The Love/Hate Thing

It’s a love/hate thing for me when I find another’s blog (or, like today, several), start reading their entries, and enjoy them so much that they divert me from my writing mission, and I explore their blog to see what else they offer. It’s at once diverting in several ways but also satisfying and rewarding. Reading stimulates writing. I don’t know if more hours in a day would solve anything, because I think I would just read more and want to write more.

Time to take a deep breath, drag some discipline out from my depths, pin the blogs aside, and write like crazy, at least one more time.

April 17, 2018 6

Bifloofal

Bifloofal (catfinition) – a household with two cats; a cat with two personalities (also known as multiple purrsonality disorder (MPD)).

In use: “After observing Bumble, they decide she was bored and needed a companion, so they went to the shelter, adopted an older kitty, and became bifloofal.”

April 17, 2018 2

PINS and Needles

Approaching the ATM, I process a mental flowchart. Which account am I using today? What PIN is required? There’s a line, so I wait, but while waiting, I begin to doubt that I’ve remembered the correct PIN for this account. I start going through PINs and their applications. Some were based on phone numbers, prompting recall of the whole telephone number and where I lived then, triggering memory of the address and where I worked, and my office number, further driving me from certainty that I have the right number, and suddenly opening up a memory chasm which swallows the PIN I’m supposed to be using, launching me into panic about the fucking PIN number – number is redundant, you idiot – and then it’s my turn and I step up and remember —

And then it’s all good. All that worrying was for naught.

April 17, 2018 2

The Writer

April 17, 2018 0

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Ah, these words:

And she was lying in the grass
And she could hear the highway breathing
And she could see a nearby factory
She’s making sure she is not dreaming
See the lights of a neighbor’s house
Now she’s starting to rise
Take a minute to concentrate
And she opens up her eyes

The world was moving and she was right there with it (and she was)
The world was moving she was floating above it (and she was) and she was

h/t Azlyrics.com

I find this song, “And She Was” by the Talking Heads to be jubilant and affirming, a terrific song to lift your spirit higher as you’re navigating the day’s whims. Play it loud and sing along. It’s great for dancing, too.

April 17, 2018 1

The Lead

To all those politicians, political parties, companies, and organizations who like to shade the truth, cut corners, exercise doublespeak, dismiss ethics and principles, and flat-out lie and cheat, you shouldn’t be surprise if your customers and supporters can no longer be trusted because they do the same thing.

They’re just following your lead.

April 17, 2018 0

Today’s Theme Music

1976 was an enjoyable year for the most part. Twenty years old, I celebrated my first year of marriage, and my second year in the U.S. Air Force, and then was sent to Clark Air Base and the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing in the Philippines on unaccompanied assignment. I ended up listening to a lot of music while reading in my room when I was studying for my promotion, walking around the base, exploring Angelis City, or working. I didn’t have a television, and besides, AFRTS’ offerings were well-meaning but not to my taste.

A friend introduced me to an Irish rock band name Thin Lizzy. She was a big fan of this group that I’d never heard before. One of the songs was “The Boys Are Back in Town,” partly because she incessantly played it, enthusing about the singer’s style. I just liked it because I thought it was a rocking tune.

April 16, 2018 2

Eugene Said

April 16, 2018 0

Today’s Writing #106

The confluence of two events created an excellent writing day.

One, the coffee shop was busy.

Two, Philea seized control.

Maybe due to the Ashland International Film Festival (AIFF), or maybe because of the cold spring rains and chilly weather, the coffee shop was busy when I arrived. I found a table but no outlet for my laptop’s powerpack. Well, I decided, I’d take what I could and write. If a table with an outlet came open, I’d seize it.

Sharply aware of my HP Envy’s short time on battery, I ordered myself to be focused. There was no worry there, because Philea had taken over.

Philea is one of my series’ main characters. I mentioned the other day that I dreamed five muses rode in on horses. One dismounted and transformed into a character, becoming Philea, a character introduced to me when I began writing the second volume of this quadrilogy back in 2016.

Philea has been center-stage since the night of her appearance in my dream. Going back to a previous post about her from January, 2017, reminded me of how strong and independent she is as a character. As before, she didn’t have any stage fright today, but strode out into the action, introducing a quickly realized rich setting, a new character, and greater background information on this leg of her journey.

The bottom line of this confluence: I ended up writing three thousand words in less than fifty-five minutes. There was a lot more in the tank at that point. Philea knew exactly where she was taking me. “I need to stop,” I told her when the computer issued a warning. Half of my coffee remained in the cup.

“No problem,” Philea replied. “I’ll be waiting here tomorrow.”

I hope she doesn’t stand me up. Fantastic day of writing like crazy. I hope every writer has the chance to experience such days.

April 16, 2018 2

Midday Palate Cleanser

Clawtermined (catfinition) – when a cat decides to employ their claws to take a prize.

In use: See this example of a cat clawtermined to get a bagel posted on Mock Paper Scissors.

Mock Paper Scissors