a diary of thoughts, today being the first day of the rest of this weblife

March 23

Today, I changed the title of my book (I’m writing) from
Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies to
Rebel Thinker Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies.

So I think and ask: Who is a true rebel and not simply one of the usual street parliamentarians or anti-disestablishmentarians?

And today I created this website after having decided to collect all the chapters of that book into one gathering place as I upload them. And I numbered them too, so I/you can follow them easily.

Osho (tow.charityfocus.org):
The nonconformist is a reactionary; he acts out of anger, rage, violence and ego. His action is not based in consciousness. … The rebel acts with a tremendous balance, and that is not possible without awareness, alertness, and immense compassion. It is not a reaction, it is an action – not against the old, but for the new.

Action, not simply words. Practice, not simply theory.

Instinctively, I think I have always been a non-conformist. I just like different. But against is not my style.

Kevin Spurgaitis (April 6, 2003, findarticles.com): Nobel winner evokes ‘rebel’s spirit’:
Adolfo Perez Esquivel toured Toronto and Ottawa in March, addressing globalization, militarization and the non-violent struggle for peace in lectures hosted by KAIROS, the Canadian group for ecumenical justice initiatives. ¶ ‘We have to get up and have a rebellious spirit, a rebellious consciousness, because if we don’t have that, we won’t be able to change anything.’

I’m interested in the non-violence part.

Question: How do you stop rebelliousness from degenerating into chaos, into violence on the masses? It’s a risk the rebels have to take.

Blogger Gregor Teodorescu:
‘The true rebel is never against the present situation but for the better alternative’ (a one-line entry in his blogsite ‘Direct Thinking,’ July 2007, blog.gregordirect.com).

Question: Who decides which is the better alternative? That reminds me that in the Philippines, where I am, they are using the pollsters as the gauge of wisdom in running the country. Like George W Bush said, we don’t run this country by polling opinion.

FamousPainter.com:
‘Claude (Monet) went to study at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but being a true rebel as always, rejected the school’s traditional attitudes towards art (famouspainter.com), and left to study at the Academie Suisse, where he further refined his skills and met with fellow artists Camille Pissarro and Gustave Courbet.

Those who refuse to accept change become the enemies of progress.

Ben McConnell (July 12, 2007, churchofthecustomer.com):
Consider some of the more famous rebels in recent time: Marlon Brando, Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul Newman, or even Herb Kelleher. Their genius has been to create their own paths against the grain of common expectations. They defied convention because their vision was powerful enough to illuminate new paths for the rest of us to follow. Not everything they tried was successful but on the balance, they’ve come out ahead. One thing we can always rely on from our iconic rebels is intellectual honesty. To them, truth is absolute, even if it isn’t always comfortable or convenient. The iconic rebels stay true to truth.

This is what I know of those rebels:
Marlon Brando with his own brand of acting,
Pablo Picasso with his own brand of painting,
Bob Dylan with his own brand of active music,
John Lennon with his own brand of musical activism,
Paul Newman with his own brand of charity,
Herb Kelleher with his own brand of caring for his company and clients.

Unconnected connected thoughts:
Passive resistance. Jose Rizal, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau,
Is Barack Obama a true rebel? The politics of rebellion
Joey de Venecia, a true rebel? The politics of rejection
Joseph Estrada? He’s a true, absurd rebel.

March 24

i’m writing right on the post window (not my wont) of my wordpress website ‘the rebel thinker’ and i’m using my hp compaq c700 notebook and it’s not so easy to press the shift key, so i’m typing all lowercase.

about the fact that yesterday, i uploaded chapter 4 of my book and announced to the world that i have created a new mantra for creative thinking for creative writing – PS – i want to put on record that i did not set out to write that chapter with inventing a new mantra in mind; it just happened, which is to say that in my way of thinking creatively, i must be doing something right. (by the way, this book is itself a work-in-progress show&telling of my brand X of serendipity writing.)

This is Chapter 4 of my book Rebel Thinker Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies (Chapter 3 is ‘Serendipity X,’ frankahilario.com). This new chapter is about how I can teach you to start writing with a great idea when you have no idea to begin with in the first place!

I want the best for you. And how am I going to give you that? Today, I shall give you a mantra, the likes of which you’ve never seen before – and neither have I, since I just invented it today – the magic of which you don’t have to imagine after this. I was creative without the mantra, but now that it’s here, I might as well employ it to enjoy it more myself.

A mantra is a word, a chant, an incantation, or a magic spell. So, let me create some atmosphere, as in a circus. I imagine great writing is a great circus act where there is always magic.

We’re into science, but since I’m writing about creative writing, we can learn from being creative even from those in the arts. ‘The Artist’s Way’ is the million-dollar technique that Julia Cameron teaches in her book of that same title; Julia’s way to creativity is for you to write in your journal at your ‘best’ time of day, and to be religious about the habit. The book is a million-copy bestseller (artistswayatwork.com). The lesson? Creative writing is yours if you want it.

What’s in a name? That which we call blogging by any other name would be journaling. Journaling by itself is getting to be a habit in religion, with Ms Luann Budd, Professor of the San Jose State University in California encouraging the youth to write their own spiritual journals, coming out with her book Journal Keeping: Writing For Spiritual Growth (Karen Anne C Liquete, Manila Bulletin, March 19, 2008, E-1; read more of it here in journalkeeping.org). With Luann, learning to write has just become essentially learning to grow in the Holy Spirit – a most creative way. The lesson? Creative writing is as spiritual as you make it.

Luann says:

If we write about our problems, we may come up with solutions that never occurred to us until we wrote about (them). I think that our brains are a little like computers and problems can fill up our RAM and keep us from being able to process information. When we write about our problems, we are freeing up RAM. We can think more clearly about our problems.

I like Luann’s metaphor of the RAM (random access memory) for the brain, because if your computer’s RAM fills up, your Windows freezes and you can’t do anything until you stop everything and start all over again – Reboot!

I must say, with serenpendity, Luann Budd has discovered a new entry point to writing in a manner creative, and that is spirituality, in which traveling the road is re-creative.

The most important thing is to just start writing … (we’ll) figure out what (we) need to write about as (we) go. It’s funny how once we start keeping a journal, ideas for what we want to write about will come to mind as we are doing other things – like taking a shower or doing the dishes. The best way to start is to just begin – once we see the benefit it brings to us, we’ll want to continue the practice.

That book was published in 2002. I just surfed and found in amazon.com that there are other journaling-for-spiritual-growth books out there. This one targets the youth, since Luann has a Youth Ministry for New Life Covenant Church in San Jose, California. I can see that before this decade ends, any number of journaling young readers will come out with their own books that will surprise the world.

Me, I’m 68 and anyway I’m too lazy to keep a journal going, even if I can easily type everything on my laptop computer – I’ve been typing for half a century now, starting with my laptop typewriter, and I’m a touch-typist and the fastest I’ve seen. You don’t need the computer to come out with a great idea. (To come out with a great essay? That’s a different story.) I know because I’ve never run out of ideas since high school just a little more than 50 years ago; I know I’m crazily, happily creative – so I’d like to share with you my technique for generating one after another ideas for the beginning of a great article (even if it’s only a tentative title, or theme, or topic, or theory, or assumption, or subject, or focus). That is to say, what I always do is this: To generate ideas, I make one paradigm shift after another.

And how do I do that? The process I’ve already called ‘Serendipity X,’ my fooling around with ideas to come up creative. I play with my mind like my mind plays tricks on me when I’m sleeping: I’m flying, I’m dying, I’m having a wet dream, I’m doing this or that which I do not do when I’m awake – and most of the time I enjoy my dreams. Your mind is creative when you allow it to be. If you have doubts that my Serendipity X works, my creation of the mantra itself should be proof enough.

Serendipity is accidental creativity; how exactly do I make Serendipity X, or incidental creativity, work for me? What’s my device? How do I summon my X Muse? What’s my technique?

First, let me tell you about Ray Bradbury, who prompts his creative instincts using word association, working with unrelated words that don’t make sense being simply listed one after the other, and then he makes sense of it all by linking the words in a story out of the blue, even out of this world. Like listing the words crocodile blue cause road trick mat shine like that and making up a story going like, ‘It was a blue crocodile that caused a road to sag and a trick to run, that is, to make the mat shine’ – you’re beginning to get a hang of it.

I admire him for his imagination and his language; I can’t forget his ‘Live forever!’

I had been to see Mr Electrico the night before. When he reached me, he pointed his sword at my head and touched my brow. The electricity rushed down the sword, inside my skull, made my hair stand up and sparks fly out of my ears. He then shouted at me, ‘Live forever!’ (raybradbury.com)

Come to think of it, although I have given it neither a name nor described it as a teachable, workable method till now, my creativity technique is the exact opposite of Ray Bradbury’s word association – I shall describe it here as word dissociation, where with a group of related words (ideas for the article), I change perspective and the thought that comes out is (ultimately) sensible but has been neither directly suggested nor made obvious by any of the earlier ideas. You don’t get it? Don’t worry; I have many examples, below.

Thinking more, writing better, how to make writing about technology a little more creative, popularizing science: I am enthralled and enthused by it all. It is not only the science, not only the sense, but more so that seduction, that attraction, and in the proper atmosphere even that fecal attraction – and that’s not bullshit. You can make excellent compost using horse manure, or fish feed out of poultry manure. And I can teach you how to make an excellent essay out of unattractive information that others would rather pass by. Your feat is my faith.

In the title, I did write, ‘PS, I love you.’ It happens that that is one of the most likeable songs of the Beatles, and I like the Beatles; they did not originate the quotable quote, but, according to IanMotha:

It’s been said that ‘PS, I Love You’ was the greatest Beatles song, because in this song (is) everything the Beatles (used): their span, 7ths, minors, half steps and the Great vocal harmony between Lennon (and) McCartney.

I don’t understand music, but I understand that song. And that just happens to be the mantra I promised you: ‘PS, I love you.’ You see, this title of a song is also an acronym. It means, ‘Paradigm shift, I look over you, the obvious.’ Paradigm shift because to move from a critical to a creative mode, you have to change your point of view – already, the comedians do that, each joke being a fillip of the mind. I look over the obvious (that is, the logical) because that brings you back to the need to suspend your belief in the workings of the logical mind (critical spirit) and anchor your faith in the creative spirit. You have to believe!

That brings us to Edward de Bono’s device for creative thinking, the ‘Po’ (see also my ‘To All The Dummies In The World. Or, De Bono Debugged,’ frankahilario.com). In a brainstorming session, with others or with you alone, you say ‘Po’ and change the mood so that everyone accepts even outlandish, crazy ideas to help you come up with a brilliant one. I first read about ‘Po,’ thanks to my good friend Orli Ochosa’s gift to me of de Bono’s book The Mechanism Of Mind, in 1975. I thought it was one man’s great contribution to the art of creative thinking.

Some 33 years later, I’m going to make my own contribution to creative thinking, beginning with science writing. Today, March 21, Good Friday, marks a death, the end of the earthly existence of a Great Mind Above All Others, that of Jesus Christ, which set off a paradigm shift from death to life. I’m glad to announce that today marks a birth, that of a humble sound, ‘PS’ (derived from ‘PS, I love you’), which I hope will at will start a paradigm shift from a despaired mood of thinking called critical to an inspired mood of thinking called creative, from life to more life. The difference is like this: If you call for truth, you are critical; if you call for fruit, you are creative. Beyond truth, PS is beyond Po; it is also much simpler – almost, yes, literal.

PS is my new theory; PS is your new practice.

I look at science writing as fulfilling a need, but not simply filling a real or imagined lack of knowledge. Remembering that, for your PS practice, I give you now quite a number of examples of thinking with a mantra, each numbered paragraph being of two major parts, each one being a paradigm shift. The first part is your possible topic, or theme, or theory, or assumption, or subject, or focus transformed as a lack of (‘Lo’) – that’s the first PS. The second part is made up of questions and/or assertions that further change your point of view and should give you more ideas how and what to write about – that’s the second PS. That is to say, ‘PS’ is the device and ‘Lo’ is the trigger for the PS to happen. I guarantee it.

Remember, you are writing for the poor. You are a popularizer of science or technology in a specific society; you are going to write about the theory & practice of informational, or political, or economic, or social, or environmental, or natural science in that particular society such as about the lack of (Lo):

(1) Lo family planning. PS: Don’t look at me – I have 12 children, 1 wife, zero extra-marital affairs. We have a very small house, about 100 square meters floor space; that’s not overpopulation, is it? Look at the US and Japan; they have millions of poor, don’t they, and they are not overpopulated, are they? It’s a poor writer who blames poverty to the numbers, not the system. Rather, think about how the system can be changed and write about that. And where does change begin? With the one who wants change to begin.

(2) Lo access to media. PS: What about Lo appeal to media? Have you in fact written about your science (hardware or software) as a package that is as attractive to media as it can be? If the media are not paying attention to you, you are not paying attention to them. How about Lo appeal to the poor who are your target readers? To make the poor pay attention to you, pay attention to them first.

(3) Lo retention in memory. PS: Are you teaching them simply to memorize, or are you teaching them to learn how to do it themselves (hands-on), to learn how to think for themselves (heads-on)? Teach a man how to memorize, and he’ll have a word for a day; teach a man how to learn, and he’ll have knowledge for a lifetime.

(4) Lo books. PS: Is the need really for more books or is it for more people to want to know more? Is the problem lack of reading materials or the lack of a reading culture? Do you build a bigger library of books or a bigger library of CDs and more PCs connected to the Internet? The need for books is nothing compared to the need for learning.

(5) Lo credibility of the village leader. PS: What do you mean by credibility? Can you differentiate credibility from integrity? Is low credibility the problem at all? You’re assuming that those who question the credibility of the leader have credibility themselves, have integrity. It takes a village to know a leader.

(6) Lo ambition among the people. PS: When did low ambition of poor people get in the way of village growth or, for that matter, high ambition of rich people? It does not necessarily mean that the poor have low ambition in life. Everything is relative; so is ambition.

(7) Lo knowledge of the technology. PS: You are assuming that the people would wish to use your technology if they knew more about it. Write if you can about a technology that was adopted by more people after they learned more about it. Can you compare the new with the old? Is the technology coming from above, or from a need? If you cannot relate to the need, you cannot relate to the people.

(8) Lo capital. PS: Big businessman or small farmer, the problem may be lack of access to credit. How can the poor farmer have access to credit without collateral? Change the problem: Let the village be his collateral – in the person of a credit union or a cooperative. Is capital the problem or the entrepreneur himself? I know of someone back home holding 100 titles of land himself and cannot raise capital.

(9) Lo education. PS: Lack of education is a convenient excuse for failure to market science in a village. Failing to convince them of the value of your technology, you may have been talking to them in the wrong language – talking above their head, or not having understood their need at all. It takes a villager to know a village.

(10) Lo supply of affordable fertilizer. PS: Why not make your own organic fertilizer? Do you need to fertilize the soil at all? What about raising crops that do not need those fancy and expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides? You cannot equate your expensive taste with that of poor farmers.

(11) Lo feeds for poultry or livestock. PS: What about substitute ingredients in the feeds? What about not growing those imported species and instead raising native chickens and pigs? In business, they would call that reducing risk.

(12) Lo poultry manure for composting into organic fertilizer. PS: Do you need composting at all? Why not practice green manuring, that is to say, mix the soil and vegetation on top of the earth so that it makes an on-the-spot organic fertilizer? No additional expenses. For those who have the entrepreneurial spirit, they can market the green-manured soil as a different kind of fertilizer. Or a different kind of soil.

(13) Lo quality of produce. PS: Is the use of science-recommended planting materials the solution? What about postharvest handling? What about looking for a market for low-quality produce – such as transforming it into a consumer product where quality can be added? If you cannot solve a problem, change the problem.

(14) Lo rate of passing. PS: Are the teachers to blame for teaching poorly or the students for learning badly? Why insist on teaching in the national language when English is the universal, intellectual, commercial language? Unless of course you don’t want the people to learn more than they already know.

(15) Lo germination percentage. PS: Is there an economic advantage where 95 seeds germinate out of 100 and where only 75 germinate? Is the seed the best way to plant the crop at all? This adage is not true: ‘Kung ano ang puno ay siya ang bunga.’ ‘The fruit is what the tree is.’ False. From seeds of sweet mango, you can get sour mango. That’s genetics and it’s not debatable.

(16) Lo high yield. PS: Why is it that plant breeders insist that farmers plant the highest-yielding varieties of all? If with a high yield the farmer becomes rich, why are there so few rich farmers? The problem with economists is that they are always after the maximum and expect that to be sustainable!

(17) Lo communication between science and clientele. PS: Are the communicators talking the language of the farmers and yet are not communicating at all? Do the communicators expect that after one article, one brochure and one visit, the farmer will wholeheartedly embrace the new technology? Communicator, remember that you are not talking to the farmer alone – you are talking to him and his family. Are you listening?

(18) Lo good moral character of farmer creditors. PS: Many farmers have so far refused to repay their loans. Are you sure it’s not the negative attitude toward borrowed money or toward borrowing from the government? If you make borrowing easy, you make paying difficult.

(19) Lo number of Internet searches about farming. PS: What about people’s knowledge of technical terms? What about the store of knowledge being difficult to understand even by other scientists, much less by the farmers themselves? Communication is too serious a matter to be left to scientists alone.

(20) Lo vocabulary. PS: If you want to be a good writer, the popular advice is that you should build a good vocabulary. They say that goes with public speaking, teaching. Not anymore, if you are computer literate, what with the dictionary and the thesaurus available online. Nowadays, I’m never off the desk using my new HP Compaq Presario notebook clicking on the shortcut icon for American Heritage (Microsoft Bookshelf 2000), which is a dictionary, and Encarta 2007 (Microsoft 2007), which has a thesaurus. You use the dictionary to find the meaning of a word; you use the thesaurus to find a synonym of a word; more importantly, to look for a related word in a particular field such as hammer & nail in carpentry and stock & scion in horticulture (see the Roget’s Thesaurus near you). As a writer, your vocabulary is not a problem if already it includes curiosity.

(21) Lo technology. PS: What do you mean by technology anyway? Do you know if the technology currently used has no competitive advantage at all? Do you know where it is different, where it is deficient? What does it mean for the user to shuck the old in favor of the new? What does the technology mean to the village where it is being introduced? Borrowing from Marshall McLuhan, remember that the technology is the message.

(22) Lo reading materials in the village. PS: If some people brought in more, will the villagers read more and the students learn more science? You cannot learn science in a vacuum – if people are not relating to your science, you are not relating to the people.

(23) Lo one-stop reference online. If you cause to be created the My Milky Way website, will farmers flock to the Internet and learn to raise goats for milk to drink or sell? Is My Milky Way using the language of the target villagers or that which technical people use to talk to each other? If the people are not relating to the website, the website is not relating to them.

(24) Lo interest of youth in technical courses. PS: Is the problem that of certain youth or that of the society itself because society looks down on graduates of vocational courses as belonging to a class lower than that of a secretary in an air-conditioned office? We get the youth that we deserve.

(25) Lo computers. PS: It’s lack of access, not lack of PCs. If people in villages lack access to computers, I attribute it to lack of imagination. And why is that? Some people don’t know how to package a proposal so that their village center or school will be computerized in almost no time at all and with very little expense and effort on their part. There are many local and international donors and funding agencies. All you have to do is learn how to ask.

(26) Lo mass media cooperation. PS: Are the media people educated on your art or science? Have they heard from your office or project at all? Have you related your product or service to them? Ask the eternal question: ‘What’s in it for you?’ Translation: ‘What’s in it for them?’ Remember, the media people have to be taught too.

(27) Lo people power to improve their own lives. PS: Are you sure empowerment is the answer? Using Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you must then first help satisfy the people’s physiological needs, then satisfy their safety needs, then satisfy their needs of love, affection and belongingness, then satisfy their needs for esteem, and then and only then satisfy their need for ‘self-actualization.’ Otherwise, you’re simply irrelevant.

(28) Lo competence in implementing a project. PS: In the first place, what are your criteria for measuring competence? Has the project been initiated by the people or by the experts, then merely handed over to the people, expecting a miracle in management? If the student has not learned, the teacher has not taught.

(29) Lo confidence of villagers in themselves. PS: Lack of confidence comes from either ignorance or bullying. How to fight ignorance? Education. PS: How to fight the bullying, the prejudice? Good question! Remember also: Bullying sometimes come from the experts in an atmosphere called consultancy.

(30) Lo intelligence of readers. PS: That depends on how you look at intelligence – single intelligence (measured as intelligence quotient or IQ, as propounded by Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman), or multiple intelligences (measured as linguistic, spatial, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist, existential, as propounded by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner). If you look at intelligence only one way, then intelligence is not one of your virtues.

‘PS, I love you’ is all about thinking creatively, not simply thinking critically. In your writing, always think to be productive, not counter-productive. Think to be constructive, not destructive. At the very least, think to be inventive, but not invective.

In the arts or sciences, working in any mass medium, your greatest contribution to society is your thinking, which is ultimately reflected in your essay, editorial, commentary, column, blog. The writer’s fate is writing; this writer’s faith is thinking the best.

Disorder out of disorder? Yes. That’s the way I know creative thinking begins, with something that is seemingly un-pregnant with the promise of a brainchild. Once you accept that, your days as an un-creative writer are over. Then you will be the father of a brainchild one after another. Prolific. Terrific!

Welcome Serendipity X, the Serendipity Muse on call. Let x equals the unknown equals chaos equals creativity. I write this time about creativity 24/7, x’ing unlimited. Unknown becoming quantity first, then quietly transforming into quality. Structure giving birth to substance. X’ing is creative thinking like you’ve never known before. Serendipity eXtreme. To x or not to x, that is the (creative) question!

We begin with chaos. I am the Author of Chaos. In creating the universe as we know it, didn’t God the Great Creative start with chaos?

And the waters of chaos were upon the face of the depth, and God hovered upon the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light, and the waters were illuminated. And God saw that it was good.

God didn’t like chaos, but to be creative He had to start with it. We mere creatures must go do likewise. So we have to create chaos. The thieves create chaos in order to steal, the politicians in order to divide and conquer, the mathematicians in order to be able to plot order, and our enemies in order to weaken our defenses. So why not writers and thinkers to create chaos and master it for their own purposes?

According to Englishman Horace Walpole, who invented the word in 1754, Serendipity is ‘accidental sagacity’ (Richard Boyle, 2000, livingheritage.org), that is, making a discovery when you’re not out making any discovery. So I say Serendipity is unconscious creativity, accidental genius, finding something wonderful when you’re not out looking for something wonderful. Great! Serendipitously, I have come up with my own; I say Serendipity X is conscious creativity, deliberate genius, actively searching for bright ideas by way of controlled chaos. As I shall show you in this essay, chaos is the raw material for creativity. With Serendipity X, bits and pieces of the confusion become the sparks of genius.

In fact, ‘Serendipity X’ is merely a new name for what I have been doing for the last 20 years or so, fooling around with ideas in what I happen to be writing, editing or reviewing (see my ‘PC Fools,’ frankahilario.com). So I know that Serendipity X is more creative than Edward De Bono’s Lateral Thinking, that which I have studied myself, and more promising than Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping, that which I have seen at work. Indeed, it is more exciting than Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and less exhausting, as there is no daily journaling required at the self-appointed time, and any time you’re at it, Serendipity X gives you creative, quality time.

In Serendipity X, handled with an impossible mix of credulity and incredulity, chaos becomes creative chaos. You don’t have to be crazy, but it works!

So now, let me illustrate to you what I mean by that using a true-to-life example. I happen to have just finished my first draft of an annual report for the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB); it had taken me 7 days, from Valentine’s Day, to gather notes, create an outline, improve on that, and improve on that some more, and more, to arrive at my first complete draft. And on the 9^th day, today, February 22, as I write these lines, I come up with the name ‘Serendipity X’ to put a short & sweet tag to everything that I’ve been doing. Yes, it just so happens that Serendipity X is born on the same day People Power was born, both events major and minor reflecting a coming to terms, liberation from the shackles of thinking like slaves, thinking inside the box. People Power liberated a country from a dictatorship of the elite with the formula of government; Serendipity X liberates the writer from a dictatorship of any formula of writing.

And yes, my coming up with its name shows that Serendipity X works like a charm. My previous drafts of this essay had the brief titles of first, ‘Creator Of Chaos,’ then ‘Author Of Chaos,’ and nothing mentioned about Serendipity.

So, we begin with my chaotic notes for that annual report (excerpts only):

MY FIRST CHAOS

Biotech
People. PhD 23, MS 26, BS 50, undergraduate 38
Awards 8
Publications. 29 poster papers, 3 papers in scientific conference, 1 ISI journal paper, 1 refereed journal paper, 1 paper in proceedings
Commercially available biotech products: Bio-N, Mykovam, Mycogroe, Mycobead, Nitroplus, Bio-Green, Cocogroe, Brown Magic, mycorrhizal root inoculant
Animal probiotics
Virgin coconut oil
Plant diagnostic Kit
Ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis membranes from nata de coco

Programs
1. agriculture and forestry
Microbial-based fertilizers
Discovery/development of microorganisms that enhance use of water, carbon dioxide, nutrient uptake and mobilization, soil aggregate formation and under stress conditions
2. food, feeds and specialty products
Animal feed ingredients and additives
Enzymes for different applications
3. industrial and environmental biotechnology
Waste treatment, eg, decolorization of effluents from distilleries
Bioethanol – strains tolerant to high alcohol and temperature
Biodiesel
4. bioinformatics and drug discovery
Exploration of new metabolites of therapeutic value
Isolation of lead antimicrobial compounds from microorganisms
5. communication and technology commercialization
Houses activities related to technology transfer / commercialization and exchange of information between researchers and target users or beneficiaries
Improves structure of information service

College of Agriculture
Gearing for the UP centennial
Publication of CA Almanac (coffee-table book) deferred to give way to Dr Bernardo’s twin history books
A permanent CA home by 2008. The CA Building Fund Raising Project has raised P183,300 and $600, with pledges to P1.5 million and $400.
Hibiscus. Released in 2007: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Nelia T Gonzalez,’ ‘Emerlinda R Roman’ and ‘Estrella F Alabastro.’ Mussaenda ‘Emerlinda R Roman.’

Strengthening the pillars of distinctive excellence. 1. People
1. Retooling of CA REPS/Faculty in support of recognized CA themes / programs. Shelved in deference to the external review of CA reorganization
2. empowering CA REPS/Faculty to publish (thru systematic mentoring program)
3. institutionalize award system and build-up endowment fund to recognize outstanding performance of faculty, REPS, administrative staff and students – [ ]

Excerpts. How do you like that! My initial notes for the annual report came up to 36 pages single-spaced, more than 9000 words (almost 3 times longer than this essay), everything typed by me – and that was not complete. I had to read the individual reports and jot down notes some more.

Why do I use my own hands to type my own notes? They go to my head. And when they do, I can digest them. That’s using my head using my hands, two necessary steps toward creativity, using the memory of the eyes and the memory of the mind. If you want to be a good writer, you have to be a good typist; if you want to be a better writer, you have to learn word processing (worping). With worping, the software becomes your second mind, with which you can graduate to creative chaos.

CHAOS AND MORE CHAOS

So, how do I write the report based on that chaotic mass of notes? First, while gathering those notes, I was actually also creating an outline (the lines in bold are headings):

Biotech
Programs

College of Agriculture
Gearing for the UP centennial
Strengthening the pillars of distinctive excellence. 1. People
Strengthening the pillars of distinctive excellence. 2. Resources
3. Environment
DE contributions to nation-building

College of Arts & Sciences
Centennial
People
Resources
Environment
Nation building
College DE (1M fund)
Other programs / projects

College of Development Communication
Centennial
People
Resources
Environment
Nation building
College of Engineering and Agricultural Technology
Centennial

College of Economics & Management
Centennial
People
Environment
College DE program (1M) – no remarks

College of Forestry and Natural Resources
Gearing up for the Centennial
People
Resources
Nation building
College DE Program (1M Fund)
Other programs / projects

College of Human Ecology
People
Environment
DE Program
Other programs

CPAf
Centennial
People
Environment
Nation building
Other programs

CVM
Centennial
People
Resource
Environment
Nation building
DE Program (1M)
Other programs /projects

OAR
Centennial

OIL
Resources

OUR 2
Resources

OVCCA
Resources
Environment

OVCI
Environment

OVCRE, Biotech, OICA
People

SESAM
Centennial
People
Resources
Environment
Nation building
DE Program
Other programs / projects [ ]

That’s the first complete outline of my notes for the annual report. So far, so good? You’re getting the hang of chaos. Actually, it’s not as chaotic as many of the entries are repetitive of each other, suggesting how they can be reorganized.

If you can now get an idea how to write the report at this stage, congratulate yourself. But you’ve hardly begun.

Now, I knew my outline above was not final but it was necessary to start with something, anything, to help the ideas flowing in my head out of the information I was trying to absorb. In other words, I had had to read my notes and digest all those bits and pieces of knowledge coming from the different units of the University, tagging them to find out later all their similarities and differences.

With that, the creative work had barely begun.

FROM CHAOS TO SOME ORDER

Now, I will show you what I came up with in my first attempt to create a new outline using the old outline (above):

Introduction
The UPLB 3-Year Plan (2005-2008)
Our vision
Our core value
Our niches

Contributing to the UP Centennial Celebration
Nurturing People
Developing Resources
Enhancing The Environment
Exhorting Partnerships
Core Fields/Areas
Agriculture
Biotechnology
Environment
Looking Into The Future [ ]

Much shorter and completely different from the previous outline. Now, where on earth did I get such an outline? Traveling the road of Serendipity X, the active pursuit of insight. I gained insights as I read my notes again and again and tried to squeeze the essence of all those disparate parts, even as I kept tagging and retagging and reviewing and revising my outline and kept doing other things in between. I also had to relax. That took about 3 days.

And then that outline would disappear, as you will see shortly. That’s the fate of all outlines in any creative process, but especially in Serendipity X.

THE BEGINNING OF A MANUSCRIPT

Then I had the real beginning of a full-pledged manuscript with this new and different outline:

Keeping An Eye On The Vision, Teamworking For The Mission

UPLB Contributing To The UP Centennial Celebration

Distinctive Excellence (College Level)

Strengthening The Pillars Of Distinctive Excellence
1. Nurturing People – staff
2. Developing Resources – structures and systems
3. Enhancing The Academic Environment – students
4. Exhorting Partnerships
5. Cultivating Entrepreneurship – UPLB CTTE
6. Contributing To Nation Building – incl publications
7. Cultivating Core Fields/Areas
Agriculture
Biotechnology
Environment

Looking Into The Future [ ]

While writing, I viewed that outline again and again and it went through many reincarnations, and it had changed much when I had completed my first draft.

MY FIRST DRAFT (OUTLINE)

(Title)
UP Los Baños 2007
Celebrating UP Centennial
Cerebrating Distinctive Excellence

(Introduction)
Keeping An Eye On The Vision, Teamworking For The Mission

(A) UPLB Contributing To The UP Centennial Celebration

(B) Strengthening The Pillars Of Distinctive Excellence

B1. Nurturing People
Faculty
REPS
Administrative Staff
Tenure

B2. Developing Resources
Income generation
Structural improvement
Systems & resources enhancement
Repair & maintenance

B3. Enhancing The Academic Environment
Courses & classes
Scholarship & thesis support
Recruitment & admission
Reviews & tutorials
Student welfare

(C) Nurturing Minds & Cultivating Relationships

C1. Enriching Knowledge, Improving Skills
Publications
Websites
Intellectual property rights
Basic research
Non-degree training program
Ugnayan ng Pahinungod
Conferences / forums / symposia

C2. Fostering Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship & intellectual property

C3. Contributing To Nation Building
Management of natural resources
Biofuels & forest products
Science & Technology Park
Gender
Culture and the arts

C4. Exploring & Enhancing Partnerships
Pursuing active linkages
Technical assistance & training
Alternative energy

(D) Looking Forward

D1. Reviewing Today

D2. Looking To Tomorrow
Grand reunions
Structural & systemic growth
Plans
Proposals
The Future [ ]

If you ask me, it’s not yet perfect but it’s looking much better now. You have just seen the miracle of Serendipity X. Now, don’t forget that my creative outlining had much to do with my writing from chaos to first draft.

MY OUTLINING, YOUR OUTLINING

Since about 20 years ago, outlining using software has been the open secret to my productivity for other people and my creativity for myself. I have been using Word in all its incarnations – except Word 2007, by which Bill Gates’ Microsoft unfortunately has turned me into a total dummy, what with all its strangely new, Out-Of-This-Word command module. Well, nobody’s perfect, including Bill Gates. That’s why I’m not on speaking terms with this strange species (see my ‘Call Me User,’ frankahilario.com).

Notwithstanding, I have found that Word 2003 is the perfect word processor (worp) for the writer in me, so now I am more than willing to freely share with you a few little Word commands for outline-organizing your own way to a higher level of creativity.

Now, can you be creative without learning Word’s outline-organize feature? Of course. But with Word as your worp, you can be x times more creative. With Serendipity X, outline-organizing is actually fooling around with ideas, and I have already written that you have to become one of my ‘PC Fools’ to become really creative (frankahilario.com).

Ready with your Word 2003?

Open a new file (blank screen). Click the AA icon beside the Normal box on the menu; it should say ‘Styles and Formatting.’ (If not, click ‘Getting Started’ and then ‘Styles and Formatting.’) You will then see these entries in the style sheet on the right side of the screen:

Clear formatting
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Normal

For your exercise, type the following:

The Fox & The Boys, The Donuts & The Mascot

(1) The Quick Brown Fox
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Did you see that?
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. I told you, didn’t I?
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Now I’ve seen everything.

(2) Five Puzzled Boys
Five puzzled boys watched six quiet girls kiss just me, Frank. Was I fantasizing?
Five puzzled boys watched six quiet girls kiss just me, Frank. That was yesterday.
Five puzzled boys watched six quiet girls kiss just me, Frank. It was fun while it lasted.

(3) Donuts

Please buy me a boxful of donuts, the sweet, sticky kinds. It’s been half a year since I smelled a Dunkin’ and I’m famished!

(4) Mascot

That teddy bear is for a new store selling encyclopedia-size PCs. For quality, they’re very cheap, but I’ll pass. Keyboard too small for a big touch typist like me.

Position your cursor anywhere on the title ‘The Fox & The Boys, The Donuts & The Mascot’ and click on the style sheet on your right to format as Heading 1 (first-level heading).

Go to the line ‘(1) The Quick Brown Fox’ and this time click on Heading 2. Then go to the line ‘(2) Five Puzzled Boys’ and also click Heading 2. Do the same for ‘(3) Donuts’ and ‘(4) Mascot.’ (If you make a mistake, click ‘Clear formatting.’)

Now click View, Outline.

Next, position your cursor on ‘(1) Five puzzled boys’ (Heading 2) and click the icon negative (–) to hide the text. Then position your cursor on ‘(2) Five Puzzled Boys’ and click the same. Repeat for ‘(3) Donuts’ and ‘(4) Mascot.’

Congratulations! You have just made and seen your first outline using Word 2003.

Now all you see is this:

(1) The Quick Brown Fox
(2) Five Puzzled Boys
(3) Donuts
(4) Mascot.

So, can you be a creative writer and combine all 4 topics and write 1 charming little essay? Probably not.

Now, for the magic of outline-organizing: Select the whole line (3) and drag it up so that it follows (1); so now it reads like this:

(1) The Quick Brown Fox
(3) Donuts
(2) Five Puzzled Boys
(4) Mascot.

To un-hide text, click the icon positive (+), or click View, Normal, and you will see that the accompanying texts have also moved.

Click View, Outline again. Just looking at those 4 lines should now give you ideas. My ideas are these: You can feed donuts to the quick brown fox and the lazy dog. And actually, the mascot (teddy bear) was called ‘Frank’ and that was the one the six quiet girls were kissing. Creativity, Sir, is the name of the game.

In short, with a little knowledge of outlining and a little fooling around, Serendipity X makes you very creative like never before.

BEING YOUR OWN AUTHOR OF CHAOS

In Serendipity writing, what you need to do first is to create disorder: you take notes, you jot down thoughts here and there, tagging them as you jot them. Disorder will trigger your mind to create order. Make sure you research your topic well. Apart from other sources, you must search the Internet. Be sure to include in your search indirectly related topics, as merely scanning them will surely increase your understanding of your topic at hand.

Tagging your little notes will give you more ideas. The title you assign Heading 1; the tags you assign Heading 2. And then to create a great deal more disorder: you gather some more notes, jot down some more thoughts. Try assigning Heading 3 to some tags. Click View, Outline, then hide the texts and see if you can move around some of the headings together with the texts underneath them. Surely ideas will come to you how to organize what you’re writing.

As my book The Rebel Thinker Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies will show, if you can’t create great disorder, you can’t create great order. (In sequential order, you have been reading from Chapter 1 to Chapter 3. If you want to be a creative writer, I recommend that you start with Chapter 3, which is this one.)

Remember this: You are your own creative god. Creator of Chaos – that’s what you should first become, what each writer should first become if he wants to be creative, or to be more so.

You must cultivate that chaos habit. When being the author of chaos becomes second-nature, Creativity becomes second-nature to you. You’ve grown accustomed to her face, to her wiles, to her blessings.

To mix metaphors: When you’re creative, wherever you go, sometimes you bring a closed flash drive and always an open mind; you have perhaps 4 gigabytes in your hands but certainly infinite, enigmatic bytes in your head.

Since February 6, with my new HP Compaq Presario C737TU laptop (notebook) with a pair of Intel Dual Core processors both running at 1.6 GHz Microsoft’s Vista Home in 1 GB RAM in a wide creativity expanse of a 120-GB hard disk, my mind is open to work/play 24/7. When you like work, work’s like play. Before February 6 this year, 9 Hilarios had to take turns on the desktop Powerlogic (the name on the tower case) with an LCD from LG and Intel Core 2 Duo running Windows XP in 2 GB RAM. Branded and unbranded, each of these machines is Beauty & The Beast. On top of all that, when you’re creative, your mind is a mean machine. Now, with my HP notebook on my lap, or on the table (or in my carrying case) and not having to share the machine with 8 PC-active children, Word 2003 is a most delightful tool for my writing waiting for me all the time.

If you’re a writer and you don’t know outline-organize as according to the Word 2003 paradigm, you don’t know what you’re missing. Try it sometime! Drag your headings and subheadings every which way – along with the corresponding text of course – and see instantly if this sequence makes better sense or that sequence makes much better sense, or this tag & text will have to go, or this text will have to be the beginning or that text will have to be the ending, or this statement is the first thing to say to attract attention or that statement is the last thing to say that leaves a better aftertaste.

Now then, you might say Serendipity X is outline-organizing (OO) plus the unknown (X) equals OOX, license to thrill. With Serendipity X, outline-organizing becomes one of the most powerful tools for creativity that I have ever seen, and I thank Microsoft Word for that.

In Serendipity X, or creative chaos, the journey itself is many journeys; you are always making a new first step, never the last, until you’re happy with the end results. Going the way of Serendipity X is an adventure into the unknown, creating chaos in mind as a foundation for creating essay on paper. Sounds crazy it just might work!

To x is for me to take notes and add more and tag and retag them and create and recreate my outline using my favorite worp. With Serendipity X, Word’s outline-organize is the best thing that ever happened to my writing. With this feature not found in any other word processing software that I know of, it’s a Wonderful Word out there for creative writers who want to be the best they can be. I wish them only the best.

The great science fiction author Ray Bradbury says, ‘A computer is a typewriter. I have two typewriters, I don’t need another one’ (James Hibberd, 2001 August 29, archive.salon.com). So, one of my favorite writers is one of my PC Fools. Having written 107 essays in the last 105 weeks in the American Chronicle alone, edited and desktop-published my own book (read ‘My American Book,’ frankahilario.com), I know that in creative writing, if you don’t fool around with the PC, you’re a fool.

For the last 2 decades, I’ve been saying that the typewriter is for critical thinking, the personal computer is for creative thinking. If you got it right, you’re a creative journalist. Otherwise, you’re just one of many mechanical-thinking reporters.

And then I have just found another Luddite, another refuser of the computer. Even as he is ‘America’s leading political satirist’ (GA, groveatlantic.com), PJ O’Rourke is ‘the biggest Luddite in the western hemisphere’ (Christopher Koch, 2007 January 30, advice.cio.com). That makes two of the world’s biggest PC Fools. The personal computer is nowhere in Bradbury’s and O’Rourke’s past, present, future. If they can’t learn from the modern world, why should they teach the modern world anything? Well, we can learn from their mistakes.

You see, PC Fools, there are three of those kinds:

Fool #1, the one who rejects the PC and feels good about it; he is the master of his own inferiority. He is a fool; he discards what he has not even tried. Shun him.

Fool #2, the one who accepts the PC yet he treats it like a typewriter; he is the slave of his own mediocrity. He is a fool; he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Teach him.

Fool #3, the one who embraces the PC and treats it as a device for creativity; he is the master of his own superiority. He is a fool; he fools around with the PC because in that way, the machine becomes his slave; and he knows that fooling around is a most delightful way to be creative; in fact, it is the only way. Follow him.

I know which fool am I; do you know which fool are you?

After working with the PC for 22 years and applying what I learned from Rudolf Flesch, that is, readability and ‘creative math’ (see ‘Jatropha Math,’ frankahilario.com), and from Edward de Bono, that is, lateral thinking (see ‘To All The Dummies In The World,’ frankahilario.com), I can teach you this:

Fool is the way to go. Foolishness is the secret of creativity. I just remembered a parallel line by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’ Logical and rules-bound is not the way for creative writers. Oh men of little faith!

That is to say: Creativity is fooling around; a lot of creativity is a lot of fooling around. That’s what I meant when I wrote earlier, ‘Genius is 10% perspiration and 90% inspiration’ (‘My Law Of Graffiti,’ January 22, frankahilario.com). As much as you can play the fool, as much as you can be creative. (I’ll tell you more of this in the forthcoming Chapter 3 of my book The Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies. You are reading Chapter 2.)

But before you can fool around with the PC, you have to be the master of the software, that is, the word processor and the operating system.

Actually, many people decline to use the PC because they are awed by it, or think they are too old or too stupid to learn, or don’t realize how they can improve productivity tremendously. This is not to mention that quite a number don’t want to improve their productivity at all – they only work for the money. Certainly, I say to you, already they have their reward.

Here, I will assume that you are none of those rejecters of the PC, and that you know that you will write better if you knew more about your software. ‘I can’t be bothered’ and ‘That’s the work of my secretary’ and ‘I can afford to pay somebody’ are each a lazy man’s excuse, or that of a writer who doesn’t want to be good at what he’s doing. So, what do you want? Me, I want to be the best!

For the last 33 years, I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of a wide variety of writing, and on most subjects from abaca to zealots, from birds to youth, from computers to women, from dearth to violence, from entrepreneurship to understanding, from fatherhood to theory, from growth to science – public and private, technical and popular, paid for and unpaid for. I started using a word processor (worp) 21 years ago. Been there, done that. So I know it’s best that you use a worp in each of what I call the 5 Rs of writing, whether it’s popular or technical writing, creative or critical, and these are:

Researching – Whether from the original material or a copy of the source, it is best that you collect data & information using your word processor, since your electronic files are so much easier to work with: reading, searching, highlighting, tagging, annotating, copying, summarizing, reviewing again and again.

Recording – Typing and correcting. Making, reviewing and revising your drafts, from the first to the last, your worp is best suited for these tasks, what with the eminently practical flash drive for backup copies. The worp wasn’t much before the flash drive, when the eminently affordable storage material was the floppy 1.4MB disk that could easily catch a mold.

Reviewing – It’s best that you engage someone more knowledgeable than you are in reviewing or sample-reading your own work. I hope you find a mentor, not a critic: a mentor coaches, a critic curses. This is most appropriately done within an electronic workgroup. You have to learn to listen to others, even if you don’t follow all their advice.

Revising – Always remember that your word processor is not simply recording your words: it is in fact recording your thoughts, your ideas. These are what you work with when you revise. Why should you revise? Because you want to improve what you have written, the way you have said what you wanted to say. Now, should you want to improve? I say you should because, believe me, the first writing is never good; the second writing is never good enough. Only the third writing is good; the fourth writing is very good; the fifth writing is excellent. That is, if you know what you’re doing. (We’ll come to that in Chapter 8.)

Refining – This is the very last act of revising, when you feel you can now offer it to the world, when you add just a little where another inspiration hits you, or delete where you think it doesn’t hurt to remove, or when you just change a word or two. With experience, you’ll get to be very good at this yourself.

Yes, your best ally in writing is the word processor. And why not? The worp takes care of the routines of writing (like typing with tentative sentences, revising without retyping, doing the spelling check) while you take care of the creative (like tagging, moving pages about instantly using outline-organize and viewing the results). That is, if you want to be the best you can be as a writer.

Now then, let me tell you I have had 2 decades of immersion in the intensive use of worps: WordStar, WordPerfect, Word (from Version 1 to 2003). Last year, I tried Word 2007 but this worp made me look like a fool as I didn’t know any single command of it, me, a 21-year veteran of Microsoft Word! So I went back to the one I love. For my creative writing, which I have started to call ‘graffiti writing’ (see ‘My Law of Graffiti,’ frankahilario.com), I love Word 2003 because of its easy-to-use, productive outline-organize feature which, if my memory serves me right, was there right at the start, with Word 1, the one with the Alpha key, and which I began to master then, as I saw it early on as a powerful device for creative writing. (More on outlining-organizing in Chapter 3.)

In Chapter 2, which is this one, I want you to learn just 13 commands of Word 2003 with which to fool around with ideas out of the box in your creative moments.

First Writer’s Commands For Word 2003

(1) Undo & Undelete: Press Ctrl+Z immediately when you realize you have just made a mistake. Press Ctrl+Z many times and many things you did will be undone. Undelete is simply undoing a Delete. Works also within Word.

(2) File Search in Word: File, File Search, type your search word(s), click Go. Advice: If you want faster searching, click File, File Search, Search Options and enable Fast searching.

(3) File Save: Ctrl+S. Remember: You can use a long, descriptive file name to remind you later what this specific file is all about.

(4) File Save As: File, Save As, Save. You can change the filename if you like before you click Save. (Some people use this command to copy a file to other than the hard disk – I don’t recommend it – it’s bad file management. For file copy, see Commands for Windows XP below.)

(5) File Print: If you want all pages printed: Ctrl+P, then make sure the printer’s name is visible or correct, click OK. Better if you learn how to set up a printer. File Print Pages: If you want a page or selected pages printed: Ctrl+P, then type the page numbers you want in Page Range, Pages like this: 3-7, 11, 25 (hyphen indicates range).

(6) File New: Ctrl+N. Then, type a few descriptive words, which become the file name when you press Ctrl+S to save.

(7) Select text: Press F8 2x to select a word, press F8 3x to select a sentence, press F8 4x to select a paragraph. Ctrl+A selects a whole file. You can also select text using the mouse: Position cursor, press left button and drag the pointer.

(8) Repeat command: F4. This applies to any command, or series of commands (ending when you press either Enter or Esc).

(9) Find: Ctrl+F. You can use it to search for a character, word or their combinations. To repeat search: Shift+F4.

(10) Grammar & Spell Check: F7. A very simple command but very powerful, and yet people forget to use it or ignore it completely. You just follow the instructions after F7.

(11) Move cursor word by word: Ctrl+Arrow Right for next word, Ctrl + Arrow Left for previous word. Great for moving around, proofreading, editing, revising.

(12) Move cursor paragraph by paragraph: Ctrl+Arrow Up for previous paragraph, Ctrl+Arrow Down for next paragraph. Great for reviewing.

(13) View Print Layout: View, Print Layout. What you see is what will print more or less. The more accurate view is File, Print Preview. View Normal: View, Normal. I use this view when I want to Zoom in and make the words appear very large onscreen, say 200% Zoom. Great for viewing.

And I’m giving you a few Windows commands that will make your life a hundred times easier day by day as a creative writer:

First Writer’s Commands For Windows XP

(14) Your Own Desktop: Click Start, Control Panel, User Accounts, Create a new account, type your nickname, Create account. Then remember to always log on into your own desktop, so that everything you do there does not disturb any other user of the same PC you are using. Smart. On the Frank A Hilario’s PC, desktop or laptop, I have quite a number of desktop owners: Antonia, Bonafe, Daphne, Edwin, Frank, Jinny, Jomar, July, Paul. So, on Frank’s desktop, I have Maria Sharapova as my desktop background, the one with this caption: ‘I am not the next anyone. I am the first Maria Sharapova.’ Smart!

(15) File Search: On your desktop, click My Computer, Search, click on your kind of Search, type a word or two, click Search. This needs some mastery; once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it very practical.

(16) Backup copy: Click on My Computer, click Drive C or Drive D or other, right-click filename, click Copy, go to target folder, right-click to show menu, click Paste. Done. Or simply drag file from one folder to another.

(17) Make folder: Your PC’s main desktop is really a folder that everyone uses, so the files get mixed up (if you don’t have your own personalized desktop). Desktop or not, make your own folder! Occasional user or not, you need to create your own document folder for convenience. Click on My Computer; if you have a drive D – in our desktop PC, Frank’s files are in drive F and the rest of the Hilarios’ are in drive H on the 120 GB hard disk – click on that; right-click below the list of files you see, click New, Folder, assign it your name, and save your files there.

(18) My Documents: Don’t settle for the default location of your Documents. So that Windows will know where you want to save your files, right-click on My Documents, Properties, then type on the Target box, say F:\Frank’s, OK.

(19) Briefcase: Right-click anywhere on the desktop, click New, Briefcase, then rename it as you wish, like Frank’s Briefcase.

(20) Flash drive: Insert into the proper USB slot and you can copy any number of files to it or from it. I create many folders in my flash drive (TwinMos 4GB), then copy one file at a time to the appropriate Briefcase. I open the file in the Briefcase, and when I quit Word, I go back to for instance, Frank’s Briefcase, I click Update all items – and I have an automatic copy of my file, the latest version, in the right folder in my TwinMos. That’s ultimate convenience. Flash drives and Briefcases are a perfect match. Thank you, Fujio Masuoka and Bill Gates!

That’s enough for you for today.

Today, Thursday, 14 February, Valentine’s Day, I’m finalizing this essay on my new, 7-day old HP Compaq Notebook with Intel Pentium Dual Core (CPU T2330) both clocked at 1.6 GHz, 15.4” display, 1 GB SDRAM, 120 GB hard disk. This Black Beauty comes with a free Bluetooth installation, legitimate copy of Windows Vista (Home Basic) and a 60-day trial copy of Office 2007. And you know what? I’ve been giving Word 2007 another chance for the last several days (I tried it early last year when it first came out and didn’t get to like it) – and I’ve junked it again. Since I use Word 2003 to write, edit and desktop-publish, I have to learn more than my 13 first-writer’s commands. And Word 2007 isn’t much of a help here. Right now, I’m using Word 2003 because I find it more writer friendly for the following reasons:

(1) Word 2003 builds on my habits of Word 1997, Word 2000, Word 2002 (Word XP). Word 2007 forces me to change my way of word processing (worping) and therefore my writing entirely. Word 2007 is the master, I am the slave. The worp has changed commands that the worper does not understand.

(2) Word 2003 is happy with even our lower-end 3-year old Intel Celeron desktop PC (I bought this dream HP notebook for interviewing people for a book I’m writing for UPLB Vanguards Class 58 and Class 83); my master Word 2007 requires that I buy more expensive equipment. No, Bill, your Word is not my command.

(3) Word 2003 is my slave while Word 2007 overwhelms me with its mix-match of icons and texts in a broad band it calls ‘The Ribbon’ – even if I minimize the Ribbon, it’s still confusing; it presents to me Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, View, Add-Ins. For the love of Bill Gates, I can’t see the logic in that grouping. It’s a programmer’s program, not that of a program user (prouser), certainly not that of a writer user (wrouser).

(4) Word 2003 is a gift to me as a prouser while Word 2007 is a tyrant, a punishment to me as a wrouser loyal to Bill’s Word. To change metaphor, it’s a divorce declared unilaterally by the husband despite the loyalty of the wife. A Filipino living in the Philippines, I have never believed in divorce.

Divorce is for people who want to fool around. I fool around too, but only with ideas. I mean creative writing is a lot of fooling around. You can’t fool around if you’re the slave, if you’re not the master of what you’re doing, of what you’re using.

I heard she has been writing essays. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maria Sharapova turns out to be a very creative writer one of these days. Already, she is master of her own game.

‘There are no tyrants where there are no slaves,’ wrote my hero, the Philippines’ National Hero Jose Rizal more than 100 years ago. No more slave. Master is better.

I am not a scientist, thank God. I believe science is too serious a matter to be left to scientists alone. This time I’m going to write about theory and practice of science writing – I theorize, you practice.

Based on his deduction, Isaac Newton comes up with his Law of Gravity in 1687; based on his assumption, Albert Einstein revises Newton’s Law with his Theory of Special Relativity in 1915; based on my intuition, I have just revised both geniuses with my Law of Graffiti, 2008. The British mathematician is revised by the German physicist; both are revised by the Filipino writer. It all goes to show that insight knows no color, creed, credential, or genius. It also goes to show that the sciences of mathematics and physics are no match to the art of creative thinking. See, there are no dull sciences, only dull scientists – or dull science writers.

Let me tell you how the idea of the Law of Graffiti has come about to me. Thinking of the next chapter of my new book, this time on creative science writing, on January 17 (Manila time), I googled for “how to start” writing (including the double quotes) and got 846 English pages with Safesearch; I googled for begin OR start writing and got 11,000,000 English pages with Safesearch. Quality is in the numbers? Quality is in the Scan, not in the Search; quality is in the Googler, not in Google – Google cannot think for you; you have to think for yourself.

Scanning my Search Results and speed-reading the webpages of the ones that looked promising, I noted that in ‘Get Writing,’ BBC advises (bbc.co.uk):

In order to let your ideas flow freely and your confidence to rise, you do need to write regularly. Invest in a notebook and use it to make jottings and observations at a time to suit you.

That’s good advice for writing from a broadcaster – the BBC geniuses know you have to be good first at writing to be good at broadcasting. Such advice I have found helpful myself in all my 50 years of getting to write – not necessarily getting to be published. There are far too few geniuses in the publishing business here and abroad. (I have also lost many manuscripts to moldy 1.4 MB diskettes, if you remember them.)

After BBC, after scanning and skipping a great many webpages, I came across award-winning six-novel author Randy Ingermanson’s website, advancefictionwriting.com, where he says:

Before you start writing, you need to get organized. You need to put all those wonderful ideas down on paper in a form you can use. … You need a design document. And you need to produce it using a process that doesn’t kill your desire to actually write the story.

He billed himself ‘America’s Mad Professor of Fiction Writing’ (he doesn’t scare me, I’m afraid), but I thought twice about his advice on getting organized, but then again, Randy’s device? His metaphor of a snowflake struck me – you build your story in the form of a virtual snowflake, starting with a triangle. I’m not into fiction, but that’s the idea. Snowflake, hmm. From Randy’s metaphor, I thought, why not my own metaphor for creative thinking leading to creative writing? After all, I look at creative thinking differently from Randy. Also, I live in the tropics and I have never seen a snowflake, but I have seen a brainstorm – here is one coming right now.

Then I got the metaphor of the graffiti. Almost instantly my mind reworked it into American Graffiti? No, The Law of Graffiti. That’s the Reader’s Digest in me; in my copywriting days at Pacifica Publicity Bureau in Manila, my good friend Orli Ochosa remembers our Creative Director Nonoy Gallardo calling me Mr Punster. If you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s not work: it’s play.

You are reading Chapter 1 of my new book, The Rebel Thinker Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies (I have already come out with the Introduction; see ‘My Crazy Dozen. The Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies,’ 2008 January 7, americanchronicle.com). The whole book is on creative thinking for authors, including science writers. I’m publishing it here chapter by chapter for free, my way of sharing my gift. This chapter is all about Writer’s Block, brainstorming, starting to create, beginning to write; this is all about the Search for the Holy Grail of Serendipity, for which you need freedom.

I’m presenting my Law of Graffiti as a new paradigm in the active pursuit of creative thinking, in contradistinction to Tony Buzan’s art of the Mind Map and to Edward de Bono’s art of Lateral Thinking. I say Frank Hilario’s Law of Graffiti elevates Ray Bradbury’s art of Word Association and Rudolf Flesch’s art of the Creative Math (my term) (see my ‘Jatropha Math? Science Serves The People When Media Create Content, Not Discontent,’ 2007 December 3, americanchronicle.com); it’s more intriguing and more engaging than Sarah Jensen‘s art of Diving Deeper (see source below). Serendipity is not about beginning right; rather, it is about beginning bright.

In one of my old favorites, his book How To Write, Speak & Think More Effectively (1963), I remember Rudolf Flesch saying, ‘Begin anywhere but begin!’ But I don’t remember him telling me how to continue. Either he forgot, or I did. (I’m 67 going on 68, and I’ve lost my copy.)

Sandra Jensen writes (2007 May 5, ‘Diving Deeper: A Writing Workshop’ – pods.gaia.com): ‘The blank page (has) been called the greatest challenge to (a writer)’ (the words in parentheses are mine). It’s otherwise called ‘Writer’s Block,’ an epidemic if I may say so myself. My Google Search for “Writer’s Block” gave me 3,060,000 English pages with Safesearch.

Paul Graham writes (2005 March, paulgraham.com), ‘Write a bad version 1 as fast as you can.’ Reviewing my essay January 21 and being inspired further, I come out with the 1st Law of Graffiti Thinking, and it is this, borrowing from genius: E = mc² (E equals m times c squared), where E is Enlightenment (inspiration or insight), m is mass of materials, and c is the speed of write.

On hindsight, because I have been obeying the 1st Law of Graffiti Thinking for the last 43 years at least, I have never had Writer’s Block, starting with my encounter with Flesch’s book (see also my ‘Jatropha Math? Science Serves The People When Media Create Content, Not Discontent,’ December 3, americanchronicle.com). Then, about 20 years ago, I began thinking about how I could teach creative writing without Writer’s Block getting in the way, using the personal computer and a word processing software. (Mission Impossible. About 15 years ago, I offered to teach it in two colleges of the University of the Philippines (my alma mater), but they both rejected my proposal on exactly the same grounds: that I didn’t have a Masters degree and I wasn’t a new graduate. Some people equate the ability to teach creative writing with the PC with graduate courses and youth. I was about 53. So much for geniuses.) The long years of my search for a device or trick to bring out the creativity in each and every aspiring writer has at last led me to the ubiquitous and (un)obtrusive graffiti. Many a brainchild is born as the germ of an idea; this one took 20 years to become a seed. Better late than never.

Graffiti, thy name is man (embracing woman) in search of a publisher, or audience. Scratches and scribbles and scrawls and doodles and drawings and images and icons and words and whatnots that you are, private media on the wall in public places, you have inspired me to reach the heights of frivolity and fertility, of quantity and quality, of madness and meaning, of coming across and coming to terms. I am glad at last I found you, you who have been in full view all the time. You are the metaphor of the unwritten, of the unborn, the visible chaos of genius in the artist hidden in man. I now baptize you The Broadcast Antennae of the Creative Race. May the Force be with you always!

The Immanent Genius in Graffiti, I can say, on hindsight: Because creativity is born of chaos; because graffiti is chaos; because it’s always loose; because it’s sometimes humorous and therefore relaxing; because it happens at different times without sequence and at different places without direction; because it’s amateurish; because anything goes; because helter-skelter; because come what may; because no rules no borders no limits no excuses; because the graffiti artist is Lord and Master – for of such is the Kingdom of Serendipity, where there is no order and law.

What you need in creative writing is freedom, release from the law. That brings us back to Newton and Einstein with their Laws, with me trying to help you move the immovable object called Writer’s Block by looking for the irresistible force, which in the case of the artist is the intense impulse, the creative motive.

Newton’s Law states that what comes up must come down; Einstein’s Theory states that you cannot bend the laws of physics wherever you are – my theory is that in creative thinking, obeying the dictates of the Law of Gravity doesn’t work to the artist’s advantage and, in fact, an artist cannot be creative unless he bends the laws of physics whenever he tries to create.

Metaphors actually.

Having published 104 essays in science in the American Chronicle in the last 104 weeks (almost), I have come to realize that when writing about science, it is best to be thinking about masses coming up but not coming down, and laws being bent – I’m thinking of masses of data and information, and the laws of logic. When you begin the process of creative writing on science, you should be in another world other than that of science. This chapter is designed to lead you there. Not take you, mind; you have to take yourself.

How do you go about creative thinking? I say: Do the graffiti with me!

Here, let me teach you. But first, get yourself to relax; you can not be creative unless you can relax. So, to help you feel at ease, first let’s talk about the laws of physics that I know you have to break to get creative. Here are some pleasant thoughts:

‘The Law of Inertia.’ Nothing will happen to you (and your writing) if you prefer to preserve your inertia – to break the law, do something, anything – move!

‘Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.’ If you are creative, lightning will strike not only twice in the same place but many times, that is to say, flashes of genius will occur quite so often you’ll have a pleasant time not counting them. You will be energized. Yes, I think each of us has the capacity for genius. It makes me feel uneasy thinking I’m the only genius around here.

‘Work equals energy over distance.’ When you use my Law of Graffiti for brainstorming, trying to get rid of Writer’s Block or just simply beginning another piece of writing, you will get more even if you do less work and not spend so much energy. If you haven’t known about it, I have completely upended the Law of Genius according to Thomas Alva Edison; according to Frank Hilario, ‘Genius is 10% perspiration and 90% inspiration’ (see my ‘The Smart Revolution,’ americanchronicle.com). I have been inspired as much.

‘The speed of light in a vacuum is constant.’ You have to break this law. In creative thinking, you don’t want the speed of brilliance to be constant, and you don’t want to work in a vacuum!

Let us now turn to and violate Newton’s Three Laws of Motion; I’m reading Andrew Zimmerman Jones’ write-up (physics.about.com); I note:

Newton’s First Law of Motion states that ‘Every body continues in the state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.’ I’m impressing upon you that you have to break this law too. You don’t want to continue in a state of rest; that would be counter-productive. And neither do you want to move with a one-track mind; that would make your writing monotonous and tiresome.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion states that ‘The acceleration produced by a particular force acting on a body is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body.’ That means the speed of an object depends upon the force applied to it and the object itself. To break this law, turn it the other way around. Thus, in creative thinking, to increase the speed of inspiration, don’t force it. Like, if you are having a brainstorming session with a coach who keeps arguing against all kinds of ideas, your creativity speed is zero. (My advice: Since he cannot set the fire in you, fire him!) Reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen telling Alice in Wonderland about running and getting nowhere:

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run twice as fast as that!

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that ‘To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.’ That is to say, action meets reaction. How do you break this physical law and become creative? In creative thinking, if you do something and what happens depends on what you did, that’s not creative. The reaction should be of a different nature. And how do you do that? You make a paradigm shift.

Even if you and I didn’t know it as such, there is a famous example of a paradigm shift that dramatizes how creative thinking should go: Untying The Gordian Knot. I learned that in high school 50 years ago. While the tale is mythical, what happens is material as it is ingenious, inspired as creative thinking is. The story is from John Hagan (geocities.com); the words are mine:

Riding his wagon to the temple of Zeus, father of the gods, innocently Gordius fulfils an oracle, and the people make him their King. In homage, Gordius dedicates his wagon to Zeus, tying the yoke to the pole at the temple using a complex knot of cornel bark so intricate it defies unraveling. Fit for the gods. Out of the Gordian Knot, as it comes to be called, comes another oracle: ‘Whoever succeeds in untying the knot will be conqueror of all Asia.’ Every man worth his maleness tries and each one fails. Here comes Alexander the Great. He unties the Gordian Knot by cutting the whole thing with his sharp sword. With his sharp mind actually. And he goes on to conquer all of what is known as Asia. Genius knows no rules, no borders, no limits, no knots.

Now, about Alexander the Great’s paradigm shift, John Hagan views it differently: ‘Then, as everybody knows, he cheated on the oracle by cutting the knot with his sword instead of untying it.’ John, Alexander is using his head. Alexander merely changes his way of looking at the problem by what I call ‘changing the problem’ – from untying the knot to loosening it. Those other geniuses fail as they can’t cut it. In a flash of brilliance, my genius sees that the oracle does not say you can’t cut it. So Alexander the Great goes on to disprove those who say he can’t cut it.

Today, Sunday, January 20 (Manila), as I continue revising this essay, I can’t demonstrate on this page exactly how Frank’s Law of Graffiti works, but I can make another paradigm shift and give you another metaphor: The Phoenix Rising. This is from Narrate Conferences (thephoenixrises.org):

Upon the completion of its life cycle, the famed firebird builds its funeral pyre. After setting itself alight, it burns until nothing but ash remains and from that ash and flame, The Phoenix Rises.

In graffiti thinking, a term which I invented just now, which refers to creative thinking following my Law of Graffiti, when you cut & paste & delete & add to your notes and set your mind on fire, it is Your Own Phoenix Rising.

The Phoenix Rising describes graffiti thinking quite well. Consider this quote by Lady Gryphon from the Feng Shui Handbook of Master Lam Kam Chuen (mythicalrealm.com):

A mythical bird that never dies, the Phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The Phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration.

From the ashes of your graffiti notes rises the Phoenix of your creativity.

The Brooklyn Museum says graffiti is ‘a form of subversive public communication (that) has become legitimate’ (brooklynmuseum.org); borrowing from that, I say graffiti thinking is a subversive form of creative thinking that is legitimate all at once. Some people call graffiti ‘tasteless vandalism’ (wikiHow); graffiti thinking makes graffiti a form of creative vandalism – you destroy your old materials and create something new out of them. Your Phoenix Rising.

In creative writing, from out of the ashes of graffiti thinking, you and I need something like the Phoenix to rise and inspire us. Otherwise, we expire even as we respire.

Now, how do you go about graffiti thinking? Observe Frank’s Law of Graffiti:

Every scribble, scratch, scrawl, doodle, drawing, image, icon, word, whatnot is inspiration waiting to be discovered.

Been there, done that. That’s how I have been able to write 100 full essays in 100 full weeks (see my ‘100 in 100. Celebrating Centennials & Counting,’ americanchronicle.com). Graffiti thinking for inspiration, for insight; graffiti for instant gratification. (For another uplifting kind of graffiti thinking, visit Cassidy Curtis’ ‘Graffiti Archaelogy‘ at otherthings.com/grafarc.) So, open your mind and heart and go discover yours!

To help you in your journey of discovery every time you write, here are my 5 steps to your graffiti thinking:

(1) Get an idea. You don’t have an idea what you want to write about? Go read a book, or open a magazine or journal. Listen to people. Go to the library. If you are not in the United States, not in England and not in Australia, read imported books or magazines – not local publications, and certainly not the local newspapers or their Sunday magazines: they’re depressing, not inspiring. Watch ‘CSI’ and how the plot thickens; watch ‘Dr House’ and how the clot thickens. You want to write in English – get ideas from the best! And don’t forget: While you’re reading, at all times, take notes, jot down your thoughts. In writing, jotting maketh an exact man.

(2) Go surfing and get more ideas. Surf the Internet and search well and long. Again, remember to take down notes and thoughts. Reading and surfing, speed-read if you like, but take notes. That should take you at least one morning, one afternoon, one evening, or one day. It will be time well-spent. The beauty of the Internet is that it is beauty always waiting to be discovered, and as an artist you should always be excited to explore both form and substance.

(3) Read those notes. Read them leisurely, but read! I said take notes twice, the first to get an idea, the second to get more ideas. Now you read what you have gathered along with your own thoughts jotted down. You are deliberately loading up your brain cells with ideas and information. Nothing comes out of an empty and closed mind; with your open mind, many possibilities pop up when you read and read again, and when you take notes and make notes in your own sweet time. This is the Age of the Information Superhighway, so go out and drive and enjoy the view, smell the flowers.

After all that, now your mind and your notebook or scratch paper should be full of whatever. The more you collect, the better for you. When you feel you have too much already, that’s the time to stop. For this essay, as I write at this point, I have 20 pages of notes singlespace, onscreen, in Word 2003, my favorite. The notes are your masses that now you work on, knowing that the Law of Graffiti works with those massive bodies of information.

But remember, those masses do not attract each other. Believe me, they disobey Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity – but they will follow Frank Hilario’s Law of Graffiti. And you will prove it to yourself.

(4) Assign keywords. Un-Newton-like, you yourself will have to make those masses of graffiti attract each other. What do you do? Read them again, one by one. And add notes of what comes to your mind. While you’re reading all those notes and jottings, write a keyword or two (as category, tag, or for reference) above each mass of text you see that are more or less related. You should now be getting the hang of it – absorbing little by little the essences of those bodies of text. (Don’t ignore the images. An image is worth a thousand words, so try to capture some of the powerful words in there.)

(5) Begin writing. So, are you now ready to begin writing? Here is a surprise from a technically minded expert, Julie Miller (2002, vt.essortment.com), who says:

The first step in writing a research paper is not to write at all but to absorb ideas, thoughts, and material. With your research topic in mind, a good place to start is traditionally the library, or more recently, the Internet for information. At the library, search for books, magazine articles, academic journals, and reference materials pertaining to your subject. Spend time wandering not only the aisles of books covering your subject, but widen your search to secondary sources that may contain useful research. On the Internet, use several search engines to get access to the most useful research. Follow the recommended listservs and websites to broaden your scope of information. In other words, have fun with the research process by absorbing new ideas, thoughts, and information. To recap, try not to even think about writing the research paper, but enjoy learning for learning’s sake.

She is writing for students; she is writing for you. I shall call that graffiti research, which is necessary for graffiti thinking. What Julie Miller says applies both to science writing for scientists and science writing for the rest of us. Both are creative acts.

Observe: Julie Miller is telling us that the right way to start writing is not to start writing right away. Assuming you have done your graffiti research, I will add to that and say that the right way to start writing is to follow the genius of Paul Graham: ‘Write a bad version 1 as fast as you can.’ Or follow Frank/Einstein’s genius: E = mc². And so I leave you to the beginning of your creative writing. Remember: The journey of a thousand miles doesn’t begin with the first step – it begins with the first thought. May the Force of Graffiti be with you always!

Who am I talking to this time? They would be public speakers, lecturers, PowerPoint presentors, resource persons, debaters, reviewers, essayists, biographers, autobiographers, authors, ghostwriters, columnists, journalists, consultants, managers, even proposal packagers in science. And why is that? All of them must be good writers first before they can be good at what they’re supposed to be doing. Those who can afford can hire good writers, so I’m not writing for those dummies.

Why am I not writing instead A Writer’s Guide For Dummies? Because there are too many of them already. The non-dummy reason I will not write a dummies’ book for writers is that you can’t write if you’re a dummy. A dummy is thick-headed, dull-witted, dense, unintelligent, boring.

It’s my New Year’s Resolution. Actually, I was inspired to write for non-dummies because I have seen too many books ostensibly written for dummies but when I look into them, their language is not anywhere near for novices. ‘For Dummies’ means it’s written for beginners, greenhorns, the uninitiated, those who are just starting, who are not aware of anything about the subject – but are neither unintelligent nor dull-witted. A dummy is certainly not educated on the subject – but why educate him on the history, comparison and technical details of Windows when all he wants to know and do is run Windows to write a letter and send it via email?

I have a different idea of what makes a good writer (not to mention a good Windows). I’m writing for non-dummies because I want to warn people about books for dummies. How many dummies am I talking about here? To give you an idea, Dan Brown reports that his book Da Vinci Code has sold 70 million copies worldwide (danbrown.com); multiply that by 2 readers a copy and you have 140 million dummies worldwide.

To balance that a bit, Time reports that JK Rowling’s 7 Harry Potter books have sold 400 million copies worldwide. Multiply that number by 2.5 readers a copy and you have 1 billion dummies. Count me in. I’m unique; I’m a one-in-a-billion dummy.

Actually, I’m one of the Harry Potter dummies 7 times over. I have read all 7 books word for word. JK Rowling writes so well that every chapter ends urging you to read on to the next and the next. Of course it’s all fantasy, but the magic of it all is told page after page, not simply described. (That’s how science should be told, like magic – science is magic.) I am 68 this year, a science writer, Roman Catholic and a dummy for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. She is a rebel writer herself. Here’s a short list of rebel writers and I like all of them: William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Scott Hahn. (I did not say I read all of them.)

Dummies are a dime a dozen; if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen a dozen million of them.

I googled “for dummies” books (double quotes included) and the Netscape Google search gave me 1,280,000 English pages with Strict Filtering (no sex-explicit texts or images for dummies). I noted some of the books: Blackberry Pearl For Dummies, iPhone For Dummies, Puppies For Dummies, Writing Children’s Books For Dummies, Scuba Diving & Snorkeling For Dummies, Electronic Discovery For Dummies. This world has gone to the dummies!

There’s Poker For Dummies – it’s for gamblers, and I don’t like to gamble. I gamble my opinion – The Attorney General has determined that gambling is bad for your health.

Suffer the little dummies to come to me, for of such is the kingdom. A dummies’ book is recalled because it may be hazardous to your health – John Wiley & Sons announces recall of Candle And Soap Making For Dummies because ‘the instructions in the book for making lye combine sodium hydroxide and water in an incorrect order’ and ‘could cause the mixture to bubble over, posing a burn hazard to consumers’ (cpsc.gov). It could be a little Hell on a little Earth.

From what I’ve seen so far, you’re a dummy if you buy a book for dummies – they’re for professionals, who I would believe are no dummies.

Like WordPress For Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson; Chapter 1 is ‘What WordPress Can Do For You’ (amazon.com). The excerpt says: ‘In this chapter: >Understanding the benefits of WordPress and >Getting acquainted with the basic features of WordPress.’ Here’s the first paragraph:

If you believe that your ideas are important enough to publish on the World Wide Web for the entire world to see, then you, my friendly reader, are the perfect blogger, and WordPress is your perfect tool! How else can you get your message out with the potential of reaching a vast audience of millions worldwide for the cost of exactly nothing? There might be no free lunch in this world, but … there are free blogs to be had.

There’s no such thing as ‘a perfect blogger’ – I’m an inveterate blogger and I’m not always perfect. I ‘moved’ from blogger.com (Google’s) to wordpress.com (WordPress’), and if you ask me, WordPress is excellent! But is WordPress my perfect tool? Read my lips: NO. I’m not a novice; I started blogging in 2002, earnestly in 2005, and I have more than 50 blogsites / websites (18 in WordPress alone) all created by me, all photos uploaded by me, all links made by me, learning along the way. In my own domain, frankahilario.com, where I have uploaded 133 full essays, not simply rambling thoughts, WordPress keeps bugging me: ‘A new version of WordPress is available! Please update now’ – and when I click ‘Please update now’ (try it yourself, click the link I’ve made), it doesn’t help me at all – I have to download a file and then I’m left hanging what to do with that file. I ask my son Jomar and he says, ‘It’s complicated.’ If WordPress update is for dummies really, I need but click on ‘Please update now’ and it will do the rest for me, including backup my files. WordPress is not that smart, and I’m not that dummy. Also, blogging is not free: It costs WordPress and it costs me time, information, money, effort. There is no such thing as a free lunch – only a free hunch.

In other words, ‘for dummies’ is all hype, and you’re a dog if you dig it, you’re a zombie if you yearn for it, you’re a fool if you pine for it, you’re a puppy if you lap it all up.

Here’s one that is not for dummies. Chapter 1 is titled ‘Writing Copy: Capturing Hearts, Minds, And Money’ (amazon.com). The first two sentences are:

Picture me at the summer barbecue, my bare pale legs reflecting blazing beams of sunlight, my loud Hawaiian shirt howling with color. As I pass cold beers and overcooked hot dogs to my neighbors, someone I haven’t met before may politely initiate conversation by asking me what I do for a living.

Excellent copy! I know an excellent copy when I see one – I worked for one of the top ad agencies in the Philippines, Pacifica Publicity Bureau, and I learned a lot from the professionals like Nonoy Gallardo (husband of popular singer Celeste Legaspi) and Telly Bernardo. Jonathan Kranz’s book is for non-dummies like you and me. The author is smart, but a dummy for titling his book Writing Copy For Dummies.

Even so, Jonathan Kranz is one in a million. There’s a book Currency Trading For Dummies by Mark Galant & Brian Dolan (fxstreet.com). Can’t be. The concept ‘currency’ by itself is not for dummies, how much more ‘trading?’

I would say the ultimate insult is the book Hacking For Dummies. I will not insult by naming the author, but you can go visit Tony Bradley for his book review if you click the link there. Hacking is for crazy whiz kids or insane virtuosos, not dummies like you and me. In this case, I like being a dummy.

Chuck Frey tells me the book MindManager For Dummies authored by Hugh Cameron & Roger Voight PhD is a ‘terrific reference guide’ (innovationtools.com). That it is a ‘reference guide’ sounds interesting. Chapter 1 is titled ‘Getting Organized – Visually’ (amazon.com’ and in the chapter you will find how-tos: ‘Beginning to get organized. Seeing the depths of MindManager. Dealing with complexity. Linking to the outside. Sharing with other programs. Managing perceptions.’

That it is terrific? Terrible. That does it! MindManager has scared me into stopping my surfing for dummies’ books. My train of thought stopped when I read MindManager’s ‘Getting Organized – Visually’ as the first chapter (not to mention that the entry ‘PhD’ after a name puts me off). You don’t start with dummies getting organized – they’re not ready for it – and visually yet!

MindManager is ‘a mind-mapping program’ or ‘visual diagramming application’ (Chuck Frey). The assumption is that ‘You just had an idea! It was a solution to your latest dilemma at work’ (first sentence, Part 1 of the book) (amazon.com). So, MindManager assumes that you already have a brainstorm before you use it. That’s theory; in practice, The idea of a brainstorm is that you have absolutely no idea!

So, don’t blame me if I’m thinking of writing a book on creative writing for NON-dummies.

Now, instead of revising my own 12-year-old ‘The Unforgettable Ten Commandments Of Writing’ or coming out with a new copycat title ‘Writing For Dummies’ I shall write: ‘My Crazy Twelve Commandments Of Writing For Non-Dummies.’

Let me make it clear: I don’t write for dummies, because they wouldn’t understand me. I’ve written about them, yes; consider my ‘To All The Dummies In The World. Or, De Bono Debugged’ (americanchronicle.com). Naturally, my new book will be different, and it will look crazy (be warned: looks deceive), because I will have the following chapter titles (or something similar):

(1) If you want to begin right, don’t begin right.
(2) If you want to create order, create disorder.
(3) If you want to write well, don’t write.
(4) If you want to be read, don’t read yourself.
(5) If you want to listen to advice, don’t give the advice.
(6) If you want to attract readers, don’t give your vocabulary.
(7) If you want to improve, don’t just improve.
(8) If you want to get more ideas, look where there are none!
(9) If you want to have a good sequence, make a bad one.
(10) If you want to write objectively, you’re a journalist.
(11) If you want to know everything, you’re an encyclopedia.
(12) If you want to give up, you’re a mad genius!

At the back of my mind, I have had my own The Unbelievable Ten Commandments Of Writing (adiosfarewellgoodbye.blogspot.com).

Let me explain my Crazy 12 briefly.

(1) If you want to begin right, don’t begin right.

If I remember right, from Rudolf Flesch, the guru of readability, comes this sparkling gem of an advice for creative writers: ‘Begin anywhere, but begin!’ Following that advice, among other things, I have so far written 102 complete essays for American Chronicle (click this link if you want to check it out), and published a book out of 22 of them (see my ‘My American Book. Embracing Science Embracing Faith,’ americanchronicle.com) – and I can assure you all those 102 were begun every which way, sometimes beginning at the Beginning (simply because I liked the title already, like the very first one, ‘Fuzzy Logic & The Avian Flu’), sometimes beginning at the End (like I already had in mind ‘Sweetheart, sugarcane is sweet, but sweet sorghum is sweeter’ before I even wrote one sentence of my 22nd American Chronicle essay ‘The Yankee Dawdle’), sometimes beginning in the Middle (about the Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics (VASAT); the word VASAT is in the title but I discuss it only beginning in the middle in the essay ‘The Telugu Paradigm. Understanding VASAT, The Illiterate’s Internet’). If you insist on beginning beautifully right away, you’ll never get anywhere because your Writer’s Block will stop you. If you are a blockhead, I know you are the irresistible force but you must remember Writer’s Block is the immovable object.

(2) If you want to create order, create disorder.

I preach to you the Chaos Theory of Writing: In writing, if you want to create harmony, first you have to create madness. So I surf the Web and type everything I like into the blank screen, I quote from a book, I relate from memory – and mix them all in confusion, haphazardly. You should see my ‘drafts’ – they don’t make sense. (Later, from out of the chaos, I can hear myself say, ‘Let there be life!’ And there is like. And it is enough.)

I practice what I preach, which you can’t say of so many people. As a visible example of chaos, look at my photograph again – you’re looking at my desktop and personal computer setup. In the italicized lines below, you will find the very first entries of this essay in its first incarnation (you can tell that I’ve been surfing the Web) (I numbered the lines here just for convenience):

Beginning:
(1) You have a dummies.com, dummies.
(2) “for dummies” books gave me 1,280,000 English pages with Strict Filtering (no sex-explicit text, no sex-explicit images).
(3) Books: Blackberry Pearl For Dummies, iPhone For Dummies, Puppies For Dummies, Writing Children’s Books For Dummies, Scuba Diving & Snokeling For Dummies, Electronic Discovery For Dummies. (Yes, Snokeling is misspelled, but this is an illustration – I typed it incorrectly the first time.)
(4) Podcasting For Dummies – if dummies could do it, I could do it – I can’t. I’m not a dummy.
(5) Poker For Dummies – it’s for gamblers, dummy. I gamble my opinion – The Attorney General has determined that gambling is bad for your health.
(6) I will not write a dummies-book for writers or would-be writers – you can’t write if you’re a dummy.

Middle:
(7) From what I’ve read, you’re a dummy if you buy a book for dummies – they’re for professionals, and they’re no dummies.

End:
(8) In writing,
(9) If you believe that
(10) Apple TV for dummies

In this final version, I have deleted sentences #1, #4 and phrases #8, #9, #10. And I have a new Beginning, Middle, End.

The ideas and information I got from the Internet challenged me, set me in other directions, and otherwise helped me think some more and come up with my own order of thoughts. It wasn’t easy, but then again I’ve had years and years of practice so much so that the pressure has become pleasure. You should be so pleased!

(3) If you want to write well, don’t write.

Don’t write; instead, key in. I advice you to learn to use the personal computer, and well. One of my favorite writers, Ray Bradbury, does not want to use the PC for writing, and so he misses on two of the great advantages of word processing: spell-checking and grammar-checking. I’m a perfectionist; I remember typing the manuscript of a book on an IBM Selectric in the late 1980s and proofreading word for word 9 times. Today, using Word 2003, I need to proofread my essays only 2 times, once by software and once by me – the software is not perfect, and neither am I, but together, we’re a perfect combination. (I rewrite countless times, but that’s not proofreading.) Leave to the PC the routines like proofreading, correcting common typos, correcting grammar, and suddenly you’re a genius writing. (If you knew a little more, you can create a dictionary of technical terms and scientific names against which new typings will be corrected automatically.)

(4) If you want to be read, don’t read yourself.

Ask someone else to read your manuscript to find out its appeal. Rudolf Flesch’s advice is to write like you talk – but not when you talk jargon and you expect your unwary readers to understand specialist language. Don’t write like this:

Microsoft Office 2000 contains a word processor (for writing), a spreadsheet (for manipulating numbers), a presentation graphics program (for creating slide shows and charts, a personal information organizer (for storing names, addresses, e-mail, and phone numbers), a database (for storing information for mailing lists or tracking inventories), a desktop publisher (for designing and laying-out pages), a Web page creator (for designing your own Web pages), and a graphics editor (for editing images such as digitized photographs).

That’s from the ‘Number One best-selling book’ in the dummies series, according to Roger C Parker, who originated the Microsoft Office For Windows For Dummies (newentrepreneur.com). That first paragraph is information overload, too much even for a professional reader. It reads like an ad copy written by Bill Gates himself. Bill Gates is great in marketing, not in copy.

(5) If you want to listen to advice, don’t give the advice.

You may be a genius, but you’re a dull genius if you listen only to yourself, if you don’t listen to other people, if you don’t read what others have to say, don’t ask questions about what you don’t know, don’t discover what is unknown to you. If you believe you have all the wisdom, you’re not real; you don’t exist. End of story.

(6) If you want to attract readers, don’t give your vocabulary.

Contrary to what Dale Carnegie may have said, vocabulary scares people. For example, there’s Digital Art Photography For Dummies by Matthew Bamberg (amazon.com). Chapter 1 is titled ‘Digital Art Photography 101’. The first paragraph reads:

Art is the product of human creativity: a medium to create pleasure as well as express the conditions of life and feelings. Art also records history: who we are’ what’s around us; and how we interpret life, feelings, and interpersonal interactions.

That’s for dummies? That’s ‘starting from square one’ in digital photography? Consider: ‘human creativity’ and ‘medium’ and ‘create pleasure’ and ‘express the conditions of life and feelings’ and ‘records history’ and ‘how we interpret life, feelings’ and ‘interpersonal interactions’ – the two first sentences are not about a digital camera loaded with a huge memory card but a book overloaded with heavy words and phrases. Give me the loaded camera anytime! But a manuscript loaded with technical words? That’s why I say science writing is too important a subject to be left to scientists alone.

Again, a lesson from the readability guru Rudolf Flesch: Use plain words. If you avoid using long words and terms like the above, you’ll be amazed at how clear and interesting you become. From now on, remember: The Rebel Writer has determined that a wide vocabulary is bad for your health.

(7) If you want to improve, don’t just improve.

If you want to improve your writing, don’t just improve: Change it. You have to revise. Even if you think it’s already perfect. Let me show you by revising the one from Lisa (quoted above) like this:

If you believe that your ideas are important enough to publish on the World Wide Web for the entire world to see, then you, my friendly reader, are perfect for blogging, and WordPress may be perfect for you! Blogging gets your message out to a potential audience of millions at the expense of WordPress, at your pleasure, also because WordPress is easier to use and a much more beautiful sight to behold. (Beauty is in the eye of the beholden.)

WordPress is not the only blog pusher in the world, so Lisa’s ‘how else can you get your message out’ is misleading if not insincere.

I always have to revise, and heavily. This essay will have undergone at least 7 revisions before I let it go. It’s always like that with my Franciscan essays. How do I know when to stop? As I read again, I feel that now I’m beginning to like what I’ve written and in a little while I tell myself it’s done. (That needs some practice.)

The idea for this essay started with my old ‘The Unbelievable Ten Commandments Of Writing’ published in 1996 by IQ, a newsletter of New Day Publishers (Quezon City); I was the Editor. This time, I wanted to be different – don’t I always! The title for this one started with ‘My Dirty Dozen. A Practical Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies.’ After several revisions, after 3 days, it has become what you see: ‘My Crazy Dozen. The Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies.’ For me, it’s a perfect fit. The phrase ‘The Rebel Writer’ must be Heaven-sent, my just reward; I was a barbarian knocking at the gates for more ideas. Heaven knows I don’t have to be a barbarian but it helps.

(8) If you want to get more ideas, look where there are none!

Look inside your head! Learn to brainstorm with yourself, alone. A Filipino lawyer does that, with outstanding results. Antonio Oposa Jr (the lawyer son of an outstanding surgeon friend of mine, Antonio Oposa Sr from Cebu City in the middle of the Philippines), has written a powerful, highly original book on and for the conservation of the environment, The Laws Of Nature And Other Stories. I don’t have a copy but I read that book in the author’s own house the same day last year when he went to Cavite to attend a meeting of leaders and volunteers for the popular movement Batas Kalikasan (Law of Nature). He invited me. On our way by car, Tony was brainstorming with himself and scribbling, and when I noticed, I said ‘That’s mind-mapping, Tony Buzan,’ but I didn’t see the names registering recognition. Well, Tony Buzan isn’t the only creative mind hereabouts.

Ray Bradbury has another way of brainstorming by his lonesome; he calls it word association: Come up with random words, then string them along with a memory you have or an idea you didn’t have before. Edward de Bono has his Po device for a committee, which can be applied for a committee of one: Say ‘Po’ and accept all suggestions, no matter how crazy they are; consider each an ore in which a gem may be extracted.

(9) If you want to have a good sequence, make a bad one.

I learned this also from Rudolf Flesch 42 years ago (1965): If you are trying to convince people, arrange your arguments or points in a non-sequential manner. So, by weight, don’t arrange your exposition consecutively: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. Instead, present #1 first, then #2 next, then #5 next, then #4 next, then #3 last. This way, you begin with the strongest point, supported by your next strongest; and towards the end, your discussion gets stronger again. Impressions are important: Impressions first, impressions last.

In case you got lost, I have a list of 12 here – how did I arrange them? I followed Flesch’s advice. My #1 was an obvious choice; my #2 and #3 are also strong because they’re so negative. Because they’re written deliberately suddenly differently, my #10, #11, #12 help me end with a bang, bang, bang!

(10) If you want to write objectively, you’re a journalist.

When in Rome, don’t write like the Romans do. Unless I’m sadly mistaken, all journalists try to write objectively – and that explains why they are boring to read. (That’s true, I’m sad to say, for science journalists writing for the Sunday magazines (and feature sections) of the 3 major dailies in my country: The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin. But not those in Time and Newsweek and The New York Times.) If you’re true to yourself and to your readers, you can’t be objective. You have your own biases. So? So, write about them; write with them in mind; write to acknowledge them – that will make you human in the eyes of your reader, and they will love you for it. Your readers are not objective themselves – they root for people, sides, causes. No, you’re a double dummy if you try to write for all kinds of people – you can only write for your kind of dummies, dummy.

(11) If you want to know everything, you’re an encyclopedia.

I suppose most people don’t want to write about something because they don’t know most things about it. In fact, you don’t have to know anything to write about anything. Not knowing is a perfect reason for knowing more! You don’t have to be a walking encyclopaedia to write about a topic (although I assure you it helps) – you can always search the Internet (and I assure you it helps much more). If you want to become the expert and know everything, like an encyclopedia, you’re dull, as in uninteresting. The idea is that you want to find out more so that you are able to understand what’s going on so that you can describe it to your readers. I surf the Web from opinion to opinion, news to news, tripping lightly and, delightfully; that’s how I get some insights of my own.

(12) If you want to give up, you’re a mad genius!

Today, being a writer is easy – talent or no talent, you create a blog and in a minute or two, you’re a published writer. But learning to be a good writer is as difficult as earning a PhD in college, perhaps even more so. You may think you don’t need to learn more because your blog is popular as it is. You may think that you don’t need to be a better writer than you already are. Or you have tried and given up on it. It’s so hard to be good.

I thought like you before; fortunately, I came to the point when I gave up my high regard for myself and replaced it with the urge to improve myself. That’s what I want you to give up: your high regard for yourself, or your ambition, or both.

You’d be mad to give up a high regard for yourself, or your ambition – but you’d be a genius as a writer. After at least 30 years of popularizing science, after along the way giving up becoming rich and famous (yes, it was a choice; no, it wasn’t easy), and realizing that I have become a much better writer than before, I can share with you that the more you are at peace with the world, the better you become as a writer, not to mention as a human being. I thank God for all that.

Why now do I write? I want to share my experiences and insights in living and hope to encourage others. Why now do I write for writers? I want to share my experiences and insights in writing and hope to encourage writers to encourage others. There is so much negative in the Philippines today that to encourage the positive requires that you invest on heroism that of course is a huge risk since it borders on stupidity.

The Philippines needs more geniuses who are foolish enough to give up their comfort zones in favor of their country, to give up their ambitions for themselves. I’m hoping that more such insane geniuses will rise among Filipinos, especially writers young and old – the old, for their own legacy; the young, for own their future. Give up and be recognized! (As for me, I’ve given up on UP, the University of the Philippines, my alma mater; I’ve given up on the fervent UP nationalist geniuses. These are the times for globalization; now, nationalism is local, internationalism is global and the irresistible force.) Age doesn’t matter; you can be a genius at 8, 18, 38, 68, 78, 88, 98? A silly genius for the environment. A crazy genius for God and country. A hero. To be a hero, I suppose you shouldn’t have to be ridiculous but it should help.