I'm currently re-reading Machiavelli's The Prince and I have to admit, Machiavelli is kind of a genius. (Maybe an evil genius, but that's beside the point).
I particularly like his belief that assassinating one's enemies are necessities imposed on a prince (or perhaps a princess? Empress? Pharaoh?) because the prince would run the risk of losing power if those enemies weren't killed.
"A man who wants to make a profession of goodness in everything is bound to come to ruin among so many who are not good."
Here, here!
(Says the writer who has assassinated many a character).
He also points out that sometimes a prince absolutely has to do something evil out of political necessity, but so long as people benefit, they won't get upset.
(I'm assuming he means the people still alive, not those beheaded, burned, or tortured to death).
Anyway, I'm sure Hatshepsut and Theodora would be pleased to hear Machiavelli's justifications. Based on his criteria, they both made excellent princes.
*insert evil laugh*
Remember those history lectures in high school and college? The ones that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher?
Mwamwamwamwa...
Well, when I lecture my classes, I like to spice things up with...
DOODLES!
So there's a new feature coming to the blog starting Monday:
DOODLE HISTORY!
You know it's going to be awesome. More than awesome. It's going to be epic! (And slightly ridiculous).
See you Monday!
I run. I hike. I spin.
And, sadistic fool that I am, I love all three.
But...
Halfway through the run, midway up the mountain, or halfway through the routine with the bass pounding in my ears, I always want to do the same thing.
Quit.
But I don't.
(Okay, that's a lie. Sometimes I do. But not very often.)
Instead, I keep going. One wretched tree, one blasted hill, one far-too-peppy song. And then I get to the end.
And then I am happy.
(And eat large bowls of peanut butter chocolate ice cream to celebrate. Don't judge.)
I don't know where you are on your writer journey, but I'm 70 pages from the end of a revision-from-Hades. The end is near, but it's still so dang far there's no peanut butter chocolate ice cream in sight.
(And that makes me cranky).
But I will keep going. One odious* word at a time.
And then I plan to celebrate with an extra large bowl of peanut butter chocolate ice cream. With extra Reese's.
What about you? How's the world of writing treating you these days? I wish you all plenty of easy pages and giant bowls of ice cream!
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*I just really wanted to use odious in a sentence today. Ha!
