A word on words

 I remember when we entered “The Information Age.” It was around the late 90s. The internet was booming and data was the new big influence on the economy.

Then we entered “The Disinformation Age.” That started somewhere around 2010 or so, maybe earlier. We started seeing websites promoting conspiracy theories and actual “fake news.” Certain news agencies ramped up their political bias and began spreading outright lies or not reporting news that their political party did not like. There were a few major bad actors that most of this came from which were then spread far and wide. We began seeing “deep fakes” and photoshopped images. Over time, it became harder and harder to tell what was true, what was a reliable source.

And too many people don’t want the truth. They want comfort. They will believe anything so long as it aligns with their politics and makes them feel good about themselves. They’ll allow, ignore, or outright defend heinous acts because of some lie they read or watched. Hatred and bigotry became commonplace.

Then, in 2016, we entered “The post-Truth Era.” We are still there. Truth has become subjective to an absurd degree. If you repeat a lie loud enough and often enough, it “becomes” the truth in the eyes of those willing to listen. Little lies won’t cut the mustard; lies must be big and ridiculous. I have listened to conversations where otherwise intelligent people take some piece of untrue propaganda as obvious truth so they can vilify others. It is not commonplace for politicians to completely lie through their teeth and then get supported by their party’s media outlet to further spread the lies.

But words matter. Truth matters. You can’t make something true by simply repeating it constantly. It is high time we entered “The Consequences Age.” We need to know that telling lies is not acceptable, that you can’t just get away with lying because it sounds good.

If we don’t tell the truth, then words have lost their meanings.

Back on Track

 Hey-o, Hixonites!

I’m proud to say that I have my cover artist working on my novel’s cover right now! It’ll take a bit, but that’s just how things roll sometimes.

I’m a little behind where I wanted to be (before Halloween) but I think I’ll be able to start selling by Thanksgiving. At least online.

Speaking of, I have so much to do for Halloween yet! I haven’t decorated or bought pumpkins or planned the party or figured out costumes…. I plan on hosting my wife’s department Halloween party dressed as Sweeney Todd and she’ll be Mrs. Lovett. We’ll serve meat pies (of course)!

But unfortunately I’ve been sick. This is the second week I’ve had something keeping me from doing the Rundown or really being myself. Last week, stomach issues, this week it’s a nasty cold that just won’t go away (it’s not COVID at least—I still haven’t had COVID). It’s been giving me headaches that have made it hard to look at screens.

Here’s hoping I’ll be healthy the rest of the year, what little of it remains.

France pt deux

 So it has been a little bit since I was in France, but I promised a later update.

Since I stayed in Nantes for most of the trip, I did stuff in Nantes, not Paris.  I DID go to Paris for a little over a day, though.

While in Nantes, I got to tour a castle (which gave a history of the city as well, the kids "loved" it). It was right in the center of the city next to the cathedral (it's a shame the cathedral won't reopen until next year at the earliest). To make up for the lack of cathedral, I dragged the kids with me to the Church of St. Nicholas, which was actually quite beautiful. Although the kids resisted at first, I could tell they were awed the moment they stepped inside.

I also went to their Natural History Museum and completely geeked out over the specimens (none were huge or famous, but they were all very interesting).

The kids and I went to the Isle of Machines, a warehouse that houses a bunch of robots and machines, which all imitate nature. THAT WAS AWESOME. We saw a robotic chameleon catch a fly, drove a giant ant, flew in a mechanical heron, and got to ride on a truly massive mechanical elephant. The kids loved.  I loved it.  I highly recommend it.

When we went, they also had a race (might've been the first annual race) between 2 mechanical dogs. They were big (like car-sized) and one of them drooled incessantly. The entire town turned out to see it.

Of course, there's a lot of culture in France... I had to shove it down my kids' throats. We went to an art museum and at first they were bored and awful. But then I had an inspiration. I saw a painting of Jesus walking down stairs towards a crowd with light shining down on him, turned to my daughter, and said, "What's everybody looking at? Is there something on my face?"  She cracked up.  We started making commentary for most of the pieces and the kids ended up enjoying themselves. We also found a new favorite piece of art... a crowd of people celebrating while they have a cat in a purrito and are force-feeding it (while the cat glares at everyone like it is planning their destruction). THIS WAS IN THE 1300s! People don't change. And neither do cats.

We ate a lot of crepe. We all had snails. We ate well. I was proud of the kids for trying new foods. Which, incidentally, McDonald's in France is very different. Reusable cups and french fry holders, bleu cheese burgers, different sauces on the burgers... it had a patisserie inside it!

As I said, we did spend a day in Paris, but I didn't realize that the Rugby World Cup started that weekend and Paris was FULL. We were able to walk the Champs des Elysee and get to the top of the Arc de Triomph, and went at the perfect time. While we looked out over the city, the Eiffel Tower lit up for us. It was awesome.

Unfortunately, pretty much everything else was booked. And they were booked for like a month out. Still, we walked around Paris, got to see Notre Dame (it is looking pretty good, only the central pillar collapsed, they saved the ceiling, and they plan on opening it to tourists again maybe next year), went to the Louvre (which was chaotic, huge and chaotic), got to be grifted (yeah, I saw you reach into my wallet and take that 20 out. I took it back and if I ever go back and they try that fake charity stuff with me again, I will absolutely go no-holds-barred on them), strolled along the Seine... It was a pretty good day.

So that was my trip to France in a nutshell. Thank you, Google Translate app, for the few instances where I actually needed you.

Setbacks

Writing a novel is fun and I love it.

Publishing that novel is definitely a job.

In the last week I was supposed to get my manuscript back from my editor and have amazing cover art for it.

Instead, my editor needed an extension because she had to go to the hospital. On the plus side, she said that so far my novel is "brilliant." But it still means having to wait a little longer.

And this morning my cover artist canceled the contract because he is sick and cannot continue it. I will give them both the benefit of the doubt, as I think they are both talented and their work history is at a professional level. I am a bit concerned for the artist though; if he is sick enough to have canceled the contract outright and not ask for an extension, he could very well be seriously sick. 

I do hope they both get better soon. Hopefully I will be able to consider him for a future project.

But this does mean I need to find a new cover artist.

Now, I have a rather robust imagination. Apparently it is unusual to be able to not only hear your own inner monologue, but also "see" detailed, colored scenes as well as "smell", "taste", "hear," and "feel" them. This is a serious advantage when I am attempting to describe a scene, emotion, or situation. I can attack it from various angles, easily rewrite it, go as in-depth as I wish.
But for me it is also a disadvantage when it comes to art.

I don't think in *still* images. What looks good in my head might not look good on paper because in my head, nothing is static. I also default to "photorealistic" things; figuring out an art style is completely foreign for me.

What this boils down to is that I end up scanning through hundreds of examples/samples of artists' works and rejecting the ones I know I don't want. That's easy... the first go around. But then I have to do it again on the ones that are left, and so on, until I have it narrowed down to one. That part is not so easy, partly because I'm not set on any specific style. And it all takes time.

I can't take weeks to decide this time. So wish me luck. My busy schedule just got busier.

France

 As I write these words, I am sitting on the couch of a 5th floor apartment in Nantes, France.

I do love traveling, though doing so with kids is a challenge.

For starters, I have to find food they will eat, which is hard enough to do in out own country.

They also aren't so interested in some of the awesome museums and churches to visit, or in walking around (which, at the moment, is the way we are getting around).

But there are some pleasant surprises here.

First, though I did expect to find lots of people who speak English, even those who claim they don't can speak enough English to communicate. Lots of signs and menus are in both French and English. When I enter an establishment where someone doesn't speak English, they almost immediately direct me to their coworker who does.

Second, we showed up at an interesting time. There was a "dog race" between two giant, mechanical dogs that pulled in a huge amount of people. It was interesting. There's also a carnival next door to our apartment for the next week, which, of course, the kids want to go to and remind me of this constantly.

Sadly, the Cathedral is closed until 2024 or 2025 because someone started a fire in it back in 2020. :(

I was not expecting most places to be closed on Monday. I understand why many places advertise being open 7 days a week. They also have odd hours, often opening at 1 or even 4. 

So far, I've been able to use Apple Pay pretty much everywhere. I doubt it will work at the carnival, though.

I'll update more later.