Matthew Wayne Selznick

I can’t remember who introduced me to the music of Nick Drake. Was it Tony, to whom I owe my love of Jonathan Richman, Charles Bukowski, the Pogues, and Bushmills, all at once? Was it Theresa, who gave me Sonic Youth? Was it Anne, who gave me the Go-Betweens and Downey Mildew?

Anyway, thanks. For the first time in a while, I’m listening to the Fruit Tree box, which I’ve had since the eighties on vinyl and the nineties on CD. These songs are a perfect compliment to this blustery day… there’s a flock of tiny dinosaurs pecking for bugs in the back yard, the wind is strong, and the sky is a watercolor of gray and white.

His music inspires a certain melancholy, but that’s okay. I miss a lot of people, all of the above included. It’s a pleasant nostalgia, though, and has a tinge of hope… some folks are just an e-mail, a freeway, or a Google away. And me, heck, I’m so easy to find I’ve got a big red pin on the roof of my house.

A single category with a single post: this one, the sole purpose of which is to report my word count progress writing “Light of the Outsider,” my second novel.

Third Start:
Yeah, yeah, I don’t wanna hear it..!
07-05-2006: 22,328 words — approximately 26% of projected total.

07-03-2006: 21,451 words — approximately 25% of projected total.

06-30-2006: 20,034 words — approximately 23% of projected total.

06-29-2006: 18,247 words — approximately 21% of projected total.

06-26-2006: 17,558 words — approximately 21% of projected total.

06-22-2006: 16,831 words — approximately 20% of projected total.

06-21-2006: 16,372 words — approximately 19% of projected total.

06-15-2006: 14,499 words — approximately 17% of projected total.

06-14-2006: 12,878 words — approximately 14% of projected total.

06-12-2006: 11,171 words — approximately 12% of projected total.

06-11-2006: 10,131 words — approximately 11% of projected total.

06-06-2006: 8,286 words — approximately 9% of projected total.

05-19-2006: 1,478, or 1,478 words per day — approximately 2% of projected total.

Second Start:
05-08-2006: 7798, or 1114 words per day — approximately 8% of projected total.

05-01-2006: 6909, or 1151 words per day — approximately 8% of projected total.

04-29-2006: 5821, or 1164 words per day — approximately 6.5% of projected total.

04-25-2006: 4376, or 1094 words per day — approximately 5% of projected total.

04-24-2006: 3441, or 1147 words per day — approximately 3.5% of projected total.

04-18-2006: 2674, or 1337 words per day — approximately 3% of projected total.

04-14-2006: 1048, or 1048 words per day — approximately 1% of projected total.

First Start:
03-23-2006 - 03-27-2006: 4,074, or 814 words per day — approximately 4 - 5% of projected total.

I’ve been having some trouble lately with my writing. It’s starter anxiety, really… it’s made it really difficult to achieve butt-in-the-chair work done with my second novel, “Light Of The Outsider.”

Tonight, I got in close to two thousand words, and the characters started yammering away at each other… and the story started to go. So much so, I had to take a look at where that chapter was supposed to go, and I’ll have to go in and nudge them back in that direction.

I’m feeling less anxious now. No matter how often this happens, I never learn; it never actually sticks:

Writing makes writing easier.

Um, woot!, and stuff.

Well, my friends, here we are at the end of our journey with the Brave Men Run Podcast! Thanks for coming along… thanks for supporting the podcast with your comments, book, e-book, and MP3 CD audiobook purchases, and donations… and thanks for being so encouraging!

As promised, this final episode features an original short story written especially for you, the podcast listener. It’s “Brenhurst’s Tale - Another View of ‘Brave Men Run.’”

I hope you enjoy it… I had fun exposing a little more of the underpinnings of the Sovereign Era universe in writing it!

Now that this podcast is all over, please don’t be a stranger! I’d like to be able to tell you about my future books, appearances I’ll be making, “Brave Men Run” merchandise and side-projects, and all the other creative endeavors I’m engaged in!

Please subscribe to the mailing list. Your privacy is secure with me, and no one will ever get your information from me unless you say it’s okay. And I’ll only bug you once a month or so!

Also, I’d love it if you could add yourself to my Frappr Map dedicated to all of my readers. It’s a way for me to see where my readers are based, and gauge the “world-wide appeal” of Brave Men Run!

Finally, before I “sign off” with the podcast… I encourage you to purchase a paperback, CD, or e-book copy of “Brave Men Run - A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” It’s been my pleasure to provide the entire book to you in the form of a podcast, the quintessential 21st Century marketing tool… now, it’s time to earn my supper!

Proceeds help offset the cost of future promotion of the book, including travel and registration to book and podcasting conventions, advertising, and the like. Believe me… I’m not taking your money and going down to the corner bar! I’m dedicated to writing… and you can help support my efforts.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated you, my podcast audience! Now don’t forget… TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW about “Brave Men Run!”

And thanks!

Boing Boing has alerted us to this: Two senators, Mark Pryor (D - AR) and Max Baucus (D - MT) have proposed a bill that would call for the creation of a new top-level domain, .xxx. If the bill is enacted into law, any website featuring material “harmful to minors” would be required by law to move to the new .xxx domain, or face penalties that are yet to be determined.

The bill goes into detail about what constitutes “harmful to minors.” It’s copy-protected, so here’s a screen capture:

Wow. Can we stack a few more ambiguities on that?

For instance…

• who defines “the prurient interests?”
• who defines “lewd?”
• who defines “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors?”

This is pretty serious to me. My novel, and the podcast and e-book of same, includes a brief scene that features an under-the-clothes nipple grope.(1) If this bill is passed into law, will I be forced to change http://www.bravemenrun.com to http://www.bravemenrun.xxx, and be lumped in with every porn site on the net? Or does “Brave Men Run” have serious literary value for minors?

I would argue, of course, that it has value for everyone. But would the Secretary of Commerce?

My next novel, “Light of the Outsider,” features at least one sex scene featuring more than two parties, “occult” elements, and graphic violence.(2)(3) What are my chances of remaining part of the dot-com majority with this future book / e-book / podcast if the Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006 is passed into law??!?

I know I don’t have all of you on this one… and I may be over-reacting (or prematurely reacting, perhaps.) But I believe, with every bit of my conviction, that no government, let alone the government of the country that has freedom of speech codified in its very DNA, has the right, or the obligation, to categorize, marginalize, or police what people create.

Yes, no matter how bad it might seem. That’s right.

For those of you who agree, I invite you to blog on this, podcast on it, and, yes, write your congressman. If you want to read the bill, here’s a pdf.

I care about this. If you create content — any content, in any medium, on any subject… you should, too.

Finally… if you’re a patriot, this bill should piss you off. Think on it.

(1) Now you really want to read it, don’t you?
(2) And yet, if we are to go by the guidelines set forth by Pryor and Baucus, violence isn’t in the same horrible space as sex. At least not yet.
(3) I so totally can’t wait to see what kind of AdSense ads this post dredges up..!