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"I could eat alphabet soup and crap better lyrics then that." - Johny Mercer. |
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From June 2016 entries are entered into "The Bard's Hall Contest"  by StephBee  From May 2017 entries are entered into "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor /right}From June 2017 entries are entered into "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor From June 2016 entries are entered into "Blogging Circle of Friends " by Lyn's a Witchy Woman  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I'm a writer, who doesn't write. An artist, who doesn't paint. I'm a blogger, who doesn't blog. I'm a dreamer. And all I do is dream. I was born a donkey, but lived as a man. My parents sent me out from the paddock so that I could learn the secrets of corned bread. Seeing for myself the world of men made me curious because that was my weakness. Always my weakness. My hind-legs were strong and so began my masquerade. I became a man and walked the world of men. I tasted many delights, and many disasters. But soon I found that I needed a thing called money. To continue my quest I would need to work. A courier seemed the most obvious thing. Although, was I not a man now and not a pack-mule? No. No couriers work for me. I chose a trade and worked in a factory. I had not forgotten my quest for the secret of corned bread. Every night, while printing the newspaper on the night shift, I would see the grand old culinary designs in the food and drink section. There was so much more to food then corned bread. Continue My Memoir of Magic and Dreams ▼ This is my blog documenting my experiences on http://www.writing.com. In it, I will include my reviews of others works, links to offsite writings, and importantly, I think, moan and complain constantly about the machinations of this beautiful, sexy, inspiring and fearsome beast of a writing community. I didn't do anything about my desire to write for over 20 years and I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm a little worried that I've left it all too late and I won't have enough time to become a good writer. I'm always up for joining in on blogging groups and challenges, so if you have one - let me know here. |
| Day 13 of the 30 day Blogging Challenge Friday the 13th? Nah, not for me thanks. I've talked in earlier posts about my superstitions and more importantly how to counter them. Instinctually, I think were all a little superstitious. The whole idea of superstitions is to define things that defy rational thought. Do they have a place in today's society? Only if your a retailer cashing in or a journalist looking for an easy story. I do like the idea, which I only heard about yesterday, that if you see 3 black cats in a row it is good luck. Guess what animals I'm thinking of rescuing from the animal shelter this month. Apparently, black cats are the least likely colored cat to be rescued. Bat rap for Black cats I think! |
Day 12 of the 30 day Blogging Challenge
When I was a young bloke, I remember my Nanna listing all the amazing inventions she had witnessed in her life. This would have been in the mid-to-late 80's and she would have been in her late sixties. Im sure she would have seen many medical marvels, and maybe she even mentioned them. But to us kids, ranging in age from 8 to 12, it was her testament to the advancement of television that most captivated us. Fast forward, twenty or thirty years and my Nanna has long since passed on. In Australia, we have just switched over to a digital network from the previous analogue network. Each commercial television station now has 3 television channels and in the case of our national government broadcaster, 5. I wonder if my stepbrother, who I haven't seen for many, many years thought of my Nanna when he had to buy a digital set top box to still use his old TV with the new network. Beyond entertainment, I think the next big thing, the truly next big thing, will be anti collision technology in cars. Ironically we might have to slow down on all those medical marvels my Nanna no doubt received the benefit of, as the number of broken bodies plummets from the lack of fatal and near-fatal car crashes. I have a good friend who works on anti-collision GPS systems for the mining industry. The mining executives are Very (with a capital V) excited by the work my friend and his company are doing. Their trucks are worth hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions. They already have rudimentar systems in place, installed and maintained by my friend, but the future of this technology is vast. Even the stuff in the pipeline, I'm talking this year and next, is revolutionary. How long before this tech comes into the public sphere via carmakers remains to be seen. Can you imagine a scene like an air traffic control tower, monitoring cars and avoiding collisions from a far? Or something so fantastic it boggles belief: fully automated anti-collision systems installed in cars. I can. It's going to be the next big thing and my Nanna would have marveled at it. |
| Day 11 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge I work in a factory. I'm a tradesman working on printing presses. I'm a Printer but mainly I troubleshoot print problems, pull things apart, reset things, and put things back together. There are 6 presses, each 4 stories high, that I work on. There is a "quiet room" where the binnacles for the presses are located, this is where we do our printing. We push buttons, flick switches, check copies. Each press did have it's own clock that faced out into the press hall. This was good for when you were working outside the quiet room. Changing plates for the next job, changing staple wire for stitching. Cleaning or replacing blankets. You could check the time. If, like me, you worked primarily on the press hall and spent very little time in the quiet room it was a real boon. You would know exactly when it was time for a break: for smoko or for lunch. It gets hot and noisy with so many machines running. Then we got a Continuous Improvement Manager. Why have 6 clocks in the quiet room, he said. That's a waste of energy. Let's have one big clock in the middle you can see from end to end. Okay, that's great. But now, when were working on a press (and we may be 4 storeys up remember) we have great difficulty being able to check the time. It makes for amfrustrating process. We all carry smart phones, even the oldies, we all like to know the weather and the sports scores and the time and how our stocks are faring and if there is any new funny animal videos on You Tube. But we get very dirty. It's the nature of our job: smeared in ink, grease all over us. Smart phones are hard to clean. It was easier just to glance out and see the time through the glass walls dividing the quiet room and the press hall. Without that knowledge of time, it becomes harder to judge how we are progressing, if the fitters will be at lunch when we need them to check a suspected broken piston, or if the shift change of the electricians will mean we can't get one to clear an electrical fault for another half hour. Now, I'm going to have to buy a watch. Something that I thought in this day and age, in this time, we could all do with out.
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--- Michael Thundersbeard Artist, Writer, Father, Factory Worker. http://www.lifeandothertragedies.com |
day 10 of the 30 day blogging challenge
What is my desired last meal? Well, that depends on who's footing the bill! Only joking. But imagine if the last meal you ate was the last meal you ate -'because it was poisoned! If you knew it was poisoned would you still enjoy it? For a last meal, you'd want it to be special. Not just a taste sensation but a meal that you really felt afterwards. One of those great heavy meals where you get all sluggish and have to sit by the fire or lay down on the couch and just bask in your satedness. And my last meal? A packet of Pringles. Cos after youve had one, you just can't stop! I would make it one hella long last meal! |
| Day 9 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge I see the mix of goood and evil in man every day. I don't see in the streets. I don't see it in the courts. I see it on the factory floor; in my fellow workers and the bad that men do. We get treated like numbers by the book keepers; they make us sack our apprentices when they finish their time. This isn't evil it's bad. It's bad because it's impersonal. It's apathetic, their attitude to the manner they affect our lives. I see bad man at work basking in doing and saying bad things to other men. I see some of those bad men, doing good things in their lives. I have had workmates tell me these same bad people, and they are bad, are evil for the evil that they bring to others lives. They brought a lot of bad to that guys life. There's big evil; genocide and drug running. Murder of children by sexual deviants and violent fantasists. That kind of stuff seems unreal - disconnected - but ask the parents and friends of those murdered, they won't feel so disconnected. I had a friend murdered just over ten years ago. He was murdered in cold blood, shot from behind while camping with his girlfriend. They, 2 guys, proceeded to bash and rape and attempt to murder his girlfriend, also my friend. They left her for dead and she crawled - and when I say crawled I mean dragged - herself two kilometers through jungle and through a river to safety. She forgave those guys, understanding the poverty they had come from and the alien culture that created them. HHis family didn't. They see them as evil to this day, where my friend does not. Not a day goes by that I don't think about our loss. Its fashionable to say evil doesn't exist. But I think it does. I also think that if people cared more, wren't so callous in their disregard for huaanity and how HARD it is to be human, then maybe we could wipe evil from our language, if not our world. 'd rather deal with bad men then evil ones. |
Day 8 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. I actually missed day 8, but this something along the lines of what I would have written. I'm back at work this week and boy am I feeling the grind. This is meant to be a blog about writing and blogs are meant to be personal in nature, I would argue. I guess then, todays blogs are authentic. Since returning to work I have been unmotivated. I did go on a reviewing spree before I returned doing roughly 10 reviews but besides that I have just been concentrating on the bare essentials. My strengths are my laughter in the darkness, and my weakness is my procrastination and inability to concentrate. The strength of my weakness is that my life has turned out alright despite it's shaky start and the pitfalls along the way. i always tell people, you never know what goodness is around the corner. My path here, to my life, may not have been an easy one or a desirable one but without it - would I even be here? This is exactly what my story "Invalid Item" is about. |
| Day 7 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge Charles Hamblin, an Australian philosopher, took the idea of phallacy, which come from formally incorrect arguments, and said "let's explore them". Depending on the context and the way people use them, some of these fallacies aren't fallacies to those constructing the arguments. Todays Review, to illustrate my point. "Consequences" I would remove the colour references out of the opening paragraph. Colours used as adjectives can be quite jarring. Nice twist though, I certainly didn't pick it. I gave them a rating of 3.5. It wasn't very believable, and the POV characters punishment a little over-reactive. It's a fine line between being honest, being constructive, and pissing in an authors pocket. I've definately made some mistakes with authors here, being too honest in my appraisals. Especially when I first started here. I'm afraid I handed out a few 2 star ratings, something I regret. I upset a few people who fired back nasty emails. This is a method I've rectified. If something is under 3 stars, I usually won't make the mistake of reviewing it. People don't always need to hear honest reviews and if there writing is that bad they are obviously delusional and who am I to mock their delusions? Also wrote a Writers Cramp entry.
I've been watching some videos on argumentation and wearing my influences on my sleeve for this one. My daughter very kindly illustrated my "Pegasus Heights" story. She didn't want me to read it to her, she said she'll wait till she can borrow it from the library. Now that's a girl who knows how to let someone down gently in regard to her opinion of your work! |
| Day 6 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. Prompt: Anything goes. Anything goes in writing. But does anything really go well with my own writing? I don't know. I also don't know if having a writers perspective colours my perceptions or if my surreal perceptions of the world are what attracts me to the writing. Today when we went down to the beach there was a north wind blowing away from shore. The ocean itself was still, but the breakers were hitting with such force that a massive dip had formed where the sand met the water. The water was aquamarine and while not "crystal-clear", there was enough visibility that the rolling dunes could be seen clearly underwater. Swimming in this mixture of sandbar and sand cliff made me feel like I was swimming at the edge of the world. Waves of nihilism covering the netherworld from our eyes. Of which, I had had the merest glimpse. Enough to show me that we were in a place out of time and a place out of this world. A place where anything goes. Especially for a writer.
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--- Michael Thundersbeard Artist, Writer, Father, Factory Worker. http://www.lifeandothertragedies.com |
| Day 5 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. Write a formal complaint about what scares you the most. Dear Fear, You used to scare me. You used to scare me with your tales of death in the bible. You used to scare me when my dad would get drunk, beat up my mum, my brother and throw stools through the wall. I used to lay awake at night and listen to him yelling and be too scared to get out of bed. Thanks for that Fear. You used to scare me when I'd stay up late and watch Orca that movie about monstrous killer whales. From the shadows, so no one could see me watching it too. I was scared Orca was going to bust through our floorboards like he did the deck of that ship. Even though we were 400 kms inland. You used to scare me so much about vampires that I didn't sleep with my head out of the covers until I was a teenager. Foxes too. For the same reason. What if I pulled my covers back and there was a fox looking at me? You used to scare me too, when my brother would tell me that vampires could get me during the day as well as the night. Because they could just turn invisible to escape the sunlight. You used to scare me that I would never stop crying when I was in my mid-teens and I realised, late at night, that my brother really did hate me. What else did you do after that? Not much really. That was enough fear for any little boy. I've grown stronger and I've faced the cause of my fears. I told my father to f-off that last time he came calling after he started saying horrible things about my Mum to me. That might not seem like much to you, but for a little boy who lived his life in fear and guilt that he wasn't brave enough to get out of bed and defend his family; that was a big show of strength. Even if it was a little bit too late. I have nothing to fear but fear itself. And I do not fear that I am a better father then you ever could have been. I am not scared to say that I am the father that I always wanted. And even through it all, all the reasons for our fear, all the terrible things that happened that we took out on each other, even if it took thirty odd years for it to happen, I can say my brother and I are friends today. I guess it helps that we don't live in the same country ;) Yours faithfully, Michael Thundersbeard. Artist, Writer, Father, Factory Worker. http://www.lifeandothertragedies.com |
| The following post is not part of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge I like the idea of the updates page. There really needs to be sense of "real time" on writing.com that is missing currently. To be honest, the layout and design of Writing.com is a little antiquidated. But I don't neccessarily think this is a bad thing. And it's a totally understandable thing that there must be labyrynthian code behind the website that would make a revamp and a more web 2.0 interface next to impossible. But I really like the Updates function ;) And here are some suggestions to really make it work well. These are all in addition of the current function of collecting notebook pages it should include new items in favorited authors portfolios. That would be a much better way to keep track of your favourite writers. It needs a new name. Updates? Updates for what, was my first question. The tile Updates only really makes sense if the above point is used. Portfolio updates of favorited authors in real time. More prominence. It should have it's own little window or frame on the writing.com homepage. Everytime you go to writing.com itself, you should see your updates page. Anyway, I'd be really interested to hear about the plans for the Updates feature as I think it has great potential. I realise it's in beta and I'm curious about it. |
Day 4 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. Write 200 Words on a World-Wide Issue.
It's funny. Here we are, a bunch of writers. A whole bunch Of writers. A whole internets bunch of writers, which can mean thousands and thousands of writers. And yet I am noticing more and more that a lot of you guys, when you are away from your prose pieces, do not take the effort to communicate effectively. Case in point: In your review for "Invalid Item" you said: <blockquote> <i>I think we should have to post a survivors tale between those dates to get our share.</i> </blockquote> In response to your review, Billycanteatme   sends: <blockquote> You need to send in the GPs properly. </blockquote> -- This email is being relayed through the Writing.Com Review System. -- Now, I attached the 100 gift points he was asking for. So I was entirely unsure what he meant. It wasn't until 2 follow up emails later that it was explained to me that I had sent the 100 gift points to the individual and not the group. I've noticed this lack of clarity with my own communications too. Especially when trying to explain things. In the introductory page to "The Detailed Writing Prompt Comp" I have had to rewrite the instructions at least 3 times due to my own inability to get my point across succinctly.Fellow writers, this new year please make a resolution to communicate effectively outside your portfolio. It's only a little bit of effort really. I'll try if you will. |
| Day 3 of the Blogging Challenge I'm of an earlier generation, just, pre-Internet and pretty much pre-home computer. I say pretty much as I did have a commodore 64 from the age of 15. It was on this that I learned to type where as my older brother wrote his (amazing) superhero novels by hand. I always wanted to be a prolific writer like him but suffered badly from nerves. Instead, I plotted out hundreds of ideas and dreamed of one day being able to let go of my demons. I eventually turned my creative side to comic books: writing, drawing.and self publishing. I did the initial plotting and story boarding by hand, but always wrote the script out on computer. The two methods leant themselves to each other: visualizing for plotting with my pen and verbalizing for the script with the keyboard. Years after I had given up on comics, and when I had decided to write a novel after years of procrastinating on short story writing I wrote index cards by hand but wrote the guts of the novels ideas on my computer. That was 2 years ago, my novel is fully realized in my head and on paper it is all mapped out. I've only written two scenes however. To this end, I am trying to capture some of my creative moments inspired by a pen. I have bought amstylus, an iPad and an handwriting recognition app as well as a hand writing app without the text capability. But it doesn't end there! I've also bought a foldable bluetooth keyboard for my iPhone. My plan is that because I amma good Typer, I will be able to just let myself go without looking at a screen. I'll be able to do this anywhere. Pen or Keyboard? Well, ask me in 8 months. My plan is to finish themfirst draft of my novel by the time I turn 37 in August. |
| Blogging Challenge Day 2 - something about 2012 being the end of the world according to Aztec mythology. And therefore it's a tragic year. I was a superstitious boy. And a religious one too. I counted the days when I walked under a ladder, counted the years when I broke a mirror. I was filled with dread by the end of Revelations. I just knew the end of the world would come under my watch. I still can't shake the morbid conviction that I will die at 52, this after reading a chart in a divination book when I was 17. And I don't believe in anything these days. I've since realized that there is an antidote to any misfortune. For broken mirrors, it's picking up the pieces, remaking the mirrors images, and continuing using it. For walking under ladders, it's walking back the way you came: backwards. Or reciting quickly under your breath: theyre actually stairs! They're actually stairs! For the record, I'll be 52 in 2027. And I am doing my damnedest to make sure I live to at least 72. I want to see my daughter and my two sons as adults. Not just "I'm in my early twenties now dad!" kind of adult but the kind of adult they'll be at 37. I want to be there when they look back on their lives and reflect. I want to see what they reflect upon. I don't want to be just another broken reflection. As for the Aztecs, I hear they were bastards. I bet they set that whole prophecy in motion just to be mean to each other and not help each other out in anyway. Don't worry about 2012 being the end of the world, for all the Aztecs knew it could be 2013 when the wold ends ;) |
Happiness in a personal sense is rushing to snap this piece off for the 30 Day Blooging Challenge. My wife and kids are already at the beach. I'll be there very soon. I just had to move our pet mice and rats into a shadowy spot of our beach house for the heatwave that is expected today. My kids happiness when they see me walk down the steps to the foreshore: my middle boys cry of "daddy!" which he always greets me with, my daughters screams as she plays with the neighbours kids. My wife's long suffering sigh as she says "oh, you made it." and my youngest shouts of whatever surreal episode is running through his toddlers brain. Yesterday it was "daddy! I have broken free!" last night it was "captain pooopy poppin the Popsicles" as I put him in the shower. And as for writing (my other child or is it my other me?) this new year brings lots of promise as I am finally fulfilling my simple dreams of writing freely and lots, lots, lots. If I can write a proper short story and get back into writing the prose for my novel I will be one happy man. |
This review's is ID #3641577. WritingML Invalid Review  yields: Review of "Lost Agent - New Comer" This review's is ID #3641598. WritingML Review of "The Time Santa Got Lost" yields: Review of "The Time Santa Got Lost" I also entered this in the anniversary reviews program. |
| http://www.writing.com/main/handler/item_id/1134192-The-Best-of-the-Rest Today, I entered this competition. I'm hoping to win so I can pass on the GPs earned to the Ultimate Champ. Kiss me luck! I also rentered my "grits and the snakepit man" piece in the review requests. I've retitled it "The Snake Pit Man Cometh". A much spookier title. 10 views and no reviews. I am guessing it's too long for the casual reviewers. Which is a shame for me, as I really enjoyed writing it and it's one of the longest pieces I've ever written. (It's only 2000 words!) Haha, and here I am trying to be a novelist! |
| My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Go Noticed" . Also, I am running a writing competition with big prizes. I've given away 30000 gift points so far and given 2 writers just like you a publishing opportunity. In a years time, one of those writers may win an upgraded membership. Hey, that could be you. I think your interests and writing style would fit perfectly with this months crime noir theme.
Decembers detailed writing prompt comp has a crime noir theme. It's set in a Chinese restaurant and features a fortune cookie that sparks off a chain of events. Events decided by YOU! This month's minimum word count is only 300 words and there is still DAYS to compete! |
| Well gonna have to do something about recognizing the great people who are donating towards the Annual Detailed Writing Prompt Comp Champ.(or whatever that title ends up being!) Like this one: SANTA BREAKER has reviewed "The Detailed Writing Prompt Comp" | Edit | fs I love your contest page. It looks fantastic. The rules are easy to read. Good luck on your contest. Merry Christmas! ~~Metu Reply to SANTA BREAKER And because you love it so much - you're going to enter aren't you! Plenty of time to produce 300 words based on the prompt by the 31st of this month! And hey, 500 words in 31 days next month - you should be able to double that! Man, you ARE GOOD! |
| http://www.lifeandothertragedies.com/kami-brings-the-hellfire/ I wrote this last night natter one of those creative flashes you often get. The visuals fully formed. So for once I actually sat down and just wrote it. Made it up as I went along, besides the central idea of how the real Kami Mcinnes (an actual award winning cutting edge Poet here in Australia) got his power for the poetry. I used write or dies desktop version of their online kamikaze writing program. First time I've produced something substantial on it. I had it set so I would start deleting if I stopped writing. Quite harrowing! I'm not sure if this story really is unfit for WDC. But it does stretch things beyond the state of comfortable society. One mans bestiality joke is another mans excuse to ban my account. Tell me what you think at the wrbsite, not here. Comments are free there too and hey, spur of the moment thing but if you comment there and send me a link to your profile here I'll review some of your stuff and give you , let's say 200 gift points? Seeya over there at LAOT. Kami Brings The Hell Fire is a comedy horror. |
| I put an auto-reward of 75 gift points on the Detailed Writing Prompt Comp instructions page. A potential entrant kindly offered these words to me in order to get his 75 gift points. you have not really put any product out to be revieweedwhat you have iis just some tuips on writing and oin entering competitions. wel we can still call it a review. this words by you "In my wisdom I have also decided that not only do monthly winners win 10000 gift points and get their winning entry in an ebook anthology but said anthology will also include a second piece of writing from /each/ winner. This can be an original piece or preferably your favorite piece." sounds very encouraging and can make any ony try your competions I responded with: Thanks for the kind review. Now that you've got your 75 gold pieces for your review don't you think you should do the right thing and enter the competition for this month? Ah, the psychology of guilt. It's bliss. |
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