Beep Boop Boop Beep – The sound a Redux makes when no one is listening

Hey everyone!

So this is the (almost) yearly reboot of The Hurley Edition. I can only say that I will do my best to not let this go dormant. I’ve got the usual excuses….health, health, and procrastination. However, I do have some interesting news to tell you about. I have made a visual change to the site, which is kickin the black a bit. Put in a new graphic at the header, and a few other things under the hood.

Other news I have, is that I have finally decided to take the plunge and participate in NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is an annual event that takes place online and it is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during the month of November. There is a website (www.nanowrimo.org) and it is a charitable organization. I donate to them because they contribute to reading and writing programs all over the world. I can’t use as a tax deduction, because it only applies if you live in the USA. However, it doesn’t matter to me, it’s the actions behind the organization that count in my book. Get it? My book! Anyhoo – I am entering this year’s challenge with a Novel that I have tentatively titled “Ned Webster”. Of course, that is only a working title as everything is totally first draft in this competition. If you keep checking back here at the site, you will be able to follow my progress as I struggle through this huge undertaking. There is a little widget to the right in the sidebar that will be tracking how many words I write per day, every day during the whole month. So watch as it shows my glaring low word count as I peck away at the keyboard. I hope I can count on you for some encouragement as the month goes on. It’s actually a pretty big deal to write 50,000 word in just 30 days so anything at all will be hugely helpful, especially in the middle part of the month. So help a buddy out…..that would be me. As I already consider myself a writer, I am trying very hard to legitimize myself to the world to say “I am a writer!” Somehow, us writers don’t feel like we’re really writers until we get published, which is a load of crap when you think about it. I mean, the definition of a writer is someone who writes, so that should make me a writer already. But any and all steps that I can take to get me that one step further, I’ll take if it means some sort of recognition as a writer.

But believe me when I say it isn’t the recognition that will be the most satisfying or the most legitimizing, no. It will be the knowledge that I managed to overcome a huge challenge on my own in the glaring light of public scrutiny. That will mean more to me than anything else. As most of you know, I am disabled. I’m not able to run marathons or climb mountains, but this is something that i CAN do. This is MY marathon! So I mean it when I say every little comment of support counts. For anyone who has run a marathon, I’m sure you can agree, some cheering no matter how small can be the biggest boost to getting through the marathon. For it’s won in your head as much as it is in your feet, or your fingers in my case.

So cheer me  on and visit the site. They are a great organization! Here’s to my first attempt and hopefully win at writing 50,000 words in a month! GO NANOWRIMO!

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A Nice Review of A Great Book…

Check out this review of a great book. Also – this is a great site for book reviews as well.

This is a review of Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft, he is a friend and also I have a link to his blog and website here over on the right hand side of the page. But first, check out the review on the link below.

Library Girl Reads: Book Review: Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft

Another review coming soon, I promise!!

todd

Last Night In Twisted River or “The Return of Classic John Irving”

John Irving is back, and he has returned to the fine form that launched him into the mainstream of popular fiction.

If you were like me and thought that the last few offerings from John Irving had lost thier, well… Irving-ness, well you can be rest assured that he has returned to his old form with Last Night In Twisted River. I will say that the book jacket blurb isn’t one of the better ones I’ve seen. I felt that it was misleading as where the story would take you. Furthermore, it almost made me think twice about picking up this book and reading. So publishers beware, you can send even dedicated fans of an author away with an inappropriate jacket blurb.

This story is reminiscent of The World According To Garp in the way it takes on large issues as well as an epic story. LNITR happens over a period of fifty years or so, which gives the reader a feeling of having been a part of the characters lives, literally. This is a gift that Mr. Irving has demonstrated from his earlier novels, Hotel New Hampshire comes to mind. The story centers around the life of Daniel Baciagalupo, the son of a logging camp cook, in the 1950’s New Hampshire. A horrible accident happens and the cook takes his son away in the middle of the night so as not to be blamed for his son’s honest mistake. The mistake is the accidental killing of the local cop’s girlfriend. It doesn’t matter that the cop is a drunk and beats his girlfriends. No, he only wants to find the killer of his property, which is how he see’s his girlfriends.

So the events of that night have set in motion a life of being on the run for the cook and his son. From New Hampshire they move to Boston and from there life takes them to several other places as events warrant. The son, Danny, and his father Dominico decide to change their names just in case the crazy cop was still trying to find them. As it would happen, Danny becomes a famous writer, and the name change is fortuitous for him. His new name Danny Angel becomes one of the most well known names in the literary world and even into the mainstream to some degree. Without giving too much away, the father and son grow and make changes as they need to. They suffer the apparent loss of every woman that comes into their lives. Their only true friend in the world is the one they left behind in New Hampshire, Kethcum. He is the uncle and brother they never had. He keeps them informed as to the movements of the drunken and corrupt cop. He also holds a secret from Danny that is as shocking as it is sad.

It’s the secrets that ultimately come out that make this story so effectively layered and true. It’s almost a signature of Mr. Irving. As these secrets unfold and come into the light, the father and son continuously adapt to the changes that come into their lives, all of which are affected by their last night in Twisted River. As is the usual way for Mr. Irving, the story is so natural that it almost seems to write itself, which is the hallmark of a truly great writer.

By all means, if you are in the mood to be taken away and completely involved in the lives of the characters of John Irving, then I highly recommend this book. I, personally, am delighted to see this return to his earlier style of story telling. This is the kind of writing that made John Irving so famous to begin with, and it is the kind of writing that will continue to cement his place in history as one of the foremost writers of the last 40 years.