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 |  Daily scribbles on writing and living. How to get rid of cobwebs in my brain. CLOSED. |
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I am over the moon with joy this morning, as I got an anonymous gift from a co-writer on WdC. I can set up a blog for the coming three months since someone paid for an upgrade. If you ever read this Anonymous One, thank you so much! Many thanks to "Request An Upgrade From RAOK"     I have to think about this for a moment. Don't want to rush it, don't want to solely vent or underestimate the value of a daily blog for my writing. So I will carefully try to explore what it will bring me. “All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name. Remembered line from a long-forgotten poem” ― Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga When I was a teenager, my little brother stole my journal out of my bedroom and read it. I was so disappointed and mad about his action, I destroyed my writing and have been struggling with the concept of conveying my inner thoughts ever since. So, I will send my daily scribbles to the world. On How to get rid of cobwebs in my brain. To let in some air and rejoice. For another clumsy attempt at writing, check out "All fingers and thumbs "  [18+]. I am a Rising Star from  Rising Star Program 2016-2017.  Comments, scribbles, and notes welcome!       Thanks, 🌕 HuntersMoon  for the teal awardicon.Note ▼ |
Memorable day: Into my 3th week today on this site, earned my first MB. ![Merit Badge in Variety
[Click For More Info]
Well done on finishing your merit badge challenge over at [Link To Item #2031489] ! *^*Thumbsup*^* Feel free to begin working on another.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Variety-2500.gif) They sure know how to keep writers engaged and busy! I am falling in love with WDC!   |
| http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/six-women-artists-celebrate-the-cigarette_us... This article in the Huffington Post is about women artists smoking and celebrating the cigarette. Count me in, I am an avid smoker. Not a very popular stand these days and I am risking being banned, ridiculed, frowned upon, but hey…smoked all my life, am an addict and consciously risking my health, so I am a little stupid I admit. It’s smelly, it’s costly ( I could have saved more than 25,000 USD), not sexy and a no go in a lot of relationships. Still, it’s a bad habit I can’t exclude from my life. I like smoking! I mean, God, I quit everything else, can't I smoke? Melanie Griffith. But the real truth is of course: if I could quit, I would. Maybe there is still hope. I could start reading Allan Carr's Easy way to stop smoking! But maybe I am just a coward and trying to wiggle myself into a politically correct position here. So taking the easy way out: I lit another one, and forget I ever wrote this down to haunt me in the future. |
| Woke up this morning very early, as for the past 3 weeks on this site, and decided to change my handle. Wake Up And Live it is! Bob Marley and the Wailers wrote the lyrics on this very relaxed melody. Or maybe the other way around. Watch and listen: https://youtu.be/oWP4-ai7SOE I have a complicated relationship with music, I like to listen to some classical, jazz, reggae and very incidental to popmusic, but I am not totally engaged into music, never have been. Music connects both brain hemispheres. That happens while making music, but also when listening to music. Complex music has been received in both parts of the brain, simple music only in the right part. Music has a healing power too. And then there is the Mozart effect which tells us that we become smarter when listening to Mozart. That has something to do with a relaxing and concentrating effect on the brain while listening to Mozart or other classical composers. I did play Indonesian gamelan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1AiCTJ9t8g) for almost a year. That was great fun since I could participate in it as I never learned the traditional musical notation. Gamelan works with figures. So part of changing my handle involves the promise to myself to listen to more music.  |
I came across this wonderful piece of writing about keeping a blog or a journal:
Great read, full of info I am lacking and loving to read, about keeping a blog. I think I am going to use it to grow into better blogging and to evaluate my journal in the future. Is that brain picking? Yes it is.(I hope that's okay northernwrites). I am like a vulture when it comes to sucking up and searching for information. Vultures are scavengers and most people think of them as ugly or evil because they look and behave a certain way. But a vulture is a master of navigating on the wind, a reminder that we have to be patient with ourselves and think things through. They encourage us to be quite sure of how we feel before we make plans, and they involve restraint and resourcefulness. Just the kind of bird I like to be associated with.I am of a certain age, so looks don't matter that much to me anyhow. I am also here to learn. |
| I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit. (PG. Wodehouse) |
| Rattling on On dialogue “Okay, let’s communicate”. “You are saying?”. “Let’s start a conversation”. “You mean a babble?” “I need dialogue, so let’s talk.” “A chit-chat about what?” “As long as we are exchanging words”. “A discussion?” “A tête-à-tête”. “So an informal discourse it is”. “Do we need a subject? She asks.” “Why, we are conversing are we not?” “Don’t argue with me!” “I won’t.” “But you are.” “Yes.” |
| Library: a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for use or borrowing by the public or the members of an institution. There are only three English dictionaries in the house. A miniature dictionary English-Dutch, Dutch-English; a Penguin Pocket English Dictionary and an Oxford English Idioms (and how to use them). I use Google Translate and the Internet to pick up on words and phrases. This is my gateway to English writing and reading. I had a Thesaurus once but it mysteriously disappeared. Happily I just found the Oxford Thesaurus of Synonyms in PDF. For now that will do. I am set to go for the day. I got a mail this morning from one of the two local libraries, 15 minutes away from home. In the past I had left my resume at their office to volunteer. There was an open spot for the Friday afternoon and once a fourth night for the Wednesday afternoon. Would I be interested in joining? Regrettably, I had to tell them I was only available from September onwards, being involved with writing in this coming holiday period. I am guessing they will not be that keen any longer. But working as a volunteer will coincide with joining this website for the coming months, I am sure, although I would love to work in a library. Being in the midst of books is a dream come true. Finding this website however and participating on it has brought my Muse back to me. I will not have that spoiled in any way. And besides I am one of those persons not able to do too many things at the same time, by no means am I a multitasker. My life has to be in a slow pace, with lots of time to reflect on things and do nothing. I am a master in doing nothing. I can sit for hours just sitting. It’s weird I know that, especially in this day and age where things are hectic and life for so many people is a rat-race. Not for me. Long time ago I had my life working two or three jobs, running around, studying, participating, but this is my second life now. I can take it easy and watch time passing by. Yoohoo, just got a mail back: they are regretting I am not available for volunteering right now, but they are going to contact me again after the holidays. I am relieved.  |
A friend gave me the names of some serial killers I have to look into since I am recently writing on
John Wayne Gaycy, Keith Jesperson, Charles Ng., Arthur Shawcross. There are some exemples of artsy fartsy killers too: The Zodiac Killer wrote a poetic letter, the letters by the Son of Sam ~(David Berkowitz), Charles Manson wrote songs, In Japan a serial killer wrote Haiku poems, Dennis Rader wrote poems. Its all out there to do research on. I have to overcome my own disgust and fears about a subject like this and dive into the matter. I think the darkness of the plot: sculptor kills three women and makes a work of art in stone, makes me want to give up and work on something different. But I have had this idea of a weblog of a serial killer for quiet some time now, so I better stick to it. There is a lot to work on. One review helped. Thanks Angus  I am going to do something mundain first, like having lunch, and then turn into the thoughts and minds of serial killers. It keeps me off the street though! |
| I found an excellent blog on this site (there are many I know, but this one stood out for me so far). It’s from rl_gallear Surprisingly we already made contact, s/he reviewed my
and I did a review of her/his
The reason I loved the blog so much is that it’s profound, very informative and a great read. I hope to learn a lot! You should check it out! I am going to read some more, what a nice way to start my morning! |
| It’s not that I don’t like exploring my characters, but this one is more difficult to me. I have to invent a male serial killer who murders three women. Because he is the main character I sort of must make him likable enough to make an acceptable story. A villain with no identification to readers will not suffice. How do I accomplish this? First I make a map of personalia: biographical notes including his name and what he looks like. Maybe I search for a photo that’s fitting the description or try to picture his home. I don’t have to use it in the story, but I have to know this as the writer. Then I Google search on character development in a story (Writer's Digest): I need to develop his driving need, desire, ambition or goal. I explore the secret in his life, stumble on a contradiction or tap into a vulnerability. No better way than making this serial killer more human. There are methods for deepening characterizations: fleshing out the character can begin by reflecting on real life people, or exploring emotional triggers like moments of shame, guilt, or failure. When I construe all this material into the personal world of this killer I am convinced I have the frame work of a good main character. There is work to be done. |
| After a copious dinner with the gang involving a large steak and a sorbet, with strawberries from local farmer Geert who happens to be a television celebrity, I went to bed in the B&B. Alarm set at 8 am. I woke up with a strange noise: Cock-a-doodle-do, cock-a-doodle-do! It was 6.15 am and I remembered I was in the country side. The black rooster of the B&B was enthusiastically waking everybody up. I looked out of the window and there he was: high up in the tree. I didn’t know roosters and chickens would fly into trees to begin their daily rituals? I am a city girl, don’t know much about poultry anyway, except when lying on my plate. I learn that they can fly when their wing pins are left intact. The birds in large farms have no wing pins left so they don’t fly. That day I saw two fox cups, a buzzard, lots of singing birds and one chicken laying down her eggs at the neighboring chickens to hatch. I ate the home grown eggs for breakfast with a little bit more respect. |
| I spent a lot of time reading on this website: information, emails, newsletters, groups. Wow, what a fantastic writing environment, just what I need! It is one thing to write but it’s another to find kindred spirits who are doing the same thing as you do, day in day out. It’s almost like having an online family, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it sure feels like home. I got myself an online awardicon  for my portfolio. Thanks Cinn  Have entered a poetry contest and a short story contest, The writer’s Cramp. I am seriously thinking about joining a review group. So all in all, I am active and enjoying myself on this website. This weekend I will be gone to Groningen, up north in The Netherlands, visiting family. So bare with me, I will be back next week.  |
| I am in love with this website, no mistake about that! But doing research on how to pay for an upgrade from The Netherlands if you don't use Paypal is another matter. It's been done by money order I read on this website, so I am opting for Western Union. I have a shop nearby, that would be easy. How does it work? I find the info online: I go to a shop, fill in the form, use an Id and give the man behind the counter the information on the invoice I have printed from WDC. Nothing fancy about that I presume. But then there is the snag: I have to inform the other side that the transfer is made. I can't use a phone, there is no one to mail to, so what do I do? Try MoneyGram then, another possibility. But there is no way to send the transfer in US dollars, only in Euros. So I am stuck in the middle. I WANT to pay for an upgrade, that's only expiring in three months by the way, so no hurry, but I CAN'T pay my upgrade. I think I have to enjoy this (anonymously)paid membership for three months, use all the benefits for as long as I can and go back to a free trial version at the end of this period. Too bad. Unless someone on this site has the solution? Anyone experience with paying by mail? |
| "Surprise yourself every day with your own courage." -Denholm Elliott Now there is a prompt to write. Every day is an opportunity to write. You should, you must, you need to write! It’s mandatory, compulsory, duty bound and obligatory. It scares the shit out of you. It’s like breathing, you can’t live without and when you do write it is as if you free yourself from anxiety, from dark thoughts, overcoming your worst nightmare. The necessity of writing is obvious for a writer. It’s that click inside your head; it’s that heart beat that never stops, its heaven on earth. Being in the flow of words and thoughts feels like floating in water, walking on air without any resistance. Writing is living in its purest form: timeless as the ocean, light as the winds. There is nothing else, it is everything. |
| Not only did I get an upgrade on Writers.Com that allows me to write this blog for three months, I also just received word I won the newest novel 'Letters to Genoa' from Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (born 17 January 1968), a Dutch poet, novelist, polemicist and classical scholar. I will enjoy reading this book when it arrives in the mail and write about it. My day has started with a double blast! The sun is shining, my right big toe with a nasty cuticle inflammation is feeling somewhat better and I have made a commitment to at least write one piece and do another review this week. Life is full of promises. I am going to enjoy it. So it's time for a confession. This early in the week? Yes, let's get it out. I never have learned to really enjoy myself outside my writing. I am a bit of a scholar, have been my whole life and that resulted in poor living. Not that I regret my choices in life, but I sometimes watch other people in their attempts to live life to the fullest, and it just isn't me. I envy that sometimes. My pleasures are always small, and they always concern writing in one form or the other. I have what you may call a tunnel vision on life. My motto for the last year has been: Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. Benjamin Franklin I think I am in the process of overcoming my writers block that lasted for 9 months. So that makes me a very happy person today. |
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