The Last Days of March

It's been an interesting month.  A lot has happened in the world.  If this blog were about current events, I would be tempted to go off about the litany of headlines that shook the web, tv and newspapers during the past four weeks.  While my heart goes out to all of those suffering in Japan and elsewhere in the world, this blog is not intended to traverse those paths, besides I have a novel to rewrite.

Speaking of which, I have made headway on the rewrite this month.  Not as much as I would have liked, but I was able to address the Big Picture issues. I had, at the onset of this Blog back in December, planned on releasing Part One in July.  Though I may still, I no longer feel as if I must.  Sometimes life has other plans or puts obstacles in your way and you have to go around, through, over, and in some cases under.  It's just the way it is, such as what happened this month.  I wont go into detail, but I will say it has been difficult to focus and get as much done as I had hoped.  If I were to adhere to the July release plan, this month would be considered a setback, but by removing the pressure of July the month of March has been modestly productive.

I have high hopes for April.  It looks to be the first month of "real" rewriting.  By this time next month I should be well into Stage One. But we'll see.  Hopefully, things will not be as turbulent as this month.  Yet if they are, we will all just have to try and deal with it as best possible.

Thanks for reading.

 -aap

Keepin' it 'n perspective

Gaining or losing one's perspective at any particular moment, and whether or not we learn from these moments, dictates how all else will unfold thereafter.  Sports is a good example of this:  Learn an opponents tendencies and then take advantage of them.  Sounds easier in theory than it is in practice, for some people's tendencies are their strengths, and no matter what you do you can't stop them.  And so it is in all other aspects of life.  We of course gloss it all over with niceties and false expectations that themselves become a sort of asinine competition that shapes our lives.  But they are there and too must be kept in perspective.   This all came to mind as I found myself watching a program on the History Channel last night about Musashi Miyamoto.  

Musashi was one of the greatest warrior poets the world has ever seen.  He was truly a man's man and someone who, in my eyes, was worthy of learning more about.  His Book of Five Rings is filled with philosophical strategies that any person, male or female, would benefit from having read it at least once.

The reason I mention it at all is because Musashi's teachings about not losing ones view of the big picture in your life made me realize that I, at times, loose sight of the overall big picture in my life.  It's so easy to slip into the patterns of everyday with family or work or friends that their importance in the scheme of things can become skewed.  Each is important, and maintaining a proper balance can shift daily.  If there is not a proper balance, we might loose perspective. And if any of us want to reach our goals in due course than we must fight to keep all aspects of our lives in harmony. 

Thank you Musashi.

-aap

Thor's Day

Spring is in the air this St Patrick's Day – a time when we traditionally drink to our saints and watch college basketball.   But after viewing the new trailer for Sucker Punch, I am feeling motivated to venture back into the blogging world and talk a little mythology.

Mythology?  Really? 

Yes, really.  And I'll tell you why: because mythology is everywhere.  Some might say it is the fabric of our collective life.  If you still doubt the importance of mythology just do a little research into what day of the week it is today (Thursday), or why we celebrate today's holiday (St. Patrick’s Day) and then watch the Sucker Punch Trailer and tell me that none of them have anything to do with a mythology. 

Ok, moving on.

Having done extensive research in order to write numerous stories containing mythologies, and with my soon to be released novel, Monarch, also steeped deeply in various mythologies, I believe it is about time I shared a little on this subject. 

In my story Monarch my main character, Ginger Reed, is reading a book called Cipher in the lead-up to 12/21/2012.  To begin with, that date already has a lot of energy focused at it, and not much of it is good.  With all the catastrophes the world suffers in the lead up to that date, our collective fears shall grow, concerned that something else might be looming.  That fear, in its own right, can have dominion over many, just like the mythologies of art and religion have had since their inception.  We all believe in some sort of mythology, unless we believe in nothing and even that is a belief that has a faceless power at its source. 

I don’t want to give too much away, but the mythology behind Cipher is actually very simple.  I chose to mix aspects of reality from our everyday lives here on planet Earth with the power of our collective beliefs.  In Cipher the main character, Ted Parker, travels to a parallel dimension, one that is connected to our own existence here, but it is completely different.  From there in the parallel world the mythology holds sway over those back here on Earth.  Once the book is released I look forward to going into further detail, but until then I’ll have to leave you to wonder.


CHEERS! 

-aap