Posts filed under ‘Update’
SHIT, I’M GETTING OLD
I know I shouldn’t complain. Every day I read of lives in the obituaries whose existence ended shorter than mine. But sometimes it’s hard to keep that in prospective.
I sit here writing in my house in Pennsylvania wearing a woolen hat, which is what prompts this communication. I am freezing. The outside temp may reach 16 degrees. I won’t talk about the wind. As those of you who follow closely my life through my blog, I thank you, and you also know I had a book signing last Saturday. In preparation for that momentous event, I did something I do on a routine do, and do not have a word for, being about four times a year. Semi-annual times two, I don’t know. Anyway, I am a bonehead both figuratively and physically. I requested use of a #2 blade, I think a #1 blade would resemble something of the order of a guillotine. So as the temperature plummets, I sit here working in my blue woolen hat.
Just thought I’d share, in case you feel my writing has suddenly taken up a cold nature.
MY POEM PUBLISHED IN ‘STILL CRAZY’
The literary journal, Still Crazy, has published my poem, Sunday Park Bench, in their July 2014 issue.
They describe their publication as, ‘A literary magazine written by and about people over age 50 but designed to appeal to thoughtful people of all ages’.
If you want to give it a try, here’s a link.
OUT OF THE LOOP
I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but the loop seems to have survived.
The reason for my exit was my router. I began having trouble with the internet and thought the reason was one of the millions of hackers who are more cleaver than security for anything these days. Come to find out my router was too old to pick up the new and improved single from my internet company.
Side note. I don’t want to name the company but will give a complex hint. The name of the company rhymes with the mathematical term used to express ‘never ending’.
I called the company and told they would send me a new and improved router.
The day it was due to arrived passed so I called again. After being on hold for 15 minutes I was told the they could not track the package and the router was out of stock. This did not help my paranoia there was some kind of plot for I could not think of how they could hope to track a package that contained an item that was out of stock.
Enough of my personal problems. This episode taught me something vital.
By the way, I am still without a router and now in the public library using WiFi so all the world is looking over my shoulder hacking the hell out of this conversation. Wait a minute, that’s good. Welcome to my blog, hackers.
Back to what I learned from this episode. For a writer, for anyone today the internet is a useful tool, and essential tool we take for granted.
Back in my much younger days I was on the road to becoming a famous poet. That road reached a dead end but I still plug along. To submit your work it all had to be done through the mail. I spent hours in front of my typewriter pouring out my words in erasable typewriter paper, and sending my efforts out along with a SASE. How times have changed.
So until my router shows up, I’ve rejoined the loop for better or for worse.
MY WRITING STYLE
Presently, I’m in a quandary about the subject of this piece, my writing style.
Every writer has his or her own style, the way of expressing in word the thoughts they are trying to convey. How does this characteristic of the author originate? Is it some deep-seated voice that represents your essence, or is it merely a manufacture of all the authors whose works you have read?
My reason for pondering this question is that I am in the process of editing my novel, Sweet Depression, and in this endeavor I am attempting to cure what others have pointed out to me as a major fault – my brevity. I tend to concentrate on the core of the story and leave out details that would give the story more life. But where is the line you must be careful not to cross when that life would morph into a boring existence?
Take a look at your bookshelves. If you’re as voracious a reader as I and share my fault of not being able to part with a book once read, those shelves are overflowing. Science fiction and horror are my writing genres, but lately some of my stories have spilled into the murky boundaries of the thriller. But back to science fiction. I look at the science fiction novels of fifty or more years ago and those of today and see a distinct difference. Older science fiction is more concise, more to the point. Of course, you have the epic series Dune written by Frank Herbert and continued by his son which are massive in length, tomes of a complex series. But I look at H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds which is little more than a novella and see the more typical length of science fiction of a bygone era.
Recently I have talked to writers whose work are massive and needed to be cut for publication. My work doe not require deletion but rather addition. But how much to add without diluting down the story or slowing the action, that’s the quandary.
While thinking this piece through I may have come up with the answer to my problem. It is not the length that is important, rather the content and the skill of the writer. Talent is the bottom line. The writer must take the readers by the hand and lead them down a path without detours causing them to lose their way. And when the readers reach the end of that path, if the writer has been successful, they are left with a treasure.
MY NEW 21ST CENTURY TOYS
I am dragging myself kicking and screaming into the 21st century as far as technology is concerned.
As far as socially, I still remain comfortably in the early 20th century refusing to be tied to a cell phone.
Here is one of the first photos taken with my new tablet showing our dog Millie along with our terror cat Sammy (Samantha) enjoying the sun on the first full day of spring. Next week, chance of snow.
What has this to do with writing? Not a damn thing.
PUBLISHING UPDATE
At the beginning of the year I outlined my goals. One was to publish some of my previously published work.
I’ve been working on getting some of my published poems back out there and just found out one has been accepted by Still Crazy which is both a print and online publication.
I’ll give more details when it appears.
INFO ABOUT ELMO’S SOJOURN
Here is a link for an interview I did for Melange Books.
You might learn a little more about me (lucky you) and about Elmo’s Sojourn.
Enjoy.
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