MediocreMan

Sometimes Writing Is a Chore · 2 November 2024

I do not often feel so, but sometimes writing is a chore.

I love to write.
I love to rhyme.
But writing is a chore.
At least some of the time.

Like any job or career or lifestyle, writing is full of joy and pain. It is a job and it is a joy. And like any job, there are good and bad things about it. Even if you love it.

One of the things I hate about writing is preparing to publish. Getting things ready for the world is not always an easy task. Sure, blogging is easy. Just throw stuff out there and see what sticks. Anybody can do that. At least that is what I think sometimes. Then, there are other times when I know I am throwing poop out there, but do not have anything better. Ah, the joy of a publishing deadline. (Even self-imposed.)

As much as I sometimes dread the deadline of publishing my blog, publishing a book is even worse. At least if you want anybody to know about it.

I published my first works of fiction on Amazon as digital books only. I might have sold ten books in the several years since I first published. The worst part about that is that I have more than ten different titles out there for sale. And being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided that I ought to publish the books in print. I got the first of my books ready.

(When I first started writing this blog post a bunch of years ago, I did not have as many tools as I do now. Some of them were not even in existence yet. And I did not know about some of the nuances of publishing with Amazon. So in reality, I am glad that I did not post the original form of this post way back when.)

At any rate.

Nowadays, Amazon has made it simple to publish print-on-demand books. You just choose what size of book you want, choose the paper you want, upload the cover, upload a pdf of your book, and voilà! You have a book ready for people to order and have in their hot little hands.

That is all well and good, but what about getting those books ready for Amazon?

I already posted a piece about my preferred software called Atticus. Atticus is actually really a service on a website where you format your books. At least that is what I do. I write my book in Word, edit it, then format it in Atticus. When I am satisfied, I save a PDF and upload it to Amazon. As long as I have the cover done, I have a book ready to go. Woo hoo! Another piece of drivel is out there on Amazon ready to be read by… Well. I have another book ready to sit on my digital shelf on Amazon. Still, even if nobody reads those books, they are out there ready to go.

My process is pretty streamlined now. I write my book. I edit my book. I format my book for both print and digital. I create a cover. I upload all the material. I use the Amazon ISBN. I set my price and do all the other stuff that Amazon requires. Then I wait. Usually, just for a day or two. Then, my book is ready. Ready to fly off the digital shelf into people’s e-readers or into people’s hands. Maybe publishing is not much of a chore after all.

I know I started out saying that sometimes writing is a chore, and sometimes it is, but mostly it is not.

I love to write.
I love to rhyme.
Writing is not a chore.
At least most of the time.

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Formerly Known as… · 26 October 2024

There are reasons for being formerly known as, but I cannot think of one for X.com.

Back in the day, women who got married would have a designation “née” and then their former last name. Like Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier). It was a nice custom used so that people would know what a married person’s name used to be. It kept the ties to the past.

Nowadays people do not necessarily change their names when they get married. Which works for some people and not for others. There are also those who change their names for any number of reasons. Maybe several times. Which got me thinking…

I was never really a Prince fan, but it was interesting when he changed his name from Prince to the The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Prince was always catchy and you knew who people were talking about. Purple Rain. Little Red Corvette. That Prince. So it was a bit comical to me when he changed his name. The Artist Formerly Known As Prince was still all about Purple Rain. And purple in general. He just had a new name. I am not sure that I ever called him The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, but I knew who people were talking about when they used, “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” in a sentence.

I never really knew why The Artist Formerly Known As Prince changed his name (or whether he changed his name back) nor did I ever really wonder that much. But I do think it curious that X.com, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, changed its name.

I cannot get used to the new name for Twitter. I even still type Twitter into my browser when going there each morning. Of course, my browser changes my T into Twitter right away so that all I do is type the T and away I go to X.com. Just one letter gets me to my destination. And maybe that is why X changed its name. After all, I doubt there are many websites starting with X. Still, even though I type in a T to get to X, it is a tough change to take. In more ways than one.

Think about it. If you post on X, are you Xing? And if you are Xing, does that mean you are crossing. I mean think about all those Ped Xing signs. Or Duck Xing or Deer Xing or Moose Xing signs out there. Does that mean that all those pedestrians and ducks and deer and moose are actually posting on social media? Or are they just crossing the road and you as a driver ought to watch out. So maybe people are not Xing when they post on X.

Or people might be confused about Xing because Xing is also when you delete something. You X something out. Or people might think you are verbing a noun and breaking up with somebody. You are Xing somebody out of your life. Or maybe…

I suppose that if you are not Xing when you post on X, you must still be tweeting? But that does not make much sense either. Why would you tweet on X? X and tweet do not have any letters in common. Xs do not tweet. They might have conflicts with Os, but what does sports have to do with X?

Okay. This is getting more nonsensical by the letter. When will the insanity stop?

I do not know why Twitter changed to X. I do not know if you still tweet on X. I do not know when the insanity of name changing websites will stop. What I do know is that I cannot think of Twitter as X. So maybe I will just refer to X.com as The Social Media Platform Formerly Known As Twitter. That might even make a good domain name. TheSocialMediaPlatformFormerlyKnownAsTwitter.com. In fact, it would be wonderful because I would still be able to just type in a T and get there. At least after a few times.

I suppose there are good reasons for any name change, but I cannot think of one for X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

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Remembering Your Drill Instructor · 19 October 2024

Marines say that you remember your Drill Instructor (DI) all your life. I am not a U.S. Marine, but I will always remember my DI, Staff Sergeant Rosario.

(I need to insert a short explanation here before I go any further. I know that there are female Drill Instructors. I often write ‘his or her’ instead of just ‘his.’ Or sometimes I trade pronouns in different paragraphs. I thought about doing one of those two things in this blog post, but decided that this particular blog post flows better just using pronouns of one gender. And it also works better for me in this case because I had a male DI. So I hope that no female DIs take my use of male pronouns as a sleight. You have my utmost respect. Because you are a Drill Instructor. Because you are a U.S. Marine.)

I recently wrote about the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Educator’s Workshop. I wrote a little about the thrill of getting to shoot and rappel and do a combat fitness test. I even wrote a little about our Drill Instructor. But not enough.

U.S. Marine recruits get to know their Drill Instructors over the course of 13 weeks. The DIs are with the recruits all day every day during that time. The DIs tell them how to do what they need to do to become U.S. Marines. More importantly, they show them what a Marine is and how to become one.

The first exposure that a recruit has to his or her DI is certainly a rude awakening. Literally. They are all at some facility when they get awoken by DIs barking orders and getting them ready to move to the depot where they will eat and sleep and work on becoming Marines. They will hear those DIs telling them that they are to reply, “Aye aye, sir!” or “Aye aye, ma’am!” to everything. And they are to reply at the top of their lungs. There is no half way. There is only one way. Full throttle and full volume. And if the recruits do not do things right the first time, they will do it again and again and again until they do.

At the educator’s workshop, we got a small taste of this. We had a nice breakfast the first morning. Then, we were just milling around talking to one another outside the restaurant. We educators were from different schools and different cities, and we wanted to get to know one another. After all, the only people we knew so far were our roommates and maybe people we saw at the airport or in the hotel. That was when it happened.

“Line up!”
We lined up. And off we went.

Okay. That was not exactly how it went. The first interactions we had with our DIs went something like this:

“Line up!”
We tried to get in lines while the Drill Instructor yelled.
”You will respond with ‘Aye aye, sir!’”
A few people responded, “Aye aye, sir.”
“You will do so at the top of your voice!”
More people responded, “Aye aye, sir.”
“It’s okay to yell!”
Everybody finally caught on. “Aye aye, sir!”
“It’s okay to respond!”
“Aye aye, sir!”
“When I say, ‘Eyeballs’ you turn and look at me and say, ‘Click, sir!’ Eyeballs!”
“Click, sir!”
“Eyeballs!”
“Click, sir!”
“When I say, ‘Ears’ you say, ‘Open, sir!’ Ears!”
“Open, sir!”
“Ears!”
“Open, sir!”
“When I countdown and say, ‘Zero’ you say, “Freeze, sir!”
“Zero!”
“Freeze, sir!”
“Zero!”
“Freeze, sir!”

It was a crash course in call and response. It was almost poetic. At least it would have been had it not been at the top of our lungs. Or maybe it was more poetic at the top of our lungs.

At any rate.

We ended up getting into four lines, two for each bus. Then, we walked to our busses. We were taught how to “cover down” that is get into our lines. We were taught how to count off getting onto the bus. We were taught how to count off in the bus. Twice each time we loaded. More, if we got it wrong. We did not often get it wrong. In fact, the only times we got the count on the bus wrong was when we had somebody from the other bus get on ours. A spy. Call, “Spy on deck!” Response, “Spy on Deck!” That happened twice. But not with the same person. (We did have a short count when we were leaving the last day, but that is a different story.)

After a day or so of being with our Drill Instructor, I had an inkling as to why Marines always remember theirs. After just one day, you come to respect and maybe even love your drill instructor. You certainly get attached. You long for his approval. His camaraderie. His respect. That is really it. Or at least part of it. You want his respect. So you say the words at the top of your voice like he wants you to do. You step in line like he wants you to do. You do whatever it is that he wants you to do because you want the respect of this particular U.S. Marine. Yes, you may want the respect of every Marine you ever meet, but right now, you want the respect of this one Marine. And you will do what it takes, whatever it takes, to get it. You may not realize it until later, but when you earn the right to be called a U.S. Marine, you have earned the respect of the one Marine you want it from, and because of that, you have earned it from every person who has ever been a United States Marine.

The other thing I see is that Drill Instructors are the ideal Marines to recruits. And the recruits want to measure up. They want their DIs to be proud of them. They want to be like them. They want to be tough and confident. They want to be problem solvers and leaders. They want the respect of their DIs and fellow recruits. They want to be part of the family of U.S. Marines.

I am sure it is much more than a couple paragraphs could convey, but that is what I saw being with our DI for just a few days. Those reasons seem to me to be why a Marine will always remember his or her Drill Instructor.

I am sure that I wanted the respect of my Drill Instructor. I wanted to be the best educator at the workshop. I wanted to listen the best and perform the best. I wanted to respond the loudest. I wanted my DI to remember me like I would remember him.

Thank you SSgt Rosario, for an experience I will never forget. I am no Marine (even though I would be if I could), but even after a few short days, I know that I will always remember my Drill Instructor.

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