Speeding to the Next Red Light

Ambition. Goals. Milestones.

We enter this world already preparing for the finish line. It's like the gazelle on the Serengeti plain, hitting the ground running to avoid being some big cat's meal.

I've noticed many writers, who tend to be very goal oriented, begin to rush to the next achievement. Another book, a best seller, the most well written, highest reviews...all of the above.

Are we ever satisfied? In work or in life?
We keep running like a sprinter to the next finish line. I know I always have. 'What's next?' That's what I think. Where can I go next?
Challenging oneself is a good idea for the most part. It keeps us working, moving forward, and advancing, (hopefully) in our careers and personal lives. It's literally like a race to the finish. What can we accomplish in the tiny span we are on this planet called our lifetime?

Writers, artist, actors, and creative people in general, all have a certain type of personality that craves that next 'thing'. The new storyline, masterpiece, and big starring role. Perhaps its in the blood. There are heights out there that we want to experience before we're gone.

But it's like sitting in traffic and drag racing the cars around you, only to stop for the next red traffic signal. Basically it's going quickly to the next roadblock.

Not just in work and writing, but in life as well. We get through high school to graduate and then hit the job market, we hit the job market and want a raise, or a promotion. We go back for more education...
Or we get married, want kids, (or not) want a new car, a new house, more toys, gadgets...

We hit another roadblock...get ill, get fired, get into financial trouble, only to race out again to the next big obstacle.

By then we begin looking in our rear view mirror at where we've been and HOLY CRAP! where did the year go? Wasn't I just seventeen???

Goals. Even the country has them. Perhaps the world as well. Peace? Clean environment? End poverty? We as a human race (pun intended) keep running to the next achievement. Presumably trying to better ourselves in the process.

But as an author I certainly have high expectations of myself. To continue to do my best in my work, regardless of the critics, to expand my craft to plays, films, and every medium I can conquer in the time I have left, and of course, to make my mark somehow on someone to show 'Love is never wrong- no matter the form.'

Speeding to the next red light. We all seem to be doing it. Can we slow down? I have no idea. But as long as there is another carrot out there on a stick to grab, I have a feeling every author, artist, and ambitious individual will continue to put the peddle to the metal.

Just make sure you pull over to the side of the road once in a while to look out at the view, because time is a funny thing. You may race your life away and never stop to actually see the accomplishments you have already made. I hope in some small way I have given people enjoyment and a good laugh, perhaps a hard-on? But I too need to realize life is painfully short, and maybe we can stop speeding.

There's nothing worse than a speeding ticket.

Be safe out there.

WTF? Since When....?

Okay People- Time to hop on the soapbox for a scream.

Since when did a presidential election place so much weight on same sex marriage? Hang on. Don't yell yet. Think about it.

You know me- You know what I write- I have been battling for same sex-equal rights since I could raise a pen to paper. But what the heck is the rest of the country thinking? Making this 'the' hot issue in a race for the most powerful man in the world? Yes, it's unbelievable that our president is finally standing up for reason. Yes, it's amazing that the vice president has spoken strong words to get us all sensible and on target for civil rights and equality. But??? Has the media gone into a shark feeding frenzy about an issue that should be a no-brainer to every 'normal' (and I use 'normal' because so many aren't) thinking Americans? Why? Why is this war between marriage and no marriage so large? So unbelievably bloated it should be on the Biggest Loser?

I could go on and on about how straight marriage fails all the time. I could go on about how straight couples cheat, beat each other up, marry many wives (in some cultures, uh hum) yadda there. No point. Everyone knows that's not the issue. What is the issue? Will and Grace? Seriously? While a war is being raged in the Middle East, people are out of work, the economy is still struggling, children starve, working people are losing their homes and the rich get richer, we are using all our resources to fight an issue that should be a non-issue. Imagine this campaign hinging on whether Jews can marry non-Jews? Blacks could marry whites? Can you imagine John F Kennedy running on a campaign solely because of marriage rights?

I shake my head and sigh. All that time. All that money. All that effort to stop people from loving and exchanging vows. The twenty-four hour talking heads on the news station, screeching like nails on a black board about how same sex marriage will be the doom of society, our children...what?? I swear I need a Valium to even watch these pinheads.

EVOLVE PEOPLE!!! At one time we thought women shouldn't vote, remember? EVOLVE! At one time we thought black people shouldn't have the same rights as whites. EVOLVE! Stop making this an issue when it's not about you- it's about them. The men and women who fall in love. Since when do we judge our presidential candidates on issues of human rights....

Hang on. Maybe we do?? Maybe we should judge a candidate on whether they think all Americans should be treated equally. Maybe we should vote for a person who is EVOLVED enough to be open minded. Accept love. Time to move on. Time to do things that are essential again and just let people live their lives the way they choose.

I am at a loss as to how so many people think this is something to fight, like a plague. They are seriously misguided souls who need to look inward at their own relationships and self-worth.
Since when should we care if people have the same rights across the US? How about now?

Be safe out there.

As If It All Makes Sense...

As If It All Makes Sense....

When people undermine your dreams, predict your doom, criticize you, remember they're telling you their story, not yours. (quote from Cynthia Coccelli) Someone recently posted this quote on FB. I had to admit it gave me pause. For so long I have been told I am a failure, and will always be a failure. That I will never achieve my goals and to give up. As a new author, nearly a decade ago, other authors were demeaning my work, belittling me, posting reviews that were more to do with criticizing me personally, than with my work, and hatred directed at me for my open-minded opinion on same sex marriage and love.

It was ironic to me that even after I left working for the police, I was more on the front lines than I was when sitting in a patrol car with a badge and gun. Who knew the world of authors and publishing could be so ugly?

I have seen critics and authors take down newbies with a swift kick to their crotch (be it a new novel or an idea for one). Yes, there are many good people, thank fuck, who do a lot for each other by promotion on their private blogs, and writing good reviews. This by no means is to be a brush painted for everyone's actions.

But the kind of people who do the above quote are still lingering out there. The pain they inflict is nothing short of exasperating. And now I know why. A light has turned on by the simple words of Cynthia Coccelli. They are telling their own story, not mine.

When someone asks me my advice for a new writer, or someone aspiring to do anything dream-worthy, I say, DON'T GIVE UP. If I had listened to the hate-mongers, the critics, the negative reviews and predictions for my career, I would not be where I am. Nearing 90 novels, not counting short stories and freebies.

At times I think some of us writers who place their work in the public eye become punching bags for either jealous peers, or people who simply don't get it. No there is nothing wrong with a review that points out weaknesses in a constructive way. But unfortunately it's much more fun to be nasty and just tear someone apart. To go out of one's way to locate your work and report it, ban it, or find fault for your own pleasure. Look, life is rough. Each of us goes through it over mine fields and pitfalls. No one has it easy around here, and if you do, it's because you're on good meds.

Over and over I try to get the message across to authors, readers and publishers, karma is a bitch, or an angel. Through the years I have given voice to unpublished authors in my work. Authors who want to write MM fiction and either can't be heard or break through the barrier. My latest unpublished author is Joey Jameson for his work Roll It, in Taking Ryan. But in the past I have given other authors their first chance; Edward Kendrick, Ryan St James, JC Szot, and these authors will help someone in turn.

Though it seems like a good way to live, to relate to other people in our business, in our lives, on FaceBook, Google, and everywhere there is a chance to either be nasty or be nice, remember when you bully someone anonymously or otherwise, perhaps it is your story you are telling, your anger with your own failure, your own laziness to keep trying.

Be careful out there.