Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 159

“What Is Art For?”

Even though the article I’ll feature today focuses on the art of painting, it’s easy to see its argument as applicable to writing.

So, an appropriate subtitle for this post could be “What Is Writing For?”.

I went searching my past posts for something that might echo some of the sentiments of today’s article and found six posts that revolve around the social responsibility of the writer (and, by extension, the responsibilities of any artist.).

I’m sure there will be a reader or two of this post w...

Music & Writing ~ Kissin' Cousins

Reblogged from Notes from An Alien:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amSqQ5...]

Many authors can't even write if their favorite music isn't playing...

Some writers have special music they play for each character in their story...

Even though I treasured books as a youth and considered English as a major in college, until I got to my 40s, Music was my Muse.

I played brass instruments as a child---sang in the church and later on the secular stage.

Read more… 447 more words

Origi...

Friday Fantasy ~~~ Number Four

Copyright, 2013, Alexander M Zoltai

Read More Friday Fantasy

The Unexpected Mythic Quest

The Centaur left her forest at full-gallop, rounding the peninsula beach and surging into the sea on her way to the Meeting Place.

The Dragon rose slowly from her forest, her serpentine body flattening to gain altitude, in no hurry to appear at the Meeting Place.

For most ordinary folk, the day was not special—fluffy clouds, warmth, and a regular routine.

For the Centaur and the Dragon, the day was Epochal—neve...

People With Reading-Apathy and Reading-Prejudice

Some folks have read way more books than they can remember.

Others have read just as much and can recall every scene and even quote from the books.

Seems, though, that our culture is experiencing a trough in its graph of reading.

“What about all those e-books people are buying?”, you might ask.

It appears our digital culture has not only twitterized us but also teaches us to consume but not chew our books.

An article in The Curator,Reading and Resistance, has this to say:

“Experts estimate that as...

Some Thoughts on Holy Days . . .

Christmas is a Holy Day?

Such a shame some have forgotten…

As aBahá’í, I don’t celebrate Christmas—I honor it.

The birthday of the Founder of any Faith is worth honoring, in my humble opinion…

If we can’t honor Them for for Their Teachings, we still might be able to honor the otherworldly courage They displayed, or the immense compassion They had; and, if nothing else, we can admire Them for bearing the incredible persecutions They all suffered…

Naturally, many folk have permitted Business to hypn...

“Why Read Literature in the Digital Age?”

I usually lead readers to other sites—feature something from elsewhere and give links. I’ll do that today but I’ll leave out my comments on what I’m leading you toward… It’s not that I can’t make comments—it’s that where I want you to go speaks so well on its own. The Globe and Mail has an […]

Art and Your Stomach ~ Two Tasty Books

Ever wondered what your favorite author likes to eat? Certainly painters do more than render food on their canvases… How about the discovery that a famous screenwriter had a favorite kind of potato salad? Want Jean Renoir‘s recipe? “1 kg Charlotte potatoes 1 Lyon pistachio sausage 3 tablespoons strong mustard 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 2 […]

Friday Fantasy ~~~ Number Three

Copyright, 2013, Alexander M Zoltai Read More Friday Fantasy The Island War The Island was home to around 50,000 people—place of temperate weather—land of great fertility. There were two smaller islands close-by—thirty minutes boat-trip-near—one rich in iron ore, to the North—one supplying an abundance of wood from many tree species, to the South. Of course, […]

Smoke & Mirrors ~~ How is Success Measured In Publishing?

If you use the Top Tags widget (down a bit in the left side-bar) you’ll notice I have 99 posts on Self-publishing and only 21 posts on Traditional publishing… Of course, I do usually make reference to each in the other’s posts, but there are times when I just can’t tag a post as mostly […]

The Very Best Way To Learn To Be A Writer?

I’ll answer the question in that title up there at the end of the post… On the way to answering it, I’ll give you a few ways to tap into what this blog has said about the issue in its nearly three years of publication. First, is to scroll down the left side-bar to Top […]