Monday, December 30, 2013
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
A Poem About Writing
I don't often post my poems because as a rule they are subjective to the reader, and most people don't like reading them, unless they too are poets,or enjoy reading poetry. It's why I won't publish a book of poetry--it'll just be an exercise in a pathetic waste of time. But this poem is about writing and I actually came across it in an old notebook. I wrote it in 2005. (They call poems about poetry "Ars Poetica".)
Poems are
the relentless current
a seductive stimuli
footprints across the page
anyone can leave behind
where ink is the water
and the waves are our thin
swift dreams...
poems, like our personal struggles,
in a swift current that snag
on rocks, eventually
freed
until the next logjam
I discovered poetry and had help in learning how to write them (not that I'm great at it), from the book The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser a Poet Laureate. The book was helpful where most were not. I recommend it to anyone who wants to write better poems. I've had several of my poems published soon after I read this book and worked on my poetry using his advice. I couldn't have done it without Ted. But I never could achieve my hope to have a poem published in ByLine. Oh well... it no longer matters to me. I've got a blog where I can post and anyone who wishes may read and enjoy.
Here is one more very short one it's called
A Page of Latte
Words stare back at me,
Unblinking, black on white.
They won't bow, won't budge
The syntax is obstinate!
There's no imagery, no form
It's like squeezing water
from cork board.
Ink leaks from my finger tips,
I put them to my lips...
Tastes a lot like latte.
On that note I want to let you know I am expanding my blogs to a new one called "A Page of Latte" Here I hope to not only share my poetry, but also invite anyone (yes, anyone), to share their poetry, or troubles with it, if they wish, and discuss (if desired), how to improve upon it. I will introduce certain types of poetry--like the "Tanka", which is similar but different from Haiku, and darn fun to work on.
I'm going to also post some notes from various places where I've learned a few things about writing poetry. I've been writing poetry (on and off) for decades and my first ones were really crappy, so don't think yours could be anywhere near as crappy as mine, if you are just starting out. I want to encourage anyone, beginners and more experienced poets to come and share your thoughts, and get in on the discussion. I'm also going to offer guest posts, too. So come and have a look-see, or at least give me a good send off, in the very least. It's going to be bare bones right now, but it will evolve into a nice little nook for poets. I hope!
So, come and join me if you wish here is the link: A Page of Latte
My hope for this blog is to continue on writing themes, and what I'm working on. I may post some basics here in coming weeks--this is for newer/beginning writers. So, I hope to see some new faces here in the next few weeks and I invite everyone to check out my new blog A Page of Latte.
Thank you for following me here, and commenting every once in a while. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and we will chat in the coming New Year!
Poems are
the relentless current
a seductive stimuli
footprints across the page
anyone can leave behind
where ink is the water
and the waves are our thin
swift dreams...
poems, like our personal struggles,
in a swift current that snag
on rocks, eventually
freed
until the next logjam
I discovered poetry and had help in learning how to write them (not that I'm great at it), from the book The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser a Poet Laureate. The book was helpful where most were not. I recommend it to anyone who wants to write better poems. I've had several of my poems published soon after I read this book and worked on my poetry using his advice. I couldn't have done it without Ted. But I never could achieve my hope to have a poem published in ByLine. Oh well... it no longer matters to me. I've got a blog where I can post and anyone who wishes may read and enjoy.
Here is one more very short one it's called
A Page of Latte
Words stare back at me,
Unblinking, black on white.
They won't bow, won't budge
The syntax is obstinate!
There's no imagery, no form
It's like squeezing water
from cork board.
Ink leaks from my finger tips,
I put them to my lips...
Tastes a lot like latte.
On that note I want to let you know I am expanding my blogs to a new one called "A Page of Latte" Here I hope to not only share my poetry, but also invite anyone (yes, anyone), to share their poetry, or troubles with it, if they wish, and discuss (if desired), how to improve upon it. I will introduce certain types of poetry--like the "Tanka", which is similar but different from Haiku, and darn fun to work on.
I'm going to also post some notes from various places where I've learned a few things about writing poetry. I've been writing poetry (on and off) for decades and my first ones were really crappy, so don't think yours could be anywhere near as crappy as mine, if you are just starting out. I want to encourage anyone, beginners and more experienced poets to come and share your thoughts, and get in on the discussion. I'm also going to offer guest posts, too. So come and have a look-see, or at least give me a good send off, in the very least. It's going to be bare bones right now, but it will evolve into a nice little nook for poets. I hope!
So, come and join me if you wish here is the link: A Page of Latte
My hope for this blog is to continue on writing themes, and what I'm working on. I may post some basics here in coming weeks--this is for newer/beginning writers. So, I hope to see some new faces here in the next few weeks and I invite everyone to check out my new blog A Page of Latte.
Thank you for following me here, and commenting every once in a while. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and we will chat in the coming New Year!
 |
| It's looking a bit like this outside today... |
Sunday, December 15, 2013
The Suffrage of your Characters
This morning my husband and I sat and watched an old Bonanza show. This one starred Ricardo Montalbon. He played an outcast Indian--a son of a chief. He is outcast because he married an Indian maiden from another tribe played by Madlyn Rhue. This woman spent 3 years with a white family and learned to read the Bible.
In the opening, Ben Cartwright is ambushed by an Indian, and stabbed. Just before the Indian can finish him off, Matsou (Montalban), stops him. He talks his blood-lusting white man hating brother to leave him. After which he takes Ben to his tee-pee and his wife cares for him. Matsou is convoluted over his being so soft about a white man, but he is, after all on Cartwright land.
His brother comes along and asks what happened to the white man. Matsou lies, tells him he hid the body and took his horse. His brother wants to check his tee-pee but Matsou won't allow it. His brother, Lagos, says they are about to have a war party against the people of the land. Not great news, but Matsou isn't half as worried about that as he is about the white man he saved. Eventually Ben becomes well enough, he is grateful and offers Matsou some land to farm. His wife is happy, and wants him to try to farm. Matsou is still in two minds about it, but he and she both pray about it--in their separate ways and he softens and accepts. They build a home, he cuts his hair (which in reality he would not do--a lot of things wrong with what the Indians believed in and did, but I'm not going to harp on this). His wife is pregnant and they are happy about this, but he hates that he has become a farmer eating bread and using forks and knifes and sits at a table--yadayada.
In the meantime, an Indian hater, Ike Daggert, is really up in arms about these two Indians adjacent to his land. He claims if he ever sees either of them he'll kill them. Well, Matsou's brother comes to tell him that the tribe is about to attack. If he isn't going to attend this like a good son of a chief, then he should get the hell out of the way. Matsou, of course, goes to warn the Cartwrights, and then, like a good neighbor--but a foolish one--goes to warn Daggert. At the same time he comes to the house, Daggert hears him, comes out to shoot him. But also, Matsou's brother has come, entered through an open window, kills Daggert's wife, and starts the place on fire. Seeing this, too late, Daggert shoots and kills Lagos.
Daggert's wife is buried, everyone is gathered at the funeral, including Matsou and his wife, Hatoya. Daggert is out-raged about this, and seeing Hatoya praying further incites him. He shoots Hatoya, after breaking away from a scuffle. Matsou is devastated, and goes a little crazy.
Next scene: Daggert barely makes it to the Cartwright home, falls and it is revealed he's been cut up in a way to make him suffer before he dies. This is Matsou's doing, of course. After the man dies, Ben tries to go to Matsou to talk to him. Matsou hits him, ties him up spread-eagle with rawhide. Another slow torture. As Ben is suffering Matsou is trying to enjoy it, but seems he can't do so--can't even look at Ben. And Ben refuses to cry out throughout this ordeal. Matsou knows he is a failure as an Indian as well as a white man.
Just when it seems Ben is at his last moments, he begins to pray--something his wife has done in the past. He tells Ben to stop, but he won't. At this breaking point, Matsou cuts Ben loose. (I wanted to see him offer him water, but he didn't--another problem with the show). They make peace. Matsou becomes chief of his people. A somewhat happy ending.
I wrote out the basic plot here--aside from some of the basic mistakes of the piece, the suffering of each character was there--it was a good lesson in writing the basic plot crises: Matsou losing his wife who he loved so dearly he didn't care that he was banished from his tribe, and then became a farmer to keep her happy--this was his ultimate devastation. It wasn't lost on me that Daggert lost his wife, but you didn't care about him because he was so hateful. The volatile act happened--Daggert shooting Matsou's wife saying, "An Eye for and eye!"--was the the crisis point in the story.
I knew while watching all the drama on this show that something bad was going to happen, and it made me edgy--especially with the Indian hater making it clear he would kill any Indian that came on his property. I couldn't have guessed that his beautiful wife, who was with child, would be shot in cold blood. The writer had found the worst thing that he could do to his character, Matsou, and did it. Showed him going through a bit of madness over his wife's senseless murder. Matsou suffered until he could suffer no more injustice and slight to his character. His wife's death drove him over the edge. Good job by the writer, I say!
My dilemma in my own writing:
While working on a WIP, I consider what would be the worse thing that could happen to my main character(s). This is your job as a writer. You need to have people care about these characters, and then you do something that jars them emotionally. I've mentioned that I am currently working on Dhampire Legacy, something already written a million years ago by me, dug out and I'm breathing new life into it. I was following the main plot--as written--where I have my detective's daughter abducted by vampires. Whether or not I would follow what happened next as written, I was in two minds about. I wanted Detective Vladislav to save his daughter from being bitten and then turned. In the original I'd had him come too late, and she does become a vampire, however he, being a dhampire has sway over her similar to the vampire who bit her. Looking over the chapters on this, I wasn't sure that's what I wanted at all. But now, after watching this episode of Bonanza I'm hitting my head saying, Wull, duh!
I see that the easy way out is not the way to go. The scene that is written will stand, but be rewritten as needed. I'm finding that there wasn't too much wrong with it plot-wise, it just became too long-winded, and needs help in certain areas, but the basic plot was good.
Although my beginning didn't start until the third chapter, this was one of the bigger problems. A few other minor things I changed too. Bringing in a character who sheds light on things so that my detective will begin to question his own dismissal of who/what he is (he is of Gypsy birth--which I will probably hit on in more detail in a future post). So, of course, I've been cutting here and re-positioning a chapter there. My other main characters Phil and Herb play off each other like a ping-pong match, and I love the interplay of their personalities in this. Where as Jan is so serious, as a contrast, and I hope to give him a boot in the pants at some point. And his world is falling down around his ears as we speak with the hint of vampires in the disappearances and murders that now are beginning to pile up. His wife is dead (prior to the book's opening), and Lucy, his daughter is all he's got. And I don't need to add he is overly protective of her--but that would only make sense. Being a teenager, even as innocent of the world as she is, she won't be able to obey her detective father, and will get herself into trouble, big-time. This is what I wanted to happen to bring Jan to his knees, drop-kicking him like a ball, then build him back up, making him accept his birthright.
Have any of you had trouble figuring out what to do to make your MC suffer? I watch a lot of older shows that were written really well for TV. This one had problems, but like I said, the main idea was not lost on me. It helped me come to a decision, opened my eyes a bit, and I'm going ahead with the WIP as written, for the most part. Well, I'd better get to it!
Hope you've had a great weekend. See you next week some time!
 |
| Madlyn Rhye as Hatoya |
In the opening, Ben Cartwright is ambushed by an Indian, and stabbed. Just before the Indian can finish him off, Matsou (Montalban), stops him. He talks his blood-lusting white man hating brother to leave him. After which he takes Ben to his tee-pee and his wife cares for him. Matsou is convoluted over his being so soft about a white man, but he is, after all on Cartwright land.
His brother comes along and asks what happened to the white man. Matsou lies, tells him he hid the body and took his horse. His brother wants to check his tee-pee but Matsou won't allow it. His brother, Lagos, says they are about to have a war party against the people of the land. Not great news, but Matsou isn't half as worried about that as he is about the white man he saved. Eventually Ben becomes well enough, he is grateful and offers Matsou some land to farm. His wife is happy, and wants him to try to farm. Matsou is still in two minds about it, but he and she both pray about it--in their separate ways and he softens and accepts. They build a home, he cuts his hair (which in reality he would not do--a lot of things wrong with what the Indians believed in and did, but I'm not going to harp on this). His wife is pregnant and they are happy about this, but he hates that he has become a farmer eating bread and using forks and knifes and sits at a table--yadayada.
In the meantime, an Indian hater, Ike Daggert, is really up in arms about these two Indians adjacent to his land. He claims if he ever sees either of them he'll kill them. Well, Matsou's brother comes to tell him that the tribe is about to attack. If he isn't going to attend this like a good son of a chief, then he should get the hell out of the way. Matsou, of course, goes to warn the Cartwrights, and then, like a good neighbor--but a foolish one--goes to warn Daggert. At the same time he comes to the house, Daggert hears him, comes out to shoot him. But also, Matsou's brother has come, entered through an open window, kills Daggert's wife, and starts the place on fire. Seeing this, too late, Daggert shoots and kills Lagos.
Daggert's wife is buried, everyone is gathered at the funeral, including Matsou and his wife, Hatoya. Daggert is out-raged about this, and seeing Hatoya praying further incites him. He shoots Hatoya, after breaking away from a scuffle. Matsou is devastated, and goes a little crazy.
Next scene: Daggert barely makes it to the Cartwright home, falls and it is revealed he's been cut up in a way to make him suffer before he dies. This is Matsou's doing, of course. After the man dies, Ben tries to go to Matsou to talk to him. Matsou hits him, ties him up spread-eagle with rawhide. Another slow torture. As Ben is suffering Matsou is trying to enjoy it, but seems he can't do so--can't even look at Ben. And Ben refuses to cry out throughout this ordeal. Matsou knows he is a failure as an Indian as well as a white man.
Just when it seems Ben is at his last moments, he begins to pray--something his wife has done in the past. He tells Ben to stop, but he won't. At this breaking point, Matsou cuts Ben loose. (I wanted to see him offer him water, but he didn't--another problem with the show). They make peace. Matsou becomes chief of his people. A somewhat happy ending.
I wrote out the basic plot here--aside from some of the basic mistakes of the piece, the suffering of each character was there--it was a good lesson in writing the basic plot crises: Matsou losing his wife who he loved so dearly he didn't care that he was banished from his tribe, and then became a farmer to keep her happy--this was his ultimate devastation. It wasn't lost on me that Daggert lost his wife, but you didn't care about him because he was so hateful. The volatile act happened--Daggert shooting Matsou's wife saying, "An Eye for and eye!"--was the the crisis point in the story.
I knew while watching all the drama on this show that something bad was going to happen, and it made me edgy--especially with the Indian hater making it clear he would kill any Indian that came on his property. I couldn't have guessed that his beautiful wife, who was with child, would be shot in cold blood. The writer had found the worst thing that he could do to his character, Matsou, and did it. Showed him going through a bit of madness over his wife's senseless murder. Matsou suffered until he could suffer no more injustice and slight to his character. His wife's death drove him over the edge. Good job by the writer, I say!
My dilemma in my own writing:
While working on a WIP, I consider what would be the worse thing that could happen to my main character(s). This is your job as a writer. You need to have people care about these characters, and then you do something that jars them emotionally. I've mentioned that I am currently working on Dhampire Legacy, something already written a million years ago by me, dug out and I'm breathing new life into it. I was following the main plot--as written--where I have my detective's daughter abducted by vampires. Whether or not I would follow what happened next as written, I was in two minds about. I wanted Detective Vladislav to save his daughter from being bitten and then turned. In the original I'd had him come too late, and she does become a vampire, however he, being a dhampire has sway over her similar to the vampire who bit her. Looking over the chapters on this, I wasn't sure that's what I wanted at all. But now, after watching this episode of Bonanza I'm hitting my head saying, Wull, duh!
I see that the easy way out is not the way to go. The scene that is written will stand, but be rewritten as needed. I'm finding that there wasn't too much wrong with it plot-wise, it just became too long-winded, and needs help in certain areas, but the basic plot was good.
Although my beginning didn't start until the third chapter, this was one of the bigger problems. A few other minor things I changed too. Bringing in a character who sheds light on things so that my detective will begin to question his own dismissal of who/what he is (he is of Gypsy birth--which I will probably hit on in more detail in a future post). So, of course, I've been cutting here and re-positioning a chapter there. My other main characters Phil and Herb play off each other like a ping-pong match, and I love the interplay of their personalities in this. Where as Jan is so serious, as a contrast, and I hope to give him a boot in the pants at some point. And his world is falling down around his ears as we speak with the hint of vampires in the disappearances and murders that now are beginning to pile up. His wife is dead (prior to the book's opening), and Lucy, his daughter is all he's got. And I don't need to add he is overly protective of her--but that would only make sense. Being a teenager, even as innocent of the world as she is, she won't be able to obey her detective father, and will get herself into trouble, big-time. This is what I wanted to happen to bring Jan to his knees, drop-kicking him like a ball, then build him back up, making him accept his birthright.
Have any of you had trouble figuring out what to do to make your MC suffer? I watch a lot of older shows that were written really well for TV. This one had problems, but like I said, the main idea was not lost on me. It helped me come to a decision, opened my eyes a bit, and I'm going ahead with the WIP as written, for the most part. Well, I'd better get to it!
Hope you've had a great weekend. See you next week some time!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Milestones
A very quick post today.
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. My husband surprised me with a rose in a cluster of baby's breath. I say surprised me because since we work together, and our driving buses gives us so little time to do much of anything else, his having stopped inside the grocery store to order it took a little time. And then when he did, because it was so early, there wasn't anyone in the florist's shop who knew how to tie a bow--well, he decided that maybe since I didn't know about it, it wouldn't hurt to let it slide.
But life had a bigger plan.
He stopped at the store again--needing to use their bathroom, and one of the always-smiling women who work there said to him "Hey, your flower is ready!" And a woman from the department came up to him after he came out of the bathroom with the bouquet. She said he could pay for it at her department. She told him it was already paid for by one of the cashiers, and all he owed was the tax. We've gone to this store since it opened, and the people know us on sight. So that was a huge surprise!
We had lunch in one of our more favorite places, had a glass of wine and it was very nice.
We later looked at our wedding pictures, and the reception ones (Funny, there were people in it we couldn't remember!).
The other milestone? I got my first check from Amazon the day before. It wasn't huge, but it was enough to make me happy. Also, I didn't expect this until next month. This was a nice surprise.
I'm still working on the WIP. I have a few more weeks before we are off for winter break, and I'm so looking forward to the time off, but not the money hardship that it brings. But maybe this time, with the little extra money we've gotten here and there, it will help some.
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. My husband surprised me with a rose in a cluster of baby's breath. I say surprised me because since we work together, and our driving buses gives us so little time to do much of anything else, his having stopped inside the grocery store to order it took a little time. And then when he did, because it was so early, there wasn't anyone in the florist's shop who knew how to tie a bow--well, he decided that maybe since I didn't know about it, it wouldn't hurt to let it slide.
But life had a bigger plan.
He stopped at the store again--needing to use their bathroom, and one of the always-smiling women who work there said to him "Hey, your flower is ready!" And a woman from the department came up to him after he came out of the bathroom with the bouquet. She said he could pay for it at her department. She told him it was already paid for by one of the cashiers, and all he owed was the tax. We've gone to this store since it opened, and the people know us on sight. So that was a huge surprise!
We had lunch in one of our more favorite places, had a glass of wine and it was very nice.
We later looked at our wedding pictures, and the reception ones (Funny, there were people in it we couldn't remember!).
The other milestone? I got my first check from Amazon the day before. It wasn't huge, but it was enough to make me happy. Also, I didn't expect this until next month. This was a nice surprise.
I'm still working on the WIP. I have a few more weeks before we are off for winter break, and I'm so looking forward to the time off, but not the money hardship that it brings. But maybe this time, with the little extra money we've gotten here and there, it will help some.
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