Monday, August 7

The garage sale went well. The surgery comes up next week, and has been described as routine, though I have to take it under a general, which I hate . . . The Celebrex ain't workin' so much. There may be narcotics in my short-term future after all.

And in response to AzrofD, regarding TRAITOR and my style:

I don't think of myself as even HAVING a style.

I take every story as its own thing, and throw as much of my poor battered brain at each particular wall as I can make stick. In other words, I write balls-out for glory, and never think about whether something I'm putting down is "my style." I think about whether what I'm putting down is the STORY's style: if it suits the feel I'm trying to create.

This, I should add (to paraphrase Steve Stone) for all you Young Writers out there, is roughly how the great EB White recommended all writers should go about "their style." In his seminal book on elegant writing (which he co-authored with the legendary William Strunk), THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, White recommended that a writer should aim for clarity above all else, and should never even THINK about His or Her Own Style, as your true style is an expression of your true self: it arises with no conscious thought on your part, because it is what you are.

Everything else is affectation.

" . . . brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness its limbs and outward flourishes . . ."





Oh, and Jenn?

You're wrong. You don't want to seee her angry. At anyone.

Trust me on this.



And kiss the boyo for the LOCKE LAMORA aut'd edition, in case I can't deliver said kiss myself. I'm still hoping -- given good progress with the knee and moving into the new house -- that I and the Fabulous Robyn might be able to make it to the wedding . . .

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

*pounce*

I'll trust you. :) She sounds like my mother when she gets mad. As long as she's not mad at me the critters and I all take off for the farthest corner of possibility to get away from her wrath. At least that's what i used to do.

As for the wedding. We would love to see you, even if you're just relaxing with your foot on a chair. :)

If not, we'll have to make a trip out Chicago way later this year.

And I'll kiss the boyo, but only chaste kisses delivered from you through me :P

Always!
Jenn

MWS said...

Thanks, Elio.

Rest assured that I am a fervent exerciser, when my knee permits. My antidepressants are for relief of my migraine/fm syndrome, and work reasonably well. And I do take probiotics -- one called BioBeads, from Natrol, because it's the only brand that doesn't contain yeast, to which I am allergic.

I appreciate the advice, and the compliments. I'll take a look at the web site you recommend, though I'll warn you in advance that I have very little patience for conspiracy theories in general, and 911 conspiracy theories in particular (it's recently passed "The Grassy Knoll" and "Cleopatra Was Black" as my Least Tolerated Bunk).

Anonymous said...

I've only seen Loose Change 3, which was certainly well put together...still not sure where I stand on that.

Love your comments about style, MWS. I write from time to time. I often get comments on my stuff that says it's nothing like other stuff that I've done before. I think it comes down to style: I just don't have any, haha. I write how I feel I'll best get my story across.

MWS said...

Nothing heroic, Romantic or even dramatic. Happened at work, ducking under a bar.

Probably the result of degenerative joint disease, but it's impossible to say until something goes wrong with my OTHER knee . . .

As far as Loose Change goes, well --

It just doesn't pass the bullshit test.

First: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

They should call back when they actually have their hands on some of the evidence they claim the government is concealing.

Second: I find it difficult to believe that the same government that could seamlessly orchestrate a vast conspiracy such as the filmmakers claim occurred, would have stepped on its own dick quite so hard in Iraq. Shit, they couldn't even manage to conceal that Pat Tillman was killed by his own unit, or that Jessicca Lynch was just an unlucky truck driver who was actually rescued, treated and essentially released by her Iraqi doctors, rather than a daring Special Forces operation . . .

I mean, if they could control 9/11 information so precisely, this other shit should be child's play.

MWS said...

Hey Scarber! -- you snuck in while I was writing.

Drop by Frameshift, man; I'd like to hear about Clarion West, and I'm sure the monkeys miss flinging shit your way.

Anonymous said...

I feel like a twit for having my first post to you be about medecine, but just a warning about Celebrex, I was taking it for a while (rotater cuff injury, hurt like a bitch from hell) and I noticed that my heart was racing, fortunately I didn't take them too long so no damage done, but if you feel like you're suddenly short of breath and your chest feels odd, I'd hold off on those meds until a doc says something about them one way or the other.

Enough of that "health" crap, I want to talk about your books! The first book I read of yours was "Heroe's Die", which one of my friends had bought and was passed around to everyone we knew. Loved it so much that I bought my own copy (well, we also wound up wearing the old copy apart, so a new one was necessary). After reading that I decided to scrounge up every book of yours that I could lay my greedy hands on, and haven't been dissapointed with any of them. I am mildy ticked off that you made me like Mace Windu so much only in time for him to die, though. ;) Loved Barra in the "Heart of Bronze" series, and that's saying a lot, since for some reason I tend to loathe most female leads (have to admit that I did a happy dance at Pallas Ril's death in the Caine books...) and I can't wait for the next Caine book...Ok yeah I can wait, since I have no say in when it comes out, and I'd much rather you take your time and get the sucker done right than rush it and be pissed at the results.

Sorry about the rablings, just really excited about your stuff.

Shevchyk said...

It's good to see that you're making headway towards the mend, Matt.

Is knee-surgery something that takes a while from which to recover? (No casts? Anything of that sort?)

Much congratulations on the house. Space enough in the backyard for your dog?

MWS said...

Aye and aye.

Nice fenced back yard. And no cast, but three months or so of rehab before I can even squat or take a knee . . .

On the other hand, before arthroscopic surgery, it'd have been six months, and I'd probably walk with a limp for the rest of my life.

On balance, I'm okay with it.

Shevchyk said...

Completely out of curiosity:

The plane that hit the Pentagon - did the impact result in a complete deterioration of the plane?

Shevchyk said...

A bloody limp for the rest of yer life?

Sweet Bloody Jad.

I have trouble conceiving of there being a chink in your armour, as I'd thought training at the Degerberg school left you in a nigh-Terminator -like state of physical robustness.

Shitty timing though.

MWS said...

Elio --

It's not a question of "not being able to handle the truth." It's a question of not being bamboozled by speculation and cherry-picked "facts" unsupported by direct evidence.

Have you read the 9/11 Commission Report?

It's worth your time.

Anonymous said...

Best of luck with your surgery and recovery, Matt. Given your love of martial arts, I know this must be grinding you.

As far as Loose Change goes, here's a massive online argument about JUST THIS VERY THING so we don't need to rehash it out here! Although if you really want to, you can:

http://flemco.livejournal.com/1367978.html

It's an argument between James Grant and Nick Mamatas (and the occasional other commentor).

I tend to think it's easier to think of the government as some sort of shadowy cabal of ultimate evil. Makes things nice and simple. Gives you people to hate.

But really: Try not to assign to malice what can be as easily assigned to stupidity.

MWS said...

And there's this site, which I haven't had the chance to personally vet thoroughly, but seems to be worth checking out:

http://www.ccdominoes.com/lc/LooseChangeGuide.html

The truth is all that matters (well, to me, anyway . . .)

Anonymous said...

Hi, Stover!
What's this I hear about yor knee?
Good grief, man! Hope all is going well.
I am heading back to work in about a week after having a summer off. Have read lots of good books.
Take care of yourself and keep us posted.
cheers,
clucky
Claudia