OLD SCHOOL IN THE AGE OF FACEBOOK

As a writer, trying to build a platform on facebook is like spitting in the ocean. If he were alive today, would Faulkner tweet?

Reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Swedish film version of Stieg Larsson's, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo inspired me to buy the books that make up the trilogy. The hype has been so overwhelming about the author, his life, his writing and his untimely death. I've finished the first book and I'm about to launch into the second. While I found the characters compelling enough to forge ahead with the reading, had I not seen the film and knew what was coming, I might have shelved the book for another, more patient day. I thought the story got bogged down several times in the minutia of the publishing and financial industries. Germane, certainly, but wearying at times.

During my viewing of the film, a woman in the theater shouted, "Yeah!" when Lisbeth took her revenge on Bjurman. My friend said he felt like a willing participant in her violent attack against him. Salander is the great avenger. Without remorse, she commits violence against the violent. It's been said by others that she's a heroine for our times. Scary thought given her anti social behavior and capacity for brutality. But she's smart and calculating and capable of carrying out a plan under incredible stress. She's almost completely shut down emotionally and maybe that's what makes her so effective in her ability to take revenge. These must be qualities a lot of people admire but lack.

While I loved the film, I can't say that I loved the book. I know that puts me in a small, worldwide minority. I have one, possibly silly question: Why are people always making, drinking or talking about making and drinking coffee in the book? Is this leading somewhere in the next book or is this just a Swedish thing?

SPRING AT LAST

It felt as though Spring would never come. Then I woke up and looked out my bedroom window and the lilacs had bloomed.

FACE CULTURE

I had never heard the expression 'face culture' before a friend used it to describe the people in his hometown. Apparently it means the common practice of telling someone what you think they want to hear whether or not you mean it or believe it. I've experienced this but had never known there was an anthropological term for it.

How many times have you been greeted by a friend with, "Hi. You look great!" You might have just come from a round of chemo therapy or a four day, alcoholic binge and you look like something the cat dragged in but your friend tells you that you look great. Or there's the ubiquitous remark, "Have a nice day" when you really don't care if someone has a nice day or gets hit by a bus. This is face culture at its most benign. At one time or another we've all been victims or perpetrators of it.

It could be said that these niceties hold the fabric of society together. We ingratiate ourselves to others by these remarks. Conversely you could say that deceit and hypocrisy are the unmaking of social order. If we can't believe what our own friends tell us, then who can we believe. OK, so I've taken it to the extreme but why don't we all stop saying things we don't mean? Where's the harm in that? I wouldn't mind a little less face culture.

PAINTINGS BY CHERYL ERNST WELLS

Work from 2006 through 2008

MAY SUGGESTED READING

HARD TIMES or BLEAKHOUSE by Charles Dickens, B&N Classics Publishing

MIDDLESEX by Jeffrey Eugenides, Picador, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishers

FREAKONOMICS by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Harper Collins Publishers

Let me know what you think.

DEFINE SUCCESS FOR ME

Three years ago I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. I've been a professional songwriter since I was seventeen but I had never tried to write prose. In the ensuing three years I have written two novels, a novelette and a number of short stories. I love to write. I don't deceive myself into thinking that I'm a great writer, but I can tell an interesting story.

Four months ago I joined a writer's group here in Colorado Springs, as much for social reasons as for creative discourse. There is no critique process of our writing and most of our discussions involve marketing, social networking, blogging and self promotion. I don't have a problem with all of that, but we never discuss the creative process, that elusive spark that drives us to put word to paper. I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse in these meetings and I'm thinking of quitting.

All my creative efforts have been born out of a need for self expression, narcissistic as that may seem. A fellow writer said that we never know when our creative endeavors will inspire another person to begin their own creative search. To me, that would be my greatest success. While I'm not against recognition or monetary reward for creative work, I feel these should never be the impetus for creativity. I'm not suggesting art for art's sake, but writing simply to make a buck or see your name in print is cheap. It's word pollution and the world is awash in that these days. I choose to embrace the idea that my writing is like the sound of one hand clapping and if a breath of air flows from it then I've succeeded.