Enjoy The Weekend

Enjoy the Labor Day Weekend!

WORDS OF WISDOM

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.


~Sun Tzu

Can anyone tell me about goth literature?

Passing Thoughts

There's more to life than having a house, car, or bank account.


Keep a diary or journal.


Write every day.

WORDS OF WISDOM

You do not even have to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, remain still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you unasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.


~Franz Kafka

INSPIRATION

Inspiration is not always measurable. We can never predict when we will be inspired. When the inspiration does come, it's like new batteries put into a radio. The thoughts are clear. We're charged up! Energized! Inspiration can be subtle or like a rushing wind. Sometimes by doing, inspiration will come as quietly as a gentle breeze. Inspired people see beyond limitations and obstacles. They see the prize!

Reading One Genre Recharged Another

Over the past week or so I have written a number of poems. My poetic battery has been recharged. Ever since reading two books of horror and ghost stories, my poetic bent has been going ahead like a locomotive. 

Taking a break from what is our norm can turn out to be a blessing. It's good to pause when we run into roadblock  The best thing is to try and figure out which direction to go next. To forge ahead in the wrong direction and without a clear purpose could mean wasted time and energy.

I didn't plan on reading horror stories. The urge just came upon me so I pursued it. I read an old book called The Haunted Looking Glass by Edward Gorey and Bram Stoker's Best Ghost and Horror Stories. I was exposed to different styles of storytelling by different authors. I am a fan of castles and some of the stories fed my curiosity about them. I have written a few outlines for future stories with castles as the backdrop.

There's no harm in taking a break from whatever genre you write. I did this over 1 1/2 years ago when I began writing poems in earnest. My short stories, commentaries and essays seemed dry and uninteresting. Poetry revived by zest for writing. Think about trying something  different for a change. Dull and uninteresting stories aren't worth the time and effort. We don't want to bore our readers with stories that we find boring.  

WORDS OF WISDOM

A work of art defines itself into being, when we awaken into it and by it, when we are moved, altered, stirred. It feels as if we have done nothing, only given it a little time, a little space; some hairline-narrow crack opens in the self, and there it is.

                                                                                           ~Jane Hirshfield, poet 

Current Book

I am reading The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser. I've read only one chapter and already I gooten several good tips. Her are some of them.

1. Read poetry every day.

2. Make a place to read and write.

3. Work and rework. Edit and revise.

Theodore Roethke

I have taken an interest in the poetry of Theodore Roethke. Roethke  (1908-1963) was a lover of nature and was intimate with good and the bad. He grew up among the greenhouses his father owned. I like the metaphors that he uses. His style is clear and easy to understand. One example is a line of verse from his poem Four For Sir John Davies: The waves broke easy, cried to me in white. I immediately connected with this line. I'm also a nature lover so Roethke and I share a common passion. Just last night I read five of his poems in an anthology. I have to get a book of his poems and read his biography.

Picking Apples From a Tree in a Bus Depot

Yesterday, I was walking through the bus depot. People were rushing in all directions heading to their destinations. I reminisced my days of riding buses to vrious places. Almost immediately I thought of a story to write which I will post at a later date.

It was a stroll through a place that go to occasionally that I was able to formulate an idea for a story. It goes to show you that ideas are like apples hanging from a tree; they are there to grab and eat.

Book Review

Title: Best Ghost and Horror Stories
Author: Bram Stoker
Publisher: Dover Publications, 1997
Genre: Horror, ghost stories
Rating: 7.5

I enjoyed reading this book of short stories. Though Stoker is more known for his book Dracula, he wrote some excellent horror stories. My personal favorite is The Judge's House. It has all the elements I believe makes a great horror story. Fear, unwitting suspects, mystery, and  intrigue.

 I love the backdrop of many of Stoker's stories. I am fond of castles, haunted houses, cemeteries, dark legends and curses. I also liked The Squaw, The Burial of the Rats, The Secret of the Growing Gold, Crooken Sands, and Dracula's Guest.  The eighteenth and nineteenth century background is a personal favorite and has encouraged me to use it in my future writings. 

Best Ghost and Horror Stories is a good read. It recommend it, particularly to someone new to the genre, like myself.  

WORDS OF WISDOM

No matter how hard the road gets, keep on going.

WORDS OF WISDOM

They succeed, because they think they can.

                                          ~Virgil