Cold Water

I hate cold water.

Once upon a time I could mince words about it but now things are much more stark.

When the shower goes cold, because someone else starts theirs, as the temperature drops suddenly icy, I sequel, squirm and mumble profanity. When icy water falls from the sky, obscene amounts of clothing and overcoats suddenly appear. I can feel the weather changing for rain in the upper half of my back, both ankles, both knees, both shoulders and my neck. It is better to be dirty, stinky and slimy feeling than suffer cold water on the skin.

The metaphorical cold water drip of information to change peoples’ minds is also of interest. From study and experience it is apparent that people learn from repeated small exposures to things, the cold water drip. Drop a bucket of ice water on someone’s face and you’ll get them out of bed fast enough, accompanied with violent thrashing and an angry response. Information is the same way. When a person believes one thing they need exposure slowly. Galileo defended his heliocentric model and was condemned by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, and forced to recant. It doesn’t matter when someone is right, if the information’s delivery is too sudden and counter existing belief structures, we can’t be too naive to suggest nothing will go wrong.

The same holds true when a friend trusts you and dumps massively bad and highly personal news on you. Yesterday was a profound shock! Some things are painful and unsettling. When someone close and important suddenly shares some horrible personal secret. That’s a different bit of psychology / marketing theory though still requiring thought and consideration, rather than emotional flailing. Your injured friend needs your help and support, not your anger and insults heaped upon them in a difficult time. I won’t break those confidence, so don’t ask. Those specifics and trust are not mine to share; they are crushingly real.

It is necessary to close the loops. I need to reconcile the extra pieces floating in my thoughts to clear my mind and regain my effectiveness.

Razormouth is a project that has been in the works for literally YEARS!

After this week, of cold rainy weather, everyone showering the same time as me, and personal tragedy with important people in my life, a serious pause & reflection is required.

It is extremely important that writing is a part of my life. The value is incalculable. My buddy Steve did this cover art for me a while back. In Razormouth I poured all the angst of mine into the pages. Adalbern’s trials are much more intense by design, his suffering magnified, life harder and well of courage deeper. That only make’s his heroic flaws that much more pressing.

No spoilers, since the cover even has my old pen name, and there’s still a little work that needs doing. Adalbern suffers in the cold water. His sadistic author forces him to confront that emotional dunking repeatedly, dealing with tragedy, ripping away his destined dreams. All while forcing Adalbern to temper his own natural aggression with an informational drip campaign with someone else.

It is about time to stop prattling about this book, get it formatted, corrected and released. I need to stop looking for time and make it by being more efficient with the time I have.

This has been a terribly difficult week so far. Friends’ personal tragedy and loss is profound and unsettling, but the need is real and pressing. Fatigue is cutting to the bone for some reason, this week and not letting up, as we move from one crisis to the next.

Looking back from Thursday … I’ve gotten a shitload really important stuff done this week! 🙂 Still, much more requires attention and not all of it will get corrected. I need to be the water and slowly work away at these problems, while remaining centered and aware of how easy it is to allow minor setbacks to offer crippling blows when they run unchecked.

Time to get your shit together Doug. People are depending on you to do the right thing!

Have a great week, and be better today than you were yesterday.

By the way, if you haven’t already, when you get a chance please check out the work on the new website: https://douglasfranklinbooks.com/homepage.  It is under construction and still needs a lot of work, but comments about the layout and content are appreciated.