I clicked on an add the other day for a free self-publishing kit just out of curiosity. In order to get this kit in the mail you had to fill out a small form most likely for targeting purposes. One of the items in the form was a drop down menu that stated "choose the most important reason that you want to write" with the following 11 options listed.

The reasons with a strike-through I could eliminate immediately because they were either clearly wrong or not applicable. However, the remaining seven reasons at least made sense at some level. Choosing the most important reason among those seven is not something I think I can possibly do.

Writing to help others overcome a personal obstacle
This is certainly something that writers take in to account when writing any type of work. It applies most directly to self-help or empowerment type works, but the novel accomplishes this too. Writing about the "dignity of man" as Kenzaburo Oe put it can help anyone with a personal problem. Although fiction doesn't necessarily target a specific obstacle, it can work nonetheless. For myself this reason could only apply indirectly, but is part of the overall motivation I have for writing.

Writing to build or enhance my professional career
This reason I think is true for anyone and is at least incidental to the deep motivation for writing. If you enjoy writing and want people to read your writing then you must desire to advance your professional career (if it is writing). For me though, my professional career is not writing, so I suppose this cannot apply at present.

Expressing my deepest thoughts
This reason is probably the most important of the applicable reasons. I feel that I have important and deep thoughts that I cannot quite express. Writing is the format through which I hope to express them.

Writing because I love to write!
I don't yet love to write, I haven't done enough of it to feel any way about it. However, I believe I have the potential to love writing. I guess this reason is on layaway.

Seeing if I have what it takes for commercial success
This is another reason that surely applies, but isn't part of the main motivation. Of course I am curious if I am even capable of being a successful writer. My ego allows me that curiosity.

Writing to reach a wide circle of readers
Also applies, but not part of the principle motivation. I do believe that I have good ideas and the potential to provide a good experience for my reader so I must want the maximum number of people to read my work. The flip side of that is I don't much desire people of unsympathetic disposition to read my work and only feel as if they have wasted their time. But, maybe I could change some of their minds? I suppose this is the feeling that an artist gets when a philistine is looking at their work.

Writing for fame
This is the most loaded reason. As I have already said I think I have good ideas and that I am curious as to how far their reach would be. Do I want fame? I don't think so, but I do want my ideas to be famous.

I watched this Haruki Murakami documentary a few weeks ago. The statement by Jay Rubin at 44:25 is a perfect explanation of why I love his work so much above other Japanese authors. He is not invested in the search for a Japanese identity as it seems many other authors are and were. He is much more interested in what it is to be human, not just Japanese. I said that getting a sense of what it is to be Japanese was a positive point of Soseki's Botchan, but doesn't that mean that from a worldly perspective it has less to offer?

Some people call him the anti-Mishima, referring to Yukio Mishima the lover of Imperial Japan who committed suicide by seppuku after a failed coup. This is also a very fitting summary, which is also a potential explanation of why I enjoy Murakami so much.

The most important point that detractors from religion have is the lack of facts or evidence. One of the mot important points for proponents of religion is the positive results that the philosophy and values associated with a given religion bring. Christian affiliated charity organizations – the twelve step program, salvation army, and many others – are a primary example. A less tangible example is the motivation to do good, or to achieve at a certain level. I recently viewed a video of two very successful crossfit athletes discussing how their faith helps them, or is completely responsible for their success. Find it here.

My superficial problem with their stories is the two-fold. First they give themselves very little credit for their success by praising their god-given talent. Second, Rich Froning at least says that his reason for doing so is to “glorify” god, or to praise him. Many rational thinkers also give thanks to their genetics and their upbringing for success so the substance of that claim is not so puzzling. However, saying that to glorify your god is a primary reason for succeeding, and in the case of these two athletes doing what is their most time consuming and important activity, is at once a little sad and hard to believe. In the moment I am sure that both of these men feel happiness completely unrelated to their faith and feel accomplished as an individual. Among the other common reasons for competing, I am sure that this, deep down, is the primary reason for them doing crossfit at such a high level. I believe that the ego is more powerful than these men give it credit.

Of course, all of that being said, I also strongly believe that they are wasting precious mental energy in their faith and supporting a belief system that is based on no evidence and in an ideal world is no better than being morally strong and rational. However, many people are not so sure on this topic. Are these positive aspects of religion – motivation, philanthropy, positivity, conscientiousness, etc. - worth all of the intellectual negatives? (not to mention the cultural negatives, and loss of life in religious conflicts, etc.)

If none of these things interest you, it is at least interesting from a sports psychology point of view, which is in general the point of the video in the first place. I think Dan Bailey is right when he says that because he has religious faith he is more capable of having a more concrete faith, faith in himself completing a workout. Also, Rich says that using scriptures as motivation calms him in contrast to “cussing and swearing” to get him motivated.

Although Soseki's Kusamakura has some beautiful passages and the main character has some fairly meaningful thoughts, it seems that something is lost in translation. Many passages fly by as though they have no substance and the ending leaves the reader questioning what the point was even reading it. Perhaps a study in more traditional Japanese schools of thought could change my opinion, but for now I am not impressed.

Some people call Natsume Soseki the greatest Japanese novelist. He certainly specialized in the novel and during his greatest period of production was remarkably consistent in quality and rate. What I believe makes his works most unique and contributes most to the truth of that title is his ability to combine uniquely Japanese themes with a style and skill of storytelling that is timeless. Botchan is a perfect example of this ability fully realized.

The namesake, Botchan, is mediocre at best in his studies and other things that matter in a turn of the century Japanese household. He is eternally the runt of his family and his occasional mischevious doings only help to further that placement. However, through a strike of luck and a windfall of money he attends University and eventually finishes. He is placed at a teaching job in a small rural town (what can only be deduced to be Matsuyama, Shikoku Prefecture) far outside of his native Tokyo.

What follows is a cast of characters, all delightfully nicknamed, and a turn of events that could just as easily be found in modern day drama or American soap opera. A power hungry pair of teachers, a nosy and rambunctious group of students, and an apathetic and overly rigid administration at the school he is placed, in the setting of a small Japanese town with its own quirks, all through the lense of the very reserved yet off-kilter culture of Japan. Entertaining to say the least. What brings it together however, is the main character himself. Botchan is put through the wringer both mentally and physically and struggles with continuing in his commitment, and thus succeeding, or leaving town and returning to the comfort of home and failing.

Although the novel may seem overly good to this reader because it is set in Japan, there are numerous other strong points. The ending and many events are anything but predictable and Botchan is an extremely likeable character despite his flaws. Getting a clearer sense of what it is to be Japnese is just an unintended consequence of a good story.

I recently finished Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore during which the character attempts to read all of Natsume Soseki's works. I have read Kokoro, but nothing else and for some reason now have the desire to do something similar. I will be posting reviews and discussions of most of Soseki's works as I read them over the next few months.

First up is Botchan.

Something that always catches me off guard when inside a building that is supposedly "prestigious" or "well-funded" is the grotesquely large amount of LCD screens used to display things. Where this is most troublesome and most apparent to me is at The University of Michigan, where I currently attend and have for almost 5 years now.

There are multiple very clear and very obvious examples of this. The very new, very beautiful North Quad building, which was approved in 2006 and opened in August 2010, is most likely the worst culprit. In each entryway there are usually 2-6 LCD displays of 32" or above that are generally kept on, but due to a lack of organization and planning display absolutely nothing. In the dining hall there are also screens which display nothing. Last but not least the retail dining option displays its menu using two huge screens! That could just as easily be accomplished by using two large pieces of paper.

There are other example of this across The UofM campus. Throughout the different unions there are large screens displaying a news-roll that is both too small and too outdated to be read by anyone and a list of events for that union, which is generally empty. The only useful thing on the screen is the bus schedule, which could be accomplished with something a fifth of the size. At least one of the recreational buildings has the same system of poorly implemented, unneeded, way too large screens.

I only have a few things to say.

To the designers who decided to put these screens in the plans: FUCK YOU.

To the administrators who believe it is a useful endeavor to equate prosperity and prestige with these wasteful devices: FUCK YOU.

To the students and parents who gain comfort from seeing these screens at a prospective institution: FUCK YOU.

Pardon my language, but the waste of energy when these are on, the waste of materials to make them in the first place, and the perpetuation of a culture of waste and excess is something that pisses me off to no end. Not to mention that I didn't agree to this when I spent $50K/year on tuition. If you ever see one of these screens wherever you are, turn it off.

I'll be honest. I haven't always been a book lover, or a lover of fiction. Many of the characters I read of are crafted by men and women who love to read. These characters find peace with their nose in a book, much as the authors probably do. On the contrary, I despised reading assignments all the way from elementary school through high school. Over a Christmas break in seventh grade I forgot that we were assigned to read A Christmas Carol and I failed our exam on the day we returned to class. I distinctly remember a conversation with my sister (an eventual B.A. in English) and mother about how novels were just stories, not even real stories at that, with nothing to offer us.

Somehow, without any warning or reason known to me, I began to read fiction early in my college career. I didn’t turn in to that person with their nose always in a book. If a story bores me, which they often do, I pretty much give up on the book. Still, I have gained a respect for both the people that write these stories and the people that find them worthwhile, the latter of which I am member of course.

There are a lot of differing definitions of a novel. Some sources say it is a work of fiction longer than 40,000 words, but some have a higher bar in order to clearly separate novel and novella. The definition that I have found most fitting is something along the lines of “a work of fiction that attempts to address the totality of life.” While a short story might have one focus or one moral, a novel paints with a broader brush over the whole canvas of our experience. It is this somewhat unclear or abstract idea of a novel’s scope that has intrigued me most.

This isn’t to say that a novel about real life and real things doesn’t catch my interest. I chose to read classics when I first started out and I found Catcher in the Rye, 1984, and The Sun Also Rises to be perfectly capable of achieving this almost otherworldly idea of the totality of life. On the other hand I have found great joy in the surreal works of Haruki Murakami, which often make very little real sense and have no connection to any experiences of mine, but still strike that chord of meaning. Do these authors get something that I don’t? They must understand something about life to be able to smuggle this understanding through their seemingly senseless or irrelevant words in to my head.

It is this wonder that has made me want to write. Straight to the point, I’ve had no success with fiction. I reach out to these authors for examples of how they started writing. Hemmingway was a journalist, Pynchon started with short stories, Vonnegut wrote so much volume it was unbelievable, and most confusingly Murakami decided he was capable of a novel at a baseball game and started that night. What am I supposed to do? Recreating these scenarios is on one hand impossible and most likely unimportant. Still, when I put my pen to paper it is dry. It doesn’t feel like I’m supposed to be writing. I’m young, I get that, but it is as if I am a character in a novel and a force of plot is telling me not yet. But, I want to…

Just discovered this guy. Very awesome.

Harris makes a point that comes out clear as day. You can't win with more taxes. To get a better fell one should read his previous blog post to which the negative reactions are a product of.