Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Diesel Fumes and Sensual Prose

Diesel Fumes and Sensual Prose

Yesterday I resolved to fix the slow fuel leak on my tractor. It was making the shop floor grungy and so I bought a 2 foot length of rubber hose and pinched off the leaker. Then I disconnected it and to my surprise diesel fuel began back- flowing from the tank. “Shucks!” I muttered, hitting my head as I scrambled from beneath to find a catch basin. What a mess, lying in that wet stinking muck as I worked to complete the repair. I reeked of fumes and Linda threw my clothes away. I can still smell the faint residue in my hair. Anyway that job is done.

Karen, the Head Mistress at New Horizons Academy is stepping down although there will be a transition as she hands off to her replacement, Kats. We also have a new poetry instructor who has a deft and lucid touch. For some reason the vision of Syrio Forel, Arya’s fencing instructor (Game of Thrones), came to mind as I read several of his works. We are blessed to have such talent carrying us into the future, although Karen will continue to be a blessing and inspiration.

The resin figure I ordered on line came today. She is a nude…(what else did you expect from a sensual prose writer?) and I will be studying on line some of the techniques that professionals use when they design and paint these models. My wife rolls her eyes. No fool like an old fool, I know she’s thinking. Anyway some of the action figures I see in antique stores and on line are incredibly done and the workmanship is right up there with some of the porcelain figures produced by longstanding reputable firms. Like the watercolor class I took back in the 1980’s I believe to really appreciate something exceptional, one must attempt to work the media. Linda has one of my watercolors hanging next to the commode.

In a sense this is what an aspiring writer is doing at WDC and NHA. We are trying to learn how to bump up our writing from what it is to what it could be. Regardless of how talented your support group insists you are or how your high school English teacher gushed about your themes, taking writing skills to the professional level is a huge undertaking. It is something you have to work at every day without a whole lot of positive and helpful feedback. Even at WDC quality feedback is a precious thing. Occasionally I get a no nonsense, knock your socks off review but they are the exception rather than the rule. (Almost never if it involves sensual prose, even though a writer can count on a lot of views.)

As I watch Game of Thrones on HBO I become more and more convinced that writers need to work the SP genre and acquire skills at expressing it. There is a fine line between obscenity and describing some of the more intimate details of a relationship. Readers want to know more than they usually get but not so much it upsets their sensibilities. It is a tool in the old tool-box and not an end in itself. Finding that blend is a challenge and WDC has contests that can help a writer break into this genre. What I see on HBO is pretty explicit and if they can show it on TV, I see it as a trend that writers might consider becoming familiar with.