Nath Jones's Blog, page 4
October 10, 2013
October Haze Over the Lake
I was on the phone last night, pacing back and forth outside my apartment building.
There was no agony. Bliss with weather, with evening. Likely to lose the call in the elevator I remained outside having stilled. I pulled fall plantings through my hands gently noting the new mums, ornamental peppers, cabbages, and grasses added to the landscaping. I sat, near a tree growing up out of a cement surrounding.
A leaf fell on my head. I jumped, thinking a bird had been above.
No bird. Just this tree, finished with another day. The conversation on the phone was not disturbed.
I picked up the leaf that had fallen on my head, carried it into the building after the conversation had ended; it's here--now--drying on my desk.
There was no agony. Bliss with weather, with evening. Likely to lose the call in the elevator I remained outside having stilled. I pulled fall plantings through my hands gently noting the new mums, ornamental peppers, cabbages, and grasses added to the landscaping. I sat, near a tree growing up out of a cement surrounding.
A leaf fell on my head. I jumped, thinking a bird had been above.
No bird. Just this tree, finished with another day. The conversation on the phone was not disturbed.
I picked up the leaf that had fallen on my head, carried it into the building after the conversation had ended; it's here--now--drying on my desk.
June 27, 2013
Best laid plans
So. I had this theory about the On Impulse series--this catharsis to craft idea, about exploring storytelling from raw to refined.
Fine.
The beginning worked great. The War is Language is a total cathartic mess. Totally nailed the visceral rampage of the most base storytelling impulse. That first book even won an award recently, the Eric Hoffer Award for e-Book Fiction.
Great.
Well. As it turns out, I'm rounding out the On Impulse trajectory, getting to the refined part, and I don't know what I'm doing.
I have no storytelling craftsmanship skills. Or, very few.
I'm going to give it a shot. I like the idea of crafting some stories along classic lines. I will follow through to the extent that I can. But. I was never really one to pay attention to technique and structure. As a result, my refined storytelling chops may not measure up to my ability to make a incoherent cathartic mess.
In an effort to imbue How to Cherish the Grief-Stricken with a sense of coherent competence, I'm reading lots of short story collections and, beyond that, everything from a discussion of Pirandello and the crisis of modern consciousness to a memoir written by my mother's cousin. But. Even an exhaustive literature review may not matter. The detritus related to previously held rebellious conviction has become a fairly significant issue and continues to delay completion of the fourth manuscript.
Anyway. At some point there will be another book. But. Let's go easy on the expectations about how well this fourth collection of stories rounds out the theoretical framework for the series.
Deal?
Fine.
The beginning worked great. The War is Language is a total cathartic mess. Totally nailed the visceral rampage of the most base storytelling impulse. That first book even won an award recently, the Eric Hoffer Award for e-Book Fiction.
Great.
Well. As it turns out, I'm rounding out the On Impulse trajectory, getting to the refined part, and I don't know what I'm doing.
I have no storytelling craftsmanship skills. Or, very few.
I'm going to give it a shot. I like the idea of crafting some stories along classic lines. I will follow through to the extent that I can. But. I was never really one to pay attention to technique and structure. As a result, my refined storytelling chops may not measure up to my ability to make a incoherent cathartic mess.
In an effort to imbue How to Cherish the Grief-Stricken with a sense of coherent competence, I'm reading lots of short story collections and, beyond that, everything from a discussion of Pirandello and the crisis of modern consciousness to a memoir written by my mother's cousin. But. Even an exhaustive literature review may not matter. The detritus related to previously held rebellious conviction has become a fairly significant issue and continues to delay completion of the fourth manuscript.
Anyway. At some point there will be another book. But. Let's go easy on the expectations about how well this fourth collection of stories rounds out the theoretical framework for the series.
Deal?
August 9, 2012
Hi
Well. So. There are these social media imperatives. And. It seems there are quite a few.
I'm rather chatty over on my FB author page. That's connected to Twitter somehow. Truncated snips get broadcast.
I'm interested by time, expression, and how their rendering is determined by these templates.
So. Mainly what I do on FB and Twitter is resist the preset form. I just transcribe what I'm thinking. (Kind of Proust on crack.) Because it's funny how the fairly well-ordered thoughts turn into a meaningless jumble because of the constraints imposed by these computer programs.
Transparency of process interests me. I've likened the whole thing to my friend's dad's pizza window. But. Mainly I'm writing some books. Doing the best job that I can. So. I may not update twelve blogs on a daily basis. Hope you don't mind. It's certainly nothing personal. I'd just rather spend my time developing the work.
Thanks for understanding. And. Welcome.
I'm rather chatty over on my FB author page. That's connected to Twitter somehow. Truncated snips get broadcast.
I'm interested by time, expression, and how their rendering is determined by these templates.
So. Mainly what I do on FB and Twitter is resist the preset form. I just transcribe what I'm thinking. (Kind of Proust on crack.) Because it's funny how the fairly well-ordered thoughts turn into a meaningless jumble because of the constraints imposed by these computer programs.
Transparency of process interests me. I've likened the whole thing to my friend's dad's pizza window. But. Mainly I'm writing some books. Doing the best job that I can. So. I may not update twelve blogs on a daily basis. Hope you don't mind. It's certainly nothing personal. I'd just rather spend my time developing the work.
Thanks for understanding. And. Welcome.
