www.andrewmackay.net:

This is only vaguely off topic… whenever I see anything about naming babies, I read it… its a pretty good opportunity to think about how to name characters in fiction.

Msn.com is going to help today with a list of the top ten bad-boys names. These are names you can give to boys you want to have bad attitudes… or characters you want to have bad attitudes. And if, like me, you’ve already used one of these names for one of your children… good luck.

You can continue on to an article titled “Hairy Pitts? The Worst Baby Names.” My personal favorite? Hysteria Johnson. “Hysteria? Are you ready for school yet?”

Have a good weekend!

I’m so easily distracted… If you’ve been reading this blog over the past couple of months, you’ve picked up on that. I’ve put in my fair share of time thinking about how to stay on task. It’s perhaps one of the hallmarks of my generation that we are terrible multitaskers but we cannot stand to do just one thing at a time. (That was far more philosophical than I intended for it to be.)

Lately, I’ve been listening to several podcasts in the background as I’ve worked on various things. I bet I probably miss about half of what is said, but it helps me to stay on task. I’m not entirely sure why.

A tool that’s been greatly useful to me is Juice. Juice is a podcast receiver. It doesn’t slow down your computer like iTunes tends to, and it’s really good at doing one thing — keeping up with the podcasts you want to listen to. I can fire it up once a day, it checks for new episodes of whatever I’ve told it to check for, and it downloads them automatically and keeps them organized.

If you’re having to remember to go check a certain person or organization’s feeds each day, Juice could be the answer. I know it’s helping me to be spending less time finding my distraction breaking distraction.

James A Owens, author of the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, wrote an interesting post a little while back about the problem of being mid-publication in a series.

you will be wondering if Book Four actually worked, because you’re continuing those story threads in Book Five, and suddenly, you panic – because you are, for the moment, CONVINCED Book Four is awful. And no one knows it because it isn’t out yet.

Of course, on the one hand, it sounds like a problem I’d totally love to have. On the other hand, it’s a good reminder that creative sometimes equals insecure. That can really mess with your head, whether you’re ridiculously successful, moderately so, or perhaps even not at all. It all comes back, I think, to why you are doing what you do.

Wednesday motivators? Come on Andrew, are you getting short on material? If this was any day but today, I might have to say yes, but today, July 15th, 2009, is an important day, so I’ll give you a little deeper a glimpse into my life.

On this day three years ago, my darling wife married me. She wasn’t my wife before then, if you needed that clarified.

It’s been a wonderful three years. She is my cheerleader, my number one fan, my most honest critic, and–by every measure–the person I most enjoy spending (and wasting) time with.

So, today, Rebecca, let me say thank you. Thank you for marrying me. You’ve made my life so much better and we’ve had a lot of fun since we got married. I look forward to having a lot more fun in the coming years. You are my favorite.

A while back, I read a post over at Challies. For those of you who don’t know, Tim Challies is a ridiculously popular blogger. He’s also a Canadian like myself. We also share a lot of the same beliefs about the world and God.

He recently did a series of posts called “Don’t Take Your iPod to Church.” I enjoyed the second post in particular. In that post, Tim addresses some of the problems with using an interactive, hyperlinked and ADHD friendly device for studying a seriously important book.

I’m inclined to agree, dear reader. I’m also inclined to think that maybe there’s an application for the rest of the reading we do. Not that I’m coming out against electronic reading formats in general. But perhaps, as Mr. Challies says, there’s something good about a medium that isn’t inherently distracting. Your thoughts?

Sometimes it takes something with immediate payoff to motivate me for a Monday. I’m certainly not above making plans that I know will help me to see the day through.

One of my favorite things in the world is to settle down on my couch (disclaimer… that’s not at all my couch in the picture) with my favorite person in the world (disclaimer… that’s totally my wife) to watch something silly. Typically this will be something comedic, often featuring people who speak with British accents. They are funnier than we are. I know, because I’ve watched them.

All that to say, this Monday, knowing that I’ll spend the evening with my wife and we will laugh, possibly hard enough to make the neighbours notice, is what will get me through the day. I think that’s a good thing.

A key to setting the environment you’re writing in is context. For example, if you have characters named Andrew and Sam, for example, they might have vastly divergent views about… say, a charismatic leader type of guy named Doug. One of them might like him a lot. The other might not care for him at all. The point is if everyone feels the same way about everything, the one-dimensionality of what you’re writing will sink it before the reader has a chance to care.

I came across a super example of this not too long ago. There’s this guy named David Beckham. He’s a soccer player. In 80 percent of the world, he can’t go anywhere without being mobbed. He’s a super star. In America, he’s kind of a minor celebrity.

There’s some controversy right now around Mr. Beckham. He plays for a team in Los Angeles. But, he asked them to lend him to a European team for the off-season. His commitment to his team in America is certainly questionable. A book is being released about his transition to America. It features fairly incendiary quotes from the team captain of the team in L.A.

The thing about it is, there have been several articles lately about this book. It’s fascinating to see the difference in perspective from America to London, England, for example.

From an article on CNN:

National skipper Donovan, who led the United States to the final in South Africa last weekend, said in a new book due out later this month that Beckham had been a negative influence since his high-profile move to the Major League Soccer outfit two years ago.

From an article on BBC Sports:

David Beckham’s LA Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan has launched a stinging attack on the England star, accusing him of a lack of commitment.

Differences in perspective are part of what makes the real world so interesting. Remember that when you’re creating fictional worlds… depth = good. In the comments, we could discuss the differences in tone in the above two quotes… or not.

I had a great reminder tonight from a dear brother that the best motivation to keep doing something is simply that you love it.

(aside directed at Sam… if I could, I’d bring you real chips, because your statement that “you eat a bag of chips when you’re not thinking” was the only thing I disagreed with all night. /End aside)

There is a reason that I read so much… I love it. There’s a reason that I watch the same movies over and over with my wife: I love them (and her). There’s a reason that I don’t do so hot with writing: I have not made steady my affection for it. I don’t love it. Or, I don’t love it more than I love eating a bag of chips and watching 30 Rock reruns.

It’s a problem. It’s a discipline problem. But, if I start to think about it like I think of “discipline” I start to chafe… it’s the same reason I was never a good runner. The idea was good but the work part of it was too hard.

But if I loved it… clearly, you do the things you love. So, maybe the thing to do is… just choose to love something different. Love different.

love different is a trademark (registration pending) of the Andrew Mackay Media Empire (AMME), all rights reserved… any similarity to trademarks belonging to fruity computer companies are coincidental, I swear. Also, you owe me a bag of chips for reading this paragraph.

I’m not Grammar Girl, but I like to listen to her. I am also particular about language. Somewhat. I have my idiosyncrasies, just like everyone else. Take, for example, the spelling I employ on this blog. Is it Canadian English or US English? That’s a great question. There’s not a right answer. It’s a conglomeration. If that was one of my pet peeves, I would be driven nuts by this blog. But, it’s not and I’m not concerned about it. Sorry.

However, you want to get me going on something? I just read a book that featured the improper use of the word Which ninety percent of the time it was used. Yeah, that will get me going.

The recommended usage of which is to set off nonrestrictive clauses in sentences, while that is used for restrictive clauses. The Hermit Editor famous in the comments will tell you that a clause is restrictive if the sentence cannot be understood without it. A restrictive clause is not set off with commas. A nonrestrictive clause can be left out without damaging the sentence. Nonrestrictive clauses are set off with commas.

So, an example:

Standing in the dog park, he said, “The dog that has three legs belongs to me.” “That has three legs” is essential to understanding the sentence. Without it, the sentence becomes “The dog belongs to me.” Fine if there’s only one dog present, but at a dog park, you’ve probably got to specify.

Alongside the officer trotted a toy poodle, which is hardly a typical police dog. “Which is hardly a typical police dog” is not essential to understanding the sentence. Of course, it hardly needs to be said (except maybe for humorous effect), but if you’re going to say it, you use which.

If I have saved one use of the word which from being mangled, this post will have been worthwhile. Also, if you’re British, ignore this post. You were already planning to, I know. (Which example borrowed from The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, 5.202).