| G.D.
BAUM
A Personal Statement by the Author
Welcome to my web site. I am deeply indebted to the many
people who have made my first novel, Point and Shoot, such
a success.
My focus at Sarah Lawrence College was in creative writing.
I wrote many book-length manuscripts, only to discard them,
knowing that I could do a better job. That is a process
that many authors go through: they write thousands of pages
as "ramping up" to reaching the stage where they
can produce professional quality work. Ray Bradbury has
written about the inspiration for Fahrenheit 451 being the
night he took all of his prior faltering attempts to compose
a professionally done short story or novel, threw them in
a pile and burned them. It is the moment of liberation for
a writer.
Accordingly, the turning point for me was when I took Henry
Miller's words to heart. He has said that the process of
becoming a writer involves a commitment to speaking with
an honest voice. When we censor ourselves, we obscure our
character and undermine the very reason for writing in the
first place: to communicate the better part of ourselves.
It is literally an act of courage to speak with a true voice
and put behind us the fits and starts that are, as he puts
it, "the grand tuning up of the instrument".
I have now done so. Point and Shoot is a book about the
way men and women disappoint and hurt one another in the
process of finding the better angels of their nature. At
one point, the main character says to his girlfriend, "are
you going to stay or leave?" She replies, "[i]s
there a third alternative?" This is a book about third
alternatives.
It is also a book about life and death. The most obvious
example is that it is a murder mystery. Characters die horrible
deaths and others seek to find out who killed them and why.
However, on another level, it is about the tension between
living and dying as reflected in the internal and external
philosophies of Eastern martial arts. In that tension, lies
the paradoxical truth that as we age, we have the capacity
to increase the intensity of our life force; that in approaching
death there can be a greater life.
This is also a book containing authentic descriptions of
martial arts practice. In it, I seek to take the reader
into not just the fists and feet of the martial artist,
but also the warrior's heart and soul. There is a depth
and honesty in dedicating oneself to the peaceful chivalry
and spiritual development inherent in these arts.
Finally, this book is, above all, about entertainment.
I have sought to write it in a fast-moving light prose.
I have also tried to inject humor into these life and death
situations. I have received uniformly positive feedback
from those that have read it and I am currently working
on the second installment of this series.
Please let me know what you think of Point and Shoot. I
can be reached at gdbaum100@yahoo.com.
| G.D. Baum is a graduate of the
Sarah Lawrence Writing Program. He has achieved a black
belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate, and in was ranked sixth
in the United States in forms for his Division by the
NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association). In
his spare time, he teaches Tai Chi Chuan. |
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