Warren Bluhm's Blog, page 20
July 6, 2021
Here’s my something new for you today
Facebook, which has been acting extremely weird of late, does have a nice little feature called “Memories” that revisits posts you made on this date in history. The other day it reminded me that I once said:
“Life is not a zero-sum enterprise. Every day billions of creative beings each make something that never existed before.”
It’s one of my favorite concepts. It’s the answer to the absurd notion that people who become successful or wealthy must have exploited or taken from someone el...
July 5, 2021
the innocence in all of us
Sometimes the title of the book says it all. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and it’s all small stuff by Richard Carlson is one of those.
“I’ll bet that’s a good book,” I said the first time I saw it and the hundreds or thousands of other times I saw it since it appeared in 1997. Finally, the other day, I bought a copy at an antique mall.
Someone had inscribed it, “Katie — This is the book I was talking about. I found it very inspirational, hope you do too!! 8 Mandi 2003.” Mandi drew a s...
July 4, 2021
Self-evident
This is self-evident:
People are created equal,
Endowed by our Creator
with certain,
unalienable rights.
Among these are
the right to life,
the right to liberty,
and the right to the pursuit of happiness.
Governments are built
to secure these rights,
and whenever they begin
to destroy them instead,
people have a right
to alter or abolish
such a government.
And that’s what brings us
here today.
July 3, 2021
Magic or product, and why the choice matters
© Pavel Aleynikov | Dreamstime.comI want to hear from the child again, the one who was talking to the inquisitor. Are they out there? Are they here?
I can’t speak for the inquisitor, but of course the child isn’t here, in this room of books, because when last seen the child was running across a sunny field, laughing, running, laughing, and wondering at it all.
“Wondering is such a fine word!” the child cried. “You can be wondering how to solve a mystery or just wondering — a joy that s...
July 2, 2021
The purpose of writing
It is official: The month of June 2021 is the most successful I have had to date in my little career as an independent author, mainly because of the new book Full: Rockets Bells & Poetry. To say I am gratified by the reaction is an understatement.
I don’t mean to suggest I can now retire on my proceeds — I have authored 10 books and have never before had a month where I sold in three digits — but this was sort of a Sally Field moment: You like me. Wow!
But, you know? The purpose of wri...
July 1, 2021
the right note
I love when the words come out to play.
I love when words sing —
I love when I can hear the melody
where there is no melody, just
words bouncing off each other
and a rhythm and a beat
and an idea being expressed
in the phrases.
When you find the right note
it’s in tune — it’s a song
the words play
Sing — every day —
a song no one else is singing!
(Right, Christopher?)
Is it the sunny day that gives me more peace
today than I’ve had for some time?
Is it the lack of a deadline?
Is it the solitude? Havi...
June 30, 2021
Reintroducing myself
(I found this Jan. 3, 2020, entry at the beginning of a journal. I’ll have to think what I would add after the ensuing 18 months.)
Hi Warren. Remember me? It’s me — Warren.
My favorite books — Nineteen Eighty-Four. Pretty much anything by Ray Bradbury but Dandelion Wine most of all. The Scarlet Letter, of all things. To Kill A Mockingbird. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Harry Potter and Harry Bosch and Walt Longmire and Doc Savage, and the first 38 issues of Spider-Man and the first 51 ...
June 29, 2021
No one owns a dog
Nipper in the RCA Victor logo tilted his head at the sound coming from the Victrola, adopted from a painting with the title, “His Master’s Voice.” The little dog was drawn to the sound because it was …
We have talked of dogs’ masters and pet owners, but can a person truly own a dog, any more than they they can own a man or a woman? There’s something eerily wrong about the statement, “You’re mine,” just as there’s something wonderfully right about the statement, “I am yours.”
A living c...
June 28, 2021
The library book
What hands have held this old tome, how many minds were touched by its story?
If there was a monster inside, how many monsters were imagined? If the monster had wings, were they scaly or feathered or rigid like a plane’s? What light flashed in its eyes? If the devil had horns, were they long or short?
Even if the author supplied the details, each reader saw the monster and the other characters differently. Each moment of the story struck each reader at a different level for a different...
June 27, 2021
Naming Summer
We were driving south to North Milford to make the down payment on a golden retriever puppy who will be born July 23-ish. The house has felt empty since Willow left us in March, and Dejah, who was little sister for seven and a half years and an only child for the last three months, has shown signs of needing a companion of her own species, or perhaps of missing Will as much as we do.
As we journeyed we bantered names back and forth to try them out for size. We pre-picked names for Willow ...
