The measure of opportunities

Write a story about someone who has put “Blood Sweat & Tears” into getting where they are — only to question whether it was worth it.

The measure of opportunities

           This is the story of Paul Costa Gavin, an American-Brazilian writer, considered excellent among critics, literary theorists, and university professors in Rio de Janeiro, but who remained almost obscure to the general public for several decades because he was unable to transmit the values of a new culture to mindsets formed by an old culture. After ages of efforts, and despite having become somehow well-known in the cultural rings of Rio de Janeiro, he managed to fit his new ideas into the need to communicate them, but it seems that time is exacting a high price for the missed opportunities.

Paul started to tell me his story this way:

“At the age of seventeen, I witnessed an extraordinary change in my inner life. Suddenly, phrases that had been cultural truisms for years like Know thyself or Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? went from empty expressions learned in childhood to distressing spiritual needs. I decided to look for answers to these inner needs in books, and it was in a book that I discovered the method of conscious evolution created by an Argentine scientist named Carlos Bernardo González Pecotche, the philosopher that would satisfy most of my spiritual needs.”

“At first I was suspicious of Pecotche’s ideas, but after a more detailed analysis I saw that it was legitimate scientific knowledge, studied by highly intelligent people in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Pecotche’s wisdom has the goal of creating a new culture, the expression in italics being understood not as the creation of new personalities, but of true men and women formed on the basis of real knowledge concerning the human psychology.”

“The culture brought about by González Pecotche does not suddenly appear in the consciousness of those who practice his knowledge. It has a methodology, which is carried out through a path called the process of conscious evolution. Thus, it forms in people’s awareness step by step. In other words, it is the individual’s own consciousness that verifies and assimilates the acquired knowledge. The process created by Pecotche is based on knowledge, not beliefs.”

After presenting the core of his story — the mental, moral and spiritual basis of the problem that absorbed most of his life — Paul Costa Gavin led me to the mainstream of his idealistic struggle to convey — through literature — the good that he had created within himself: how to coach the new culture created by the Argentine philosopher and scientist González Pecotche into novels, short stories, plays, poems, and novellas in a way that is accessible to people who are unaware of these brand-new cultural values?

“I started trying, around the age of nineteen, to become a poet,” Paul told me. “I never abandoned poetry, but I soon concluded that it had its shortcomings in terms of carrying out my goal. I then moved on to the theater, which I still consider the best way to achieve my original desideratum. I worked for a while in professional theater but had to quit because I was suffering from a chronic illness that consumed much of my youth, and nearly killed me. At the end of this experimental period, I realized that I would have to develop an activity that would leave me free time to earn money — exercising some profession that did not include literary creation — since I was still an amateur writer. I speak English and Portuguese as mother tongues; therefore, I decided to study at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and become a professor of everything related to linguistics and literature, in English and Portuguese. I obtained a master’s degree in Brazilian literature, and later became a doctor in comparative literature. As the disease almost destroyed my motor coordination, I started practicing karate — a sport that exercised this coordination to the maximum. Today I am a karate teacher, having reached the third level (dan) of black belt. Since childhood I have been passionate about photography, so I also worked as a photographer until I retired, and owned an analog photo lab.”

“Therefore, I didn’t fail as a professional. But my main goal has not been carried out until today.”

“During the 1970s, a feverish reading of short stories took over Brazil. It was then that I discovered my true style, by creating a short story called Warm Blood, which became well-known, and was published in a literary magazine, besides being quoted in a textbook — but I only had this one to offer to the public. I worked for the now-defunct Union of Writers of Rio de Janeiro, and at the same time had a literary program on Rádio Roquette Pinto, which belonged to the Rio government. I worked as editor of a literary supplement that was part of the Tribuna da Imprensa newspaper. So I also pursued a career linked to literary creation, but the emptiness of not being able to transmit the knowledge I was acquiring — in ever-increasing volume — that constituted a new culture, haunted my days. I threw many short stories in the trash can, as well as plays and some novels.”

 PCG’s expression changed to slightly downcast. He dipped his eyes into the mazes of memory. I asked Paul a superficial question to motivate him to continue.

“Well… then I decided to change my strategy,” he said at last. “I should write the novels first, and then adapt them to the ideas accumulated in my consciousness. Following this decision, I produced something of value, which I was finally able to consider worth being published. Satisfied, I began to frequent the forest that cuts Rio de Janeiro into two parts, which the people here proudly call “the largest urban forest in the world.” In the company of some wild animals that live there, and listening to the calming noise of the waterfalls, I wrote almost a hundred short stories and one novel. At last, I had acquired the ability to fulfill my initial intention!”

“But then I should face another problem: how to find an editor good enough to publish my stories, and make them popular? I had written a book on literary theory containing a new method of approaching and creating literature based on Pecotche’s knowledge. I had enough novels, and short stories to form a work of about 20 books in English. I had also created many poems. I had translated “On the Art of Poetry” by Aristotle. However, the so-called “Brazilian short-story boom” had run out years ago. Brazil has two hundred million inhabitants, it is amongst the ten most important economies in the world, and the number of illiterates here does not reach 5% of the population, but it is not a country of readers. Nobody knows how to explain this strange phenomenon, but only the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, has more bookstores than the whole of Brazil. This strange country speaks Portuguese, and this is another point that creates serious hurdles to the dissemination of a literary work.”

Taking advantage of a break in Paulo’s narrative, I asked:

“And how did you intend to solve this problem?”

“My friend Daniel Yunes gave me a light,” he replied. “For a few seeks, I thought Daniel had solved the issue. He suggested that I publish on Amazon, taking advantage of my knowledge of English, and the new habit of reading e-Books. English is the universal language of the modern cultures, and writing in that tongue I would manage to reach the largest readership in the world. Daniel himself was in charge of designing the pages of my books, while I translated all the material I have on my computer from Portuguese, its original language, into English.”

I and Daniel have already published 15 books on Amazon. As publishing is not enough, but it is necessary to sell these books, I thought I had created a form of marketing that caused an impact. I bought a Ricardo Fayet’s essay called How to Market a Book, and tried to follow Ricardo’s instructions. Given that the novel I chose as the basis of the publicity fits the type of read that is pleasant for humanists, secularists, skeptics, agnostics, etc. — in short, for the ones who have abolished religion in their lives — I looked for the sites created by these types of people. There are thousands of such sites spread out all over the world because the Christian religion is in decay. I spent six months scouring the Internet, and sending 9000 contact forms and emails with an impact advertisement, calculating 180 days for checking the results of this tiresome work. The material that I was marketing is all published in e-Books, not in the old paper format, but the number of contacts — at least as I calculated — would make up for this limitation.”

“A few days ago, my son and Daniel consulted Amazon Books to find out how many books I had sold, and why I wasn’t getting royalties from that sale. The result couldn’t be more disappointing: Amazon wouldn’t pay me because I was only entitled to receive $65 in royalties, less than the minimum they stipulated!”

“What now?” I asked Paul. “Do you have any new marketing strategies? I’ve read much of your stuff, you’re very good. Is becoming a professional writer really that difficult?”

“I don’t know,” Paul replied. “I have lost out on many opportunities because I was striving for unattainable perfection. Now I don’t know what to do. Do you have any idea?”

For the time being, finding a new idea to market Paul Costa Gavin’s books is an effort that is in progress. So far, I haven’t had any good inspiration to accomplish this intent. There is another problem as well. Paul has been so downhearted that he might give up on becoming a professional writer. Nevertheless, I know he will keep on striving to translate all his books into English, which would keep his mind active until the end of his days. “Van Gogh didn’t sell any of his paintings,” he says. “Fernando Pessoa sold only 800 books while still alive. So, let others make my stuff known to readers. Perhaps, in the future, my literature will turn my grandchildren into tycoons!”

Paul has been saying that his effort wasn’t worth it...

What about you? What do you think of all this? Have you got any ideas for helping Paul Costa Gavin become a professional writer? He needs to find a literary agent, and a good editor. Perhaps you can think better than us, and give us a suggestion that works...