Robert C. Day's Blog, page 52

Present

Roll-call arrives and a list of names is read out. The response? ‘Present!’ Only when you are aware of the call of the here and now can you say that you are present. It’s impossible to be in the here and now if you are thinking about the disappointments of yesterday or the expectations of tomorrow.

So, how do you check that you are present?

It’s all about being mindful of what is happening around you at every moment. Checking in this way is actually an interesting experiment to carry outbecau...

Map

Faces are such a beautiful map to the heart. You look at the lines and expressions on a face and you are offered an insight into the inner life of the person in front of you.

Just the way that you comb your hair can give me a clue as to how you felt when you looked in the mirror this morning. Did you care about the impression you would make today, or did you shrug off opinion like so much froth on the surface of the pan of simmering potatoes that is your life?

As we look around us, we become...

Lights Out

I was walking down the street thinking about saving electricity and I had the brilliant idea that I should fit sensors in all the rooms at home so that the lights automatically switched off no movement was detected for a while.

Then I burst out laughing as I pictured myself sat reading quietly in the evening when suddenly … the lights went off!

Feels so nice to have spontaneous laughter.

Love

I love you.

Whoever you are – I love you.

I love the shape of your eyes and the curve of your cheek.

I love the way that you hold your body when you read my words.

I love the thoughts that you are thinking now – yes, right now, because they are wonderful.

I love that clothes that you’re wearing – they really suityou and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I love what you did today and the way that you inspired the people around you – well done.

I love the elegant way that you scroll the page...

Abacus

“Write four pages per day to finish four novels per year and get to twenty books in five years.” (Dean Wesley Smith)

It’s important to forget your audience when you write and just concentrate on putting one word after another. If you think of your readers, you will start to think about how your words will be received, which inevitably leads to thinking about whether you will be disappointing your readers with your words.

There is nothing more de-motivating than a disappointed reader, but you...

Wealth

You think I’m going to talk about money – right? Maybe I’ll give you a list of cookie cutter, get-rich schemes that you can pull off over the internet? Perhaps I’ll share a get-in-on-the-ground-floor, reliable way to become a trillionaire from your armchair?

Nah. This is all about real wealth – the kind you don’t measure by the size of your bank balance.

Some say that health is wealth, or family is wealth. Nah. I’m not even going to go there.

Underneath your skin, deeper than your bones, furt...

Literature

This one is only for the intelligentsia among you – anyone else should go and do a sudoku.

Literature is an absolute riot! Never in the history of writing have so many phrases been invented to describe so many disparate, yet similar things.

Here are a few of the terms relating to literature along with their commonly accepted meanings:

Literature refers to written productions deemed to have artistic or intellectual value. Literary fiction generally refers to fictional works that focus on them...

Beauty

Beauty leaves me tongue tied.

And I was tempted to leave it at that – like it was a joke come true. But actually, there’s a whole other story.

New buds have their beauty, full-blown blossoms have their beauty too, as do heaps of red and brown leaves lying in wait for shoes to swishand swoosh through them. A miraculous-seemingtransformation then gives the fertile earth, which has its own special beauty – that of providing strength for the next generation.

What do these have in common?

I though...

Soap

Fancy writing a soap opera? Well, there’s never been a better time!As one ofthe most popular types of television / radio shows today, there is an unprecedented demand for quality scripts.

Here are afew essentials if you want toestablish yourselfin this popular arena:

Make us laugh. Comedy, humour, playfulnessand witty banter are a must. Human interest. We all want to see ourselves on the screen and in that way see how we can deal with stuff in our lives. Surprise us. If the situations are to...

Autopsy

Autopsy – a critical examination, evaluation, or assessment of someone or something past. (Merriam-Webster)

I searchedfor some aspect of writing that has that died so that I could examine the corpse but I couldn’t find one darned thing.

Some things are looking distinctly poorly, such a westerns, poetry, and ‘the novel’, but nothing has actually died. Fortunes change monthly in terms of e-book and paper book sales – but despite exaggerated claims about the death of the paperback, latest figure...