Sunday, June 10, 2007

Been Scrappin'

I was hit with a bout of scrapmania today, putting together one page within an hour of its original inspiration:

And then, with a little push from Minda, decided to scrap the story of my father. Turned out, not surprisingly, to have a lot to do with Andrew:






The father one was tough...I had to journal something that was a bit hard to relate without a lot of nasty words flying around. Because I have come to realize, I am angry at my dad. Angry because he left me to fend for myself when I was a toddler. And angry because now that we've connected he doesn't seem to give flying *&^% about me still.

Oh well. I'm asurvivor and as I put on my layout, Andrew and I, quite frankly, are a masterpiece!

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Miscarriage (abortion?) of Justice

Below is a copy of the email I just sent to the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU. As mentioned in my request for assistance, I believe many American citizens will be happy to join in this cause and it may qualify for Class Action status. Please email me if you are interested in joining the Class. It will help to have a preliminary list ready when they contact me to begin discovery and other foundational work. Over the next few days I will be posting the precedents for bringing this action to the court system. If you have other examples to share with the Class and our ACLU provided legal team, please email them to me quickly as I am certain my counselor will want to begin investigations as soon as possible. Thanks!

Dear Sirs:

I am presently seeking legal counsel for a matter that affects many if not all citizens of the United States of America. I believe this issue will require a law suit to resolve and I am not in the most advantageous of financial situations at this time, thus my request for your assistance. Perhaps when it’s all said and done this should be considered for Class Action status; I am certain there are many American citizens who will agree this is a matter worthy of the attention of the legal system of this country.

With your organization’s record of righting wrongs no matter how obscure, unusual and baseless, I feel certain you are the people to involve in this matter.

It is my hope that, with the ACLU’s assistance, I can as an American citizen, force the American Civil Liberties Union to drop the “American” appellation from the organization’s name. It is my firm belief that at best, this appropriation of the name is a misnomer and at worst it is injuring the dignity, integrity and respect our country has earned and continues to earn as the most desirable country in the world in which to live.

It should be quite easy to show in a court of law that this organization has little if any claim or right to use the American-designation to further their agenda of continued subversion of the ideologies and sensibilities of most rational American citizens.

Please advise me on my next steps to take in obtaining assistance from your organization in pursuing this important and long-overdue legal course of action.

Sincerely,

D. Scott Shultz

Monday, May 28, 2007

Scrapbooking and Noveling

I've been busy creating lately, primarily telling stories. My #2 novel has taken center stage, and I've managed to sustain some serious input on it. I think I've added well over 6,000 words (2,000 Saturday night!) in the past week, with quite a few scenes that caught me by surprise. My #1 novel is on the back burner; I'm trying to decide if it really needs to be written. And #3...I've decided to sketch it out, maybe even outline it (NO, not the O-word!!) and then see what I can do with it in Novemeber during the NaNoWriMo.


Most of my creativity this weekend has been directed at my scrapbooking. Here's a few layouts, past and present. The first two are from this weekend, the second two from months ago.


Thursday, May 3, 2007

My Wife

My wife hassles...I mean encourages me to eat healthy. This coming from a woman who hasn’t lost any of the weight she wanted to lose during the time that I have lost nearly 40 pounds.

My wife rolls her eyes and moans when I start talking about my dreams. One of my dreams was to be my own boss by selling bungee-jumping squirrel feeders. After 5 years of six-figure sales, you’d think the eye-rolling would stop.

My wife encourages me to help with our son’s homeschooling. I like to point out that I was the guy behind the early reading success.

So, now that I’ve thoroughly trashed my wife in a very public forum, what I’m really trying to say is this: I Love You, Minda!

See, I figured out in the last couple of years how woefully ill-equipped I am for life in the modern world without Minda by my side.

For example, when Minda heads out of town on a scrapbook retreat, I am inclined to delve heartily into the Chocolate Food Group. Fortunately the retreats are few and far between or I would be a blimp.

Another example: Sure the home-business was a success, but only because I had a partner to bounce ideas off of—while we worked our fingers raw hand-assembling the 1000’s of Squngees we’ve sold over the years.

And yes Andrew’s a great reader…or as he recently put it, “Sometimes I wish I could look at something and not read it!” The phonics program we used when he was 4 was the easy part. What Minda has taught him with very little input from me is truly amazing.

I would not be the man I am today if it wasn’t for Minda. Let me put that another way:
I WOULD NOT BE THE MAN I AM TODAY IF IT WASN’T FOR MINDA!! (Sorry bout the exclamation points, Hon). And I thank God for His decision to put her in my life on a regular basis.

Recently I started ramping up my next big business idea. I didn’t see Minda roll her eyes. Instead she did what she does best: she quietly encouraged me.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Smaller Pants

Well, it's official: I have dropped two sizes in jeans! I don't mind saying it...I feel sexy in tight jeans! Well, okay let me rephrase that: I feel sexy in jeans that don't look like I could hide a pillow on my backside!

Also got the go-ahead on another magazine article pitch.

Heading to Seattle tomorrow. See ya!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Catching up...

So I began this blog as a way to help me survive my overactive "creatal gland" (it's a lot like and located near the adrenal gland. In fact, sometimes when the creatal gland secretes creataline, it triggers the adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline and you get all fired up with creativity. Sleep tends to suffer.) So what have I done with all this creataline?

—>I pitched 4 magazines with 4 different articles. So far I've received one "yes, send us your manuscript", and one "no, but good luck". I'm waiting for an answer on one of the remaining 2 before I send him yet another query for another article idea I got from their last issue.

—>I've created the first draft of a brochure, letterhead and biz card for my new business idea. The whole packet of marketing tools is in the hands of Good Friend Debbie, a marketing-type person (with an angelic singing voice). I'm awaiting her feedback before I proceed with that end of the new business.

—>What I haven't waited on is creating a website for the new business...at least a rough beginning. A bit premature, perhaps, but I needed to reserve the domain name and it came with a free website. It will be a strictly informational/comtact us website.

—>What I also haven't done is worked much on my novel, which is what I really "want" to do, but instead I do what I often don't want to do (like take 16 hours worth of Hazardous Materials training for work). I have jotted down a few scenes and ideas for the novel.

—>I upgraded 2 pages in my "Remember the Future" mini-scrapbook.

—>I finally bought a moleskine notebook for myself (and one for Andrew). I've tabbed it with colored, labeled tabs. The first page contains a snippet of lyrics from my new favorite song, Renaissance by Mat Kearney, which I also consider my "theme song" for this whole re-awakening I've experienced. (Is this sounding too much like a 16 year-old girl's diary?!?)

—>And last but not least, and certainly not creative but definitely related to my renaissance is the fact that I am 1/2 pound away from my April weight goal of 245. Whoo-Hoo!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Real Writing

"The emergence of web services and service oriented architecture (SOA), combined with powerful business process analysis (BPA) and enterprise architecture (EA) modeling capabilities connects you to a world of opportunities. By aligning strategy, business and technology, your enterprise has the ability to know more, move faster, work more efficiently, and achieve true visibility, flexibility and agility."

What?

That little gem is part of a marketing piece designed to convince you to purchase their product…or service…or technology…or something.

Silly me, I thought writing was all about communication! I just had a conversation with Andrew about just that. He was making a thank you card for a friend who gave him an Easter gift. More and more often he wants to write independently by sounding out words (Yay!!). He conversationally informed me that "Linda" would know that "LD" was her name. I explained, in not so many words, that if you want to communicate you have to use a language that you AND your audience understands. So he added N and A to come up with LNDA. Good enough (for now).
Now Proforma, on the other hand, would like you to know that their "…integrated enterprise modeling solutions enable effective visual collaboration for Business and IT, empowering the agile enterprise."

What? (As my brother-in-law would say, "that’s a buncha $1.50 words in 50 cent sentence"—or something like that!)

Perhaps I’m not the intended audience for this particular piece of business literature, although with my latest business idea I am having a bit of trouble visualizing effective collaboration between customers and invoices. But in business, isn’t the bottom-line the bottom-line? If they desiderate to inveigle the highest aggregation of CWWs (customers with wallets), would it not be propitious to communicate to the largest possible congregation of potential adherents to their proffered divulgence?

Seems to me they’d get more bang for their buck with a fifty-cent sentence.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Night I Cried Watching Top Gun

My stepdaughter has a blog, wherein she recently wrote a very revealing post about herself. I have known Erin since she was about 11 years-old and she is quite unique. She is an incredibly talented and creative, occasionally confounding, very complex and multi-layered young lady. She's also very pretty, resilient, and damn stubborn about a few things!

Her post inspired me. Inspired me to reveal a recent insight into my psyche. This "event" actually occurred a couple years ago, when we still watched television.

I happened upon a late night showing of the movie "Top Gun" starring Tom Cruise as Maverick, Anthony Edwards as Goose, and the lovely Kelly McGillis as the lovely Charlie, the lovely instructor who captivates Maverick's heart.

I had seen the movie several times over the years. But this night it had a strange effect on me: I started crying. Not like a baby, like a man who has spent decades teaching himself not to cry. (The result of this training, when it fails, is rigor mortis of the facial muscles and a frightening grimace. The grimace may in fact be caused by the unfamiliar burn of tears on the cheek skin. But I digress).

The tears had nothing to do with the death of Goose, who dies when he unsuccessfully ejects from a falling jet fighter. As sad as that scene is, and it is, what broke my tears loose was the realization that I had blown an incredible opportunity in my life.

No, I never had any desire to be a jet fighter pilot. But I wish I had had the desire to do something as honorable as that when I was growing up. I wish I had believed in something honorable, so much so that I would not have allowed ANYTHING to get in my way.

See, Maverick didn't just decide to be a fighter pilot. He wanted to be the best fighter pilot there was. He wanted to live up to his father's memory, the best pilot in his day, bar none.

So Maverick finished high school. I imagine he went through ROTC. Before he could become a pilot, Maverick had to become an officer. So he probably attended the Air Force Academy at Annapolis where he received rigorous military training and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree. Then he could apply for the Top Gun training. Being accepted was not a given! But Maverick was determined, focused, and driven to accomplish his goal. And he did.

In my high school days there was one thing I applied myself to and I was dedicated, committed, organized and single-minded in accomplishing my goal.

But a "speed-junkie" is not as honorable as a fighter pilot with a "need for speed".

I took it seriously, though: I was cautious in my acquisition of sufficient quantities of high-quality crystal methamphetamine. I was never arrested or even came close. I was never robbed or stabbed or shot in a drug deal gone bad. I dealt with top-of-the-line people in the business for the top-of-the-line product in town. I bought in quantities for the best price.

I paid meticulous attention to details: I used only fresh, clean and sharp U-100 insulin syringes purchased at the pharmacy in packages of 10. I accurately mixed the powder with water and then drew the mixture into the syringe through a rolled-up ball of cigarette filter to make sure I was filtering out any impurities. I was careful about tapping out any air bubbles before shooting.

And despite my lack of chemistry training—I had dropped out of high school at the beginning of 10th grade to dedicate myself to my chosen vocation—I always managed to measure out the correct dose, with an inherent talent for precision: just enough to rush like a bullet to Nirvanna but not enough to blow my heart out through my chest. I was even careful to rotate through my injection sites so as to allow the previous bruise and needle mark to heal unmolested.

Most importantly, I was careful to balance my life: the right dose of fun mixed in to the business of living life. At least in the beginning. I managed to hold on to my job and gain the respect of my co-workers. At least in the beginning. My roommates and I only rarely blew the rent in favor of an eighth-of-an-ounce of crystal. At least in the beginning. I always swabbed my arm with alcohol before shooting. At least in the beginning.

Ultimately, I ended up living for 8 weeks in a rent-by-the-week roach-infested motel, rinsing residue from old vials and dull needles for just enough motivation to go flip hamburgers for 8 hours. When I finally escaped the trap and moved back home, it took months for the yellow bruises and needle pricks to heal. It took a couple of years to stop craving the rush. It took a decade to regain my integrity.

See, speed-junkies don't have integrity. They might before that first shot, but not after the second. You still have a choice after the first one: "never again" or, "make mine a double". Take that second one and your life will never be as honorable as it could have been.

So that's why I cried when I watched Top Gun. I made the mistake of comparing myself to Maverick and asking myself, "why couldn't I have done that?" I hated the answer.

I thank God that he protected me from myself long enough for me to realize that He still thinks of me as a beloved son.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

How Will I Fit It ALL In?

I was hit with another idea for a novel last night. Doesn't mean it will be any good, or that I have to pursue it. But it sounds very cool to me and I will at least have to explore it. I've written a synopsis and started a fresh notebook (always critical to my writing endeavors is a fresh notebook. Not neccesarily new—I'd prefer brand new, but a rejuvenated used one with scribbles removed works.)

Now, how do I fit it all in? Time is not my friend! I often think I can write at work, but that's difficult: creativity is stunted when the phone rings or I have to track down a pickup number for a driver. But I do scribble down scenes and snippets of dialogue. And I add to this blog!

At home, I try to write on my "weekends" (Thursday & Friday) after everyone else goes to bed, but by that time my muse often has gone to sleep too and reading or watching a movie seems more appealing to my wide awake but creativity-numbed mind. The ideal time seems to be the first 2 hours after I wake up. My internal censor still seems to be sleeping and I can really smith some words! On days when Minda and Andrew are on an outing, I try to get a few hundreed words down.

So that is one thing I would like to ask God for: time and focus to write on my novel(s).

My wife, Minda, has listed 10 things she is asking God for, knowing that God loves her and wants to give her the desires of her heart. I don't want to copy my wife's blog too much (she was first to do a Geocaching post), but our lives are intertwined, so there's bound to be some overlap in the blogosphere! And I think we both know that God knows what are truly the desires of our hearts and we can only hope to line up our list with His.

Here's my list, in no particular order:

  1. The time and focus to write (deeply) on a regular basis
  2. Success with publishing/marketing the novels I am writing
  3. Healing or a final resolution for my mother (Yes, Father God, I am asking you to take Mom or heal her.)
  4. Enough money to live my dream lifestyle without worrying about bills/taxes (Dear Father God, please note this is NOT a desire to be rich, just comfortably worry-free)
  5. A home that allows me to keep and work 2 hawks and 2 Vizslas
  6. A new, successful business that allows me to include my stepson Jason as well as a legacy to leave for Andrew (and Jason if he wants; I know he has entrepreneurial plans of his own.)
  7. To live long enough and healthy enough to enjoy Andrew's children (sorry, Father God, I know that's a tall order!)
  8. Success at meeting my weight goals and more importantly, success at keeping it off to the end of my days. (Approximately 5 pounds away from April 14 goal!)
  9. Successfully bowhunt deer this year (and grow my friendship with Mike along the way to that.)
  10. Most importantly: A perpetually deepening relationship with God.

There it is. I'm not asking too much am I? My wife seems to think I'm a dreamer! Me!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Words Are Knock-Knock-Knocking At My Door

Ahhhh!! I'm drowning in creative ideas and asphyxiating on a lack of time to pursue them! I've managed a little longhand writing on my novel. But I also have another article idea, I've been refreshed on two of my product ideas, my "For Dummies" book idea keeps tickling my brain. Plus I have confirmation from my photography collaborator on an article I hope to sell that she is closer to providing the photos. Speaking of new product ideas, I almost delved too deeply into my "future products" file folder this weekend. But I postponed that trip for now. I just don't have the time to get fired up on another project!! Oh yeah, I also started a journal last night as an exercise in writing as well as draining the brain.

I wonder how I am to prioritize things and actually accomplish something. I know praying is at the top of my list: praying for clarity of thought, or a succinct vision of what my next step is supposed to be. I should probably stop thinking about tools, like a cool fountain pen to write in a moleskine notebook, or visiting writing blogs where I learn of the romance of writing in moleskine* notebooks with cool fountain pens.

I really want to work on my novel, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I feel that focusing on other writings might give me a fresh perspective.

I know, I think I'll just start writing and see what happens. Bye!

*Here's a cool blog quote about moleskines appropos for obvious reasons:
Labeling Moleskines: Since I use three or four Moleskines at the same time, for different uses, I paint the rims of the pages with a highlighter. Just close the book, hold it tight, and run the thing through. Green is for my geocaching logbook, orange for my diary/planner, yellow for my profession, and blank for my personal use Moleskine. Can spot them a mile away.

The same blogger mentions my favorite (non-fountain) pen:
Pilot G-2 is the smoothest, darkest, silkiest pen around. Best for general use.

Now I'm really going to go write on my novel!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Geocaching, or Walking With a Goal in Mind

We've discovered GEOCACHING and had great success our very first day. In fact, our first day was a hat trick: we managed to find all three of our first caches within about three hours. In the process we collected a "geocoin", a couple of "DSTs" (dumb stupid toys similar to McDonalds kids meals junk) and a "tracking bug" (a metal dog tag with an engraved number that you can track on the Internet. Ours started in Georgia wth stops in NM, OK, MO and WI on its way to MN). And here's our dirty little secret: we don't even own a GPS unit!

Realistically we could call (and did call our excursions) GoogleCaching. Using Google Maps in the Hybrid mode, we were able to see the approximate locations of the caches. The satellite photos were able to give us clues (such as the really big shadow must be the tallest tree in the little pocket of woods about 20 yards from the cache and the cache is parallel to the first row of parking spots to the west of the woodlot, etc.). GeoPurists would probably call us infidels—or maybe not; they don't strike me as the name-calling types.


So, what does this have to do with creativity? By the conclusion of our second successful cache hunt, I was already planning the day when we would plant a cache of our own. It will have to wait until we do own a GPS device because you have to post the coordinates of your cache. I'm thinking of themed caches: "Harry Potter" memorablillia exchanged at the cache site or photos of your pets. Or how about the idea of a "BaudelaireCache", with a series of unfortunate caches you track down in order, with the coordinates for each successive one located in the previous one. All for fun and creativity! Not to mention another excuse to get out and enjoy the Minnesota spring.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Inspiration 2, or Child's Play

My son is incredibly creative. He scrapbooks, primarily about our cat, Kitty. He draws and colors monsters. When he plays, he comes up with storylines that can bring smiles to his parents' faces.


He also can inspire my creativity. We love to build vehicles with Legos. About a year ago he came up with a way to make "Transformers" out of Legos using the hinged, swivel and folding parts (they come in special kits or special order them online). It was all his idea to make "Transformers", but here's what I came up with:


Another "former child" who inspires me is a friend's son, Chris Samnee who modified a going away greeting card for me when I left Missouri for Minnesota. He was a 10 or 11 year-old kid back then. Now he is an award-winning comic artist. Very inspiring. A few of his books.

Inspiration, or Dream Follow-through

Contrary to what some people may think, I did not grow up with the burning desire to be a squirrel-feeder inventor. But so far, that is my claim to fame (SQUNGEE) . It has, however, been my dream to be a writer since I first pasted a noun and verb together on paper and called it a story.

So I find it inspiring to meet people who have pursued their dreams and seen them come to fruition. My sister, Vivian has self-published a children’s book (Giraffes) illustrated with quilts that she hand-stitched. I believe she is nearly ready to publish her second book.

My friend at work, Eric, recently discovered he has diabetes. He turned the despair he was feeling into a comic strip of recurring characters he created. His follow through: he has posted them on a website he created, I Bleed Syrup, to help others new to the disease. And if that’s not enough inspiration for me, he’s lost over 60 pounds in the same time it took me to lose 30!

And then there’s Wes, who followed his FIRST documentary film on Christian biker clubs Brethern with a documentary on scrapbooking, Scrapped . My wife and I had the honor of joining Wes and his wife at their house for a rough-cut screening. By the end of the movie, which hints heavily that scrapbooking isn’t just for women, I was raring to scrapbook. But in talking to Wes and seeing his dedication to his dream, I found myself inspired to do much more: finish that novel I started 5 years ago, and try my hand at a writing a screenplay.

And whereas Wes inspired me to start scrapbooking, my wife, Minda, gets the credit for inspiring my scrapbooking style. I don’t know if I’m any good at scrapping, but I like most of my completed pages (Minda says I’m good, but she thinks I’m sexy too, so…). Here’s an example:

The 2-page layout is three-dimensional, so it will never see the interior of a scrapbook. I plan to mount it on a couple of artist canvases and hang them on the wall.


Monday, March 19, 2007

Wordsmithery for $$ or, I Actually Made Money Writing!

Once upon a time, I sold an article I wrote to the Minnesota DNR's magazine. Here's a link to the online version: Article What was exciting is they paid me for the article plus an additional $100 to post it on their website!

Words,Words, Words or My Creativity Cup Runneth Over

I don't know what's happening, but I can't seem to stop creating. That which I create may not even be worth creating, but I can't seem to stop.

As of right now on my "metaphorical sketchpad" I have 2 novels started, 1 at 17,000 words the other 3 or 4,000, a nascent screenplay, a "For Dummies"-type book beginning, a goal-oriented scrapbook, a 2-page scrapbook layout that won't fit in a scrapbook so it will hang on the wall, 3 new product ideas, a new business idea, and now a new blog.

Wish I had time for all this creativity!!