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In my last post, I wrote about a terribly misleading postcard. While doing some research about truth in advertising, I came across some interesting examples.






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They needed to clarify this because people were walking into
this Iowa store��hoping to catch a��train to Grand Central
Station.







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At last, no more embarrassing questions to the store workers
asking if they carry the XXXL Depends adult diapers.




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I called this number and told them they had won a million
dollars from the king of some nation they’d never heard of. All I needed was
their credit card number for a “transaction fee.��

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Yes, that’s the reason a lot of men go to the gym—to see
ugly women.




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Do the watches��tell time, or do you have to look at them?




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I was once told the same thing by��two muggers.


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Figures, I had them come to my house at 11:00 last
Monday.

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Little known fact:��"Dutch's" was the original name of Walmart.

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This is what I’m looking for in a lawyer.




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Strangely enough, this was posted outside a hardware store.


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Part of a less-than-successful chain owned by the brothers “Yu,�� “Soon��
and “Your Mom is.��




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Amen.

Times are tough.



Everyone is looking for a bargain, while at the same time, companies are fighting over consumer’s limited funds.



I’m constantly receiving letters and emails trying to convince to me buy something I didn’t know I needed.





And then there are companies who go the extra mile—they offer contests, give-a-ways and promotions. Heck, I’m all for that. In fact I’ve done a number of promotions with my books to help spread the word.

As long as it is a legitimate deal, I’m all for it.



Sadly, often that isn’t the case.

A while ago, I received the following postcard in the mail:






I knew I was going to be flying out to Utah in 2013 for the LDStorymakers conference, so I was curious.

So, I flipped over the postcard to look at the “fine print.�� A few things caught my attention right away.







First, was the word “most�� and “Major�� in front of the word “Airports.�� Even though I live fairly close to the capital of North Carolina, the airport wasn’t considered “Major�� enough. Where were the closest airports to me? Washington D. C. or Atlanta—each roughly 6 hours away.





Oh, and the hotel? They were roughly an hour away from the airports—and you had to pay for your own transportation to the hotel.





But goofiest of all, and the biggest warning sign was the small print in the corner:





It kind of bends the rules of “truth in advertising��, doesn’t it?

“Of course it’s no fun, that’s why is it called work!�� These are words I’ve been told, and I have to admit that I’ve told employees and my children, on various occasions.





Somehow, somewhere, someone decided that doing something important is called “work.�� This imaginary someone also decided that if you enjoy doing something, it isn’t really work. And if an action isn’t work, then it’s “play.�� Therefore “play�� isn’t important.



Logically, that makes sense, if you believe in the first assumption.





Which I don’t.





Who is to say that you can’t enjoy doing something important? To me, there are two over-generalized categories of an important action: doing something for yourself and doing something for others.





Granted, the lines between the two are blurry, but hang with me for a moment. I consider doing something important for yourself is an action that will bring you income or the means to support your ability to live. Whether you grow and harvest your own food, or buy it from someone else, you still need to eat. That’s important.





Doing something important for others includes providing the means to live either through your actions of doing something important for yourself (like earning more money than you need and giving it to others) or performing actions to help others for what is important in their lives—also known as service.





I, personally, have found immense enjoyment from doing service. I think if you ask most people who volunteer their time to help others, you’ll hear them say the same thing: “It’s not easy, but it’s very rewarding.�� I dare say that those who truly enjoy it, don’t get that enjoyment only after the service is done—they experience it while serving.





Which brings me back to my main point. I believe there are those who feel like their employment has to be a miserable experience because after all, it’s work. Yet once in a while, you find someone who truly loves what they do for a living.

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People call them “lucky.�� I call them people who weren’t willing to accept that work couldn’t be enjoyable and therefore found something that they enjoyed doing which also allowed them to make a living—even if that job wasn’t understood by others or frowned upon the “responsible�� people in the world who have bought into the lie that work can’t be fun.

I believe every author has that moment of “What am I doing? Is what I’m writing any good?�� And then if you can get beyond the quality of the work, there is the question of “Does anyone even read this?�� I’ve heard it described as playing a solo in front of an empty music hall.





After all, where do authors get feedback? Looking at review sites like ŷ������ and Amazon have a catch 22 built in to them. For me, an excellent review can make me feel like I’m on the top of the world. A bad review (and I’ve gotten a few) can make me go into one of those funks as noted in the first paragraph.





Another great analogy I heard from another author is that reviews are like a drug. Once you start seeking them out for the “high�� they give, you need to keep getting those great reviews to feel good about being a writer.





Some authors refuse to look at their reviews for those very reasons. I’ve heard of authors that have other people (a spouse, a friend, a family member) look at the reviews and then share only the good ones.





And then there is the financial aspect of being an author. I read somewhere that 99% of the books published sell less than 100 copies. Fact is, a very small percentage of authors make any sort of tangible money from their work.





So, why, oh why, should an author continue to write?





I can only speak for myself, but this is what I’ve come up with: Writing is something I love. It’s a magical experience to discover ideas as I write. It’s a way I can express the creative nature burning inside of me.





There’s more. I have gotten quite a number of reviews, personal emails and even face-to-face comments stating how I was able to connect with the reader—how my work touched them on an emotional level.





As I get older, I realize I most likely have few years ahead of me on the earth than behind me. The books and short stories I’ve written will live on long after I pass away—in a sense, it’s part of my mark I left on this earth.





So, when someone says to me, “You’ve been doing this writing thing for a while now and you’re not rich or a New York Times bestseller—sorry it didn’t work out for you.�� Who says it hasn’t?





I believe authors can’t truly know the range or scope of how their books have made an impression on people. It can’t be tracked by sales—I’ve read a number of books several times I’ve bought only once. My wife lends out books to friends that they have enjoyed.





At what point should an author give up?

One of my favorite authors, Greg Keyes, had written seven books before I’d discovered him. I hadn’t heard of the Harry Potter books until the fourth one was released. Stephanie Meyer had written five books before I’d heard of the Twilight series. I could go on and on.

I fear too many authors give up because their first book (or first few books) weren’t smashing successes in the public’s opinion.





If you love something, truly love it, don’t give up on it. Don’t let others determine if you can claim victory or not.

“But that’s hard!�� the student told me. He looked like I’d just asked him to write a four hundred page essay on the social-political ramifications of introducing the sandwich meat “Spam�� to third world countries.





But that wasn’t the assignment.

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What was it?





I assigned the students to read another student’s short story and find three things they liked about it—and why. The one thing they could not do is to point out anything they didn’t like, thought could be better, or was “wrong.��





Why would I give such an assignment? Simple. I discovered that when asking students to critique their peers�� work that these critiques were filled primarily with pointing out errors like spelling, grammar, and plot issues. What were sorely missing were positive comments.





To the student that complained the assignment was “hard��, I responded, “Why do you think it’s hard?��





He thought about it a moment and responded, “Maybe because the majority of the feedback we get from teachers is what we got wrong on a test, and not what we got right.��





This leads me to wonder, just what are we teaching our students and our children when the main focus of our feedback is what they are doing wrong?

"Can contemporary poetry still rhyme?"



I am currently working on my Master's degree in Creative Writing, and this was the question asked in one of my classes.





I'll openly admit poetry is not my strong suit. Most of the time I don't get it. So, you can imagine how much fun it is for me to try to decipher other poems--especially "contemporary" poetry.

How do I answer the original question posted above?

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Here is my answer:






To rhyme or not to rhyme? That’s a question, but is it the question? If asked to make up a poem when I was a child, it would certainly rhyme. After all, Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham rhymed. So did Jack and Jill. But of course, as we grow up, we learn that such things are juvenile, and aren’t serious enough for serious poets.
After all, isn’t a good poem one that seems to break all the rules—with the number one rule being: a poem shall rhyme!
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W. D. Snodgrass’s poem A Locked House rhymes. Or does it? Yes, the poem is set up in the ab ab format with each a rhyming with each b. Yet, the lines vary in length and often the rhyming word is not at the end of the sentence.





Example:
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Barns, house, furniture
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We two are stronger than we were
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Apart; we’ve grown
Together.

Everything we own
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Can burn�� (242-243)





Clearly this is considered a contemporary poem. How do I know? Because it comes from a book called The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry. It rhymes, but almost in a mocking sort of way. It’s��as if the poet is saying, “See! I can write a contemporary poem that rhymes.��




But, from my experience, rhyming seems to be the exception, and not the rule. When looking for a contemporary poem that rhymes, at first, I came across ten that didn’t. Going back now, it took me seven more tries to find one that rhymed.




Is it okay to rhyme? Why, yes, I believe it is. Rhyming can set the tone of a poem. It can be playful. It can be a driving force. It can be a device that helps the poet convey their message. Rhyming can be magical. Tell any fan of The Princess Bride, “No more rhymes now, I mean it!�� and I’ll bet you the mortgage they will reply, “Anybody want a peanut?��




And now I have to wonder. If at one time poets seemed to universally agree that to make good poetry they needed to break the rules—and one of the rules now is not to rhyme—does that mean new, contemporary poets should rhyme?




Works Cited





Snodgrass, W. D. "A Locked House". A Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry. Ed. McClatchy, J. D. Vintage Books, 2003. 242-243. Print.

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It’s here! My new anthology, The Night the Port-A-Potty Burned Down and Other Stories is now available in both print and ebook formats!





The book includes 80 (that’s right 80!) short stories, insights and observations.



Some of them are humorous.



Some of them are thought provoking.



Some are downright strange.





I’m so sure you’ll like the book, it comes it with a double your money back guarantee—as described in the last entry.

An author friend of mine, who I think is an amazing writer, recently stated that sometimes he felt like he was performing inside an empty music hall. Many other authors responded that they felt the same way at one time or another.




The fact is that being an author is a fairly lonely process. Hours upon hours are spent imagining, writing, re-writing, editing, and then proofing their work before they send it off into the world.




There are outlets for authors to get feedback, like ŷ������, Amazon and when the author does events like signings and such—yet I believe those avenues aren’t an accurate representation of what people in general think about a particular book.




I’ll admit that at times I’ve wondered, “Is anyone even reading my work? Would anyone care if I never published anything ever again?��
And then there are those magical moments that make it all worth it.



I was recently at a school and I introduced myself. A student raised his hand and asked, “Did you write The Hidden Sun?�� I answered that I had—wondering how he’d heard of it.
He then said, “I loved that book! When’s the next one coming out?��
When I told him it was already out—and had been since May, he freaked. “Really? No way! I soooo need that book!��




When I got a chance to ask him later about where he’d heard about The Hidden Sun, he said, “My cousin read it and told us it was really good. I’ve told my friends. They are going to be excited to learn the next one is out!��




So, yes, this is somewhat self-serving, but if you’ve enjoyed a book—let the author know somehow—like visiting their website and leaving a note, or posting a nice review on one of the many book sites out there.




A little positive feedback given to an author goes a long way.

Here is the cover for my next published work!

If all goes according to plan (when does that ever happen?) this will be available on December 1st.

More details to follow.

Whoo hoo! Another give-a-way!






I’ll be giving away the winner’s choice of one of the following:




(Click on the link to find out more information about the books)









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I have a short story in this anthology


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The book will be personalized and autographed by yours truly.





To enter, simply put your email information in the comment section below.





Oh, and while you’re at it, please “follow�� this blog. I contribute to it regularly with humorous, thought provoking and / or emotional posts.





Good luck on the contest!