Flash fiction

I recently learned of a contest being held by one of the Internet-based writing groups that I belong to: Write a short story to be judged and critiqued by the group's members, the story with the greatest acclamation at the end of the judging period wins. Not so tough - except that the story can be a maximum of 715 words.

I can understand the organizers' desire for brevity. Assuming that even a fraction of the membership submitted a story, there would still be a considerable number of pages to be read. Though how they came up with the number 715, rather than say, 750 or 800 is quite beyond me.

In any case, 715 words is treading in the region of flash fiction more than short story. I've been a fan of flash fiction ever since reading Donald Barthelme's Forty Stories a few years ago; I've even tried writing some myself, although I've never quite managed to write one as short as 715 words. It's daunting, really, to try to convey a sense of character, setting, theme, whatever in so few words.

But I was listening to some music on my iTunes this evening, and I remembered that most song lyrics consist of far fewer than 715 words. Of course, musicians have the benefit of music to help evoke an emotional connection, but character and setting - plot even, if it applies - is all conveyed through lyrics. And we all have our favourite songs, those that resonate strongly with who we are and what we believe - so clearly a 715 word story is not only possible, it's almost more common than its longer cousins.

That helped give me a little more confidence. So I started writing a first draft - I finished that in 586 words. :)

Motivation

I've been thinking a bit about motivation. This stems from my second to last post about priorities. In my last post I mentioned deadlines and convenience as key factors, but that only seems to apply to those things that I've been putting off, or things that have slipped to the bottom of the 'to do' pile.

What about the things that I do on a daily basis - like going to work, or a near daily basis - like writing in this blog? It's not fear of reprisal - at least, that's certainly not foremost in my mind for either of the above examples. The more I think about it, the more I believe the answer for me is commitment. Perhaps that seems obvious, but there are any number of other things that could be driving an individual to go to work everyday: to collect a paycheque, for example. Fame, or the attempt to attain it, could drive someone to write a blog.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't need the money I earn at work, and there is obviously some part of me that doesn't mind talking out loud (to myself?); but the real reason that I go to work and write in this blog is certainly commitment. I made a promise, and I plan on keeping it. That doesn't mean I intend to stay in the same job for the rest of my life, nor that I will continue writing in this blog until they nail shut my coffin; there is an ending to all things, my job and this blog included - but not until there is a good reason for it.

So rest easy, dear readers. At least until something better comes along. ;)

Mathematics

I like math. Many people assume that this must mean I like numbers, or Sudoku, or programming. It happens that I do like all of those things, to varying degrees, but not because I like math. Many people believe I must like numbers, Sudoku and programming because they're about as close to mathematics as many people get in their daily lives. Some university students obtain a deeper understanding of mathematics from their university courses, yet very few people have any understanding what mathematicians do.

What I actually love about mathematics is its ability to describe things. I say things because mathematics can 'describe' a great deal: You can use math to forecast weather patterns, or to model the motions of stars and galaxies, or to predict the growth of populations. All of these things fall into the mathematical field of 'modelling': using mathematical theory to explain the behaviour of natural phenomena. Of course, some of the mathematics of modelling falls into other categories as well - the varying mathematical fields are nothing if not incestuous: The mathematics of weather prediction also falls under the field of dynamical (chaotic) systems; the motion of stars and galaxies has applications in algebra and topology; and the growth of populations sees use in economic theory.

But it goes deeper. There are very esoteric and highly advanced branches of mathematics that on the surface have absolutely no bearing on our reality, whatsoever. Or so it seems, initially. Probably the best example of an unexpected use of mathematics is number theory in cryptography. Number theory is the branch of mathematics that seeks to understand the properties of numbers; a very old and deep field of study that I can't do justice explaining in a single blog post. Suffice to say, that the 'properties of numbers' has confounded and fascinated people for thousands of years - all the way back to the early Greeks. Cryptography, the practice of hiding information, has been around for almost as long; but modern cryptography - without which, you wouldn't be able to use a debit card - is less than a century old. Modern cryptography makes extended use of advanced number theory, drawing on the properties of numbers to disguise important information - like a debit card PIN.

It's pretty cool to be able to describe things with an abstract tool like mathematics. Some might say that doing so takes magic away from the experience - the Northern Lights are beautiful to behold, but to reduce them to a set of equations is to diminish their splendour. However, I believe there is beauty in both - in fact, I believe both are necessary. There is an elegance to the mathematical form that can't be achieved through a verbal or written description; yet there is nothing to compare to the experience of actually seeing the bright ribbons of green light arcing across the northern sky.

So I like numbers, Sudoku, and programming. But what I really like is nature, natural phenomena, and complex behaviour. And most of all, I like to obtain a deeper understanding of how those things work by describing them with mathematics.

Priorities

I guess a week and a half is long enough to have left the blog lie dormant. It's been that long since I've done any real writing too - the curse of NaNoWriMo: Writing so consistently and intensely for 30 consecutive days entails a necessary break. Last year though, that break lasted six months. I didn't intend for it to turn out that way; I took a week off, then another week, then there was Christmas preparation, and Christmas, and New Year's, and the beginning of the new semester at school, and school work, and on and on and on until six months had passed.

It's a question of time, and priorities. We're forever complaining about time - the lack of it, or the 'speed' at which it travels forward (either too fast or too slow). We prioritize to ensure that we're making the best use of our time. Most often, things like work or school and family (or the equivalent) top the list, followed by socializing and hobbies. But for many of us, the number of things to be done far exceeds the amount of time available. So certain 'priorities' slowly drop down the list until they fall off entirely. Like my writing last year.

I don't mean to say that I completely forgot about writing; there have been few days in recent years that I haven't thought about writing in some form. But writing did take a back seat to all the other things that needed to be done. I've never been one for making use of organizational techniques - like using a calendar to keep track of my schedule (although there are times when I probably should have...), or making 'to do' lists. I do keep a constantly fluctuating priority list in my head, but it's a fairly high level, major project kind of list including things like writing.

So how do I define priorities for that list in my head? Is it interest? If I'm feeling more excited about one of those items on my list it is more likely that I'll try to check it off. Or is it serendipity? If it is convenient to check an item off the list then I'll do so. More often though, it comes down to deadlines. I don't know that there has ever been a time that I've sat down to assign a numerical value to the items in my list. What does that say about my priorities? It seems to me that they're very 'Heiesnberg-ian' in nature; the very act of thinking about the list seems to change the priorities in some way. I guess that's not entirely unreasonable, as long as all those 'necessities' are completed.