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 |   So playing the trombone wasn't getting me in enough trouble? |
| I need someplace to write down the often confusing thoughts that enter my mind, while my stories give voice to the characters that wander through periodically, this is the place for my voice. Join me if you wish, comment if you wish, all are welcomed and appreciated. |
Stuck. I can't seem to settle my mind into writing anything. It's not for a lack of ideas, more an over-abundance. Most of all though, the "outside world (also known as reality) is crowding everything else out. A big part of what's going on is my pending retirement, as in 492 days pending (not that I'm counting). Naturally I am looking forward to it. And of course, the is some trepidation. I am looking forward to it, but I also can't help looking back. It's kind of funny and maybe my subconscious at work but over at "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group"  , I created a character to fit into the theme named Janus. I just discovered that I had hidden him away from view! When writing something new I use the "my eyes only option" until I'm finished, and I never released this one to the wild. Here's the short blurb about Janus..."Janus gets his superpower" , in case you'd like to read it.In case you aren't aware, Janus is the two faced god of time, looking forward and back. I'm spending much time doing just that, looking forward and back, enjoying memories and anticipating and worrying about the future. I'm not sure yet what the next steps in my journey will bring or where those steps will take me. I have plans, but we all know the rules about plans and wishes. Long term? I'd like to become a better writer. Realistically, I know I'll never be published, I'd just like to write things that people find interesting and enjoyable. I'd like to be able to ply my trade as a musician with as much facility as I had when I first left college, again, realistically, I know that's going to be tough. In college, I practiced a minimum of two hours every day. Some days I played more than 8 hours in various performing groups. I don't think my 64 year old body could keep up with my 20 year old bodies stamina. I'm still going to try. New Steps in the Same Journey. Closing with this, a new siggy created by the wonderfully talented concrete_angel, one of my favorite authors and reviewers here on WdC, stop wasting your time reading this and go enjoy some of her fine work.  |
| Geeze! it got a little dusty in here...guess I haven't been here in a while! Well, that's because I been busy other places! Used to be FaceBook was the first place I looked at while eating breakfast. Sorry Mark, you have been replaced! First, after swearing off contests "Competion??? Maybe not Never More..." , I did a complete 180 and found a new place to play... "The Contest Challenge" , if you haven't visited it yet, get over there, lots of fun and encouragement. Most importantly NO PRESSURE!! I'm a bit stuck right now, but I'll just make a left turn, move onto another contest/prompt in February, and comeback to my current story later.The next consumer of my time?, "Cupid's Lucky Arrows" , lot's of fun and hijinks going on that won't last long so HURRY over and get in on the fun...be sure to nudge Cupid and tell him Richard sent you!!Then of course, there's the "Question of the Day!" , can't do anything else until I check that out...Right?On top of that, over at "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" we're gearing up for our next review raid (you have been warned), which is always fun. I love reviewing and learning from what I review!And if that's not enough I decided to take a course offered by, "House of Sensual Prose " , I'm working on lesson 4 of six right now, my characters are being mischievous and not talking to me right now. But they'll come around shortly to tell me their tale soon!Then, this morning some prankster sent me anonymous (hmm...spelled that right on the first try!) gift points...so I had to scurry about WdC to figure out how to do that. After all, no deed should go unpunished, unrewarded! Thank you to Schnujo is Late to Lannister   , Hannah ♫♥♫  , Lilith of House Martell  and Purple is House Florent  for taking the time to run groups that make me waste so much of my time make WdC so much fun!I didn't forget the Power Raider Staff, there is such a Hugh Amount of people there who make it work that my blog post would exceed its character limits (yeah I made that up) but there are many, many people turning the gears over there. A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!! |
| Not my usual cuppa tea, but this was a musically sound presentation, nor do I usually share my critiques of other musicians work with anyone but them. So this is a first more or less. First off I liked it, an upbeat tune both musically and contextually. The video continued the "hopeful" message with the vocalists walk up the building. It became much less a gimmick to me when he looked back down and then broke the fourth wall with more or less a "Hey I really did that, I wasn't sure it was going to work" look. This is a great theme and sentiment for the New Year, which always seems to start with "High Hope's. My hope is that everyone has a Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year! Hopefully at least some of our hopes and dream will blossom and bear fruit. I was amused by the fact that a crowd gather for his walk up the buildings side (not unexpected), but no one reacted to a guy walking down the street singing in full voice, even the "bump pass" drew no reaction from the "crowd". My impression was that the message here was that sometimes hope can be enough. He hoped he could climb to the top of that building and his faith carried him through. He was surprised and pleased that he made it. Happily, I didn't detect the affects associated with "auto tune", so either this was a very skill vocal by a more then competent musician or a very fine job by a top notch recording engineer. The backing tracks were well suited to the genre and supported the tune well. The visuals aided and amplified the songs message. One pet peeve, in the final scene on the roof top. where the band joined the vocalist there were instruments being heard but not seen. That always has a jarring effect on me. I understand the economic of it, basically your paying people to stand around and pretend to play (the tracks were studio recorded, not "live"). But my musical eye wants to see what I hear! Interestingly this isn't the only song titled "High Hopes", cueing up the way back machine here's Bing Crosby singing a different song with the same title. https://youtu.be/El4nNaV1P3g |
| So after some very inciteful and helpful reviews I decided that I am not yet competition worthy. Well rather, what I've decided is that right now I shouldn't attempt to produce under pressure, constrained by either time or word counts. It would seem in doing so I short changed my characters, my stories and my readers. I rushed through proof reading my stories, missing OBVIOUS errors. Worse though, I rushed without developing the stories or characters to their full potential. That to me is the greater of the sins, something I would have harped on to the Nth. degree had one of my music students done it. Leaving material on the table is unforgivable. Mechanical errors are correctable, easily correctable, but not bringing an idea to it's full fruition, just for the sake of a deadline? Nope, not ready for competition yet, too much to learn and explore. I have to equate this more to my music background, in writing I'm still that forth grader, struggling to make a sound, not yet ready for public consumption. Still dependent on my teacher(s) for guidance. Who are my teachers her on WdC? The people who take the time to read my efforts. The people who gave their time to review and criticize my stuff. Truly I appreciate everything everyone wrote and in my revisions I have tried to take your helpful words into account. One "side affect", now I feel my stories are not "done", what were intended as very short stand alone stories may have become mere chapters. I re-read those chapters and think I might see a way to make improvements. BUT! Is that a bad thing? Again I harken back to my musical education, in his glorious 5th. Symphony, you know DA DA DA Duuum Beethoven devoted several pages in his "notebook" to developing that simple 4 note motif, perfecting it before putting final pen to paper, working it over and over into the fabric of his opus. So, Yeah, tweaking until I get it right isn't a bad thing. Enjoy a bit of Beethoven! https://youtu.be/fOk8Tm815lE |
| As I pointed out elsewhere I am one of the world's wurst (sic) spellers. So much so that as my days in High School dwindled to a close, my favorite English (now "Language Arts") teacher, Mrs. Foley, gave me a special gift to mark my graduation. A Webster's Pocket Dictionary, which she admonished in a not on the fly leaf, "should never leave my side". That dictionary accompanied me through four years of undergrad school, two years of post grad and even made it to my desk at work. Until finally, tape upon tape I was forced to purchase a replacement, not before I removed and saved Mrs. Foley's note reminding me to always have it handy. There have been many theories advanced over the years as to WHY I am a poor speller, some of them by academics and others by good old plain simple friends. First, Mrs. Foleys ~ During elementary school I was placed in a special non-remedial reading program, Speed Reading was all the rage and schools jumped on that band wagon. Basically students were taught to read only the text needed to gain insight, skipping words and not really seeing what they read. Fortunately, or not I excelled at it. So unlike other students I never really had time to learn spellings, recognizing patterns rather then words. For example whether you write it ceiling or ceiling I see the part of the house you hope stays over your head. She based her theory on the fact that given something to proof read, I could Identify misspellings but still couldn't provide the correct spelling. Next, my own theory, ~ Spelling, like many other subjects was taught by what I call "Brute Force Rote Learning". I hated rote learning, whether it was times tables, cursive writing or even the scales I needed to learn as a musician, I hated the repetitive nature by which they were taught. So spelling at least for me might have been a victim of me being bored with, "write out this weeks spelling words ten times each". The last? This one was put forward by a college Education Professor. The whole left brain, right brain thing. Because as a musician my "creative side" is dominant, there are times when my creative side outraces my analytical side. In short it's a race to get things down on paper, spelling is the least of the considerations. This might hold more water with me if I were Mozart and not just a journeymen trombonist. Bottom line? my Dictionary stays at my side, Still! I don't trust spell checks or auto-corrects and I do quite a bit of proof reading. Yet, that occasional misspelling still sneaks past. So if you see one, drop me a note, I will be very thankful! |
| What's the point (my goals) in being on WdC? From my point of view there are several; First (D'OH  ) to write of course and have a convenient way to share that my writing.  Second, to learn to be a better writer, knowing I'll never be as good as I'd like to be. How? Being a musician, I learned there are several paths to "betterment";  Practice! Practice! Practice! Listen to other great players and not just in the genres that make you comfortable Invite, Accept and Learn form criticism, not all of it's pleasant to hear, but it's all a learning tool. Keep Practicing!How do I translate that to writing?  Write! Write! Write! Read others writing of all types, seek out writers that you want to be when you grow up!This one didn't change - Invite, Accept and Learn form criticism, not all of it's pleasant to hear, but it's all a learning tool Keep WritingLastly, to give voice to the characters who visit me late at night, hopefully once I tell their tales they'll let me sleep. That's why I'm here. |
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Credit is delaying the pain unless one pays it off every month. I don't buy what I can't afford. I don't go into debt. I live well by living well within my means. 
