How Do I Use an Outline? (and a Smashwords Coupon)

Since everything I’ve written up until now has been short fiction, I felt no real need for an outline – oh, I would occasionally jot a couple of notes to remind myself where I was heading at a given time, but I rarely know how a story is going to end when I start it (and if it’s only going to take me a couple of weeks to write it, I could keep what passed for an outline in my head.

This spring, when I was trying to decide what I wanted to write for my first novel, I took the three ideas I had and created outlines for each. (from what I’ve heard, this was almost like trying to sell a book proposal to a publisher – except the publisher was me.) I became sold on writing Swordsmaster because there was so much more detail in the outline (to me this meant that I had a better idea of where the story was going.) The fact is, I also had more passion about the story, which was what helped beef up the outline.

Armed with this outline, I began writing.

Everything was okay at first, but part of my method is to let the story go where it wants, I had 4 major plot milestones that I knew would have to happen. The first was very close to the beginning, and so I was able to enter and exit that scene as planned, with little interference from my “creative process.”

Before I arrived at the second milestone, several unanticipated supporting cast members appeared, along with some sub-plots and events I had not considered at the beginning. But when I arrived at the second milestone, the basics were still intact, and again the story exited the scene pretty much as I expected it to.

And then things began to seriously diverge from what was planned. How things wound up happening changed as cool (and better) ideas grew from the continuously evolving story elements. Characters that didn’t even exist when I created the outline took on more significance; plot holes developed and needed to be filled in. I just passed the third milestone, and how I got there and left it was different enough from what I had mapped out that I hit a brick wall, and I couldn’t see over it for almost a week. My outline didn’t help me – I was trapped.

How did I get past the roadblock?

I re-outlined. It would appear (at least for me) that an outline is NOT set in stone; it is a living, breathing document – a tool to help me get from start to finish, but not the be-all, end-all that defines the story. It helps me to define (and redefine) my next objective, but it should never tie my muse down.

There were so many unknowns when I initially outlined – characters (who seem to have a will of their own), world-creation elements that impacted what could and couldn’t happen in the story, the needs of sub-plots, all gain traction and increase in impact the further I get into the story. I don’t think I could ever create an outline that this wouldn’t eventually happen to – at some point I will need to stop and reevaluate. Generally, my stories go where they want (where would the fun be in totally controlling the process?).

Other writers are probably more able to stick with their outline than I am. Maybe I could learn to hold myself to my initial roadmap.

Nope. It’s just not me.

Just saying…

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “Close Enough” (a little light romance while mining an asteroid and dealing with government incompetence) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/478156?ref=NoTimeToThink

Use coupon code ZP24S to save 50% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only a buck!) The coupon is good through September 7^th. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

Why Am I Writing a Novel (and Giving You a Smashwords Coupon)?

For the last month this question has entered my mind repeatedly – in that small voice that most writers know (but don’t recognize until too late) as the early symptoms of writer’s block. The voices in your head that are whispering the story to you are talked over by the ones telling you “you don’t know what you’re doing”, “this will never work”, and “Fuhget about it.”

The main thing that is hamstringing progress on Swordsmaster is my knowledge that finishing the first draft won’t be anywhere near half the work. There will be reviews and revisions, and actual REWRITES (which I almost never do in my short stories – I do a couple of minor revisions, but that’s pretty much it.) I am so intimidated by the imagined quantity and scope of the work involved that I catch myself trying to make them unnecessary by writing the perfect thing NOW. This is impossible (and always will be) – I need to just write and worry about the revisions later. Stay in the moment. Let the story write itself now – clean it up later.

I started out my musical “career” on trumpet, and through a series of transitions wound up playing trombone. Funny thing was, when I went back to playing trumpet, there were advantages I had gained (a larger mouthpiece forces development of more control of your lip, for instance) that made me a better trumpet player. Different, trombone-inspired techniques came into my playing, like an artist working with oils carries different techniques with him that inform his switch to watercolors.

Everything we do in life comes into play in what we do after – that’s part of where the unique voice you see in an author’s work comes from. It’s augmented by role-playing that happens while working out dialog, where I even carry some of those personalities around with me in the real world until I’m done (just like when I used to act.)

So I will be forced to do rewrites, and by that learn to give more depth to my characters – more vibrance to my details. Find ways to stay on track when the work spans months instead of days. How will this impact my short-stories? It will improve my craft. It’s like a cross-pollination – if I do it right, I create a hybrid with the strengths of both.

Almost makes the process worth looking forward to.

Just saying…

<<<>>> 

I am prepping “Endangered” to be ePublished this Friday (August 28^th) – Like and Follow my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter (see notes below) and you’ll see the notice when it goes live.

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “The Red Barrens” (Mabel is forced to play her part in terraforming a resistant planet with the same Agent Purple that killed her husband. But there are things that are worse than death - things that could drive her over The Edge and into The Barrens…) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/474160?ref=NoTimeToThink   

Use coupon code BE25C to save 67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through August 31^st. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

Oh. The Humanity. (And a Smashwords Coupon)

One of the interesting things about SCIENCE FICTION is that you can get people to think about concepts by placing them in a setting / situation far removed from “reality”. It helps us to understand what it means to be HUMAN. By distancing the reader from the material, they can see the truth that is normally hidden behind our own personal investment in real situations.

Sometimes it’s horribly heavy-handed, like the original Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", where the tragic absurdity of racism is illustrated by two alien antagonists who are both half-black and half-white, but hate each other because it’s on opposite sides of their faces.

I’m currently watching Humans on AMC, which is ostensibly about Androids developing consciousness, but is doing a wonderful job of exploring not only what makes a human, but also death, abuse, slavery, dignity, life, love, understanding, debasement… it’s loaded. It isn’t just about how we might treat our machines, but how we treat our fellows.

The fact that something like this is still considered worthy of exploration is encouraging – the fact that we can be made to feel for other beings. Even those that WE’VE CREATED, shows that empathy has not been removed from our species yet. We are still HUMAN, and can see the humanity in others.

Sometimes we explore the ethical quandaries brought about by social or technological changes that are visible over the horizon. I remember growing up with a lot of stories involving clones, questioning the ethics of how they would be treated, whether they were people or property, and whether they should be created at all.

Soylent Green dealt with the notion of a society that devalued human life and encouraged suicide, as though killing yourself was a more acceptable way to behave than holding on to life (heck, Belgium removed the age restrictions on this last year.) At least that’s the way it was sold to the populace – no one ever bothered them with the profit-based side-effect of having all these bodies to use as a resource.

A frightening, disgusting concept, isn’t it – the notion that we would kill human beings and then use their bodies for profit? We should all be glad that this is only Science Fiction, and that nothing like this could happen in real life.

Except that it has, and it still is.

If you only get your news through the mainstream media, you may have no idea about a series of undercover investigative videos by The Center for Medical Progress, in which they expose a number of practices by Planned Parenthood that run the gamut of callous, disturbing, disgusting, unethical, immoral and illegal, but can be summarized as altering abortion techniques to optimize the harvesting of baby parts for sale.

If you think I’m overstating the human nature of aborted infants, that you are one of those people who believes this is just tissue, after all, I challenge you to watch the videos. Be warned - this is not for the faint of heart – even the portions where all that’s happening is people with no conscience and seeming to be HUMANITY DEFICIENT are discussing harvesting techniques over a glass of wine are a bit much to take, but there are also images of the END PRODUCT they are talking about, so be prepared.

You could not create a work of science fiction that would illustrate the horror and INHUMANITY of this more effectively.

An interesting side issue here is why the videos (six at this writing) have gotten far less coverage on network news shows than the death of Cecil the Lion. Do you suppose it is because how we treat animals is far more important than how we treat the human lives WE’VE CREATED?

It is good that we still care about other living creatures, but it seems that our priorities are a bit skewed.

Just saying…

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “The Wolves Will Come” (Old warrior Bear refuses to abandon his heart’s home, so instead he waits for his tribe’s enemies to find him - or will age and the wolves get to him first?) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/463511?ref=NoTimeToThink 

Use coupon code CM25R to save 67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through August 24^th. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

The Art of the Vague (and Another Smashwords Coupon)

What makes a work of art transcendent?

Part of what you want to do as an ARTISTE is find a way to connect to the largest number of people possible. To create a work that has such UNIVERSAL APPEAL that it touches on the feelings (that’s right – the best art is about feelings, not thinking or techniques) of a broad swath of diverse people.

In writing, we use similes and metaphors because we are trying to describe something so that everyone can understand it, so we compare it to something else that is more widely known. It’s especially useful in science fiction, when you’re trying to help your readers see something that doesn’t even exist (yet?), so you use familiar – REAL - concepts to get the point across.  

Being too specific doesn’t quite cut it. I happen to like the band U2, so I’ll use them as an example. They have some songs that are either very vague on details, or use metaphors to broaden their meaning. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” isn’t talking about one man’s struggle to find something – it’s about the universal search we all go through. When songs are written about a specific event (“Sunday Bloody Sunday”) they become harder to identify with.

Bear in mind, I’m talking about LYRICS, not the music. Music without words goes directly to the emotions – a song can have the most idiotic garbage for lyrics and still make you feel things. I have problems distinguishing the lyrics when I’m listening to a song, so at first I’m just listening to the qualities of the music itself – the vocals, the arrangement, the melody, the instruments. It’s not until I’ve listened to a song multiple times that I start catching onto what the lyrics are saying, and there are many times that I find myself repulsed by the specifics and refuse to listen again.

Vagueness can be powerful, and it isn’t just done in THE ARTS. Obama’s Hope and Change campaign was full of empty rhetoric that let others lay their own interpretation on top of it. It seemed so great when it was vague and non-specific; now that it’s become a living, breathing thing – not so much… And what else could explain how both negotiating sides on The Iran Nuclear Deal seemed to think they had won? Once they start talking about the specifics, they can’t agree on what those specifics are or mean, like they were listening to two totally different songs.

Is this why abstract art somehow works? I can’t think of anything more vague and non-specific than a smear of colors, and yet…

Just saying…

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “The Re-Entanglement of Grant Decker” (Grant’s never been one to talk to himself, but maybe it's time. How else will he know if his life is coming apart or coming together?)- here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457080?ref=NoTimeToThink

Use coupon code HQ93G to save 50% off the list price at check out on Smashwords. The coupon is good through August 17^th. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

Google Permalink:  http://williammangieri.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-art-of-vague-and-another-smashwords.html 

Swordsmaster is Beyond (30,000) Words (and Another Smashwords Coupon)

I’ve ramped back up on Swordsmaster (after my forced hiatus to write “Pipes”), and it’s now crossed the 30,000 word barrier. My plan was for the first draft to come in at around 75,000 words, so I’m 40% of the way there, and from what I know is going to happen in the story, I will probably hit that mark before the rough  draft is complete.

And ROUGH is an understatement. As I’ve mentioned before, this is my first serious attempt at a novel. I consider myself to be a decent short fiction writer, with the one caveat being that I have not been able to master the HOOK – that trick of writing that grabs a hold of the reader on the first page and gets them to continue on, and even BUY a story because they just HAVE TO know what is going to happen. Whether this is through a lack of ability, or pure stubbornness, I am not certain, but I do know that I put very little regulation on my “muse” – I write the way the story comes to me, and I don’t try to commercialize it afterwards. On occasion I’m lucky, and the hook appears as part of my natural writing process, but it isn’t something I try for. As much value as I put on making a sale when I’m done, I should be willing to work that hook. I am not every agent’s dream…

One of the differences between short and long fiction is that you have more time to develop that hook, but you still need to develop it. When a reader knows they have a full length novel ahead of them they may give you a little bit longer to capture their interest, but you don’t want them to wonder why they’re reading this… stuff.

I am getting a lot of enjoyment watching how Swordsmaster is becoming a novel, but it would be lying if I didn’t admit that the task is becoming more and more daunting the further I get into it. I have already mentioned in an earlier posting how, instead of the two quick clean-up sessions I normally do in a short story, I know I’m going to have a host of single-purpose clean-ups and several out-and-out rewrites. Tere will be individual passes to make sure that Petron, or Dragor, or Ursul, or Marissa, or Filian, or any other character that appears in more than one scene speaks and behaves consistently. I’ll have to compare each time a particular setting is used to make sure I haven’t changed how long a street is or how tall a building or how far they have to travel to get somewhere. And tons of fleshing out descriptions that I wouldn’t have even needed if this was short fiction.

There are two serious problems with rewrites. The first is that they are a black hole that many stories (and writers) enter and never escape from. In many cases, it is a convenient excuse to not have to finish your work and actually let someone read it because “it just needs this one little tweak.” The roads to novels are littered with perpetually altered and discarded pages.

The second problem with rewrites is homogenization. When a story first comes out of your left brain (the creative part), it has a particular character – a unique voice. You can cover material that has been done before by others, and yet the voice itself can make it worth reading. Once you start to rewrite, your right brain takes over (the part with all the rules inside), and then there is a real danger of muting that voice by trying to make it conform to the way you are SUPPOSED to write. It may only be a tiny bit at a time, but too many rewrites and the story will sound like any other story written by anyone else. And once that happens, why would anyone want to read it?

(You may not be able to tell from all this, but I really am enjoying writing this story. Just saying…)

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “Mutiny on the Star-Bound” (Martin Henshaw, a humble digital mechanic, is shanghaied into the middle of a mutiny on a Transgalaxian colony ship) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/439441?ref=NoTimeToThink

Use coupon code YF28L to save 72% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – just 99-cents.) The coupon is good through August 10^th. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

Is it Where You Come From, or Where You’re Going? (the Second Part, and Yet Another Coupon)

 Last week I gave a BRIEF run-down of WHAT I’ve already been and a little of WHERE; funny - I looked back at it and realized that I never did say much about places in my past, even though I knew I would be listing mostly places in the future.

Actually this whole topic may be a bit odd for me – you see, I’m by and large a homebody. I’ve done very little travelling.

On the rare vacations when I actually GO SOMEWHERE with my wife, we do try to explore wherever we are (all credit to her), but what’s really sad is that when I travel by myself (that would be for business), I rarely take advantage of being in a new place – I hole up in the hotel during my free time unless I have to go out in search of FOOD.

I’ve been outside the continental United States twice in my life – both times on business trips. Once to Puerto Rico (yes, I know it isn’t another country, but it feels like it), and once to Canada (Toronto), and aside from the travel that was necessary to get the BUSINESS part of the trip done, I really didn’t go anywhere while I was in those places.

And yet I have this list of places I would like to go. I know that I really want to see these places, but there’s a part of me that wonders – based on my past tendencies – whether I would actually visit the places, or just become an expert on the hotel room. That would be AWFUL – to go somewhere unique and only know about the inside of a room at the local Hyatt or Holiday Inn.

I think there might still be hope for me – my last business trip I spent a week driving from Denver & Ft Collins to Cheyenne and a couple of REALLY SMALL TOWNS in Nebraska I had actually intended to stay in my rooms and write, but instead spent a lot of time just looking around at the little that was there. Maybe I CAN change. Or maybe I was just trying to avoid writing. Maybe that’s it – I’ll trick myself into planning to do something that requires me to stay in my room, and then I’ll naturally avoid it by going outside and exploring.

So, where do I want to go? I was going to put these in reverse order, with my favorite on the bottom, but then it looks like the first place on the list is the last I’d like to see, when it’s really the 10^th, so, in order of personal preference (that’s right, this is about where I want to go):

Mars.

I’ve been saying I want to go there for decades, and the fact is, we humans (LIVING, BREATHING HUMANS, not our robotic representatives) should have reached there by now. Mars is relatively close, and since it’s near our own gravity, would be a good choice for a colony so if/when the cataclysmic meteor or comet finally takes down our Mother Earth (all movie goers should think by now that this is inevitable), we’ll still exist in sufficient numbers somewhere else for the human race to survive. Even though we’ve frittered away our time (and money) since the Apollo landings, there’s still a chance that we’ll get there in my lifetime (although it most likely won’t be me unless there’s a lottery.)

The Moon.

Because it’s another planetoid, and we’ve actually had humans there, and the chances of my getting there are probably infinitely better than Mars. I particularly want to be able to watch Earth Rise.

An Orbital Space Station.

This would currently be The ISS, but I’m not picky – whichever one is up there would be fine with me (I just hope by then it’s owned by a friendly power.) I used to downplay going JUST into orbit – it mostly seemed like settling, like, “Well, I couldn’t get to <planetoid of choice>, but at least I made it into orbit.” Oh, let’s face it, it IS settling. However, if I can’t get any further out than orbit, it’s still worth it for the spiritual experience. There seems to be something transformative, something that strikes those who “slip the surly bonds of earth”, something about seeing our planet and NOT being on it, that I would like the chance to experience.

(Hmmm – my first three choices are literally OUT OF THIS WORLD; you’d almost think I don’t like being here…)

England.

Partly because they speak ENGLISH, and my facility for foreign languages (if I ever had any) no longer exists. With that, along with other cultural similarities, it would have the feel of a real foreign trip without being as intimidating. And I really would like to see the many historical places that eventually grew into the lost colony across the Atlantic.

Scotland.

Because they almost sound like they’re speaking English, and what I’ve seen of the countryside looks impressive. And Castles.

Australia.

More near English, with an attitude (as stereotypically portrayed in film) that almost seems more American than modern day America is (I think we could use an infusion of this – or at least a reminder.) And it’s large enough to have a lot of interesting terrain.

Somewhere Undersea.

It will almost be like outer space – just more crowded. Not the Marianas Trench – I want to go deep enough where I know I’m underwater, but not so deep that I can’t see anything. I don’t just want to be in a pressurized tin can – I want to be able to experience what’s out there. By the time I get around to this there will be plenty more underwater hotels built and I’ll choose one then (I didn’t have to tell you which Martian hotel I was going to, did I?)

Antarctica.

For the isolation, desolation, and otherworldliness of it.

Norway.

To see the fjords and imagine longships.

A Tropical Island Beach Somewhere (Tahiti? – I’m not picky).

Tropical climate, breezes, the sound of waves, and a white beach – something that would encourage me to lose track of time. Beaches are something I enjoyed in my youth, but haven’t been near in decades (and the last one I was on was on a lake, not the ocean – it’s not the same thing. I have no desire to be on one in cold weather – I want to be comfortable and just melt comfortably away.

Sometimes a man’s gotta go where a man’s gotta go.

Just saying…

<<<>>> 

My next ePublication is due out July 31^st (this Friday) – it’s time for “Reflections” (How much control do we have over what we turn into.) If you follow this blog or my Facebook writing page you’ll receive notification when it’s available.

<<<>>> 

My featured work this week is “Anti-Social” (With technology changing our social contacts into avatars we see through electronic windows, which of your connections really know you?)- here’s the link:

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402085?ref=NoTimeToThink

Use coupon code EZ28B to save 50% off the list price at check out on smashwords. The coupon is good through August 3^rd. Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri

Is it Where You Come From, or Where You’re Going? (the First Part, and a Coupon)

What really tells you about a person – where they’ve been, or where they’re going? Today, let’s try to cover where I’ve been.

My pat(ented) biography (what I put on my books and in the cover letters for my story submissions) lists me as a “karaoke junkie, former theater student, and recovered wargamer”, but that isn’t all that I’ve been. So - where (& what) have I been? Let’s ramble together…

I spent most of my childhood in Massachusetts. First came Quincy, where I was too small to be allowed to wander, and there was a girl in the neighborhood who was… of questionable safety, so I was secured in the yard on a harness (or was I staked out like a Judas Goat – A-Ha! My first Job. Next was Franklin, where I remember a haunted barn (not ours) and being chased around the yard by a bull (not ours, either.) Third was Wilmington, with a backyard that looked like woods when my parents bought the place in winter, but turned out to be swamp when the thaw came – a lot of blueberry picking and my first musical instrument (trumpet.)

Last was Tewksbury, where I wandered in the woods a lot, my instrument list expanded – French Horn (because we were ranked based on grade so I could be 2^nd chair on that instead of 3^rd trumpet), E-Flat horn (because my band teacher saw me dis- and reassemble my French horn during a Christmas concert), Alto Horn, Trombone (was in a garage band for a couple of months and got paid $5 for a “sweet 16” birthday party, so I’m a Pro!).

Started my acting “career” there by cutting my lip during 6^th grade recess so I was sitting in class when the girl from the Senior Class Play said they needed someone to play Unbearable Scragg in L’il Abner.) Played Captain von Trapp, Ito, and Snoopy among other roles

Moved to Texas in ’73 (during the oil embargo and the Watergate hearings), and even though I’ve lived in several towns since, it’s all been on the Dallas side of DFW. My last 2 years in High School I picked up guitar, wrote a dozen songs (that I still have), wrote some other things besides (that I don’t.) Went to school for theatre (Dionysus, Theseus, The Player King, Travis Macefield, Fontaineux, etc.) but stopped when I decided I wasn’t going for a degree. My last foray into theatre was The Reindeer in The Snow Queen with Theatre Onstage, for which a couple of months of work netted $25 (I’m a PRO again!) and a promotional appearance on Mr. Peppermint (where I watched Jerry Haynes beat Muffin with his cane during a break in filming; don’t worry – Muffin was a puppet (a raccoon?).) And thus ended my acting career (although I might argue I’ve been acting ever since – we are all a formed and evolving composite of the many experiences we have had.)

I worked a lot of warehouse and manufacturing jobs, I got married, was soon laid off and decided I needed to go back to school for… COMPUTERS (I had dabbled with BASIC programming, so why not?) And FIVE-AND-A-HALF YEARS of school and work later I picked up the TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS of school I needed to get my Bachelor’s degree JUST IN TIME for my son to be born. (It would have been SO MUCH EASIER to do this straight out of high school, but then again, computers weren’t even on my radar – my first exposure was as a student assistant in my theatre days, running registration cards from the gym to the computer center (yes, I was paid to be a SNEAKER MODEM) where the geeks there gave me printouts to take back.)

It took another couple of years to actually get a job that used that degree (being a Machine Shop Supervisor paid better than any of the entry level IT work I could find), but eventually I made the transition, and I’ve been in IT ever since – although I’m a Project manager now, and my coding days are WELL behind me.

What have I left out… GAMING. I’ve played games all my life (yes, I know we all have as we grew up, but I went further.) Playing army in the woods, chess in the library (I NEVER tip my king), Canasta with my grandparents, Monopoly (won 25-cents off our Priest for that and mortified my mother in the process, but there I am – a PRO again), elaborate plastic soldier battles across my yard that escalated into an arms race with more advanced models and weapons, including aircraft (hey - we didn't have computers yet), lots of boardgames, wargames, French Napoleonic miniature battles, Dungeons & Dragons role-playing (when it was just a little box with three little booklets), an era of fantasy miniature battles with my Dwarven Hoard, and backgammon, Scrabble, UNO and such with my wife, and here lately Texas Hold’em.

I’m overly analytical (and competitive), and it really comes out when I play. At the height of my gaming days I was known as “The Threat”; other players would often gang up on me to knock me out of whatever multi-player game we were competing in. One friend told me it (the nickname AND the ganging up) was because I always seemed to be winning, and so they had to take me out first, but another said that it was because I always acted like I knew something the rest didn’t (theatre again? Or arrogance?) and I never gave up (I told you, I don’t EVER tip my king) so I needed to be taken out of the game just because of how annoying I was. (actually, there’s truth to both.)

Then there’s the karaoke. I love to sing – no matter where I am, but up in front of people feeding off their energy (like when I used to be on stage) and being immersed in the backing music (much more fulfilling than a Capella in a grocery store), and having to keep up (competitive, sort of, but I also like structure.) And especially having the words right there in front of me so I don’t have to worry about remembering them means that I can sing just about anything; I have a talent for picking out melodies on most songs even if I haven’t heard them. Of course, there’s a lot of new stuff lately that just doesn’t seem to come as naturally to me – doesn’t fall into the traditional patterns.

Each of us is a unique, growing, unfolding pattern, but a pattern none the less, and we only change so far. The more history you have behind you, the better able you should be to predict where you’re going (and where you’ll wind up.) And yet, how many of us really can?

(Next week we’ll talk about where I want to go…)

Times change, and we do, too, but only to a point. Everything we’ve been and seen and done informs how and who we are now. I can look at all the things I’ve listed above and see how they are reflected in my life today – even in how I approach my job. So don’t ever think that you are JUST a programmer, or a musician, or a construction worker, or a wife, or a husband, a doctor, or a writer, or ….whatever label you find yourself applying TO yourself. You are all of those things and more. Be sure to use it all.

Just saying…

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Our featured work this week is “Flee Markets” (that is NOT a misspelling – it actually MEANS something in the story. You can always find something unexpected at those – well, maybe not THAT unexpected. ) Here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402085?ref=NoTimeToThink

Use coupon code UC78A to save 67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that makes it only 99 cents – such a deal!) The coupon is good through July 27^th. Enjoy!

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Prepping another story for ePublication on July 31^st – more details next week…

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William Mangieri’s writing can be found in many places, including:

• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE

To connect with him, go to

“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri