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 |  You are what you write. Illusion and Reality...I reside in between. Where are you? |
UNDERSTAND THAT REDIRECTING CIVILIZATION is a major undertaking. You can write volumes about it and who will listen? But the energy that goes for that purpose cannot be withdrawn. You know that.  |
"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book." Cicero 43 BCE BCOF: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Do you agree or disagree? Do you think everyone is writing these days- a book, short stories, poetry or memoirs as Cicero indicates. Does this impact us as writers ourselves? Are we one of Cicero's everyone's? What's make us different? Blog City Prompt: In this time with the internet so easily accessible, how do you determine what is worth reading when it is so easy for people to publish whatever? What criteria is important to you when you read online articles, stories? Everything’s changing all the time, however, the behavior associated with human nature remains the same (in one form or another.) What is changing is the SPEED of change. The new acceleration of time to the future is fast, if not instantaneous. Some things are totally new, never seen in our world before and they don’t even change, they disappear and are replaced. Notice that action has not changed. Now about writing? Cicero says, “Everyone’s writing.” The difference is everyone’s writing more, and faster! A large part of Earth society is writing with their thumbs on a tiny keyboard using abbreviations, causing an evolution of language. And then there are many others who have replaced using words with instant photos. I mean, why write about a event if you can show everything about it with a couple of snapshots or a three-minute video. In this way we are different from Cicero’s time. Information is instant---or it can be deleted just as fast before it reaches you. (How did she ever delete 30,000 emails before anyone could see them?) I believe this new method of recording and passing information is an obsession, and with that, Cicero’s observation still holds true. And we all know about the children. Don’t blink...you’ll miss it! >>>iggy  ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable **   |
Prompt: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God which is why we call it the present. Bill Keane Do you agree with this? What does tomorrow mean to you? The present (NOW) is a tiny, infinitesimal bridge between the PAST and the FUTURE. In our limited three-dimensional human existence we only perceive this singular moment of life as continually happening. Now is...if you look at it...it is gone! If you're a fully functional human, you will SEE, HEAR, TOUCH, TASTE, SMELL, and more during your individual moment of now. There are many powerful sensors built into your body. If you are missing one, a different functioning sense will become more powerful to compensate. Consider what really happens in your NOW: You receive reflected light into and through your eyes. Sound waves (frequency vibrations) enter your ears to activate eardrums. Your hands, feet, face, skin, hair reacts to anything that contacts your body. Things entering your mouth have identifiable qualities. The air and gasses and chemicals are sucked into your lungs or expelled. Your body adjusts to gravity and movement controlling balance and spacial awareness. Without your conscious control: Water, solids and liquids are ingested, chemically altered, digested and processed. Oxygyn is filtered into your blood and other gases expelled. If sunlight is touching your skin, vitamin D and more is produced All this, and thousands of other activities down to a molecular level are happening in your body being directed by parts of your brain and sub brains. There are gravitational forces in play, also magnetic, electrical, radioactive, temperature---all happening NOW---all at the same time. How much of all that are you aware of? Are you ever aware of the total experience of being alive? Meditation is one time-honored doorway to seeing inside self. There are many different disciplines. The INSIDE of you is another world that also has a total connection to NOW, but I believe there is much more if we could ever see it. The brain is where the past is stored. A lifetime of memory. Beyond now is the FUTURE or the next moment...Opps! There it went! Now it's part of the past already. I write and very much enjoy speculative fiction. Since the future is unknown, it's a creative place to play. You can guess what will happen---and it often does---until it doesn't. Are you ready for an unpredictable future? Think carefully and be aware...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: You have just received a special Award. What is the Award for? Write your acceptance speech. Hello, thank you for coming today! Here’s the story: Did you notice that it is very difficult to summarize RANDOM INFORMATION? The more random ideas and events are, they have greater dimensionality and the more problem we have organizing it in our brains. So we like (need) to summarize it all, and give it a file name. I think this is a natural human inclination. You see, more summaries equal more order and less randomness...Soooo...this condition that makes us simplify allows, if not forces, us to believe and think THAT THE WORLD IS LESS RANDOM THAN IT REALLY IS. (Think about that!) My award is for finally understanding that we live in a much more random world than I thought. I am adjusting. And I would like to thank Sir Doktor Professor Karl Raimund Popper for saying, “Understanding how to act under conditions of incomplete information is the highest and most urgent human pursuit.” Remember, in takes considerable effort to see facts...while withholding judgement and resisting explanations. Can you do that? I think it goes against our grain. And I have to thank Nassim Nicholas Taleb for doing all the thinking that I Missed. Peace to all...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: Clouds. “Clouds are thoughts without words.” Mark Strand What do clouds mean to you? Prompt: Create 2 stanzas of a rhyming poem... that begins with Ode. Each stanza must be 4 lines, you choose if all lines rhyme or if you want create couplets. I hope you'll be able to make us experience your favorite food just the way you do... Ode to a cloudy day, Bits of blue along the way, Fluffy white billowing high, Marshmallow soft but not too dry, The sun is hiding not one ray, Chocolate dark I'm sad to say, Rain will force the clouds to cry, Ruined picnic we all cry...why? You'd have to have a 3rd stanza with Gram crackers to make Somemores! At the waterfront at the marina, the bay is surrounded by gigantic cloud formations almost all the time. They cluster over the land leaving the bay clear. When the wind changes to north, here they come dumping buckets of rain in just a few minutes. We're having seven-foot waves and small-craft warning. Partly cloudy day...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: J. G. Ballard, the author of Empire of the Sun, said: “I quite consciously rely on my obsessions. In all my work I deliberately set up an obsessional frame of mind. In a paradoxical way, this leaves one free of the subject of the obsession.” What do you think about this? Do you use your or another person’s obsessions in your writing? Prompt: What would you put in this year's time capsule to channel the essence of our current moment for future generations? THIS YEAR’S TIME CAPSULE: Wow! Trying to pin down the essence of all that makes our current moment is an almost impossible task. I don’t want to be negative, HOWEVER, I’ve never seen so many layers of complexities that appear to be out of sync. The Second Prompt helps this problem by providing J.G.Ballard’s idea about writing. The words, ‘obsessional frame of mind in a paradoxical way’, is a pretty accurate description of humanity’s current presence on this Earth. Narrowing down to THE AMERICAN DREAM, which is an idea that dominates the basic frame of mind (Government, Politicians, Main Stream Media and Hollywood) presented to the Americans and the rest of the world. And that is a conflicting notion or view with what is reasonable or possible at this moment, March 8, 2015. For instance, the Jobs Report at 5.5%. Really? With 92,900,000 people unable to find work? The flood of immigrants coming in for the ‘dream’ and the benefits. People renting because they can no longer afford or keep a home, as well as adults living with their parents. There are more homeless persons and families in the cities. Medical services are shrinking but costing more. Student debt astronomical and National Debt beyond imagination. Businesses going bankrupt with thousands of workers laid off. The list of conflicting ideas is very long and not to be related here. Do your own research. Check out environment, health, war, currency, etc. So...the capsule must contain the statement that our current moment is a paradoxical notion, and reality is made up of a society that is just waking up from the ‘dream’. If you look at these words: OBSESSIONAL, PARADOXICAL, FRAME(of mind), and NOTION. The meanings are all not part of anything three-dimensional solid. They are vague, part of a construct, adapted to fit a persistent idea or thought. I guess I have used some elements of this in usually negative characters. It works well. Obsessive people are easy to write. Words around words, with meanings lost in the scramble. Peace and Love first...>>>iggy{e:Boat} ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: Reading old texts like the Greek and Roman literature and works up to a century ago versus the present-day works: Which one do you think is better for the improvement of a writer's craft? Every media source has covered this but us... Let's talk about E.L James and 50 Shades of Grey. Do you think it is erotic romance or pornography? Do you think this will encourage more openness about sex? I wasn't surprised to see the influx of copy cat books. What about you? Keep in mind, we have a variety of age levels among us. Greek and Roman Literature is something a person reads and studies for a class at university, and never reads again. Plus it is all English translations without a sense of how the language reflected the people of that age. For a writer, there is valuable history and philosophy with a view of another booming, then failing, empire. We can see that history repeats itself. Also to write for a contemporary audience, the language is drastically changed and evolving. A writer has to read and listen to the language of today in order to write for new readers. As for Fifty Shades of Grey---the promotion and hype about the project is much greater and mind-numbing than the film itself. Does it create more openness? Well, Soft Porn has been produced for decades--different bodies, different faces, but once again, history repeats itself. There’s classy and there’s tacky. We get both, and the writers, producers, directors and actors usually get paid. The point of it all, whatever the shade, is for some folks to benefit with big bucks in their bank accounts. I believe the ancient Greeks and Romans had their shades of grey togas and very similar naked bodies. Human beings are really predictable, don’t you think? Write on! >>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Let's Talk about fatal attraction: Have you ever been attracted to someone ... I mean seriously attracted to someone that you don't even like or admire but secretly it is their less than ideal side that excites you. Do you feel that a book that was signed by the author has more value and meaning or do you love the book for the story itself? What if it's a writer that you really love their books. I mean you've read all of them and have a full set at home. But, the writer is arrogant, rude and generally not a likable person. The fatal attraction is for the books and the stories that have entertained you for years. Then this disgusting person offers to sign one of his books for you. Does it mean anything? No, it just proves how insincere he is while he smiles and signs to my dear friend... A fatal attraction has never happened in my life. My attractions have been (are) sweet and dear. And the signed books are treasures because of the friendship they represent. It's the story first...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Prompt: You are having a nightmare. You chose a door and open it. What adventure do you have? What is this? Two prompt? Yep! Do one, or both, or neither. Your choice. Blog City Prompt: What is your go-to party song? What song would you play to hype people up? Include a link, embed a YouTube video, or just give the song title and who it's by. The smoke cleared, at least enough to see the room. I've been here before. I'm trying to walk, but it's difficult. The air feels like heavy mud. Oh, now I see---across the room there looks like an old, broken door. Behind me there are voices calling out, "Stop! You can't go there!" I need to get away from whoever it is. My legs are trembling, I push harder. The voices demand, "Wait!" I panic and stumble forward. I reach the door and touch the rough, flaking wood. I search how to open it. Where is the handle? I find an irregular hole where someone has ripped out the handle. Maybe it was a doorknob? My fingernails claw at the splintered edge of the disintegrating wood. It gives a bit. I see a crack of light coming from the other side. Escape! The voice behind me screams, "No! No! Stop!" Terrified, I have a grip on the edge. My fingers pull. The door is opening! My heart is pounding. I have to get away! Augh! The light is so bright! I almost fall through the sudden opening. Three beautiful blonde cheerleaders in white fringe outfits smile at me with red lips and sparkling teeth. "Welcome ya-all! Welcome! This is the Second Prompt! Yea! Yea! Yea!." They are bumping and dancing. "Second Prompt Yeah!" The wind is blowing their hair, the fringe on their tops is fluttering. "Yeah!" SHOCK---I'm awake! It was only a nightmare. My body is sweating, shirt stuck to my chest. My clock shows 3:45am. The trade winds are blowing hard. The boat is lightly rocking. I can hear the ropes and cables of the rigging rattling and smacking in the wind. One of the ferry boats starts up, roaring it's engines. That means the first of probably four cruise ships has arrived out in the bay. Ahhh...another morning at the marina in Belize City. Happy day...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: What is your opinion on the idea of competition? Is competition a good thing or a bad thing, and does it promote progress at all? I think is all depends on how you define 'progress'. In the American culture, professional sports are the biggest, most visible competition. A great deal of money is involved for the producers and performers (athletes). The structure exists to promote the concept and practice of competition all the way down including the elementary schools. Another giant competitive structure supports the international Olympics. The Olympics feature individual skills and present the best athletes and teams in the world. The world of glamor and fashion compete designers, manufacturers and models to sell their goods. Then the retailers have a go at it. Music and films compete for the recording, broadcast and ticket sales, investments, and the very profitable honors and awards. Huge industries have grown around these competitions with success judged mainly by financial measures. The advertising and promotional agencies and mufti-corporations are part of all of it. It is how we judge progress. If a writer steps into this world with a successful book or screenplay, their work immediately is merged into the competition for someone's dollar---agents, publishers, promoters, magazines, newspapers, etc. This is the world we live in, and that's how it operates. I note that WDC is filled with contests, which stimulate and inspire some outstanding work. Essentially the result of competition. However, I don't think there is anything wrong with a person who does not feel it necessary to compete. To compete requires a certain adjustment to receiving rejection and negative criticism, which causes a certain hardening of your personal shell. You can progress privately if you choose. Write on (with a smile!)...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: Madeleine L'Engle said, "Slowly, slowly I am learning to listen to the book, in the same way I try to listen in prayer. If the book tells me to do something completely unexpected, I heed it; the book is usually right." What do you think she meant? “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” Madeleine L'Engle She seemed to believe in the innocence and imaginary powers of children. I think Madeleine wanted to retain that accepting ability that most of us lose as we age. It's the difference between people who read Science Fiction and Fantasy with those who only read mystrey, murder, and war stories. The Sci-fi folks accept lots of new ideas and concepts. The others are deep into hard reality. I believe we get enough of hard reality all around us in real life. I see too much promoted on television and in lots of new fiction. Why is that? Listen to the children...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
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