6 posts tagged “writing”
... can't sleep, so I figured I'd get up and blog... I haven't just blogged in a while...
... I haven't been writing much lately... either I'm going through one of my quiet spells, or I've just been immersed in other things... my friend, Janis, whose home I'm staying in, is a teacher... so one thing I've been doing to help out is grade papers for her... she's an English teacher, so I get to brush up on my grammar while I grade her students' papers... and it's been fun for me, she told me if I see an opportunity in a student's paper to teach or help them with something, then do it... so it's been nice to offer a little help or advice to the kids with their writing... so usually in the mornings I've been doing this kind of work, as my early bird routine still seems to be clinging to me...
... today I went with Janis and a few of her kids to the big Wal Mart nearby... I have to say I'm still impressed with the stores here in the South... they are so much cleaner and quieter than their counterparts up North... like the grocery stores... up North on a football Sunday, I always hated having to go in the grocery store because it would usually be a mob scene... but down here, they're quite empty and there's a calmness there that I'm not used to... and the Wal Mart today was amazing... just very quiet, even tho' there were a lot of customers in the store... it just had a whole different vibe than the ones I've been in up North... and at the checkout, I was helping to put thing on the belt, when the cashier laid her hand on my arm gently and said, "I need to go get some more bags, Sir, but I'll be right back"... and I was amazed, because up North the cashier would have just walked off and left you wondering if she was going on break or coming back or what... so it's been an experience just going to these places and people-watching, something I love to do...
... and I'm still amazed at the night sky here... tonight was cold but very clear, with a crescent Moon just above Venus a ways... Orion was blinding with all his stars, and the Pleiades and Hyades, and Cassiopeia... and I even caught a very bright meteor while I was out there for a few minutes, so I can only imagine what a full meteor shower would be like here... sad that I couldn't keep my telescope, because this place would be amazing for astronomy...
... I finished Stephen King's "Duma Key", and loved it from start to finish... it's classic King... and one of those books I hated to finish, because I wonder how long now til I find something that moves me as much... but I began reading "Heart of Darkness" by James Conrad, and it's pretty good... a short book, so I should be done it this weekend...
... here's a little of what's been on my iPod this past week:
REO Speedwagon - "Out of Season"
The Church - "Paradox"
Thrice - "Melting Point of Wax"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Hello, It's Late"
Michael Schenker Group - "Desert Song"
Squeeze - "Another Nail For My Heart"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Higher Ground"
Anthrax - "Anyplace But Here"
The Smiths - "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"
Suede - "Animal Nitrate"
Overkill - "Skull and Bones"
Rammstein - "Morgenstern"
The Toadies - "Possum Kingdom"
Catherine Wheel - "Tongue Tied Twisted"
Rainbow - "Stone Cold"
Slayer - "Skeltons of Society"
Soul Asylum - "To My Own Devices"
David Bowie - "Loving the Alien"
Otep - "Confrontation"
... you know, I think a lot about poetry and writing... the processes involved... the other day I wrote down a line, just a fragment, and usually that bothers me, when the rest isn't right there... so I'm left with this fragment that I want to use, that I really like, but it has to wait... and I'm reminded of something I read years back... see, I used to read a lot of sci fi, and that was my dream - to be a sci fi writer... but I never had the full patience to do a whole novel, or the belief in myself to do it... anyway, I loved to read articles and interviews by authors, to hear what they had to say about their own processes and thoughts on writing... and I remember an interview with Harlan Ellison, a famous writer... now, I'm paraphrasing, tho I do have the article still in a folder somewhere... but he basically said, Sometimes I have ideas, and I don't know what to do with them at the time... I'm not ready to write them yet... maybe there are things I still need to learn, or need to experience, before I can bring that idea to life... so I set that idea aside, until I know the time is right... until I know I'm ready and able to put the idea down the way it needs to be done... until I have the knowledge and tools to make it work... and I think Mr. Ellison is so right, and that fragment of a poem made me remember what he said... so it's sitting there in my notebook, a lost puzzle piece, waiting for me to find the other 499 pieces to go with it... I don't know what kind of picture it will create... but I do hope I will know when it's time to finish the picture the way it needs to be done... when it's time to give that fragment it's proper home...
I've been dealing with really bad sinus headaches for the past month or so... and last night was like the mother of them all, just incapacitated me for several hours until I finally dozed a bit on my bed... I woke up after midnight, feeling better but like I had been run over by a car... I really couldn't get to sleep after that, and even today I'm still achey and tired, but can't fall asleep... it's been frustrating because yesterday morning I got some good work done on a short story I have been writing - the story is done, now it's just in the rewrite/edit stage... I really hoped to have it done this morning, but I just couldn't focus... hopefully tomorrow I can get it done...
... oddly, the short story is a horror one... as are the other five stories I've been making notes and rough drafts on... guess all the years of King, Koontz, movies and music are finally working on me, hehe... I'm jazzed tho, because so far the ideas and work are going good, and I'm hoping to have some good stories to do something with... I've been researching some magazines to send them to, maybe I'll get lucky...
... I haven't been reading much with all the writing going on... right now I'm working my way thru a book of Edgar Allan Poe stories, along with the bunch of poetry books that always seem to follow me around the home...
... I saw Venus the other night, shining bright in the west after sunset... so I went and consulted my almanacs, and seems Venus is going to be real nice in the evening sky this season, and next week Mercury comes up to join it... so I'm hoping to catch some views of both planets together... last night some light clouds hovered around the west, making it hard to catch Venus, but higher up I could see the slender crescent Moon...
Ok, I'm not a very political person... in fact, I've never voted in my life, I'm not even registered, because I've never come across a candidate locally or nationally that I like... I have a very low opinion of politicians... but I just have to rant a bit against McCain, especially in light of his choice of running mate... and no, it's not because she's a woman, I'm all for a woman in any office... it's more to do with her qualifications and her background... first off, she's a lifetime NRA member - sorry people, I'm very anti-gun; there's just too many of them around, getting in the hands of kids and crooks... second, her hubby is big with British petroleum, so here's another politician in the oil companies' pockets... she also fought to keep the polar bear off the endangered species list, claiming that with all the climate changes occuring in their habitat, they will "adjust"... I like what one fellow blogger said - we should put her on an ice floe, push it off and tell her she'll "adjust"... just imagine if something happened to McCain, she would become president... and she has no experience, she's hardly even travelled around the States, let alone the world... and people rip Obama about his lack of experience?... I'm just sickened all over again to politics... this country just needs a whole overhaul to its system of government...
... woke up at 3 am this morning, my mind churning... I've gotten a new bug up my butt regarding some short stories I've been working on here and there the past few years... I've often struggled with writing anything longer than a poem, I tend to anticipate and exaggerate the project until it grows beyond what I'm comfortable with... but I think I've found a way to deal with that habit... anyway, I woke up early and wrote for a few hours, making a lot of headway on one story and notes on a few others... the good thing about writing short stories is they shouldn't interfere too much with my writing poetry... they're projects that are easy to manage, and easy to get some kind of finished product with... well, we'll see what happens...
... getting hot again here in NJ, humid and hazy both day and night... I got spoiled by the cool weather of the last few weeks, hoping for an early fall... but the trees are just beginning to turn, so it's close, it's close...
Why does a week seem longer than a week when you haven't done any writing?
I could have sworn it's been three weeks since I've written any poems, but looking on here the other night, I saw it's only been just over a week... it just feels longer... not that I've been having writer's block, or anything bad like that... my head just hasn't been on poetry or writing... mostly I've been mentally numbed over my job... and in the evenings I've just been sitting on the balcony, enjoying the sky and trees, reading and sitting with my pup... some lines have played around in my thoughts, but nothing I've really wanted to work on and bring to the finish line... perhaps I'm taking a mental vacation from writing for a while, which maybe I need to refresh myself... it's just an odd feeling, still, after all these years to go a long time without writing anything... I go thru the usual worries of "what if I never write again", but in the end, does it matter?... I tell myself often, "I don't have to write"... I write only because I love to do it... but it doesn't pay my bills, my livelihood doesn't depend upon any of it... I just have to relax and rely on my old adage of, I'll write when it's time to write...
I'm still reading book 6 of Harry Potter, to get my mind back on the story for when the final book comes out... and I have still been reading poetry, mostly some Philip Larkin, May Swenson and Thomas Lux... I'm still hoping to get to Paradise Lost this summer, and I want to read Shakespeare's The Tempest...
I've been having a lot of dreams lately also about an old friend of mine, one of my best friends from my home town... we grew up together, hung out a lot, I even taught him guitar for a while... none of the dreams are bizarre or tragic... at first I just thought that maybe it meant I would be hearing from him soon... I've had that happen before, where I'll dream of someone and then have that person contact me shortly after, or maybe we'll just cross paths in a shop somewhere... but I also keep having bad vibes about all these dreams of him, as tho I'm going to hear bad news about him... that's really been bothering me, he's younger than I am, married and with one son, as far as I know... I'd contact him, but I lost track of him several years ago... hopefully nothing bad is going on in his life... and hopefully the dreams are just dreams, maybe triggered by something I've seen or done or thought of during the past few weeks...
... and June 1st, and still no bees...
(For about a year and a half now, every Wednesday I memorize a different poem... not one of my own... usually something classic or modern, something by a favorite poet of mine, or just something important... it's been a great thing for me, memorizing these poems... I wish I had started it years ago, but I always figured I could never do it... but one a week is a good pace to set, gives me time to really let the new poem sink in, and I keep up on all the past poems I've learned, so I can (hopefully!) recite any of them when I wish... I walk to work every day, it's only a few minutes walk, but it's usually an ideal time to go over a few... same with waiting in line at the store, or waiting in the vet's office, or wherever... I'd recommend doing this to anyone, because it is wonderful to have your favorite poems with you anytime you need one... and it helps with studying them, going over how the words and images flow or even clash... so, every Wednesday, I choose a poem from some notebooks of them I've been building up, and then post my choice on my blogs... )
Maybe... perhaps... just maybe... I'm jumping the season this Wednesday, but lately it's been feeling very "autumnal" around here... temps have been very cool (which is nice! I'm not complaining!) and I'm even seeing some leaves starting to fall... so for this week I've chosen an autumnal poem by one of my favorite poets, Charles Simic... and I've also chosen him since so far I've only memorized one of his poems...
Autumn Sky by Charles Simic
In my greatgrandmother's time,
all one needed was a broom
to get to see places
and give the geese a chase in the sky.
The stars know everything,
so we try to read their minds.
As distant as they are,
we choose to whisper in their presence.
Oh, Cynthia,
take a clock that has lost its hands
for a ride.
Get me a room at Hotel Eternity
where Time likes to stop now and then.
Come, lovers of dark corners,
the sky says,
and sit in one of my dark corners.
There are tasty little zeros
in the peanut dish tonight.
(I always love the imagery and ambience, if you will, of his poems... they usually inspire me to write something off-the-wall as well... and I love how it feels to say the line aloud, "we choose to whisper in their presence", the "choose to whisper" part has a nice feel in the mouth...)
My name is Bob Browning, and I've been writing poetry since I was in my teens... I stopped writing for several years as my life kept me turning and battling in a few stormy relationships, but I finally returned to writing about 6 years ago... it was when I had gotten my first computer and was deciding what was I going to do with this new-found toy?... then I found some poetry groups online and that got me thinking again about writing... since those days, I've left the online groups and just been pursuing poetry on my own... I think the groups are good to a point, then it's up to the writer to move on and develope more on their own... no matter what you write, I think in the end it just comes down to you, alone, with your pad, pen, pencil or computer... simply doing what you feel and like best.
I'm an avid reader too... mostly poetry, sci fi, fantasy, classic literature and astronomy... tho I also like reading history books, mostly on WW2 and Egypt, tho I'm not at all an expert in either areas... I think the only way to become a good writer is to be a good reader... to learn from the writers you admire, and even from the ones you think suck... over time then you can learn what "works" for you, see what other writers have done, and eventually hone your own style.
So in this blog, I'm mostly going to be sharing my own poems, and also thought about my life, writing, work and relationships in general... I hope it won't bore you, and if you ever feel like commenting or contacting me, please do so... I'm always interested to meet new people... thanks for reading.
