I have several ways to overcome that pesky nemesis called writer’s block but my favorite is taking my bicycle out on the trails enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Riding invigorates both mind and body. I always return to writing after a long ride feeling refreshed and creative. (Thank you endorphins!)
Today I made a short ride of it covering a mere 12.75 miles, including a stop by Fayetteville’s beautiful Botanical Gardens to enjoy the scenery.
Now, back to writing.
Ménage `A Trois Italia
Fiery lover Vesuvius
courted Pompeii and Herculaneum,
Sisters two
Laid out in sunny Italia
Centuries in warm embrace
Vesuvius and his consorts
Herculaneum and Pompeii,
Sisters two
Frolicked in bright Italia
Until the fiery passion of his love
erupted, ending in hot embrace of
Herculaneum and Pompeii,
Sisters two
Surrendered in heated Italia
Mighty Vesuvius covered them in
His passionate spew and
they repose there still
in sunlit Italia
Vesuvius and the Sisters two.
If you have a WordPress site as I do, you might want to go into your WordPress Reader and check the settings on each of the sites you follow.
Earlier this week, I lost the ability to access any wordpress.com sites including my own. It took three days of frustrating attempts to figure out the problem before the ISP tech people isolated the problem to a “ping/no ping and track-back feature” that malfunctioned on my router. We were able to reset the router and that solved the problem.
I thought everything was back to normal but a quick check of my Reader revealed something else amiss.
Over half of the blogs I follow have been reset in the WordPress Reader to show both email and post settings for those sites had been turned off. I’m not sure if this problem has any relation to my router’s problem but it seems like a strange coincidence.
Did WordPress get hacked or did they just happen to have a ‘glitch’ the same time my router acted up? No idea, but I’m spending time today to check and reset each and every one of my followed sites. You may want to do the same.
I awoke with enthusiasm, anxious for the previous two weeks of solid, constructive writing days to continue. They didn’t.
“Just write something, anything…” is the advice proclaimed to break out of what is referred to as writer’s block. I struggled to comply with said guidance, but soon realized I had jumbled words no one would want to read, a meandering story no one could follow, and characters flatter than…well, you get the idea.
In frustration, and with an eye on a hot cup of coffee and a long nap in my recliner, I typed the final line of a torturous page of useless prose: I cannot write today.
That’s when this poem came to me, a quick bit of composition, but writing all the same. Irony, too, I suppose. Some may argue it merely confirms “I cannot write today” but I present it anyway.
“I Cannot Write Today”
I cannot write today.
Procrastination’s forces have their way;
Deferment,
Postponement, and
Delay.
I cannot write today.
Creative abilities once held sway;
Influence,
Mastery, and
Command.
I cannot write today.
Progress corralled, kept at bay;
Captured,
Held, and
Caged.
I cannot write today.
It is with sadness, therefore, I must say:
I’m adjourning until another day.
February 29th has arrived, the month almost over, and my birthday is six days behind me. I’ve finally come up for air after spending the entire month working on wips (works in progress) adding new chapters to the second book in my Celtic murder mystery series, fresh stories in new worlds for my second book of short stories, additional poems for publication, all the while juggling life’s daily (and necessary) interruptions.
Where has the time gone?
Who cares, I’m writing!
Me (left) and Fayetteville’s Mayor Lioneld Jordan
Wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation to all the great people who attended the book sales and signing at Nightbird Books yesterday. Had a wonderful turnout of authors and book lovers and enjoyed visiting with all of you.
Even the Mayor of Fayetteville, Mr. Lioneld Jordan, dropped by and purchased a signed copy of my short story book. We swapped stories of growing up in Arkansas and shooting marbles, a subject covered in one of the book’s short stories called ‘The Marble King.’ “Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”
A special note of acknowledgement and appreciation to Lisa at Nightbird Books for allowing local authors the opportunity to display their work. “Thank you, Lisa.”
I will be attending the latest Local Author Event Day this Saturday, December 5th, 2015 from 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Nightbird Books store, 205 West Dickson Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Don’t miss this opportunity to meet local authors, purchase great signed edition books for gifts, and support our local small businesses.
From Nightbird Books:
We are inviting our local authors into the store on December 5th to give you a chance to meet writers in our community and pick up some great autographed holiday gifts. Because of smaller space, we will have two shifts. The first is from 10:30 to 1:00 and the second from 1:30 to 4:00. This is always a fun event so I hope you can join us.
Participants include:
Sybil Rosen, John Walsh, Tom McKinnon, Susan Holmes, Jack Cotner, Carolyn Guinzio, Vance Clement, and Edmund Harriss from 10:30 to 1:00
and Denele Campbell, Radine Trees Nehring, JB Hogan, Paul Williams, Alexander Margulis, and Martin Jardon from 1:30 to 4:00
I hope to see you there!
Forget Black Friday sales events. On this blog it’s Jack Friday.
Actually, it’s a sales event that goes beyond just this Friday featuring the Kindle editions of both my short story collection and my Celtic murder mystery novel. They’re on sale now through December 5th for just $0.99 each. From December 6th through December 23rd they will be half their usual listed price.
Grab a copy for yourself or purchase for family and friends.
I was pounding out another chapter for my book 2 Celtic mystery wip when this popped into my head. Didn’t get the chapter finished but at least I have another entry for my poetry book wip. And before you ask: No, this is not autobiographical.
Three Of Me
There was a Beginning Me,
Small, plump
With the aroma of baby freshness
And mother’s soothing lullabies;
An opening refrain to appease young cries.
Then came the Middle Me,
Muscled, tested
Experienced in worldly awareness.
Sixties songs covered bleak war laments;
A chorus against fresh lives so brutally spent.
Here sits the Ending Me,
Frail, pale
Weary with life’s abject unfairness.
Reminisced tune a humming, teary-eyed;
Closing exhortations before the final goodbye.
Not so sure about the ‘well-balanced life’ thing but I’ve managed to ingest a large amount of tea and coffee while pounding out several thousand words this week on three of my wips including 3,000+ words on the second book in my Runevision Mystery Series. I’ll call the past week a success then and am looking forward to this week as I attempt to catch up on email and additional things of little interest to others before sitting back down and writing more. Besides being glued to the computer (alternating between both staring blankly and typing furiously) I’m reading a new book by Anthony Horowitz, ‘Moriarty’.