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While I’ve tried — in vain — I haven’t been able to get one of these out (to my own disdain). Again, the glut of ideas currently swishing around my brain is like water around a drain: round and round it goes, and not in vain if I take this opportunity to sha… daing.

Alright, so that didn’t work out as planned. If it had been planned. I really should start reading more modern poetry. (Although by now you may already be aware of how I feel about poetry.)

Anyway, so here it is: another episode of Le Linkage, and this one’s about all the wonderful stuff making its way into my RSS reader as of late. Some of it is thought provoking, some just fun to read, but most, I’m sure you’ll side with me, won’t make your eyeballs bleed. (There now, that’s better, though not by much.)

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I’m a writer and I want to write. This I know through and through, balls to bones.

Like most other writers I have a desire to write a book. Perhaps it’s the thrill of seeing my name in the spine of a cover which will one day grace the bookshelves of many. Maybe it’s the excitement of possibly meeting people I don’t know, but have read my stuff anyway (this doesn’t happen very often now, by the way). Perhaps it’s the narcissistic exuberance of being famous, or the misguided belief that a best seller will solve all of my financial difficulties and place my name in history’s pages. (I, of course, write this with a jealous and curious glance northeast, toward the home of a certain J. K. Rowling.)

Whatever. The point is that I’m writing one now — my first novel, that is — and the deeper I get into the process, the more obvious my limitations become. This is why I need a plan to help me overcome my weaknesses. I need to study modern writers and their novels.

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Last week I did something I don’t remember having done for at least two years: I didn’t post anything on this site, at least nothing of consequence. If you’re wondering how it felt, don’t. The reason I took the hiatus was because I’ve been so swamped with matters of life, work, and money (learning, not financial trouble) that little energy has been left for blogging. This is why, for your entertainment and education, I’ll go over a few of the things I’ve been thinking about this week. (Believe it or not, this will actually be a useful post, so read on.)

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I just finished reading George Orwell’s 1984. Yes, I know, most of us read this in high school, but I come from Florida, where the standard high school reading includes not much more than My Pet Goat, at least in public schools, which should tell you that I wasn’t among one of these. After knowing the quotes, the ideas, the phrases, the inspirations, the commercials, and the constant societal references pointed out by just about every tech-savvy user on the planet, I figured it was my turn to read the book.

Wow, what I had been missing!

1984 postulates what a totalitarian world would look like, one which succeeded where the USSR failed, one where no one ever really disagrees with the state because all thought of disagreement is purposely being wiped out, where war was peace, freedom was slavery, and ignorance was strength. It is fair to say that this is quite possibly the most frightening book I have ever read.

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Alright, this was supposed to be a much longer post, but — darn it! — I didn’t save it and it apparently went bye bye. So instead, here’s a short list and one sentence short overview of the books I’ve plowed through in the past two two weeks.

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