Currently Reading and Writing: a Post Which Falls Headlong into Philosophy

In my post the other day about dissatisfying books, I forgot to mention that The Red Queen was a book I’d originally purchased for my son, as he’d joined a book club at school. The book pushed him quickly out of the club, and I read it only so my money wouldn’t be wasted. I must say I’m a little irritated. If the club had picked a better book, my son might still be in it. However, after reading it, I can certainly sympathize with him. I only bring this up to highlight the state of the YA industry. Our nation is currently post-literate, and YA books are more likely to be written by young, illiterate writers with their pretentions extending to the heights of The Hunger Games or Harry Potter.

I did what I usually do when frustrated by low-quality art and thinking; I dropped fiction for nonfiction. Currently, I’m reading a book called Rethinking Mary. I can’t give an opinion on it yet, but I appreciate the premise thus far. The book’s goal is to examine Marian beliefs, not by applying external logic, but by applying internal logic and historical context. That is, it’s an examination of how historical Christians extrapolated their beliefs from the logic of Scripture. I bought a few other books, such as the All Creatures Great and Small series, but I haven’t yet cracked them. I started with the Marian book because it’s Advent and Christmas is later this week. This is my Christmas book of the year.

And as the year is coming to an end, I’m taking a break from writing. It wasn’t intended. It happened because I had too much other work and major life changes occurring. I will start again in January. It’s a good time to assess what I have completed, writing wise. First of all, after sitting on the completed Order of the PenTriagon for a year, I formatted it for print and ebook and published it. I also finished my breakdancing cyberpunk book, though I’m still editing it. Its working title is Breaking Lo Bueno or Breakin’ Good…. Yeah, I know. It’s a play off Breaking Bad because it takes place in Albuquerque and is about breakdancing. Don’t hate me. I’m sure I’ll change the title before I publish.

I was about 70,000 words into my Gothic romance ghost story before I decided I shouldn’t be doing such delightful pleasure writing when I had a sequel to write for Order of the PenTriagon. Unfortunately, I’m only about 30,000 words into the sequel, but I have high hopes of finishing it in a couple of months. Neither of these latter books have working titles, unless you consider OotP Part 2 and Ghost Story to be proper titles.

That’s about it, then. I found some books to read that will carry me through the holidays, and my writing continues despite any tangible reason for it to do so. This sentiment just reminded me that I’ve been playing Caminos de la Vida on the accordion lately, and it’s a sad, sad song about how the paths we end up taking in this life aren’t exactly what we imagine when we’re young and still filled with dreams. There is a specific context to the song, having to do with the arduous work impoverished single mothers face. But it has a broader philosophical appeal, as all humans suffer disappointments and face unexpected and unwanted trials.

It’s true, you know. We dream when we’re young, and I honestly can say it’s a blessing we can’t see into the future. If we could, would we still struggle toward our goals? I don’t know; I really don’t. But that’s because I can only see yesterday’s future, which is known as the present. The future-future is still unknowable to me. You see, I might as well keep going with my struggles. That’s what it means to have faith and to believe that God provides everything we truly need, even if los caminos de la vida no son como yo pensaba….imaginaba….creía. The song uses all the words: the paths of life aren’t what I thought, imagined, or believed.