Tag Archives: ramblings

Monday Afternoon Ramblings

August 27, 2012 D.A. Adams 7 Comments

Here’s another illustration of what’s wrong with education today. For several years now, the trend has been towards more and more reliance upon technology for virtually every aspect of instruction, from attendance recording to delivery to assessment to grade calculation. The most current buzz-trend is “Mobilization,” which the best I can figure is allowing kids to watch YouTube videos and play games while they are supposed to be learning. The powers that be tout the importance of connecting with “digital learners” on their level, which to me sounds like “dumb it down and let the machines do all the work for them.” Then again, I’m a tad cynical. Anyway, from these trends to digitize the classroom, now, nearly every aspect of our classes is online to some degree.

This morning, on the first day of classes, the first opportunity to make an impression on many incoming freshmen who have been coddled their entire academic careers by All Children Left Behind and The Race to a Stop, our internet system was down. Statewide. As in ALL Tennessee Board of Regents schools had no internet access.

We couldn’t check email, access course content (including syllabi), administer pre-tests, and in some cases, even check attendance. Fortunately, since I refuse to swallow my dose of Kool-Aid, I was able to collect my first day writing samples by relying on the outdated analog system. You know, pen and paper. I go back to a point I make again and again. We can put all the bells and whistles and flashing lights in front of the kids we want, but at some point they have to learn how to think. By forcing us to move so much of our materials online, the powers that be have in effect made us dependent upon those systems to function. I’m certain that many younger teachers, those who only know the “Mobilization” methodology, were paralyzed this morning. I’m certain the chaos of that paralysis gave the students a terrible first impression, and those children, raised on an endless diet of entertainment and instant gratification, probably now believe college will be more of the same dysfunction they endured in high school.

As for me, since I still lecture and write on the board (I could point to the body of evidence that proves when students write things down in their own handwriting they are more likely to remember it, but why bother? The powers that be will keep pouring the digital Kool-Aid because there’s more money to be made from grants and such), I was barely bothered by the outage. My morning class ran pretty smoothly because I don’t need bells and whistles and flashing lights to teach. All I need is a board to write on and an instrument to write with. Teachers, you see, old-fashioned, student-centered, professional, dedicated educators, teach from a deeply-rooted love of and passion for their subject. Unfortunately, however, we seem to be a dying a breed.

General Posts

Sunday Afternoon Ramblings

August 26, 2012 D.A. Adams 10 Comments

My good friend, Stephen Zimmer, tells me all the time I’m too sensitive and need to grow a thicker skin, but negative reviews always bother me. My rational, analytical side understands that as a writer I can’t expect to please everyone. Some of the greatest books ever written have received terrible reviews through the years. People’s tastes range across an infinite spectrum of likes and dislikes. Rationally, I recognize that worry over a negative review is wasted time and energy.

However, it bothers me on an emotional level. Each book I’ve written is nearly as special to me as my sons. I work extremely hard to develop my skills and craft my stories. Eight years removed from writing book one, I do recognize some of the flaws, especially in the first three to four pages. However, I still believe it’s a good, solid book that sets the table for the larger series. There’s foreshadowing in book one (Hell, in chapter one) that I’m still drawing on in book four. Yes, if I were writing book one today, it would probably be a better book because I’ve improved as an author, but honestly, I wouldn’t make many substantive changes because it’s a good book.

I’m not going to waste my time refuting negative reviews or defending book one point by point. Enough readers have enjoyed it that I don’t feel like the book needs defending. I also recognize that most of the recent negative reviews, like the most recent from Allison’s Book Bag, have not been personal, and I don’t take them as an attack on me. Two of them did feel personal, but I won’t give either of those individuals the attention they crave by responding to their personal embitterment from whatever shortcomings plague their lives. All I’ll say is after eight years, three published books, and a new one on the way, I’m still here and still expanding my audience.

While negative reviews do sting and do bother me, I won’t allow them dissuade me from following my path and my style. I will try to learn from them and improve myself as a writer because I do that even with the positive ones. I’ll also recognize that negative reviews are a sign of reaching more and more people. The wider the net, the more likely the series will land in the hands of people who don’t enjoy my style. That’s just part of it. I’m going to keep polishing book four, keep learning as a novelist, and keep reaching out to more and more readers. And when the next negative review comes along, I’ll swallow the bitter pill, grit my teeth, and remain professional about it.

As we used to say in sales after getting a solid no, “Next!”

General Posts

Tuesday Morning Ramblings

August 21, 2012 D.A. Adams 4 Comments

This is my opinion and nothing more. I don’t typically write advice to other writers or aspiring writers because it feels too pretentious on my part. Also, the world is already full of authorities who spend the majority of their time and energy telling others how to write, but this particular topic is rather important to me, so here goes:

Writing at its essence is a solitary endeavor, one of the most intimately solitary activities a person can do. If you need applause and cheers to motivate you to create, you should be a musician or a stage actor, not a writer. Live performers have live audiences. Writers spend the vast majority of their creative time alone staring at a computer screen or notepad, allowing ideas to flow through them onto their medium, with virtually no feedback from anyone until after the project is complete. This solitude can lasts weeks, sometimes even months or years, before an author gets feedback on their project, and usually that first round of feedback is from an editor or first reader who points out most of your mistakes. It can take literally years before your work reaches its intended audience, if it ever does.

If you need instant gratification, prose writing is not the creative endeavor for you.

That’s not meant to be harsh or put anyone off from attempting to write. However, it’s a basic reality all serious writers must accept. You will create alone in a vacuum with no promise of your work ever being read by the people you want to reach. If that seems too daunting, do something else with your time and save yourself a lifetime of frustration. Writing is not a glamorous profession. It’s not hip or cool or sexy. It’s damned hard work that requires a level of commitment and personal sacrifice that can crack the souls of even the most ambitious and talented who attempt it.

I’m a writer. At the core of my soul, that’s who I am. For twenty-two years, I’ve dedicated my life to learning my craft, honing my skills, practicing, failing, getting up, failing again, trying harder, failing again, absorbing criticism, learning, growing, failing even more, and scratching out a meager existence. A smarter person would’ve given up years ago, but my Scots-Irish obstinate nature won’t allow me to quit. I’m proud of each and every small victory of my career, but those are not what motivate me to write. I do it because I must, because the story and the characters demand to be shared.

As I wrote book four this summer, I posted updates each night on Facebook and Twitter to let my friends and readers know how the book was coming. I did this not because I needed their “likes” and words of encouragement but because, after the years of delays that plagued books two and three, I wanted to assure them that I was working as hard as I could to make certain book four was completed on time. While their feedback was appreciated, it wasn’t needed for motivation. The only sustainable motivation is that which comes from within. External motivators are temporary bandages that can never bolster long-term success.

All that said, if you want to write and need writers’ groups or NaNoWriMo or any other social network to prop up your self-esteem to get you through the draft, then, by all means, use whatever helps you. If you need to dream of instant riches and overnight arrival to keep you focused, then dream of those things. You may be that one-in-a-million who gets lucky and has sudden success, but in my experience and after a lifetime of studying the careers of other writers, I know the odds say you will be disappointed. As for me, I’ll write because I have to. I’ll follow my personal process for self-discipline. I’ll edit and spit and polish until I’m tired of looking at the words. And then, I’ll do it one more time just for good measure. After I’m happy with the manuscript, I’ll send my baby out into the world to be enjoyed, criticized, praised, ripped apart, lauded, and laughed at. I will do all of this with no expectations of monetary reward or literary awards or delusions of immortality. I’ll do it simply because it’s who I am. I’ll do it because I’m a writer.