Tag Archives: inspiration

Review: The Practice of the Presence of God

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

This is one of those books I keep coming back to. You always think a book like this is just going to be boring and religious and helpful in a vegetables kind of way, but this one’s about a clumsy monk who worked in the clangabang monastery kitchens with everyone shouting for this and that, and still found such a simple pleasure in being with God in the middle of it that the set prayer times were at best no better and at worst a bit of a redundant bother.

The language is old-fashioned and may be a slog for some–he lived centuries ago, after all–but this is a delightfully refreshing reminder that we can keep going back to God any time, and that, religious systems and mystical complications aside, in the end it all comes down to doing everything out of love for (and in love with) God.

There are effective and ineffective ways to go about this, of course, and it’s mentioned several times that it took Brother Lawrence ten years of steady practice before it became totally natural, but as one who has at least occasionally experienced, like him, the need to “take measures” to cover up how gleefully overwhelmed I am by the nearness and kindness of God lest I start to freak the people around me out, I can attest that it’s going to be worth it.

If I could add one book to the Bible, this would be it. For real. Check it out.

View all my reviews

March In Review + April Goals!

Happy Spring! I’m back after a delicious Easter weekend where my community friends had not one but two homemade feasts–Eggs Benedict brunch on Saturday and four-course lamb dinner on Sunday. Illnesses and complications notwithstanding, we took the time to get together, share delicious food, and enjoy the new life God has given us. It is good to live in community.

No, no. Goals. Post.

I also enjoyed a bit of a break from my blog-per-weekday challenge. But I missed you. It’s fun to be back.

Now, on to business. My March goals post turned out to be revolutionary. It gave me so much clarity and motivation. I’m definitely making this a regular practice.

March Goals + Accomplishments

The Unaccountable Death of Derelict Frobisher – Wrote 7,555 words. Didn’t hit my minimum goal of 12,000.
The Dream World Collective – Released 2 sections on Patreon. Reached minimum goal.
The Stone and the Song – Completed initial design and received my first paperback proof from CreateSpace! The print quality was low enough that I’m going to try another service, but I’m happy to have a sample of their work and I consider this good progress toward my target. I knew going in that CS might not meet my standards, but I wanted to get a look at their work in person. Target goal was “Release paperback.” I count this as exceeded the minimum, didn’t hit the target.
Hubris Towers – Sketched characters, setting, Season 1 overall arc, and an overview of all eight episodes of Season 1. And wrote 6,627 words of Episode 1! Stretch goal was to do all that planning plus write a “partial episode,” by which I meant 250-500 words. Massively exceeded my goals!
Write a blog post every day. Done.

April Goals

The Unaccountable Death of Derelict Frobisher – Current word count: 104,197
- Minimum: Write 2,000 words
- Target: Write 4,000 words
- Stretch: Write 10,000 words
The Dream World Collective
- Minimum: Release 2 sections on Patreon
- Target: Release 3 sections and overview remaining rewrites needed before launch
- Stretch: Release 4 sections and overview
The Stone and the Song
- Minimum: Reformat for paperback POD through Lulu and order physical proof
- Target: Release paperback
- Stretch: Release paperback and audiobook
Hubris Towers
- Minimum: Finish Episode 1
- Target: Finish Episode 1 and write 4,000 words of Episode 2
- Stretch: Finish Episodes 1 and 2
Author platform
- Minimum: Two blog posts/week
- Target: And announce Optional Fun Thing Alpha
- Stretch: Fifteen blog posts in April
Healthy, sustainable, balanced living
- Minimum: Bike 20 minutes 5 days in April
- Target: Bike 20 minutes 2 days each week
- Stretch: Bike 20 minutes 3 days each week

If you want to get a mid-month progress update, plus friendly notes, early access, and exclusive deals, sign up for my email list.

I write fun, infrequent notes and work hard to make it something you’ll genuinely enjoy. Which seems to be working—so far my open and click rates are around triple the industry average, so people seem to be having fun.

No pressure, obviously. But I bet you’ll like it. (Here’s one I sent out recently, if you want an idea of what you’ll be getting.)

Cheers!

—Ben

Write Like the Wind!

Today is looking really busy. I may not get much time to write, but if I do I want to put it into building word count on books.

But that’s boring, so let’s make it a challenge. My starting goals for the day are:

Minimum: 500 words

Target: 750

Stretch: 2000

I’ll check in in Comments with how it went. If you want to join me in the challenge, reply in comments with your own goal(s) and let’s spur one another on. To victory!

—Ben

100+ Copies Sold, 100,000 Words, and Other Big Round Numbers

The last few weeks have been tons of fun and tons of work. I’ve been putting in so much time and effort on writing and laying infrastructure that it’s almost starting to feel like I have two full-time jobs. But I’m starting to hit early milestones, and it’s exciting verging on addictive.

A couple highlights:

I wrote over 4,500 words over the weekend. Almost a full week’s production in one day! (For the non-writers, that’s around 15 papberback pages.)
I hit 100,000 words on The Unaccountable Death of Derelict Frobisher. Woo! Big round number!
I’ve sold over 100 copies of The Stone and the Song and counting!

A few more, converted into various bases¹ to help them look like milestones:

Hubris Towers has reached over 25,000₆ words! (Not only that, but we’ve got the first 1,000₂ episodes sketched out. Wow.)
I’ve posted over 100,000₉ words of The Dream World Collective, and you can read them free here! (For you base 14 types, that’s over D0₁₄ pages!)
To put a more dramatic spin on it, I’ve sold over 10,000₃ copies of The Stone and the Song and counting! Don’t get left out – get your copy now!

Cheers!

—Ben

¹Note: In case you are not a math geek like me, these numbers are not as big as they look. For example, 1,000₂ equals 8 in regular (base 10) numbers. Don’t be fooled by my cunning mathematical treacheries.

Milestone! My First (Sort Of) Negative Review!

Ok, so I’m probably weird to be excited about it, but The Stone and the Song just got its first 2-star review on Amazon, and I’m actually feeling kind of bubbly. Am I crazy? Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. It’s a review. Right now my big goal is to get 25+ Amazon reviews. While I obviously prefer good ones, every review adds weight and validity to the book’s presence on Amazon. Every review is a visible indicator to every future reader ever that someone read it and cared enough to talk about it. And, while it’s probably a bit of a fallacy, I think every review adds to the invisible implied crowd of many other readers who didn’t review it.

2. It’s a rite of passage. Since I’m breaking into the publishing world after self-publishing became really viable, I have pretty minimal experience of getting rejection letters. My plan back in the day was to collect them and set goals to reach a certain number. I never got that chance, so a negative review is one small way to join the universal brotherhood of authors in facing rejection graciously. (My writer character Zen, in the meantime, does collect his rejection letters, and writes thank-you notes for them along with his next submission.)

3. It adds legitimacy. Because seriously, as good as it is to have all 4- and 5-star reviews, until you hit some pretty serious numbers that just looks like you got a bunch of friends to say nice things about you, even if that’s not at all the case. Or, as it may be, only sort of the case.

4. My rating can take it. If most of my reviews were negative, it would be getting pretty hard to take around now. But Stone & Song had a 4.8 rating before this and has a 4.5 now. For a minor, early work, I’ll really be satisfied with anything above a 3.5. Well, ok, anything above a 4.0. But still. I admit I’m a little sad this took the visual down from 5 stars to 4 1/2, but xkcd is a comfort in times like this.

Source: http://xkcd.com/1098/

5. For a negative review, it’s pretty positive. The main thrust of the review is something like, “Seems like he’s trying to do something interesting here, but I didn’t really get it.” For a bad review, that’s not half bad. If that’s the worst thing a reader sees when she checks the negative reviews, I’m in good shape. Especially in the context of the other reviews which, if I may paraphrase, say something like, “He’s doing something really interesting here!”

In short, many thanks to Voracious Reader for taking the time to read my story and leave a thoughtful review, and thank you to the (so far) 10 other reviewers for your thrillingly kind words. I deeply appreciate it.

Cheers!

—Ben

PS – If you haven’t read The Stone and the Song yet, you can get it here. If you have read it, it would make my day (and help other readers) if you add your review: Amazon | Goodreads. Thanks!

Origami Lunchbox: Butt-Kicking Thoughts on Life, Fear, and Creative Work

Hey everyone! It’s been a crazy day, so this will be quick. My friend, sounding board, and unofficial publicist Joe recently launched a very stylish site that I think you’ll enjoy. It’s called Origami Lunchbox and it’s—well, think inspiration the way it should be. Not fluffy thoughts about imagining success and feeling good, but honest, no-nonsense, and surprisingly vulnerable advice and reflections to get you pointed in the right direction again. If you’re an idea person or do creative work, check it out.

Sometimes you need a kick in the butt, sometimes you just need a reminder that others are in this with you. Origami Lunchbox will give you both.

Cheers!

—Ben

A Complication of Dirigibles

Hi friends!

To sweeten the deal on your Monday, I present this collection of dirigibles, airships, and associated aeronautical miscellany. May it continue to propel a rebirth of wonder.

Cheers!

—Ben

Source: http://www.thesteampunkempire.com/photo/airship-vintage-french-postcard

Source: http://servatius.blogspot.com/2011/09/zeppelin-airship-lz126-1924-departure.html

Source: https://wolfsonianfiulibrary.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/up-up-and-away-airships-on-exhibit-and-online-from-the-wolfsonian-library-collection/

Source: https://thepenningtonedition.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/dirigible_balloon.png

Source: http://www.4artgarden.com/fantasy-art-by-kazumasa-uchio.html

Source: http://www.wallpaperhi.com/Abstract/Fantasy/castles_steampunk_fantasy_art_vehicles_airship_109504

http://www.wallpedes.com/steampunk-wallpaper-1920×1080/steampunk-airship-wallpapers.html

On Satisfaction

Satisfaction derives not merely from being filled but from being filled with a current that will not cease. —Lewis Hyde, The Gift

365 Days. 365 Posts. 1 Nerd. [Edit: Now With Additional Nerd!]

As usual, I love the way bookshelfbattle thinks. This post is well worth reading if you’re interested in goal-setting, finding readers, or developing a writing practice. Before I send you on to the original post, a few thoughts and responses:

1. I love that this is concrete, actionable, and attainable. You can’t decide whether someone follows you, but you can decide whether you’re going to post; make your goals in terms of things you can do.

2. Quantity and consistency are worthy goals. It seems there’s some debate about whether it’s worth pushing for quantity instead of quality. My stance is that if quality is your goal, quantity is a great path to it.

3. I like that bookshelfbattle isn’t shy about trying to get readers. That’s the whole point. Writers want readers. And readers want good stuff to read. If you don’t think your stuff is worth reading, write better stuff before you go public.

If, however, you think your writing is worthwhile, why would you not want to give it to as many people as will benefit from it? Applying strategy and focus does not make this evil, it makes it effective.

4. I’m joining in, but more cautiously. (Caution™! Putting the boring back into success!)

I’m planning to post every weekday, holidays optional, through the first quarter of 2015. I’m still figuring out where blogging fits into my overall career strategy as a writer, but I’m enjoying it so far and I think three months will make a good baseline.

Also I really appreciated bookshelfbattle’s willingness to share stats, so for the record:

After about 2 1/2 weeks of posting consistently, I currently average something like 10 visitors a day, with about 40 people following.
End of March will be (let’s see…math math math) 42 more days of posting, so by then I’d like to see at least 100 following, with 25-30+ visitors a day.

Really what I’d like to see is more people reading my stories, so in addition to posting I’ll probably be experimenting with new ways to make those more visible and fun.

Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy. And if you have any thoughts on what you’d most like to read about here, I’d love to hear it, so leave me a comment and let me know.

Cheers!
—Ben

PS – It will be especially hard for me to write quick posts without worrying too much about quality. I think that alone will be a useful discipline to develop.

Stunning Color Photos From Over 100 Years Ago!

Just came across an incredible article at Boston.com, with gorgeous color photos of Russia circa 1910. At first I thought these were colorized photos, but they’re the real deal. The photographer took three photos in quick succession with red, blue, and green filters, then displayed the results by layering colored projectors.

Self-portrait of the photographer Prokudin-Gorskii catching a ride with a handcar captain and his crew.

It’s strangely touching to see such a different time and place and know this is actually what these peoples’ world looked like to them. It’s not a reconstruction or a colorization and it’s not just a sepia old-timey approximation.

Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara. Origin of the phrase “like a boss.”

One thing that startled me was the relative technological advancement displayed in some shots, alongside photos of ragged peasants, nomads, animal-carcass water skins, and tribal chiefs.

A turn-of-the-century technodrome fallen into disrepair, photographed in 1909.

Ok, I’m going to stop joking around for a bit. This is sincerely beautiful and interesting. And while the picture above is actually a chapel, this next one is real live 1910 high-tech. Crazy. Some of the photos struck me as almost steampunk-y. Some were simply beautiful in their foreignness.

Hydroelectric alternators in Iolotan, Turkmenistan, circa 1910. The floor tiles really bring home to me that this is a different time and place.

I keep finding myself trying to figure out what’s going on in the minds of the people in these photos. Their lives, mindsets, and concerns must have been so very different from mine. I mean, we’re all human, but it’s staggering to really sit and try to get in the mindset of a different age on the other side of the world.

This is Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm (now part of Usbekistan), circa 1910. He ruled until his death in 1918. That’s right. An Uzbek khan who ruled during World War I.

I cannot for the life of me imagine what’s on his mind. What would it be like to sit with him for an evening and hear his story?

Or these ladies. By the way–isn’t the background incredible? Imagine building and spending your whole life in one of those little stone houses, and never really expecting to go anywhere else.

Or this man, Pinkhus Karlinskii, who worked the Chernigov floodgate on the Marlinskii Canal system starting at age 18. In this 1909 photo he is 84 years old, with 66 years of service.

I grew up in Turkey, and a lot of the people and landscapes in these photos remind me vividly of my time there.

This is in Artvin, part of modern Turkey, circa 1910. Mountains just like those were the background of every road trip of my childhood (except, of course, the ones while we were visiting America.)

This is worth spending some time with. It’s valuable to remember from time to time how big the world is, and how many people there are and have been in it.

See all 34 photos in the original article here.
And many more in the Library of Congress collection here.

Happy Friday!
—Ben
(Source)