WritingMadeHard

There are many things in life (my life) that make writing hard for me. Grandkids, kids, the wife, circumstances, arthritis, TV, movies (especially good movies and good TV--I watch when I should write) The same goes for books, especially good books, I read when I should be writing. Last night I went to see Casino Royal, the new James Bond movie instead of writing. It was a terrific movie, the best Bond since Sean Connery quit doing it. It seems that since Connery, everyone has tried not be be like him. Especially Roger Moore and since Roger Moore, every one has tired to be like Roger Moore. The new Bond is very like Connery in character and approach. It was a real pleasure to see something finally done right. Casino Royale was made into a movie once before--a comedy with Woody Allen and David Niven. It was a disaster. This one was really good.

People who remake moves all seem to be making the same disastrous mistake. Perhaps it is a result of the times we live in, but it seems the writers and editors who remake such films as House of Wax and War of The Worlds, take a movie that we love because we love the characters in them. They update the story which seems to translate into change the characters into people we don't like and therefore don't care if they survive or not. This takes all the fun and tension out of the story and all that is left is the central theme...will these characters survive strange events, only the audience doesn't care...sometimes they even hope the characters don't survive. Then the producers wonder why a movie that was loved the first time around is shunned the second time around. Go figure. I believe the first task of a good writer is the make the characters into people the reader cares about--either loves or hates. Then put them into a good story with tension where the reader can root for the characters. Til next time. Steve

Writing is hardest during the Holidays. It is made hard by the fact that everyone around you thinks that because you don't have a "real" job, you can work whenever you want to, translation: whenever they let you. They always have something that you simply must do right now, so you can't waste time writing. So I'm basically off-line until after new years' day. I'm babysitting for my grandchildren, performing chores for my wife, entertaining my son, and doing some Christmas shopping. To top things off, I've been having a lot of inflammation and pain lately. Hopefully that will change when the weather does. I had a new hottub installed today at my physician's suggestion, that should make life more pleasant, but will also take time away from writing. The real pill is that when the installers connected the hottub to my electricity, they disconnected all of my living room outlets and lighting from the electricity. So I will have to get that fixed. More things to do instead of writing.

However, since I've last written here, I had successful microwave radiation of my prostate with few ill effects, and I've been talked into getting a new computer by my son. I'll be getting a Toshiba with a dual core processor and a meg of ram. I don't really need it as I have a resonably new Mac Ibook but perhaps it'll help me wade through the internet more quickly. It is a chore with a 56k connection. Where I live, there is no cable or dsl. I tried a connection via my cell phone and it was faster but very expensive. I do a lot of research on the internet and when I write with a collaborator who lives in Canada and we work together via the internet it is essential to have a fast as possible service.

I constantly worry about losing several hundred pages of a book I'm working on. What if the electricity goes off while I'm saving to the hard drive? What if my house burns down and takes all copies of the work with it. Not so much a problem when there is a copy in Canada, but when I'm not collaborating, it is a constant worry. I have copies in two computers, three hard drives, and two flash drives, but they are all in my house. Since I have a hotmail account, I think I will start emailing copies of my work to myself at my hotmail address so there will be a copy of the book somewhere else if my house is blown away by a tornado, washed away in a flood, flattened by an earthquake, or destroyed by fire. Also, I will be able to quit worrying about computer crashes taking all my work, because I'll be able to access it from anywhere, even the library if it has a computer.

I was disheartened to learn that many school kids today are being taught that Thanksgiving Day started as a way for the Pilgrims to thank the Indiands for helping them get through the first winter. Actually, most of know that it was really a day of giving thanks to the Lord for getting them through the winter. They had more food than they could use, so the invited the indians to join them. Another thing todays children are being taught in many school situations is that the Pilgrams took (stole) everything from the Indians. Actually, the Indians had no concept of private property. They constantly took things that belonged to the Pilgrams and couldn't understand why this upset the Pilgrams. Anyway, HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY to all in the USA and elsewhere that Thanksgiving is celebrated. I know that Canada has a Thanksgiving Day Celebration but on a different date from the USA. I say, whenever you celebrate it, HAPPY THANKSGIVING and many more. STeve