Hawks Enjoy Keith Jarrett

The Wild continues to surprise us.

Case in point, this spry young fellow you see here, as yet unnamed.

We suspect he’s one of Glaxus‘ kin but so far he’s been very, very quiet.

Perhaps he’s hunting wabbits (and if you don’t get the reference, don’t worry).

Doubtful it’d be rabbits in undergrowth that dense. More likely chipmunks, voles, mice, something of that sort.

But we did notice his penchant for Keith Jarrett, specifically The Koln Concert (one of our favorites, as well).

We hope he finds what he seeks.

We wish that on all.

We also wish they’d be better prepared. Often people find what they seek and don’t realize what they were looking for until after it’s found them.

Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 2

My first rumination can be found at Ruminations Part I – “Your eyes are completely healed”
My second at Ruminations Part 2 – Numbers lead to informed decisions
Rumination Part 3-1 is Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 1

I learn. Usually about myself, and every day. Case in point, What I learned about myself by looking at a picture. Being ignorant is a gift. It means I can learn. (want to see some circular reasoning? Click here).

Sensitivity reading seems to come in two forms; Author incorrectly depicts X and/or Author uses a word or phrase which is offensive in some way, shape, or form.

The first is easily addressed. First ask “Is this a work of fiction?” If no, the author has an obligation to be accurate to the subject matter, nothing else. If yes, ask “Is the work internally consistent?” If no, the author has an obligation to the work to fix it, nothing else. If yes, stop because the author has no obligation to make their fiction toe-step to anything outside of their work.

But what do we do with offensive language?

 
Deciding a writer is prejudiced or bigoted because they use specific words in their work is the same as deciding Da Vinci is his brushstrokes or Michealangelo his marble. See what they bring forth using their skill and tools and judge that.

Do they use their hammer and chisel to bring forth beauty and illuminate some truths? I bow to them!

Do they use their brush and palette to create something for the ages? How can I be like them?
Continue reading “Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 2”

Search Chapter 11 – Friday, 18 January 1974

Search is loosely based on a real incident. The incident remains, the story is greatly different.

Enjoy. And remember, it’s still a work in progress. These chapters are rough drafts. I completed a rough draft of the entire novel on 1 June 2021, ~ 8:30pmET. It’s ~103k words, 42 chapters. I mention in earlier posts “…it seems I’ll complete the novel this time. We’ll see.”

It’s seen and done.

Read Search Chapter 10

 

Search Chapter 11 – Friday, 18 January 1974

Kagan read through the reports, sighed, and checked his watch against the office clock on the wall in the bullpen he shared with six other agents. Two minutes to go. He tapped his pencil on his inkblotter once for each second and counted down as he did so. He glanced at each of the other agents in the room, each at their desk, and wondered what kept them going. Already four years past retirement, the Bureau allowed him to stay on to close outstanding investigations. Done, done, and done.

Then his boss and his boss’ boss and his boss’ boss’ boss shuffled assignments around. In the midst of finding something for him to do, this case came in. They asked if he wanted it and he jumped.

It humbled him and he jumped. The most decorated investigator north of DC and east to Ohio and he jumped.

Janey, his wife of thirty-five years, had Stage 4 cancer. It looked like a goddamn plant on the pictures they showed him; the son-of-a-bitch had vines and roots all through Janey’s body and flowers blossomed everywhere. His wife of thirty-five years, his beloved Janey, was slowly dying in Beth Israel hospital in Boston’s Longwood area and the Bureau wanted him to have all his benefits for her sake.

Same as the folks at the synagogue. Really Janey’s synagogue. But now he went and prayed regularly. They had to give him a yarmulke. He didn’t own one. Whatever the FBI didn’t pick up the synagogue did. It was charity. He knew it was charity. Never in his life did he accept charity.

Now he accepted it. From both. For her sake.

He pulled out his wallet. Behind his license was a small leather patch labeled “Lee Jeans.” It came from the rear pocket of the jeans she wore the first time they met. “This way I’ll always have a piece of your ass in my pocket.”

It was a joke. They both laughed. They both told the story.

He rubbed the patch.

The clock ticked. Time for his weekly call to a Wenham, Mass, phonebooth to check in with his informant. If nobody picked up by ring three go to plan B.

He counted the rings like Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the Phone Operator. “One ringy-dingy. Two ringy-dingies. Three ringy…”

“Hello?”

He put a pad of paper on his desk and took a pen from his shirt pocket. “How’s the snowfall this time of year?”

“Not bad for a kid from Sabrosa.”

Kagan clicked his pen. “Go ahead.”

***

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Glaxus the Hawk

One day we were blessed with a small hawk in our yard.

Hawks visit us often as we have many bird feeders, many bird feeders bring many birds and other seed eaters (chipmunk, squirrel, the occasional neighbor, …), and much prey brings predators, hence hawks (among others)

I did not know this hawk’s name when I took the video and have since learned he is Glaxus.

Proud name for a hawk, don’t you think, Glaxus?

A name of power, a name of honor, a name of command.

Names are a fascinating study, especially to authors who must forever come up with names for characters.

And if you’re based in one culture and writing about someone from another culture, do you give the alien individual a name with meaning in your culture or one with meaning in the other’s culture?

And if you do the latter, you’ll need to explain the significance of the name in it’s original cultural setting.

Example: Ng Bao, literally “Seven Bread.” Who names their son (it’s a male name) “Seven Bread”?

In it’s original cultural setting, it denotes someone who’ll bring good luck and great favor onto the family.

Glaxus, the aforenamed hawk, will bring worlds to his fledglings.

Glorious children, they.

Enjoy.

 

Flashback as Story Frame

I wrote about using one-line story summaries to craft craft better stories in Using One-Line Summaries to Write Better Stories.

The next question is “How does the story come together on the page?” Note: we’re continuing with the work we did in Using One-Line Summaries to Write Better Stories.

Give the reader a reason to read your story.

 
You have to give the reader a reason to read the story. Reasons to read a story are varied and pretty much all come down to the reader asking themselves these questions:

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