One Simple Question Proves Bright Idea About Woodcarving Was Half-baked

Have you ever got what you thought was a bright idea, one worth repeating, and did so, only to have one simple question prove that your bright idea was half baked?

It was a reader who asked a simple question in response to comments about how creative writing was like woodcarving. One starts with a large hunk of words and cuts away those that do not fit the story.

The question asked was, “What happens if you cut away too much? Can you glue the chips back, and start carving again?”

That question brought the realization that in an exuberance of verbosity, a major difference between woodcarving and creative writing had been forgotten.

What was written, as far as it went, is true. Being able to think beyond the linear, a left-brain function, to see things three-dimensionally, to see patterns and connections, a right brain function, applies to both woodcarving and creative writing.

But the major difference is this. Woodcarving is basically a one-way process. One must carve slowly, and think ahead. Once cut away, it is an all but impossible task to glue chips back onto the hunk of wood, and resume the process.

In the haste to postulate a bright idea, the basic truths of creative writing were forgotten. That one simple question yanked from the mental file cabinet all that had been read, copied, filed away, and not remembered.

"The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time.” Robert Cormier

"Books aren't written- they're rewritten." Michael Crichton

"This morning I took out a comma, and this afternoon I put it back again." Oscar Wilde

"To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again and once more, and over and over." John Hersey

"The difference between the right and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug." Mark Twain

"I can't write five words but that I change seven." Dorothy Parker.

These are but a half dozen from among the hundreds of thoughts that have been written, all expressing the universal truth that lies at the heart of writing.

A Questions Raises New Possibility

As anyone who has been in the position knows, there is no end to the possible questions that can be asked at a book signing. I am told the picture below reflects my reaction⎯maybe considering the possibilities⎯to the question asked by a lady who was sitting at the table to the left in the picture. “Does one of those posters on the wall represent your sponsor for this event?”



And the more I think about it….
Sell advertising space on bookmarks? Or maybe at least find a sponsor to pay for their printing?

A Carl Brookins Book Review

Carnage on the Committee By Ruth Dudley Edwards
ISBN 1590581334
Hard Cover from Poisoned Pen Press
219 pages, released in 2004

Satirical, funny, clever, ingenious, damn good. This is easily one of the best novels of the year. In Britain, inventor of the stiff upper lip, the committee of the Knapper-Wharburton literary prize are meeting to devise first, the short list of nominees, and then, the winner of this prestigious annual award.

So far so good. But then the chair of the committee dies, under the proverbial suspicious circumstances. All right then, a literary mystery, right? So what if the reaction of one of the committee, on page one, mind you seems a bit over the top for a mystery. Then, we discover that one of the members of the diminished committee is named Robert Amiss. A bit suspicious that. Other members of the committee, all deemed unsuitable to lead the committee back to its task, have quite ordinary names, and they also possess some unusual foibles and attitudes. Not Mr. Amiss.

He is immediately tasked to find a new chair. Whom does he choose? None other than the redoubtable Baroness Ida Trout, famed literary cognoscenti, fondly called "Jack" by her intimates. A character readers of earlier Edwards novels will recognize immediately. Jack Trout is one of the most formidable, unusual, self-centered and flamboyant characters ever to erupt from the pages of crime fiction.

With great élan, understandable autocratic direction, and clever underhanded manipulation she and co-conspirator Amiss endeavor to get the work of the committee done in handy fashion. In the process the dynamic pair thwart a killer who is likely to strike again at any moment and manage to allow their creator to poke at every cherished shibboleth and icon of the literary and mystery world. And woe to those who read this story and say to themselves, well, that's just the British world, you know.

Edwards slings arrows of deflation at literary pretensions, at awards, at awards ceremonies, at authors, at conventions, at publishers and agents; and yes, at readers and fans. Almost nothing and no one is safe from her cudgels. Rude, this author is, and delightfully so. Politically incorrect, even. Honest and wonderfully funny. And what's more, she throws in a carefully crafted, honest, mystery that is more than likely to keep you guessing to the very end. Risible, laugh-out-loud entertaining and so right on it smarts.

Congratulations to Poisoned Pen for bringing us this delicious, funny, engaging novel. And kudos to Ruth Dudley Edwards for an excellent mystery and a terrific story.

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

Love is Grandkids and Sunsets

Kaye Barley asked, over on her blogsite what things did we love and what things did we hate.

I told her hate had been replaced with simply deciding I didn’t understand or appreciate some things. I promptly forget them.

And I told her that she had to come here to see what I love.

Watching two grandkids grow up, seeing their love for one another.







Watching the sunset over the sound at Wrightsville Beach. Sometimes the last view is a scattering of golden feathers across the sky.




And sometimes the Big Guy reaches up and waves good-bye at the end of another day.

The Apollo Program is Now Historical, But Symbol of its Success Stands Tall

It’s been a bit over forty-one years since Neil Alden Armstrong and Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon, but the piece of technology that made their landing a success still stands as Hampton Virginia’s most visible landmark.

The Lunar Landing Research Facility, located at NASA’s Langley facility, stands some 250 feet tall and 400 feet long. Its red and white framework is a highly visible landmark for pilots in airplanes and onboard boats on the nearby Chesapeake Bay.


Apollo Eleven’s successful trip to the moon relied on computers for the nearly one quarter million-mile trip, except for the last 150 feet, which was flown manually. The LLRF in Hampton is where the astronauts learned how to perfect their manual landing techniques.

A system of cables and sensors were developed to simulate the moon’s atmosphere, allowing the astronauts to learn the feel of flying in one-sixth gravity.


Astronauts practiced at night under lights set up at angles to duplicate the shadows they would see when landing on the moon.



The following multiple-exposure shot shows a successful practice landing from ground zero.


The Apollo program has moved into the history books, but residents of Hampton have a constant reminder of the role that many of its citizens had in building and operating the facility that made the last 150 feet of each landing a success.