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08.20.2008
19 Aug 2008
“In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.” James Madison.
Was just reading a review of a book on writing in the NY Times Book Review. The book is “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. The book got a not-so-good review, but it is interesting that the author compares writing to long distance running. Back in days of yore I ran marathons, including New York and Boston. He says the talents most needed by a writer, as a runner, are: talent, focus and endurance.
I never heard of this author, but apparently he is critically well-received, albeit this book wasn’t, by the NY Times at least, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I am sometimes amazed at writers’ conferences to see what I call ‘Writing Gurus’. These are people who have written a book about writing that’s considered a classic and then go around giving keynotes about writing, yet when you check their publishing credentials, there’s, well, a book about writing. I saw one of these gurus in Maui speak one year and kept waiting for her to kick her speech into gear and say something worthwhile. I waited for 45 minutes and then the speech is over. She is still in demand at writers’ conference as an expert.
I’m writing about this simply because I have the NY Times Review here and was reading it. Not anything important—oh, and Writers Digest is remaindering the trade paperback on The Novel Writers Toolkit which means it’s going out of print, which means I have to hit them up for the rights. It’s on my ‘to-do’ list. And it’s the blog special this week in hardcover because once these are gone, they will be gone.
I really enjoy watching Bill Moyers. He had an interview the other night with a man named Andrew Bacevich that was engrossing. I found myself relating a lot to what Bacevich had to say about the military, the administration and the war. Bacevich is also a West Pointer (’69), thinks the Gulf War a major cluster-%&$#, and had a son die last year. His son was a First Lieutenant in 3rd Battalion, 8th Cav, the 1st Cavalry Division, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. I was in 1/12th Cav when I was in the 1st Cav Division a long time ago.
When I was first in the Army, we were rebuilding after Vietnam. I never thought we’d get in another war like Vietnam, given the lessons learned. Bacevich was in Vietnam and the First Gulf War and I could tell he couldn’t believe it either.
Watching GENERATION KILL on HBO is fascinating also. Very realistic. I’m not sure someone who isn’t former military can really follow it. I find myself having to constantly explain what’s going on. But the characters and the scenarios ring very true.
On other fronts, THE JEFFERSON ALLEGIANCE is done, except for one last run through of the print out with red pen. I ended up writing 10,000 words in about two days over the weekend, redoing the historical vignettes that are spread throughout the book, but they are kick-ass. I do a scene each with:
Jefferson-Adams
Jefferson versus Hamilton
Polk versus JQ Adams
Lincoln versus Grant
Teddy Roosevelt versus his daughter Alice
Franklin Roosevelt versus General George Marshall
Kennedy versus Hoover then
Kennedy with Mary Meyer (if you don’t know who she is, well, look her up—ended up with a bullet in her brain less than a year after Kennedy’s assassination)
And finally Nixon versus, well, can’t give that away.
Argh—well it was done. Then I was going through my final read last night and noticed I went too long in my thriller without an action scene. So I need to write a short action scene. Kill a Supreme Court Judge, I think. You know. The usual. So that’s on tap for today. It never ends.
Yes, I know Jenny is blogging about WILD RIDE and I’m way behind. But once Jefferson is out of here—this week—I’ll be all over Wild Ride and we’ll be kicking ass. I might have to take one day off though as I’m pretty fried.
I’ve been so wrapped in Jefferson for so long, it’s hard to shift gears, especially as Wild Ride is such a different style and type of book; but, the good news is, once Jefferson is in, there’s nothing else on my plate except that and rewriting Who Dares—and that’s due 15 September.
So the blog special is The Novel Writers Toolkit in hardcover, along with the Writers Digest Writers Kit, which I contributed the 70 Common Mistakes Writers Make, combined a $50 value for $20 plus S&H. Get ‘em while they’re hot.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am
The Jefferson Allegiance sounds more and more fascinating. When it’s published, you should have an evening beach party, with campfire, toasted marshmallows, and read your favorite passage(s)!! A full moon and the crashing surf in the background!!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
TR and Alice? You already had my interest, but you just kicked it up another notch.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Writing, I should think, is a lot like playing a piano: anyone can learn what keys to hit when, but that won’t get you into Carnegie Hall.
Bob, your scenes sound very intrigueing. Are you going to put up an excerpt or two to tease us with? Please? You could test run the new scene.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I am so going to be first in line to get this book when it comes out. Thriller and history together. It sounds fascinating. When does it come out?!
August 20th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
“Kill a Supreme Court Judge, I think.”
Well there are only 9 of them, Bob, and I would appreciate it if you could at least wait until the next administration is in to knock one of them off.
How about a nice mid-level bureaucrat, instead? Easily replaced.
“…thinks the Gulf War a major cluster-%&$#”
I never thought we’d get in another war like Vietnam, given the lessons learned.
I read “Hunting Al Queda” this summer (fascinating, BTW) and found the soldier’s perspective interesting, especially since right around the same time I read this quote by Ken Burns:
“If you could get somebody from the Peloponnesian War to Iraq and bring them back, they would say, ‘Yes, this is true: I was scared, I was bored, I was hot, I was cold, my officers didn’t know what they were doing, they didn’t give me the right supplies, I saw bad things, I did bad things, I lost good friends.’ That is war.”
What else you got in that storage unit? Dig deep, I’ve already gotten that stuff on bobBay.
August 20th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Ooh! The Writer’s Toolkit in hardcover.
Can I get inscribed?
To Mary, whose grace, beauty and charm exceeds McB’s and BCB’s g,b, and c, as doth the sun outshine the moon
Oh well. It was just an idea.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:24 am
Yeah, the writing gurus. Lots of them out there. I suppose it’s like anything in life though, we should always consider the source when listening to information. Anyone can give the lecture but I want the teacher who has put in the hours and can walk the talk.
Glad to see you made it out of campire with only your eyebrows missing. Hey, here’s a suggestion for your day off, visit an amusement park or go and see a Tarot reader. It’ll put you in the mood for Wild Ride.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:30 am
Merry, dear, you’re getting your genres confused. The Writer’s Toolkit is one of Bob’s NON-fiction works.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Always google self-styled “gurus”. It can be highly entertaining.
F’rex, check out the infomercial “guru” Kevin Trudeau. The Wikipedia entry is hilarious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Trudeau
The high points: He was convicted of fraud and larceny. He did time, got out of prison, and set up a pyramid scheme… in partnership with his cell mate.
I kind of love the bald-facedness of it. He’s even found a way to make use of the many government lawsuits against him. Now he’s added a conspiracy theory shtick to his selling points; his latest books have titles like “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You To Know About”.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Just a minute here. Are you saying that THE JEFFERSON ALLEGIANCE is a novel? I thought it was non-fiction and that you were working on something else that was a novel and that I just couldn’t get the titles straight.
I must be spoken to very slowly and repetitively and with words of few syllables.