Back to Writing

So I guess it’s time to get back to writing. Recently, if you haven’t been able to tell, I’ve been distracted and the subjects of my blog show it. Maybe it was the holiday season where life becomes busier and thoughts of friends and family take a more permanent position at the front of my mind. Maybe it’s just because I became bored discussing books which have yet to see the light of day. Either way, I’ve come full circle and return to Jeremiah Stone, of which I have two things to discuss.

First, and for those who know my Facebook account (www.facebook.com/sscotttwigg), I’ve posted a few options on what my book cover could look like. Of course the graphics were not what I initially requested, but then I discovered the person creating the covers is limited to stock photos from a website. Granted, there are literally millions of photos available to use (and I’ve looked through thousands of them), but few of them conveyed what I truly wanted. This is not to say there weren’t bits and pieces which I liked, but even cropping and pasting those together wouldn’t work. What I expected when providing a list of photos concerning how I wanted people to look or body positioning was that new photos or graphics would be created, not a collage of things I found. After seeing the first cover suggestion (which was based on the photos list I provided), I realized what I’d done and how my preferences were interpreted. Since then, I’ve been clearer and done more research on precisely what I’m looking for, to include examples not from just the one website. Now what I really need are a few opinions on the covers I’ve posted.

Second, and I say this with both a desire to have it happen while knowing the reality that it’s very unlikely to happen, I’d love to see Jeremiah Stone become a movie. It’s a dream, but let’s face it, we all have dreams. At least this one of mine is plausible because I wrote the story (actually all 4 novels) with this idea in mind. I imagined every scene, pictured it all in my head, before I put a single word onto paper. I couple this desire, however, with what I’ve seen in the movies of late. And I’m not saying the most recent movies are bad, but rather the digital effects being created are awesome almost to the point of distraction. The latest movie I’ve seen consisted of an ‘ok’ story and fifteen minutes of pure delight coming from the fight scene near the end. Now I take that scene, which I deem good enough to actually purchase the movie for, and apply it within my mind to Jeremiah Stone. I take actors I’ve seen in other movies, assigning them to characters with Jeremiah Stone, and imagine their interactions. And in my mind my book suddenly comes to life. Overall, I think they’d all make for good movies. Realistically though, I’d be happy if they just made one.

So those are the two things on my mind of late concerning Jeremiah Stone. Now back to finishing another possible movie. LOL

Joint Projects

A few weeks ago I began writing a storyline based on an idea a friend of mine had. The idea, though rough without an inkling of characters or script, was based on a setting. It was not something necessarily new, but it was an intriguing concept and it stuck in my mind like hardening cement. For a month I ruminated on the idea, thinking up possible people or story concepts only to find they all seemed like a cliché. They’d been done before, in one way or another, so none of them were original. The only thing about it all was I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. It sat there like rotting meat and festered until I had to do something about it. This resulted in roughly four solid pages of writing on a project I’ll call NORSE, which is a few hours’ worth of pounding the keys for me (I’m not the fastest typist around). Once written my mind was free and I could leave it alone, or rather it left me alone. A day later, however, I realized it needed a review, so I spent a day looking it over from time to time making minor adjustments throughout. Satisfied with the results, I did what any person should do, I sent the beginning of the story back to my friend to see:

1. What he thought; 2. If it was something he would want to pursue, or 3. Whether I could run with the idea on my own.

Frankly, though, none of those things mattered to me for a couple of reasons and none of them have to do with his reply to my inquiry. What mattered was the idea was gone from my mind allowing me to continue writing on my other projects. As I’ve said before, there are two I’m already working on and they will probably take a good portion of 2012 to finish (if I’m lucky). Beyond those two are another three which I am ruminating on, though none of them is as intriguing as NORSE.

Now in the past I’ve tried to start projects as a team with little success (though not with the man who inspired NORSE). Those projects didn’t pan out as I expected and it wasn’t because of lack of material or interest. It was due to a lack of time. Joint projects take teamwork and for the most part I would consider myself a lone gunman when it comes to my writing. I like things my way and tend to be rather inflexible. This is not to say I can’t be swayed, but let me be the first to say it won’t be an easy undertaking. Because of this (of me) there needs to be an eye-to-eye agreement on things from the get-go. That agreement doesn’t have to mean the writing HAS to be 50-50 or even 60-40. It’s just got to be accepted by both parties and it doesn’t even have to concern the writing, but could just entail the storyline, the free exchange of ideas on where the story goes and how it ends. That being said, for all intents and purposes I’ll do the majority of the writing as long as the idea, the overall story concept, is an original. And let it be known that if I do the typing then it will be done slowly, but it will get done. I anticipate this will probably be what occurs with NORSE.

On another note, my book ‘Dream Savior’ is nearly complete.

Mortality

I’m at 39,000 feet, flying at 582 mph, and I have thoughts of my mortality. It’s not as if I’m contemplating my death. It’s not that I wonder about the afterlife, if there even is one. It’s not as if I wonder about what will happen to my friends or family after I’m gone. What I wonder is if in ten or fifty or a hundred fifty years I’ll be remembered. I mean, what is the legacy I leave behind.

I am very grateful to have a son and with all my hopes and prayers I want him to have a family, to carry on the 'Twigg' name, but generations from now, when my grave site is no longer visited by people that once knew me or even those who might think they have, what do I leave behind. Currently I leave nothing. I leave hopes and dreams of being a writer. I leave a series of stories which may exist only as printed copies on a family shelf or stored away in an attic. I leave time and tears on paper, but in reality I leave nothing. At least right now that’s all I have.

For all intents and purposes, I am a ‘nobody’. I work, I live, and I try to fulfill my personal life goals while taking care of my family and a few dear friends as best I can. I love, I shed tears, and I yearn to be more, to do more, for the world, but I am only one person. I am a cog in the wheel of time doing my part as minutes turn to hours which eventually turn to years, but nothing great comes from me. I do not enact significant changes. I do not alter the world around me more than anyone else. I do not inspire anyone to be better, to achieve more, than what I have. I simply exist.

Do I want more? My answer to that is everyone wants more. Everyone wants their five minutes of fame. Everyone wants to be a part of history. Everyone wants to leave a legacy. The reality, however, is that very few of us do and even then I wonder for how long. Will I be remembered tomorrow if I was to disappear today.

This is not to say I can’t be more or do more or create more than the next person, but then whose memory do I snuff out in my own selfish act on importance.

If all men (or women) are created equal, then shouldn’t we all become a part of history. Shouldn’t we all be remembered for something we did no matter how large or small. Shouldn’t we all leave a legacy just for being alive. That’s all, that's it, that's all we need. Our existence should be enough for each and every one of us to be remembered. But that’s not reality.

Reality dictates we are insignificant. Reality dictates one in a million will be remembered ten years from now. One in a billion fifty years from now. One in a trillion a hundred fifty years from now. And let me say this, I don’t plan to be any one of those. I am just one of the masses, like you.

All I truly want, all I care about, is that my legacy lives far longer than I do because without my son I would be nothing.

For that, I can be forgotten.

Bucket Lists

Let me begin by saying I don’t really have a bucket list (per se'), but there are things I want to do before my time passes. I don’t have them written down here, but rather have written down what I feel are the 10 more significant things I’ve completed in my life. And if you feel up to it, add your list to mine.

1.       I’ve had mass with the Pope within Vatican City.

2.       I have bathed in the healing waters of the Dead Sea.

3.       I have walked the path of Jesus and been moved with each step.

4.       I have driven over 155 mph on the German Autobahn.

5.       I have shot-the-gap around the Arch de Triumph in Paris.

6.       I have watched a game of Bache ball played by old men in the hills above Monaco.

7.       I have skied the French Alps (which is the only time I’ve ever skied).

8.       I have seen glaciers crumble into the ocean in Alaska.

9.       I have stood above a live volcano in Hawaii.

10.   I have mourned the deaths of thousands in Pearl Harbor.

Most importantly, I have loved. It’s not on the list, but it’s possibly the most important thing I’ve ever done.

Whoever may read this list may find my order of things a bit out of place and suffice it to say the bottom seven items all have relatively the same significance to me. I have shed more tears (especially in Dachau) then I care to admit and only the joy of driving seems to refresh my outlook on life, which is why those two items garner higher ranking.

There are other things I could add; like the birth of my son or even the World Series game I attended in which my wife mocked Derek Jeter while being 8-months pregnant. Needless to say it was highly memorable. And there are many more beyond that; Oktoberfest in Munich, climbing the steps of the Eifel Tower, spending a week on a sailboat in Desolation Sound, watching Nolan Ryan pitch, gazing up at the fireworks while on The Mall on 4^th of July, having a picnic in Central Park, watching a night launch of the Space Shuttle, and so on.

There is one thing, however, I would put at the top of the list without hesitation, though for now it only remains in my heart.  Only a few know of it and most likely I will take it to my grave in solemn remembrance, but to think of it chokes me up every time. And more significantly, it is only during times like this which bring it to my thoughts. I can only hope my prayer was answered.