Richard Roark

Very true, trust me I don't want to meet somebody who even though doesn't believe in God, or more accurately put knows that God doesn't exist, should be attending a religious service anyway.

No, just seeing if anybody has read it and what they though it about, I have wanting to get a copy of Grow Up America and I think he has another book out. I enjoy listening to his quick commentaries.

I know this, you haven't heard any reports about a mad gunman terrorizing any areas in Pittsburgh have you. I am just stating a frustration is all.

This is the primary reason I think I need to make sure I find a woman who is an Objectivist as well. I don't want to face these issues and know that eventually any relationship with anybody who isn't at least an Atheist will fail. Sorry about what you are going through though, but I don't ever want to be in your position, it is bad enough with family and former friends, though not all of my family knows that I am an Atheist.

Sorry, didn't mean to get really defensive there. No, i don't have that type of structure yet. But It was something I was planning on applying soon, the whole goal thing. What I mean by this that when I finally find a decent theme with a good plot, then I will set up something along the lines you suggest. I will at the end of each day keep a log recording what I accomplished that day, what I didn't and why, then set the goals for the next day and work from there. Hell, what I am saying, I should be doing this now. :doh: As far as my free time goes, this is usually time after work and on the weekends. I have the few activities I do, obviously sitting here at the board, reading, and playing my video games. Add in movie watching here and there and that is it. I don't go out all that much, can't afford to really and in all honesty I don't really have a good time anyway. So in many ways, I guess you can conclude first I need to have a better structure on how I approach matters, and I just recently realized this. The other problem lies in actually creating good plots, I can come up with a dozen themes in a like no time, but constructing a good plot around a theme is what I am struggling with. So as you can see I am still working on many aspects pertaining to my writing. Many of these are internal struggles. Thankfully a phone call from someone I hold in high regard boosted my spirits recently, dealing with a Mother who is out of work for over a year and going through legal proceedings then being the sole support for two people while working a meager job can put a strain on a person. Also finding this board with like minded people has also been helpful.

Here goes an interesting problem though, lets say that for whatever reason the Government can't do anything about something. You see my nieghborhood has gotten worse and worse over the years. I can point out to you the bad elements, the people of my neighborhood knows them, hell the hellraisers even know this to be true. Yet they walk around the neighborhood terroizing it basically thinking they own the place. Yet, you call the police all they can do is have them dispurse since really they haven't done any type of criminal activity. Yet, the fact remains that when you walk to get a gallon of milk and since there favorite place to hang out is right across from the store, you don't feel safe.

Well as I said in the above, figuring I am still working through ideas and since recently I have had to scrap every Idea i have been working on for the last few years for my own reasons, I am still in the process of trying to find the diamond from the trash so to speak. As far as how I prepare before writing a first draft. Well usually I will sit back and think, then think some more, and think some more. Get as many of the details of the story, or artcile, I wish to write about in my head before I sit down to write it. Draft a quick outline and then sit down to write. Since I don't have anything to concretely write about, such as an actual plot, doesn't make much sense to sit down at a keyboard and write just for the sake of writing. My post wasn't a post for advice nor am I asking or seeking it, which is what your questions seems to apply. I have read all the Writing books done by Rand. Edited for clarification reasons.

For me using the word beautiful in application to a woman doesn't happen very often. Unfortunately, I don't think that there are many true women left in the world. An example, might be the best way of explaining what I mean. I see a girl, like i said woman is a term I use sparingly actually, and she is good loooking, hot even, yet beyond wanting to sleep with her for these reasons, I am not attracted to her and find her actually quite repulsive when I think about it. In many ways this is also one of the ways I gauge if I am attracted to woman for the right reasons, if I am more interested in fouding out about her as a person and not wholy concerened with taking her to bed. Well, then I know I am in a good situation and am following any attraction I might have to somebody as wholly good. Now as far as looks go, while, even though there is the inner beauty there is also an outward beauty. The above example works well, these hot girls have no inward beauty so as such even though they are hot that is all they got, and if you are a good judge of character and observe you can see this. For me it has to be the perfect combination, to have the inner spark, which makes the outward beauty shine all the more.

Well of course, you have the enviromentalist complaining about the the "dirty" air, I can only imagine that the next phase is if a hydrogen car becomes a reality, they will be complaining about the depletion of water from the earth.

Of course that might be sorta neat, don't come near my house or you'll be vaporized . All joking aside, I had a short story I was writing for a while about a man who shoots a poor man hiding in the bushes on his way home from work and the man who shoots the poor man is arrested for Murder. Might I add that there is a serial killer going around praying on the poor. The reason I have decided not to go through with this story is because I think my motivation for writing it is propaganda. Anyway at the end of the story I was going to have the Defendent stand during his summation and state why he shot the poor man, and it is the point that Iakeo brought up about the government not being everywhere and the speach deals heavily with the rights of the individual. Here goes an excerpt from the speach: Note I haven't finished the speach and haven't done any editing on it. It is because of this right that I enacted the right to defend my life in the way I saw fit because I have a right to my life. This right to one’s life needs to be explained in its fullest as well to give you the jury a better understanding as to why I killed a man in the bushes. The right to ones life is just that, you have the right to your life. You have the right to live that life in anyway you see fit. The right to life though isn’t a guarantee of life or of continued existence. It does not guarantee that just because you exist that you will live. It means just as it says you have the right to life, nothing more and nothing less. Yet, with life one must find the means to sustain this life. The right, which allows a person the means to sustain his life, is the right to property. The right to property means that a man can create, buy or sell his property as he sees fit. The right to property is the governing right that allows a man to live. A man must build or buy a home to protect him from the elements. A man must produce or buy his food to keep him healthy and nourished. A man has a right to his property for it is this right that keeps him alive. This right, the right to property, is a corollary to the right to life with the right to life being the head that all the other three rights flow from.

This is of course one of the major argumetns about Truth. Figuring many say that the truth can't be known because it is a subjective. It isn't the Truth, but the truth as how one sees it. I of course dismiss this idea, but that is basically what is being said here.

Now, now, I know that this is an exciting topic so don't everybody post at once.

Well do I have free time that should probably be better spent? Well Yes, I am an avid video game player and some may say that I can use this time better spent doing something else, such as writing. Yet, as I stated above I am always working out my ideas and stories. Since as of right now I don't have anything really concrete to write about, just still working out ideas, I think it would be a bigger waste of time to sit down and try to write something when I don't even know what the hell it is I am going to write not even to mention that not knowing where it will be going. I am also an avid reader, but I don't think any one on this site will say that is not time well spent. Another point about my writing is that it was at first difficult for me to get going. I have figured out recently that this was due to my motivations for writing. What I mean by this is I had to ask myself, was I motivated by good reasons, or was I motivated by anger and a need to write propaganda. Well, not wanting to be Michael Moore, I have had to go through a reexamination process as far as my writing goes. Edited for all sorts of reasons

LOL..Yeah I that was the problem with the forum I used to hang out at, the Terry Goodkind Forum, the problem with that site is you had people who were Objectivist and understood the books very well and others who weren't Objectivist's and it wasn't a good mix. Also since I had sort of grown up with the website, when Terry was still somewhat unknown and you had a small tight knit group there. Then as he got more popular it just sort of went downhill from there. The funny thing is that the person who runs his site used to be very active on the Board, but the last few times there I hadn't seen him being very active except for posting news and announcements. So, I don't think he finds the enjoyment in the board as much as he used to probably, but running the website I think he still loves to do.

I agree with Elle, I am obsessed with my writing. Is this a bad thing, I don't think so and some might say that since I don't physically write everyday, that I am not a writer. Yet, mentally there is nothing else that I think about, I am always trying to work out story ideas and themes and thinking about my writing.

Has anybody read Dr Hurd's books and are they any good?

There use to be a Radio Show broadcasted live that Leonard Peikoff used to do and then was done by somebody else, can't remember who, but it is no longer running.

There was never a truer statement. This is what lead me to Objectivism. Even though when I change over I knew many people back here at home would be upset, mainly because I went from being a Catholic to an Atheist, it didn't stop me from changing, because I needed to change. Anybody interested I have a sort of short story, I say sort of because there isn't a plot really and I don't know what else to call it, that goes into my change and if anybody wants to read it just PM me and provide your email and I will send it. I have never had a fellow Objectivist read it and would be interested on one's take of it.

Well two of those things you listed above Amagi I am willing to give some credence to two of them, bigfoot and aliens. Yet, the time travel thing even though I am working on a possible fantasy series dealing with Time Travel, i know that in reality it is impossible to travel through time. As my quote says, the Past is Dead, and the Future is yet to be. One can't travel to something that is dead and one can't travel to something that has yet come into existence.

Sounds like my creative writing teacher in College and just about anybody else I come across most of the time. Especially when the talk gets to being about love. A good example is the fact that I am an Atheist and lets say I may be attracted to woman who is religious. Why is it assumed that I would be the one who would have to make the compromise?

I don't watch much TV for that reason. All that is on TV now is cop shows and lawyer shows or Medical shows. I generally will watch the History Channel and if the Discovery Channel or Science Channel has something interesting on. I also love catching the old tv shows like MASH and The Cosby Show. Now that is quality tv entertainment. The only show that I am mad i don't watch anymore is Smallville. I might have to get those on DVD eventually.

I remember watching one Bullshit about bottled water. It was the funniest thing i ever saw. At the end of the episode they were at a fancy restaurant and had waterdee come up with the water list. So they had all the people trying these various exotic type of waters with people commenting on the crispness and the quality of the water. The catch, all the bottles of water were filled up behind the restaurant with a water hose.

I must say Iakeo has been a good board member with many good insights.

I know that some of these have already been listed but here goes some of mine. Shawshank Redemption, If Stephen King would write more stories like this he would be one of my favorite authors. Good Will Hunting. 8 Mile, I have my reasons for this besides being an Eminem fan. Remember The Titans Rudy Fight Club Aladdin Gladiator Braveheart Chronicles Of Riddick

Is it me or does this statment seem to lack any type of sincerity, and if so, I find it insulting.