Welcome, friends! I have a quick word about my novel, Switchers, a story about teens who are pulled into a time travel war against their adult selves when the future becomes an unlivable nightmare due to war and a parasitic fungus. Then I got some other cool stuff like this:
Table of Contents
Go buy a copy of Switchers! With shipping, a personalized, autographed paperback copy is yours for $20.
Or. . .you can get the eBook. And I’ll tell you what, if you go to my website within 5 days of this blog publishing, you can use this promo code at checkout in my store:
TREEfitty
Copy and paste it, or type it yourself (the code is case sensitive).
This will bring the price at checkout to $3.50, over 40% off what you’d pay at an online retailer!
OK, here’s the good stuff!
A Good Thing: Development Without Displacement (The Diatribe)
I’ve recently interviewed two kind people associated with The Diatribe. That brings the total of the shows guests from the organization to four.
I can’t get enough of what they’ve got going on. One of their main mantras is “development without displacement”, referring to the common issue of neighborhood gentrification forcing out the longtime residents of said neighborhood.
My city, and countless others across the country, have parts in our histories that aren’t. . .the best. This includes “fixing up bad neighborhoods.” But in fixing them, what ultimately ends up happening is a sort of figurative building over of an existing community. But not on the south end of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Not if The Diatribe has a say in it.
They’re doing work to help people in the 49507 start business, advocate for their health, advocate for the well being of their community, and addressing housing. The housing piece is huuuuuge. They’re going to provided affordable housing temporarily. During a tenant’s stay, they’ll take classes around finance and home ownership. Upon completion of these classes, a portion of their rent paid will be returned to them to go towards purchasing a house, starting a business, or whatever individual needs best suit that person(s).
Read more and please donate (if you’re in the financial position to do so) able towards this cause to build up a community’s ability to strive for generational wealth with an emphasis on development without displacement.
Tallon’s Thoughts: Writing Vocabulary
In my first creative writing class, we started with poems. I’m no poet by any means. I’ve written a few decent song lyrics, but I feel that was by mistake somehow. Driven more by the song’s need for lyrics than my ability to pull poetry from the ether.
When I started writing poems, I thought, Ya know what? If I use some fancy words, maybe it’ll make the poetry at least look a little better.
My writing teacher said, “I can tell you’ve been diving into the dictionary and thesaurus, and that’s great. But…”–there’s always a but–“you’ll sound smarter using small words you’re comfortable with rather than using big words that feel clumsy.”
I’ve stuck to that since then. When I read and come across a new and/or unfamiliar word, I look it up. Every now and then it’ll make its way into my regular writing (and speaking) vocabulary, but often it doesn’t.
So my advice to writer, and non-writers, is to stick tight to the words you feel 100% comfortable using. Those five-dollar-words are nice and all, but whenever its plausible to eradicate all forms of pedantry from your communications, it’s best to do so, or risk sounding like an errant windbag.
On the Podcast: Oprah’s soon-to-be Best Friend
Shayne “Akanke” Marie (IG: @itsshaynamarie) was my most recent guest on Creative Ops. She works in local radio, film, music, poetry, community activism, education, and she hosts open mics. She kinda does a little bit of everything. (While going to college!)
We talked about her work with The Diatribe as a teaching artist, singing, poetry, hosting shows, community activism, the culture of West Michigan, and lots more. It was a really fun and enlightening conversation. Here’s the promo:
See Ya Next Time
Please buy my book (ebook coupon code TREEfitty)
See ya next time, you rock star!
-CT
Christopher Tallon is the author of the dark, adventurous, time-travel novel Switchers.