An aphorism: The worst part of writing a novel is typing up the handwritten manuscript.
A more appropriate aphorism: The wise learn to type while very young.

I believe I found THE book that I most influenced Tim Gautreaux’s creative writing pedagogy.  He must have used the book when he started teaching over 30 years ago (I took 2 traditional grad classes with him, plus an independent study and 2 thesis courses for my M.A.).  I paid a penny for L. Rust Hills's Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular: An Informal Textbook.  I recommend it. Reading the book is like sitting in class with Dr. G.

And now Welcome to the Fallen Paradise, my novel, is 70 % off at Amazon.com. Hardcovers for $7.16.  I don’t understand it.  Soon they’ll be giving them away but won’t find any takers. 

Dayne

Thinking about Greed

Lately, I’ve been thinking about greed. Thinking is a dying art.

It is no longer Christmas on our calendars. Christmas Day is time past. For me, it was a better Christmas this year than usual.  I meet Christmas with anxiety akin to Gothic horror.  If you've been shopping on Black Friday after Thanksgiving, I suspect you've experienced the Christmas season ushered in by greed. 

But greed, what is it?

Living in a 3000 square foot house (twice the size of mine).
Living in a 6000 square foot McMansion.

Not tithing to a church.

Not selling all of your possessions and giving the money to the poor.

Buying a $2.00 cup coffee in the mornings.

Buying stocks in hopes of large profits.

Spending money on books that the local library owns.

Spending too much on Christmas gifts or spending too little.

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas talks about greed in this video. Be warned, he curses plenty: http://vimeo.com/6852729. His line about owning two SUVs is classic.

Yeah, I’m greedy sometimes. Here’s one example, only one. It happened over five years ago. I was at the huge convention. A Pulitzer winner was signing books—for free, paperbacks for the taking. I was new to this book signing thing. I had a book coming out myself (Now 65 % off at amazon.com, $8.44). I wanted to meet the writer, maybe get a book blurb out of him. I liked reading one of his books set in Louisiana. We chatted. No one was around. There were huge stacks of his books on the tables. I got him to sign 4 of them, different titles. I asked him for one of each. He signed them begrudgingly. I realized halfway through the signing that it was an act of greed. I was supposed to ask for only one, so others could have copies. This was the social code at these signings, but it was too late to say, “Stop.” He’d signed them to me personally. Needless to say, I got no blurb for the back of my book.

Now that I think about it, I should give away all of the signed copies of Mr. Pulitzer’s books. That would be the right thing to do.  Or sell them and give the money to the poor.

Greed is subtle. And it’s the American pastime. See, baseball is on a long decline. Greed is on the upswing, bating a thousand. It’s one of the reasons we had the financial meltdown. It’s probably the greatest sin of the American church and American Christianity. As Will D. Campbell said while standing in the opulent pulpit of Riverside Church in NYC for a conference on racism, how can we free ourselves of racism (Greed is the economic engine that runs racism.) and keep all of this, the riches created by John D. Rockefeller? Campbell says we can’t.

--Dayne

Cormac McCarthy's typewriter sold for $254,500.  I suspected it was going to go high.  See article in the NYTimes here:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/cormac-mccarthys-typewriter-brings-254500-at-auction/?hp

Amazing. 

I have a broke-down Toshiba laptop that I'd like to auction off... for charity even.

My favorite book of McCarthy's is The Road, now out as a major motion picture, buy it's not available in my town.  No Country for Old Men comes in a close second.  I've watched the film a good 5 or 6 times.

Dayne

Five million words written on his typewriter, Cormac McCarthy, perhaps my favorite author, gets a "new" Olivetti.  Read: “No Country for Old Typewriters: A Well-Used One Heads to Auction.”
It reminds me of Wendell Berry's essay titled "Why I'm Not Going to Buy a Computer."

I’d try using charcoal on stone if I thought it would help.  Amazing.

Dayne

Dear Readers:

I’ve been away from this blog almost three years. Among activities, I started and finished an MA in English and creative writing, lost 45 pounds, started gardening by hand with a pickaxe as my main tool, no tiller, no gasoline, no engine, just elbow power--the rains wacked my garden this fall, greens did OK--, and I earned tenure and promotion at the university in my hometown.  I've reestablished my writing and reading habits--five pieces out this fall, in the mail circulating, more submissions out soon.

Because I can’t help myself, I’m writing a memoir titled Redneck Genius.  It ends the day I registered for college classes at 18 years old.  Soon, I’ll post my high school transcript here, a scan, a PDF. Three years in the ninth grade and I never progressed beyond English II. They "social promoted" me, I think.  I never even finished English I.

My latest publication is a long interview with Tim Gautreaux in Image issue 63.

Books I’m reading over Thanksgiving break:

• Novella Carpenter’s Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.
  
• TR Reid’s The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.
  
• And I'm finishing Jim Harrison’s masterpiece titled Legends of the Fall.  I should have read it years ago. It’s one of the best books I’ve read all year.

My novel’s cheap on amazon.com, 54% off in hardcover. Eleven bucks and eight cents with free shipping. Makes a nice gift, I hear.  Check it out: Welcome to the Fallen Paradise.

No, I'm not on Facebook.  I lasted one week. 

My best,
Dayne

To All...

I hope you had a safe and Merry Christmas.

This will be the last blog entry for a long time; I decided to take down all of my posts for now. In order to write a new novel, I am taking a break from the blog.

I wish everyone well. Have a Happy New Year.

My best,

Dayne