Author Archives: Bonnie McCune

About Bonnie McCune

Bonnie is a Denver-based author whose interest in writing led to her career in nonprofits doing public and community relations and marketing. She’s worked for libraries, directed a small arts organization and managed Denver's beautification program. Simultaneously, she’s been a free lance writer with publications in local, regional, and specialty publications for news and features. Her main interest now is fiction writing, and her pieces have won several awards.

The Collective Consciousness

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snow shovelIs the collective consciousness disappearing, or simply morphing into a destructive force? I wonder this as I wander through my daily life, receiving small dings of infuriation from the growing discourtesy and poor behavior of the people in my city.

Example after example:  In the YMCA I patronize, dirty towels litter the locker room, showers and steam bath, despite signs reminding people to pick up after themselves. . .following blizzards, an increasing percentage of residents fail to shovel their walks, notwithstanding city ordinances that require this as well as the danger and inconvenience to the elderly, handicapped, and parents burdened with babies. . .doggies dump hither and yon (usually on my lawn) although both common courtesy and laws push owner pick-ups.

The collective consciousness is a set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes between members of a group as large as a nation or as small as a clique in a school. Often unwritten and unspoken, the collective consciousness can convey cultural values, unify people, and focus efforts and activities toward a goal, even if no one can say what that is. While some, especially the touchie-feeling philosophers among us, may think the collective consciousness is on the upswing, what with the internet, instant messaging, smart phones, and all for the good, I beg to differ.

There’s no denying collective consciousness may be destructive or bad. It might consist of a rush to erroneous judgment, crucifying a suspect in murder who turns out to be blameless. Or it may be the opposite, like those who sympathized with Lance Armstrong’s battle to maintain his innocence, only to learn he was guilty all along. It can be as petty and stupid as a mass vote for a reality show competitor (whether that person’s despicable or admirable).

When it comes to practical application of collective consciousness, the simpler the concept, the better. The bigger the group, frequently the lower the common denominator to reach its members. That master of mass movements, Hitler, said, “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.” As for propaganda, he felt the larger the group you’re trying to influence, the simpler the messages should be.

The dichotomy of today’s technology is that movements along and within it are massive: millions following a Tweeter, billions signing up to win a sweepstakes, thousands searching for the same job. At the same time, its focus is minute; you can create an in-group of two or three, even fewer if you’re dealing with your own fantasy. So can we achieve individual accountability at the same time we push collective responsibility?

But enough theorizing. What I really want to know is how to get people to pick up their towels, shovel their walks, and collect their doggy droppings. Or does the new collective consciousness, apparently based on “who gives a damn” and “I can’t be bothered” and “I don’t care if other people are inconvenienced” promise to triumph?

G & A FOR 2014

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goalWhat’s G & A?  Not General & Administrative in a budget expense document, nor Grief & Aggravation in slang shorthand. It’s “goals and achievements,” a blog hop for my publisher, Prism Book Group, taking place January 20 and 21, 2014.

A blog hop links together a number of bloggers around one topic, and you, the reader, can hop from site to site to read them easily. This one focuses on me and my fellow writers, what we’ve achieved, what we see coming up in the next year.  Click on the Linky link below to travel to other authors.

Serendipity plays a big role in my writing. I’ve learned to see this as an achievement. While ideas for stories and books frequently swim around in my brain for years, the particulars depend heavily on coincidence. Take the manuscript I’m currently working on. Because it’s a romance, a woman and a man meet and fall in love after many problems. But the particulars—their characters, the setting, the dialogue, the supporting cast—frequently develop from happenstance in everyday life.

One theme I think will resonate throughout the story is what value do we place on friendship? This question occurred after I saw The Armstrong Lie, a documentary film about the bicyclist. Some friends turned against him as his deceit was revealed; others struggled against betrayal out of loyalty to him and the team. He, too, talks about the bonds of friendship. This theme could be the strong underpinning for my entire plot.

As I watched the revelations from a once-heroic figure, I realized I could base a character from my NEXT novel on him. A person who would make any sacrifice to win, yet a man who seems to value personal loyalty above almost anything else. A parent who must somehow figure out how to retain the affection of his children in the face of his moral downfall. An individual held captive by our collective guilt in many situations that excuse bad behavior if “everyone is doing it.”

Another coincidence: Colorado’s recent floods. Mother Nature or luck pulls people out of their ordinary rounds, and they’re forced to react unexpectedly. They can respond in admirable or despicable ways. In my upcoming novel  (possibly titled Rocky Mountain Rebirth or Rocky Mountain Renewal, slated for publication summer 2014), one of the wild fires that periodically sweep the forests plays a major role. And in the manuscript I’m working on, I’ve decided a flood like the ones the state experienced in 2013 will be a major turning point.

My goal for 2014 has fallen into place on its own—finish a new novel. I hope and trust the cycle will continue indefinitely, goal-achievement-goal-achievement, as long as I can drag myself to the keyboard

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Click with your mouse on this Linky Link to get to 21 authors and their thoughts about Gs & As

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Click with your mouse on this Rafflecopter giveaway to be eligible for a prize:  Book Lovers Gift Pack from Prism Book Group! Includes a print copy of Sarah: Mission of Love by Gay N. Lewis, a print copy of The Last Detail by Lisa J Lickel, and three Prism eBook downloads of choice!


Laughing on the Outside

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smiile            I learn a great deal about human behavior from television news. The actual facts and events are almost irrelevant. Instead I observe the talent. I’ve noticed over the past five years or so that, like the plummeting content of print publications, newscasters convey less and less news. Grins spread over their faces constantly. I recently saw three anchors spend five minutes of prime time on attractive cats and jokes. The weather reporter had local kids doing guest spots, and each of them ended with a variation on “It will be an awesome day.” Even when the broadcast is tragic—a massive fire, a shooting at a school—the cast’s expressions are neutral but still congenial.

Does this mean we have fewer tragedies in the world? That the number of wars, attacks, rapes, murders, falling stock markets, epidemics, droughts have plunged? No, it just means we’re trying our best to ignore them.

One refrain, not limited to TV, is “make a great day.” Commanded at the conclusion of emails, spouted when conversations are drawing to a close, this phrase assumes we have control over the pleasantness, good will, and productivity we’ll experience. As if a day’s atmosphere can be constructed like a brick wall—one brick for feeling healthy, another for a good meal, still another for a pleasantry from a companion. On the inside of that wall are the good, nice, successful, pleasant people like ourselves; on the other the failures, dying, poor, whatever. We can block them out of our consciousness.

Why do we have to be happy all the time? Why, if I’m not animated and grinning, do passersby chastise me, “Smile!”

While this situation feels and is artificial, I’ve read about studies that show people who head for the fantasy side of existence rather than reality actually are happier. Perhaps it’s not important to know which individual hates you or dwell on the work assignment you flubbed. I knew a man who was convinced he was a great public speaker even though others cowered when he approached a microphone. A woman beautiful in her youth and edging toward old age still believing she was a knock-out despite her sags, fat, and wrinkles.

As for expressions on the human face, other studies have shown if we smile, we feel better; and certainly those around us or seeing us do, too.

So if we’re wearing rose-colored glasses, it’s ok. And if television news reporters spend the greater part of the time telling jokes, grinning, laughing and spouting “Make a great day,” perhaps there’s nothing negative (pun intended).

If we’re in the mood for moans and cries, we’ll have to go to reality shows, like the Bachelor.  I saw more sadness and tears there than I’ve seen in the news in a year.

The Trouble with New Beginnings

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apollo “You must change your life.” I’ve had this aphorism* as a screensaver, on my mobile, taped to the wall, and scrawled in various places for years. It’s an admonition to myself that things can be different, if only I try. Hard enough. 

That’s the bugger—try hard enough. As one year draws to a close and another raises its Medusean head, many of us think about our new year’s resolutions. I know when I was much younger, I’d labor over my list. I can recite most of them from memory because they appeared year after year: lose weight, study French, write a novel, save money and budget the rest, exercise by jogging and biking, exercise by stretching or dancing, catch up on photo albums, clean a cupboard/closet/drawer regularly. 

And like most everyone else, my resolutions lasted a week or two, then were cached until the next year. So I stopped making resolutions. 

The truth is habit does so much more to help us reach our goals than mere pledges. Years ago following a lecture by my dentist, I started flossing daily. The health of my gums skyrocketed. About four years ago, I instituted a daily writing regime and since them have tripled my output. Day after day, week after week, whether I feel like flossing or writing, I do it. And I’ve gotten results.

So this year I’ll look at my motto daily and think about changing my life. But I don’t have out-sized expectations. Transformations may be miniscule but they’ll be cumulative. And habitual. 

*From Rilke’s poem, ‘Archaic Torso of Apollo’: The poet, studying with the sculptor Rodin, gained insight into fleshy, solid, physical forms and applied these to his writing. Viewing this famous statue, he used it as an admonition to himself.

 

What’s a Family?

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familyfriends2A generation ago, defining a “family” was easy. Husband, wife, children, occasionally along with close relatives as peripheral subjects. Today, not so easy. We have same-sex parents, single parents, substitute families that include friends, many families that include no children at all. I have to wonder if, in the past, we just ignored those people who didn’t fit into our template of “family,” for I know there were half-orphans and orphans as well as pairs of “good friends” whose exact relationships went undefined.

Now people are stepping up and speaking out to create their own families. The best definition I’ve heard, although the least exact, is a family is whatever we define as “family,” much the same as “art.” While this vagueness makes categorization a challenge to non-members of a family (so do I hug my second cousin’s roommate as if he were a blood relative or politely shake his hand?), and certainly hasn’t been adequately dealt with by insurance benefits officers, it seems a wise move in a time when we need every connection we can lay our hands on.

We no longer have tribes on whom we can depend to provide routines, rituals, safety nets. I have a number of single friends getting along in years who face difficult decisions about their own care as well as eventual disposal of their assets and ashes. Even more important for day-to-day living, who celebrates our birthdays and holidays with us? A Facebook greeting is an inadequate substitute for a glass of cheer. So we cobble together our own families out of whichever acquaintances have something in common with us and can tolerate us. And vice versa.

Which brings me to a novel I read recently about an unusual family comprised of an older sister who suddenly becomes her eleven-year-old half-brother’s guardian after the death of his mother. In Fin & Lady, by Cathleen Schine, set in the 60s and 70s, these two manage to create a real family, supplemented by three suitors for the sister’s hand, and eased by the relative wealth they’ve inherited. I really like novels that feature families, maybe because I’m still trying to figure out my own. The tribulations brother and sister face rise in the main from their own struggles to grow up and learn who they are, in the end trumped, as we all are, by the vagaries of dispassionate fate. If you’re looking for a book with fascinating, real characters writing their own life stories as best they can, this is it. It may give you hope about your own path.