Category Archives: On Writing

Painting: Another Way of Doing Melpomene’s Work

Does this look like someone who.s doing Melpomene’s work?–

Well, it was and it wasn.t Melpomene’s work. But whatever it was, I did 9 hours of it today and boy am I done like dinner! Let me explain.

Diligent readers will remember the ongoing art saga of finder a cover illustrator. For those who.ve just got on board, I.ve been going to art shows (one fun one was the CNIB Eye Appeal viewing; will have to go to the auction next year for this worthy event), galleries, putting out calls for art, and looking through contacts to commission a masterpiece for the book cover. Well, it looks like the art saga is coming to a close! Tomorrow the contract between artist and patron will be signed and then WE MOVE TO PRODUCTION! The bold letters indicate my excitement. So stay tuned, dear readers: full report on all the breaking news tomorrow after the call for art is rewarded!

Was all the time spent on the call for art part of doing Melpomene’s work? Well, yes and no. Doing Melpomene’s work proper would be reading, attending plays, and, most of all, writing. But doing Melpomene’s work proper isn.t enough by itself to produce the book. Cover art is needed. In a way, then, the time spent on the call for art is part of doing Melpomene’s work. In fact, if you.re really steeped into something you believe in, it may be possible that everything you do is for the sake of the end goal.

I spent the day painting suite doors, door casings, baseboard, and the rusting iron bars that support the garage door at the condo today. The building is heritage. Originally a church, it.s been London’s Boxing Club in the 70s, Nelson’s Music in the 70s and 80s, a crazy used bookstore (the proprietor was in the process of going crazy) in the 90s, and finally it got converted into offices and a condo building in 2008. Today it.s known as the Palladian on the corner of Quadra and Pandora in the heart of the theatre and church district in downtown Victoria. Since the building is over a hundred years old (cornerstone laid in 1905), even though it.s restored, there.s a lot of work involved in the upkeep. And this work, although it is really Hephaestus’ work (is this the best term?–there was no god of trades that I know of, Hephaestus being the blacksmith is the closest to a god of general contracting) it has now been transformed into Melpomene’s work!

This is how it works: by slaving away painting and doing other repairs, I.ll be able to pay the painters to paint the Dead Man’s Hand. Paint for paint! Instead of painting the Dead Man’s Hand myself, I can paint walls and door, receive cash (which is really a universal IOU) and use the cash to pay the artists! So, to go back to the question: does this look like doing Melpomene’s work? The answer is yes, yes, and yes!

On another note, as other tenants pointed out, painting is a great workout. You.re stretching, up and down on your legs all day to dip the brush, you.re moving your arms all over the play and over your head, you.re up and down the ladder, and so on. Painting every day wouldn.t be fun. But it.s nice painting once in a while, if only to get a good workout. Vacuuming is like that too. They say cross country skiing is the ultimate all body workout. I would disagree. I would say vacuuming is the ideal workout. But where am I going with all this? One thing I.ve been thinking is: you see all the people who go to the gym. But those same people will ride the elevators and drive their cars all over town. Why not integrate fitness into all aspects of your life? Instead of driving, ride a bicycle. Then you don.t need to go on the exercise bike. Fitness is achieved by the daily round of getting around. Same with your job. Find a job where you can do different ‘exercises’ each day. Housekeeping is such a job: one day vacuuming, one day painting, another day lifting furniture around. Integrate fitness into life instead of trying to fit in a workout after a long day sitting at the desk. This way seems more ‘human’ to me. Am I on the right path?

Thank you to kind tenant M who snapped the photo of me painting for the blog. It turns out that she also blogs but not through this type of blog. She.s an amateur photographer who posts her photos onto Flickr. She.s been doing so for the last 5 years and is up to 1500 or so photos! Good for her!

Stay tuned for breaking news tomorrow on the call for art! Until next time, I.m Edwin Wong and I.ll be Doing Melpomene’s Work by doing Hephaestus’ work, painting, and God knows what!

The Art of Copywriting

Isn.t that the grooviest word: copywriting? Not copyright as in legal intellectual rights, but copywriting as in writing the back blurb: you know, the ‘elevator pitch’ on the back cover of books. When I first came across this word, I had thought, ‘Weird that they would call this copyrighting–what does copyrighting have to do with marketing materials?’. Finally, it occurred to me, it.s copyWriting not copyRighting! Even the words to describe copywriting are groovy. If, you.re, say, copywriting, and someone asks you what you.re doing, you can say, ‘I.m writing copy’. It sounds very serious. And esoteric. And mysterious. That.s something I.d like to be able to say one day, just for the sake of saying something so awesome. Everyone must have a storehouse of phrases like that: things that would be so cool to say but so hard to find the right moment to come along to unleash all the goodness.

The art of copywriting is one of the final chapters in Alison Baverstock.s The Naked Author. Assiduous readers will recall I blogged about the book here. Here.s Baverstock.s words of wisdom on copywriting:

A whole chapter on how to describe your work–is this really necessary?

It is crucial. There is no clearer predictor of a self-published book likely to disappoint than poor associated copy. The words with which you describe your work have a massive impact on the customer’s willingness to perceive value; whether they buy your work–and then hang on to it if they do.

Copywriting involves producing the text to describe your offering; it entices the recipient towards further involvement. In the case of a product or service this may mean purchase, either for themselves or on behalf of someone else; in the case of an idea, it might mean trying to secure agreement–or at least acknowledgement of an alternative point of view.

The process is a lot harder than it looks. You have to work out who is likely to be purchasing and/or using the product or service (not always the same person); establish the associated benefits that are most likely to appeal; consider how much argument to present (too much information can be as alienating as too little) but all the while support the consumer’s perception that it is their decision over whether or not to buy–most people hat to be ‘sold to’.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is not inclined to see copywriting as an art. There is a general assumption that the briefer the copy you have to craft, the more speedily you will be able to produce it–and as we have all been to school, and learnt to write, how hard can that really be? But it is far more difficult to write short than long text, and effective copy needs extensive crafting, usually through a time-consuming process of getting your ideas down, allowing a meaningful theme to emerge, and then a long process of refining the message.

If I quote any more, I will run into copyright issues! It.s true that writing short is more difficult to write long. Do you remember how Pascal closed a letter to friend once? Something along the lines of, ‘I apologize for writing such a long letter, as I did not have time to make it shorter’. Writing short is an art. Seneca the Younger wrote short witty aphorisms, and he recommended anyone interested in writing short practise daily. People who Twitter (I.m just learning about this) might be practiced on the art of writing short: Twitter limits how many characters can be used in tweeting. So it forces someone who.s twitting to really think about the message in precise terms.

So, here.s my first attempt to write copy for Paying Melpomene’s Price:

The loss of a sense of value in a world where everything has become monetized has led to a reexamination of the tragic art form as a means of reclaiming human value. What if tragedy were a marketplace? What if it were like one of the great bourses in New York or Frankfurt, except anger and ambitions change hands instead of stock certificates? What is more, what if Melpomene’s price is not something to be paid in dollars and cents, but the terms of payment are all-too-human things such as faith, the milk of human kindness, or even the soul of a man.

This book is the meeting of Aristotle’s Poetics with Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It paints a picture of the hero as a gambler willing to lay down his life in gage for the great reward. It will help you conceptualize how the hero rediscovers human value by playing the high stakes game in the ludic theatre. Written for dramatists, theatregoers, and students of tragic art theory, there are detailed examples of how tragedy can be conceptualized not as a destructive medium, but as a celebration of the spiritual wealth which resides in each of us.

Written by a lifelong connoisseur and student of the theatrical arts, this comprehensive study breaks down tragedy into its constituent parts: the hero’s wager, the myth of the price you pay, and the role of the unexpected. They myth of the price you pay provides the philosophic underpinnings of tragedy: you get something for something, nothing for nothing, and sometimes nothing for something. In the hero’s wager is the dramatization of the myth of the price you pay. Finally, the role of the unexpected generates the thrill of theatre. In breaking down tragedy into its constituent parts, it builds them back up to argue that tragedy is the greatest show on earth.

I.d like to make is more exciting and shorter. It was a good exercise in expressing in a few words what the whole book is about though. Another things that goes hand in hand with copywriting is the shout line. Here.s three examples from Baverstock:

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water (Jaws 2)

In space no one can hear you scream (Alien)

Love means never having to say you’re sorry (Love Story)

The shout line is the elevator pitch. I like the first two, but the last one eludes me. When you.re in love you.re never in error? Or did I miss something? The one from Alien hits you with the terror of the silent scream–that I can see loud and clear. And the shout line from Jaws 2 is effective as it reconnects the viewer with the thrill of watching the first Jaws. So here.s what I.m thinking for a shout line for Paying Melpomene’s Price:

You can’t be a hero if you got nothing to lose.

I hope its attention grabbing. The point I.m trying to get across is that tragedy is about the hero who pays a price. How much of a price he pays establishes the worth of his ambitions. So, by saying you can’t be a hero if you got nothing to lose, I.m trying to get someone.s attention by making the claim that a hero is a hero because he.s a betting man. Something like that. Heroes have been defined in a lot of ways: descended from the gods (Achilles), great exploits (Heracles), legendary king (Minos), and so on. By defining a hero as someone who has something to lose to me is a fresh approach. Undoubtedly not original, because nothing really is original, but it seems original enough that it can get people’s attention and also be an honest take on the essence of the work.

Let.s see how things develop. Lots of time still (famous last words!). Until next time, I.m Edwin Wong and I am putting my thoughts into words in this blog dedicated to Doing Melpomene’s Work.

Great Canadian Casino Trip

Two things happened yesterday. It was perfect cycling weather. And I needed some props for the the ongoing art saga. Assiduous readers will recall the Call for Art will close next week. That means it.s time to get together the props. The only playing cards here are a Japanese sumo set, a gift from MG when he was visiting in 2008. I remember the year because we were watching Phelps dominate the Olympics. Did you know that in ancient times, they used to date things by the Olympiads (e.g. in the second year after the tenth Olympiad, x event happened)? Well, that never made sense to me. But now it does. It.s a communal event everyone remembers. In that way, it has a significance that is easily communicable to other people. MG.s one of those people who went abroad after finishing university to teach English and never looked back. The sumo playing cards are beautiful: each card depicts wrestlers in the act of grappling and throwing. But for the cover illustration, I wanted something traditional, something that would call attention to the idea of the dead man.s hand without drawing attention to itself. So I needed some basic playing cards. They had some ‘Bicycle’ brand cards at London Drugs. Looking online, amazon.ca had some fancy cards. But then I thought of the View Royal Casino. Maybe they had a gaming store which would sell playing cards and poker chips?

Then it occurred to me: maybe the View Royal Casino is part of the Great Canadian Casino chain. Diligent readers will remember I had read Warren Buffet Speaks a little while ago and then assembled together a portfolio of popular brand name stocks. Great Canadian Casino, ticker GC was one of them. Well, it turns out View Royal Casino is part of the Great Canadian Casino! As a shareholder, I could go there to check out my investment! So I called and asked whether they had a casino oriented gift shop. D, who answered the phone, said they didn.t, but they had lots of playing cards, how any did I need? Well, I got greedy and I said two decks. Well, from her reaction, I thought she was expecting me to say fifty or a hundred decks. Of course, just come on down, she said, but make sure you come through the right door. The door? Which door?–I was a bit perplexed but didn.t ask for clarification. Maybe I needed to be a customer to get playing cards. Well, I had a response prepared. It would be fantastic and would go like this, ‘Er no, I.m not a customer, but I.m a shareholder, will that do?’. Yes, it.s true, I confess, I am a bit like that!

So, I waited for the day to cool down a little bit. The trip is just over ten kilometres each way. Twenty or so kilometres round trip is a perfect ride. I can go fast and not feel it the next day. And you.re not on your bike the whole day either. But you.re on the bike long enough to enjoy it. Thirty kilometres is okay as well. But forty kilometres is starting to be a long time in the saddle. So, in preparation for the trip, I adjusted the brakes (it was getting to the point where the brake lever was going all the way down to the handlebar) and adjusted the front derailleur (the chain would quite annoyingly pop off when going into the big ring sometimes). Here.s a picture of my chariot, a beautiful custom 2014 Marinoni Sportivo Ti, made right here in Canada and sold by Straight Up Cycles:

Isn.t she beautiful? I.ve lusted after a Campy Gruppo since being a kid and finally ride one!–Athena 11 in silver. The Sportive Ti was my early retirement present to myself last fall. I haven.t had a car since 2010, so I figured I could splurge. It.s likely justifiable, since my last bike (a Specialized Stumpjumper) lasted over twenty years before one of the welds gave out.

The Great Canadian Casino is just littered with slot machines. They keep the place looking nice and new as well. A cavernous interior. The slot machines adorn the fringes and in the centre of the auditorium are the tables: roulette, blackjack, poker, and so on. There.s maybe fifteen or twenty tables. It.s around dinnertime and there.s dealers at ten or eleven tables. There.s games at maybe seven tables. I talk to one of the dealers at an empty table, H. He.s been on again off again with Great Canadian for over ten years. It.s a good job; he likes the regulars. Employees also get stock options with the company. He.s just recently sold his shares because of the run up in the stock price. He tells me about the different odds for all the games, which games to play, gives me some tips (pick a game, learn it online before coming to the casino). He.s a connoisseur of gaming. I like that. When I make to go and offer to shake his hand, I discover that he.s not allowed!–but of course, I should have known!

So on my way out, I get the playing cards. That.s what D had been referring to when I called earlier: you can only get the used playing cards on your way out: you can.t bring used cards into the casino. I get it! So, after all, I didn.t get a chance to use my line, ‘But I.m a shareholder!’. But now I have the cards and am one step closer to Doing Melpomene.s Work. Bonus: here.s what they look like and I.ve even arranged out for your viewing enjoyment the infamous dead man.s hand!–

PS if they only use decks once, does anyone know where the rest of them go? Surely they go through many, many decks each night! Also ordered some find looking chips from amazon.ca. It.s all coming together! Soon, soon, soon…

Cover Art Saga Continues: The Search for an Artist

The search for an artist continues. Emails flying back and forth. Met another artist at his gallery. Questions from some galleries coming in where I.ve been dropping off the Call for Art. It.s a been a great learning process for me. And here.s some things that I can share with my diligent readers.

First, if I had thought the construction world was crazy, the art world is even more so. In the construction business, we do a lot of estimates, proposals, and budgets for free on the hope of getting business. From the feedback I.m getting, a lot of artists are being asked to put together sketches, talk about concepts, and so on, on the hope of business which never materializes. In my draft contract (see below), I had the payment schedule worked into four tranches with the first tranche occurring after seeing the first sketches. Artists like to work on the ‘retainer’ system with money up front. If I were the artist, that.s how I think I would like to work as well. After all, unless you.ve worked with a patron a couple of times, it.s hard to know what to expect. I see their point and will make the change.

Second, it.s easy to think artists have it made. You look at the price tags of their works: 10k, 15k, 20k and you think, wow! But those are the artists who have made it. It.s like Rowling and the Harry Potter series. For every Rowling, there.s tens of thousands of writers who do not sell millions of copies. Artists generally approach the galleries asking the buyers if they would like to display their works. Space is limited. And there is a lot of talent floating around. So it.d be hard for a new name to start out. I wouldn.t be surprised if a lot of successful artists were quite frugal: a habit from the years they spent paying their dues. Oh, and how do I know there.s lots of talent? It seems Victoria–with its wildlife, proximity to ocean, proximity to forests–attracts a lot of artists. And I happened to stumble into an art school as well. The teacher had a class going on and invited me to watch the session. There were also examples of students’ work all over the walls. All of a very high quality.

Third, I had thought by including a sample of the contract (outlining the number of revisions, payment schedule, schedule of deliverables, etc.,) it would make things easier for the artists. One artist that I chatted with pointed out there are ‘softer’ ways to start of a patron-artist relationship. He asked me about my background. I told him I was a project manager in construction. He understood immediately, since he was a recently retired architect. I had based my contract on a construction scenario. Construction scenarios can be litigious. So the contracts assume the worse case. You can argue that they protect both parties. But really, the unstated premise behind the carefully worded contract are that people are dirty rotten scoundrels ready to take advantage of you. I could see his point. But here.s the story: I had carefully worded my contract hoping to give the impression to potential artists that, ‘Look, I.ve put together this nice document to make sure you get paid what you want on time!’. That it could be taken in another manner was sort on an unintended consequence. Well the contract is below. You can decide yourself. In my defence, it.s a one page contract (ie the very minimum) and it.s just a standard form that I found online from sample contracts other artists had put up on their websites who do commissions! The moral of this story is that I.m going to need to be flexible and diplomatic to get the best cover illustration for the book. And that.s what it.s all about. From the artist.s perspective, I.m sure they want to do a good job as well!–after all, they put their name on the work of art as well!

Fourth, did you know that not only do you have to find the right type of artist (ie abstract artist for abstract visions, figurative artists for figurative works, and so on), you also need to find the artist that understands the mood of a work. There was one artist who could do brilliant portraits. But there was one catch. The works had to be happy and full of smiling people. The ‘Dead Man.s Hand’ didn.t quite fit that description! But you know, I appreciate honesty!

Fifth, there.s lots of requests for me to put out the Call for Art with a lump sum price: for example, I.m looking for this and will pay x dollars for it. Now, all the other suggestions I.ve been amenable to. But this one sticks for me a little bit. I would think the artist would know better than me (since he.s the art professional) how much time it would take to conceptualize a work, purchase the materials, do the research, talk with the client, and create the work. And I also would like to think the artist would know better than me how his time is worth. And then overhead, consumables, and so on. So I.m sticking to my guns on this one. I.m asking the artist to quote a number that he.s happy with. This shouldn.t be too much to ask, no?

Well, here.s the sample contract, you be the judge!–

To aid assiduous artists in quoting the Call for Art, a sample contract has been drafted. It outlines the deliverables, payment schedule, and number of revisions to be included with the base price.

So that I can meaningfully compare packages, here are a few things to include with your submission:

base price. This is the price to put the whole thing together

hourly rate for additional revisions. Some revisions are built into the contract (see below). If more revisions are necessary, I want to make sure you are remunerated

five jpeg images showcasing your talents as applicable to this project

a short description of why this project interests you and what you bring to the table

You.re probably wondering how I am to work with. First: YES I have commissioned art before. The project was a complete success for both myself and the artist. We.ve kept in touch for over twenty years and his piece just went out on exhibition last year! So why not ask him?—he.s in his late eighties and long retired. Second: I am completely open to meeting up in person or talking on the phone. A quick meeting or phone conversation and you will be able to get an idea of whether this project is a good fit for your talents. Thanks for looking and hope to hear from you.

ART COMMISSION CONTRACT

The Agreement is made the __________ day of __________ (month) __________ (year) between:

Name (Patron):

Address:

Phone: Email:

and

Name (Artist):

Address:

Phone: Email:

The parties agree as follows:

The Work: the Patron is commissioning a painting ‘The Dead Man’s Hand’ (the Work) from the Artist as specified in the Call for Art (attached) at the purchase price of $_______ (x dollars). The purchase price includes all direct and indirect costs in creating the painting and delivering it to the Patron, including but not limited to purchase of the materials, consumables, shop expenses, labour, overhead, shipping, and taxes.

Deliverables: 1) individual rough sketches for each of the six subjects (bartender, waitress, three gamblers, and dog). Allow for up to six revisions, if necessary 2) global rough sketch showing general layout and positions of subjects. Allow for one revision, if necessary 3) transfer sketch to final medium. Allow for one revision, if necessary 4) finished work. Allow for one revision, if necessary. Should the Patron request the Artist for additional revisions, the Artist can complete additional revisions at a rate of $_______ (per hour).

Right of Refusal: should the Patron be unable to purchase the Work from the Artist when the Work is completed, the Artist will retain the Work and the payments made prior to completion. In that case, the Artist will retain the Work free from any claims or interests of the Patron and the Patron will be free of any further payments.

Copyright: the Artist grants the Patron the right to use the Work as a cover illustration for a book the Patron is writing and the right to reproduce the Work for the purposes of promoting the book (e. on blogs, flyers, and advertisements). Notwithstanding the rights granted the Patron, the Artist retains reproduction and copyright rights.

Project Schedule: delivery of the painting will take place within six months from the date the contract is signed. Should the Artist be unable to complete the work within this period, the Patron will retain the work complete to date and the Artist will be free from any claims or interests of the Patron and the Patron will be free of any further payments.

Payment Schedule: payments will take place according to the following schedule:

one-quarter upon approval of the six individual rough sketches

one-quarter upon approval of the global rough sketch

remainder upon delivery

Tales of the Unexpected (the Happy Side of Risk)

Do you find most often people—or yourself—try to avoid the unexpected? People say: ‘become better educated’, ‘contain the risk’, ‘watch out for the downside’, ‘better to go with the devil you know’, and so on. There is in the unknown something of a bogeyman. Well that.s true. Especially from my perspective, since I write on tragedy and, well, in that art form, whenever the hero runs across the unknown or the unexpected, the distribution of outcomes is asymmetrically skewed to the downside: i.e. death and destruction! Well, sometimes the unexpected can be very good as well!

Assiduous readers will be sitting on the edge of their seats wondering how the Call for Art is progressing. Today I biked out to Sidney to distribute the flyers at the Island Blue Print and the galleries out there. By the say, Sidney is the best place in the world. People in Sidney just love to be in Sidney. They love to chat with other relaxed and smiley folks. So dropped off the flyer at the two galleries along the main strip. Got an art lesson on some of the new watercolours and oils that they were coming in. Some of these watercolour artists work on their pieces for months! They do three or four pieces a year that they.re absolutely happy with. Interesting work being a gallery buyer as well. Lots of artists coming in: so many works, so little room! Also found an art school by the water. The instructor had a lesson going on but had a prize pupil who she thought would be a perfect fit. There were samples on display and lots of these students are very talented! The only dangerous place in Sidney is the Safeway or I guess Save-on-Foods parking lot. That place has its own laws of driving which I haven.t figured out yet. I don.t think the drivers there have figured out either. But I was wondering if I.d bump into my old colleague Erik at the Starbucks there. He gets his afternoon coffee fix there and it was just about the right time. Lo and behold, he is there! We chat and I stop by the old office to see the boys. One thing I notice: nothing ever changes. The office is exactly the same. Collected 20 bucks on a bet I won from my old boss (we had placed a bet on what the stock price of Lucara diamonds would be New Years Day; he said above $3 and I said under). Also placed a new bet: New Years Day 2016 price of a barrel of oil, which is sitting at $58 today. I say $50 and he says $70. We.ll see! I guess as a patriotic Canadian hopefully he wins! Canada.s frighteningly resource dependent. But hey, maybe it will take a prolonged slump in oil prices to kickstart nascent industries.

But that was a big digression. Are you still with me? I was telling the story of how sometimes the unexpected is skewed towards the positive side. So, biking home (Sidney to downtown Victoria), I take the Galloping Goose. Wonderful. Avoid the highway with all the noise and hubcaps and body parts from all the cyclists who have been struck down on the highway.s shoulder (well, okay, that last part was an exaggeration. But this is what my imagination tells me if i take the highway route). The Galloping Goose takes me by Matticks Farm. Usually I proceed straight through. Actually, every other time I.ve done the ride I.ve gone straight through. But today I was thirsty. And feeling not in a rush. So I stop by and pick up a chocolate milk. Mmmmmm. Finding a place to sit down, I notice there.s a gallery right there! Well, looking at their display, it.s mostly abstract works and landscapes. But i thought, ‘Why not?’. Going in, i.m greeted by Sharon. I tell her about the project and she looks at the flyer. She thinks for a moment…the artists she knows don.t usually do this type of work. But she has a great suggestion: try Moss Street market on the weekend. It.s a little society of artists that would do this sort of thing. And then another great idea. This one I was hitting myself for not having thought of it myself. On the causeway by the Inner Harbour in downtown Victoria, there.s all sorts of activity once tourist season starts going (which is right around now). The patios fill up. There.s clowns, magic shows, musicians, and food stands. And also artists. They do quick portrait sketches. So they.re skilled at meeting someone and capturing the person.s psychology with a few quick strokes. And they work fast. So it wouldn.t cost a fortune. While she was saying this, I was thinking, ‘Good point!’. Okay, so I don.t have a budget (art.s one of those things it.s hard to set a price to and I.d prefer the artist to set a price for the commission they.re happy with), but at one of the galleries I was at, the artist they were suggesting is accustomed to charging in the vicinity of 10k for commissions! I like quality and this project means a lot to me, but 10k can buy a lot of things! So let.s see what happens! I know where to go this weekend on the trail of the Call for Art!–Moss street and the causeway. It.ll be fun to be part of the hubbub too. Writers tend to be in their own company for long periods. Good to go out.

So how does this tie into the unexpected and the upside? Well, i wasn.t planning on stopping at Matticks Farm. It just so happened that I was thirsty while riding by. You know, on the bell curve, they call the left and right ends the ‘tails’ of the curve. Those are the places where very unlikely things happen. And when people talk about them, they usually talk about catastrophes: the hundred year storm, the ‘big one’ (earthquake), and so on. Well, the tail on the right end gets less attention. That.s like the day you meet your future wife or the day the lottery goes with your numbers. These things happen too. To me, what happened today was a bit of good fortune. Not on the extreme right of the bell curve, but good enough to make me happy. Her recommendation was very good. So to me, it.s a reminder to expose yourself to all the things out there. Live life to the fullest or some other wooly expression like that. Deal with the bad when it happens. Because only by exposing yourself to risk can you get the ‘good’ side of risk.

Have a few leads now on the Call for Art. Meeting some more artists, hopefully soon someone can start working on ‘The Dead Man.s Hand’!

Looking for a Cover Illustration

Today.s the day! After sitting on it for way too long (over a month) I hit the street to find an artist to paint a cover illustration for the book. In preparation for the big moment, I revised the Call for Art last night and printed some copies. Believe it or not, my laser printer.s going on thirteen years and has travelled in moves across North America and back again. It smudges and each page has to be loaded separately. I thought about getting professional copies done up at the printer.s–maybe a splash of colour in the heading as well–but then, would that really be necessary? If an artist is into it, the information.s the same both ways. Here.s what the revised Call for Art looks like:

Also started drafting a sample contract so that the artist.s can have an idea on how to quote the project. There.s quite a few sample contracts online. I took one that I liked and modified it so that the patron has right to use the painting as a cover illustration. That.s one thing that I learned from reading: typically, even if you physically own a work of art, the artist retains the right to reproduce the work or art, not the owner. Still working on the form of the contract, but here.s how the draft looks:

ART COMMISSION CONTRACT

The Agreement is made the __________ day of __________ (month) __________ (year) between:

Name (Patron):

Address:

Phone: Email:

and

Name (Artist):

Address:

Phone: Email:

The parties agree as follows:

The Work: the Patron is commissioning a painting ‘The Dead Man’s Hand’ from the Artist as specified in the Call for Art (attached) at the purchase price of $_______ (x dollars). The purchase price includes all direct and indirect costs in creating the painting and delivering it to the Patron, including but not limited to purchase of the canvas, oils consumables, shop expenses, labour, shipping, and taxes.
Right of Refusal: should the Patron be unable to purchase the Work from the Artist when the Work is completed, the Artist will retain the Work and the payments made prior to completion. In that case, the Artist will retain the Work free from any claims or interests of the Patron and the Patron will be free of any further payments.
Copyright: the Artist grants the Patron (or any agent retained by the Patron) the right to reproduce the Work for the purposes of promoting or distributing a book that the Patron is writing. Notwithstanding the right granted the Patron, the Artist retains reproduction and copyright rights.
Project Schedule: delivery of the painting will take place within six months from the date the contract is signed. Should the Artist be unable to complete the work within this period…
Payment Schedule: payments will take place according to the following schedule:
1. one-quarter when the preliminary sketch is approved
2. one-quarter when the preliminary sketch is transferred onto canvas
3. remainder upon delivery

I have to think about the payment schedule some more and how many sketches should be incorporated into the process. The thing about this work is the look of surprise in each of the figures. Should I approve each of the looks of surprise in each of the subjects in the painting? Looking in my Durer art book, I see that often he would draw up sketches–and sometimes surprisingly detailed sketches–of figures, gestures, faces, and so on before incorporating them into his masterpieces.

At the art supply stores in Victoria, there.s a very handy corkboard. So the Call for Art was posted at Island Blue, Opus Art Supply, and Artworld Art Supplies. Also went by some of the galleries downtown (of which there are quite a few!). I was happy with the positive responses. Actually meeting some assiduous artists tonight to discuss the concept over a beer. People are generally quite inquisitive when you say you.re writing a book. And there.s a genuine desire for them to match you up with a good artist. So got quite a few leads. I get the impression that the art world is tightly knit. It.s a face to face community. I also learned there.s Community Arts Councils. One for Victoria, one for Saanich Peninsula, and so on. They might be able to send out Calls for Art to their members. So I.ll check this out soon as well. It was also fun just going into the galleries to see all the fantastic works of art! The one thing I noticed is that there.s a lot more landscape and still life artists than artists who do portraits and human figures.

Everything was positive except for this one gallery. But ugh did the lady there ever take the wind out of my sails. She was unpacking some pieces of art when I got in, so I though to take a look around the gallery to catch an opportune moment to introduce myself. After a few minutes, I tried to start off the conversation with a, ‘It must be exciting to be getting some new piece!’. She didn.t look up. So I thought it.s now or never and introduced myself, saying I was looking for help finding an artist to do a cover illustration. She simply said no. To which I asked her if I could leave her a flyer in case she knew any artists who would be interested. At this point, she looked up and said it was impossible: her gallery only works directly with artists. When she looked up. I noticed her glasses right away. They were these purple shaded glasses made of what appeared to be some high end ceramic material. Very very very fancy, I thought they must have cost a fortune (I had been glasses shopping a little while ago). And in that second, I also noticed her whole attire and bearing. In a way, she was dressed like the fancy gallery shop owner. She was playing the role of the ‘power player’ in the art world. And I was to her–I imagined–a nothing, something beneath nothing. And I had dared to disturb her. And such beady cold eyes, like looking into a shark, not even human. I said thanks and walked out. How could someone be so close to art and so unhappy?

But onwards and upwards! Can.t let a little negativity slow me down. But the whole episode does fill me with a sense of wonder at how some people are. Have you had run ins like that on your journey? How do you react?

Playing Card Card Combinations

trI.m in the midst of writing the chapter on ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’. It deals with how the unexpected steals up the the tragic protagonist. Uncertainty, risk, unexpectation (is that a word?–now it is!), and things like that are on my mind. One way of imagining risk would be to graph outcomes onto a bell curve. The fat tails on the extreme left and right sides of the curve could represent unexpected disaster or a happy windfall. Another way of imagining risk would be look at dice or card games.

We.re surrounded by so much probability theory and statistics today that it.s hard to imagine a world without such things. But the science of probability or a theory or permutations and combinations didn.t actually exist before the likes of Cardano and Tartaglia started systematically going through how many outcomes were possible when rolling one die, two die, and so on. That was as recent as the Italian Renaissance in the sixteenth century. Before then, how the dice turned out was all due to Lady Luck, otherwise known as Fortune. If you could go back in time with today.s probability theory and play the ancients, you.d be able to clean house. The odds on a lot of the ancient games rewarded higher outcome scenarios more than lower outcome scenarios. Cicero and Aristotle both thought about ‘likelihood’ and all they could come up with was that it would be hard to roll more than one or two ‘Venus throws’ (the highest throw with knuckle bones) in succession. It didn.t occur to them that such things could be quantified. They were, however, express scepticism that the ‘Venus throw’ would be due to the action of the goddess. But they were not able to offer a better explanation.

Surprising. The ancients gave us geometry, the Hippocratic Oath, democracy, philosophy, ethics, and so many other things but they just could.t get probability. Some say it.s because the dice they used were inconsistent (being polished animal bones). Others say the idea of the hand of god in random events was too powerful for the mind to overcome: the whole industry of divination was based on finding meaning in random events that, well, were not really random but god trying to tell us something. There are those who think they just didn.t have the mathematical capacity with their cumbersome roman numerals. Or they just didn.t like ‘experimenting’ (ie rolling hundreds of dice and recording the results).

That could all be true. But even today, it.s hard to figure out how the theory of combinations and permutations fit together. Last night, I was over at TW.s. As he took out some playing cards, he said, ‘Did you know the chances are that a deck of cards has never been shuffled with the cards in the order the are in now?’. I said, ‘Really?’. He replied, ‘There.s almost an infinite number of combinations so that you.d never in an eternity shuffle the cards into the same configuration’. TW.s into science so I knew he was right. But I was curious. How many combinations were possible?

We couldn.t figure out all the combinations of the 52 card deck. But we could try figuring out the combinations of one, two, three cards and so on. And from there generate a rule to see what the combinations would be for a full deck. With one card there.s one combination. With two cards there.s two. With three cards, we couldn.t do this in our head anymore. So we laid out the cards. Six combinations are possible with three cards. Now with four cards, it gets tricky. Not only did we need the cards in front of us, we had to start writing down the combinations since it was easy to miss one or count one twice. The combinations get bigger very quickly is what we noticed. I was thinking the pattern would be 1 card 1 combo, 2 cards 2 combos, 3 cards 6 combos, and maybe 4 cards would be 16 combos. Wrong. 4 cards is 24 combos. We speculated on the pattern. Maybe you multiply by a number 3×2=6, 4×6=24. But what sort of rule would determine the multiplier? The clear thinking beer we were imbibing was also helping our efforts! So we decided to work out the combinations for five cards to see if more data would lead to an insight (Bacon.s method of induction). But with five cards there were so many combinations… Too much work, we went back to drinking beer and watching a TV show on science instead. But this goes to show, it.s still difficult today to figure out probabilities. TW.s a project manager so he.s good at numbers. Years ago (certainly not today!) I got up to second year calculus.

So I cheated. The next day I googled it. Google is also something that Cicero and Aristotle didn.t have! The combinations are a function of factorials. So four factorial or 4! will give you the combination of four cards. Four factorial would be the equivalent of 4x3x2x1 or 24. Five factorial or 5! or 5x4x3x2x1 or 160 is the number of combinations with five cards. I would hate to even try imagining how big the number 52! generates. It would likely break a gear in the brain. So perhaps this is one of the reasons cards are fascinating: the unexpected is always possible because of the immense number of outcomes that are possible. Or–lurking underneath all the ‘common’ poker hands (full house, pair, two pair, etc.,) there.s always the chance of the dead man.s hand!

Greater Victoria Public Library Launches Emerging Local Authors Collection

As an aspiring writer, I spend inordinate amounts of sitting at home and thinking. And what better thing to do while thinking than to accompany it with cookies and ice cream! Thinking, you know, requires mental horsepower. And sugar is just like rocket fuel for the engines of thought. Unfortunately, after too much rocket fuel, sometimes I don.t feel so hot afterwards! For this reason, its helpful from time to time for a change of scenery: the Greater Victoria Public Library, or GVPL for short. No distractions (besides the people on the cell phones)! No food allowed (besides the people eating potato chips on the fly out of their backpacks)!

The library is a great place for writers. Especially in the evening when it.s quieter. Actually, perfect quiet isn.t the most conducive. I like a sort of white noise. For Glenn Gould, white noise was the vacuum cleaner. He would run the vacuum cleaner so that he could better hear the different voices in counterpoint. For me, it.s coffee shop chatter where if you focus, you can hear the strings of conversations. But otherwise, it.s a background noise. The sound of life around you. On the second floor of the library, there.s a section that overhangs and is open to the circulation desk and main entrance. From there, one can see the courtyard. It.s got the best acoustics in town, so buskers busy themselves there. There.s even a preacher man with fiery red hair that gives a sermon once in a while. The best show ever was a young gypsy couple who dressed the part and played, among other things, Fleetwood Mac covers. The whole courtyard filled up that day. They had ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is. You can hear all this through the windows. There.s also the chatter at the circulation desk and the volunteer Friendshop below. If you.re ever interested in hearing people.s life stories, be a fly on the wall at the Friendshop: for some reason, customers are inclined to unfold their life stories to the patient volunteers. Stories from WWII, nasty separations, contested wills: I.ve heard it all (at the same time assiduously working on the book, of course!).

What caught my eye last time was a little stand just inside of the library.s main entrance. It was a collection of works by local authors: the Emerging Local Author.s Collection:

Emerging Local Authors Collection Launched

Posted by on 10 April 2015

Tags: homepage

Our inaugural Emerging Local Authors Collection is now available! Come down to Central Branch to take a look, or browse the titles right now. Learn more >>

As of today, the collection is 174 titles strong. Last year they launched a collection of music by local artists. The Local Authors Collection must be part of the same plan.

Being myself a soon to be emerging author, I took a look through the display case. Books on yachting, fiction, travel, poetry, history: there was a bit of everything. What interested me was the copyright page (because I.d been reading about this in Baverstock.s The Naked Author). There was quite the range of information on the ISBN, copyright, printing press, and so on from none to the full meal deal. To me, books without ISBN or press seemed like they were self-published: they had that ‘indie’ look to them. There were some that I thought must have been professionally published. But when I googled the name of the press, nothing would show up in a lot of cases. It may be that those were also self-published, but done so to appear otherwise. So there appear to be two options, depending on the type of presentation the writer is trying to make: self-published which looks ‘indie’ or self-published which looks professional.

Colour, paper, and quality also make a large ‘first-impression’ impact. Especially font. Some books just had the right font. This was immediately pleasing and made me want to read. There were a lot of fonts in the books surveyed. Quite a few sans serif fonts. I guess this is the one thing about self-publishing: maybe there.s almost too many options. But that.s one of the advantages of self-publishing as well. A few of the titles that looked professionally put together were from Spica Book Design. When the time comes, I.ll pay them a visit. And quite a few books came from Island Blue Print. The quality of the vast majority of books by Island Blue seemed indistinguishable from books in my own bookcases.

Kudos to the library for involving the community. It.s given me some inspiration. If they can do it, so can I! And if I can do it, so should you! Maybe one day we will have our books on the library.s shelves with a little gold star saying ‘Local Author’! And finally kudos to all the writers who took the time and effort and became published! It must be a happy day for them to see their books being proudly displayed.

Commissioning Images and Illustrations

As part of the writer.s due diligence, I.ve been reading guides to self-publishing. It.s a fascinating world. Different than academic writing. The scale is larger. You.re writing to an audience, not the professor. And it.s going to be published with your name on it. Out in the real world.

One of the chapters in Alison Baverstock.s The Naked Author (this just happened to be the title they had at the library, it.s a good read so far) is ‘Commissioning Images and Illustrations’. Before reading it, I hadn.t much thought about the cover. It would have the title and the author.s name and a designer would give it some shape and a splash of colour. But she makes a good point: the cover is the point of first contact between the book and potential readers. Make it good. She discusses how to go about getting photography or image rights. And then she talked about commissioning artwork. That captured the imagination. Afterwards, I was surprised it never occurred to me on my own to try this. Because I had been through the commissioning process before and all I can say is, ‘What an experience!’.

Twenty years ago, I went through the commissioning process. Come to think of it, over twenty years ago. One of Francis Bacon.s portraits, The Study of Pope Innocent X had fascinated me. The bold brushstrokes. Barbaric. And the stillness of agony. It.s funny, because nothing much else of Bacon stands out to me. But I really am smitten with this portrait. Last summer, there was a Bacon exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto. It didn.t have the effect I thought it would have. At any rate, twenty plus years ago, I was washing dishes at the Cordova Seaview Restaurant. I started putting away some funds to commission this thing. I called up some artists. Most weren.t interested. One lady hung up on me. The conversation went like this, ‘Oh the Bacon? Yes, I.m familiar with Bacon. Which one? That one?!? *click*’. Eventually, I found out one of my friends’ dads was into Francis Bacon. Carl Coger. He had studied Bacon at the Art Institute of Chicago. He would be delighted to take on the project. We went through images and images looking for the right colours (it.s amazing how different pictures capture colour in subtlety different ways). That summer, he set up his easel in the courtyard. A big easel. I got to see the whole process. Partitioning the canvas into a grid. The different layers. Mixing the colours. He really enjoyed making it as well.

Flash forward to last winter. I get this letter in the mail from the artist. Wrong address and wrong postal code. Somehow it made it to my building where it was placed on top of the community mailbox. Good work Canada Post! But I couldn.t open the letter for a long time. I thought it was the bad news letter. You see, a few years ago, my friend had met this girl on the street. A former schoolteacher from England. She hurt her jaw in an accident, the doctor prescribed her some narcotic painkillers and you know the rest. He tried to help her out and got dragged into the whole affair. For that reason, I thought the letter must have been bad news. Why else would he write? Well, damnation, finally I had to open it. It took me a week and a half of looking at it each day. It turns out, they were putting on a ‘Fabulous Fakes’ art show and he wanted to exhibit the work!

We talked on the phone. He.s over eighty now, almost blind. He wanted to exhibit the work as a sort of swan song. As I bike (pedal bike) and he doesn.t drive anymore, he got his grandson to deliver the work to the gallery (a nice young lad studying economics at UVic, we discussed Piketty.s Capital which was sitting on the coffee table). I went to the show as well, it was a bit of a thrill to see the little abstract saying the painting came out of the ‘Edwin Wong Collection’! He was very happy his work could go on exhibition one last time (he had other pieces there as well). We chatted about the good old days. It.s funny, I was just a kid back then, how the times change. And one thing that stuck in my mind is how art brings people together, in a good way. We need more of this!

So…after the digression, I thought about putting out a Call for Art. For a cover illustration. Here.s what I.ve come up with so far. The idea is to go around and ask the nice art galleries, art shops, and art schools if they can post this up. Then it will be a waiting game to see who responds. I hope the process is as fun as the first time. Here.s the rough draft of the Call for Art:

CALL FOR ART

‘DEAD MAN’S HAND’

DESCRIPTION: oil on canvas, 30×30

CONCEPT: Depict the moment Wild Bill Hickox picks up the ‘dead man’s hand’ while playing poker. Contemporary setting (not Wild West). Figures include: three gamblers, one bartender, one waitress, one patron, and a dog. Sparse furnishings. Although the gunman who shoots Wild Bill does not appear in the painting, the painting is painted from the point of view of the gunman as he is entering the saloon.

THEME: Two themes. The first theme is the unexpected and the disproportionately critical affect the unexpected has on life. The ‘dead man’s hand’ is a visual representation of the unexpected, much like how the silver pieces in Rembrandt’s Judas returning the thirty pieces visually represent the emotion of greed. As such, the painting should draw the viewer’s eye to the ‘dead man’s hand’. The second theme is to capture the look of surprise and tension in the painting’s subjects. It is that split second after the gunman enters but before full recognition happens. A good study of the psychology of what is desired might be found in Repin’s They did not expect him.

INTENT: It is the intent that a reproduction of the painting or a detail from the painting will serve as the cover illustration of a book on literary criticism. The book discusses the role of the unexpected in drama with an emphasis on tragedy. Critics, academics, dramatists, and people interested in the growing field of uncertainty comprise the target audience.

To receive further details on the commission, please contact Edwin Wong by email at — or by phone —.

Doing Melpomene's Work

Writing on the Greatest Show on Earth