the same process ...
For me it's been an eye opener. I suppose I knew, intuitively, how much action I'd be diving into, but part of me thought -- probably like everyone else thinks -- Oh, once I start ... of course people will notice. Fans will come and it will all unfold beautifully into everything I imagine.
I wonder if that's actually happened for anyone just getting started.
Maybe it has. Probably it must have. Just by the law of averages a few of us must hit it big right out of the gates. But for the rest, even the ones that go on to become hugely successful, there's work to be done. Lots of work. And my struggle has not been with the effort -- I'm more than willing to put in the time, and I do -- but where to actually focus that energy. I keep getting these Ah ha! moments where I think I've figured out the exact right thing ... only to discover it's a waste of time. Or has very low returns.
And so my quest continues. Part of me thinks it's a numbers game, and that may be true. Continue to network, I tell myself, continue to learn, continue to apply, continue to post (the sum total of the world's servers must be massive, truly, to hold all our crap), continue to persist (is that redundant?) and don't give up.
I'll close with that. For all you fellow artists out there, and by that I mean everyone, I believe this: We never fail. We only give up. We might quit, but I don't think we ever fail. This is just my opinion, but it kind of makes sense, right? How can you fail if you never give up?
#TeamStarAngel
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Triumph & Tragedy
I prefer Triumph over Tragedy. Of course in life Triumph is more rewarding, and that seems like a no-brainer, though many of us do seek a little heartache and drama in our lives. As humans we seem to have a propensity for misery.
In storytelling, though, I prefer the uplifting to the tragic. As a writer Triumph is always the sort of stand-up-and-shout emotion I'm going for. Of course to get a good Triumph you need good Tragedy. Tragedy must lead to any Triumphant moment, or at least the best ones -- it's hard to triumph over nothing -- but I prefer the stories that have their fair share of incredible victories, overcoming the odds ... basically really big wins.
As for reality; in truth there's more positive in the world than negative. More good. Despite the merchants of chaos running the typical news hour, despite all the bad things made all the worse, all the more serious by the fact that they get the most alarming coverage, the evidence supports the fact that, mostly, we're good. We haven't killed each other yet. Wars, yes, terrible crimes against each other, of course, but over the millennia we've gotten better. The world has advanced. If the balance of our actions were destructive than we wouldn't be here today. Man -- the vast majority of us -- is good, and no cynic, no matter how clever, can change that.
It's the cycles, however, that make it interesting. On the whole mankind is not a Tragedy, but we've certainly had our dark times. We likely will again. Like ice ages we go through cultural shifts, and the Romans exist no more and the Thousand Year Reich never made it and someone new is in charge and so on and so on.
And so a good story, in my opinion, has both, but it has no shortage of Triumph. And, of course, nothing beats that for an ending.
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
In storytelling, though, I prefer the uplifting to the tragic. As a writer Triumph is always the sort of stand-up-and-shout emotion I'm going for. Of course to get a good Triumph you need good Tragedy. Tragedy must lead to any Triumphant moment, or at least the best ones -- it's hard to triumph over nothing -- but I prefer the stories that have their fair share of incredible victories, overcoming the odds ... basically really big wins.
As for reality; in truth there's more positive in the world than negative. More good. Despite the merchants of chaos running the typical news hour, despite all the bad things made all the worse, all the more serious by the fact that they get the most alarming coverage, the evidence supports the fact that, mostly, we're good. We haven't killed each other yet. Wars, yes, terrible crimes against each other, of course, but over the millennia we've gotten better. The world has advanced. If the balance of our actions were destructive than we wouldn't be here today. Man -- the vast majority of us -- is good, and no cynic, no matter how clever, can change that.
It's the cycles, however, that make it interesting. On the whole mankind is not a Tragedy, but we've certainly had our dark times. We likely will again. Like ice ages we go through cultural shifts, and the Romans exist no more and the Thousand Year Reich never made it and someone new is in charge and so on and so on.
And so a good story, in my opinion, has both, but it has no shortage of Triumph. And, of course, nothing beats that for an ending.
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
TeamStarAngel.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)