Election

Tomorrow (or later today, if you like) I will be participating in my third presidential election, and I'll be home tomorrow night to watch the results come in. I'm pretty excited about that part; it's something I've always enjoyed. The last time, in 2008, I was working during the election results.

I was working at a bookstore that is now closed because the economy has gotten so bad.

I did not vote for Obama in 2008, and I really wasn't thrilled about either choice (mostly because I do prefer governors as presidents.) However, I especially don't like when people pretend to be what they are not. I pity those who try so hard for hipness that they lack the substance of a real personality. I didn't like Barack Obama as a candidate (and I still don't) because he carried with him that air of privilege that so pervades the career politicians in the Democratic party. Because I've found that I'm more libertarian than anything else, it didn't sit right with me. He talked about hardship when he had gone to private school; he jogged freaking everywhere; he rolled his sleeves up while talking to blue collar workers, which is something that rubs me the wrong way when baby boomer politicians do it; it reeks of falseness, like Jimmy Carter and his peanut ads in the 70s. Give me a break.

This time around, I'm supposed to care more about $9 a month birth control than keeping my job or paying my school loans back. I'm also supposed to be scared that, because I'm a woman, I have to vote for Obama because I can't take care of myself against the big bad Republican party.

Frankly, I'm insulted. I can take care of myself just fine.

What does worry me is that I've watched government get huge since 2008, and probably before. Either way, the economy hasn't gotten better, and if Obama remains the president, I don't see that changing at all. The worse an economy is, especially the way it's been molded and shaped to end up since sometime last century, the bigger government can get. Yes, that's simplistic logic, but if the American people want a hand to hold, not a person to lead, then absolute control can sneak up on you. I've seen on a very small, very personal level what can happen when local government decides that what they offer is above criticism. It's terrifying.

Back to that bookstore. I read an article the other day that put forth the idea that people like me, who self-publish, who price their work lower in order to get it into readers' hands, and who have decided to do something different than the old way, are responsible for the death of the publishing industry. We deviants will single-handedly destroy publishing and maybe books because we want to get our ideas out there for others to see without having to gain the approval of whatever intern or acquisitions editor is dealing with insomnia or maybe a hot flash that day.

I can assure you, not one of us caused that bookstore to close. Books are a luxury. In an economy where it's food vs. Stephen King, as far as your wallet's concerned, guess which one wins for most people?

Right now, my country doesn't need a buddy to hang out at the gym with. I sure as heck don't. I don't need a few people running the country and telling the majority what to do. That doesn't cut it where my book is concerned, and it certainly doesn't cut it for my country.


And that is why I will not be casting my vote for Barack Obama.

Debate

I watched the Presidential debate last night. Good stuff. President Obama relies heavily on a teleprompter and prepared speeches, and that showed in the debates. The local paper had a quote from a citizen here who is head of the Democratic party. This man's logic decided that because the president talked more than Mitt Romney, as in an actual measurement of time, he did better.

Literally, this man believes that the President of the United States won a debate simply by talking more. That was not the case. He was very rarely clear and concise, and he often defaulted to saying the same things over again, using sentences that were basically means of stalling and giving him time. Mitt Romney was concise. He used four words when four were needed, and he didn't stumble.

Believe it or not, you can actually learn a lot about writing from this.

I totally remember padding papers in college, or trying to. It doesn't work, because that is transparent and shows you didn't even try. At worst, it produces work that's lacking in substance and meaning. At best, it leaves you with prose that's just a bit purple. Making the case that your book is good, that it's worth reading, that it means something, means you probably shouldn't go on and on about what a flower looks like in detail, unless the plot pivots on it. Usually, it doesn't, and I've seen flowers before.

Another way a debate can teach you something about writing? Arguments.

When you are preparing for a formal debate, you have to take time to think about how your opponent will argue. You have to look at all angles, and understand their argument without necessarily accepting it. You have to know where they're coming from and why. You literally have to play devil's advocate with yourself. It still allows you to have a passionate belief in something, but it also causes you to view it rationally.

This helps you write because you get to think as the reader. While you won't necessarily be defending yourself in a fantasy novel about zombie elves in the court of Henry the VIII (though you might at some point; that's a pretty iffy plot right there), you do want to make sure you write clearly without over-explaining anything. They can't read your mind. When someone says "I didn't get this part..." you shouldn't be all "uh, duh, Edward VI totally is a zombie." You should have made it clearer. Thinking like your reader ahead of time will help.

So if you're in high school or college, and the opportunity is available, take a debate class. It's fun, it's brain stretching, and it will likely make you a clearer thinker and a better writer.

In other news, I wrote twelve pages today, and I am not exaggerating at all when I say that I feel like this raw draft could be finished this weekend.

I'm incredibly excited.