About

Genre: A novel, adult fiction

Approximate length: 45,000 words, or 200 pages (@350 words per page) in three chunks, or chapters

Status: Final Copy 02.2022

Book notes 1.

Two issues. One, who is telling the story? It is not always clear. There is Ron and there is someone reporting dialogue. How to resolve? Second, there should be a trajectory with clear breadcrumbs from beginning to the remains of the loaf at the end.

That trajectory should be from lack of self awareness vis a vis personal issues and hang-ups to greater awareness; from selfish concerns to a clear consciousness of the person of the other; from being acted upon to acting; from the tool of testosterone (desire) to mastering one's drives and hormones.

Need time before revisiting this draft, like letting the wine ferment. I thought the work would be further along, but I see more improvements and clarifications can be made.

Takes on a summary
(other than as appears elsewhere on this site):

Awestruck by three women, maybe four, Ron fixes his gaze this way then that for very different reasons, or so he'd have us believe from his narrative. The terrorist testosterone as well as an exaggerated sense of place and duty prevent connecting with others deeply. A secret mentor as well as the natural teacher within serve him the lessons he needs. Will the penny drop so he gets what he wants? What will be the evidence that he has it in the end? Not what you might think.

OR

Three, maybe four, lovely women smite Ron Novello with wonder and caution, or so he believes in his short memoir in three Southwest seasons. The terrorist testosterone as well as an exaggerated sense of ego and duty prevent connecting deeply with those he would. A secret mentor in addition to life's best teacher serve him what he needs to act decisively. Will the penny drop so he can embrace the one he desires to connect with most because it's an imperfect match? The answer's all too obvious if starting over from scratch is the option to take. Will he take it?

OR

Newly ordained twenty-something professional with stunted social awareness finds: work in isolation he didn't sign up for; women who mystify, tease, and seduce him; gaps in his formal schooling; and a testosterone terrorist within. Will Ron Novello master the beast and realize that no one cares about exemplary execution of duty or career commitment so much as feelings to be shared in closer relationships? He'll need some help disclosing who he is and figuring out his next move. That help comes from a secret mentor and the reflection in a  mirror that makes things, almost his self, transparent. Ron narrates his journey of which woman he wants to be with. His shortlist includes people who are also trying to get what they want and need. Although the story is mostly about male ego and an ever-insistent id navigating toward shared essential goodness, will this new man find his way? and the freedom he needs to act?

By way of inspiration (from unnamed sources and from within):

+ Among the many behavior changes that have been noted for teens, the three that are most robustly seen across cultures are: (1) increased novelty seeking; (2) increased risk taking; and (3) a social affiliation shift toward peer-based interactions. This triad of behavior changes is seen not only in human beings but in nearly all social mammals. Although the behaviors may lead to danger, they confer an evolutionary advantage by encouraging separation from the comfort and safety of the natal family, which decreases the chances of inbreeding. The behavior changes also foster the development and acquisition of independent survival skills.
Probably Wikipedia

+ . . . [M]ore adequately I can interpret my own depths, then the more transparent my life will become to me. The more clearly I can see and understand it. The less it baffles me, perplexes me, pains me in its opaqueness.
Probably Ken Wilber

+ Princess holding other in bondage but that relationship allows each to live in relation . . .

+ You can’t easily fit women into a structure that is already coded as male; you have to change the structure. That means thinking about power differently. It means decoupling it from public prestige. It means thinking collaboratively, about the power of followers not just of leaders. It means above all thinking about power as an attribute or even a verb (‘to power’), not as a possession: what I have in mind is the ability to be effective, to make a difference in the world, and the right to be taken seriously, together as much as individually. It’s power in that sense that many women feel they don’t have – and that they want.

+ Quite possibly

• Riana, desire to be nurtured and to sow seeds for procreation
• Alice, desire to be at one with spirit and ascend into a better but unknown
• Ron, impulse to reason and act, a would-be king of one's own destiny
• Ricky, impulse to physically unite with one who has more, at least experience
• . . . all making Lara an imperfect perfect match?

+ Yin is feminine, black, dark, north, water (transformation), passive, moon (weakness and the goddess Changxi), earth, cold, old, even numbers, valleys, poor, soft, and provides spirit to all things. Yin reaches it’s height of influence with the winter solstice. Yin may also be represented by the tiger, the colour orange and a broken line in the trigrams of the I Ching (or Book of Changes).

Yang is masculine, white, light, south, fire (creativity), active, sun (strength and the god Xihe), heaven, warm, young, odd numbers, mountains, rich, hard, and provides form to all things. Yang reaches it’s height of influence with the summer solstice. Yang may also be represented by the dragon, the colour blue and a solid line trigram.
Probably Wikipedia

+ The term transnational people refers to individuals with ties to two or more nation-states. These individuals live their lives across borders and are simultaneously incorporated in two or more societies. Within these societies, transnational people participate in the movement of people, capital, information, culture, and ideologies from one nation-state to another. Because of this movement, a strong relationship exists between life in the country of origin and the new country of residence. In their old and new countries, transnational people attempt to maintain multilevel connections involving political, economic, cultural, racial/ethnic, and familial issues, and to successfully balance living between both worlds.
Probably Wikipedia

+ The ceremony celebrates the fact that this moment with this person in this place will never happen again.

+ Conscious of where you are and what you are doing throughout the day, rather than stumbling from one hour to the next on autopilot, focused only on going-home time.

To hold someone in the light is to seek, through prayer, to bring that person into deeper contact with the Divine Presence. Some Quakers imagine the person for whom they are praying actually bathed in a beautiful, gentle light, or picture them surrounded with a halo-liked quality.

+ Goodie-/goody- good. Someone who never does anything wrong-- never breaks the law in any way, probably never swears, etc.
Urban Dictionary

Someone who does a favor for someone else solely motivated by what they may get in return, especially sex. 2. The act of doing someone a favor hoping to get something in return, especially sex. Urban Dictionary

A person who is self-righteously, affectedly, or cloyingly good or virtuous
Free dictionary

+ Ronnie, Ronald, Ron

 Old Norse elements regin ("advice", "decision") and valdr ("ruler"). Also rex from the Latin

+ A student who doesn't know the slow movement of Schubert's B-flat major op post sonata, or the story of David and Absalom, needs to go back to school and learn better.
David Galertner