Rory B. Mackay's Blog, page 14
May 6, 2013
Lisa Gerrard: “Sacrifice”
I don’t often post music, even though music is my one hopeless addiction in life. This is well worth sharing though. A simply magical live performance (one of the best I’ve ever seen) by Lisa Gerrard, the incomparable singer from Dead Can Dance — probably better known to many for her soundtrack work for films such as ‘Gladiator’.
It’s such an inspiring, ethereal, spine-tinglingly beautiful performance…almost superhuman somehow, as though the vocals aren’t so much coming from her as through her...
May 2, 2013
Tao Te Ching 13: You are not what you think you are
- 13 -
Success can be as dangerous as failure.
We are often our own worst enemy.
What does it mean that success can be as dangerous as failure?
He who is superior is also someone’s subordinate.
To seek favour is degrading;
alarming when it is gotten,
alarming when it is lost.
What does it mean that we are often our own worst enemy?
The reason we have a lot of trouble
is that we have a sense of being a separate ‘self’.
If we have no such notion,
what trouble would we have?
Man’s true self is eternal,
yet he...
May 1, 2013
It’s May – ELADRIA is coming!
May is a very exciting month for me, because on the 31st my first novelELADRIA is being published!
Today a big box arrived by courier and when I opened it my heart skipped a beat (maybe several beats!) when I saw it was full of paperback copies of the book. There’s no feeling on earth like the moment you finally hold a piece of work in your hands that you’ve spent not months — but YEARS on!
It really is a lifelong dream come true. I’ve been writing since I was in my late teens and there have be...
The 3 Steps to Writing Anything!
Whether you’re writing an essay, an article, sales copy or the great American novel, there’s a basic three-step process that, if understood and applied, can make it a whole lot easier for you.
If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to get the words out, or unable to get beyond the first couple of sentences, it’s probably because you’re trying to do the wrong step in the wrong order. Once you’re clear on how to apply this universal three-step method, you’re certain to find the process of writ...
April 29, 2013
Tao Te Ching 12: The inner world
- 12 -
Too many colours blind the eye.
Too many tones deafen the ear.
Too many flavours dull the taste.
Too many thoughts derange the mind.
Too many desires weaken the heart.
The Sage observes the world
but acts on what he feels
rather than what he sees.
He allows things to come and go.
He prefers what is within to what is without.
Commentary
Again, one of the key themes of the Tao Te Ching is “less is more”, which is especially pertinent in a society that lives by the assumption that “more is better”.La...
April 27, 2013
Tao Te Ching 11: Space
- 11 -
Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel;
but it is the hole in the centre
that allows the wheel to function.
We can mould a vessel from a lump of clay;
but it is the emptiness inside
that makes it useful.
We can fashion wood for a house;
but it is the inner space
that makes it liveable.
We can work with the tangible,
but the intangible is what we use.
Commentary
The way we habitually function is by fixing our attention upon the external world of things, objects and forms. I remember one of the...
April 23, 2013
Changing old psychological scripts
Our minds are basically full of scripts, embedded sets of instructions and programming rather like the scripts used in computer programming. Most of our problems in life stem from faulty scripts; the coding that’s running our conscious and unconscious minds. If there’s a misprint at the coding level, the entire output of our mind will be skewed and this will affect just about every aspect of our experience of reality.
One of the key things I’ve learned is that it’s really not life that we expe...
April 21, 2013
The Young Adult Revolution Is Here! Self-Publishing Just Found Its Conscience.
With Thousands of Self Published Ebooks Flooding The Market, Where Can Parents, Teens And Young Adults Turn For Quality Literature With Message and Meaning?
Dublin, Ireland. April 21, 2013 – Lada Ray, author of the popular “Earth Shifter” series of Young Adult novels, this week announced the formation of the Young Adult Revolution or #YARevolution for short; a coalition of indie authors from across the globe dedicated to producing high quality fiction and non-ficti...
November 29, 2012
This blog has moved
Hi, I have decided to merge my existing blogs into a single blog and concentrate my passion and energy there. So this blog has now closed, and has reincarnated here:
I hope you will check it out! Look forward to seeing you there.
November 21, 2012
Brand new short story “The Royal Runaway” – FREE to download!
I’ve now finished and uploaded my second short story. It’s free to download in multiple ebook formats from Smashwords here. It’s also available on Amazon Kindle, although it’s surprisingly difficult to give away stuff for free on greedy Amazon, but from tomorrow for five days it will be for free! And you can always freely download it in Kindle format from Smashwords at any time.
“The Royal Runaway” is a direct prelude to my novel “Eladria”, set during the eponymous heroine’s childhood. It’s a short, character-driven tale about coping with a devastating childhood loss and learning to face your problems head-on. I hope you enjoy it. I’d love to hear what you think of it.
Synopsis
Princess Eladria is devastated to learn that her mother has been officially listed as missing. Extensive planet-wide searches by the Royal Military have failed to yield a trace of the queen. Shocked that her father seems to think she won’t be coming back, the wilful seven-year-old sneaks out of the palace and prepares to embark on a desperate quest to find her missing mother. It’s a quest that’s fated to end badly, but a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger could mark a turning point in the princess’s life…
