SAME SOUND, DIFFERENT MEANING

For, fore, four

Morning, mourning

Oar, ore

Seam, seem

Waiver, waver

WORDS OF WISDOM

Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human condition.

~Graham Greene, Novelist (1904-1991) 

RECITALS

I enjoy going to recitals and poetry readings. I'm struck by so many diverse styles. I study how the reader recites and draws me in. Are they relaxed? Clear? What mannerisms do they display? 

The readers are performers, making the words come alive through their physical and voice mannerisms. I use my hands and voice inflection when emphasizing a particular part of the piece. 

I haven't done any recitals in a few years but want to get back into it. 

USING NEW WORDS

I try and keep my stories and poems simple and easy for the reader to understand. I have a few files of index cards with new words I have found. I have used a few of them in my writings. 

Using too many big words, I believe, can throw shade on a story. The author may end up coming off as a pompous know it all. The idea is to tell a good story, not to show how smart he/ she is. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

When you're writing a screenplay, it's like you're dreaming the film for yourself again and again and again until it becomes almost like a memory before you make it.

~Greta Gerwig

SAME SOUND, DIFFERENT MEANING

Faze, phase

Pail, pale

Roe, row

Scene, seen

Tare, tear

Tear, tier

Ware, wear, where

Yore, your

IDEAS ARE ALL AROUND

I carry a notebook and pen wherever I go. There's more ideas floating around than I can grab. I try to be observant of the people and places that are around.  It doesn't have to be earth shattering or dynamic. It can an article of clothing, a sign, a person's mannerisms, etc.  

I have ideas scribbled down in notebooks from years past. Every once in a while I'll go back and look at them. At times, my perspective about what is written has changed with the passing years. I have gained a better understanding on why I wrote these little snippets. 

Keep picking those plums from those tree. Don't dismiss anything because it could be that diamond-in-the-rough. Don't ever throw away a notebook. I have a crate full of them. There may some some juicy plums waiting to be tasted.

COULD I DO BETTER?

Have you ever read a book and believe you could have written it better? How about a movie. Do you believe a script could have been better constructed? 

I believe that many directors and producers take too many liberties and make a movie that is inaccurate or just horrible. Too many times the book and the movie are so different. Also it's not often that sequels are as good as the original. 

SAME SOUND, DIFFERENT MEANING

Mail, male

Maize, maze

Pole, poll

Pray, prey

Rest, wrest

Right, write

Tail, tale

Toe, tow

WORDS OF WISDOM

Writing just a little bit each day is better than not writing at all.

~Genevieve

FAMOUS WRITERS BORN IN AUGUST

David Balducci

James Baldwin

Ray Bradbury

Jorge Luis Borges

Suzanne Collins

John Green

H. P. Lovecraft

Herman Melville

Jojo Moyes

Dorothy Parker

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Danielle Steele

WORDS OF WISDOM

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.

~A. B. Yehoshua

OBSCURE POET- CAROLYN (C. D.) WRIGHT (1949-2016)

Born in Mountain Home, Arkansas

Poet, professor

First collection of poems named ' Room Rented By A Single Woman.'

Also: One Big Self 

          One With Others

          Deepstep Come Shining

Lake Echo, Dear

BY C. D. WRIGHT

Is the woman in the pool of light

really reading or just staring

at what is written

Is the man walking in the soft rain

naked or is it the rain

that makes his shirt transparent

The boy in the iron cot

is he asleep or still

fingering the springs underneath

Did you honestly believe

three lives could be complete

The bottle of green liquid

on the sill is it real

The bottle on the peeling sill

is it filled with green

Or is the liquid an illusion

of fullness

How summer’s children turn

into fish and rain softens men

How the elements of summer

nights bid us to get down with each other

on the unplaned floor

And this feels painfully beautiful

whether or not

it will change the world one drop

LOVE TO PLAIN FOLK

If I was a screenwriter, I would write about people who aren't matinee idols or sirens. My subjects are plain and non descript. With Hollywood's accent on good looking performers, I want to give some love to folks who defy Hollywood's stereotypes.

SAME SOUND, DIFFERENT MEANING

Bail, bale

Base, bass

Pair, pare, pear

Peer, pier

Raise, raze

Waive, wave

Way, weigh

WORD OF WISDOM

Read and write with a sensitive ear. The craft of writing is very important. Practice the craft.

~Henry Petroski

OBSCURE POET-ONO NO KOMACHI

 

tanka aka waka

Wrote in the most traditional format of Japanese literature

Classical (early Heian) period in Japanese literature  (794 AD-1185 AD)

Nothing much is known about her life.

Renowned for her unusual beauty

Among 36 Poetry Immortals

Poems are pensive, melancholy, and erotic. Most of her poems are melancholy.

A life in vain

My looks, talents faded

like these cherry blossoms

paling in the endless rains

that I gaze upon, alone.   

SAME SOUND, DIFFERENT MEANING

beat, beet

cent, scent, sent

coarse, course

clothes, close

loan, lone

oar, ore

root, route

scene, seen

sign, sine

whine, wine

WORDS OF WISDOM

There are different rules for reading, for thinking, and for talking. Writing blends all three of them.

~Mason Cooley, Writer (1927-2002)

DREDGING UP DEEP-SEATED FEELINGS

A friend of mine is writing her memoirs about her life transition. Writing a memoir, one will dredge up some bitter memories of the past. To leave those moments out could take away from the story. 

Writers can also bring out repressed or long-neglected feeling in themselves. I see this as crossing the divide. This has personally happened to me. I'm neither shocked nor surprised because I believe that writing should evoke these feelings. It's up to me how I choose to deal with them.