I wonder what an electronic book reader would look like if Apple designed it?

I wonder what an electronic book reader would look like if Apple designed it?

Tribes author Seth Godin has an interesting take on free content and the publishing industry:

[Publishers] are not in the printing business. [They are] in the business of leveraging the big ideas authors have.  … The market doesn’t care a whit about maintaining [the publishing] industry. The lesson from Napster and iTunes is that there’s even MORE music than there was before. What got hurt was Tower and the guys in the suits and the unlimited budgets for groupies and drugs. The music will keep coming. Same thing is true with books. So [they] can decide to hassle [their] readers (oh, I mean [their] customers) and [then] decide that a book on a Kindle SHOULD cost $15 because it replaces a $15 book, and if [they] do, we (the readers) will just walk away.

I’m also walking away if a Kindle or eReader costs the same as a notebook. I can buy eight hardcover books at full price for the cost of a Kindle. If there is no price break, then where is the point at which I will recoup the original outlay? With an iPod, I can cheaply load it up with music from CDs, iTunes, and hither and yon.

Easy as ABC

I continue to learn from reading and listening to Eric Witchey. I know I’ve posted his You Tube video before but I glean something new every time I watch it. This time, he helped me grok a scene with my antagonist. That something comes from what he terms the “ABCs” of a scene.

  • Agenda,
  • Backstory,
  • Conflict, and
  • setting (I add senses to this as well)

You’re probably an old hand at writing fiction, if so, this stuff is now embedded in your DNA and the muscle memory of your brain. Not me. I kept having trouble with a scene between the hero and the villain. I finally realized that I had been only looking at the hero’s agenda; what he wanted. His assumption was that he would be fired from his job by the new boss. My previous drafts had been written with the antagonist acting this way. Once I realized the villian had a completely different goal, the scene became less predictable and more interesting (I think). For me, it was an ah ha moment or as a friend of mine calls it, “a blinding flash of the obvious.”

Jack Bickham, in his book Scene and Structure, outlines a scene as:
• Statement of goal (which should relate to the story question)
• Conflict developed in attempt to reach goal
• Failure to reach goal
• Repetition of attempt to reach goal/failure
• Goal reached/not reached
• Twist or tactical disaster

Bickham’s advice is good. The first two points are essentially Agenda and Conflict. Witchey adds Backstory, because that is what underlies the motives of each character, and setting to give the scene sensory depth.

Michael Crichton – storyteller

Crichton wrote Antikythera-like plots
Crichton wrote Antikythera-like plots

Best-selling author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles Tuesday, November 4, 2008, losing a private battle against cancer. He was 66.

Crichton did not write literature. I cannot name one protagonist, any antagonist from any of his books I read. Yet I couldn’t put them down, okay I didn’t finish Timeline or Prey. Prey was just too creepy. Still, the worlds he created were rooted in some fact and seemed believable. His writing is to literature what McDonalds is to haute cuisine, it fills you up and come away satisfied, if maybe just a little nauseated.

Unlike a Dan Brown story, after reading a Crichton book I had learned something from his Antikythera-like mechanistic cautionary sci-fi tales.

He was, first and foremost, a storyteller.

Obituaries: New York Times; LA Times; The Atlantic


It came together in 2008

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

Some times it all comes together and we live the ideals of the path our founders set us on.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

It was a historic day for us. I even agree with President Bush:

No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday. Across the country, citizens voted in large numbers. They showed a watching world the vitality of America’s democracy, and the strides we have made toward a more perfect union. They chose a President whose journey represents a triumph of the American story — a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation.

Many of our citizens thought they would never live to see that day. This moment is especially uplifting for a generation of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes — and four decades later see a dream fulfilled.

I voted

“I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.” – Will Rogers


I’ve been reading of lines stretching around city blocks, voters waiting hours to cast their vote in this historic election.

At my polling place, the Lower Lake United Methodist Church, there were no lines. I walked in. Signed in. Filled in the optical scan cards. Dropped the package in the shredder box and was on my way in less than ten minutes.

The poll worker I talked with said they expected to be there until 11PM.

I did think it odd that I had to dunk my finger in purple ink.

Oh, one last thing. Today is the last day to vote. Don’t let anyone tell you that the polls will be open tomorrow.

Explaining This Election

This is post for my international readers, though it may be interesting to one or two others (i.e. my entire readership). The President of the United States is not elected by popular vote, rather he is elected by the US Electoral College with its 538 electors. These electors come from the states and the District of Columbia.

The Economist developed this video to explain the electoral process, beginning in June of this year. The leaning of the state (based on polling data) for a candidate’s party affiliation is indicated by color, red for republican (McCain) and blue for democrat (Obama).

Now, for a different take, look at this, 7-11 coffee drinkers are totally in the cups for Obama.