Nice Meeting Y'all

[AwakeAndFree]

Hello everyone.

My name is Eran Dror. Born 1980. Objectivist since 1998. I got to here after a recommendation from MinorityOfOne.

I live in Haifa, Israel, and will soon get my B.A. in History from the University of Haifa.

My career goal is becoming a fiction writer, in the English language.

I've wanted to write from a very young age.

Around August of this year I plan to move to the United States with the purpose of immigration. For the past 4.5 years I've been working as a computer journalist.

You can read more about me at:

www.erandror.com/aboutme.html

Or visit my new blog at EranDror.com

[AshRyan]

Allow me to welcome you to the forum belatedly. I'm a fellow fiction writer, that has also been my career goal since my early teens. I'll look forward to reading your first novel.

[AwakeAndFree]

Thanks.

I thought I'd become a member without anyone replying to my introduction...

I won't consider myself a fiction writer until I finish at least one full story in the English language. And I'm looking forward to read it myself!

I'm afraid I have a long way to go. First I have to MOVE to the US (in around 3 months, I hope), then I have to improve my English grammar, which is still lacking, and then... sit down and write!

How about you - are there some stories I can read?

I just bought Alexandra York's new novel, Crosspoints, from Amazon. It sounded great on Dr. Hurd's radio show. Should be here soon.

[AshRyan]

You're welcome.

Judging by your posts here, your English is already quite good, better than many native speakers (even some of the writers, sadly). I don't think you'll have any problems mastering it quickly.

I have not completed any stories or anything for the past couple of years. For one thing, I have been way too busy with school to focus as much time on writing as I would like to (and probably ought to). I had written a lot before then, but most of it was before I knew anything about Objectivism and by my present standards isn't really worth reading. Just seeing how much there is to criticize about my writing prior to understanding a rational philosophy convinces me that it is crucial to systematically study the means and ends of good writing before attempting to do it professionally. That (even more than time constraints) is a big part of why I've sort of put my attempts at writing on hold while I finish up school and, more importantly, educate myself about the craft outside of school. Of course, at some point the best way to progress in my writing will be to just jump right in and do it. I have ideas (plot, theme, characters, etc.) for my first two or three novels, and have started writing notes for the first one, but still need to finish a basic outline before I actually start writing it. But hopefully I will have begun (the actual writing of) my first novel within the next year, and completed it within two or three.

(I also write poetry, and while I haven't done much of that for a while either, there are a few poems I've written that I'm more proud of than my early efforts at prose fiction. So if you're interested in that just let me know and I can certainly email or pm you some samples.)

I have not heard of Alexandra York's novel. Can you tell me more about it?

[AwakeAndFree]

Thanks for the encouragement regarding the language. I do hope to master it quickly. I guess with the help of American friends I can start writing fairly quickly, and have people go over it.

I understand your concern for studying the craft of writing before attempting it. You don't want to end with something like... (ask me through PM, and I'll tell you the novel that came to my mind here).

I would love to read some good poems. Always looking for them.

I write poems myself. Unfortunately 99% of them are in Hebrew. I do have a few that are in English. If you e-mail me some of yours, I will e-mail you mine.

As for Alexandra York's novel - see Dr. Hurd's Interview with her. She's an Objectivist writer, and the story features a woman torn between two men that represent conflicting views of life. One is an archeologist, and the other a sculpture.

In this interview Alexandra York reads from the first chapter of Crosspoints. It sounds good. It is also said that there are some hot love scenes.

I will write a review when I finish it.

[AshRyan]

Thanks for the encouragement regarding the language. I do hope to master it quickly. I guess with the help of American friends I can start writing fairly quickly, and have people go over it.

Hey, if you ever need someone to read through your English-language writings to check for grammatical, spelling, and syntactical errors, I would probably be willing to do so. I'm a pretty good editor, if I may say so myself, particularly on those technical points.

...I would love to read some good poems. Always looking for them.

I write poems myself. Unfortunately 99% of them are in Hebrew. I do have a few that are in English. If you e-mail me some of yours, I will e-mail you mine.

Too bad I can't read Hebrew. The problem with poetry is that it usually doesn't translate well (at least not easily). I will send you some of mine, but I am at work right now and they are all at home. I'm not sure when I'll have the time to do some emailing from home, it might be a few days. But I'll get them to you eventually.

Thanks for the link to the interview with Alexandra York. I don't have RealPlayer on my computer here at work, so I'll have to wait to listen to that, but it sounds interesting. I'd defintely like to hear your review when you have read it. And hey, I'm always down for some hot Objectivist love scenes.

[stephen_speicher]

I would love to read some good poems. Always looking for them.

One poet who is not widely known, and has garnered an interest amongst a few Objectivists, is Berton Braley. You can learn a bit about him, and see some of his work, at http://bertonbraley.com/

If you read enough of him and like his work, then you might also be interested in a ten volume set which he edited of The World's One Thousand Best Poems.

[AwakeAndFree]

Ah, yes. Good old Braley.

He has some magnificent poems. I like The Thinker, Panama Gang, Why Not, and... most of the others.