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Redneck Sustainability: Get ‘er Done

October 9, 2010 by David Mark Brown

There are two kinds of rednecks. They can be identified by their mudflaps/bumper stickers. One is the “back off” Yosemite Sam redneck while the other is the “get ‘er done” redneck. (*Full disclosure: I am from Texas where we have mastered blending both kinds of rednecks, thus creating the “Don’t Mess with Texas” master redneck. This is for another post.)

Now, the back off redneck is legit by his own right, but when it comes to sustainability the get ‘er done redneck has the prize pig. Blue ribbon.

Turds and roses: Mine smells better than yours

September 20, 2010 by David Mark Brown

652px-Miss_UF — contestants from Miss University of Florida, UF Digital Collections

A conference room full of writers is worse than a little Miss Texas beauty pageant. Every writer tries earnestly to say nice things to every other proud parent in the room, all the while bouncing between the extremes of thinking that their own manuscript is a goddess among toads or a stinking turd among roses. It just can’t be helped.

This weekend I attended a conference here in Salt Lake City with over a hundred other writers and a handful of people from the “biz.” Really, it was a great time. There were certainly times of commiseration and shared struggle as well as genuine celebration in the creative art of writing. But I had to make an intentional effort going into the conference to chill my own jets and try to appreciate the talent around me.

K. M. Weiland, in a recent post, stated the dilemma quite well when quoting well known author Orson Scott Card:
Writers have to simultaneously believe the following two things:

The story I am now working on is the greatest work of genius ever written in English.
The story I am now working on is worthless drivel.
Read moreTurds and roses: Mine smells better than yours

Title quest, help wanted

September 16, 2010 by David Mark Brown

Rolandfealty — Roland receives the sword, Durandal, from the hands of Charlemagne

The title of a book will be the only words read by the majority of not-quite-readers (some won’t even get that far). As a writer I have to earn every sentence. The title helps lots of readers get over the hump toward reading the first sentence. If they like that one hopefully they will read a few more, etc.

My working title turns out to have been someone else’s working title (and now published title). This someone else is also a bigger fish in the novelist pond, so I am dropping Blood Vines as my title and looking for a new one. I mean, hey. I’m sure it was better suited for my soon-to-be-pulitzer-prize-winner, but first come, first serve. No hard feelings (for taking my title, you jerk!).

Here is where you come in. I need some help coming up with the new money-making, “buy me!” title.