December 2011 Archives - David Starkweather

I ran across this book online, someone I didn’t know recommended it. I checked it out and noticed it was only $.99 and said, ‘why not’. Even if its horrible, I’m only out a buck. I started reading on my phone and after three pages I was hooked.

I’ve been interested in writing for a long time. I’m one of those weird people that think books are sexy and writing is cool. When I was in high school I read Stephen Kings book, On Writing which is a similar kind of book intended to offer advice on writing. It was good but at times a little dry and boring, probably not intended for the same audience as Chuck’s version.

Chuck’s is better…

I should start over and tell you why I really spent the buck. I read a review on Amazon. It was actually a bad review. Chuck actually posted a link to one of the negative reviews and light heartily said ‘well, if you didn’t like the first one, you’re not going to like this one.’ I wanted to see what the person who gave his first book it a 1 star had to say. Turns out, what she said made me want to read it. Funny how that works out.

The reason that bad review made me want to read this is that most books on writing, read like textbooks. They’re dry and slow and kinda make you want to not write. That 1 star review sounded like it came from someone from the ‘old school’. I wanted something different. Chuck has fun with his advice and it makes you feel like writing could be fun.

‘This stuff isn’t hard. It ain’t fuckin math. At it’s core, social media is really, “talk to people, and try not to be a dick” sound advice!’

Read more from Chuck at terribleminds.com or checkout his page on Amazon.

I posted this on Twitter and Google Plus but thought I’d post it up here too. After all, I live in Prairie Village. This literally happened just a couple blocks from my house…and frankly, thats kinda cool.

If you haven’t read about the story yet, here is an article that ran on CNN.

When I first read about this I laughed and thought, some spoiled girl thought she’d be cute and make a condescending tweet during a speech and got busted.

But after I thought about it, I was pretty shocked that the Governor actually noticed the tweet and that they took such an aggressive stance on this girls expression of free speech. Not to get political but it is her right to say what she wants – How does a politician forget that?

Aside from the rediculous reaction, Why on earth would ‘they’ care what a teenage girl tweeted during that speech? Who do they think saw that tweet – that is before they threw a political temper tantrum? Her teenage friends…probably all 20 of them, most of whom probably laughed and forgot about it five minutes later. So instead of 20 high school kids not remembering the speech or the tweet. This story ran in nearly every national news publication across the country.

What Governor Brownback failed to realize is that his audience was giving him feedback on his performance. Regardless of how they viewed her remarks its still something to take note of. Its very likely that several other members of that teenage audience had the same reaction – as crass as it may be, its still a cue that perhaps his speech wasn’t quite tailored to his audience.

A more responsive approach would not be to demand an apology but instead ask her what was so boring. Engage your audience in conversation, try to figure out how your audience perceives you and most importantly, maybe you should change up your pitch and match your speech with your audience. That’s something Shawnee Mission NorthEast probably teaches their students in speech class.

If you care about getting your message across to your audience, make sure you know your audience. Obviously Brownback didn’t tailor his speech to match his audience and they told him about it.

A Congregation of Jackals is different than what you might think of when you think of a western, it’s a modern spin on an old western. The name alone doesn’t resonate ‘Western’, at least not in the classic John Wayne or Clint Eastwood sense of a western. Most westerns and cowboy stories take on a right is right, wrong is wrong sense of being. Typically the sheriff or the good guy is pure and never strays from the line. He’s never done anything bad in his life and he is the model of consistency.

The bad guys on the other hand are bad. They do bad things, they hurt people and they don’t think twice about doing it. In that regard, most westerns are clear cut with a simple view of who is good and who is bad.

What makes this book so great is that the lines between good and evil are so blurred that even at the end of the book, you aren’t quite sure who you should be rooting for. The main characters are both the good guys and bad guys. They start off the story as bad guys known as the Tall Boxer Gang, robbing banks across the country. They end up getting involved with another gang that is worse than they are and like that, the bad guys turn good.

Toward the end of the story, the Tall Boxer Gang must try to right some old wrongs and protect the innocent lives of those they care about. A battle breaks out during the wedding of one of the members of their gang and old wounds are opened and the good guys, like that are considered bad. To their dying end, they try to shake their old reputation and and save those who are truly innocent and the story ends with them being caught somewhere in the gray of good and evil.

These flawed hero’s are always trying to right what was wrong. It’s similar to spy novels or crime fiction where the good guys aren’t quite as good as you’re lead to believe and its only a matter of perspective that changes who is right and who is wrong.

If you’re not a fan of westerns or you are looking for something new, A Congregation of Jackals is a great place to look.

With all the feedback coming in around the kindle fire it seems hard to argue that Amazon may have done to the tablet computer what Apple did to the cell phone. They’ve figured out how to take somethign that worked and make it work the way it is supposed to.

Sure tablets work fine now. The iPad and Galaxy tab are good tablets, they do what they are supposed to do. But cell phones used to work to right? They just needed to be refined to function the way we all want them to.

Bezos and Amazon have taken the existing model for a tablet computer and flipped it on its head, re-inventing what a tablet should be. It’s not a computer, you have a laptop for that. It’s not a phone, you have an iphone/android device for that. A tablet is a media device. It is an ereader, a social media tool, a movie/tv/youtube watching device, it’s a portal to all of your media.

Whats different? The interface, the desktop/home screen is not a ‘traditional’ desktop that you find on your laptop or pc. It’s a visual library of content which is exactly what it should be. A tablet is not meant to replace a computer or laptop. You’re not supposed to edit your spreadsheets and write a novel. You should check email, check facebook, check youtube, read a book, watch a movie, download some songs and look up something that you just saw while watching tv. It’s an extension of your media consumed life

Amazon took out what you don’t need in a tablet, even the extra three inches in screen size and made it into something that fits into any livingroom and is accessible by anyone. This is key. Apple is well known for taking complex devices and making them simple. Amazon took a complex device and made is simple to use.

Amazon also did a great job of creating buzz around this launch. Bezons pulled a ‘Steve Jobs’ and put on a show with the unveiling of the Kindle Fire. It’ll be interesting to see if Amazon’s yearly media conferences start to generate as much buzz as apple’s have done in the past. Who knows, maybe the announcement of the Kindle phone will make the media do a doubletake.

Good job Jeff and team.

David Starkweather

500 Way To Be A Better Writer | A Book Review

Prairie Village in the News | A Case for Knowing Your Audience

A Congregation of Jackals | Book Review

Amazon is the new Apple

David Starkweather

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