Moments of AWESOME

Neil Pasricha has written two books: The Book of AWESOME and The Book of Even More AWESOME. In these two books he writes short paragraphs about life's pleasures which are AWESOME. I get awesome updates sent to my email. Check out his website: http://www.1000awesomethings.com/ My favorite one for this week talked about the point in a book, where you can no longer put it down. I like to call it the point of no return. I love books that have this point. The bad part is that I inevitably hit it around midnight and have to stay up past two in order to finish the book.

In the last several days I have had several moments of AWESOME. This weekend I had many moments that were AWESOME. I went to CONduit 21 which is a fantasy/scifi convention held yearly. Many authors attended including Tracy Hickman and L. E. Modesitt Jr. I sat in on several panels discussing things such as writing a great villain, women characters in fantasy, and streamlining your writing. One of my favorite lectures was given by Tracy Hickman. He talked about the 8 archtypical characters and how in good movies and books you can always these 8 characters. I also went to Tracy Hickman's Killer Breakfast. No food was involved. It was a role playing game with audience participation required. It was a mix of improv, the whim of the Dungeon Master, a musical, and the inevitable death of your character. It was a rolicking good time. I enjoyed seeing all of the interesting costumes wandering around. There were elves of all kinds, pirates, caped individuals, Star Wars characters and other characters of the imagination. AWESOME!

My other AWESOME moment happened yesterday evening. I just got off of work. It was misting with a glow of sun. A double rainbow arched in front of the mountains. Scientifically you can explain a rainbow as the reflection of light off of droplets of water. This to me is a sterile view of a rainbow. A rainbow is made up of 7 translucent colors. It gives the appearance of being solid, but at the same time is ephemeral. I don't want to look away because it may be gone in a moment. The remarkable aspect of this rainbow was the snow on the mountains visible through the rainbow. The snow and rainbow merged together creating what I imagine a portal into fluffy heavenly realms would look like. I could almost see winged unicorns appearing and sliding down the rainbow. The Biblical explanation for the rainbow resonates more with me than the scientific. According to the Bible a rainbow is a symbol of God's promise to humankind that he will never send a worldwide flood, wiping out all the peoples of the earth again. The rainbow as a promise describes to me more of the essence of a rainbow than the clinically scientific one. AWESOME!

What are some of your moments of AWESOME!

Authors and Books

Over the last couple of days I have contemplated several different topics to write about. I thought I would tell you about those people who always make my day brighter. I thought maybe you would find my strange clock amusing that randomly decides to stop working and then starts up again weeks after I thought the battery gave out. I know you are wondering why I never changed the battery in weeks, but that isn't relevant right now. I thought about going more serious and talking about my views on the "radicalization" of Islam. Or maybe I could jump on the favorite topic for the last two weeks, Charlie Sheen. But I'm not feeling passionate about any of these things right now. I was chatting with a friend last night and realized again that I love authors. I would like to tell you about some of my favorites. Please note my favorites are always changing, but these almost always make the cut.

Yesterday I was reading some essays and excerpts from G. K. Chesterton. He lived in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Although he lived quite a while ago, it amazes me how relevant his ideas are for today. He is rather philosophic in nature, but in a down to earth understandable sort of way. Here are some essays he wrote.

C. S. Lewis is another all time favorite of mine. He is most well known for his children's books The Chronicles of Narnia. He also wrote quite a bit about Christianity. He has a phenomenal skill of making something that seems complex and hard to understand simple. One of my favorite books of his is The Screwtape Letters where a senior demon gives advice to his nephew on tempting his person.

For pure story telling genius here are some of my favorites: David Farland, Brandon Sanderson, and Robin Hobb. I can only aspire to telling stories like these authors. There is a point in most books which I like to term, "the point of no return." This is the part in the book where you can no longer set it down and simply must finish it. A normally punctual person will find themselves running out the door super late for an event. An early to bed person will chastise themselves for going to sleep at 4 in the morning because they simply had to read one more chapter. I hit the point of no return fairly early on in the books these authors write.

There are so many authors that I love and books that have become my friends over the years. Ayn Ran created fascinating philosophical stories, Francine Rivers told very realistic and sometimes raw stories about people in difficult situations. I love children's stories and I remember quite fondly Madeline L'engle, Lloyd Alexander, Judy Blume, and Lois Lowry. I have a book written by Fans G. Bengtsson. It is called The Long Ships. I absolutely love this book. I don't know if he has written any others, but this one I have read four or five times.

As you can see I have many favorite authors. Each one of them has a strength all their own. I find myself wishing I had the clarity of C. S. Lewis or the wit of Mark Twain. But I am unlike anyone who has written before me. I am uniquely my own style. And maybe sometime in the future another reader will draw inspiration from my writing or perhaps find a friend in a book that I wrote. That for me, would be wonderful knowing I have given something transcendental to someone else.