Gregory A. Kompes's Blog

While working with a playwright at The Writer Workshop in Savannah, we found ourselves having a discussion about planting seeds in our work. 
We offer clues early in the text about where we’re headed, about where our audience will travel, about where our characters will encounter challenge and growth. The seeds might be tiny, just a color or a detail or a thought or a word. The reader or viewer or listener might not even notice the subtle inclusion of a name or a reference, they may never ever discover the connection of that symbol or theme or repeated word. But, it’s in there, it’s in their brains.

I think we’re always planting seeds. We’re always setting up our lives with our own themes…the things we love, the music we embrace, the people we surround ourselves with. We’re usually not thinking about the future, but those symbols and themes of our life as represented by past actions are part of who we are–often bigger than we even realize.

While putting stevia in my iced tea, my husband, who was ready to leave the restaurant said, “I’m just waiting for you to finish your rituals.” 
That’s it exactly, isn’t it. Our repetitions and rituals are how how continue to plant the seeds for our future. And, if we’re to grow and change, we must plant new seeds in new places. Break up our routines. Try new things…and, yet, some of our rituals stay right where they are because they work or still work for us.

Does everything in life need to have meaning? Does every word we write need to hold symbol and theme? Or, do we discover these themes and symbols in second and third drafts?

I don’t really have an answer. But, for today, I’ll put another stevia in my iced tea and trust that clarity of action will come later if it’s important.

I like unreliable narrators, but by the end of this book I actually hated both the main characters. While the plot is tight, there are huge holes generated by the secondary characters, holes that are never filled or explained. The writing is actually interesting and Flynn has created strong characters on the page, but I arrived at the conclusion feeling beaten up (I think that’s one of the goals of the book–to abuse the reader). But, since I’d ceased to care about the main characters there was no satisfaction derived from the feeling.

Well, someone heard me. For years and years, I’ve dreamed of having tea with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Well, other’s wanted that, too. (And, they included Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins, such a bonus).

Is it great television? No. Is it a great interview? No, not really. But, for 90 minutes you get to see and hear the old broads tell stories of the past. They’ve cut in a few scenes and images from archives, but that’s not really the point. The point is, you get to spend 90 minutes with the old broads. And, that’s worth the price of admission. I laughed out loud, got misty at a few moments, and longed to be there in the room with them, just soaking it all up. They show their human side as well as their diva abilities, too.

So glad this short piece was made.

I recently took Dan Brown’s Master Class and he talked a bit about his novel, Angels & Demons. I saw the movie years ago, but decided to read the book.

Well, I found it a bit tedious. I never felt engaged with any of the characters. I wasn’t rooting for anyone (although at one point, I did get excited that the Catholic Church might be taken down). Of course, having seen the movie, I already knew the outcome…

It’s interesting to me that the novel has a number of problems and issues. Brown talks a lot during his class about the ticking clock, and while this novel certainly has clocks ticking, the amount accomplished in Rome during each of the hours leading up to the climax seems terribly unrealistic. I’ve been to Rome and getting around the streets takes a lot of time, then add fighting bad guys, being locked in places, and traveling more through tunnels and such, well, just not at all plausible.

The bigger issue for me was the lack of empathy I felt for the characters. I just didn’t care all that much about them, so the 10 or so hours I spent reading this work didn’t offer an emotional pay off. I like books with well-developed characters and this left me wanting something more.

Thoroughly enjoyed Kieth O’Brien’s nonfiction work Fly Girls. It’s interesting to me to learn about new technology and in the 1920s and 1930s, flying was one of the new technologies. I’m also interested in the progress of women and find it interesting how the women were treating during the emergence of this technology. For some reason, it was viewed as heroic and generally acceptable that a man might/did die while flying, and yet women were held to a very different standard.

I learned a lot reading this book: new names, new women who made the world different, and some men who did, too. And, thinking about the early years of aviation and what the industry is like today, it’s hard to imagine the empowerment of flyers truly embracing something new and willing to risk their lives to do so. Highly recommend this book if you’re interested in flying, planes, aviation, women’s journeys, or just a good nonfiction read.

This is an amazing and remarkable book. It’s engaging and incredibly well written. I felt quickly invested in Starr’s life and journey and found myself sad when the story ended.

The novel is the journey of Starr, a sixteen-year-old who witnesses the death of two childhood friends: one at the hands of a cop; one at the hands of a drive-by shooter. It’s not a new story. In fact, we’ve seen and heard all of it before. And, yet, Thomas captures something in both the uniqueness of experience and the mundane-ness of the experience. It’s that we have heard the story and perhaps not lived it that makes this storytelling so important. Because, we not only read the story, but are given an opportunity to live it. Very well done.

From a writing perspective, this is now among my favorite First Person/Present Tense novels.

Highly recommend.

Time is moving so fast, very fast, incredibly fast. I just don’t know where it goes. One moment I’m working on a project, the next, weeks have passed, even months.

One of my time theories is that the older we get the smaller the percentage is of time that each day represents in our journey. Therefore, today, compared to when I was a small child, is moving faster. I don’t know if this is true. But, I can say, since I came to this realization, it seems that time is moving faster and faster. Perhaps this is a law of attraction thing. I’ve decided that time is moving fast and therefore it is.

However it works out, I look at my blog and realize it’s nearly 8 weeks since I posted. And, there’s not reason. I’ve been reading books (14 so far in 2019), going to movies, and plays, and events around Las Vegas. I’ve taken artist dates out into the world most Fridays. I’ve been teaching classes and running the workshops where interesting ideas come up all the time. And, yet, the habit of blogging stopped.

There are times when so many of us blog and receive no comments and that takes the wind out of our sails. I claim that. Also, after the holidays, and classes starting back up, I was tired and occupied. And, being a creature who is all about patterns and habits, once the momentum has slowed or stopped, it’s difficult to get back into the flow.

There’s a bit of irony too, because during most of this break, I’ve been teaching a class on reaching audience which has included websites, and blogs, and ideas about using social media…alas, I stumbled and fell.

But, I’m still here, still alive, still working, still exploring, still trying to arrive at the meaning of life–unsuccessful on that score. Hopefully, you’re still around to witness, too.

Just finished Churchill and Orwell: Fight for Freedom.

Just finished Churchill and Orwell: Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks. I don’t know what to think. I don’t really know what the goal of this book was. It certainly didn’t meet my expectations based on the title. And, it was a NYT bestseller, so lots of people read this book. It was reviewed and talked about and I guess praised. So, I scratch my head and wonder what the connection was. Why these two men. Why this storytelling. Neither of the men come off really well in the choices of experiences.

I do find both of their lives interesting. But, for me, there was something missing and it seemed like something important. These two lives didn’t intertwine, not really. They both knew of each other but didn’t know each other personally. They weren’t exactly contemporaries. They were on the planet at the same time, but their circles and influences were very different. The deeper I got into the prose, the further apart they seemed. I once again say, I didn’t get it, didn’t get the connection beyond them both being British.

Why did I stick in there to the end? Well, I felt invested. And, as I said above, I like both of these men. Although, after reading this book, I don’t care for Churchill as much.

Do I recommend? Have at it. Maybe you’ll see something I didn’t.

Because of the winter break from LGBT Bowling, we were able to attend a Pride Family Bingo night at Hamburger Mary’s.

I like drag queen bingo. I like when gay life is just everyday life. That’s a nice thing. To see drag queens and scantily clad boys mixing with handsome men, as well as regular and older guys and gals, too. Plus families with kids. It’s nice; the way the world should be.

It was our first visit to the new Hamburger Mary’s in Vegas, too. The food is decent, the drinks affordable, the place was very clean (and nonsmoking!) We’re now on the mailing list and I’m sure we’ll check out some shows there soon.

We didn’t win at bingo, but that’s how bingo goes. We did have a decent burger and some beer and some entertainment while helping raise money for our community.

Bowling starts back up next week, so no bingo for a few months, but we’ll be back.

In 2018, according to Goodreads, I read 61 books. My challenge number was only 30, so I did a good job.

For 2019, I’ve set a challenge number of 50 books. I suspect it will be more than that, but I don’t want the pressure of besting 2018.

What’s your reading challenge number for 2019?