Happy Halloween

I hope everyone got enough candy tonight. Since I live in an apartment, we don't get trick or treaters. In previous years, I would make up a bag for Austin, but he moved so I didn't even get to do that this year. I miss the little bugger.

I didn't even see any costumes at work. I did see some ears and horns, but nothing major. The closest I saw to a real costume was a picture of Angie's son. He is so cute! I remember, in years gone by, seeing every other person in a costume. These were adults, mind you. Of course, those were the days when people went cruising and such too. Things just aren't what they used to be.

I'm exhausted tonight. Happy Halloween, all.

The Puzzle (continued)

8/10/01

Missing pieces can cause great confusion not only in our puzzle, but in our lives, and our concentration. Of course, the size, or number, of the misplaced pieces play a role as does the odds of retrieval. Is it a temporary loss or something more permanent? Pieces sucked into a vacuum cleaner can work havoc on our final picture. Chances are that the vacuum will digest our piece or pieces as its evening meal. While our homes may be cleaner, our feelings of success and achievement may plummet. Many of us already feel as if we are missing something in our lives. Having a solitary hole in our puzzle simply hammers this idea home.

Upon occasion, people have been known to “steal” a piece of the puzzle in order to lay claim to the placing of the final piece. While this is generally done in good, clean fun, it can also be very disruptive in the time spent searching for the missing piece. The piece is deemed lost until the visitor returns. And, unknowingly, we might tear the picture apart since the vacant eye continuously stares at us and reminds us of our failure.

The final challenge comes when we find pieces that don’t seem to fit anywhere. Admittedly, puzzles normally do not contain extra pieces. There are times, though, when we hold onto a piece of greenery that we know fits on the left side of the picture only to later find out it fits on the right side of the totality. These are the pieces that can be the most frustrating and often the most challenging. When we find such an anomaly in our lives, we tend to fit the anomaly into nice neat boxes. Our pre-defined boxes aren’t always the solution. Just for the sake of simplicity, let’s say that we have compartmentalized our entire existence into these pretty round hat boxes. Along comes this square anomaly. Unless we have a round box much larger than our square, the anomaly will be difficult to compartmentalize. Now we have all these pretty round boxes with one square “thing” which is out of place.

Flexibility and moderation in all things seems to be the rule. We must not be fooled into thinking that our mysterious puzzle piece will fit only in one section of the puzzle. Just as we should be prepared for round, square, oval, and rectangular anomalies in our lives. If we concentrate on only one part of our puzzle, we may miss some of the fun of connecting odd pieces every now and again. The same is true in life. If we fret too much over money, we may miss some of the simple enjoyments that life has to offer.

Life is a continuous, uncompleted puzzle. Often, is in many puzzles within a puzzle. While we must always strive to complete our puzzle and keep the bigger picture in mind, we must not foresake the enjoyment of the puzzle itself.

The Puzzle (Part 1)

7/29/01

Anyone who has ever worked a jigsaw puzzle knows it is always easier to complete the puzzle when you have the final picture to refer to. With a reference point or the ability to see the whole picture, even loose pieces can be placed in the general vicinity of their final resting places.

In the beginning, our task may seem to be insurmountable. We are taught constraint for years. Stay in the yard, color within the lines, and think inside the box. Later in life, we learn that moving outside our own yards is exploration. Coloring outside the lines and thinking outside the box are creative and artistic. The learning curve is much greater in later years when the task of un-learning becomes necessary. Some never unlearn the rules of containment. Even our jigsaw puzzles reinforce the rules of containment.

We generally break puzzles into more manageable sections. The most popular sections, and easiest to complete, are the outer edges and the blue sky. Even in life, the easier tasks are completed first. Think of the outer edges of the jigsaw as the basic necessities in your life. They sky might represent health since most people do try to take care of themselves. Foliage might represent your career and is somewhat harder to complete. The murky waters or distant mountains may represent debt. Often water and mountain pieces are almost indistinguishable and, therefore, more difficult or the last to be done.

The completion of individual sections of the puzzle provide a sense of accomplishment and spur us on to other sections. All the while, the pieces must not only fit, but the picture must make sense. If we turned our puzzle over and attempted to work it, we would probably make a number of false starts and multiple incorrect connections. We don’t see the whole picture or the finished product. This only demonstrates the importance of visualization.

The completion of the outer edges of the puzzle provide us with a safe environment or frame in which to work. It also gives us a sense of the larger picture. Once again, we have containment and a box in which to think.

Upon completion of the jigsaw puzzle. We are often hesitant to destroy our work so that someday, someone can repeat the entire process and re-create the puzzle again. Unfortunately, jigsaw puzzles do not come with a tube of Elmer’s glue. If not handled properly, the puzzle, and life, may fall apart. The process of completing the puzzle becomes personal to us.

Taking our problems, or our recovery, in manageable bits allows us a greater measure of success. We are told not to bite off more than we can chew, take it one step at a time, and that tomorrow is another day. These adages confirm our process of working puzzles in sections and should apply to so many more processes. Working on one section does not preclude working on another section as well. We, as humans, are not as focused as that. And we, like computers, perfected the art of multi-tasking long before Microsoft Windows made it popular.

The Masterpiece of You

7/25/01

Sometimes we need to take a moment to reflect on where we’ve been and where we are headed. The picture shown by reality may not be the masterpiece we had planned for that grand gallery opening. Nonetheless, these are the cards dealt to us and we must learn to accept our less-than-adequate lot.

The person who does not try to add a splash of color to his own malevolent creation will be doomed to live forever under its cloud. The person who continually tries to perfect his craft is likely to find satisfaction. Chances for success, though, are greatest for those who visualize the finished product and take strides daily to create that product.

Mind you, the product or masterpiece we dabble in may be anything we desire, including a work of art. When we rise in the morning, our fist thought should be that it will be a good and productive day. Instead, most of us get up thinking ‘yuk, it’s Monday!’ This is not to say that it will always be a good day, but your chances are better that it will be.

The same is true with our lives. Thinking doesn’t necessarily make it so, but thinking positive does go a long way toward creating positive outcomes.

Many of us depend on others for our happiness. Once you become your own best friend, you’ll be on the road to success. Face it, you are always there, always available. You are more apt to understand and be empathetic. What more do you need? Then, the people in our lives become wonderful bonuses.

We started out talking about reflecting on the past. While I do feel the past is a valuable learning resource, I don’t feel we should spend much time dwelling there. We’ve all made mistakes. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t make them. Learn from your wrongs and from the wrongs of others and move forward with the knowledge.

If someone has done you a bad turn, you have choices. You can forever keep the deed in your mind and let it fester. Or, you can put it behind you. Maybe the other person made a mistake and it caught you in the trap. Remember that human-ness? Or, maybe this other person was having a bad day and you just happened to be there. Either way, it is over. Forget about it. Forgive it and move on.

We should not waste our time seeking the approval of others. We do, however, need to seek our own approval. Once we do that, an almost tangible magnet draws others to us.

Crap

Sometimes I wonder how we make sense of it all. There is so much crap to interfere and tempt us away from what is important in life. We already know that what we hear is often a product of our environment at the time that we are listening. It isn't enough that we just hear. We must filter out extraneous noises. We must interpret tone of voice and body language. We must then decode our message within the context of which it was given. Nothing is truly black and white these days.

Well, that's where we come along. On the one hand, we add to the crap by creating more. On the other hand, we can spend our efforts on finding that importance in our lives and bringing it to the surface. We can conjure up stories with vivid images that speak to people rather than just happen. By doing some of this, we provide a service. Our services make the crap more bearable.

A Hallow's Eve Short

It was getting dark earlier these days. I think they deliberately set clocks back right before Halloween just to make it scarier for the trick or treaters. I never was that fond of the dark, but my love of candy wins every year and I have just the plan for maximizing my stockpile this year. I would only feel better if I could shake this feeling of being watched.

Even when I went to strangers' doors and begged for candy, I didn't feel safe. My skin was crawling in an unpleasant way. I felt invisible spiders weaving their equally invisible webs along my arms and on the back of my neck. I couldn't shake the feeling. And, I mean, I literally shook myself to free my body of those invisible spiders.

At one point, I felt that my stalker was right on my heels. I peeked cautiously behind me and almost saw him. I stopped beneath a tree and pressed my back to the trunk. I didn't hear any telling footsteps behind the tree. I listened for a moment and felt a bit safer about stepping out of the darkness.

When I reached the next street light, the feeling came back like lightning. I whirled around and there was no one there. I did notice, however, that I was dancing with a most atrocious looking shadow I had ever seen. My witches hat gave my shadow a frightening appearance. It was an eerie sight watching that shadow, my shadow, grow and fade as I moved.

I had been haunted by my own shadow all night. That'll teach me to dress as a witch and go begging for candy!

Let There Be Fun

We have to get some kind of enjoyment out of writing. Once it becomes too much of a chore, the game is over. Once it stops being fun, we might as well toss our pens into a drawer for the duration. Of course, it would be great and a little fun to actually get paid to do our writing. Most of us haven't experienced that one yet.

No one ever said that writing was easy. And, no one ever said it would make us rich. It isn't, though, totally non-gratifying. One well-spoken reader can make all the difference. The gratification only comes intermittently.

To keep the magic going, we need to make our writing fun. It needs to be fun for us and for our readers. Our own enthusiasm for our work must come through in what we produce. I'm hoping to supply a couple of fun suggestions tonight.

Halloween is coming quite quickly. It might be the perfect time for a scary story. It is also time to start putting ideas together for the holidays. The next two months tend to be some of the most magical times of the year. We need to exploit that magic for our own benefit. Start thinking fun, cheer, magic, Santa, elves, goblins, and witches...

There's No Such Thing as Defeat

When there are no words, we can rehash old ones. We make them better or write an old idea with new perspective. I rather like this idea. If we believe in what we write, it is possible to write about it many times and have just as many variances on the result. It also helps any regular readers that may be lurking in the shadows to really take heart with your ideas.

Hey, I've heard this before. Yes, you have heard this all before. When we are not inspired, we often perform other tasks. When we are not inspired, we should still write. Take that idea that you've already written and write it again. Do this for poetry, articles, or short stories. Or, how about that chapter in the novel you're working on?

It may be there was something in the previous write that you weren't totally comfortable with when you wrote it. Maybe this version will be better. If not, maybe a combination of the original and the second version will make it perfect. Don't bother reading the original before you start. Just write the ideas. You know what the ideas are and you are capable of expanding on them.

Once you begin the process, you might just find that there is some inspiration in there after all. We don't necessarily need inspiration to get us started, we need an idea. Inspiration keeps us going and keeps us coming back to do it again the next day. Never let the blank page defeat you. If you never leave the page blank, it never will.

Self-Marketing

There's a lot of work to be done in writing. First, and foremost, we need to write the best work we've ever done. Next, we have to establish a network of contacts that can help further our careers as writers. Some of us probably need editors and publishers. With or without those, we have to become experts at self-marketing.

Not too long ago, we had a crash course in Marketing. We covered the four "Ps" of marketing: Product, price, placement and promotion. The product, of course, is our written work. Price and placement are dependent upon each other. An e-book is going to be less costly to create and generate less overhead than a print book. The price, therefore, would be adjusted accordingly.

A publisher would, of course, help with the determination of price and placement. Most likely, the publisher would also assist with promotion. Even so, we need to get involved in this activity ourselves. It is, after all, our livelihood that is depending on the success of that promotion.

If you've created a book, carry bookmarks with you that contain an excerpt from the book. The excerpt can be a poem if that is the type of book you are publishing. Have copies of your latest review on hand to share with willing audiences. If someone asks about your writing, hand them a sample or a review. You can even have business cards created with the name of the publication and how they can order.

If the book is small enough, carry a couple of copies in your car. If you are asked about it (say they overheard you talking about it), you can say you have a copy available if they'd be interested in purchasing it. Be bold! Go for the sale. Have your product and price handy for anyone that shows an interest. Failing that, have ordering information handy.

Believe in yourself and you can convince others to believe in you. Take advantage of that position. Even if you only make a couple of sales, you're better off than you were without making the sales and even if a sale is refused, those people are likely to remember your conviction.

Hey There, Billy

Not terribly long ago, we talked about our lives being made up of selection processes. Some of you may have noticed that Christmas decorations are already on display in many stores. IT ISN'T EVEN HALLOWEEN YET!

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, we've also talked about some of the other great blogs out there. I can't find the previous post, but Billy the Blogging Poet has been mentioned at least twice. I have two stories that I'm following on his blog.

The first is a children's story, Have Duck, Will Travel. There are a wonderful 16 chapters written for this story. If you have children, or even if you don't, you need to check out this adorable story.

The other is an online romance novel, Shaggy Dog. There are 39 chapters to this novel so far. I couldn't have written it any better than Billy has done. Check out the latest developments in the life of Danny.

I wait rather impatiently for updates on both of these stories. There should be a button we can hit that tells us when these types of entries are updated.

When I thought I'd seen it all, he posted (BEFORE HALLOWEEN!) a delightful and magical Christmas story. Straight from LaureatesKids.com The Reindeer Shoe will melt your heart and remind you of what Christmas is all about. I won't hold it against him for posting this too early, either. The only problem with this story is that it has a definite ending. There are 26 chapters to this story. Don't worry, though, it is a quick read and very much recommended.

Attention

Everything we do needs to have some kind of effect. If we want people to continue to read our work, we must give them a reason to do so. If we can strike one chord, they might come back. If we can get one reader to think, we may have a return visitor. It isn't so much to want the attention; it is to do something that will keep the attention coming back.

We could again go into all the presentation aspects of writing. Spelling errors and grammatical errors might cost us readers. Structural error can irritate readers as well. Let's face it; if we want our readers to come back, we have to be damned near perfect. We have to give them reason to come back.

So, we have our work cut out for us. We have to produce a quality product and then we have to promote that product. I'm still working on more information about the promotion. If you go back through my archives, there are a number of articles along the way about writing and getting inspired.

Strive for perfection and then go out and gather your flock. Good luck!

Self Promotion

Writing well has merits in itself. It doesn't, however, take us very far if nobody knows about it. I'd hate to think that many of us will remain unknown until long after we're dead. Even then, we'd only be discovered if someone pursued the matter.

We all need to do better jobs at self-promotion. We don't necessarily even need a product to push. We need only to push our work. By product, I mean that we don't need to have a novel or a chapbook in a physical sense. Our blogs become our products.

The best promotion, of course, is publication where your contribution can be found by others. Even that is a daunting idea, though. The last time I was in a book store, there were so many titles to choose from that whole sections of the store were ignored. Let's face it; most of the time we go to a book store to fulfill a specific need.

We used to go looking at computer books. There were always at least three for our topic to choose from. We would look up a specific problem in each of the books. The book that gave us the most answers got purchased. In the absence of that, how do we promote our work?

We can become parts of blog aggregators. We can bounce around from blog to blog leaving thoughtful comments and hope that those bloggers follow us back to ours. We can include our blog addresses in our email signatures. And, we can cross our fingers.

If anyone has more ideas, please add them to the comments.

Drain Pain

My kitchen drain has been slowing down lately. I attacked it with both a plunger and drain cleaner yesterday. After thinking about it, I determined the cause of the clogs. For months now, I have been drowning these tiny black bugs in the sink. They are kind of crunchy when you put your finger on them and they cling. They seem to fly, too, but spent the majority of their time attached to surfaces.

I can't tell you how many of these things have gone down the various drains in my home. I've decided that these things are banding together within my pipes and growing larger by the day. The drain becomes clogged because they have banded into a size too large to come back the same way they entered. But, they are learning.

Every time they fail, they are learning what does not work. It won't be long before they return as a giant blob to haunt my life. Of course, each time they fail, my drain must invariably become clogged. I will be armed with the plunger and the drain cleaner whenever the need arises.

These little mites should know not to mess with me.

Fill in the Blanks

Somewhere along the way, we make a conscious decision about how much we're going to tell our readers. We don't want to tell them too much, but we don't want them filling in the blanks incorrectly either. It isn't necessary to be obvious, but we don't want our readers to be oblivious to our intent.

We have to strike a balance. If we give our reader some room to fill in a few blanks, we are able to draw the reader into the story. This is a good thing. It is sometimes enough to have our readers be admiring of our work. It is better to draw them into our work as if they share the experience with our characters.

For entertainment value, we provide enough detail to get our point across. For real enjoyment, we want to suck our reader into the story. Since the written word is seldom interactive, we do this by giving our readers prompts. We describe a characters outfit and demeanor but not necessarily what they look like. We allude to parts of the setting. And we leave our reader hungry for more.

How many times have you finished a book and wanted another chapter so you could find out what happens after the end? This is what we aim for in our writing.

Prince John

John knew his lineage. His father was the king and he, the only son, was the prince. He knew this with every ounce of his being. And, now that his father was inches from death, he felt his calling stronger than ever. There were only two problems standing in his way. First, John was a toad. And, second, he didn't know that he was a toad.

Throughout his life, the other toads have humored John. It was simply easier to let him believe his heritage was lined in gold than to argue. Toads have relatively hoarse voices as it is, so they aren't big on confrontation. Their voices irritate their sensitive ears. Words are chosen selectively and used only when necessary.

John's mother had died years before. She never knew of John's illusions. It would have broken her heart to know that her only child had such wild fantasies from the very beginning. John's father never had much time for him. Left to his own devices, John created a life he could be proud of for himself.

John knew that in order to be successful, he needed a princess. He had fallen head over heels for a young woman in town and had just decided to ask her to be his wife. He approached her before he changed his mind. "Sophia, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Sophia eyed John suspiciously. "John, why would I want to marry you?" she asked.

"Because I am the prince who will soon become King," said John.

"John, when was the last time you looked into a mirror? You are not a prince; you are only a toad. I cannot marry a lowly toad," Sophia spoke gently, she was a gentle woman of manners.

"Sophia, you are wrong! I will make you happy and you will be my queen," John insisted.

Sophia walked to the tea cart and picked up a silver tray. She held the tray in front of John and asked him what he saw. "No! This can't be, I see a toad. That is not me! I am the prince." John was becoming less convinced.

Sophia reached out a hand and placed it on John's head. The same action could be seen in the reflection on the tray. A single tear spilled from John's eye as he shook his head and returned home to his father.

That evening, John's father was not well. He asked John to sit with him for a few minutes. "John, I'm sorry I never had much time for you. Please know, that you have been my sole treasure in life, after your mother, of course. You are the prince of my kingdom. I wish it were more." He then closed his eyes and never woke again.

John carried those parting words with him for the rest of his days. He was a toad; but he was a prince after all. His father had told him so. John learned to be more humble about his heritage. He did, however, feel smugly satisfied that he had been right all along.

Fairy Tales

Life should not be devoid of fairy tales. I just caught the end of "Pretty Woman" and have confirmed that I want the fairy tale as much as Julia Roberts did. I think that most of the existing tales are geared for children. I may have to change that.

I already have the one under my belt. Maybe it is time to write another. I know I just wrote to a friend and made the comment that I wasn't sure it I was meant to be a poet or some other kind of writer. I think I'm still trying to figure that out.

Flash fiction has come easier to me lately. I haven't mastered the short story lately, but the short flashes seem to be working well. As much success as I've had in getting published for poetry, well, I just don't know. I have some work to do in many different departments to get where I want to be.

The advice I will give myself and to any others that care to read, try a little bit of everything and see what feels right for you. I think that is advice that I will follow.

Weekend Trivialities

The days are already getting shorter and I'm left with the dream of sleeping. However, when I do have the opportunity to sleep, it is never as good as I imagine it will be. Naps are a wonderful concept, but I stopped taking them since I'd rather do my sleeping at night. Some days, though, they seem like a real good idea.

I don't like going to work in the dark. Before long, I'll be coming home at close to dark as well. I do believe, though, that we will still be changing the clocks this month. I think that changes sometime next year. It will be strange not doing the April/October thing then. Talk about confusing everyone when they do that.

I was up early this morning for an appointment. If it hadn't been quite so windy, it would have been a beautiful day. As much as I look forward to weekends, they can be tedious. Some weekends require appointments since working five days a week doesn't give too much of an opportunity. Laundry and grocery shopping are a must as well. I do some laundry during the week, but my clothes get done on Saturday.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, laundry and shopping keep me moving. On Sundays, I resemble a snail with as much moving as I do. I should be ashamed of my Sundays, but we all have to vegetate sometime, right? Now, if vegetation were a bit more productive, I'd be a real happy camper.

Enjoy the almost full moon guys.

Sweetest Day

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. Isn't it Murphy's Law that if something can go wrong, it will? My co-worker left for vacation Thursday and will not be back for a week and a half. And, of course, something he was working on has come to a head and now this project is wanted yesterday. So, guess who gets it?

First of all, this guy has been taking on a large load so that I could work on other projects. This is wonderful. However, it also means that I haven't done many of the things that he does on a regular basis. It isn't so bad when I can walk to the next cubicle or yell over the wall to talk to him, but when he's having a good time at Disney World, that doesn't work. I could still do all those things, but I'm unlikely to get any answers.

I've been telling him for months that he can't keep doing this stuff. He has to let me learn the network management aspect of things. Well, I have always felt that the best way to learn something is to simply do it. We just don't see eye to eye on what the end product should look like. That's fine, too. If I know how he expects something to look, I can get to that result.

I spent the entire day trying to make sense out of this project. I have a couple of workable pieces now. I have a couple more that I'm not happy with and two more that I have no clue about. Then, there are some things that I haven't even touched yet. Fotunately, the idea is only to make some progress while my co-worker is gone. And, that is what I am doing.

I have so many meetings coming up in the next two weeks it isn't even funny. With this going on as well, I should definitely be busy. But, hey, I don't have to worry about it until Monday. So, let's enjoy the weekend, shall we?

Around here, tomorrow is known as Sweetest Day. It is an American Greetings holiday to boost sales of cards. Consider it to be a Valentine's Day in October.

Happy Sweetest Day, all.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Dreary clouds hung low overhead. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, including traffic. The first raindrops were being wiped away by the windshield wipers. Daylight would be late today. As the light changed to red, the snail-paced traffic stopped. And to think that I crawled out of a nice warm bed for this.

The radio was playing the oldies. I remembered these songs from my teens and once again marveled at how old I'd become. Oldies, indeed. With a sigh of impatience, I found another radio station. There was a talk show on about mid-life crises. Yeah, I don't need that either! The radio button was met with a fist and became quiet.

With the quiet and inactivity, my mind wandered. I remembered people I hadn't seen in years. Some I would never see again. Others, I didn't care whether I saw them. A few had moved on to other lives and forgotten everything and everybody they left behind. The ones that died were to be forgiven since it was not a conscious choice to forget. The others, I had to believe it was their loss.

The light had finally changed, but traffic was slow to move again. I might get to work some time today. I switched the radio back on just in time to hear "Rainy Days and Mondays." Boy, have they got that right.

An Earth Reborn

Once again and many moons from now, I will find a peaceful existence on this Earth.

After the Armageddon, the Earth reached an impasse and remained dormant for centuries. Deep in the bowels of the Earth, seedlings began to grow. Defying gravity, tender sprouts traveled miles to break the surface with sturdy vegetation. Having traveled so far to find the light, the plants were much hardier than before. Perhaps they will show man that nature was meant to survive and thrive.

Between areas of dense plantlife, clearings of proportionate size invited man and woman to settle in privacy and harmony. Men and women were in appearance on the land, but in fewer numbers than we knew. A baby cries somewhere in the distance. The population is already growing.

Fruit grows in abundance on the trees. An apple grove beckons enticingly. Would Adam be so quick to sample the forbidden fruit? Vegetables can be found in their first state of blossom. There will be plenty to eat soon. A cornfield rests to one end of this particular clearing. We must not be overly greedy and return some of our wealth to the soil so that we may have a bountiful crop in future years.

It is time to start anew. Will we make the same mistakes again?

A Pic Story

The chains that bind me grow stronger every day. There comes a time when I can no longer feel my own body beneath their weight. I can sense movement only because I hear metal grating against metal. When I move, though, I also know that the gears turn to tighten their hold on me.

There is an unbearable itch in my foot that demands attention. Soon, though, if I give into the itch, the chains will squeeze the life out of me. The sweet release would be instant in that if my life should end, the itch would disappear with it.

I am no longer afraid. I've been held captive too long for fear to matter. I've resigned myself to the final grinding of the gears and welcome that final dreamless sleep that has eluded me until now. The chains have made impossible pillows for my aching body. My flesh is raw and infested with rust. And, that itch persists.

It is time.

Hodge Podge

I sometimes admit that I watch too much television. Too many years of Xfiles showed up last night in my posting. I didn't have a topic and latched onto some scenarios that were relatively fresh in my mind. And, wouldn't you know it...Billy the Blogging Poet linked to the post. That just made my day.

I've been up at Zygote in my Coffee since October 3. If you'd like to see Pick Up the Pieces, it is currently number 26 in this issue. Also in this issue are such names as John Sweet and D. B. Cox. I feel I'm in good company here. It'll only be up for a few more days, so if you want to see it, get moving!

And, of course, I'm quite thrilled that The Marvelous Garden has been in full bloom lately. There are even some wonderful links within the works that lead to other works by the same author. I have had many wonderful stroll's through Patry's garden lately.

Every Friday, I made sure to stop and get my Friday Funnies from the Rambling Redhead. I cut and paste them to the two favorite men in my life every week. I enjoy these too.

Stop by and check some of these people out. And, of course, the focal point of my blog surfing always starts at Poetic Acceptance. I think I pass through there a dozen times a day reading and checking for replies on comments. And, she has the greatest links to most of the people I read in blogspere.

The Truth is Out There

What if there really was another life form out there? Can we co-exist as they did in Night Lights? Night Lights assumed the aliens shared our propensity to curiosity. They recruited members of the human species to learn more about them. Of course, these recruits had to die in order to fulfill this event. Gone was the premise of disappearing from current life only to return at some future time without any real knowledge of where you'd been. Gone was the idea that you simply turned up missing because you were abducted.

All of this was replaced with being transported in life form after death. So much for the soul going to heaven, huh? Or, would we find ourselves being made into the image of the aliens as it is portrays on "Threshold?" I do like the premise that children are spared from the mutation of genes because of their youth. Otherwise, though, we have the age-old idea that people have to be just like us in order to be acceptable.

Wars have been fought over differences between people. These differences cause all kinds of problems on a daily basis. Why would aliens be any different? The existence of extra-terrestrial life might provide explanations for some things that have puzzled people throughout history, but I begin to wonder if we even really want to know. Then we have such things as Area 51 and government coverups. One thing leads to another...

Selection Process

It is kind of interesting really how our lives are a process of selection. Our stores are filled with a selection of merchandise. We go pick and choose our groceries or clothes from these offerings. These items are then added to our wardrobes or pantries. We can then select what we would like to wear or what we would like to eat from our subset.

Often times, our selections can be influenced. Christmas merchandise goes on display before Halloween. Thanksgiving dinner items are also featured around the same time. These are attempts to get us to change our subset. Advertising also tries to influence what we buy as well. If what we seek at a given time does not exist, we are unable to make a purchase. We do, however, substitute something that is available rather than wait for the original.

Then, too, what we possess in our subset of things enhances our perception of these items. For instance, I never noticed how many blue Cavaliers there were on the street until I got mine. I am more likely to notice a Cavalier. I am especially likely to notice one in blue. Another example, one day at work I was wearing the same top that another woman was wearing. We ended up in the same room. Funny thing is that we both received these tops from our mothers.

What we have is a subset of the total that is available. When we all must make choices from that universe, there are bound to be many overlaps. The examples I've provided are very simplistic, but well worth thinking about.

Strange Things

I've been writing some strange things lately. Most notedly was the one about the verdict and then about retribution. The retribution piece I can blame on television. Two shows recently had death row inmates in them. Otherwise, I have no clue where those came from. Even the library story was a bit strange. That one needs to be built on.

I think, though, I would be more concerned if I didn't write some strange things from time to time. It doesn't really matter that I don't know where they come from. It only matters that they come.

It is not the job of the writer to have all of the answers. It is more their job to explore all of the questions. It is their job to present new ideas in different ways and to possibly entertain while doing so. It is most importantly their job to get people to think about what has been written. I think those two prison pieces do that. At least, I hope they do.

Don't be afraid to write things that are off the wall. Let them happen. If we spend too much time worrying about the whys and whats, we've wasted time that could be spent writing and sharing. Let the reader determine why the piece was written. Just write it.

Death of a Microwave

Yep, the microwave died tonight as I went to defrost some hamburger buns. I've been online tracking down a comparable replacement. Oh, what fun. We'll have a better entry tomorrow.

Hell and Retribution

A death row inmate has time to think. He fears dying. It isn’t so much that he is afraid of death. It isn’t even that he fears Hell. Well, maybe the idea of Hell is a little daunting. What he fears most is the idea that his victims will have their chance at retribution. Somewhere just beyond Purgatory, is another similar place where victims can re-visit their attackers with the tables turned in their favor. They have the opportunity to punish their assailant over and over again. You see, in this place, the deceased is still alive in their original form. This can be confusing to the deceased. He thinks he is dead, but he is living a Hell. And, where he is doesn’t look like Hell.

It is possible for a murderer to die multiple times. Each death can be more grueling than the last. By the time he actually enters the gates of Hell, he begs to be freed from the torture he suffers. He begs to be allowed to live his eternity in an inferno. The man who commits multiple murders is in for the long haul. The thing is, the murderer doesn’t need to be on death row to find this situation. It happens automatically. He doesn’t have to confess or be tried; he simply has to be. His victims will find him before he enters purgatory and judgment is rendered. They will render their own decisions on him.

The death-row inmate has already imagined the horrors associated with retribution. He gets no sleep for many nights because he is plagued with nightmares. He finally collapses into the sleep of the dead where he is racked by his own imagination. As horrible as it may seem to him, the real thing tends to be that much worse. Most victims, while wishing to kill their assailants, prefer slow and painful deaths. No mercy is shown since they, themselves, received no mercy from their attackers. Each time he dies, the murderer thinks this is the end. Not! He begins a new day just a few moments later.

He cannot hide and cannot call for help. There is no where to hide and no one to help. He must face his attackers as best that he can. With the repeated abuse and torture, he slowly loses his mind. He feels sanity slip away like thick pancake syrup served over flapjacks. Protests do nothing since his attackers are souls. They do not hear and do not feel. They did that when they were alive. Screams run off to echo in a continuous stream much as an unchecked faucet. Everything runs into the drain and out of sight when we forget to close the drain. No evidence exists once the water is turned off. No evidence exists of the screams either.

Murderers generally like to control their environments and their victims. In Retribution, all control is lost. He loses his mind, his stability, his power, and often times, his bodily functions as well. It must be a bitch to die a thousand deaths. And, you thought it was bad to be on death row…

People to Write About

There are a lot of screwy people in this world. We experience them every day. Just look at the drivers around you in your morning commute. If people are in that much of a hurry to get to work, why don't they leave earlier? The commute home might be understandable. We all get off around the same time and some drivers just have no patience.

The normal driver these days weaves in and out of traffic while talking on a cell phone or blasting the radio. They don't get anywhere any faster than we do, but break all traffic laws in getting there. And, of course, there are never any police around when we observe this behavior.

Then we have people that are just plain idiots. When we become entangled with these idiots, we are the ones who suffer. The idiots usually get away with the unbecoming behavior either by design or by accident. We have the liars, cheaters, and those who just screw people over in general. These people are just bad news.

These are some of the reasons that I enjoy creating characters in my writing. I can give them better-than-average traits. I can make them good people. And, I can control their badness, if needed. People can get into trouble when needed. Usually, when there is trouble, there's also an epiphany or something that makes the trouble worthwhile.

Another writer once wrote that she didn't like vacations and doing the tourist thing. She'd rather stay home and write. I suggested this is because writers have the ability to write any vacation they desire. Why would we need to take a vacation when we could write it. On the one hand, what I say is true. On the other, we all need an occasional break.

Backing Up

It was a gorgeous day today. I should have known that things were going too well when the project that I was working on was finished early this morning. I spent some time pondering it just so it wouldn't be done too early. Of course, though, it brought on other questions that took that much longer to answer. And, the project included too much information. Fortunately, the way I had it coded, it was no problem to delete the unwanted pieces.

Everything was backed up before the delete was done. I just know someone will come back and want the other piece of the project. So, it is safe. Hmm, does that mean we're going to talk about backing up information? Could be.

Whenever something takes us awhile to do, I have two recommendations. Save often and back up the original. If you save your work often, there's less of a chance to lose what you've done. I know recently, I wrote a poem and lost it before it was posted. The rewrite may have been better, I will never know. I'm thinking even that long blog entries would be better served when saved as drafts and added to from there.

If you're like me, I never get around to removing the backup copies. I would rather, though, have the thing twice in two different forms, than not at all. Cleanup can happen one day when we're bored. If we're taking the time to create this thing, take the time to save it as well.

It just makes sense.

Visiting an Old Employer

We went walking around the hospital complex earlier. Because we didn't want to pay visitor parking, we parked a couple of blocks over from our destination and walked. We passed the building where I used to work and crossed two streets to get to the main building. Since we both had cigarettes, I looked to see if the old cut-through was still there, it wasn't. We walked over to the other doors any way. The hospital has recently gone non-smoking and have red markers on the sidewalk where you dare not wander with "smoking materials."

Of course, the door we went to was locked. It is Sunday, so I didn't expect a full staff, but still. One of the workers was out smoking (beyond the red square) and directed us to push the bell. No one ever came. She eventually came and swiped her card to open the door for us. I've been to this hospital a few times over the past decade, so it isn't new to me. Prior to that, I worked there for 14 years, so I used to know my way around.

There are signs to let you know where you want to go. We wanted Lakeside. I used to work on the 7th floor of Lakeside, so okay, we could find that. We found a sign for Rainbow Babies and Childrens and McDonald Hospital for Women. I knew we wanted to go that way. Bill was skeptical. Finally, the sign changed to "other Hospital buildings." We were on our way. The hospital as I knew it is still there. Now, though, you have to go through miles of corridors to find the older areas.

We got to Lakeside and went up to the sixth floor. The signs on the floor were backward as far as we were concerned, but we eventually found the room we wanted. Bill's brother was asleep the whole time, but we were able to talk to his wife. As we left, I wanted to take a different route just to see what was new.

The lobbies and patient waiting areas are really quite attractive. Everything is connected by corridors, glass, and lots of wood. It really is a nice place except when you're waiting for someone to get out of surgery or something. It is definitely more public than the old waiting rooms were, but they did a nice job with University. The way it is set up, you could walk for miles and not see the same thing twice. I think some day I'd like to just go wandering around the place.

It has changed a lot since I worked there. I think having that experience makes it less threatening when I go to visit people there. My father has had some wonderful care there as well. Whenever I'm there, I look for people I used to know. It has, of course, been 11 years since I was an employee. I doubt too many of them are left.

October

Wow, it is October already! Where does the time go? The thing about blogging is that I can go back and know what was going on at any given time just by remembering an entry. Even if I didn't write about what was going on that day, the entries will jar the circumstances surrounding the writing.

I know I've talked about this before. It is sort of a quasi-journal, a reading between the lines, if you will. It is only available to the author, yet it colors everything the author does. An author having a bad day is probably not likely to write flowering words. I could be wrong, though.

Today was really rather nice. When I first went out this morning, I threw on a jacket because the thermometer said it was only in the 60s. I was wonderful out there, very comfortable. It was actually, and always, hot in the car because the sun was out. There's a chill in the evening air, but sleeping with a blanket is comforting so you don't mind.

I just dread the coming of winter. I don't like the continual cold and wondering whether the snow is going to be manageable. Of course, snow is expected to be on the ground for Christmas and stuff, but there's no hurry for that. It will be here before we know it. Can we go back to summer for awhile?

Here it is, not even Halloween, and some of the stores are already putting out Christmas stuff. I have not witnessed this myself, but I have heard. Commercialism is getting to be too much. Oh, well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Happy October, everyone!