Weekly column

Well once more it is a Saturday and I'm here writing on this column. So some might ask what has been happening in my life? I'm working now, hard labor but still work which is satisfying in itself... Beyond that I've been able to hold to my goal of at least a hundred words morning and evening on my novel in progress... I actually wrote the whole thing once before (all long hand on legal paper) but right now its in storage at someone else's house and I can't get to it so I'm working from memory to rewrite it. I knew that it would need to be rewritten at least once so this is not as much a disappointment as it might otherwise be...

Other discussions...

One of the areas of my life I've been discussing is the fact of my addiction and the way in which something as stupid or simple as the solitaire game on the computer can hold my attention for several hours which I could otherwise use productively. I know this is an issue of selfdisciplin but that as any addict will tell you is an area that they are weak in.

A short poem

Once upon a time,
People told Grimm stories,
At bed time,
To their children,
Today the news is so grim,
As to make the brothers Grimm,
Seem to be less than a fable,
And all together cozy.

In the news

In the news there is a hubbub over the alleged rape of a black stripper by white students at a school in North Carolina... I shan't mention the name but they are well known... What we don't here is that there has been a rape of a white girl by black students at another school. Nor do we recall with these young men the brew-haw-haw that ensued when a certain basket ball player was similarly accused by a woman of questionable integrity...

Enough!

My opinion? We have taken the reality out of a great many words like rape by allowing them to become rubber band words used to describe anything up to sex the woman regrets the day after it happened...

Why not men? A man who said he regretted having sex would be laughed out of the court room. But everyone knows women never willingly have sex...

***

Bad habits

I spoke (wrote [is there a difference when you do this?]) before about being addicted and that is true... But the bad habit I'm thinking of now is the way in which I put off writing, that is some times when I sit down at the computer and have nothing on my mind to write I end up bringing up the games and once I start on one even as simple as solitary I am basically captivated by it and will spend several hours playing if I am not interrupted. Of course part of that sort of getting lost in an activity is what makes it possible to be addicted...

Well that is enough on that subject. I must say that even with getting so badly side tracked and in spite of now actually having a job (hard labor[no prison jokes!]) I am getting about 500 words or more added to my novel I wrote it a while back but this is the rewrite partly from memory as right now the manuscript (and I do mean hand written manuscript) is in storage and I can't get to it.

I don't have a poem or any other interesting writing to add today and I want to get to some other things since I'm still using the computer at the public library as my main internet access point. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be able to get a used lap top so that I can surf at the local coffee shop...

but for now this is all for this week!

Dreams and goals

How do I ever go from having dreams, or rather the sort of unfulfilled fantasies that create frustration to having goals and fulfilled intentions? I know that the way to do this is to formulate a plan and stick to it at least in as much as the fulfillment of my plan relies on my ability to perform and does not rely on someone else's action. Thus I know setting the goal of having a best selling novel is not within my sphere of direct influence however writing and even publishing a novel is within my abilities.


Therefore I must set a doable goal of how much work I will do each day toward getting a novel written if I ever intend to get any progress made on the dream of writing a novel

Addiction

Why write about the subject of addiction here? Because to be blunt I'm an addict.

addiction, according to one definition I've heard, is a compulsive behavior which delivers short term rewards but has long term destructive consequences.

How do I know that a behavior is compulsive?

I know that when a person (like myself) can see that his behavior is destructive to himself yet he continues to do that behavior even when it causes him pain then the behavior has become addictive (compulsive). Thus we become addicted to alcohol or drugs or work or sex... Any and all of these (and more) in a search to fill some tearing void in our lives... Well that is the excuse some people use but mostly for one reason or another at the beginning of our addiction we who are addicted chose to engage in one of those activities that short circuit the risk reward feed back cycle that keeps most of us in balance.

I believe (from experience) that laziness is at least partly to blame for our (my) addiction(s). If I was more willing to work and be patient (especially be patient) then I could have most any reward I desire in a manner that was not destructive to myself or others. But to be honest I am lazy and always in the past have looked for shortcuts. And to my certain knowledge the shortcuts have for me always led to traps some of which I have never since finding them been able to escape.

Well that is my confession for the day... I shall not directly tell the nature of my addiction but shall from time to time write about it even if I have come to belief that there are times when writing is a sort of avoidance behavior for me....

Review

I recently had the opportunity to read The World is Flat, which is a book that I believe that everyone should take time to read. I certainly can identify with the frustration of seeing the net and understanding that I am on a playing field where I am unable to access the tools or implement my ideas.... How much more aggravating it must be if one has been told that he is superior because he is a member of a certain group!

ON CHANGE

Change in one's life is achieved by consistent concerted action that does not mean the sort of frenzied activity that some people(like my self) engage in when they confront the need to effect change in their lives.

No the effort one makes when they truly change their life has to be directed according to a plan (unless one is faced by an emergency...).

I expect that this blog will settle down to a weekly column of disjointed thoughts until I have a bit more time to dedicate to it.

Appearances...

I dont know why but every time I try to post this as a draft some of the blank spaces get pulled out. The same I might add has happened in some of the poems Ive put here....

Well no matter what happens I guess I will go to press as it were just because I have at least this soapbox.

Today I am just going to make a few comments on some of the books I’ve been reading. The first book I will talk about is The Business of writing by Stephen Goldin and Kathleen Sky (I could be wrong on the spelling of the second name as I don’t have the book in my hands at this time… For a book that is over twenty years out of date this book still holds a lot of very good information and good advice never gets out of date. Writers who are serious about earning money from their craft could do worse than including this book in their to read this year.

I have read part of e-business or out of business but as it does not apply directly to writing I have put it aside for the moment as I need more practical info on how to set up a web based store. Also is the regrettable fact that I really am not ready to start in to doing what I’d love to do. A lack of tools and organization is plaguing me. Who do I need to get to know to get in to the business of writing and editing? A local writers group I can tell…. So that is what I am working on finding.

I may put some more poetry on this page and I may not… I have many things to consider including how to promote my work... most definitely a challenge that I have to face and overcome. then I've said that before here and I'm certain that if I have any readers they are tired of reading my angst about promoting my work.

God's gifts

God’s gifts

With all the angst in my life,
Like a boiling cauldron of strife,
I’ve worries a plenty,
And comforts so few,
Still from God I find,
When upon Him I depend,
Peace, joy, and grace,
Fill my heart,
And calm my mind.

every time I post...

Everytime I post,
My foot it seems is in my mouth,
Time 'tis true is a factor,
But truely I should read most carefully,
What I've said,
Before I commit it to the ether.

Some poems I write just for fun like this one but others to praise God. When I start to write about God I find my mind and hands cannot seem to connect. Truthfully some times He is so awesome to me that I cannot find any words that I know that would adequately express what I have learned of God or the awesome works He continues to do daily in my life.

drafts...

I should I see save these posts as drafts before I post...

Poem for today

SOME TIMES

Some times,
When I seek God,
He seems so very far away,
Yet I know,
God seeks me,
Far more than I seek Him,
Praise God!
For his grace so amazing,
That He offers to everyone!

OOPS!

I pressed the wrong key and this ended up blank for a while

The need for editors

Well with my writers hat on once more I can say without a doubt I need an editor!

What I intended to say just didn't get on the page...

Who influenced me to become a writer?

The Admiral influenced me,
Space, Robert Heinlein wrote,
But more than adventure he did emote,
And so though he is not alone,
In my list of influences,
He is the one who said, "Write".

Most everything that I write at this site is essentially extemporaneous. Thus I ask you who read it to indulge me with a little bit of patience. Soon I hope to do a bit of more planned writing… really if I’d just sit down with a pen and paper I’d be better off than I am currently.

What I am posting here is off the cuff poetry and short thoughts without any thing attach them to, Just whatever happens to be at the top of my mind at the moment.

Another for instance is the time crunch I get in when I am on the computers at the library… but I thank God every day that I have at least that limited access.

May God bless you,
Keep you and guide you,
Through life and its troubles,
May you learn to recognize His hand,
As He works in your life.

Well God is so good to those of us who believe (and to those who don’t) after all they are not in hell yet and have the chance to access his grace…

Thoughts about God

Everyone (almost) believes in God or a god. Even people who claim not to believe in God seem to have to find something to worship something to believe in. It has been said (though I don't know by whom) that it is impossible to belive in nothing. It is more likly that if you attempt to believe in nothing that you will end up being captured by some evil person who says that he is teaching you to do the moral thing.

It is said by some that God is love. While this is true even the most lax parent would not leave his children in the face of disaster... or where they could be harmed by someone evil.

Nor does God leave us alone to face this world, He gave us the Bible, which is an instruction book on how to live.

random thoughts

If you do stop by my site do please let me know if ads would annoy you.

Here is a short rhyme,
I hope you take the time,
To read what I have to say
And comment on it today.

What can I say? At least it rhymes and almost has meter...

Ads?

I am wondering if I have enough readers here to ask that I get comments before adding advertisements to my blog ?

I don't wish to annoy anyone but it would be nice if this could begin to stream some Income my way...

Jesus is so good to me,
That is plain for me to see,
I tell you this,
Because I'd like you to come to know Him too.

There have been times when I felt so alone when I walked through a time of trial. Yet on the other side I could see that He had helped me through and given me grace to live though at times I have dispaired some what like Job...


A Valentine Poem...

I want you to know,
That I love you so,
When you're with me,
I am so verry happy,
Please tell me true,
Is it the same for you?
To be apart is to feel blue,
So please tell me you'll stay,
And be with me forever.

I know, I know it needs work and I don't have anyone like that in my life right now but I know the feeling and how it hurts to be apart from those I love.

Random thoughts

Some more random thoughts

Spring rain is falling,
Green grass growing leaves popping,
New life appearing…

I really didn’t intend that this blog be an advertisement for my ability to write or edit but as I think about it I can see that it will be exactly that and so I must in the future be very wary about the quality of the writing I post here.

I hope that I soon get to work on adding art to my site; if nothing else I’d like to add a portrait. That thought I would say is repetitive… well I don’t have the most consistent access to a computer therefore I don’t get to do some of the things I’d like to do. I want to write some articles on the Proverbs of Solomon; I have been looking over his contrast of wisdom with the evil woman or seductress. Then too there is the idea of the lazy man and the lion in the street… In that case this blog is a way in which I am personally facing lions; I am always afraid that the work I do is unworthy of notice and as a result over the past twenty or so years have let a large number of poems and other written work that I have done simply be lost.

Thus this serves as a place to keep some of the work that I am currently doing and to place it before an audience even if that audience is infitisimally small. So I know I have to think of ways to get my work before the eyes of potential buyers.

Thoughts on my qualifications to edit books...

Over the past 25 years I have read at least 100 novels per year. For the past 5 years I read at least 300 novels per year, doing this has given me a picture of the quality of the writers and their editors or dedicated readers. To put it mildly I find myself embarrassed for the author who has spent a year or more of his life and has published a book that has spell check errors (that is a correctly spelled but incorrectly used word) or other flaws in the work he put before the public. In my capacity as an author which is what this blog showcases I know that I need at minimum a proof reader to catch such errors where I have not said what I intended to say.

Other qualifications?

At various times I have worked in a quality control capacity in food preparation and manufacturing. But mostly I am interested in the art of written communication and how I can possibly help improve the quality of the novels I love to read.

I know that the poetry I’ve been writing doesn’t have the best of meter nor does it always scan well… I am however not trying to be obscure…

Simply put it has been some time since I tried to write a poem that was anything except my dashed off thoughts.

I don’t think that I really would want to write for greeting cards but at this point anything that paid would be welcome.

I have been wanting to do some articles on the Ten Commandments but before I do I’d like to look again at Dr. Thomas Sowell’s book A conflict of vision. (I think that is the title.)

If I can find a place and time to write those articles then I may also post them at www.townhall.com

Just now though I think I shall concentrate on getting started at the business of proof reading and editing. That would certainly be the work of my passion both in the doing of it (that is reading new books) and in the mechanics of helping to make the books I love to read better.

Well 'tis a Saturday morning and I'm at work at writing here.

While I am interested in the political process of the nation I have become very disenchanted with the way both parties accuse their opponent of being evil while busily working to keep their hold on power. The truth seems to me to be that they both worry more about their power base than what is good for America. Therefore we the people are left to look on while both sides of the power strugle sell us as slaves to the highest (or worse yet lowest) bidder.

what can we do about this aweful abuse?

Truely I don't know. But one thing I am certain of; we must stop thinking on party lines and begin to work on the idea that we are all American people and that if we don't wish to become slaves we must see our selves as one people with a common culture at least. Certainly you can keep your traditions if you came here from somewhere else as long as you don't feel that that means that you have to tear down the culture here.

I shall call this enough of a post for today... Please remember that we should all live in peace but living in peace does not require that we ignore evil when we see it.

Poem for today

Please point someone my way,
That is what I’d like to say,

So I did.

Will this help? I hope so I don’t like to beg and I do want to write what I like to write.

Soon I hope to be able to write more frequently on other subjects and to complete a profile.

In the meantime this is a way to keep up with the small poems and other writing I’m doing, hopefully I’ll get to do some of the articles I’d like to write… But unless I can make this pay its way I’ll be very sporadic.

Oh LORD God all mighty,
One thing I desire,
That to do Your will would be,
For me a burning fire.

Stop focusing on the impossible…

What is possible?

I don’t know!

What can I do?

Read/proof read, fact check, researcher, edit, ghost write, writing coach, give presentations, and write fiction.
I’ve done all of these and enjoyed them, so how can I move from these being a time wasting hobby to something that provides me my daily bread (not to mention a roof!). This is the question I constantly ask my self. And it is the question I seem to constantly fail to answer.

One certainty that I know is that these can’t be done from the place that I currently occupy. Therefore I need to acquire the means to be elsewhere. That is to have a different place to live. To do that I will have to apply for any job that I can do not just jobs I’d like to do because creating an income is more important at this point than to have the perfect job.

What is this blog about besides my angst over getting published?

Change, I guess...

Change of place of career of my way of thinking. Also until I have a better place to keep things it is my virtual slushpile. So with that out of the way what else is on my mind?

Seek life-
Not pleasure-
Joy and peace-
Not fleshly lust-
Trust in Jesus,
There is no other way,
To heaven but through Him,
Believe or don't,
But be warned,
Your disbelief,
Doesn't change the fact,
That the only way to heaven,
Is through Jesus' blood.

starting thoughts

Breaking the barriers... I suppose everyone has the same problem, but at times it seems that it will never happen for me.

What do I want to do?

In short words read for a living. I like to write too but whether or not what I write is worth while except as entertainment for myself I don't know because of that issue of breaking barriers. One has to be published to get published! Sure I'll send notes to the aether this way but will they get any attention?

So far I've looked at www.writersdigest.com for info but haven't thouroughly explored the site. Now I'm just typing a few thoughts about getting started, which is something I never seem to be able to do...

Here is a short poem I wrote in the style of hiku

Jesus is my LORD
I belong to him because
He died to save me

I write lyric verse too but presently don't have any with me. Well that is part of the Joy of breaking barriers. I'm stuck with a semi public computer