MEMORIES OF ROBERT J SAWYER

This is being written with a different motive. Instead of my usual vanity, I am writing for myself as an effort to remember some interesting things. As you age you realize that one thing that nobody can take away from you are your memories. Naturally I prefer the pleasant things, but I also realize that memory is one of the things that slips away, thus stealing some your most precious things.

Robert Sawyer spoke last Thursdayt at the Hamilton Library and a key theme for him was memory. He said a lot of little things that had a sort of profundity about them and I fear forgetting them. Writing his most recently published novel, "Triggers" he started with the theme of memory, before developing a plot or characters. He wanted to explore that. He pointed out that we don't remember in a scroll, but rather in little bits (not his word) that we re-assemble by filling in the blank spots.

A questioner asked for advice for beginner writers. He started off by saying what not to do. Don't write about what you know--that will interest you more than your readers. Write about what you would enjoy researching. He pointed that many successful writers spent most of their time researching--best to find something you think would interest the general public and find out things they might not know.

In reflecting on myself I actually do enjoy research and in one project I got to do quite a bit of it. Unfortunately it didn't work out, but I understand the thought.  For these blogs I have written about what interests me so my audience is limited to those who would care about what makes me who I am and those who are interested in a particular topic.  Not too many for the former, but possibly more for the latter on a good day.

Having written 21 books Robert can look back at his career and see patterns and appreciate some of his luck. One pattern is that there is not much action in his books. This was made clear when one of his books "Flash Forward" was made into a tv series. Although he was consulted on every tv episode he found himself being pressured into adding action such as explosions. He didn't resent that as he pointed out the producers were investing $100 million in the venture and wanted to protect their investment.

He read an 8 minute segment of his new book making the point that it was internal thinking. He was a very dramatic reader. It held our attention with its philosophical and psychological wanderings.

Talking about characters, he doesn't believe in locking himself into a character description at the beginning.  As the plot flows the character can go in different directions.  He feels this is more natural and easier.  

Getting back to research he recounted a trip to Washington. A key part of the plot is an assassination attempt on the American president. He got tremendous co-operation from the CIA and medical staff at George Washington Hospital where protocol dictates an injured president would be taken. He was quite impressed with how helpful the staff was. After writing his draft Robert sent it down for them to preview. They assured he got every detail right except there were no drug addicted nurses. He doubted that as he was aware that it was a common problem in hospitals. However he thought about it and didn't want to offend those who had been so helpful to him and decided to make up a fake name for the hospital.

He prides himself on using the real names of institutions (many Canadian sites are named in his novels), but saw this as an opportunity. He chose the name of Leroy E Burey. Before repeating the name of the hospital he pointed out he wanted to honour the man who had saved more lives than anyone else in the world. He further pointed out that unlike today this man resisted lobbyists and threats. He not only published a study that established the link between smoking and cancer he also forced tobacco companies to reference it on every package they sold.

His experience with the tv series pointed out a few things. American broadcasters would not accept a European location as American viewers would not be interested in. In fact he said basically they were only interested in four locations--New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. A lot of truth, but I think that is breaking down.

In assessing his own success he pointed out he made a decision that he was advised against. He set his stories in Canada. He found that wasn't such a handicap. He sells about as good as his Canadian colleagues in the American market, but also sells a bigger share in Canada. This decision could have worked against him, but in fact it worked to his benefit.

I had read two of his trilogies and like many found myself compelled forward to the next book in the set. He said he will never do that again. He gets bored. Publishers like them because they are easier to sell--at least the second and third in the series. But he prefers a stand alone book where he can study a subject in depth and then move on without obligation.

He said the book he felt most satisfied with was "Factory of Humanity," even though it was not one of his best sellers or most acclaimed works.

One women in the audience told him that she chose to study philosophy at university because of some of his philosophical thoughts in his books.

He mentioned that he didn't have any connections to the city of Hamilton, but a few years back McMaster University had pursued him to get his papers for their archives. Although he had been pursued by other universities he chose them because they thought of him for literature not specifically science fiction. He was also impressed that McMaster already had archives of Bertrand Russel, Pierre Berton and some of H G Wells.

In an earlier blog, http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/09/conversion-can-sneak-up-on-you-too.htmlI wrote about how Barry Finn, my boss at The Rider had converted me to an interest in science fiction. Robert J. Sawyer was a big part of that. He was probably the best I could have read.

How I Became a Horse Lover without Riding

Some of my readers may realize I make part of my living by selling ads for a horse newspaper, The Rider.  Some assume I must have some sort of background with horses, but that is embarrassingly not true.

My involvement with The Rider (Ontario's horse trade newspaper) came through a back door. I had spent almost 20 years working for mostly community newspapers in the circulation department.  Later through a complicated chain of events I ended up representing an environmentally friendly cleaning company called TKO, later evolving to Orange aPEEL. That is how I met the Finns, Aidan, Barry and Katherine who ran The Rider and had bought a TKO territory. I loved working for newspapers and offered my services on a commission only basis even though I had no experience with the horse trade.

Most horse people I tried to persuade to buy an ad weren't too concerned about anything other than how much it cost and how many people would read it or if we could help design the ad.  Every now and then they would throw a few horsey words or phrases at me and I realized I didn't understand what they were referring to. Overcoming my embarrassment I asked a few questions, confessing my ignorance of horses and gradually learned a few things. That allowed me to feign some knowledge to a few other horse owners.

You can't really sell what you don't understand so I got myself involved in reading books and even wrote reviews of horse oriented books for awhile.   I attended events from time to time--Quarterama and the Royal Winter Fair and a few local events.

Somehow I stumbled on Gord Westover who also didn't own any horses, but was experienced with them. A project I came up with was to write up about draft horses as I thought that would help break new territory. Gord expressed the most interest in this project with his focus on Shires. Shires are the largest horses and it turns out amongst the most gentle. I remarked once to Gord that most of the people I worked with didn't come anywhere near horses and I guess I was kind of lucky. He remarked that anyone who could get to nuzzle a horse was very lucky.

 

Gord bought a classified ad from me.  He offered to take care of farms so the farmer could take a vacation.  But he didn't want to milk cows so he discouraged such requests by naming his business, "HorseSit" and it seemed to work.

I am still pretty much a spectator, but a very interested one. I do consider it a perk that to watch a lot of horses doing a lot of different things. I have learned a lot of interesting facts (and opinions) about horses and met a lot of fascinating people as well. I had been brought up to think of dogs as man's best friend and as an adult have become attached to my cats, but I can see that horses are more unique. They could easily have run away, but chose not to do so. That trust relationship has been very beneficial for mankind, but maybe not always so beneficial for horses.

My father was a truck driver and once he remarked that he was the third generation of Teamsters. At the time I didn't realize he was including a great grandfather who managed a team of horses. I learned on my wife's side that one of her Ukrainian great grandfathers was also a teamster. Really it is easy to forget that we all had some important connections with horses in our ancestry.

As horses have become a big part of my life I will be blogging about them and hope you will find it worth while reading about these most remarkable creatures we humans have been blessed to know. When you get to know them you won't find them boring.

About the Photo: Gord Westover persuaded me to attend a show of Shires held at the CNE grounds back in August of 2000.   He was aware of a particularly magnificent example brought in from New York state. Another detail I remember is that the owner, an older gray bearded fellow had a sign that said "The future of draft horses is Youth" and he kept the theme alive by employing a number of younger people. Anyway my camera flash refused to co-operate when I was given a chance to photograph the horse--Metherington Upton.  So Gord, smart enough to know this would be a good boost for the breed asked the owner if the horse could be taken outside. They agreed. I don't feel my photograph does justice to this horse, but it is my favorite. One on looker drove through a stop sign while looking at the horse.

A Conversion can sneak up on you too.

As a young boy I loved science fiction, but as I got older I lost my fascination for fantasies. I took learning about the "real" world seriously. I had an interest in sports, history, self improvement, psychology, philosophy, biographies of successful people.  I enjoyed fiction, but avoided anything that seemed too unrealistic.

I have known Barry Finn, mostly as my employer at The Rider and Orange aPEEL for over fifteen years.  He always struck me as an intelligent and very reasonable person, but had one fault. He was obsessed with science fiction and fantasy.  Everyone is entitled to a fault.  However as I developed interests in different directions I knew where I could turn if there was a science fiction angle and from time to time it would enter our conversations.  I came to think of it as science speculation and a whimsical extension of philosophy.

Through Barry I stumbled on Robert J Sawyer, a Canadian science fiction writer. One of the first books I read was "Calculating God" which interested me having heard about it on the radio and taking an interest in the philosophical perspective.  It had Canadian locations that I was familiar with and so my identification was reinforced.

Later following radio references to Neanderthals I picked up on a Robert J Sawyer trilogy, the Neanderthal Parallax. This time I found the narrative very compelling and again an identification of some of the scenes. The author gave me a different perspective on humanity. We humans are very vain and can't help thinking we are the centre of the universe, and of all meaning. Sawyer pictured an alternative universe with many features that seemed very logical. It seems obvious Sawyer is using science fiction as a vehicle to make philosophical points and different models for living.  As someone once said a fish is not conscious it is living in water, just as we are not conscious that we live in the air and have a worldview that seems natural to us.

More recently I took up an interest in Robert Sawyer's www trilogy. The first two books were the first two books I read on Kobo and the third I decided I couldn't wait for the electronic version.  In this series I was more conscious of Sawyer's use of a science fiction platform to make political, social and more importantly philosophical views.   Because I tended to agree with his philosophy I ate them up, but they opened up more thinking.

One of his contentions was that science fiction is still literature and good science fiction should be taken as seriously as any good literature and it has relevance to our "real" life. He makes some reference to Margaret Atwood (someone I have read sporadically, but admire). Margaret was on a recent radio program, On Point where she suggested the category of science fiction could be expanded and include her.   I look forward to reading her latest, "In Other Worlds: SF and the human imagination."

The bottom line of any book is the story. Does it entertain you? Does it stretch your thinking?  For me I admit if it seems so far fetched it has nothing I can link to in my own life I lose interest.  It is not that I have to believe the science is imminent, but the human reactions have to be believable.

Robert J. Sawyer has done a great deal of research, meaning his speculation has a solid base.  I recognize science is critical for our future, yet I have only a superficial understanding. Science fiction can help a reader to better understand science, but of course you have to be able to separate what is workable today and what might be workable in the future. The fiction part is what allows the author a vehicle to offer alternative models and sometimes to make profound observations.

The www triology is a compelling story to possible scientific progress. Geo political possibilities (cf to earlier reviews of The Great Disruption and 2030). The main heroine is a girl relocated to Waterloo Ontario. She starts the story as a blind person who is offered a chance to get sight by a doctor in Japan. He accomplishes this with some unexpected side effects. The young girl has an autistic father who is very gifted scientifically and a mother who is a liberal with a feminist perspective. Along the way you encounter a variety of people in power and in the margins, that are eventually linked up as in reality we all are.

"2030" (2011) by Albert Brooks is one of the best books on the future of a generation conflict:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/09/2030-not-that-far-away.html 

"The Great Disruption" (2011) by Paul Gilding is not science fiction but tries to project what will happen to our environment in the future.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/07/great-disruption-is-it-really-on.html

I don't want to give away any of the stories, but feel confident if you are reasonably intelligent and reasonably open minded you will find Robert J. Sawyer hard to put down.

Barry never tried to persuade me to re-visit science fiction, just made me aware that it was one of his passions. When I expressed an interest he offered to lend me a book. I guess you could call it quiet persuasion and and I have bought into it. When you are open to different possibilities your life becomes richer.

PROCRASTINATION

I have been putting this topic off, because I suffer from it, like many of you.  It is intended as a bit of sales advice, but really it affects every thing worth doing.

It can be maddening to decide what to do next. There are so many choices and we have a tendency to go on our automatic pilot or in other words be a slave to our habits. We are hit from all directions with ideas of what to do--mostly "buy me" or "you deserve a little fun." or "get back to work." For you to get on your best path, you need to take time and focus on what choices you have.

For purposes of this topic I will assume that you, like most of us know there are things that could give you more purpose in life, give you the means to enjoy your favorite things, please those who are important to you, that you keep putting off. Why do you do that? What are our excuses?

Fear is a big one. I fear rejection particularly from those who have power or who maybe have not responded positively to my previous efforts. Complications--actually making a decision can be very complicated and making the wrong decision at the wrong time is fearful.   Laziness--yes the status quo can be pretty comfortable and maybe with slight adjustments can appear even more comfortable.

To get ahead in life successful people have found they need to stretch their comfort zone. Sometimes we have to hit bottom before we are willing to do what needs to be done. Do you really want to hit rock bottom?

As a sales man I recognize that in truth there are endless opportunities to make a sales approach and certainly to get better prepared for a sales approach. As a husband and a father I know there are many projects that can make everyone happier. As a human being I know there are things I can do to make life better for everyone.

From the world of sales, I remember a closing strategy from Zig Ziglar. He was trying to deal with someone who liked whatever he was trying to sell, but was afraid of finalizing a decision. He boiled it down to three questions, Can you see where this would save you money? Are you interested in saving money? If you were ever going to start saving money when do you think would be the best time to start? You can substitute whatever benefit you prefer for "saving money."

The strategy can easily be turned to yourself and any decision you have come to a conclusion about. The best time is NOW! At least start taking the necessary baby steps.

For myself, like all of you I have thousands of decisions to make each day and like you there are some decisions that I have thought about and have concluded action is needed. If things don't work out exactly the way I hope (not exactly sure what that entails) action at least removes doubt and provides some feedback for the next decision.

I have decided that at this stage of my career and my life I need to get more comfortable with social media and use it more effectively to move me closer to what I really want. The next concrete step is to get more educated about it, but actually doing something to help me get some feedback is even more critical. Blogging and twittering supported by more intense sales efforts and following up is what I need to do. NOW!

I would like to thank Heather, Sharon, Len and Barry for helping me reach this stage.

Note about photo. It was a rare and unexpected sight from a vacation. I was actually waiting for the bus to take me back to the airport at the end of my Cuban vacation.  A person suggested I should look at a unique flower and I tried to put him off.  Glad I didn't.  I want the opportunity to see such things in the future and not just wait for things to come to me.