My Project Meets George Orwell

Lately, I've been reading George Orwell's fabulous (if dated) book on the Spanish Civil War called Homage to Catalonia. For those not familiar with this work or the story behind it, Orwell wrote it shortly after he finished his stint fighting with in the war against the Fascist forces led by Francisco Franco. During his time in Spain, Orwell was eventually badly wounded by a gunshot to the throat. He writes movingly of the effect the war had on the general civilian population, and writes of the horrors as well as the boredom of life on the frontlines. It's a powerful work of journalism that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys history, good writing, or simply Orwell himself.

But how does this tie into my writing project?

As I've read Homage, I've realized that the book serves as a sort of template that I could potentially use in my own project. Orwell manages to weave the day-to-day narrative of his own experience artfully in with the broader picture, the bird's eye view, if you will in a way that is at once powerful and lucid. So I've thought: perhaps I could use this as a guide for writing my own story!

I think that the day to day narrative of my story will almost definitely be more boring than Orwell's day to day narrative, so why not spice it up with a bird's eye view every other chapter or so? There's a huge story to tell, and as with any writing project, the stated intention to write a story of this magnitude and scope is bound to strike some as narcississtic and arrogant, but that's the risk, again, that any writer takes.

What do you think?

Hmm...

I've had this blog template up for a while (I know, fancy template, right?), but have been pondering for some time what shape I want this to take. For me, like many people, blogging is like journaling or learning a new language, losing weight, or quitting smoking: something we talk endlessly about but never actually do. There is a long line of aborted blogs in my recent past and so the notion of starting a new one is always a bit daunting.

I've titled this blog "Brick by Brick, Block by Block," as a partial quotation by Barack Obama who said, and I paraphrase, "we can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand." I used this quote as the inspiration for the book project I am working on. It is a memoir about my time on the campaign, which lasted from June 30th, 2008 to November 7th, 2008. I worked in Southern Ohio, predominantly in Scioto County, where Sen. Obama netted roughly 46% of the vote. There are a number of memoirs about the campaign in the works from what I understand, but I have yet to hear about anyone writing from the ground level, which strikes me as a bit funny.

The campaign that put so much emphasis on and which revolutionized the grassroots has yet to be written about from the perspective of those on the ground: the organizers, volunteers, and others who, to put it simply, made Obama President. So that, in the most basic sense, is what I hope to achieve with my work. Whether I succeed or not (and what, really, is success?) is yet to be seen.

I hope to use this website, then, to occassionally post excerpts from my work, to ponder out loud the challenges that I face, and to solicit input from others about various aspects of my work, as well as simply post interesting stories and links as they arise. I hope you will join me as I attempt to tell the story of the most important and groundbreaking political campaign in decades.

It should be a fun ride.