My Quest for Truth and Liberty
Savannah
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Posts by Savannah
Destination: Mises University 2011
Mar 15th
So I just got the official announcement from the Mises Institute that I’ve received a scholarship for Mises U. Suffice to say, I’m exceedingly thrilled. 
I get these shivers up and down my spine just thinking about how awesome it is going to be. It will be even more fun this year because I know some of the professors, faculty, and students, and I always like things better when I’m familiar with it. So if last year was fantastic, I can’t imagine how incredible this year will be
I’m also blessed with a nice boss who has already given me vacation time in July, so I don’t have to worry about that. And I’m pretty sure that I’ve been blessed with some wonderful friends who are going to get me there and stay the week with me. Haha, that came out a little awkwardly…what I’m not sure about is if our plans are going to work out, but I do know that if it does work, it will be a blessing.
Now I’ve got to do the required reading again…
Thus Begins My Second Weekend
Mar 12th
I may have said this before, but working every day gives the weekend a whole new dimension. “Oh…so that’s why people are so excited about Friday nights…”
I must say that my job has helped me have more sympathy for other people. In a sense, my job is bringing me out of the idealistic stage of youth. Don’t worry, it hasn’t made me entirely cynical yet, but it is slowly happening. For one thing, I understand now why some people don’t have the time to do things they like. Someone says they want to come to our Mises Circle, but doesn’t have the time, and now I can sympathize with them. When I get home from work (and I only work 12-5pm) I’m generally quite tired and ready to “chill” for a couple hours with the family while recuperating enough to give a webinar, study, or teach a class. I have my mornings to get things done, but I see how people with fulltime jobs wouldn’t have the time to do a whole lot, even though they may really want to do it.
Also, the last week or two have taught me some important lessons about life. It is way more complicated than I sometimes think. I have come face to face with a huge dilemma, my job or my liberty? And this life is no fairy tale, for I lost this battle. Let’s just say, the powers that be won out and I was forced to accept their system of legalized plunder, as Bastiat put it. However, notice what I said, “this life is no fairy tale”…but in the last few days, I’ve come to realize that there’s more to my life than just this life. No, I don’t mean reincarnation. I mean, the eternal life that is to come. And while there are imperfections, sorrows, and injustices in this world, they will be righted in the next world. If there was no injustice here, why would we care about going to Heaven?
So this whole struggle has helped me understand in a deeper, more personal sense that my eyes should be set on the next world, for we can’t expect things to go right here. Up to this point, I haven’t had that many “crisis” moments that would define my direction in life. I have met the enemy and he has won, for now, and I’m not ashamed to say that. Yes, it means that I’ve had to compromise on my strongest beliefs, it means the life I’m living no longer perfectly matches what I talk about, it means that I must now deal with the regrets and pains of knowing my own hard-earned money is going to fund murder (in the form of abortion and needless wars), corruption, tyranny, and all that I have philosophically rejected, but I can keep going and keep on hoping. Why? Not because I dream of a time in my life when all of this will be ended (although that is one of my hopes, and I’m still trying for it) but because I know that there will come a time with all tyranny will be punished and justice will triumph and in that time and in that place there will be no stealing, no pain, no injustice, no murder, and no tyranny.
I have two other points related to this (don’t give up yet…this post won’t be too much longer!):
If God’s justice had not already been satisfied, I would not be longing for that time of righting wrongs. For we have all wronged God. We have rebelled against His divine justice and His very character demands punishment. But because Christ has satisfied that justice and redeemed all those who will believe, I can look forward to the Day of Judgement.
When thinking about Heaven, I’ve been tempted to use the words “perfect liberty” to describe it. But I think that misses the point. The reason it is unjust for one person to steal from another is because they are both just people. The thief is no better than the victim. What claim does the thief have on the life of their victim? No legitimate claim whatsoever. However, in Heaven, it will be different. For there we will be living for the only One who does have a legitimate claim on our life and being, our Creator. In practical terms, God is the only One who has a right to our paycheck. In fact, if He wanted, He would demand the entirety of our weekly earnings, for He’s made us, made this earth, gave us a job, and is keeping us alive so we can work. He is the only One who deserves all that we are and all that we have. Not only does He deserve it, that is the reason for our existence. Just as artists make paintings to express the artist’s character, we were made to express and worship God and who He is. Of course, we do this imperfectly here, but in Heaven there will be ultimate fulfillment of the emptiness and dissatisfaction inside. Instead of being frustrated and discouraged, we will be doing what we’re meant to do! Imagine the frustration of a painting that is used as a coat rack…and imagine the complete bliss and joy of that painting when someday it is actually displayed as a painting that mirrors the artist who created it. It isn’t tyranny for the artist to hang the painting on the wall, it is foolish for the painting to try to be anything but a painting. That’s how I look at it, and what’s why these trials and troubles haven’t left me without hope.
Thus Begins the Second Week of Work
Mar 7th
In about 2 hours I’m heading in to my second week of working. So, “how was the first week?” you ask. It was a mixed week. Some of it was really tedious and boring. But some of it was really, really interesting. And at least the boring work (scanning papers into the computer) has a purpose. It has been fascinating to see how the business works, to understand the weak areas and the flaws, and to start thinking out ways to improve production and communication.
While I had not thought about such a job (I actually entertained thoughts of working at a lovely coffee house), it has turned out to be far more interesting and challenging than a lot of other positions. It all fits in perfectly with my economic knowledge and it is exciting to be an important part of helping this business improve, grow, and please their customers better.
For instance, I’ve lectured plenty about consumer sovereignty in the market. But this week my boss was saying, “we don’t run the business, our customers do. They are the ones who decide what we do.” While in one perspective, this is a negative thing (small business overrun by large corporation, etc…), it is also a perfect real-life example of consumer sovereignty. It is great to work with real-life entrepreneurs and see what they must do and go through in order to be successful. This is going to give me some great material for my economics lectures
It is also a little awe-inspiring to discover how complex the system of production is. You can talk about the capital structure all day without comprehending what it means. But I’m slowly getting just a taste of how complicated it is to produce capital. I have a whole new appreciation for airplanes, because I know where the tiny little screws in the engine come from. I can only imagine where everything else comes from. It is just incredible to think of the cooperation, organization, and skills it requires to build a jet! There’s a whole new dimension to the classic saying, “no one can make a pencil.” The world today is highly specialized, and I’m in on just a tiny, infinitesimal fraction of the production process.
It is also awe-inspiring to realize how God worked all of this out. While I generally worry about things quite a bit, in this area I had been trying to relax, pray, and trust that in God’s perfect time He would present some opportunity to me. And this job far surpasses any of my ideas! :)
A Working Girl!
Feb 28th
So today I’m officially entering the the realm of workers. No, it doesn’t make me chafe against the greed of the capitalist, I’m actually very thankful for capitalists who will employ me. So the details that everyone is asking me about…
I’ll working at Rockford ID Shop, they make hundreds of these little parts for airplanes. Apparently their parts are in nearly every plane, so that’s pretty cool. It is a family-owned business trying to keep afloat despite the pressure from super-big corporations. I’ll be answering the phone, doing computer work, and other stuff. While they’d like a full-time person, I will just be doing part-time for now, there’s way too much going on in my life to work full-time. It was amazing how the job came about, I didn’t apply or anything, it basically just fell into my lap. A mutual friend recommended me, they emailed me, we went to see the place, they looked at my resume, and offered me the job. God is good!
But I know all y’all aren’t really interested in all these nitty-gritty details, so I’ll make an application to economics. Given that I’ve lived and breathed economics for the last year or more, what impact will that have on how I work in the “real” world?
- Thanks to economics, I realize that in order to keep my job, the value I add to the business must be worth at least how much I’m being paid, or more. My marginal productivity must offset how much I cost to the company. So that means I’m going to spend my time wisely, i.e., not texting (considering that I don’t/can’t text anyways, this shouldn’t be an issue….) or browsing Facebook while I’m supposed to be working. This means I need to be thorough and motivated to do my job well. Instead of just getting by with the bare minimum, I should be doing the absolute best possible.
- Thanks to economics, I have a good understanding of what consumers expect from a business. In these days, consumers want an excellent product and they want it now. Part of my job will be analyzing the technology and production to find more efficient ways to get information to the buyers and trying to cut out any wasted time during the process of a buyer ordering a product, the production, and the delivery, be it a delay between the actual production of a good and the progress report online or whatever.
- Thanks to economics, I realize the importance of staying one step ahead of competitors. I know that a successful entrepreneur must be constantly improving and becoming more efficient to stay in business, or else a competitor will begin gaining ground on them.
I’m not only excited about my job because, well, it is a job, but because it will be a really great experience in seeing how the market works, from the perspective of the producer. It will help me understand the capital structure better, so that will mean even better lectures on the business cycle! It will also help me understand the negative impact government regulations have on businesses and production…but don’t get me started on that topic :-/ And I’m excited about my job because I’ll be doing something that’s really needed for the long-term success of the business (in other words, it is an important and significant job) and I’ll be part of this work to keep providing the best goods at the lowest price.
I plan to keep blogging at least once or twice a week, so don’t give up on me altogether. Haha, I remember the days when I felt really bad if I didn’t blog at least once a day. Yeah…
And I’m still going to do my webinars through March. I’m just taking it one month at a time, so we’ll see what happens after that.
But if you don’t see so many blog posts, and you don’t see me so much on Facebook, it is because I’m trying to increase my marginal productivity.
Review of “Taking Chance”
Feb 21st
This isn’t really a proper review, just my own rantings on the subject.
I was all excited to watch Inception tonight…but it was a little too chaotic for my parents, so we watched Taking Chance instead. It is the story of a Marine who volunteers to take the body or “remains” (as they say in the movie) from the East Coast to a little town in Montana.
As I said on Facebook, it was a heartbreaking movie. Why? Because the message was so clear: War is good. War is noble. Go sacrifice your life for the “greater good,” give up your individuality, your uniqueness, and join the ranks of others who must give all, for our “interests.” And when you die, you’ll come home a hero and everyone at the airports will pause as your coffin is being carried by. And the VFW groups will hold parties in your honor. And hundreds of people will come to your funeral. Everyone will admire your courage and bravery.
What really annoyed me is how they never showed the Marine’s face. Now, come on…Hollywood has no qualms whatsoever when it comes to obscenities (I’m using this in the classic Greek sense, of things that ought to stay “off scene” because they are too graphic or violent) and moviemakers never flinch when it comes to portraying blood and guts and gore. But no, when it is a soldier we can’t do that! We’ll only give some beautiful shots of his crisp and bright uniform, his shiny buttons and pure white gloves. But not his face, because after all, the government said it was not recommended for viewing. Since when does Hollywood care if things are too terrible to be viewed? But no, if young people saw the ugliness and the violence, they might not want to join the military! And then what good would the movie be?
So throughout the whole movie, every time the casket was being transported, people would stop and put their hands over their hearts. Airport workers stopped. Passengers on the planes stopped. Cars slowed down for them on the road. Come on? Really? That’s not realistic, it doesn’t seem. It is like everyone “sensed” something special and stopped. Since when does that happen in real life? Now I know, I don’t exactly get around much, but it just doesn’t seem right. Everyone was bending over backwards to honor this Marine. It seems that in real life people would just tend to ignore a person in uniform, treat them like everyone else, or say something negative to the Marine…if they were one of those awful leftist anti-war people (just being sarcastic…).
And none of the military officers seemed to understand the futility and tragedy of the war. Oh yeah, this is based on a true story of a soldier in the War in Iraq. That’s the specific war we’re talking about, Bush’s war. Anyways, either everyone was proud of their “service” or regretted that they had not given more to the cause. I think that in real life veterans come back either haunted by their experiences or disillusioned by the reality of war. There was none of that in this movie.
And I don’t think the government gives each fallen soldier such elaborate and detailed attention. It was really quite ridiculous to think of the all time spent on one body and coffin, when you multiply that by all the deaths that occur each month in the war. No wonder we’re not winning the war, everyone is too busy escorting caskets home!
However, I don’t want this to sound harsh or ungrateful. I have deep respect for anyone who is willing to give their lives in any way. I’m not that brave. The tragedy is that these poor souls got caught up in this great net of power struggles and government interests. This trap is deadly for many. And for those who live, the scars haunt them forever. The tragedy is that anyone has given their life for such a futile purpose. I mourn with the family of those who have fallen. I mourn so much for the dead that I wish to find a way to keep others from that fate. Instead of saying, “It is a terrible tragedy that Chance died. He was a good young man, he will be deeply missed. Now I’m going to go over there too” (in the movie Chance’s sister and her fiancee were both in the military) I say, “It is a terrible tragedy that Chance died. He was a good young man, he will be deeply missed. Let’s keep others from dying there as well. Let’s not go on repeating this tragedy ad infinitum, but stop the killing and stop the hatred.”
There is a very fine line between government-worship and disrespect for those who have died in the war. I wish to maintain a balance between opposing a pointless war and respecting the individuals who gave their all, no matter what their cause.
So I told my dad we need a good Ron Paul speech (I was thinking of the neat remix of his speech to Congress, “What If?”) to straighten things out again.
The Days Slowly Ebb Away…
Feb 17th
Firstly, the trackpad on my Mac stopped working this week. While this was really annoying and frustrating, it thankfully was not so much of a crisis since I have an external mouse which is doing a decent job right now. I miss the convenience of having a trackpad right there under the keyboard and I miss all the great finger swipes and shortcuts I was used to. Computer work is a bit more laborious, I feel like I’m almost using a PC again and not a Mac. And if you were at my Tuesday webinar, I think the problem was that my trackpad was not responding, instead of there being a problem with the webinar software.
The longer I live the more I realize this truth, make every day count and don’t waste a single moment. In highschool I rarely felt the urgency that surrounded me. I had such a limited time to devote all my time to learning and studying. I didn’t use my time like I should have. I wasted so much time because I wasn’t aware of how valuable that time was. And then this last year or so I’ve had the wonderful experience of being able to study whatever I’d like, give speeches, and basically pursue whatever I wanted. And I mean this in a good way, I didn’t waste all my days in reading novels and browsing Facebook (well, except for a few times…) but have done a lot of really productive and beneficial things. I’ve taught classes. Written a book. Given speeches. Studied economics. Read lots of good books. I’ve kept busy. But I’ve been thinking about needing to get a job to cover the expenses of driving (which I will be doing, Lord willing, in a little over a month). Like driving, I haven’t thought much about a job. I like my life right now so much I feel like it isn’t quite time to move on. Of course, in a couple months I’ll feel the same way. I’m not anxious to part with my hours of time for studying or teaching. But this week I’ve had two job opportunities come up, totally unsolicited and unexpected. While I’m not sure yet if both will go through, I’m quite sure that at least one will work out and so I’m beginning to think about how that will change my life.
I realize, very poignantly, that this is a season of my life that I will never see again. The days slowly ebb away and each one brings change and fresh opportunities. While this is good and to be expected, I want to cling to this season that I’ve enjoyed so much. It is a bittersweet thing.
I bought a bunch of books from the Mises Institute last fall, intending to read them in the coming months. I haven’t made much progress, and I’m afraid I won’t make any significant progress in the next couple months either. There will probably never again be a time when I can spend an entire day reading Man, Economy, and State. It is sad, but exciting. Who knows what this new time of life will bring?
It all brings me back to this same point. We can’t waste our days because we don’t have that many.
A Philosophical Dilemma
Feb 9th
Oddly enough, this post was inspired by an Andy Griffith episode I watched last night. Let me quickly summarize the story so this will make sense.
Ellie (works at drugstore) discovers there’s a girl living out on a farm near town who longs to have make-up, lipstick, perfume, etc…but doesn’t have any. So Ellie and Andy go out to the farm and give her a sampling of these items as a gift. The girl’s father walks up to them, discovers the items, and makes his daughter give them back to Ellie, saying that she doesn’t have any need for them. This infuriates Ellie (who faintly resembles a “liberated” woman of the modern age) and she persuades Barney to go back and confront the farmer and force him to allow his daughter to come to town and get “prettied up.” Of course Barney doesn’t have the guts to confront the farmer so he sneaks around the farm and steals the girl away to town, without the farmer knowing about it. Ellie pretties her up and reveals a very beautiful young woman under all the grime and overalls. They take her back to the farm, convinced that her father will realize how much all of this means to his daughter now that he can see her beauty. He is impressed but adamant; he has no sons and is struggling to keep his farm going. He needs his daughter not to parade around in high heels but put the overalls back on and get to work. Andy is very diplomatic and shows the farmer that if his daughter is all prettied up and attractive it will draw strong farm boys from all around and he’ll probably end up with a very productive and helpful son-in-law. So of course it all turns out happily ever after.
My immediate thought as I watched it was, “that isn’t any of their business!” and this is what Andy originally says too, before being swayed by Ellie’s pleading expression. But that doesn’t change that fact that this daughter is really none of their business.
However, I wanted to think through what would happen in this type of situation without any government. Granted, Andy wasn’t really acting on behalf of the law, but he was seen as a representative of the state and could have possibly arrested the farmer on some trumped-up charges to “free” his daughter. So I wanted to think about what would happen if there had been no state. What I came up with was this:
If Ellie had such a problem with this “cruel” farmer depriving his daughter of all these feminine luxuries then she perhaps should have talk to the community and raised this issue with them. She could argue her case with them and ask that if they disagreed with the farmer’s decision then they should refuse to trade with him or allow him to buy at their stores. In that type of situation I could easily see the other farmers siding with this particular farmer, as they understood his plight. And perhaps the younger generation in the city proper would side with Ellie. So Ellie might or might be successful in persuading the farmer to “liberate” his daughter. A couple points about this:
1) It would not be force against the farmer. No one would be coercing him into anything. It would simply be a withdrawal of exchange. “You don’t let your daughter wear lipstick, we won’t let you buy our _________.” This is where you can see the clear line between a free society and a society ruled by a state. The state is force and violence. The free society can only withdraw privileges. I say privileges because the farmer really has no “right” to trade with anyone. Just wanted to clarify that point. Some (including family members…) have responded with, “now, that’s absurd! That’s horrible! Just because this farmer has some reason why he doesn’t want his daughter to wear makeup doesn’t mean that people can isolate him and make him entirely self-dependent. How will he make a living if he can’t sell or buy things? He’ll have to move somewhere else and start all over again–just because of this rabble-rouser, Ellie.” But here’s why I don’t think that would happen, especially over such a trivial matter.
2) Trade and exchange is mutually beneficial. It is easy for us to look at the farmer and think that the rest of the community is doing him a favor by trading with him. But let’s say he sells a certain amount of corn to someone for $10. We’ll say X lbs. corn for $10. Haha, can’t escape from my algebraic past…these X’s are still haunting me! Anyways…the farmer says to the miller, “hey, I’ve got this X lbs. of corn, would you like to buy it?” Miller replies, “sure, that sounds great. I was needing some corn.” So they exchange goods. And who benefits? BOTH!! The miller has benefitted from the exchange just as the farmer did. And so then the farmer takes this $10 to the butcher and says, “I need a side of beef, can you sell it to me?” Just because the farmer initiated this exchange doesn’t mean that he’s the only one who needs the good. The butcher probably needs the $10 to pay his bills too. So the butcher trades with him. Side of beef for $10. Who benefits? BOTH parties!!
Imagine a businessperson who refused to do business with people who had a different religion than him. Or who didn’t wear a certain type of clothing. Or who wore glasses. Or…you get the point. It doesn’t make business sense to keep restricting your market like that. There would have to be a really, really good reason to convince someone not to trade with a particular person.
Back to the story. If Ellie were going to be successful in working against this farmer she would have to persuade everyone to give up the benefits they would receive through trading with the farmer. I think most of them would be unwilling to forfeit the sales of goods to the farmer just because his daughter didn’t wear makeup. I don’t think the extreme situation mentioned above would actually occur over something this small. But then I wondered what would happen if the problem was bigger. Let’s say the farmer beat his daughter. Then what?
I think this would definitely be too much for the people of the community to accept. While not being allowed to wear makeup is a passive act, being beaten is an active encroachment on her rights. And I doubt if anyone would object if the community began to isolate him and refuse to do business with him until he stopped beating his daughter and made some kind of restitution. And the same for a situation like murder.
So then the problem seems to be that there’s a disconnect between beating a girl and not letting her wear makeup. And this is a very subjective and “gray” area; I’m just going to give my own thoughts on it and you can think whatever you’d like about it.
The girl lives with her father. She eats the food that he helps to produce. She lives under the roof he has provided her. And so I don’t think it is wrong for him to ask her to do or not do certain things. She is under his jurisdiction. I assume that the girl is over 18 and could have run away if she had wanted to be “free” so badly. But no, she stayed with her father despite the toil and difficulties, and likewise he shared of his stores and food with her. It appeared that he had never explained to her why she wasn’t allowed to have the same things as other girls. I think that it would have been nicer if he had shown her how much he needed her help and how she was the only help he had. Instead of feeling and acting like he was forcing her into this servile position they could have worked together as a team, she sacrificing her own desires so that their farm would prosper and he doing likewise. This would have made their relationship better, but I don’t think he was obligated to tell her.
Question is, did the girl have the right to wear makeup and such things? Yes, she had the right to do whatever she liked…but by living under the jurisdiction of her father she forfeited certain rights in order to receive the privileges he gave her, such as a roof over her head, food to eat, and a father’s protection. We all give up certain rights whenever we enter any type of relationship. A mother gives up her right to read books all day long when she has a child, for the privilege of being a mother. A wife gives up certain rights when she marries for the privileges of a husband’s protection, leadership, provision, etc…This is part of life. We freely choose to forfeit certain things to gain others. And we are constantly engaged in acts of valuation, “is this privilege more valuable to me than this right?” And every time we choose one end we are giving up another less-valued end. The girl valued the benefits that came from living under her father’s jurisdiction more than the freedoms she could have had by living somewhere else.
I know that the feminists would probably kill me for this blog post, but hey, it is just my humble opinion. I thought it was an interesting situation and wanted to think it through a bit. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts as on this too!
First Webinar!
Feb 1st
I got done with my first webinar about 30 minutes ago. On this night of The Biggest Snow Storm of the Century I was happy to stay inside and talk about economics…a great way to spend a blustery and frigid evening.
The first webinar was really great! I think everyone (including me) enjoyed it, and that’s the important part. What use is economics if you aren’t having fun?
Webinars are quite challenging, and it will take me a little time to get used to this different format. It is hard not seeing my audience or hearing them ask questions. Reading questions off a screen isn’t like listening to people ask them. And if I say something funny I don’t know if anyone else was laughing. In a way, it feels like I’m just talking to myself. And so at some moments I feel rather ridiculous and then remember, “oh, I’ve got people actually listening to me. That’s nice!”
Next week’s webinars will be on the history of economic thought leading up to the Austrians. I’m going to show why the Austrians were significant and what gap they were filling. I’ll talk about Aristotle and the importance of the Scholastics in early economics before I start bashing Adam Smith and all the terrible things he did. To be fair, he did say some right and good things, although as Rothbard noted, everything correct Adam Smith said was not original (he was a notorious plagiarist) and whatever was original was wrong. I’ll also talk about some of the less known early economists like Cantillon. It should be really fun. I’m already excited.
This week’s webinar was on the Austrian business cycle theory and the application to historical depressions in America. I’ll be giving it again on Saturday if you’d like to join it then. Please register here though, because there isn’t much room left.
Thoughts on Egypt
Jan 31st
I know that everyone is suddenly saying, “oh…I’ve got some thoughts on Egypt” or “I’ve always had a feeling about Egypt…” but hey, if you’re here reading my blog it is because you like what I say, so you might just appreciate my thoughts on the Egyptian crisis.
Frankly, I haven’t thought much about Egypt before. It is like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I vaguely knew they existed, but it wasn’t until everyone started talking about it that I got interested.
I was watching some of the footage from it last week. I have mixed thoughts about what’s going on there. The conventional, safe, “ordinary” side of me is thinking, “uh-oh. Watch out for those people. They are mad. And doing crazy things. I hope that never happens here.” But I was discussing the subject last week with a friend and our conversation led me to see it from another perspective. While we shouldn’t encourage violence and protests like that, at least the people recognize that they are enslaved and at least they desire liberty. Seeing all those people burning pictures of their “dear leader” (I forget his name…) and overpowering rows of police officers with black masks and all that, it does excite and inspire me a little. As my friend said, and I’m loosely quoting, “a few days of freedom, even with a little chaos, would be worth it.” If all the good people in America would rise up like the Egyptians, it would cheer my heart. But I’m afraid of something like that happening here, because you’d get the good and the bad rising up. We would have violent people who don’t respect others. We’d have entitlement-minded people interested only in looting others. There is no foundation of Common Law or property rights here, and it would get very wild very fast.
But I like seeing these bold people striking out against tyrants and upsetting the plans of world leaders.
On the writing of a novel
Jan 31st
I haven’t yet published my first novel (thought it is very close to publication by now) and I’m already planning my next one. This phase of writing is nearly as wonderful as the actual writing. Right now anything is possible. I can dream big dreams and create fantastic plots. I’ve learned many lessons from my first novel. So here’s what I’m doing different:
- The first ever novel I wrote had a plot and theme much too small. It would have made a decent short story, but not a novel. It was misery trying to drag that thing out enough. I ended up abandoning the whole endeavor. The second novel I wrote (Path of Grass) began as short stories but then I discovered that was too big for a short story. It fit into a novel much better than a short story. With this next novel I intend to start with a spacious plot and plan for a novel. It was so hard to get Path of Grass turned into a novel. It was like building a house and converting it into a cathedral. I’m going to start out with a nice big theme and plan my novel instead of the novel dragging me along.
- I’m going to develop my scenes and settings more. It is going to be something like a movie script, where you describe each scene in the movie. I’m going to do my background work on the location and settings. I want it to be colorful and realistic. It is a modern story set in a midwestern small town. This is on purpose, for this is what I know best. I’ve grown up in the midwest near a small town. Writers are always told “write about what you know.” While Path of Grass is set somewhat in the midwest, it does contain some exotic elements (war-torn Germany…futuristic Uzbekistan, etc…) that I’ve never experienced. So I hope that my next novel will be even stronger because of the setting. And this is a time when I long to be an artist. I wish I could draw. I have this deep desire to draw out my rooms. Sketch the furniture, the little knick-knacks, the coffee-cup, the carpet, the cat on the rug, all the things that make the story real. It would be so wonderful for me to create these images of my world. As it is, I have just words which are harder to use.
- I’m going to have deeper characters. I’m going to “live” my characters. This will be a little difficult because I have many characters. Not just many inconsequential characters but quite a few really important people. I guess this is what comes of reading too much Dickens. I want to know exactly how they look, how they think, what they feel, their life history, their dreams/hopes, fears, everything. I want to get inside them and know them before I even start writing.
- I want to have a story that wrestles with the reality of our absurdity as creatures alienated from our Creator. But I also want a story that presents the redemption that we can find through our Creator’s entrance into our little world.
- I don’t want a trite story. I hate trite things. I don’t like stories that reduce the Gospel to the equivalent of a child’s coloring book. I don’t want a story with easy, nice answers.
- I don’t want a story with nice characters. I’ve made it my motto to never have characters without some sort of fault. I want my story to be inspired by the many encounters Jesus had with “sinners.” He ate with sinners. He ate with tax-collectors and prostitutes. It was the “nice” people Jesus rejected. It was the self-righteous religious people who never realized their great sin and so never realized their need for Christ…and who never appreciated the grace of God towards sinful humanity.
I’m not going to spill anymore right now as I think this story will go through many variations and changes before it emerges to the public.
