Archive for the ‘Living and Life’ Category

Autumn Semester 2012: The Wrap-Up

Posted: December 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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Well folks, I got all my grades back from this past semester, so you know what that means! Time to tell you how I did, what I wish I could’ve done, and what I hope for the coming semester. Oh, and this was Ohio State’s first semester, so the fact that I managed to survive the extra six weeks and did so well is a good sign. Oh, and for those of you who are new to Rami Ungar the Writer, I’m double majoring in both History and in English. I think those are great majors for a writer to have, don’t you?

Okay, so my classes: I had Documentary, Creative Fiction Writing, History, and Philosophy, and all but Philosophy I got A’s in. Documentary was a sort of experimental class, where we spent time around computers creating audio and video recordings about our writing styles, along with creative art projects meant to explain our connection to a certain book of literary renown (I did John Milton’s Paradise Lost). Creative Friction Writing, although more literary than I expected, was interesting, and it gave me a short story I plan to submit to a certain magazine right after I finish writing this post. History was about the discipline of Historical Studies and explain how historians went about their business. I probably did the best in that class, getting A’s on nearly all my assignments, and doing a kick-ass project on the history of Holocaust awareness in America. I passed Philosophy with a grade lower than I’d hoped for, but my final paper got an A-, which was higher than I expected, so hurray for me. Also, I’m now able to point out how a certain article may have dubious statistics in it, so that’s a useful skill.

I also went to my first home football game this semester, and I got to see President Obama speak. These were all very special occasions for me, and I totally enjoyed myself.

Next semester I’ll be taking four classes: another Creative Fiction Writing, which I had to apply for to get in (it’s that special, apparently); a History class on World War II, which is a part of my History focus; an American Literature course, which may encompass anything from Washington Iriving to Catcher in the Rye; and as an elective, I ‘m taking Abnormal Psychology (aka Where Everything We Learn Could Potentially Be Applied to My Family). I’m certainly looking forward to this coming semester, especially since as time goes by the weather will get warmer.

Or maybe it won’t get warmer; Ohio weather is often strange and unpredictable.

All for now. Tune in next semester to see how I’m doing.

Looks Like Someone Got The Message

Posted: December 16, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Progress Report, Reflections, Social Activism
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This morning I wrote a post calling for everyone reading this blog to contact every politician they can think of and ask them to work for stricter measures against gun violence. Afterwards I saw an article on HuffPost.com on how a man in Indiana threatened to kill his wife and then go into a local elementary school and shoot them up. Thankfully yesterday he was arrested and is being held on felony intimidation charges, but it still had me spooked. I mean, it’s enough to make you think this coming Friday really is the end of the world!

But when I got back home from my meditation class, I saw an article that said on the first day of the new Congress, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California plans to introduce a bill that’ll stop the sale of assault weapons to civilians. As she said on her campaign website, “Who needs these military-style assault weapons? Who needs an ammunition feeding device capable of holding 100 rounds? These weapons are not for hunting deer — they’re for hunting people.”

So true, Senator Feinstein. So true.

So at least someone in Washington has the guts to step up and speak out on the gun problem in the United States. I hope soon we can see some progress, and I wish Senator Feinstein the best of luck in getting this bill through Congress.

However this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep emailing our elected officials. On the contrary, we should email them more, because if a bill like this is going to get through Congress, it’s going to need all the popular support it can get, and I’m hoping you’ll help support it. So email away; I’ve got to email the senator herself and thank her for saying she’ll introduce this bill, because as you can tell it means a lot to me.

Stephen King and e-books

Posted: December 15, 2012 in Living and Life, Writing
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Presenting the King of Horror!

While I was trolling the Internet, looking for something to listen to as a background noise, I came across these videos that feature my idol, His Royal Highness Stephen King, discussing various topics, including the power of e-books and how it’s changing the industry, with the folks at CNN Money. It was very interesting, not just because his voice is higher than I thought, but because King has some very good wisdom to share, and he was one of the first authors to get on the e-book wagon, publishing his famous novella Riding the Bullet as an e-book (and I recommend it for anyone who hasn’t read it; it’s available in print format too, if you’re interested). Now all his books are probably available as e-books, but he still says there are drawbacks to this new innovation to reading, namely what happens when you drop a Kindle in the toilet.

2012 Blog of the Year

Posted: December 8, 2012 in Living and Life
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Pretty impressive, considering I’ve only been doing this blog for a year and four months. But then again, this is more meme than award, like all blog awards, and I was nominated by a friend. Still, I’m happy that I would be nominated for this award, so thanks to one and all!

Of course, every blog award comes with awards, so here’s the rules:

  • Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award.
  • Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
  • Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://storiesbywilliams.com/–and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!).
  • Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.
  • You can now also join the Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience. Of course I don’t have Facebook yet, so why mention it? Just to let the nominee know.
  • As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…!

Well, I’ve got one blog I’m nominating, and that’s it! So can we give a warm round of applause to Jason Alan (http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/). He’s now also a 2012 Blog of the Year winner. Woo-hoo! Yay! H00-hoo-hoo! Congratulations, Jason. Welcome to the club.

Have a good night. I might start Part V of Snake now…or I’ll wait until after Fianls are done on Wednesday. I’ll let you know when I know.

The Inspiring Blog Award

Posted: December 8, 2012 in Living and Life
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Well, I’ve won two blog awards this evening, so I’m going to write a post for each. The first one is the Inspiring Blog Award, which was bequeathed to me by Emma McCoy (hang on Matt, the award you’ve given me will be in the next post). The rules of this award are this: 1) display the award logo on the blog, which I’ve done; 2) link back to the person who nominated you (http://emmamccoy.wordpress.com/); 3) State 7 things about yourself; 4) Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and then notify them. I only have a few blogs that I plan to nominate for this award, though, so please forgive me if I don’t fill out one of the requirements. Also, I hope nobody minds winning an award twice if you’ve won this award already.

Alright, onto the 7 things about me:

1. I used to have a major crush on Emma Watson. But then again, what teenage fan of Harry Potter who’s a male didn’t? I think some still do, actually.

2. I read more Japanese comic books than regular novels. I know that might be difficult to believe, since I want to be a writer and I’m supposed to read a lot of novels and such, but it’s true, and I really like reading manga; it’s interesting and I sometimes get ideas for stories from it.

3. I’m moving out of the dorms next year. I haven’t exactly made a down payment on a place yet, but I’ll have a small apartment close to campus where I can live and write and cook my own meals. Should be very homey.

4. I used to watch a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My mom introduced my sister and me to Buffy, and let’s just say, we’ve benefitted from it ever since. Thanks Mom!

5. I slept in till 1 in the afternoon today. Doesn’t that just scream typical college student?

6. I had my first ghostly experience around Halloween 2010. Talk about great timing, right?

7. I once won an award for visual arts at my high school. I was just as surprised as anyone. I mean, I went to a high school of 60 people and there were much better artists than me there. And I was a sophomore, too! Talk about crazy.

Well, that’s the 7 facts. Now it’s onto the nominees (and I’m only doing 4):

1. Stories by Williams (http://storiesbywilliams.com/)

2. Pat Bertram (http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/)

3. Cristian Mihai (http://cristianmihai.net/)

4. Broadsie (http://broadsideblog.wordpress.com/)

All for now. Next award when I have the chance.

Presenting My History Project

Posted: December 6, 2012 in Living and Life
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Me next to my project; I'm not wearing my glasses because they were still getting used to the lack of sunlight. How do you like my poster?

Me next to my project; I’m not wearing my glasses because they were still getting used to the lack of sunlight. How do you like my project?

Today, my history class met one last time to show our final projects gallery-style. The subject of my history class was an overview of the Historical Studies discipline, which involves the history of history (yes, that does exist); how history is gathered; how we classify different types of history; and other fun and interesting topics for historians and History majors to talk about. For our final project, each of us had to demonstrate the research and detective skills we were supposed to have developed over the past semester, and create our own poster detailing a subject of our choosing. I chose to do the history of Holocaust awareness in America, since the Holocaust is the focus of my History major, and I used a book by Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American Life, as my main source of information.

My project went very well; I learned a lot and put it all into an interesting and colorful tri-fold that looked at the Holocaust in America from 1945 to now, and how the Holocaust was at first ignored in the US before gaining prominence in the sixties and becoming a part of our culture in the latter years of the twentieth century. There were also some other projects that were pretty interesting: several posters involved the second World War, including Ohio’s contribution to the war effort, the experiences of soldiers who participated in D-Day, and the US propaganda for the war effort. One guy did the history of the jazz industry here in Columbus (I didn’t know Columbus even had a jazz industry), while one girl looked at the founding of Israel from the perspective of Israeli-Arab relations of the times. One girl looked at the growth of Columbus over the years, and another guy did the history of white-tailed deer in Ohio. Each project though, was well-researched and the student put a lot of effort into their project’s presentation, so they all definitely deserve A’s.

Now, my teacher had us all go around and grade our projects from 1-5, with 5 being a bad grade and 1 being an awesome grade (we also had some guests who helped in the grading). The person(s) with the best grades will recieve a prize or two, so here’s hoping people liked my project. We also have to turn in a 5-page paper on our research subjects. Since I didn’t want to just rehash what I put on my tri-fold, I asked my teacher if I could do the problems associated with teaching the Holocaust in public schools (yes, such problems exist). He said yes, so I’m in the middle of working on a kick-ass paper. I’m about 2 1/2 pages in, so hopefully I’ll be done by Monday, when the report is due.

So to Dr. Kobo and my classmates, thanks for an interesting semester. Let’s do well in the future and make our own history. Good luck to you all.

A Story For The Black Dog

Posted: December 3, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Peek-a-boo! Woof!

Peek-a-boo! Woof!

Well, I’ve finally come up with an idea for a story that features a black dog spirit, and it came from the most unexpected place. You see, I was writing the latest chapter of Snake while listening to some Native American meditation music on YouTube. I paused to go and take my medication, and while I was taking it, I had epiphany: why not bring together the black dog spirit–normally a harbinger of death and occasionally an emissary of Hell–and meld it somehow with a Native American ceremony? It might require a lot of research, but the payoff would be enormous.

After I took my medication I went and filled out a sticky note, which I then put on my tackboard, bringing the new total to fifteen ideas on that tackboard. As you can tell, I’m going to be extremely busy when I’m done with Snake, but I finally figured out what I’m going to do with that idea for a story and I’m very happy with it.

Now, I know very little about Native American myths involving dogs. I know some of the Plain Indians equate the coyote with evil spirits and sometimes the Devil or King of Darkness. I’ve also heard of something called a “manitou”, but I think that’s some sort of shapeshifter. That’s all I really know, to tell you the truth. However one of my two majors is History, so we’re trained to do research. In addition, I’m at Ohio State, one of the biggest and most diverse schools in the country. More likely than not, we have a department that deals with Native American history and culture, and I’d be more than willing to ask them for help. And if I have to make a trip to our humungous library, all the better; I like to read, and I love that library (if you’ve seen it, you know why).

So before I go, I thought I’d embed the video that inspired me in this post. You should listen to it, and since it’s a long video, you should listen to it when you’re working on something and you need a little background music; you might find yourself inspired, or at the very least you’ll feel relaxed while you work. Enjoy.

I Can’t Wait To Self-Publish

Posted: December 2, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, Writing
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My dad called me last night and told me to get my hands on a copy of the latest issue of TIME magazine, saying there was an article that ran 5-6 pages on the ever-growing industry of self-publishing. I asked a friend of mine in my dorm if I could borrow his copy, and this evening I sat down to read it. What I saw encouraged me; there were so many stories of authors who had found success in the self-publishing industry, and even those who’d sold only a few hundred copies or less were finding ways to increase sales. It made me think: I hope that when Reborn City comes out, it’s a success.

Of course, I’m a bit far away from that at this point. I’ve only gotten three chapters finalized, and I’m waiting for the next one. At this rate I’ll probably be finished sometime between March and June. But I’m already gedtting ready, spreading the word as much as I can. Soon I’ll start up my own Facebook page as a writer, and see about creating a fan page for RC. I’m also getting a lot of work on Snake done and I hope to have that done by the end of the year, God-willing, and then I’ll start planning publishing that (and seeing if there’s someone who can look at it and give me an opinion before I put it out). And if I have the energy, I may just put out a small collection of horror short stories. With the power of e-publishing and the author as the marketer, the possibilites are endless.

So let’s hope I can get RC soon. If I can sell 1000 copies of RC, I’ll consider this all a success.

By the way, question for the other self-publishers who read this blog: how are your books doing? And what’re you doing to increase your sales and exposure (besides blogging a lot, of course).

“A Good Day To Die Hard” Is Coming!!!

Posted: December 1, 2012 in Living and Life
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The British may have Bond, but America’s got John McClane, the no-nonsense, tough-as-nails cop who always finds himself in the middle of a terrorist plot and shooting up every bad guy in a mile. At some point in the film, he shouts “Yippe-kay-yay, mothefucker!” before blowing something up. He’s been in four films, each time played by actor extraordinaire Bruce Willis, and all but the third was fantastic. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s returning in a brand-spanking new film!

The teaser poster for

The teaser poster for “A Good Day to Die Hard”. Looks pretty awesome, especially with the pun.

A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth film in the franchise, will be released Valentine’s Day 2013 in the States, and it’ll be the first film in the series to take place outside the United States, this time in the heart of our old-enemy-but-now-somewhat-friend Russia. Apparently McClane goes to Russia to see his son Jack (played by Jai Courtney) and somehow, though McClane’s wierd luck, they end up getting involved in a terrorist plot, which makes me wonder what McClane would do if he ever met the people who writes the movies he’s in–you know what, let’s not finish that thought; I just had a bad vision of all my characters from every story I ever wrote coming to get me.

Anyway, the film’s coming out in three months or so, and two trailers have already been released. The first is mostly musical and contains a Bond joke:

The second is less Beethoven-y and more traditional trailer, with hints at the story but not enough that, beyond explosions, we can guess what happens:

Hope you’re as excited as I am, and I also hope the filmmakers can live up to the hype, because I don’t want a repeat of the third Die Hard film, Die Hard With A Vengeance. Let’s face it, even with super-star Samuel L. Jackson, that movie was way too campy for its own good. And that opening! Oy guvalt, that was way too chipper opening music, even if interrupted by a bomb blast!

NaNoWriMo’s Over Now

Posted: December 1, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Writing
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It’s December 1st, so that means National Novel Writing Month is over. I was in it, then I was out, and then I was in again. I got over 30,000 words written of Snake written, which is not bad at all, especially when you consider all the breaks I had to take for class work and for my part-time job. But hey, I think next year I could make 50k. Who knows?

In the meantime, I’ll work on finishing Snake and publishing Reborn City; I’ll keep my grades up and do well at work; I’ll work on several short stories after Snake is finished; I’ll work on losing some unwanted weight I’ve accumulated over the semester; and I’ll just try to be a better person, I guess. Also, National Short Story Month is in May, about six months from now, so that’s something to look forward to.

And to the people who participated in NaNoWriMo, whether you reached your goal or not, congratulations and I hope you get 50k next year! Let’s work hard as writers and do our best.

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