Put yourself into whatever you do, even your flaws but only what is necessary and no more

Luke Everest asked me to do another guest post on his blog. Actually, he asked me back in January or December... Perhaps it was November.

Time is not concrete for me, which is a disadvantage when say, I need to do something ordinary, like be on time for work. It's an advantage, however when I need to do something like write a novel, edit a video, or consume copious amounts of food while watching TV. Actually, this last thing is not an advantage.

Anyway, I wrote a nice little post about using aspects of your personality to your advantage. Dr. Bob logic is one of my personality traits--which of course is is hypertrophied in DYIvet-- that I used to comedic advantage in that post. I'll let you know when he puts it up.   

Meat Head logic, which mostly involves food and a blase` attitude about cantankerous behavior, that I hypertrophied (linked in case you need to read it again.)  in Meat Head, the Worst Dog in the World.

Here is an example of Dr. Bob Logic (excerpt from foreword 2 of DYIvet)
I had to stop drinking beer to write this and here you go and tell me to make this here book longer. I’m a busy man. My services are highly demanded around these here parts. As I’m sure ya’ll are aware, I run the East of Somewhere Mobile Veterinary clinic. Today we’re parked east of… well, hell I don’t know. I was drunk last night when I parked. All I can tell you is the front end of the mobile vet clinic is hanging off a cliff. Guess it’s a good thing I tied that elephant to the bumper.


Here is an example of Meat Head logic. (Excerpt from Meat Head, The Worst Dog in the World Chapter 1)


I ran forever, barreling toward trees and swerving around them at the last second. A crotchety old fox warned me not to break my neck. I raced on. Ahead an enormous tree had fallen across the forest floor.

"Weeeeeeeeee!" I leaped, ears spreading out like wings on a plane. I hung in midair. "I’m flying!"

Crash! My head hit the tree and I tumbled to the ground where I lay on my side, the wind knocked out of me. All the nearby woodland critters chittered, "You're too fat."

"Fat?" I jumped to my feet and shook off the pine needles. "I eat well is all."

A wise old owl poked its head out of the pine tree above. From high in tree top it hooted eerily. "I’ve seen the future. Don’t go into the meadow. Don’t dig."

"Oh, I’m scared. Just shaking my paws, I am." I barked.

Nobody responded so I cocked an ear. Silence greeted me. I’ve heard humans says if you listen to advice and accept instruction, you will be wise. I’m the best Dog in the World. That means I was born wise, so I dashed around the tree that I’d crashed into, uh-hum, the tree that had attacked me, and burst through some brush into a little meadow. Einstein would die here three days later but I couldn't know that. Not then. I was not born with an ounce of clairvoyance. Dogs will know clairvoyance means I couldn't see the future. There were lots of meadows and the owl could have meant one to the north or south.

Both books contain aspects of my personality. Neither character is me. That'd just be bad taste. But it would be just as tasteless to ignore personal traits that enhance the characters.

Other authors do this to. I know a lot about the kind relationship Stephen King has with his wife because an overwhelming number of books contain a protagonist who has had a long, sturdy marriage. In the same token, I understand Koontz's view on sex, religion and his deep love of dogs. Fiction is fiction, songs are songs and pizza is pizza, but it is all so much better when the person behind it puts themselves into the item.

Are you afraid to put yourself into a project or do you throw yourself into it with abandon? If your the former, why are you afraid? If your the latter, do you sometimes go overboard and who in your life helps you balance you?

Just as Goldie Locks  discovered through trial and error which bed, chair and porridge was just right, creative people can also discover through trial and error how much "me" is just right. One of the myriad of reasons I'm forging ahead with both these books is because, simply sharing Meat Head with the boys I watch on Saturday has given me invaluable feedback about this very topic.

Perhaps, the idea of a perfect (and I'm going to use writer because that is what is most close to me, but rephrase the concept of writer to musician or whatever floats your banana boat.) writer only sharing their best work stems from times past. Times when books were writing on typewriters and songs recorded on vinyl. Addressing content in relation to response was not so easy back then, But, if you're a hobbyist podcaster or blogger, or writer, you can improve what you've done in the past as well as what you will do in the future.

All you need is a computer and access to the internet. Well, and not having an agent or contract is a big help too. When it comes to making changes in real-time, the fewer people involved, the better off you are.

* Let me be clear, one is not better than the other just because something has to be better. One is better than the other in context:
- of you
- your needs
- your situation
- elements you and I haven't thought of yet

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