Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 139

FREE is the WORD OF THE DAY

JULY 4TH


The date resonates with the images of freedom and fireworks.But in this troubled land, FREE has many meanings ...



FREE!

The fireworks were spectacular.
That was my word for the day. Spectacular. I had another word picked for tonight.

Free.
Mama told me sitting on this sil was dangerous. I could fall off and kill myself. That was funny and sad at the same time.

Funny in that my window being so high above the other apartment buildings made for a …

spectacular view of these fiery (that had been last night’s word) comets going off so bright in the darkness.
Sad in that there were worse things than dying. I flinched as I heard Mama’s boyfriend yell louder just beyond my door where Mama stood.

Yeah, there was living.

At first, she just cried when Dr. Doom, as I called her boyfriend, started … visiting my room late at night.

When I started to walk funny, she seemed to find courage from somewhere and tried to stop him.
Not that it worked. He was bigger and meaner than Mama.

Oooh!

That was a big cloud of fireworks. It seemed to just spread out across the whole dark night …

like the fear in my chest was spreading as I heard Dr. Doom yell even louder.
I studied the fireworks leaping and flaring like some ballet of fiery angels. I jerked as I heard Mama yelp and hit the floor hard.

The exploding stars of green, red, and gold seemed to call out to me.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her boyfriend lumber into the room like some mean bear.
I smiled and sighed. Time for my word of the night. I tumbled off the sil into the darkness.

 
I spread my arms wide as if I were flying.


The wind caressed my hair, my face. I smiled bigger.I was free. Free! Fre …


**

FREEDOM

I have traveled overseas (not always in uniform) ... most of the times were grim when I did.

When I walked dark foreign streets and unawares came upon the American flag, 

a jolt hit me that seeing it on home shores did not.

How tame a sight your country's flag is at home compared to what it is in a foreign land. 

To see it is to see a vision of home itself and all its dreams, 

and feel a thrill that would stir the sluggish blood of a marble statue.

It represents the Dream the American Fathers had which has now become so tarnished.  

But it is the dream, not the reality, which still stirs the heart when seen far from home.

I have always thought protesters wrong to burn the flag.  

They should wash it instead, implying the policies and actions against which they bristle 

dirty the American Dream so many have died to defend and protect. 


The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies 

and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union against a blue field representing the new constellation of freedom. 

The colors of the flag are symbolic as well:

Red symbolizes hardiness and valor, 

White symbolizes purity and innocence, 

Blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

Hardiness, valor, purity, innocence, vigilance, perseverance ... justice.

They can never be attained or achieved ... or not for very long.  


It is the struggle to reach them, keep them, and pass them on that must be held sacred. 

America will never be what it should be.  

It will always fall short in some fashion.  

But the Constitution holds the promise that we can do better. 

 All the lives lost in defense of that promise propel us to make that promise a reality.

That is what we celebrate today.

WRONG IS RIGHT

Late one night, years ago, 
I saw an older movie that I watch from time to time when new movies fail to interest.


It was made before CNN hit America's air waves.  In many ways, it was prophetic. 

And like most prophets, the movie was met with scorn.

Nothing in the career of Richard Brooks, who made good, stolid films -''Blackboard Jungle,'' ''Elmer Gantry'' and ''In Cold Blood''

prepared critics for this movie. I liked it.  Its story is told with tongue solidly placed in cheek.

If you can find it in the bargain DVD bin as I did, gamble on it.  :-)

LIFE

Are you like me?

Dissatisfied with what TV has to offer me in summer, 

I take to watching my old DVD's of shows I loved but died too soon.

LIFE (2007 & 2008) 
was an intelligent, riveting show.  

It has been long enough since I last watched the episodes that I am now enjoying them anew.

Damien Lewis plays Charlie Crews, an L.A. cop who spent 12 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. 

Now exonerated and with a handsome settlement, 

Charlie opts to return to his beat, even though he could retire on his new wealth. 

The premise of Life is that prison changed Charlie profoundly; 

he maintained his sanity by adopting a state of Zen calm and philosophical quizzicality. 

These new skills now help him solve crimes. 

 He tells suspects, ”I hate cops too” — 

and many of his fellow officers, who don’t buy his DNA-evidence pardon, hate him, too.

As suspected by those who framed him in the police department, 

Charlie is piecing together the mystery of who did kill his best friend, his wife, and one child.  

Episode by episode he gets closer and closer either to the truth or a bullet in the chest.

Do you re-watch favorite TV shows or movies when nothing new appeals to you?

I HAVE HEARD BUT NOT BELIEVED

"We are but of yesterday  And know nothing  Because our days upon the earth Are but a shadow." - Job 14th chapter, 1st and 2nd verse
JUST $6.99! https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Chance-Roland-Yeomans/dp/1534981861/
Follow my adventures in a supernatural NORTH BY NORTHWEST. 
Can the ghosts of Mark Twain and Marlene Dietrich
help me escape my hunters as I am wrongly pursued for the murder of the ghost of Ernest Hemingway?
THIS AUGUST!  
Don't miss my story

in the highly anticipated anthology THE THING THAT TURNED ME

THE LOCUST EFFECT: IS AMERICA, THE WORLD GETTING WORSE?

Within the atomized, unraveled milieu that America has become, sociopaths thrive.

According to the American Psychological Society, one in twenty-five people you meet is a sociopath: 

4 0ut of 100.

A mother killed her daughters to make her husband suffer.  

The Taliban has taken to flaying its prisoners alive.  

Istanbul is reeling from another tragedy. 

An Orlando nightclub became a bloody nightmare.

You read the headlines.  I could go on.  But it is all too obvious: 

The world of our childhoods is no more.
I remember Mother and I leaving for town and not locking the doors to our house.

  Our culture has begun to value and exalt the very special talents of the sociopath. 

This is an unavoidable transition when people feel unmoored from a larger social family, 

and adopt a pathologically individualist “look out for #1” attitude to life 

in response to the vague but palpably ominous threat to their desires.

Russia is led by a KGB man who seeks to replace American influence with Russian influence wherever possible.

Our two leading candidates for President I would not believe 

if they said it was raining outside unless I stuck out my hand from the window to see for myself. 


I believe the world has always been cruel.  
History reveals thousands of years of betrayal, slavery, rape, pillaging, and leaders abusing power.

It is technology that has gotten better 

and therefore the possibility of nightmarish disasters has increased.

THE LOCUST EFFECT:
I read Alex's comment and yes, the world's technology has improved. 

Human nature though has remained the same.

Population has soared to staggering proportions.

Take your average short-horned grasshopper.  He is a solitary critter ...

until you cram too many of them into too small a space ...

actual physical differences occur until ...

They become locusts, swarming in clouds of destruction.  

With so many humans, aided by improved technology 

and driven by greed, hate, drug addiction, and religious/social intolerance ...

they surge through the streets of every city in a cascade effect ... a mild river transforming into a rapids ...

the Locust Effect.     


WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

IS AMERICA, THE WORLD GETTING WORSE?

Within the atomized, unraveled milieu that America has become, sociopaths thrive.

According to the American Psychological Society, one in twenty-five people you meet is a sociopath: 

4 0ut of 100.

A mother killed her daughters to make her husband suffer.  

The Taliban has taken to flaying its prisoners alive.  

Istanbul is reeling from another tragedy. 

An Orlando nightclub became a bloody nightmare.

You read the headlines.  I could go on.  But it is all too obvious: 

The world of our childhoods is no more.
I remember Mother and I leaving for town and not locking the doors to our house.

  Our culture has begun to value and exalt the very special talents of the sociopath. 

This is an unavoidable transition when people feel unmoored from a larger social family, 

and adopt a pathologically individualist “look out for #1” attitude to life 

in response to the vague but palpably ominous threat to their desires.

Russia is led by a KGB man who seeks to replace American influence with Russian influence wherever possible.

Our two leading candidates for President I would not believe 

if they said it was raining outside unless I stuck out my hand from the window to see for myself. 

I believe the world has always been cruel.  
History reveals thousands of years of betrayal, slavery, rape, pillaging, and leaders abusing power.

It is technology that has gotten better 

and therefore the possibility of nightmarish disasters has increased.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

THERE ARE NO ANTI-HEROES

What is an anti-hero?
A central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

 The above video states that heroes started out flawless and super, 

slowly sinking with civilization into more and more flawed, weakened versions of themselves.

Take Captain Jack ... 

see how despicable and flawed this modern hero is -- obviously an anti-hero!

Ah, can we say ... Sinbad the Sailor?

Go all the way back to Gilgamesh and Achilles ...

Gilgamesh's flaw is fear.

When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh grieves deeply and is horrified by the prospect of his own death.

 "Enkidu has died. Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?" "Gilgamesh felt the fear of it in his belly."

 His tragic flaw reminded me of Achilles, the valiant hero from the Iliad. 

Although Achilles possesses superhuman strength, his tragic flaw was his heel, 

which decided his fate and his death. 

 Gilgamesh is only strong because of Enkidu's faithfulness, 

and he would have never succeeded in his quest on destroying Huwawa 

or the Bull of Heaven without the help of Enkidu.

Think Sam and Frodo.


WHAT MAKES A HERO?

Not flaws, not vices ...

It is the Journey of Transformation 

from one state to another where the character sees the world in a new light 

and strives to live up to that light.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

LIES WRITERS BELIEVE

LIES
They are what drives our characters to do the things that spiral into 

foolishness and adventure and wisdom won ... 

or defeat assured.

LIES 
They do the same to us if we believe them about our writing dream.  Lies can be fought with truth talk.


LIE #1

I AM NOTHING, A FAILURE IF I DO NOT GET PUBLISHED.

Really?

Was Emily Dickinson a nothing, a failure because she never gave up writing her poems her way and was never published in her lifetime?

 Creative writing is one of the best exercises we can do for the aging brain.

Don't take my word alone for it: 

Jenni Ogden, a writer AND a neuro-psychologist has found it so.

Writing adds to the intellectual and physical exercises 

that slow down the brain’s aging process most often experienced

 by the forgetting of names and words and where you put the car keys – or the car!

Use it or lose it.


LIE #2 

IF I HAVEN'T MADE IT (GOTTEN AN AGENT, BECOME FAMOUS) BY NOW, I NEVER WILL.

Oh, come on now!

A novel is more than just sitting down and cranking out a word count. 

There are those little pesky things like plot, and character, and pacing, and dialogue and so on and so forth. 

All of those things take time to develop.

 While you’re doing all of this as a budding novelist, you are also most likely doing all the other things in your days that constitute your life: 

A day job, spouse and family, hobbies and friends, reading and television and video games and even (wait for it) sleep. 

It all adds up — and it all subtracts from the amount of time you have to write.

 Writing those three or four or five novels an average writer has to burn through 

before they write a publishable novel will likely take years.

No matter who you are as an author, you pay your dues at one end or another. 

To put it another way: it takes many years to be an overnight success. 

Maybe you haven’t “made it” yet. 

That doesn’t mean you never will.

George Elliot didn't publish 'Middlemarch' until she was 52.

Anthony Burgess (published at 39), 

Helen Dewitt published 'The Last Sumarai' at 41,

 William S. Burroughs 
("When you stop growing, you start dying.") published his first novel at 39.

 Laura Ingalls  

("There is no great loss without some small gain.”), was in her mid-60s when she published 'Little House in the Big Woods.'

 Marquis de Sade, (Ah, let's not go there!)

 Raymond Chandler (published 'The Big Sleep' at 51)

-- all gained fame older.

Bram Stoker, too (Who didn't write 'Dracula' until he was 50)  and said "We learn from failure not from success."  Gee, I must be a genius!



LIE #3

I DON'T HAVE TIME

Does Dean Koontz have a magic stopwatch that stops time to give him 30 hours a day to write?

Let me tell you about Robert Louis Stevenson --


A year after Kidnapped he left Scotland and southern England for America 

in search of adventure and a better climate for his tuberculosis.

Writing continued on land and sea at 400 pages a year for twenty years, 

reckoned his first biographer. From one letter home a year before Stevenson died:

"For fourteen years I have not had a day's real health; I have awakened sick and gone to bed weary; and I have done my work unflinchingly. I have written in bed, and written out of it, written in haemorrhages, written in sickness, written torn by coughing, written when my head swam for weakness;

 And for so long, it seems to me I have won my wager and recovered my glove....

And the battle goes on 'ill or well.'

 It is a trifle; so as it goes. I was made for a contest."
So what is stopping you from writing?

WHAT A WRITER DOES

1) WRITES WHAT NO ONE ELSE CAN

It is not just night.  No.  

There are two full moons tonight.  

Their reflections stare balefully from the open eyes of your mother-in-law sitting in your front porch swing ... 

the mother-in-law you buried three days ago.


2) SERVES THE READER NOT THE WRITER

The reader doesn't turn the pages because of the need to applaud you.  The reader turns them to find out what happens next.


3) ASKS THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

 “What am I trying to say? 

What words will express it? 

What image or idiom will make it clearer? 

Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?


4) WRITING IS LIKE USING MAGIC

You write the words, and they altered the perceived universe. 

By merely writing you could create damage and pain, 

cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.

 Good writing strives to explain, to make things a little bit clearer, to make sense of our world.

 A writer always tries to be part of the solution, to understand a little about life and to pass this on.


5) TELLS A FULL STORY

 There’s a name for something with a single point of view: 

It’s called a press release.

 Incorporate multiple perspectives even if you are writing in 1st Person POV.  

Your heroine must struggle in a world that cares about its own agenda not hers.


6.) SINGS A WORLD INTO BEING

Talented writing makes things happen in the reader’s mind:

 vividly, forcefully 

 that good writing, which stops with clarity and logic, doesn’t.


7.) IS SUBTLE

 We have to allow the sunken meanings to remain sunken, suggested, not stated.

The most horrifying monsters are the ones never quite seen.

A cop shoots a drug addict in self-defense.  Simple scene read a dozen times.  

The addict whimpers as he lays dying.  "I'm going.  I'm going.  I'm ... afraid."

The cop holsters his gun, cradles the youngster, and whispers in his ear:

"Sshh,  It is just a bad dream, a bad dream.  Go back to sleep." 

The addict dies.  The cop gets up, sighs, and leaves a bit of his soul by the still-warm corpse.
***
Hope this helps