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D. A. Ratliff, Writing

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2.0)

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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2.0)


How to deal with the loss of the internet.

You know that moment. The moment you press enter or tap the screen and nothing happens. You reboot, thinking your screen froze. Then the realization hits you… the internet is down.

At that moment, the earth stands still.

I live in a large city and have underground electrical and internet/cable lines. Outages are a rarity, and they usually last only a brief time when they happen. Then the big one comes along. The outage takes down a grid and, worst of all, takes out the modem. An electrical surge, bad signal, something caused it, but the modem is dead.

On top of that, with the increasing use of streaming services and the trend away from cable services, I have YouTube TV. Or in this case, I don’t have YouTube TV, which relies on Wi-Fi to operate.

Now, what to do? You place a phone call to the internet provider, have a few choice words, and are told, “It’s an outage, back up in twenty-four hours.” Then you find out that the internet tech gurus repaired the outage, but the modem is dead. Another twenty-four hours before the modem arrives by those once efficient delivery services.

(As an aside, I would like to mention that my phone malfunctioned in the midst of this and is not recognizing the servers for Facebook, Messenger, YouTube TV, etc. Such a serendipitous occurrence adds to the fun. I have phone and text, so that could be worse. However, I can’t get this solved until the modem comes in and I have Wi-Fi—but I digress,)

So, what to do as I wait? I remember the days before the internet, even before pagers and fax machines. We used a landline phone to call our family, friends, and whoever else we needed to speak with during the dark ages. Imagine, we were tethered to the wall and had to stay in one spot! We wrote letters and paid bills by mail using an envelope with a stamp, which often required a walk to the mailbox and raising that cute little red flag to get the mail carriers’ attention.

We have become accustomed to instantaneously chatting with the people we love, friends, and acquaintances on the internet. Who has time for a phone call when we can take thirty seconds to say what we need to say? We pay bills, check the news and weather, watch sports, watch space launches (okay—I’m a nerd), all at our fingertips, whether by desktop, laptop, pad, or phone. When that convenience goes away, we begin to realize how much the internet affects our lives.

The loss of internet access can interrupt manufacturing lines, shipping, infrastructure, schools, fire and police services, hospitals—and Uber. There is little that the internet doesn’t touch. While these businesses and services hopefully have backup plans to work manually, it is a considerable inconvenience and can have consequences.

Writers can continue with little interruption. We might not like to use pen and paper, but it works when needed. As long as there is electrical power and Microsoft 365, the writing continues. However, there are some issues.

Back in the olden days, we also did research at the library. We went there, looked up books in the card catalog, and followed the ‘yellow-brick” Dewey Decimal road to the shelf holding our desired tome. We could ask the librarians at the reference desk (the smartest people I knew as a child), use microfiche, or maybe we were fortunate to have a set of encyclopedias at home.

Today’s writer has the world’s knowledge at their fingertips. As a pantser style writer, I rarely do research before I write. I might research an area or a specific timeframe to begin the book. Most of the time, as I write a scene, I might need a drink that tastes bitter enough to hide the flavor of a bitter-tasting poison. Off to the search engine to find the perfect cocktail. There is one, by the way.

Immediate answers are not available to me now, and as I have taken this downtime to write quite a bit, it is frustrating not having that instantaneous information at hand. But I won’t let that stop me. I highlighted the area in a pretty color and will address that when the internet returns.

I talked to a friend about this predicament, and we discussed this was like an EM event. There is always talk of an electromagnetic attack on our infrastructure and the dire consequences that could befall us without the tools we are used to having.

The fact is, we fret about the occasional and often annoying short outages, be it electrical power or internet, but we should never forget that things could be worse. Should we be prepared? Yes. Will we be? I doubt it. The second the service returns, we forget the difficulties when unavailable.

We should remember.

—–

Addendum: If you are reading this, I have internet again.

What was I talking about?

D. A. Ratliff, Writing

‘Twas the Day After New Year’s

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Images used are free use and require no attribution. Image by Ralf Kunze from Pixabay 

‘Twas the Day After New Year’s

      A Writer’s Resolutions

Another new year…

Like me, I wonder how many writers are resolute to correct all past laziness. I think that each year for the last few years, I have written a New Year’s blog post about how I will strive to concentrate on my writing and publish the book (well, after five years, books) that I promised to publish.

I haven’t. I have published in a few anthologies, written articles about writing, and the occasional blog post about doing better. But I haven’t done better, just more of the same.

Motivation is a tricky taskmaster and easily swayed by the day’s occurrences. I am busy with a large writing group which takes up as much time as I am willing to give it, and that is a lot. But still no excuse for not publishing. The motivation is there but publishing anthologies for the writing group and writing short stories for a monthly group project is fun and very productive. So, how do I find time for myself?

There are no easy answers to that question. Part of me feels selfish and self-indulgent when I put my needs above others. The other part of me knows better but still can’t walk from my obligations, albeit a commitment of my own making.

Years ago, I belonged to a women’s business club, and at one meeting, a guest speaker talked about having balance in your life. That ability to step away, take the day off, indulge in a fun activity, or take a walk in the park are all things that we should do to balance work or family pressures.

Unless we are isolated, which many of us during these past two years have been due to COVID, it is hard to pull away from the routines we follow. Think about it, how many people took up a new hobby, wrote a book or composed a piece of music, painted, knitted, crocheted, or countless other activities we had always wanted to do when we felt we had the time. We learned that activities outside of work obligations could bring satisfaction.

It takes balance to make us happy. Many psychologists assert that relaxing and enjoying life, even one hour a day, makes us more productive and more content.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a good thing. As this new year begins, I vow to make time for myself, publish a book or two, and bring balance to my life.

Check-in with me next year and see if I accomplished that goal—this time.

Happy New Year to all! I wish you a safe, healthy, productive, and balanced year!

D. A. Ratliff, Writers Unite!, Writing

What? I Can’t Write Like Stephen King?

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Images are free use and do not require attribution. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

What? I Can’t Write Like Stephen King?

D. A. Ratliff

I came across an article that focused on the reasons not to listen to advice from Stephen King. I wondered, why not? Stephen King is a highly successful author and the author of a popular book on the writing process.

When reading articles such as this one, I always remind myself that there is advice and there is opinion. In our quest to improve, writers should always read both to obtain a broad base of information to utilize in our writing.

The author of this article isolates three of Stephen King’s “rules” and proceeds to show how the opposite of his rule can be appropriate. Of course, writing passive sentences or using an adverb or a “five-dollar word” as the author describes can be effective—in the proper context.

What this author fails to mention is that you should use these rule-breaking exceptions in moderation. A plethora (see what I did there?) of passive sentences will eventually bore your readers, too many adjectives, and you create “purple prose,” writing that is too ornate.

As for those “five-dollar words,” I prefer to call that an extensive vocabulary. In the author’s example, her use of complex, long words was entirely appropriate. When writing an educated character or one from the aristocracy, formal dialogue and those “five-dollar and change” words add realism and depth. The same terms used by a character who is uneducated or from a lower socioeconomic level would not feel authentic to your reader. A book laden with too many complex words becomes a textbook and will be difficult for most readers to follow.

This author ends by saying that writers should write anyway that they feel comfortable and break the rules if they are skilled enough.

It seems as though I have heard that advice/opinion before. That statement is what writing is for all of us. We develop our style based on what we have learned and how we arrange words on the page.

I have authored articles on the rules and my opinion of the writing process. However, I want to stress that writers should read everything they can about this art of writing. Take away those ideas, rules, and suggestions that suit your style of writing. This author inferred that if you follow Stephen King’s rules, you will write just like him. No, you won’t. The rules are not his style. How he uses words to convey emotion and create tension is his style.

I offer only one piece of advice here. As I said above, read everything you can about the writing process, read books, and glean from those sources what you need to become the writer you want to be. Always learn the rules first, then you can break them.

In the words of the infamous fashion icon Tim Gunn:  Make it work!

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