tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25491230980230038082024-03-07T22:03:46.330-08:00Larry Sheridan - AuthorThoughts about things that I, Larry Sheridan, think are meaningful and/or important.Larry Sheridanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06267460020347661903noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549123098023003808.post-87336082670381074052012-01-07T08:16:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:16:49.131-08:00Laughing at Ourselves<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Admit it, there are times in all our lives we’re embarrassed and want to hide from the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often times, it’s in those moments that a true glimpse of life can be seen as well as the reality of who someone is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come on, you know what I mean, one of those moments so rare in its quality that you might miss it if you’re not paying attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could also miss it if you aren’t there when it happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me it’s those moments, the ones that are really embarrassing, I love to capture in my mind, remembering the experience with as much detail as possible in order to allow myself to search for that particular data file hidden away in the recesses of my brain at some point in the future.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The last few months have been filled with more “stuff” than I would’ve ever expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of all of this “stuff” I haven’t been able to write my blog as I had hoped much less write anything at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently read a greeting card which stated an absolute truth scrolled on it in beautiful calligraphy: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy";">life is often messy</span></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I believe that life is what’s happening to us while we’re waiting to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to actually change this paradigm I think we’ve got to find ways to laugh at ourselves, finding the humor in our embarrassing situations, finding our own humanity in the midst of the struggles we face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, I experienced my own embarrassing moment and realized that I try to create that in some of the characters I write about.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I want them to face their challenges and the reader to be, at times, frustrated with the character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I can accomplish this it means that the reader has become involved in my story, finding that they are participating in the emotions I am trying to create.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main character of my first novel, A Work in Progress, is a guy named Jeremy Jackson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a regular guy who gets caught up in something much bigger than he is and then struggles to figure out how to deal with the events surrounding him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can’t look at a character and see their flaws then they aren’t real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, even batman and superman have their flaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in these flaws that we, as readers and watchers, identify with allowing us to root for the good guys.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Think about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who wants to root for the person you can’t identify with?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my stories I want to create an emotional response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully, by having characters the reader can identify with helps to accomplish this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, after all, we all have our own flaws and the only way to see them as well as address them is to identify them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes laughing at our situation allows us the ability to do this.</div>Larry Sheridanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06267460020347661903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549123098023003808.post-39819153160455851262011-10-13T07:15:00.000-07:002011-10-13T07:15:17.288-07:00Where is your hero?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Today it seems many are searching for a hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re looking behind doors and around corners, in search of the ever elusive hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often times, the people who we think are heroes disappoint, either failing us too consistently or at the absolute worst time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless of whether we’re talking about politics, leaders, families, athletes, etc. the canvas we see tends to want, almost demand, a hero be included in the brush strokes of our perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes to say that with the search for these heroes there is a part of our psyche searching for villains, those we can heap the most blame on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t matter if it’s a terrorist, a competitor, or a person who has a different belief of God or politics: our mind is amazingly adept at enveloping them with a villainous fog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve decided I’m tired of this way of thinking; hopefully, others are also tiring of it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I remember Ted Turner’s efforts to start the “Goodwill Games.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It impressed me so much that I wrote a letter to TV Guide saying something really corny like “before people can work together they need to learn how to play together.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was around 12 years old and they actually published it (my first and only attempt at writing professionally until my recent novel, A Work in Progress).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I think back about my letter to TV Guide I’ve come to a conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to stop looking around for our hero and instead, look inside our own selves and become the best hero we can possibly be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This doesn’t mean we’ll be successful but it does mean we’ll be striving to be a better person and once we have obtained being a better person we then need to try and climb another rung of that ladder in our effort to become a hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we take each of those steps we’ll be making our part of the world a little better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the renowned Dr. Phil has a quiz you can take in order to see if you’re on the path to becoming an everyday hero, try it and see where you stand on this quest - (<a href="http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/667">http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/667</a>).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We’ve all heard about the individuals surrounding us who are doing the best that they can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If each of us makes a conscious choice today to become a better person tomorrow will that change the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably not, I don’t think there are enough readers of my blog (it would be pretty cool though, wouldn't it?), but we will make a difference in ourselves and to those around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody has to be first, why not us? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s try and do something extra tomorrow…heck, let’s try to do something extra tonight and then, when tomorrow rolls around let’s do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each day we’ll be striving to be better and it won’t matter whether we reach hero status or not because somewhere along the way we’ll have made a positive difference in somebody’s life and like the concept of “paying it forward” who knows where this might take us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe tomorrow it’ll be helping someone you don’t know or putting down what you’re doing to pick up and comfort a crying child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, heroes to me aren’t worshipped and rare; they are average people doing the best that they can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why I created the character Jeremy Jackson in my novel.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">He’s not a rhetorical hero; he’s a real one, a regular guy who has to make difficult choices and struggles making those choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is he always right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Absolutely not!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me heroes in the real world, or at least in “Larry’s World,” aren’t perfect in their choices but they try really hard to make the best choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of my favorite television shows (NCIS) there’s a character played by Mark Harmon: Leroy Jethro Gibbs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, let me tell you, Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t care whether or not he’s real; he’s still a hero to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is he always right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No (almost though) and he has his flaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s sort of like my character Jeremy Jackson – he’s not always right but he’s always trying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe we each have a bit of hero inside; some more evident than others, and whether or not we find that hero our efforts to be a better person are what the world needs!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you like what I’ve said and/or the way I’ve said it maybe you’ll check out my book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even if you don’t check out my novel please tell others to look inside themselves and search out the hero hiding there; let’s start making a difference together and let's start today.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">If you want to see how Jeremy Jackson takes on his challenges you can find my book at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Work-In-Progress-ebook/dp/B004XD91IC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">http://www.amazon.com/A-Work-In-Progress-ebook/dp/B004XD91IC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2</a> for either the Kindle or in print and see for yourself, if you want to let me know your thoughts you can check me out on Twitter @AboutmybooksLS, email me – <a href="mailto:larry@larrysheridan.com"><span style="color: blue;">larry@larrysheridan.com</span></a>, go to my website <a href="http://www.larrysheridan.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.larrysheridan.com</span></a> or go to my novel’s Facebook Page at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634</span></a>.</div>Larry Sheridanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06267460020347661903noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549123098023003808.post-83957681642252329302011-09-11T10:09:00.000-07:002011-09-11T10:09:34.194-07:00Hope - Where is it today?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have created my blog on the 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary of 9/11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it’s because I believe in hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The events of 9/11 were an attempt to suck that hope out of our lives as well as our culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But guess what, it didn’t work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The terrorists failed as most bullies do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t work then and I don’t believe it will work now, though it seems that our country needs to find the hope lost due to the challenges and frustrations created by our current economic and political environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to not only feel hope but also visually see hope emanating from our leadership and, unfortunately, it is hard to see much less find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my favorite movies is “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” with Jimmy Stewart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it should be part of our country’s high school curriculum and mandatory for our politicians to watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where can we find the Mr. Smiths of today?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I watched a program last night about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A woman who lost her son in those attacks was interviewed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had called and left a message on her answering machine before the towers fell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She made an incredible statement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a powerful statement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said (I’m paraphrasing here) you can either be mad and angry for what you lost or you can step back and say wow, we had him for 33 great years and be thankful for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to believe but, in reality, I don’t know if I would have that kind of strength and courage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This woman impressed me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This mother who lost her son gave me hope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that nothing I write will offer that much strength or hope but maybe it can offer something positive.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are a lot of places where hope can be found but unfortunately many of those places are not in Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am an author who tries (and I hope succeeds) in writing stories that offer hope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my novel, A Work in Progress (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Work-In-Progress-ebook/dp/B004XD91IC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.amazon.com/A-Work-In-Progress-ebook/dp/B004XD91IC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) my main character, Jeremy Jackson, is a regular guy who gets caught up in something much bigger than he is, facing two options – one is giving up and the other is fighting for something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a lot of other authors who write with similar forms of hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Locke’s Donavan Creed series offers hope in the average guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gerard de Marigny, an up and coming author, does the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Musicians like Davin McCoy and The Coming Attractions sing of hope.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We can find hope but it’s just not that obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish there were more Jimmy Stewarts in the world but it seems we’ve not found them yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must never give up our hopes and dreams, whatever those hopes and dreams are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blog isn’t about selling my book, it is about reminding people there is still hope and there are those who still try and offer that hope though it seems that our hopes and dreams keep getting beaten down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’m sure you’ve heard like I have the saying that “bad news sells” and if you watch enough news you know it’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The extremists, regardless of their perspectives and affiliations, get the most interest and highest ratings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t get caught in this trap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Search out the providers of hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take the extremists for what they are: extremists.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you want a break from the realities of the day, the recession, the jobless numbers, the fear then check out the authors and musician I’ve mentioned above or check out my book – you can get it in a print version or for the Kindle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless of how you do it though, don’t give up on hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would love to hear from you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My blog will only have an entry once every 4 to 6 weeks so I promise I won’t bombard you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it means something to you then please pass it along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would love to make the message of hanging on to your hope something that goes viral on the internet but even better yet goes viral in our society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s make a difference together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s make hope a virus!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How cool would it be to help make hope something people are catching!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, it sounds corny, but hey, at a minimum, it might help one person find some hope in the current challenging environment we are prisoners of and I know that just one more person becoming hopeful would be a good thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check out my website – </span><a href="http://www.larrysheridan.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.larrysheridan.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> – my twitter @AboutmybooksLS – my novel’s, A Work in Progress, Facebook Page: </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634#!/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634#!/pages/A-Work-in-Progress/225449777471634</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and if this really meant something to you then please e-mail me and let me know:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="mailto:larry@larrysheridan.com"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">larry@larrysheridan.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> – I would love to hear from you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My main character, Jeremy Jackson, and I both thank you for taking some of your time to read this, maybe together we can make hope the news of the day!</span></div>Larry Sheridanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06267460020347661903noreply@blogger.com3