Sunday, February 28, 2010
To my Son
To my son
Sometimes the pain is still new,
Though you’ve been gone so long,
I think of you and the tears flow,
I still wonder; could anything have been changed?
I live but a part of me feels like it is with you,
Cold and lonely in a far away grave,
And with your sib wheree’re they’ve flown,
Yes the world still turns,
And none of us makes much difference,
But we can if we try change for the better,
And live to make life better for those near and dear,
’Cause we never know when they will be gone.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sometimes the pain is still new,
Though you’ve been gone so long,
I think of you and the tears flow,
I still wonder; could anything have been changed?
I live but a part of me feels like it is with you,
Cold and lonely in a far away grave,
And with your sib wheree’re they’ve flown,
Yes the world still turns,
And none of us makes much difference,
But we can if we try change for the better,
And live to make life better for those near and dear,
’Cause we never know when they will be gone.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Random thoughts
Author nation is down www.authornation.com/ so I'm out and about reading and writing.
One of the most talked about commercials that was aired during the Super Bowl was by the Audi automobile company. They picture the ‘green police’ arresting a man for choosing a plastic bag for his groceries among other horrid infringements (I use the word ironically) of liberties by those who believe that we as people are destroying the planet.
This advertisement is hypocritical in many ways but the first is this: there is no modern automobile that can exist without the extensive use of plastics. Therefore to condemn one use of plastic as environmentally unsound but say theirs is better is at best the pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t know what we will do when we hunt the last ‘whale’ (or oil pool) but so far the anti whale hunting crowd has not come up with any cogent answer except to hunt ‘whales’ (or oil pools) slower. They don’t want to talk about nuclear fission and nuclear fusion for power is still a pipe dream that may never reach reality. Maybe when we run out of oil we will descend into some sort of preindustrial existence? I don’t know the answer to that but one the thing that is certain is that we need answers that are not being explored today. Solar power only works when the sun is out and it is the most inefficient of the sources of power the anti oil people tout. Wind power works when the wind blows and could I suspect be made more efficient but most people would not wish to have a wind farm in their neighborhood. Some power could be harvested from tidal motion along our coast lines but that is limited by the efficiency of the main method of power transmission that is in use today. What shall we do? Burn all the oil and coal we can find until there is no more, then live without? I believe this is shortsighted. I also believe the slow down approach is shortsighted. Most of the answers will not be cheap because we are looking to extract energy from sources that we haven’t had to look to before… in years past we let trees convert sunlight, water and nutrients from the soil into wood and burned it. Or hunted whales and burned the oil that was rendered from them… but there really are only so many whales and there really is only so much oil. We cannot quit cold turkey today but we must not say no to what we know will work in the interim; nuclear fission.
One of the most talked about commercials that was aired during the Super Bowl was by the Audi automobile company. They picture the ‘green police’ arresting a man for choosing a plastic bag for his groceries among other horrid infringements (I use the word ironically) of liberties by those who believe that we as people are destroying the planet.
This advertisement is hypocritical in many ways but the first is this: there is no modern automobile that can exist without the extensive use of plastics. Therefore to condemn one use of plastic as environmentally unsound but say theirs is better is at best the pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t know what we will do when we hunt the last ‘whale’ (or oil pool) but so far the anti whale hunting crowd has not come up with any cogent answer except to hunt ‘whales’ (or oil pools) slower. They don’t want to talk about nuclear fission and nuclear fusion for power is still a pipe dream that may never reach reality. Maybe when we run out of oil we will descend into some sort of preindustrial existence? I don’t know the answer to that but one the thing that is certain is that we need answers that are not being explored today. Solar power only works when the sun is out and it is the most inefficient of the sources of power the anti oil people tout. Wind power works when the wind blows and could I suspect be made more efficient but most people would not wish to have a wind farm in their neighborhood. Some power could be harvested from tidal motion along our coast lines but that is limited by the efficiency of the main method of power transmission that is in use today. What shall we do? Burn all the oil and coal we can find until there is no more, then live without? I believe this is shortsighted. I also believe the slow down approach is shortsighted. Most of the answers will not be cheap because we are looking to extract energy from sources that we haven’t had to look to before… in years past we let trees convert sunlight, water and nutrients from the soil into wood and burned it. Or hunted whales and burned the oil that was rendered from them… but there really are only so many whales and there really is only so much oil. We cannot quit cold turkey today but we must not say no to what we know will work in the interim; nuclear fission.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Beware!
To Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, et al, Republican talkers; tell me this: Where is the American Whig party?
I posit this; the handwriting is on the wall, if the Republican party doesn’t step up to the plate with some better and newer people they will be where the American Whig party is; a foot note in history books.
© 2010 Vic Jones
I posit this; the handwriting is on the wall, if the Republican party doesn’t step up to the plate with some better and newer people they will be where the American Whig party is; a foot note in history books.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Monday, February 15, 2010
Get Busy
Get busy writing. That is always the advice I get when I visit with other authors. Don’t depend on one story or one novel or one poem to get you to success. Sure it is true that some few authors will be one hit wonders with a book like To Kill a Mockingbird, but most successful authors have enough rejection slips to hold their own private Chinese new year’s party with, because in the business of writing you have to put out a lot of work to get noticed.
Sure we can all have our own free blog and even have Google ads on it and say we are authors (and maybe make enough money to buy an ice-cream cone once a year) but the successful author is more than published, he has a following of readers.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sure we can all have our own free blog and even have Google ads on it and say we are authors (and maybe make enough money to buy an ice-cream cone once a year) but the successful author is more than published, he has a following of readers.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Love
This is another poem about love and lust...
Love
Or lust,
Eros is a meddler,
Convincing us that desire is love,
It is exciting when you look up,
And see that other person,
Who you desire,
Looking at you with desire,
Still lust is easy,
It happens all the time,
But love?
That takes time,
And work,
And well it really isn’t exciting,
It doesn’t stir the blood,
The way a fresh bout of lust does.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Love
Or lust,
Eros is a meddler,
Convincing us that desire is love,
It is exciting when you look up,
And see that other person,
Who you desire,
Looking at you with desire,
Still lust is easy,
It happens all the time,
But love?
That takes time,
And work,
And well it really isn’t exciting,
It doesn’t stir the blood,
The way a fresh bout of lust does.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Adult content notice
Adult content notice
Some of the people who visit here (though I don’t expect many do) may wonder why I’ve put up an adult content notice. I may never put up erotica or discussions of human sexuality but if I do I would not want someone to come here and not be warned.
Yes I know this limits my readership but I would rather forewarn people that it may happen than to surprise them.
WW
Some of the people who visit here (though I don’t expect many do) may wonder why I’ve put up an adult content notice. I may never put up erotica or discussions of human sexuality but if I do I would not want someone to come here and not be warned.
Yes I know this limits my readership but I would rather forewarn people that it may happen than to surprise them.
WW
Friday, January 22, 2010
Writing is a Serious Business
Writing is a Serious Business
One of the issues of writing well is being able to communicate; after all that is what writing was invented to achieve. Therefore it behooves anyone who intends to communicate his ideas to observe most, if not all of the current conventions of writing for his language.
But that is silly I want to be original… I’ve heard some people say. Excuse me but are you sure you don’t intend to lie? Because if you use words but mean the opposite that is what you are doing. And if you refuse to use punctuation as required well that can change the meaning of what you write as well.
Sure I know that conventions change but imagine that you are trying to write to people of every level of ability. From the newest reader who has barely begun to decode written language to the dyslectic who struggles every day to keep straight the things which he reads.
One of the issues of writing well is being able to communicate; after all that is what writing was invented to achieve. Therefore it behooves anyone who intends to communicate his ideas to observe most, if not all of the current conventions of writing for his language.
But that is silly I want to be original… I’ve heard some people say. Excuse me but are you sure you don’t intend to lie? Because if you use words but mean the opposite that is what you are doing. And if you refuse to use punctuation as required well that can change the meaning of what you write as well.
Sure I know that conventions change but imagine that you are trying to write to people of every level of ability. From the newest reader who has barely begun to decode written language to the dyslectic who struggles every day to keep straight the things which he reads.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Focus?
Focus?
I’m trying to decide what to focus this blog on… Local hot spots? Redding is a fairly small city and so there really aren’t very many wifi hotspots available… still there is the library (which I used for more than a year…) the connection at the library is clear and fast, there are plenty of plug ins so you aren’t limited to the life of your battery… there are comfortable chairs and lots of tables so most of the time you can choose where to sit and of course there are books! I being a bibliophile like the idea that I can go and sit among books that I can take home if only for a while…
The one thing I had hoped was to find a local critique group to help me develop my writing and while I enjoy the meetings of The Writer’s Forum at the library I found them to be less than helpful in some ways.
I do not think that I will focus on wifi hotspots but from time to time I may report on one that I have visited. Nor will I focus on writing or what I’m reading or politics… I may just continue my rambles here…
Current events cause me to recommend a donation to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ in order to help the people of Haiti. If you have an organization that you prefer give (though I recommend against any government agency) as generously as you are able.
I’m trying to decide what to focus this blog on… Local hot spots? Redding is a fairly small city and so there really aren’t very many wifi hotspots available… still there is the library (which I used for more than a year…) the connection at the library is clear and fast, there are plenty of plug ins so you aren’t limited to the life of your battery… there are comfortable chairs and lots of tables so most of the time you can choose where to sit and of course there are books! I being a bibliophile like the idea that I can go and sit among books that I can take home if only for a while…
The one thing I had hoped was to find a local critique group to help me develop my writing and while I enjoy the meetings of The Writer’s Forum at the library I found them to be less than helpful in some ways.
I do not think that I will focus on wifi hotspots but from time to time I may report on one that I have visited. Nor will I focus on writing or what I’m reading or politics… I may just continue my rambles here…
Current events cause me to recommend a donation to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ in order to help the people of Haiti. If you have an organization that you prefer give (though I recommend against any government agency) as generously as you are able.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Update
What caused me to abandon this blog?
Several things, at the time I started it I was as close as I ever want to be to living on the street. During that period of time I was forced to make some choices, I made them and changed my life.
So now I’m back on the web (actually I never left entirely but was forced to choose carefully where I spent my effort) and want to revive this blog.
I’m thinking about what I want to put here; some of my poetry I’m sure and some of my commentary on life. But for the most part now I blog here, www.authornation.com/Thewordwright/ with that said you who come here may ask why another blog?
Several reasons, I am nearly ready to start the edit of a novel, and I would like a place beyond AN to showcase it. Also AN has been experiencing technical difficulties and I would like a stable platform from which to write to the world.
Therefore the question becomes here as anywhere else, how do I bring readers to my work?
Several things, at the time I started it I was as close as I ever want to be to living on the street. During that period of time I was forced to make some choices, I made them and changed my life.
So now I’m back on the web (actually I never left entirely but was forced to choose carefully where I spent my effort) and want to revive this blog.
I’m thinking about what I want to put here; some of my poetry I’m sure and some of my commentary on life. But for the most part now I blog here, www.authornation.com/Thewordwright/ with that said you who come here may ask why another blog?
Several reasons, I am nearly ready to start the edit of a novel, and I would like a place beyond AN to showcase it. Also AN has been experiencing technical difficulties and I would like a stable platform from which to write to the world.
Therefore the question becomes here as anywhere else, how do I bring readers to my work?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
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...
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...
***
Saturday, May 06, 2006
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!
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!
Monday, April 24, 2006
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
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
Saturday, April 22, 2006
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?
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....
Thursday, April 20, 2006
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.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
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!
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!
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