Kurt Brindley's Blog, page 107
February 12, 2015
A Conclusion of our Two-Week Daily Writing Prompt Pilot…of sort
Well that sure was a fast two weeks.
Time flies when you’re having fun having to come up with new and different things to write about on a daily basis.
So, let’s get to the bottom line first, as we like to say in the military.
Bottom line: the Daily Writing Prompts are daily no more.
I think we all realize that, while we had many very talented and creative authors submitting work, we just don’t have a large enough interest to support this as a daily, long-term endeavor.
So, instead, we will have random writing prompts as the mood – and time availability – strikes me. Stay tuned for those…
But the past two weeks were a big nuclear blast of awesomeness and I would like to recognize and thank all those who submitted their creative efforts in an effort to support of this effort of a daily writing prompt thingie. To do so, I list their names by order of submission count. And we all know that the best way for all of us to recognize and thank all of them is for all of us to follow all of them and visit their sites regularly and comment often on their work.
Josh Wrenn (7) – myfridayblog.wordpress.com
karen rawson (4) – karcherry.wordpress.com
Mandy Moran (4) – mandymoran.wordpress.com
Priyanki (3) – jollyprivy.wordpress.com
Dancing Echoes (2) – cjdraper1961.wordpress.com
J Hardy Carroll (2) – hawesescapes.com
Guidance Fitness Personal Training (2) guidancefitnesspt.wordpress.com
gabriel360live (2) – gabriel360live.wordpress.com
kanzensakura – kanzensakura.wordpress.com
randomwordbyruth – whitewhoppie.wordpress.com
intuitivemeditation – fromstillness.wordpress.com
mjlstories – mjlstories.wordpress.com
Ritu – butismileanyway.wordpress.com
Myas – preziosofrye.wordpress.com
Clintington – harrclin.wordpress.com
Satin Sheet Diva – satinsheetdiva.wordpress.com
Yoshiko – zyoshiko.wordpress.com
NR Wishart Healing – nrwisharthealing.com
Jesani D – empowerlovecatalyst.wordpress.com
Doug – almostwisconsin.wordpress.com
(I apologize if I miscounted or misspelled)
What a very wonderful list of authors. Truly. I am most thankful for all’s encouraging support of this most fun and entertaining of endeavors. And I especially would like to thank Josh Wrenn for his motivating support and for getting out there to “beat the bushes,” so to speak, in an effort to drum up more participation. Thanks, Josh!
Now, back to other things – like refocusing on our Newsletter Love Emerson, First Commitment. I invite everyone to subscribe to our little salon-like space of a newsletter full of love and join us there in another writing challenge of sort…
Right on?
Write on!
Filed under: Writing Tagged: contests, prompts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, writing, writing challenges, writing contests, writing prompts
February 11, 2015
Speaking of Weird… Selection
So, if there were a “Literary Scale of Literary Weirdness,” how would today’s responses to today’s controversial prompt measure against it?
Well, to answer that question, I suppose we first need a “Literary Scale of Literary Weirdness” for which to measure them against.
Well, since I’m the one “with the ball,” so to speak in military jargon, I guess it’s up to me to set the bar, so to speak in Field & Track jargon.
Well, using American authors as the points on the scale, I would say that the highest level of weird, a perfect 10 in weirdness, would be Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. An average level of weird, a midland 5 in weirdness, would be Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. And the lowest level of weird, an absence of weird at 0, would be Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Well Yes, I realize that my scale is packed full with extremely white and even more extremely male authors. Could have something to do with my socialization process as a child. Not sure. However, please feel free to set your Literary Weird Scale based upon your own childhood socialization process. I won’t mind. I promise.
Well, I better not promise… I offend easily.
Anyway, now that we have a “Literary Scale of Literary Weirdness” for which to assess the weirdness level of our two submissions in response to today’s controversial prompt, I make the bold assessment that they both fall somewhere around the level of a 1 on the scale, which just may be something along the line of a Of Mice and Men (yes, I know…another white author dude) or a 2, which just may be a Kingsblood Royal (ditto on the white author dudeness…but at least Lewis was attempting to bring to literary light our white dude racist ways. Which, in and of itself, is pretty weird considering when the novel was written.).
Well, bottom line, then… based upon my assessment, utilizing our brand new “Literary Scale of Literary Weirdness,” today’s responses to our controversial prompt are highly weird depleted.
However, if we were to turn our “Literary Scale of Literary Weirdness” into a “Literary Scale of Literary Awesomeness” then I assess our two responses to today’s controversial prompt would be near off the high end of the scale.
That’s right… While the two submissions are hardly weird, they both are highly awesome.
Well So, seeing that trying to pick one submission over the other based upon both their literary weirdness and awesomeness is a wash, I guess we’ll have to come up with some other way to delineate between the two.
We could go by word count…
But that would hardly be fair seeing they are two distinct literary forms. And while, being rather tall, I tend to fall into the “bigger is better” camp; when it comes to the arts I fall more into the “less is more” camp. So, word count is a non-starter…
We could go with a “correctness” approach. Meaning, whichever submission is more correct than the other…in terms of grammar and spelling that is…wins.
Hmm… Yeah, let’s do that.
Well lookie here… Seems author J Hardy Carroll has already confessed to a “couple of typos.” How ’bout that? Kinda makes things easy for me, seeing that without the confession I just may have overlooked the typos, regarding them not as errors but instead as just being part of the author’s intended poetically licensed weird.
And I’m finding neither a confession of errors nor any non-confessed errors in author karen rawson’s submission.
Well, I guess that’s that then.
While we have a tie in a lack of literary weirdness and an abundance of literary awesomeness, we do have separation between the two in literary correctness.
As a result of this separation, however slight, it is my pleasure to present to you today’s selection for our controversial Weird Wednesday prompt…
A GHOSTLY CAPOTE CAME CALLING
by karen rawson
A ghostly Capote came calling
Said you saw what they called Summer Crossing
Jerry’s letters went viral
Your Watchman will spiral
The trick is to burn your own writing.
Thank you very much to both J Hardy and karen. And while I may have made a bit of a mockery of my selection process, I am not joking one bit when I say that they are both extremely high on literary awesomeness scale. JHC’s story had me right there in the room with our three angelic authors. The dialogue is era-appropriate and the tone pitch perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it…several times…typos and all (plus I appreciate the insight of what I might expect if I am to review JHC’s very compelling-looking novel (see sidebar). All the while, karen’s poem has everything that could possibly be packed into such wonderful poetic artistry with such an economy of words, all the while hitting the proverbial nail on the head with its symbolism and allusion. And, as the great Kafka himself requested in vain that all his papers be burned upon his death, I am sure he would be nodding his head in enthusiastic agreement of the poems moral of a message. Extremely well done to both.
Filed under: Writing Tagged: controversy, Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Sinclair Lewis, Truman Capote, weird, William Faulkner, writing, writing contests, writing prompts
Comments other than Creative Responses to today’s Weird Wednesday Prompt
There is some obvious passion generated by today’s prompt. As, per the rules, all comments other than prompt responses are to be deleted, I am opening this up to all who need to speak up either for Ms Lee, et al, or against what some seem to see as my slander against her, or both.
So post your passionate commentary to today’s prompt here and not on the prompt post or it will be removed.
However, I suggest you please keep my personal motto in mind as you consider the prompt:
Take Nothing Seriously… Seriously!
I include the three comments that have already been removed…
Harper lee is a sweet shy Southern girl who hated being paraded around in front of an adoring public by shills and hucksters. She write this book in the 50s and so hated the idea of being part of the circus that she said she never wanted to publish it. She stiuck to her guns, bless her. Now that she’s sitting in a home, disabled by a stroke and unable to tell you if Thursday starts with T somebody jammed a pen into her spidery bird-claw and made her sign something. Sure, they say they just discovered it. What they did was run the numbers and fond that Mockingbird still outsells Dan Brown in sixty languages. Poor old lady. What’s their hurry? She’s gonna be dead soon. This is an obscenity. – Speedway Randy
And since many years ago, I did make a trek to meet Salinger and did come upon him chopping wood and had a 15 minutes conversation with him, to thank him for a letter he sent me answering one I sent him, I don’t think I could do weird with this. And our boy Truman – his reality is weirder than any of us could pen. I just feel badly and agree with Speedway Randy, what the money makers do to make money is an obscenity. And thus, you don’t have anyone coming up with tripe all these years later about Salinger’s lost work. He flipped off everybody that annoyed him and tried to pry and remake him. During those long silent northern winters, I imagine he quite enjoyed his scotch and cigarettes. – kanzensakura
You should really dig a little deeper into the Harper Lee headlines. Since the immense success of Mockingbird, Ms. Lee has continued to live in her home town of Monroeville, AL (also the hometown of Truman Capote, her childhood friend). For the past 60 years, Ms. Lee has not “laid low,” she has simply never written another novel. She is extremely active in her local community. Every year, Ms. Lee returns to her alma mater of the University of Alabama “Roll Tide” where she gives a free lecture about Mockingbird, and answers questions from the next generation of her fans. She has made it clear her entire life that Mockingbird shall stand alone, never to be made into a sequel, despite years of pressure from Hollywood. She is widely loved and adored by the entire Alabama community, who consider her a local hero. For her entire life, her literary estate has been fiercely guarded by her older sister, an attorney, who stepped down from that role last year. Now she has a new attorney, is in declining health, and people who have been aware of her wishes for years are quite concerned. This “novel” which is being pushed as a sequel to Mockingbird, was written earlier, in the 1950’s, as is in reality a “first draft practice” novel. This is causing quite a stir after last week’s announcement, and an investigation is under way. Ms. Lee has not appeared in public for over a year, and her new attorney has issued a statement saying simply that Ms. Lee has said, “Don’t expect this novel to be perfect,” meaning that even she knows it will not be the masterpiece people expect, or that something else is going on. There has never been any speculation, ever, that I am aware of, that Harper Lee did not write To Kill a Mockingbird. All you have to do is hear her speak ONCE about her inspiration and you’ll see the love she has for each of these characters. She is the most fascinating and brilliant woman I have ever met, and she is well into her 80’s. It is a terrible, terrible shame that her legacy is about to end this way, after spending her entire life protecting the integrity of that brilliant work. And now, she is to become the butt of people’s jokes about a Lee/Capote/Salinger triangle, 3 extremely talented writers whose debut novels were so perfect that for whatever reasons, a second novel could not be produced. – Crimson Owl Creations
Filed under: Writing Tagged: authors, commentary, freedom of speech, Harper Lee, humor, Indie Authors, J.D. Salinger, prompts, take a deep breath and relax, Truman Capote, writing, writing prompts
Big Babies
So, we took the boys for their first visit to our Vet to get caught up on their shots and whatnot. Initially, there was much whining and howling and the gnashing of teeth… but all in all they did great and took their shots like a man*.
Now, when we adopted the boys we were told that they were going to probably grow to around 25 inches at the shoulder and weigh in at about 45 pounds.
What the doctor told us was a little bit different. According to him, because at three months they are both weighing in already at around 22 pounds, he expects they will grow beyond the 25 inches and end up weighing in at around SEVENTY POUNDS!
EACH!
Whoaaaaa brother(s)…
Zeno & Aurelius (The Pillow)
*non-gender/species specific
Filed under: Family Tagged: adoption, animal rescues, Aurelius, dog rescues, dogs, pet adoption, pet rescues, pets, photography, puppies, Veterinary, Zeno
Speaking of Weird…
What do you all make of Harper Lee?
I mean, obviously she went to the same Passive-Aggressive Secret and Silent Public Relations school as JD “The Secluded” Salinger, whereas Salinger specialized more in the art of silently aggressive relations and she more in the silently passive sort.
I mean, come on… You write one of the bestest novels in the history of novels and then go virtually dark for sixty years and then all of a sudden you’re like, “Hey, lookie everyone what I just found here attached to the back of one of the bestest novel manuscripts in the history of novel manuscripts!”
Yeah, I know… Weird.
And not to mention all the weird that surrounds her bestest first novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Some even speculate that she didn’t even write it – or at least most of it; that her bestest buddy Truman Capote, in an effort to win her lifelong affection – because we all know the great TC was all about being liked – wrote it for her.
Anyway… Who knows.
Sure wish I did.
But in the absence of knowledge, let’s make up some weird.
For today’s WEIRD WEDNESDAY prompt…
Write something weird, be it a poem, limerick, essay, flash fiction (750ish words or less), stream of consciousness, whatever, about a secret meeting between Harper Lee, Truman Capote, and JD Salinger for the purpose that is yours to determine.
And by the way, by weird I do not mean perverse regardless how well this opportunity of a prompt may provide for it. Just saying…
This may explain things a bit about the prompts.
This provides some Harper Lee context.
Submissions close at 7pmish.
Selection announced sometime thereafter.
No comments other than submissions for the prompts please. All comments welcome for the selection when published, however.
Please “Like” those submissions you like.
It should be noted that, as stated on the Disclaimer page and the Relating to Humans guidelines, a “Like” by me does not necessarily mean I like or endorse a submitted work. My “Like” is foremost intended as a means of acknowledging a submission; though chances are pretty good I may like it, as well.
Filed under: Writing Tagged: authors, contests, Harper Lee, Indie Authors, J.D. Salinger, manuscripts, novels, poetry, secrecy, Truman Capote, weird, writing, writing challenges, writing prompts
February 10, 2015
What There Is To See
search not for beauty
that only the eye can see
search for that within
for the beaut shown to the heart
shines brighter than stars
NO TANKA TUESDAY TODAY – AWAY FOR THE DAY GO I
Filed under: Photography Tagged: beauty, beauty within, fog, Japanese Poetics, nature, nature photography, photography, poetry, snow, tanka, trees, writing
February 9, 2015
An Ode to a First True Love… Selection
The books I loved best as a child
I bet were loved also by many of you.
They told of tales sweet, silly, and wild,
As penned by the great Sendak, Suess, and Reys, two.
But as the years passed and I grew a bit older
I left such childish tales behind.
As I grew fonder of stories much bolder
That came in the comic book kind.
And then soon comics I also outgrew
As I zipped through my age of the teens.
Words read in leisure were then but few
For leisure was found in new and various means.
In my twenties my first Literary Love was found,
And it is to this Love I tribute this ode.
Its author to the Beats he is bound
And its story will forever be On The Road.
(What a day…apologies for the delay)
So, who could objectively choose between two such different yet poetically perfect submissions?
They both speak to my subjective heart equally.
So it is to the Coin of Arbitration I must go…
Heads be Dancing Echo as she has the first submission;
And Tails be Josh Wrenn as there be no other choices for him to be.
And the flip…
And the catch…
And, on behalf of the Coin of Arbitration, it is my pleasure to present to you today’s MEMOIR MONDAY selection…
AN ODE TO A FIRST LOVE THAT AIN’T NO BALONEY
by Josh Wrenn
I must confess
To everyone here
They weren’t the best
Or anywhere near
Jets and sex
And war and guns
One book to the next
A series of fun
But in my young mind
Great works of art
A hero I’d find
In a world torn apart
What got me hooked?
It ain’t no baloney
The Wingman books
By Mack Maloney
Once again, a very big thank you to two powerfully prolific and most perfect of poets…
Filed under: Writing Tagged: authors, contests, Indie Authors, Mack Maloney, poetry, poets, rhyming poetry, Rhyming Schemes, writing, writing contests, writing prompts
An Ode to a First True Love
MEMOIR MONDAY PROMPT
For many of us – most I would presume – we were rather promiscuous before finding that first true love.
Without regard, and very often with hardly little or no desire at all, we’d go from one to another without ever once finding a connection or even a slightest pang of affection.
But then, from nowhere and completely unexpected, you find the one and everything opens up before you. You enter worlds you never imagined existed. You are forever changed. You have met your first true love.
For today’s prompt…
In an Alternate Rhyming Scheme (ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH), write an ode to your very first true love – first true literary love that is. Write an ode to the first book that truly opened up your heart to the love of literature and set you on a lifelong reading romance of passion and adventure…
This may explain things a bit.
Submissions close at 7pmish.
Selection announced sometime thereafter.
No comments other than submissions for the prompts please. All comments welcome for the selection when published, however.
Please “Like” those submissions you like.
It should be noted that, as stated on the Disclaimer page and the Relating to Humans guidelines, a “Like” by me does not necessarily mean I like or endorse a submitted work. My “Like” is foremost intended as a means of acknowledging a submission; though chances are pretty good I may like it, as well.
Filed under: Writing Tagged: authors, books, contests, fiction, first love, Indie Authors, literature, love, passion, romance, writing, writing challenges, writing contests, writing prompts
