I just finished a great read.
If you are interested in history and have a good sense of humour, let me recommend “1,000 Years of Annoying the French”. It is by English historian Stephen Clarke and available via Amazon.
I bought it at Heathrow Airport on my way home from Turkey. It’s long. It’s funny. It’s provocative.
From William the Conqueror in 1066 through the 100 Years War right up to Charles de Gaulle and the building of the Chunnel, Clarke rips and rolls his unique way through French-English history.
His comments about the French approach to national honour are particularly interesting in light of the French soccer team debacle in South Africa. As the team arrived home in shame, their leader Thierry Henry was called on the carpet in front of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (Lest we get too smug, let’s consider how we respond when Team Canada fails in international hockey. Oh the ignominy! Oh the shame! Oh the national hand-wrenching!)
Now France (and Italy) begins the process of reviewing their national honour in light of their teams’ struggles in what is, after all, a game.
But where is the shame and hand-wrenching on things that really matter? Where is the national soul search when as a country we adopt policies or legislation that fly in the face of all that this country was founded upon? Where is the angst when Judaeo-Christian principles are mocked, stripped away and trampled upon by the politically correct brigade? Where is the anger when people who express a faith and a faith-based approach are ridiculed? Where is the shame when politicians are lambasted for mentioning God or expressing their faith in the course of their duties?
It’s easy to get our knickers in a knot over the inconsequential. But it’s a lot harder to tackle the tough issues our country faces.
It’s time to confront the PC elitists who have taken upon themselves the mantle of “protector” of fairness and equality when in reality they are anything but fair and equal. It’s time to challenge their false premise that any expression of faith or belief must be stamped down in the name of an inclusive society. Simply put, that’s BS and its time we stood up and said so.
Maybe it’s time to write a book “1,000 ways to annoy the Politically Correct”. Would I get any buyers?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Complaints
It’s hot and humid, but repeat after me: I will not complain after the crappy summer we had last year!
Complaining is human nature, I guess. Last summer was too cold and too wet. The winter before was too snowy and cold. There’s not enough rain. There’s too much rain. It’s too sunny. It’s not sunny enough.
There has to be a balance point doesn’t there?
The complaints last week were all about the G8/G20 summits and the way Toronto was shut down. Not about the topics of discussion by the world leaders, of course, but more about the way our lives were disrupted. The Blue Jays game with the return of Roy Halladay was moved to Philadelphia, for crying out loud! This vibrant city becomes a ghost town on a summer weekend. Traffic disruption as motorcades roared up and down from cottage country carrying various and sundry world leaders. Very little water cooler talk though about AIDS, poverty in developing nations, infant mortality, nuclear development in North Korea and Iran, Sudan…well I could go on, but you get the picture.
Maybe it’s just that we can’t grasp the immensity of the problem; traffic we can understand and cope with, international aid and development we can’t. Maybe it’s because we feel powerless in the face of huge problems.
And so we complain about our weather issues or traffic issues or whether the Leafs should have given up those draft picks for Kessell.
Life is easier that way.
Complaining is human nature, I guess. Last summer was too cold and too wet. The winter before was too snowy and cold. There’s not enough rain. There’s too much rain. It’s too sunny. It’s not sunny enough.
There has to be a balance point doesn’t there?
The complaints last week were all about the G8/G20 summits and the way Toronto was shut down. Not about the topics of discussion by the world leaders, of course, but more about the way our lives were disrupted. The Blue Jays game with the return of Roy Halladay was moved to Philadelphia, for crying out loud! This vibrant city becomes a ghost town on a summer weekend. Traffic disruption as motorcades roared up and down from cottage country carrying various and sundry world leaders. Very little water cooler talk though about AIDS, poverty in developing nations, infant mortality, nuclear development in North Korea and Iran, Sudan…well I could go on, but you get the picture.
Maybe it’s just that we can’t grasp the immensity of the problem; traffic we can understand and cope with, international aid and development we can’t. Maybe it’s because we feel powerless in the face of huge problems.
And so we complain about our weather issues or traffic issues or whether the Leafs should have given up those draft picks for Kessell.
Life is easier that way.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The book journey begins
How many times have you been told you can’t rest on your laurels?
For me, too many times!
Nevertheless, I am going to rest on a few laurels for a day or two before I get back to work. For three years I have been sweating away at a novel. Yes, the Great Canadian Novel (except that it takes place in three different centuries and nowhere in Canada) is slowly but surely gestating and growing. It is titled Caliburn and is set in three different times: the 6th, 14th and 21st centuries
I have been in the communication and media business for many years (don’t ask how many, I won’t tell) but writing fiction is a new challenge. It is a skill set that requires radical new ways (for me) of writing. And it is often a Catch 22 situation: if you don’t have an agent, you won’t get published but on the other hand, if you’re not published you can’t get an agent.
Well, the breakthrough occurred. I got an agent! I had contacted him a year ago. He agreed to take a look at it, but warned me that he was going to send it to an editor who would evaluate it for him before he agreed to take me on. Nice. Well last week the evaluation came through. Let me brag a bit. That hard-nosed editor’s response was “Wow!” and compared my book to a cross between Clive Cussler and Stephen Lawhead. At other places she compared me to Dan Brown. High company and my ego was well and truly flattered. Wow indeed!
The agent immediately offered to represent me and flog (my words, not his) the book to US publishers. Needless to say, I accepted.
So let me rest on the laurels for a while.
You see, this week the real work begins. Now I have to rewrite great chunks of it. I have to revise, change scenes, create more structure and better pacing and on and on and on. But I thought it was good?!
A friend recently told me that writers create good books, but editors make them.
So I am going to take his and the editor’s advice. Rewrite and revise will be my new mantra.
For me, too many times!
Nevertheless, I am going to rest on a few laurels for a day or two before I get back to work. For three years I have been sweating away at a novel. Yes, the Great Canadian Novel (except that it takes place in three different centuries and nowhere in Canada) is slowly but surely gestating and growing. It is titled Caliburn and is set in three different times: the 6th, 14th and 21st centuries
I have been in the communication and media business for many years (don’t ask how many, I won’t tell) but writing fiction is a new challenge. It is a skill set that requires radical new ways (for me) of writing. And it is often a Catch 22 situation: if you don’t have an agent, you won’t get published but on the other hand, if you’re not published you can’t get an agent.
Well, the breakthrough occurred. I got an agent! I had contacted him a year ago. He agreed to take a look at it, but warned me that he was going to send it to an editor who would evaluate it for him before he agreed to take me on. Nice. Well last week the evaluation came through. Let me brag a bit. That hard-nosed editor’s response was “Wow!” and compared my book to a cross between Clive Cussler and Stephen Lawhead. At other places she compared me to Dan Brown. High company and my ego was well and truly flattered. Wow indeed!
The agent immediately offered to represent me and flog (my words, not his) the book to US publishers. Needless to say, I accepted.
So let me rest on the laurels for a while.
You see, this week the real work begins. Now I have to rewrite great chunks of it. I have to revise, change scenes, create more structure and better pacing and on and on and on. But I thought it was good?!
A friend recently told me that writers create good books, but editors make them.
So I am going to take his and the editor’s advice. Rewrite and revise will be my new mantra.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thank you for our media
It never ceases to amaze me how insular our society is becoming.
More and more, people across Canada are seeking out and listening only to media outlets that agree with their particular viewpoint. Whether people are “right” or “Left”, there are media they watch or read because those outlets “tell the truth” and paragons of virtue. And, of course, those “other” media are the embodiment of the devil!
All too often this insularity is coupled with a lack of discernment. People readily believe something these days because they saw it on YouTube, or read about it on someone’s Twitter account. There is no fact-checking. There is no questioning. There is no thoughtful discourse. Only condemnation of those who hold alternative views.
I just finished taping another episode of Behind the Story a one hour public affairs show on the CTS network (see it Sunday night at 7 pm EST; or go to the CTS website online viewer) and it always amazes me and impresses me how many good journalists there are in newspapers and broadcast outlets across Canada.
And by good I mean concerned, informative, intelligent and insightful.
We covered a variety of topics on the show—from the firing of US General McChrystal to the G8/G20 meetings in Toronto, to the Vatican’s approval of the Blues Brothers and disapproval of Lady Gaga. Eclectic topics yes, but typical of this show’s broad range of discussion. The show tries to look behind the media coverage of such stories rather than discuss the stories themselves; how well (or poorly) was the news item covered, and were there any holes missing in the story?
We are lucky to live in a country where our media can cover all manner of news events. But we are also lucky to live in a country where we can ourselves question the media and its interpretations or bias (real or imagined). For those of us who make a living with words, these are important blessings that we far too often slough off as trifling.
Try explaining that attitude to those who live in countries where such freedom to communicate does not exist!
Does this mean I agree with everything another guest says on the programme? Or that they agree with me? No, but the show does demonstrate something that sadly is too often missing in today’s society—respect for opposing viewpoints.
I guess there will always be those who disparage The Star or CBC for being “liberal leftwing hot beds”, or those who rail against the Toronto Sun or National Post for their “right-wing demagoguery”. The fact of the matter is that all of them are doing a good job in difficult times of gleaning fact from fiction, right from wrong and truth from lies. We may not always agree with their conclusions or perspectives, but thank God they exist. Canada is a better place for them and its time we started drinking from the opposing cups once in a while. It might even be good for us
More and more, people across Canada are seeking out and listening only to media outlets that agree with their particular viewpoint. Whether people are “right” or “Left”, there are media they watch or read because those outlets “tell the truth” and paragons of virtue. And, of course, those “other” media are the embodiment of the devil!
All too often this insularity is coupled with a lack of discernment. People readily believe something these days because they saw it on YouTube, or read about it on someone’s Twitter account. There is no fact-checking. There is no questioning. There is no thoughtful discourse. Only condemnation of those who hold alternative views.
I just finished taping another episode of Behind the Story a one hour public affairs show on the CTS network (see it Sunday night at 7 pm EST; or go to the CTS website online viewer) and it always amazes me and impresses me how many good journalists there are in newspapers and broadcast outlets across Canada.
And by good I mean concerned, informative, intelligent and insightful.
We covered a variety of topics on the show—from the firing of US General McChrystal to the G8/G20 meetings in Toronto, to the Vatican’s approval of the Blues Brothers and disapproval of Lady Gaga. Eclectic topics yes, but typical of this show’s broad range of discussion. The show tries to look behind the media coverage of such stories rather than discuss the stories themselves; how well (or poorly) was the news item covered, and were there any holes missing in the story?
We are lucky to live in a country where our media can cover all manner of news events. But we are also lucky to live in a country where we can ourselves question the media and its interpretations or bias (real or imagined). For those of us who make a living with words, these are important blessings that we far too often slough off as trifling.
Try explaining that attitude to those who live in countries where such freedom to communicate does not exist!
Does this mean I agree with everything another guest says on the programme? Or that they agree with me? No, but the show does demonstrate something that sadly is too often missing in today’s society—respect for opposing viewpoints.
I guess there will always be those who disparage The Star or CBC for being “liberal leftwing hot beds”, or those who rail against the Toronto Sun or National Post for their “right-wing demagoguery”. The fact of the matter is that all of them are doing a good job in difficult times of gleaning fact from fiction, right from wrong and truth from lies. We may not always agree with their conclusions or perspectives, but thank God they exist. Canada is a better place for them and its time we started drinking from the opposing cups once in a while. It might even be good for us
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