David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 121
April 22, 2014
Writing - A poetic trip
I received an email from Amazon declaring that they were sending me royalties from sales of my poetry collection 'The Musings of a Confused Mind' published using Amazon's Createspace.
There have been problems with formatting but the book is available in paperback from Amazon on their website. The royalties are probably not enough to buy a chocolate bar!
The collection was put together as a partly educational tool and partly as an example of emotional self-expression as is all poetry. My poetry is precisely that but I'd love to inspire someone else to write their own stuff. There are a number of sites that you can use to display your wares such as poetry.com the poetry groups on linkedin and so on but the point is write.I was feeling a little sorry for David Moyes, it didn't last for long when I realised that his compensation would be in the millions, and produced a haiku.
Moyes' Sacking
David Moyes has goneWinter's team did not performMoney beats results
The poem follows the normal rules of haiku, 17 syllables, a season word and a cutting word which tenuously is 'money'.
If you want to dip into the published collection it is available on the links above from Amazon £3.61 in paperback and £1.91 in Kindle version. - Enjoy
On VG today.
http://venturegalleries.com/serial/the-mythical-assassin-had-never-been-caught/
God Bless
There have been problems with formatting but the book is available in paperback from Amazon on their website. The royalties are probably not enough to buy a chocolate bar!
The collection was put together as a partly educational tool and partly as an example of emotional self-expression as is all poetry. My poetry is precisely that but I'd love to inspire someone else to write their own stuff. There are a number of sites that you can use to display your wares such as poetry.com the poetry groups on linkedin and so on but the point is write.I was feeling a little sorry for David Moyes, it didn't last for long when I realised that his compensation would be in the millions, and produced a haiku.
Moyes' Sacking
David Moyes has goneWinter's team did not performMoney beats results
The poem follows the normal rules of haiku, 17 syllables, a season word and a cutting word which tenuously is 'money'.
If you want to dip into the published collection it is available on the links above from Amazon £3.61 in paperback and £1.91 in Kindle version. - Enjoy
On VG today.
http://venturegalleries.com/serial/the-mythical-assassin-had-never-been-caught/
God Bless
April 21, 2014
Tuesday Recipe - Kedgeree Pie
I have produced recipes for kedgeree on more than one occasion but I came across another although it is more a fish pie. There is no rice involved but some specific skills so I include this today.
So there is an element missing from the standard Indian dish but there is a curried potato topping in its place. The way in which the potato is spiced up is different from anything I've come across so I include it for interests sake.
Dissected!
The recipe is on the appropriate TAB.
God Bless
So there is an element missing from the standard Indian dish but there is a curried potato topping in its place. The way in which the potato is spiced up is different from anything I've come across so I include it for interests sake.
Dissected!
The recipe is on the appropriate TAB.
God Bless
April 20, 2014
Writing - Where do you buy your books?
I have a Kindle app on my phone and tablet so that I can read on my travels but when at home I enjoy reading books in the more normal formats. What is your preference? Whichever that is, there are a number of ways to obtain reading material - Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords to name a few. The Steele series and Cessation are available in all formats and from all sellers.
One lady has had the innovative idea of a Book Barge.
[image error]Susan Henshaw
Fed up with city life, Sarah Henshaw quit her job as an entertainment journalist in London and went in search of something different.
In June 2009 she bought a narrow boat and began fitting it out as a book shop called The Book Barge.
All went well initially, but the effect of the economic downturn and intense competition from online retailers meant hard times were to follow.
Sarah has now published a book about her adventures on Britain's canals The Bookshop That Floated Away.
There are other examples such as an old glove factory in Detroit but there is a beauty in Castilla, Spain.
What a magnificent setting to browse books. But the last two are representative of hundreds of years of book buying. The first is in a Dominican Church in Maastricht, Holland and the second in Beijing built for Japanese company Poplar.
Poplar
God Bless
One lady has had the innovative idea of a Book Barge.
[image error]Susan Henshaw
Fed up with city life, Sarah Henshaw quit her job as an entertainment journalist in London and went in search of something different.
In June 2009 she bought a narrow boat and began fitting it out as a book shop called The Book Barge.
All went well initially, but the effect of the economic downturn and intense competition from online retailers meant hard times were to follow.
Sarah has now published a book about her adventures on Britain's canals The Bookshop That Floated Away.
There are other examples such as an old glove factory in Detroit but there is a beauty in Castilla, Spain.
What a magnificent setting to browse books. But the last two are representative of hundreds of years of book buying. The first is in a Dominican Church in Maastricht, Holland and the second in Beijing built for Japanese company Poplar.
PoplarGod Bless
April 19, 2014
10 things we didn't know last week
It is interesting the way things are reported. For example the reports on the Rhea story below concentrates on the theoretical killing ability for this quiet, omnivorous roaming bird. It just doesn't like being cornered.--------------------------------------------
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1. People are more likely to catch yawns from people of their own ethnicity.
--------------------------------------------
2. Bearded men are more attractive when facial hair is scarce
Am I bothered. I decided that there wasn't enough length on my beard so as part of my Lenten activities I've let it grow!
---------------------------------------------------
3. Fireworks can create a black ring that hovers in the sky for several minutes before suddenly vanishing.
--------------------------------------------------
4. We remember people we met as babies, even if we don't remember being babies.
---------------------------------------------------
[image error]
5. Richard Curtis tried to block Hugh Grant getting the lead in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
---------------------------------------------------
6. Birds learn to choose the best building materials for their nests.
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7. The authorities in Oregon are very, very particular about getting urine in their reservoirs.
????????????
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[image error]8. South American rhea birds are theoretically capable of disembowelling a person with a single swipe of their claw.
--------------------------------------------
[image error]
9. Couples who sleep less than an inch apart are more likely to be content with their relationships.
That explains a lot!!
-------------------------------------------
10. Traumatic events in the 19th Century including forced relocation changed the shape of Cherokee skulls.
-----------------------------------------It often surprises me the time and money spent on certain types of fact finding and research with which authorities indulge themselves!
God Bless
[image error]
1. People are more likely to catch yawns from people of their own ethnicity.
--------------------------------------------
2. Bearded men are more attractive when facial hair is scarce
Am I bothered. I decided that there wasn't enough length on my beard so as part of my Lenten activities I've let it grow!
---------------------------------------------------
3. Fireworks can create a black ring that hovers in the sky for several minutes before suddenly vanishing.
--------------------------------------------------
4. We remember people we met as babies, even if we don't remember being babies.
---------------------------------------------------
[image error]
5. Richard Curtis tried to block Hugh Grant getting the lead in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
---------------------------------------------------
6. Birds learn to choose the best building materials for their nests.
-------------------------------------------------
7. The authorities in Oregon are very, very particular about getting urine in their reservoirs.
????????????
-----------------------------------------------
[image error]8. South American rhea birds are theoretically capable of disembowelling a person with a single swipe of their claw.
--------------------------------------------
[image error]
9. Couples who sleep less than an inch apart are more likely to be content with their relationships.
That explains a lot!!
-------------------------------------------
10. Traumatic events in the 19th Century including forced relocation changed the shape of Cherokee skulls.
-----------------------------------------It often surprises me the time and money spent on certain types of fact finding and research with which authorities indulge themselves!
God Bless
April 18, 2014
Writing - Truth stranger than fiction!
A phrase attributed to Lord Byron but which suddenly became relevant yesterday.
[image error]
This proverbial saying is attributed to, and almost certainly coined by, Lord Byron, in the satirical poem Don Juan, 1823:
' Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction; if it could be told,How much would novels gain by the exchange!How differently the world would men behold!How oft would vice and virtue places change!The new world would be nothing to the old,If some Columbus of the moral seasWould show mankind their souls' antipodes.
It was reported that a power cut in Scotland affected 1/3rd of the country and was due to a transient fault and it struck a cord in my mind. Cessation, which is not a Steele novel, begins with power cuts! A flimsy link but nevertheless a link. If you want more the book is available in paperback from Amazon, Completely Novel etc and in ebook at the same sites plus Smashwords. Click on the title for the Amazon link.
Other Truth/fiction examples
Arthur Conan Doyle and the fictitious Sherlock Holmes
Sinking of the Titanic and The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson
Jack Nicholson in 'Chinatown' and his own origins!
[image error]
Oscar Wilde said that life follows art much more than art following life.
God Bless
April 17, 2014
Writing - Descriptive writing and investing emotion.
The sixth Steele novel is nearing its conclusion and I was writing a section today which I thought deserved some work. Not that all of my sentences don't need work - see what I mean.
It just seems that when writers produce copious words at speeds which are significant it is easy to neglect opportunities. Building on 'the writing from where you're at' philosophy having visited Ireland Steele is passing through once again and an opportunity presented itself.
I could have written,
'The painted houses and shops shone against the hillside behind.'
but what I did produce was,
'The brightly colour washed houses and shops gleamed like jewels against the green of the distant, hilly backdrop. '
There's no great difference but by reflecting on the mixture of excitement and surprise the first time I visited the Emerald Isle and witnessed the sight of the painted cottages, I felt that sentence required a little more work.
In other words I was investing some of the feeling I experienced on visiting the same place years before.
[image error]
I am currently reading a biography of Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin and was intrigued by her description of the state Dickens got into over the death of Nell in the Old Curiosity Shop. It has to be remembered this was a character and I quote.
"Dickens himself suffered as he wrote of Nell's decline, and shared his sufferings with his friends using these words - 'You can't imagine how exhausted I am with yesterdays labours ... All night I have been pursued by the child; and this morning I'm unrefreshed and miserable. I don't know what to do with myself.'
Then later 'The difficulty has been tremendous - the anguish unspeakable'
Finally, 'I am slowly murdering the poor child, and grow wretched over it. It wrings my heart. Yet it must be."
What a wonderful, terrible representation of a writer investing in a creation of their own.
[image error]
God Bless
It just seems that when writers produce copious words at speeds which are significant it is easy to neglect opportunities. Building on 'the writing from where you're at' philosophy having visited Ireland Steele is passing through once again and an opportunity presented itself.
I could have written,
'The painted houses and shops shone against the hillside behind.'
but what I did produce was,
'The brightly colour washed houses and shops gleamed like jewels against the green of the distant, hilly backdrop. '
There's no great difference but by reflecting on the mixture of excitement and surprise the first time I visited the Emerald Isle and witnessed the sight of the painted cottages, I felt that sentence required a little more work.
In other words I was investing some of the feeling I experienced on visiting the same place years before.
[image error]
I am currently reading a biography of Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin and was intrigued by her description of the state Dickens got into over the death of Nell in the Old Curiosity Shop. It has to be remembered this was a character and I quote.
"Dickens himself suffered as he wrote of Nell's decline, and shared his sufferings with his friends using these words - 'You can't imagine how exhausted I am with yesterdays labours ... All night I have been pursued by the child; and this morning I'm unrefreshed and miserable. I don't know what to do with myself.'
Then later 'The difficulty has been tremendous - the anguish unspeakable'
Finally, 'I am slowly murdering the poor child, and grow wretched over it. It wrings my heart. Yet it must be."
What a wonderful, terrible representation of a writer investing in a creation of their own.
[image error]
God Bless
April 16, 2014
Poetry Thursday 106 - Topical tyrades
Easter BroadcastBBC broadcastSongs of Spring celebrationShame of Easter crowds©David L Atkinson April 2014
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Poor Tesco
A drop in company profitsand millions still pocketed.Blame sits squarely on undercutsbut prices have rocketed.
Companies worship the god of growthforgetting the place of people.Pockets and purses not bottomless, bothdown to government’s fiscal grabble.
Future prospects are bleakthough expert deny it,claiming just one more tightening tweakbut who believes the bandit?
A fairer share for the majoritywould be the kinder solution,not tax havens for the minorityto protect their ancient institution.
Who knows where it will end?Perhaps unrest fed rebelsforcing the rulers to bendand serfs once again in battles.©David L Atkinson April 2014
God Bless
April 15, 2014
Writing - What soothes the savage breast?
A Readwave submission
What soothes the savage breast?
The trite answer may begin with ‘it depends what stirred it in the first place’! However, in truth all types of circumstances may unleash the red mist ranging from rudeness to the dentist. The breast is agitated in a couple of different ways of course. Firstly, it may be aggravated by something that triggers anger and the second type will be fear and trepidation.Stimuli produce a raising of the heart rate, expansion of the blood vessels and increased breathing rate, so from a purely health point of view it is important that the effects of being wound up are quietened by whatever means suits your own personality. Some people count to ten others take deep breaths, for me it is much more a case of controlling the mind using imagination. This is hardly surprising from someone who writes.
I use two methods for dispelling the scarlet mists.
As for many years I have been interested in the Japanese culture and that has included Aikido and various types of meditation. These encourage the physical and mental exercises and transporting yourself mentally to a favourite calm place. The photograph at the top of this piece is one such place for me as it is a path that runs alongside a river and the sound of water I find soothing. That particular pathway that I’ve walked on many occasions has the sounds of birds, sun shining between the leaves that form a canopy over the path and no human sounds. It is a particularly beautiful walk within half a mile of home and is always available. This my favourite way of relaxing and even when sitting in the dentist’s chair suffering the probing, prodding, stabbing and scraping I feel calmer if I focus on my pathway.
The second method for calming myself is hinted at in the title. The full quote written by William Congreve is ‘Music has charms to soothe the savage breast’ – as an aside it is often misquoted as the ‘savage beast’- but I don’t play a particularly peaceful or gentle piece of music. I have favourite pieces of music that I play and sometimes very loudly. I believe that it is the equivalent of total immersion in water only it is sound. The music doesn’t have to fall into the category of classical but I have fairly eclectic tastes. My favourite classical pieces that I find soothing are George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’. I was in a music class in 1964 when our teacher played an original 78 recording of the man himself playing this piece. It was complete with scratches jumps and sundry other faults but the magic of hearing the composer play has always stayed with me. I think the most soothing piece of classical music recently composed by Barber is his Adagio for Strings and must be admired for its sheer beauty. When enjoying modern music I am going back about forty years to Dire Straits. Again it has to be loud and I favour tracks that I can sing along to such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Every Street’ as they are also beautiful poetry. It is logical to sing because as a physical exercise you are controlling your breathing and thinking about what comes next so it will soothe. There are a number of other artists who have set poems to music and I think I have endless admiration for their expertise which brings my mind away from whatever is winding me up and allows me to wallow in the art. Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan are two other songsters who have this ability.
In summation finding that particular method of calming yourself is intensely personal. As I’ve suggested above there is more than one stimulus that may trigger a reaction and quite often you need to have more than one strategy. The key factor in whatever works for you is that you actually believe in what you are trying. If you have a physical representation of the place you can send your mind to, as I am fortunate to have, all the better but you still need to focus your attention in that place of piece of music.
What soothes the savage breast?
The trite answer may begin with ‘it depends what stirred it in the first place’! However, in truth all types of circumstances may unleash the red mist ranging from rudeness to the dentist. The breast is agitated in a couple of different ways of course. Firstly, it may be aggravated by something that triggers anger and the second type will be fear and trepidation.Stimuli produce a raising of the heart rate, expansion of the blood vessels and increased breathing rate, so from a purely health point of view it is important that the effects of being wound up are quietened by whatever means suits your own personality. Some people count to ten others take deep breaths, for me it is much more a case of controlling the mind using imagination. This is hardly surprising from someone who writes.
I use two methods for dispelling the scarlet mists.
As for many years I have been interested in the Japanese culture and that has included Aikido and various types of meditation. These encourage the physical and mental exercises and transporting yourself mentally to a favourite calm place. The photograph at the top of this piece is one such place for me as it is a path that runs alongside a river and the sound of water I find soothing. That particular pathway that I’ve walked on many occasions has the sounds of birds, sun shining between the leaves that form a canopy over the path and no human sounds. It is a particularly beautiful walk within half a mile of home and is always available. This my favourite way of relaxing and even when sitting in the dentist’s chair suffering the probing, prodding, stabbing and scraping I feel calmer if I focus on my pathway.
The second method for calming myself is hinted at in the title. The full quote written by William Congreve is ‘Music has charms to soothe the savage breast’ – as an aside it is often misquoted as the ‘savage beast’- but I don’t play a particularly peaceful or gentle piece of music. I have favourite pieces of music that I play and sometimes very loudly. I believe that it is the equivalent of total immersion in water only it is sound. The music doesn’t have to fall into the category of classical but I have fairly eclectic tastes. My favourite classical pieces that I find soothing are George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’. I was in a music class in 1964 when our teacher played an original 78 recording of the man himself playing this piece. It was complete with scratches jumps and sundry other faults but the magic of hearing the composer play has always stayed with me. I think the most soothing piece of classical music recently composed by Barber is his Adagio for Strings and must be admired for its sheer beauty. When enjoying modern music I am going back about forty years to Dire Straits. Again it has to be loud and I favour tracks that I can sing along to such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Every Street’ as they are also beautiful poetry. It is logical to sing because as a physical exercise you are controlling your breathing and thinking about what comes next so it will soothe. There are a number of other artists who have set poems to music and I think I have endless admiration for their expertise which brings my mind away from whatever is winding me up and allows me to wallow in the art. Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan are two other songsters who have this ability.
In summation finding that particular method of calming yourself is intensely personal. As I’ve suggested above there is more than one stimulus that may trigger a reaction and quite often you need to have more than one strategy. The key factor in whatever works for you is that you actually believe in what you are trying. If you have a physical representation of the place you can send your mind to, as I am fortunate to have, all the better but you still need to focus your attention in that place of piece of music.
10 Inventions that owe their success to WWI
Out of all sorts of frenetic situations, wars and space travel as examples, tend to come useful inventions.
1. Sanitary Towels
[image error]2. Paper Tissues
[image error]
3. Sun Lamps
4. Daylight saving time
5. Vegetarian sausages
[image error]
6. Tea bags
[image error]
7. Wrist Watches
[image error]
8. Zips
9. Stainless steel
10. Pilot communications
The last one I'm truly grateful for!
God Bless
1. Sanitary Towels
[image error]2. Paper Tissues
[image error]
3. Sun Lamps
4. Daylight saving time
5. Vegetarian sausages
[image error]
6. Tea bags
[image error]
7. Wrist Watches
[image error]
8. Zips
9. Stainless steel
10. Pilot communications
The last one I'm truly grateful for!
God Bless
April 14, 2014
Tuesday Recipe - Mackerel and bacon salad
This is unashamedly not a recipe that I've adapted but a straight copy of Nigel Slater's simple surf and turf salad.
The term salad may seem a little strange in that there is no grass or leaves to excite the bitter taste buds and spoil the flavours of fish and meat. This is closer to a potato salad and the mackerel and bacon, in this case pancetta, go well with the rather complex dressing. It is complex in terms of flavours as opposed to production. The recipe is for streaky bacon but Nigel Slater suggests pancetta as a possible substitute, which I tried somewhat successfully.
God Bless
The term salad may seem a little strange in that there is no grass or leaves to excite the bitter taste buds and spoil the flavours of fish and meat. This is closer to a potato salad and the mackerel and bacon, in this case pancetta, go well with the rather complex dressing. It is complex in terms of flavours as opposed to production. The recipe is for streaky bacon but Nigel Slater suggests pancetta as a possible substitute, which I tried somewhat successfully.
God Bless
