So how about those midterms, eh?
But seriously, I work in a news station so it’s pretty hard to avoid anything to do with politics. Which is ironic, considering how I feel about politics and the news in general. When I started working at my first TV station, I hadn’t read a news article in years, or watched a TV program in at least as long. I didn’t have cable then, and I still don’t. Some might brag about that, but it’s honestly a little embarrassing, I think being informed is important. But there are limits, and so much of the news is just white noise, bantering, vindictive and empty rhetoric that it’s not worth your time to get involved.
That being said, I do absolutely love my job, and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be able to write full-time for a living. I also get exposed to a lot stories, and there are some interesting tid-bits that pop up in the news from time to time. Things that are revealingly human, and to me, show us to be the very normal, reasonable (that is to say, absurd), animals that we are. This picture, for instance. This is the changing of the guard at the border between India and Pakistan. It reminds me of nothing so much as two peacocks strutting about. Or two lions sizing each other up, or two male rams during rutting season. Take any animal you like. Which makes me laugh when you consider how sophisticated we think we are. Nope, sex sells, and we like to beat our chests and preen and strut with the best of the animal kingdom. And that’s all well and good. I’m fine with that, I just wish everyone else was.
In other news, I’m ploughing through books at a respectable rate these days. Just finished “Stranger in a Strange Land”, by Robert Heinlein. It’s a pretty good read, if you’ve never picked it up. I try to stick to the classics, at least as far as my “education” goes as a writer. There’s a lot of good books written recently I’m sure, but with so many tried and true classics out there, it’s hard to justify taking a chance on something new.
There’s a lot of interesting concepts in Heinlein’s book, and his familiar voice is there from “Starship Troopers”, which is very much a good thing. He’s got a straightforward writing style that’s quite refreshing. It’s an old book but I still won’t spoil anything, I’ll just say that he presents a lot of concepts about humans, sexuality, and spirituality that make a lot of sense. At the end of the day, we’re just animals wanting to love and be loved, most of us desperate to take it however we can get it, and he offers some rather beautiful insights into what we could accomplish if we just accepted ourselves.
Now I’ve picked up “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi, and it’s quite similar in voice to Heinlein. I’m just getting started, but definitely enjoying it.
At work I’ve got several projects going on. There’s a travel TV I’m trying to get off the ground, and a new opportunity to market my book that I’m really excited about. I’ll share more about it when there’s more to share; suffice it to say, it could be a really big boost for my career as a writer.
In the meantime, I just resigned my lease for another year here in San Diego. There’s a lot of work to be done, and I think this next year is going to be a very, very big one. I’m looking forward to the journey.
Pearson Sharp 