C.G. Jones's Blog
August 15, 2021
My Current Writing Project
With the relative success of my debut novel, Project: Sleepless Dream (PSD), I am about halfway through my next writing project: a short story collection.
The collection—which I haven't named yet—will take place in the same world as PSD. While PSD delved into the governmental part of the fictional world, the collection will take a look at some of the individual characters in Desert, Wisconsin—a small town that has been covertly converted into a government testing site.
I have mapped out at least five books for the world. It's going to be a long process, but it has been extremely rewarding. The collection will take on the same satirical tone as PSD, but there will also be a fair amount of magical realism, too.
Finally: the collection will act as my thesis for my graduate program, which means I get to spend the entirety of this school year working on it.
There's still a lot of work to do, but it's going to be a lot of fun.
Don't forget to check out Project: Sleepless Dream if you haven't already! If you are interested in Project : Sleepless Dream but don't like Amazon, reach out to me and I'll send you one directly.
The collection—which I haven't named yet—will take place in the same world as PSD. While PSD delved into the governmental part of the fictional world, the collection will take a look at some of the individual characters in Desert, Wisconsin—a small town that has been covertly converted into a government testing site.
I have mapped out at least five books for the world. It's going to be a long process, but it has been extremely rewarding. The collection will take on the same satirical tone as PSD, but there will also be a fair amount of magical realism, too.
Finally: the collection will act as my thesis for my graduate program, which means I get to spend the entirety of this school year working on it.
There's still a lot of work to do, but it's going to be a lot of fun.
Don't forget to check out Project: Sleepless Dream if you haven't already! If you are interested in Project : Sleepless Dream but don't like Amazon, reach out to me and I'll send you one directly.
August 14, 2021
The Last Sisyphus Podcast on Indefinite Hiatus
Hello everyone,
I'm just dropping by to say that The Last Sisyphus Podcast has been put on indefinite hiatus.
Let me explain.
I am about to enter the final year of my graduate program—meaning the classes and teaching will eat up the majority of my time. On top of this, I am about to start playing/coaching hockey.
This does not mean I will stop reading and reviewing books. I will most certainly continue to do so.
The final factor in my decision to take it easy on the podcast is to focus on my own writing. I am currently working on a short story collection, which is my graduate thesis.
The hope is that this short story collection will be published in the next two years—and it's going to require a lot of my attention.
If you have any questions about this decision, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
Cheers!
I'm just dropping by to say that The Last Sisyphus Podcast has been put on indefinite hiatus.
Let me explain.
I am about to enter the final year of my graduate program—meaning the classes and teaching will eat up the majority of my time. On top of this, I am about to start playing/coaching hockey.
This does not mean I will stop reading and reviewing books. I will most certainly continue to do so.
The final factor in my decision to take it easy on the podcast is to focus on my own writing. I am currently working on a short story collection, which is my graduate thesis.
The hope is that this short story collection will be published in the next two years—and it's going to require a lot of my attention.
If you have any questions about this decision, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
Cheers!
August 11, 2021
Knowledge Combats the Insipidity of the World
G'morning everyone,
After finishing Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism yesterday afternoon (you can check out my review of it on my page), I realized that I haven't been reading as much nonfiction as I would like to.
Philosophy, specifically.
I surveyed my bookshelf last night, searching for a philosophical work that I had started but had not finished (there are several). And then I came upon Arthur Schopenhauer's Essays and Aphorisms. I had read just over half the work, and I decided I would try to finish it.
Schopenhauer has always been one of my favorite thinkers (save for a few of this thoughts, including those on women). I cracked it open and started reading the section called "On Philosophy and Intellect."
As someone who has strong affinities to pessimistic literature and philosophy, one of the first passages I read was like a gut-punch.
It went as follows: "Considering the monotony and consequent insipidity of life one would find it unendurably tedious after any considerable length of time, were it not for the continual advance of knowledge and insight and the acquisition of even better and clearer understanding of all things, which is partly the fruit of experience, partly the result of the changes we ourselves undergo through the different stages of life by which our point of view is to a certain extent being continually altered, whereby things reveal to us sides we did not yet know. In this way, despite the decline in our mental powers, the day teaches the day still holds indefatigably true and gives life an ever-renewed fascination, in that what is identical continually appears as something new and different."
To simplify this passage, it could be said that Schopenhauer believed knowledge to be one of the only elements of human life that makes life endurable.
I couldn't agree more.
And it was precisely what I needed to hear—at a time when I haven't been reading as much as I would like. And since I've picked up reading again (almost full time), Schopenhauer's thought holds true: the acquisition of knowledge makes for a much less boring life.
So, here's to growing in knowledge—and hoping that we, as a species, never figure it all out. How boring an existence that would be!
After finishing Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism yesterday afternoon (you can check out my review of it on my page), I realized that I haven't been reading as much nonfiction as I would like to.
Philosophy, specifically.
I surveyed my bookshelf last night, searching for a philosophical work that I had started but had not finished (there are several). And then I came upon Arthur Schopenhauer's Essays and Aphorisms. I had read just over half the work, and I decided I would try to finish it.
Schopenhauer has always been one of my favorite thinkers (save for a few of this thoughts, including those on women). I cracked it open and started reading the section called "On Philosophy and Intellect."
As someone who has strong affinities to pessimistic literature and philosophy, one of the first passages I read was like a gut-punch.
It went as follows: "Considering the monotony and consequent insipidity of life one would find it unendurably tedious after any considerable length of time, were it not for the continual advance of knowledge and insight and the acquisition of even better and clearer understanding of all things, which is partly the fruit of experience, partly the result of the changes we ourselves undergo through the different stages of life by which our point of view is to a certain extent being continually altered, whereby things reveal to us sides we did not yet know. In this way, despite the decline in our mental powers, the day teaches the day still holds indefatigably true and gives life an ever-renewed fascination, in that what is identical continually appears as something new and different."
To simplify this passage, it could be said that Schopenhauer believed knowledge to be one of the only elements of human life that makes life endurable.
I couldn't agree more.
And it was precisely what I needed to hear—at a time when I haven't been reading as much as I would like. And since I've picked up reading again (almost full time), Schopenhauer's thought holds true: the acquisition of knowledge makes for a much less boring life.
So, here's to growing in knowledge—and hoping that we, as a species, never figure it all out. How boring an existence that would be!
August 10, 2021
Writer's Block
G'morning everyone,
I'm just dropping by to say that I decided to record a very short podcast episode on writer's block—something that everyone (except Norman Mailer, apparently) has struggled with at one time or another.
Check it out on Spotify, here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ozomM1IfSnWgAKKca5Hbx
Let me know your thoughts!
I'm just dropping by to say that I decided to record a very short podcast episode on writer's block—something that everyone (except Norman Mailer, apparently) has struggled with at one time or another.
Check it out on Spotify, here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ozomM1IfSnWgAKKca5Hbx
Let me know your thoughts!
