Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 61

What Famous Writers Did While WRITING

I'm a writer so I can say this:
Writers are strange!
 Take Charles Dickens and his deaf cat, Bob.  

Bob would watch Dickens as he read by candlelight.  

If he felt in need of play time, 

he would put out the candle with his paw repeatedly until the author got the idea.

Like Macak did with Nicola Tesla as a child, 

Bob would follow Dickens about like a dog.

Dickens loved Bob.  So much so that when Bob died, the master turned him into a letter opener!!

Not the whole cat, actually. Just a single paw, 

which the author had stuffed and attached to an ivory blade. 

The blade is engraved “C.D. In Memory of Bob 1862″ 

which is more grave marker than most pussycats can hope for.



LYING DOWN ON THE JOB
 Among the successful novelists who wrote lying down are Mark Twain, George Orwell, Edith Wharton, Woody Allen and Marcel Proust. 

They were all known for churning out pages while lying in bed or lounged on a sofa. 

American author and playwright Truman Capote even claimed to be a 

“completely horizontal author” because he couldn’t think and write unless he was lying down.




LET ME TAKE A STAND ON THAT

 Writers like Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and Philip Roth all liked writing standing up. 

These great thinkers have been inspired to pen their finest pieces at their standing desk. 

For health-conscious writers, this technique might work for you because standing desks offer many proven benefits.


LOOK IN THE INDEX!!
 Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, was very particular about his writing instruments. 

He composed all his works on index cards, which he kept in slim boxes. 

This odd method enabled him to write scenes non-sequentially and re-order the cards any time he wanted.

 Nabokov also stored some of his lined Bristol cards underneath his pillow. 

This way, if an idea popped into his head, he could quickly write it down. 

You can use index cards when doing your note-taking or plotting too.

 It’s a different way to construct your story that can knock fun things loose.



BLUE IS THE COLOR OF MY TRUE LOVE'S ... FICTION?  
For decades, Dumas used various colors to indicate his type of writing.
 Blue was the color for his fiction novels, 
 pink for non-fiction or articles and yellow for poetry.
And you thought writing to music was strange when you did it?!
And we won't even get into Dan Brown hanging upside down to stir up his muse! 

WRITING in a SEASON OF UNCERTAINTY

 We live in an age of uncertainty.

A fatal amount of Covid-19could have justlodged in the membranesof our eyes.
(Yes, we can catch it that way)



Or we become a victim ofviolenceby uttering amicro-aggressionof which we were unaware.



When did we get sothin-skinned anyway?
I feel many of ourgreat grandparentswho survivedthe depression

would tell us it waspast time togrow up.
I got a scathing email recently from a reader who scorned me for 

even suggesting that a white male monarch could speak for and to all humanity.


The ghost of Mark Twain whispered in my ear, and I wrote back

that I would try to "man up" to these changing times.


But back to writing in these uncertain times.

I am not a Titan of Literature, but I have read and listened to many of them.


Take Harlan Ellison whose ghost visited my blog long ago:

 https://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2019/12/art-isnt-supposed-to-be-easyiwsg.html 

He would say that the very uncertainty, the very danger of our times

provides grist for the mill of our minds.


The above image should spark a dozen story ideas to us.

Yes, we are scared by the rioting, the plague killing our children now, and by the economic ruin hovering over the horizon.


Michelangelo didn't let the ache in his arms, the spasms in his back

keep him from crafting the masterpiece, the Pietà.  


Samuel Pepys lived through the London Fire, the Plague, and restive political unrest that could have resulted in his execution.

But he kept writing the journal that is studied by students to this day. 


We can take the idiocies of conflicting demands being ignored 

and make of them a riveting story or novel born of what we see and feel.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

You Don't Need a Parachute to Skydive

You just need one to Skydive TWICE!
Everyone knows what LOL means
How about LOA?

Well, my LOA is no LOL
Seems like the government will only pay me for two of the over three weeks I was out with Covid-19.

And the story first put out by the main office that it would cover two more weeks 
since employees more than likely would catch Covid-19 by repeatedly entering hospitals doing their job ...

Just was not so.


Oops!  
So this check was for THREE DAYS.
Hard to pay the rent and utilities on that!

Since I've learned not to trust the government nor my company,
I have been putting a little asidewhich will be gutted by paying the rent, utilities, and car insurance. 

So it will be Ramen noodles for awhile!



 So when my new audio book
finally gets approved 
by Audible,

Would some of you
consider buying it?

'Cause I am one 
Insecure Writer
at the moment.

Yet, there is much
to thankful for.

 

Write Like Marcus Aurelius_IWSG Post

Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek 

as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. 

And 2000 years later, people are still reading it.


He wrote for himself ... as should we.  

Trends come, go.  
There are others with minds similar to ours.  Perhaps only a few. 

 But they will be loyal readers who will not go off running to the Next Big Thing.



He wrote on the battlefield. 
 Unlike most Roman Emperors, he fought the German barbarians alongside his troops.

It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, 

where he planed military campaigns from 170 to 180.

Like Marcus Aurelius, we should write where we are, when we can.


 Despite the rising rates of Covid-19, or the number of riots, or the clash of conflicting news reports, or explosions in Beirut,

we can focus on bringing the best prose we can to life.




 Covid-19, and the riots, and the politicians who curry votes over public health 

can make it seem we have no control over our lives.



But we have control over our minds, our thoughts, and what we choose to put on paper.



We find ourselves in this life with new storms.  

Yet we can decide our striving to be for good and not for evil... even in our writing.


Why this focus on Marcus Aurelius?
 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084P819CQ
Lucas, my latest protagonist, a former O.S.S. operative and a sociopath, 

keeps himself socially functional by adhering as much as he can to the words of Marcus Aurelius.

Should Audible ever get time to review my latest audio book, you can purchase it if you choose.

Only 99 cents for the Kindle format and $5.99 for the paperback.

How affordable is that? 
And since my blood center is only paying me for 3 days on this latest check, 
this insecure writer could use the money!
The rent, utilities, and car insurance are all coming due. 
Ouch!

But Marcus Aurelius
would remind me:


or




or

 Wear a mask;
Stay well.

UPDATE_2

Thanks to Ann, I was able to re-take my Covid-19 test.




The results came back ...

Negative!



I start back Wednesday.
I am not inMarathon shape
But I will get the job done.




Not to do so willleave me without a job! 



I will mostly be bymyselfthis weekend.
 So Wish me luck!

Update

Alex Cavanaugh emailed me asking how I was. 

Wasn't that thoughtful and caring of him?  It made me feel not quite so alone.



A few days back, my supervisor called to see how I was doing. 

He has brought me fluids and deposited an Audible check for me.

Speaking of Audible, 

my latest audio book is being reviewed by Audible.  

Once it comes out, would some of you consider buying it? 

The money isn't exactly rolling in.


My supervisor reluctantly told me that he could not hold my job indefinitely.


And that extreme weakness, diarrhea, night chills, and gut-deep nausea were not enough to explain any further absence 

although they are symptoms of Covid-19 ... and I tested positive for the virus.

Scary, right?

I told him I was going to get re-tested for Covid in a few days no matter how I felt.




The next day, he phoned to say to go back to get retested only if I felt better.



I've been walking up and down the stairs to my apartment 

while clinging to the railings to grow stronger. 

Though I am still weak, I am going to get retested this Monday.


Wish me luck, all right?
At times, worry awakens me at night. 
I remind myself that my times are in the Father's Hand and sing Christmas carols in my head ...
along with these songs:

 Wear those masks and stay well, hear?


My protagonist in my new audio book is a socially functioning sociopath 
whose mother taught him to live by the teachings of Marcus Aurelius,  
not the Bible, for she feared he would go all Old Testament on the world.

I've Tested Positive for Covid-19

I have never been this weak before, and I had triple hernia surgery.  

Not much coughing so far. 

Diarrhea is not a pleasant companion


The doctors are right.
Covid screws with your sense of taste!
The Ritz peanut butter crackers 
I tried to eat todaytasted like urinal wafers!

Considering what I do,it was bound to happen to mesooner or later.
I, of course, was hoping for later!


I took a tumble yesterdayas I went downstairs to start my car.
It let me know I have to be careful until I regain my strength.


I have a couple of projects looming.
When the first DARK HOLLYWOOD audio comes out. please consider buying it
The money is not exactly rolling in!

HOW TO WRITE IN A TIME OF CHAOS_IWSG Post

The level of spin that the main stream media likes to utilize to push their narrative is astounding.

It's the type of acrobatics you normally only see at the circus.



The couple was eating dinner with their family when they heard the rumbling of 300 protesters in front of their gated estate.

Trepass, Castle Doctrine are still rules of Law.

The mob was chanting they were going to kill them and their dog as well.

Who writes the dialogue for these protesters?




 When asked why the group marched on private property, Aldridge, the leader of the march said,

"Just like in many disobedient protests, even in the '60s, you break laws, make people feel uncomfortable. 

We're not doing anything where we're hurting anyone or putting anyone in danger."


Tell that to Steve Lopez, a photographer killed by a BLM protester who opened fire into a crowd.

Or to the driver of a car who was shot by a BLM protester through the passenger window.



The nation was locked-down because of Covid.

Then, because protesters demanded the right to surge into the streets in righteous indignation ...

All was fine with that.

Sadly, viruses don't care about right or wrong.


U.S. set a new high point in daily cases, two months after the previous record.
WHAT HAS ALL THIS TO DO WITH WRITING  YOU MAY ASK

We have a unique chance to observe Humanity in a crucible of irrational thought, stress, and sociological pressures.




  
Look over the past 100 years and see who burned books,

shouted down opposing thoughts,

punished those who spoke out against Lawlessness hiding under the guise of Law.


Who uses the cover of night to dowhat they do not possessthe votes to do legally? 
The Mob knows no Rule of Law ...Which is all right ...
Until they come for you.

McCarthyism is alive and well ... just in another political party.







 Does humor have a place when writing in a time of crisis?

Especially then, don't you think? 

 You will never again have this opportunity to write while the world around you is at war.  

Don't waste this chance.

 People are scared. It’s understandable.

 Our health and well-being are on the line. And our political foundations seem to unraveling. 


The Official Democratic Twitter account has linked a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore to White Supremacy!

The 4th of July racist?
I just like the fireworks, the potato salad,and the laughter of my friends.
The world is indeed broken,my friends.

Make good use of
these bad times
by observing,
recording, 
and committing to 
evolve not devolve.

YOU ARE SONGS UNFINISHED

Call me the Turquoise Woman
My names have been so many over the eons. 
 Even I have forgotten some of them by which fearful two-leggeds spoke of me.
Poor two-leggeds 
You think you know so much, but so much of what you know is sadly not true at all.
And Reality has no mercy on those who walk unwise paths.
You can only know what you have experienced. And what you have experienced  is so little and so little of that is seen  for that which it truly is.
You often see only that which you expect to see and are blind to that which is outside your framework of thought.

I look out from my consciousness surrounding this planet that is my body,
and my horizon spans the swimming bodies of my sisters who wheel in their sweeping dance of gravity about Father Sun.
And You?

Your minds are much like unfinished songs.
And nothing makes you so aware of the fragility of life as songs unfinished.

 HERE IS A SECRET
We are all songs unfinished.
We start with names ... 
but what illusions are names.  
You look about you and think you see me, but you do not even see yourselves.

You perceive yourselves as myths you breathe into being 
within your minds to mask the truth you are loathe to stare upon too closely.
The Lakota called me the Turquoise Woman.  
The Greeks called me Gaia.  
The Ancient Egyptians called me Hathor.

I call all of you temporary.  Some I call cherished.  
Many of you are merely a rash that itches all across my surface.
Bemused, I watch you scurry over my skin, bemoaning you are bringing an end to me.  
I would laugh were it not so tragic.
You are merely bringing an end of life to yourselves.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT LIFE IS?
A firefly's flicker in the night,

the breath of a buffalo in winter,

a cloud shadow that races across the green grass to lose itself in the blood-red of the sunset. 
Do not try to understand me.
I look, not only down upon you,

but out across the vast glittering sea of eternal night.

The colors of my thoughts are the Northern Lights

and the reach of them is from horizon to horizon and unto the vastness of the stars.

The electro-magnetic field of my body gave birth to my consciousness

long before there were human hands to chisel stone into mute, blind idols

or to brush your world in blood on cave walls.
  Your only true contribution to me was your language.

Before you crafted words into being, my consciousness was unfocused.

I listened with wonder as you spoke to one another,

slowly piecing the concept of language together in my thoughts.

Through the prism of your languages, my awareness crystalized.

I became aware.

Now, I know a haunted melancholy. 
Like a windmill's blades, my thoughts dip into my memories.

In misty after-images, 
I see your fleeting lives walking prayer-soft across my green fields only to fade into the inflamed oblivion of the sunset. 


No, rather try understanding yourselves and the boiling storms within you.
If you come close to self-awareness, you will better understand those about you ...
who are stumbling in the darkness of their own refusal to see life in all its facets.

1.) UNDERSTAND THE NARRATIVE OF YOUR LIFE
Your narrative identity is the story of your life; but it is more than just a story. 
How you understand your narrative frames both your current actions and your future.

2.)  STEP ASIDE EACH DAY TO REFLECT ON THE DAY BEFORE
This enables you to focus on the important things in your life, not just the immediate.

3.)  LOOK INTO THE MIRRORS OF TRUSTED FRIENDS
All two-leggeds have traits that others see, but you are unable to see in yourselves. 
I call these "blind spots."
 Do you see yourself as others see you? 
If not, you can address these blind spots by receiving honest feedback from people you trust.

4.) DO NOT MERELY LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES BUT FORGIVE YOURSELF FOR THEM.
It will help you to forgive others. 

I END WITH SEVEN WORDS:
Live well. 
Soon I will miss you.
If you want to see more of the 
TURQUOISE WOMAN,
listen to THE LAST SHAMAN: http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Shaman/dp/B00DO91AIU/ Only $6.08!
OR Listen to 
 https://www.amazon.com/Hibbs-Cub-No-Clue/dp/B00Q3HFAKY/

AS THE STORM CLOSES IN

I watch as the world goes  steadily insane.

On my way to deliver Convalescent Plasma to hospitals with patients dying with Covid-19, 
I hear on the radio of crowded protests 
with not a word of caution for those participating 
that they may be infecting or infected by the disease currently killing thousands.

California recorded its highest-ever seven-day average 
of new coronavirus cases Sunday since the pandemic began.
Gee, I wonder if all those unrestrained, crowded protests might have anything to do with that?
The news outlets are strangely silent.



Now, there have been multiple shootings in CHAZ, and 

outrage that the EMT's won't enter since the police are banned from that region.


Mayor Janet Durkan of Seattle predicted a "Summer of Love" about CHAZ 

while telling Trump to go back to his bunker.


Didn't quite work out that way, did it?

Unrestrained Anarchy led to the madness that was WWI.  

Is it coincidence that the Spanish Flu which decimated the world happened at the same time?

Where is any sane response to this?   I do not see it.   Do you?