FD: I checked out your video. A lot of work on that one, I see.

Teen angst stuff, better done than most. You'll figure out the rest later, no worries.

Good luck at the new school.

Martian Chronicles is fantastic. So is Something Wicked This Way Comes. Go also, to his amazing short stories. The more you read of him, the more impressed, inspired, and influenced you will be.

On the one hand, Ray is so wonderful he will always continue to inspire. On the other, since no one else is that good and it seems no one ever COULD be that good, why should the rest of us bother only to fall short of the glory? It seems a two-edged sword, alas!

Each person has their own voice when they write. Bradbury has talked about that again and again. You have to keep writing to find your own voice. Your book was really good and an enjoyable read. I hope you're working on another one, or working to see about another publishing route for this one based on showing a market.

You may fall short of Bradbury when you write, but maybe you don't fall short of Dandelion. And maybe different is not "short of"--maybe it's a new, different voice. Remember, when Bradbury first began writing sci-fi, no one was really sure what to do with this guy that mixed literature, poetry, sci-fi, horror and fantasy, all into the same story. His "voice" was a kind of learned taste. Many early publishers simply didn't know what to do with him.

Ray would be the first to tell you to write for yourself and keep at it. I know this for a fact because I was there when he encouraged you personally to keep writing and to find your own voice.

Read some Thoreau and read Emerson's "Self Reliance" to get encouraged to find and proclaim your own voice.

Dandelion: We're waiting for your next book!!!!

As a jazz musician, I'm aware of competitiveness at times; not just vying for gigs, but at jam sessions and even at concerts. But I like what Wynton Marsalis said; (something like) jam sessions shouldn't be viewed as a competition, but as a potluck. Everyone brings his own dish, prepared in his own way, and everyone can enjoy the variety.

IT SEEMS TO ME that the true inspiration in writing, would be to feel you have the most wonderful, breathtakingly fascinating, original story ever to be told, YOU are the only author able to tell it, and the world will be poorer for its not being told.

Now, the older you get, the more you read, and the more (especially with the internet) you learn of the existence of books you'd like to read and don't even have time to, how do you keep yourself convinced of
1. The world's necessity of your stories, and
2. That absolutely no one in the history of written language has ever come up with anything remotely like them?
Startin' to lose it bigtime here.

I don't think you have to have the confidence to put "you" in the stories. In Emerson's essay, "Self Reliance" he talks about the idea that each person sees a particular ray of light--even though it all comes from the same sun. Our subjective view is, by definition, unique. But we often squelch our own voice through a lack of confidence in our own value. Schopenhaur, in "The World as Will and Idea" talked about the idea that all we know is our idea of a thing. In other words, there is a subjective encounter with objective reality. All we experience of it is the subjective encounter. The good of that is that each subjective encounter is uniquely yours. So you have a story to tell that no one else can really tell.

Also, Bradbury has written several times that you have to write for yourself. If you write for publication, you compromise your voice. So I wouldn't worry about who needs your stories, I would try to write what you feel you need to write and THEN see if there's a market. That way, you write authentically to who you are and what you have to say, and that makes your story/article/book worthwhile.

Just some early morning thoughts.

Dandy,
I was more captivated by your book than LOTS of others I've read.

You can bring the Beef Wellington.
I'm bringing Tuna Casserole.

True, Mr. Dark. We all have some genius in us. That is what makes us who we are as individuals. To get the truth of what we "see and know" into written form, onto painted canvas, within tones of music, or from voices raised - we need to be honest, first. I think that is what has made Mr. Bradbury such an artist, magician, and poet (all combined) for such a long time, through so many generations.

He has been heard and seen by those who have sought truths about their own childhoods, sites from their own fumbles and fears of growing older, and final peaceful sojourns to what awaits.

When an artist plays or paints or writes just what the people want to hear, the monotony becomes unbearable. "I hate the Roman named "status quo!"

When the final brush stroke is placed, the last punctuation set, or the concluding motion danced, we need to love what we have done. If to please others only, where is the passion?

Thanks for the encouragements and votes of confidence. Very much needed!

Sometimes, I write not to be the first to express an idea...but to motivate people into thinking of what is possible when imagination is combined with our best and most noble efforts as human beings.

I know that last post may have sounded a bit corny, but I couldn't think of another way to express that thought.

Dandelion: I did not know you wrote a book. What book?

I know Ray doesn't do the internet much, but I hope he sees this:
'13th Day' was just placed in the library of the John H. Chapman Space Centre, and a hardback copy was delivered to Canadian Chief Astronaut Julie Payette! I only got word on this a few minutes ago.

Truthfully, I was not sure Ms. Payette would approve of 'Anna Johnson', the character in the book who is partially based on her.

Johnson is pretty fiesty though. Word we received at AB: 'no problem'.

Just knock me over with a string of spaghetti....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Robert M Blevins,

My book is called "Seven for Oregon" and is a novel based on the Sager Family's true adventure on the Oregon Trail and in Oregon Territory, 1844-1848. It isn't online. I really need a website.

Dandelion:
The Adventure Books of Seattle website is located on the Freewebs server.

They have free website space for anyone, but after 45 days, they install ads across the top of the page. For $4.75 a month, you can have premium service with no ads. They have easy tools and fast uploads, etc. If you buy a year or six months at a time, it's cheaper. Gayla the bookkeeper has us up for 36 dollars a year.

I recommend buying a domain name through their name service. Costs about 26 a year. No big deal on that, though. Otherwise, your domain name at Freewebs would be freewebs.com/dandelion or somesuch. I always recommend that when people have writing sites they use their real name, otherwise google won't pick you up, making it more difficult for people to find you. Many writers have the mistaken impression that using your real name on the internet is dangerous. Your name is not the problem, and if you are a writer, it helps add to a google list (first thing searched by a publisher when a writer submits, nowadays) in your name. Giving out personal information is the problem, not using your name. I mean...if the name was the problem, there wouldn't be sites like asimov.com or raybradbury, etc.
Many writers nowadays use a domain like this:

johnqsmith.com

Is the book available in print, or is this a finished unpublished-as-yet manuscript? If it is unpublished, drop me a line. I have email links all over the place at Adventure Books.

True, as a writer you have to take possession of your own name first, before someone else does. Thanks for the information. My ISP comes with a website of 20 MB Personal Space, but I don't have the first CLUE how to set up a website!

As for the book, the story on it is, I wrote it and as I recall submitted it to some agents and publishers. I forget the initial number. They either didn't like it at all, or wanted changes I was unwilling to make. I decided to desktop publish--a frightful experience due to the actions of others, but after awful expenses did end up with a book in hand of which I could be proud.

This at least got it into the hands of readers. So far no one who has read it has totally not liked it. I've had extremely negative reactions to the subject matter from people who never opened the book, but from readers the only hints of complaint were about the violence being possibly a bit too graphic, but it was all taken from historical record and toned down at that. If the book had simply been rejected, end of story, I might have formed the impression that my writing was no good AT ALL.

I might be willing to make some changes. The agents to whom I submitted it later (after I ran out of one print run and before making another) who bothered to answer didn't ASK what I would or would not be willing to change, just rejected it outright on the basis that this or that was wrong--different things with different ones, no one glaring fault. The only thing I came away with after 365 rejections (the second time alone--like I say, don't remember the number the first time) was "not commercial enough." I still own all rights, it's just that a friend, moved by my plight, offered to reprint the book. He charged me ONLY material, NO labor. We haven't sold out of his run, so I still have copies on hand, and hesitate to try to sell it to a publisher while I still have copies I can sell, is all.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,