Out Of Order

What's the Opposite of "Out of Order"?

A work of wonder by Jim Blow

• Out of Order
• Opposite of Out is In
• Of has no opposite or equal, so it is removed from this equation
• Order's counterpart is chaos
• In conclusion, the opposite of "Out of Order" is "In Chaos"
• These opposites are actually somewhat synonyms!

Mind=BLOW-N

Strength in Humor

Look Strong where you are, Be Strong where you aren't. Keep everyone guessing.

--Jim Blow

There is a fixed amount of happiness in the world. Therefore, the only way to gain happiness is to take it by force. I use all the happiness up. :)

--JaKath

Tomorrow is a new blank page. Write something worthwhile on it. Revisions are hard to do. So do it write the first time.

--Jim Blow

When in doubt...die! ...or press the circle button.

--M&S

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

--Thomas Mann

Write of Way

Author's note: Where have I been? Sorry for the inconvenience of taking a few weeks off, but it looks like nobody missed me... Yeah, I had a break down. Nobody comments on my blog. Not that they should...buy hey! Come one people! Anyway, lets talk about what books to read. There are tons.
                                                                                                                                        --Jim Blow

How can you decide what book to read? There are sso many! There are over 129,864,880 books in the world! How can you decide which one to read. Lucky for you, there's a code!

Jim Blow's Guide to Deciding What to Read. or JBGDW

1. What's the cover like?

People say to never judge a book by its cover, but that's a lie. Every time you grab the book, you'll see that cover. What thoughts will it arise in your mind? Do you really want that?

2. Is it an intriguing title?

Lame titles make you gag. You don't want to be seen reading something stupid. When people ask you what you are reading, what are you going to say? Uh huh.

3. How are the illustrations?

First off, do you want illustrations? Next, if there are illustrations, are they well done. How frequently do they show up throughout the book? Remember, pictures of scenes/people may enter your brain. It limits your creativity. No longer will you imagine the character how you wanted to, but now you see them as the illustrator saw them. (Movies have the same effect).

4. Who wrote it?

Some authors, frankly, just can't write. They really are awful at it. If the illustrations, cover, and title are excellent, great! Who wrote it? If it's the author of another book you read--one you hated--do you really want to read this one?

5. How long is it?

Are you in the mood for an hour-long read, or a month-long? How fast can you read? This is important to look at. If your book report is due in a week, don't check out a book that will take you a year to finish.

6. Is there a movie?

Have you seen the film-version? Not much can be judged from the movie. If the movie is awful, the book could be good. Or vice versa. If you saw the movie, the actors will be how you picture the characters in the book.

7. What's on the first page?

Take a peek into the first couple pages. You should get hooked on it. Is the opening interesting, or boring? Likely, the first page or so will give you a feeling for the author's writing style, and what the book will be like.

8. How's the author's bio?

Flip to the back cover of the book, inside flap. There should be a picture of the author, and a short biography about him. Read it. Did he write it personally? Or did somebody else? Now ask yourself if it's funny, or if there is something in there that catches your attention, like where he grew up.

9. What's the book about?

Another way to find out what the book is about is to flip to the inside of the front cover. A short synopsis can be found here. Spoilers. Does the plot sound entertaining?

10. Is it a pop-up?

Now ask yourself if it is a pop-up book. If it is, disregard rules 1-9. Read the book no matter what. It's a pop-up for crying out loud! Awesome.

11. THE UNWRITTEN RULE, which I'm writing down so...

If the ten rules are too much to remember, and you don't actually care, follow my one solid guideline. Only read Jim Blow's stuff.

Just remember, when trying to decide what to read, there's a system about it. Some books take priority over others.

Just remember, JIM BLOW HAS THE WRITE OF WAY

BlogBreaks

"There is a Blog Break this week. We apologize for the inconvenience to the saturday specials. Jim Blow took the day off to go see the new Avengers movie, and ended up spending the day googling upcoming Marvel/DC movies instead of writing to his fans. He is very self-centered and only cares about what he wants to do. Today, he wanted to look up movies. Sorry, but when we asked--begged--him to write on his blog, all he would say was 'Did you know they're making a [marvel movie, marvel movie, easter egg, secret, spoiler, marvel movie, dc movie, dc movie, etc, etc.]'. Sorry. See you next week!"

--The Reoccurring

(Jim Blow's Editors who have his back...and may be appearing in an upcoming book.)

Jim's Favorite Quotes (or at least some of them):

“Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword.”

--Edward George Bulwer Lytton

I love to write, and it has often occurred to me that in my writings, anything can happen. Through story, I have a sort of power to an extent. That is why, when I found this quote, I loved it. This quote puts things perfectly! In addition, more can be accomplished through writing, than through fighting. War is done by sword, but peace is done by pen.

“Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.”

--Leo Tolstoy

Each and every mood is a choice. We choose to be happy, and we choose to be sad. This quote is meaningful to me because that’s what it expresses. It says that we don’t just get to be happy when things around us are going well. Instead, we can be happy if we merely choose a better perspective!

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”

--Benjamin Disraeli

There is always an effect to a cause. Everything we do brings about a result. For everything we do, something comes of it. Not all of our actions will bring about a positive result. However, if we don’t act at all, there will never be a chance of positive impact.

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

--JRR Tolkien

Real friends stay with us until the end. There will always be trials for us. In those dark times of need, we must have someone to rely on. Those who can’t be there for us, will take off when trials come at us like tsunamis. We need people who will stand at our sides when those storms hit.

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

--Socrates

People always want more. They can never truly be content with what they have, when there is something they don’t have. Even if they get that stuff they don’t have, they’ll still have an unhealthy desire to want more. We need to learn to be content, and thankful for what we do have, and not angry that we don’t have what we don’t.

“Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere.”

--Albert Einstein

In modern society, people do things very systematically. They’re almost like drones. We must get back to our lives. To our imagination. Doing things logically--never taking risks or chances with adventure--can only bring us so far. Imagination will take us wherever we want to go. We just have to let go, and be willing.

“Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind.”

--Evan Esar

When in an angry state of mind--something we choose to be in--we aren’t very in control. It is at these times we say things we regret, and do things we did not mean to do. While we are angry, we say things we don’t mean, and we say a lot. We need to stay in control, choosing to be happy, despite the seemingly upsetting situation. A wise man is he who never has to apologize for things he said.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is facing a harder battle.”

--Plato

People have a strange tendency to be selfish. They only ever care about themselves. Nobody could ever understand the pain they go through, because everyone else obviously has it easier. That is not true! We need to be kind to everyone, because it would surprise you how much harder their battles are, than yours.

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”

--Stephen Hawking

Those who stay quiet are constantly thinking. There is so much going on in their heads. Extroverted people express everything that goes on in their mind. They can say so much, without ever saying very much at all.

“You can never build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.”

--Jeffrey R Holland

Some believe that the only way to achieve their own happiness, is at the expense of another’s happiness. This will never work. If you make someone unhappy, in the hopes of making yourself happy, in the end you will be more unhappy than they. Happiness is a choice. Attempting to strip somebody else of this joyous feeling is just wrong. It is a wrong that will haunt your own happiness forever.

Bonus!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

--Thomas Edison

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing. Worry about why you’re worrying about what I’m doing.”

--Anonymous

Playing Reality

Author's Note: I had a crazy dream last night up on a camp out. Directing this play, some things happened. I've tweeked it, and put it here in a story.

--Jim Blow

Playing Reality

Director Charles Everton stepped off the stage, calling for the play to be done from the top. The actors on stage groaned. They'd been rehearsing for hours, and were in dire need of a break. Charles didn't listen, this was his play, and it was going to be perfect! He'd written the play himself, and loved it.

The play was another Cinderella spin-off. Currently, the scene being rehearsed was of the Prince finding Cinderella. She was down among the lentils, that hadn't been picked up yet.

Lights dimmed, and the scene played.

"My dearest Cinderella! It is you!" Prince Charming exclaimed.

"Yes." Cinderella said, smiling.

Prince Charming stepped toward his bride-to-be. His foot landed on the lentils, and he slipped. With a hard thud, the actor landed on his crown.

The play stopped. People rushed to the actor's aid. With a little help, he stood up.

"Who are you?" he asked, holding his pounding head.

"Us? We're the Stage Crew! Are you all right?" one crew member asked.

"Stage Crew? What is that? My name is Prince Charming! I demand to be released. Stand back you fiends!"

With that the actor jumped to his feet, swishing his pretend sword through the air, and turned around. In a flash he had grabbed Cinderella and fled the stage.

The assistant director ran up to the director. "What just happened? What do we do?"

Charles Everton shook his head. "When Charming hit his head, he must have become dillusional. He now believes he is actually Prince Charming, and not just an actor!"

Who Would Win

Author's Note: For some strange reason, people have a tendency to ask stupid questions. Yeah, I know. One of their favorite questions is: Why? Another common question, one I will actually address in this post, is: Who Would Win...
Prepare to have your mind blown, because I know exactly who would win in a fight between anybody and anybody else.

--Jim Blow

Who Would Win In A Fight?

By Jim Blow

People love people. No, not real people, characters. They'll take their two most treasured--and often powerful--characters, and wonder to the world which of them would win. This question is asked so often because there is pretty much an infinite number of Character Combinations.

Other times they'll take a really good character, and a really bad character, and ask who would win. This is called Sarcasm. It is stupid in this scenario.Back to who would win.

For selfish reasons, I'll use to of my own characters as examples.

Who Would Win In A Fight, Bromet or Redfang?

(Who are these characters? Visit Jimblowauthor.blogspot.com to learn more.)

The answer isn't very complex, but it boggles people's minds. They write page after page, post after post, about who they think should win. These beliefs are all biased. According to a renowned author...that may or may not be me...95% of the people vote for their favorite character to win. So does it really matter? The question is useless. Why not just ask who they like better? The answers will correspond with one another either way you put it.

There is a right answer, though. I'll use the example of Star Wars this time. Who would win, Qui Gon Jinn, or Darth Maul. There is a wrong answer. Most people would vote for the Jedi--come on, it's Liam Neeson, and he's sick--but we all know that the battle actually occurred, and Maul won. Nerds argue that, if only the circumstances had been different,

Garbage. What do I say about garbage? "Take your garbage and leave!" --Jim Blow

After all this, and more, has been said and done, you're still wondering what the point is. I keep leading up to revealing the point of my Who Would Win blog post, and then diverting. Let me explain.

I'll use the example of The Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery by Brian Taylor. Look it up. In the play, Brian, who plays Brian--it's a very confusing play--mentions that *SPOILER* he is the murderer. How? Because he wrote the play, and he controlled who lived, and who died.

Understand? Most likely you're more confused than before.

Let me put it simply.

Who Would Win In A Fight?

Answer: Whoever the writer wants to win.

Writer's Block

JIM BLOW’S TRIP TO THE  DANGER ZONE:   Writer’s Block uncovered!

You may notice that WRITER'S BLOCK is a plague. It attacks writers day in and day out.

Although I haven't solved this problem, I came up with a graph to show it.

Maybe someone else will discover my work, and carry it on to something better.

When you start a story, you want to start with as wide a base as possible. Imagine there are two lines. The more space between the lines, the better. The amount of room between the lines represents the number of possibilities. The more you reveal, the less room between your lines. As more is revealed, limits are set on your story. As more and more plot occurs, less and less other things can happen.

Example: You start a story. The base is enormous, so anything can happen. Then you reveal the characters. It is a story about secret agents. The base begins to close up. Magic and things like that are now not possible. It is placed on the outside of your base. Here are two lines.

LINE 1 (wide base) --It was a dark and stormy night. (See, anything can happen from here. This is a very wide base.)

LINE 2 (small base) --The elves kept to themselves, they couldn’t allow the wizards to find them. (See how this is a smaller base? Limitations are set, and things are revealed. Though the base is still pretty big, it is smaller than the base in LINE 1.)

Eventually you’ll have revealed so much that the two lines representing the two sides of your original base now touch. When the two lines touch, several things can happen.

1. WRITER’S BLOCK--You have so many limits, there are only few things you can do. When there are only a number of options, you don’t always discover one. Thus the story is deserted. An awful circumstance. 90% of writers leave one or more stories deserted due to this awful plague.
2. DISCOVERY--One of the very few options are discovered, so a line shoots out from the touching point. The writer can walk this line. The line of few solutions. The writer must be careful. If even one wrong word is written, the writer will fall off the line, and eaten by category 1. Category 2 stories are often lacking because the author had put himself in a corner so to speak.
3. ANXIETY--The writer will hit the touching point and freak out. They may go back through the story and change things, in a futile attempt to widen their base, and avoid the touching point. Or the writer will hit the point and freak out, ending the story abruptly, and in a lame way. In rare cases the writer will even have a heart attack.
4. CHEAT--The writer may get confused, not sure what to do, and step outside the line. If the writer is writing about secret agents, and comes to the touching point Climax, they may abandon hope and suddenly a wizard will appear and help. The wizard exists outside the lines, and the author just ruined the book unknowingly.
5. SUDDEN DEATH--The writer will freak out and a natural/unnatural disaster will kill everybody. This can happen due to category three or due to a sudden homicidal feeling in the writer. If written correctly category 5 can actually end up all right.
6. GOLDEN--This happens in extremely rare cases. An author will put himself in a corner, or simply not know what to do next, then suddenly have an epiphany. The writer will find a million dollars in the corner he’s trapped himself in, and an escape from the corner in a limo, riding off to the sunset to stay in a mansion on the coast of Italy... The writer optimistically finds a solution to Writer’s Block, and it’s so perfect.
7. LOOSE ENDS--To avoid that tragic Touching Point in the graph, some people try to escape it. When a writer ends the story before the Touching Point, then that means there are loose ends, and other unsolved problems. If there is a sequel, these unsolved problems are okay.

TOUCHING POINT--The Touching Point should occur at the very end. Everything’s wrapped up neatly, and it all works out. However when the Touching Point occurs earlier, it’s more of a problem. The ideal spots in a story for the Touching Point are The End, The Climax, or in rare cases, The Beginning can be a great Touching Point.

Solutions to overcome Writer’s Block. (These don’t always work, and they probably won’t all help. But find one that works for you, or come up with your own.) Each of these work for me, some more than others, so I hope they help you too. Since I’ve tried all these, you might think I have problems...a little bit, yes.

1. BATHROOM--Although this sounds weird, it isn’t. This is the one that helps me most. Just being in the bathroom and staring at the textures of the wall and floor gives me the most absurd (yet helpful) ideas ever!
2. WALK--Hey you! Go for a run. Clear your mind. Nobody likes to run. Not intentionally at least. However, it can help. I don’t particularly like runs, so instead I pace around the house. People think it’s weird, and you may end up with a psychiatrist, but at least you could get out of Writer’s Block! Plus the psychiatrist could give you ideas, especially by analyzing your dreams and putting new crazy things in your head. Because there aren’t enough crazy ideas there already… Pacing helps me to clear my mind, and it doesn’t feel like I’m having to go for a run. Try it!
3. ACTING--Although it can be embarrassing, and you may never hear the end of it, it too can work for you! (And not just because it rhymed). Acting is where you take what has happened in the story thus far, and go act it out. (Yes, you can dress up). Once you’ve acted out everything up to where you had Writer’s Block, you may find yourself still playing. That’s good! Keep track of what you do while playing after you’ve passed that point in the story. Then write what happened into the story. Congrats, you just got passed Writer’s Block!
4. PLAGIARISM--No, this doesn’t mean you should copy somebody else’s idea or something. This is where you watch a movie or read a book. Something that happens in either of these cases may inspire an idea. Hard work, huh?

RE-Extension: Can the graph be reopened? The answer is Yes. If the graph is close to the Touching Point, you can open it back up. The way to open it back up is by introducing a new character, plot twists, etc. Re-extending your graph may sound swell, but you’ll hit the Touching Point eventually. All Re-extension will do is prolong the inevitable.

      Star (Story’s end) is reached. Writer’s           *

      Block is overcome.                                            I

                                                                                 I

                                                                                 I             Author chooses category 2

                                                                                 I                  Author hits Writer’s Block

                                                                                I I

                                                                             I      I                      Climax approaches.

                                                                          I           I

            Hero escapes.                                  I                  I

                                                                I                             I

           Hero is captured.                     I                                    I

                                                       I                                              I

                                               I                                                            I

                                        I                    More is revealed                      I

                                   I                                                                               I

                              I                                                                                        I

                         I                              Slowly the plot thickens                             I

                    I                                                                                                          I

               I                                        The wizard’s evil.                                                 I

         I                                                                                                                                 I

 I             Now we reveal that there is a wizard that makes it so it’s always sunny.           I

I                                                                                                                                               I

I                                                      not much happens                                                            I

I                                                                                                                                                  I

l

I                  For a Wide Base, lets start with this sentence: It was  sunny outside.                 I