Posts filed under ‘Walt Trizna’
PUBLISHING UPDATE
Some time ago I told you that I had a story accepted by Cemetery Moon. I recently received word that the story, He Flew Away, will be published close to Halloween. As a preview, if you remember our infestation of stink bugs on the east coast, you might enjoy this story. After the story is published I will provide a link to purchase the edition.
I also want to tell you that my good friend and published poet, Steve Kupferschmid, has had a poem accepted by The Aurorean, a magazine published in Farmington,ME. If you enjoy the poetry of Billie Collins, you are in for a treat. I will keep you updated on these publication.
I know, after promising to write about writing, I have let you down. It’s just that there is so much happening to this country, I cannot fail to have an opinion.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
There are still a percentage of the population of this country who still think our president is doing a good job. This is a frightening example of how many in this country have had lobotomies. Even more frightening, a percentage of this population have not.
This is a free country, for now, where thought and opinion is not regulated. But common sense should also have some value.l
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
CIVIL WAR STATUES
This post may cause me trouble, but we old people are not always right but we do have opinions.
I am distressed about the current trend, due to compassion and sensitivity, to remove the statues of Confederate figures. I will not deny that they represent a terrible part of our history of slavery and the attempt to tear our country apart.
But it did happen, and for better or worse, it is part of this countrie’s past. Are we to deny the future generations of this country to know we were not always right, and through extreme bloodshed, righted a wrong? A wrong which still persists to this day with not accepting no matter who we are we are all citizens of this great country. But I feel, because of present day circumstances we a spiraling on a downward road.
We sanitize everything these days; what happened happened and there is nothing we can do to change the past. We owe it to our future generations to know we were not always what we should have been.
Lastly, I often think of the men who participated in Pickett’s charge. The goal they wished to accomplish was far from right, but who can deny the courage those men displayed. And look into that history. Would anyone of you reading this piece haAve the courage, the guts, to do what these men did?
Finally, whether it is right or wrong, you cannot erase history. And as is often said, if history is not known it will be repeated.
Hope I haven’t stepped on too many sensitivities of my reader, but this is something I felt compelled to day.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS: WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?
PROFIT AND GREED
The solar eclipse will occur on August 21st and be visible across a great part of the nation.
This is a great opportunity to observe a magnificent spectacle. I am sure many children will take this opportunity to observe the event and maybe choose to study astronomy.
Taking this into consideration, I recently heard a report which sickens me. To observe this fantastic event, you must take caution. One of the devices you can purchase to protect your eyes, special glasses, for if you gaze at the eclipse with your eyes unprotected you stand the possibility of going blind.
I was a scientist and still enjoy reading about the unknown revealed by science. What sickens me is that I just learned that counterfeit glasses are being sold. Glasses which may render the unsuspecting buyer blind.
What is the profit gained by selling a pair of cardboard counterfeit glasses, when the cost to the unsuspected buyer may be blindness.
This is what we have become. A nation of greed, wanting to make money no matter what the cost to the individual.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS
REALITY II
Contrast the lives
Of the safe and the doomed,
The safe play video games,
The doomed
Struggle to survive.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS
REALITY
We are no longer
A country
Where the welfare
Of the citizen
Comes first.
I FALL BACK
The poor protest,
The rich fill their coffers,
Our society is controlled
By the 1%,
Greed buys politics
And controls our future.
AFTER A LONG ABSENCE, I RETURN
Forgive me for not communicating for a month and more, but there has been much on my mind about the state of our country. I know this blog is intended to benefit writers, but life also effects our writing in one way or another. Many events, which I follow daily, are beyond belief. I shall leave the discussion of the current political climate to those more knowledgeable and eloquent to express the opinions which I feel.
One last comment. Do our elected representatives have their constituents in mind with their decisions, or are those decisions governed by their perceived power and a warped ego.
I will return this blog to its intended purpose; to aid writers in finding their way to publication. My next topic will be one with which I struggle: The challenges of the elderly writer and the rapid pace of modern technology.
One last comment. You may have noticed my reblogging work from other blogs. I follow many blogs posting information for writers. I hope to spread the knowledge.
STRUGGLING TO GET IT PUBLISHED: REVISITING DUOTROPE
I had promised to return to the purpose of this blog, writing and publishing, to relay knowledge gained in having my work published, and on more occasions that I like to recall, rejected. So with this article I shall return to that purpose. But my mind is disrupted by the state of our beloved country. Need I say more?
Now, on to Duotrope, one of the most useful tools a writer can use to get his work published. If you have a piece you desire to publish, please give the site a look. You will be more than satisfied.
Duotrope is a website discussed in the past. I wish to renew that discussion and provide new information.
At one time Duotrope was free, a great source for finding publishers. A few years ago they began charging $50/year to use their service. That small price is more than worth the benefits provided to help you find a home for your work. They provide publishers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They provide a survey for you to characterize you work and zero in on publishers who may in interested in publishing you. When you initially check out the site, you are allowed limited use to explore the value they provide. Duotrope constantly upgrades the information they provide so the list of publishers remains current.
A new feature, offered in addition to the published work, is the category of visual arts. With this new addition you are able to search for sources to publish of your art; magazines etc.
Duotrope is an essential tool to those writers and artists wanting a chance to expose their work to the world.
Here is a link to the site.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS: THE SNOW
I’m sure many of the residents of the northeast are now shouting a four letter word,
S***!
After a mild winter, a storm has arrived making life temporarily miserable.
I always dust off this poem and share it at the appropriate time.
This is the appropriate time.
I wrote this poem some years ago.
Every winter since, I drag it out the right time.
For those of us on the East Coast, now is the right time.
This poem was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s, ‘The Bells’.
THE SNOW
See the delicate snowflakes fall,
Falling, falling, falling.
Whitening the earth, awaiting below,
Falling, falling, falling.
See the mounds of glittering white,
Building, building, building.
As they hide the ground from sight,
Building, building, building.
See the ceaseless falling snow,
Falling, falling, falling.
Will it stop, no one quite knows,
Falling, falling, falling.
See the drifts accumulate,
Building, building, building.
My longing for spring will no longer wait,
Building, building, building.
SEE THE DAMNED WHITE BLANKET GROW,
HIDING, HIDING, HIDING.
MY CAR, MY LAWN, ALL I KNOW,
HIDING, HIDING, HIDING.
SEE MY MADNESS, MY URGE TO KILL,
GROWING, GROWING, GROWING,
CROSS MY PATH, AND I’LL DO YOU ILL,
SMILING, SMILING, SMILING.
