Have Our Reading Habits Acquired ADD?

I feel as though, In these days of Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and the likes, we have lost our sense of passion towards reading.  So many seem to ignore the comfort of a good book, substituting it for the gossip of the internet.

I would argue that many of the younger generation are reading more today than those of yesteryear, however they are reading quick quips of other people's daily lives.  Sure, reading the latest argument between an internet troll and a sheltered fanboy on Facebook can be exciting, but it won't stick with you forever.  In fact, I would call it literary masturbation.  It is great at the time, but will never be memorable.  However, reading an enthralling novel is more like your first time.  It can be scary, exciting, clumsy, or even mind blowing.  However, it is never forgettable.

Much like my little dog in the upper left corner, we have become lazy, and that scares me.  Will the future writers shy away from the art, hiding in the anonymity of the internet?  Don't get me wrong, there is some fantastic literary compositions on the web, many are fan fictions, but they do not reach the masses like a good book does.

I can remember, when I was young, going to the library every Saturday and picking out a few books.  I never really followed one genre specifically, and actually read at a higher level than most my age, so my selection was pretty broad.

I remember finding the Boxcar Children on a shelf and thought I would give it a read.  When I got home, I laid on my bed reading.  Before I knew it, I had finished the book and it was already bedtime.  From there, I moved on to The Chronicles of Narnia, Choose Your Own Adventures, and eventually up to To Kill a Mockingbird, then the fantastic writings of Clive Barker.

In reading, I have always immersed myself into the story, becoming the character.  I take time to visualize the environment, sense the emotions, fell the pains.  It saddens me to see that many of today's youth will not experience anything beyond forced School reading, and twitter quips.

I hope that someday I can publish a book with as much influence as Harry Potter), Twilight, or even 50 Shades of Gray.  Whether you love them or hate them, they inspired reading upon the masses and found their places in the hearts of the world.

DNA Data Storage: Have We Been Wrong?

I read an article today that says a single gram of DNA can hold about 2.2 Million Gigabytes of information, the equivalent of about 468,000 DVDs.  What is more amazing is that converting the binary code of existing data to trinary code consisting of 1s and 0s and 2s is not all that difficult.

Okay, I admit that the whole process is way over my head.  However, my curiosity took over at the findings.  What if we have been thinking about how our minds work in the wrong way?  What if our DNA is where our memories are stored, and our brain is the mechanism that processes that data?

If our DNA does hold the data that we have accumulated since birth, who is to say that the information is not passed on to our offspring?  Think about it, a baby cat knows instinctively to find its way to its mother's nipple to survive.  As it grows, it knows that it must hunt and eat.  Many would say that those are just instincts and that every living organism must rely on those instincts to survive.  I can agree, but those instincts must have been coded into our memories somehow.

Compare it to a new computer, when you boot it up for the first time, how does it know to boot?  Somewhere down the line, the operating system was installed.  That operating system told the computer to boot.  Could our operating system be installed in our DNA?

obviously, I am not a scientist.  However, if I am correct, it would possible explain past life phenomenons and Deja Vu.  It is very possible that our ancestor's memories were passed on to us via DNA, and those that experience past life memories are actually accessing that data that had been hidden for so long.  Deja Vu could be experienced when you encounter a similar scenario that an ancestor played out in their days.

Could this be taken a step further to those with psychiatric disorders?  Maybe those with multiple personalities have a brain malfunction in which their mind cannot distinguish between their own life and the memories if their ancestors?  If this is true, how were they able to access so much information within their DNA when a "normal" human cannot?

Keep in mind, these are just quick thoughts that have come to mind while reading the article.  Stories like this one always get my imagination stirring and consummate the beginnings of new book ideas.  I think I will store this one away in the depths of my DNA in hopes of recalling a spectacular horror/sci-fi novel out of it.

Music of the Pen

An integral part of my writing ritual is music.  Music sets the mood which allows the visuals to write themselves on the page.  Without music, I honestly do not know if writing would be that easy.

Usually I rely on Pandora or Spotify to satisfy my musical needs, but tend to lean more towards Spotify.  My current playlist consist of mostly piano variations of music.  I find it much more soothing and less likely to get caught up in the words of the song.  Here is my current Spotify piano playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/sdpratt12/playlist/4AjzQdp40nEb04OYzxXs5i

As you will notice, I have quite a few pieces from video games.  Music from the Final Fantasy Series, especially Final Fantasy X, is quite possibly some of the most beautifully inspiring music I have ever experienced in my life.  The visuals that the songs create are vivid and magical.  Combining them with Piano renditions of My Chemical Romance, Phantom of the Opera, and other hit music, provides enough variety to cater to any situation my writing might enthrall me in.

When I listen to music, I am not necessarily listening to the beat, the rhythm, the chorus, etc...  Instead, I listen to the story the song tells.  I am an avid fan of my area's local music scene, and am always excited at the chance to sit back and listen to their sounds.  I also have a few friends that do not live near me, but are fantastic musicians.  Two, for example, have inspired me more than they know.

One of them has taken his musical obsession and made a teaching career out of it.  I have a few of his cover songs recorded, and listen to them often while driving through town.  His love for the art has inspired various ideas for future stories.

The other, I feel does not realize his true potential or how inspiring his original piano compositions are.  He writes from the heart and embeds his life's soul into his compositions.  The feelings that he inserts tug at your heart and essence.  It is a fantastic feeling.

For me, music is emotion.  Music is feeling.  Music is all of the senses molded into one true form.  That is why I immerse myself into the melodic sounds while writing, and use those feelings to blur into my writing.

Expansions, Not Limitations

This past weekend, I found an Open Anthology.  What I love about Anthologies is that they give you guidelines, and you create your vision from those guidelines.  The end result is a collection of short stories that are all so beautifully different, despite following the same guidelines.

This anthology is a bit different than any I have contributed to.  Each submission can only be 100 words.  No more, no less.  That is the only rule, other than having a horror theme.  Many would be discouraged by the 100 word limitation.  I was excited.

To me, 100 words is not a limitation.  In fact, it is more of an expansion of my mind.  creating a short story out of 100 words is not an easy task.  You have to be creative, descriptive, and yet hold back enough detail to stay within the limit.  What could be a better writing exercise?

As I was writing my submission, I started thinking about limitations.  Pictured above is on of my dogs.  She is a Chihuahau/Rat Terrier Mix and she is small.  You would think that her size would limit her.  It doesn't.  Despite her size, she give the biggest dog hugs and kisses, she has the biggest bark, and is the biggest bitch.  Her size has not limited her, in fact it has inspired her to be the biggest dog in the house.  Did I mention the other two dogs are Huskies?  She is their queen and they her court.

Many times, we face limitations in our lives and we hide in their boundaries where we feel safe and protected.  Unfortunately, that gets us nowhere.  When faced with limitations, I feel that we should take the opportunity to expand upon them.

When I was faced with the 100 word limit, I took the challenge and went with it.  I followed the guidelines, wrote my story and submitted it.  I will admit that I am not real happy with my submission, but I will not let that limit me.  I have a couple of other ideas that I plan on typing out and submitting.  Whether I am accepted for the publication, or not, I am satisfied knowing that I did not let a limitation cage me in.

Have you ever been faced with a limitation, that you expanded into something fantastic?

Monday Musing

After yesterday's correspondence with the publisher that has allowed me to add one of my short stories to their upcoming anthology, I was obviously excited.  Last night while laying in bed, I thought about what I will do in my future writings.

I have quite a few ideas for novels in my head and unlimited numbers of short stories.  I will, without a doubt, continue to write and submit for multiple anthologies as I continue to write my novels.  However, I couldn't do it without the support of others.

Obviously, my wife and kids are a huge source of inspiration to my writing.  However, there is a Facebook page that is administrated by an author that I consider a source of inspiration.  Charles Day was welcoming from the first day I joined his group, and always finds the time to let me, and his other fans, know how much we mean to him.

With constant support from seasoned writers like Mr. Day, and all of the other members of his group, I will continue to put blood, sweat, and tears in my writing and create the masterpieces I have locked in my head.

So far, this year has began with one accepted short story, and a couple submissions.  I will do my best to keep you up to date on my future endeavors.