Dark, brooding clouds mock my mood
While I fight my inner black
they replenish the world
Perhaps if I
step out from under the eaves
look up into their steel-grey banks
their cleansing rain will wash the soot from my soul
—
Posts Tagged ‘Writing’
The Drear
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, Poetry, Seattle, Writing on 14 May 2015| 2 Comments »
The Return of Quality
Posted in Television, tagged amazon, Amazon Prime Instant Video, BBC, BBC America, creative writing, Jack the Ripper, jerome flynn, matthew macfadyen, peepers dry plate, reviews, Richard Warlow, Ripper Street, television reviews, Writing on 23 Apr 2015| Leave a Comment »
Gentlefolk, start your DVRs.
Ripper Street is back with Series 3 (that’s “Season” 3, for us here in the States), airing on BBC America beginning April 29.
BBC canceled the show after its second season, citing low viewership in the UK, but when an online petition garnered over 50,000 signatures, the production company was able to reach a deal with (what is now) Amazon Prime Instant Video to fund a third season.
UK residents have already seen this third season, and reports I’ve read state that it’s the strongest, most viscerally charged season to date. The show’s creator, Richard Warlow, was more cautious about future seasons this time, and gave the end of Season 3 a sense of closure while still leaving sufficient loose threads with which to weave a Season 4, should it get picked up again. Here’s hoping on that score! (more…)
You, Your Money, and Me
Posted in Writing, tagged books, creative writing, Delilah Dawson, Fallen Cloud Saga, novel writing, publishing, self-promotion, self-publishing, whimsydark, Writing, writing tips on 14 Apr 2015| 8 Comments »
To be honest, I started this blog because I want your money. That’s not the only reason, but it’s definitely in the mix.
As a writer, I want people (i.e., you) to read my books. I’ve worked hard writing them, I’m proud of them, and I want folks to read them and enjoy them. I think my books are worth something, though, so I (generally) don’t give them away for free, which means readers must part with some of their money.
Ergo, I want your money. (more…)
Vignette 12Mar2015
Posted in Writing, tagged character study, creative writing, vignettes, Writing on 12 Mar 2015| 3 Comments »
I
n time, he knew, his transgression would be forgiven (though not forgotten, for during their thirty tumultuous years, his wife had proven the tenacious nature of her memory when it came to remembered wrongs), but oh, in those first raw moments when his sleeping, animal mind awoke to action, its raging mouth spewing vowel-filled vomit and its sharp-clawed arms flailing the air with a strength that quite overwhelmed his usually reasonable demeanor, while his shrieking brain was infused by a single thought–Damn you!–and his only goal was to win, to beat down any who had the stupefying arrogance to question his authority, he was transformed by the heat of his frustration and anger from his normal self into a god–not the loving God of Creation, possessed of boundless serenity and knowledge, but one of the ancient gods, in whom everything human was magnified and every act saturated with earthly emotion–and though the rational part of his mind recoiled at the anguish he sculpted, his chiseled words striking her features with cold, steely precision, he could not suppress (and in truth, actually reveled in) the pounding exultation he felt as each tear tracked down her wizened cheek, a flood of salt water pressed from a frozen stone.
k
Song of Spring
Posted in Seattle, Writing, tagged creative writing, first robin of spring, Seattle, spring, vignettes, Writing on 03 Mar 2015| 2 Comments »
The spruce stood tall, a shadowed cone against the cold and dawning morn, a giant sentinel overlooking the crossroads along my route to work. The bus rocked like a ship in rough seas as it rattled into the intersection, fatigued metal complaining, whirring heater blasting air like a blow-dryer, but as we passed the ancient spruce, above the din, I heard music.
From atop the spruce’s coal-dark spire, the first robin of spring, eyes wide and heart in dire earnest, sang his unmistakable song of spring. To him, it was a song of warning–This is MY tree, mofos, MY tree, ALL mine–but to me his music painted a future of lengthening days and budding groves. In his song I heard the buzz of bees amongst the blossoms, and could smell the green, green scent of new-mown grass.
I continued onward to work, departed my bus at the station and walked through the freezing city where the sun’s first rays lanced in to melt the frost from a thousand glittering windows. Around me was the bleak, chaotic noise of urban life, the only music the beeping of a dump truck set to the percussive beat of early morning construction, but that robin’s song, so high and confident, so filled with simple promise, echoed in my mind.
I hear it still.
k
Writerly Fun with Bill and Audrey
Posted in Movies, Writing, tagged Audrey Hepburn, Hollywood movies, movie review, paris when it sizzles, rom-com, Tony Curtis, william holden, Writing on 17 Feb 2015| Leave a Comment »
Writers…we often cast ourselves in the lead of our own internal dramas, but rarely does one of our number actually make it to the big screen in a leading role. A couple of examples I’ve seen in recent years are The Words and Wonder Boys, in which Bradley Cooper and Michael Douglas were cast as the “writer.” (Ever notice how writers on-screen look a hell of a lot better than writers in real life?)
This weekend, I added another to my list.
Paris When it Sizzles is a 1964 rom-com starring William Holden as the writer and Audrey Hepburn as his amanuensis. It is a thoroughly ’60s thing, this movie, but it is also one of the funniest movies I’ve seen from that era.
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 
Something…Wonderful
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged creative writing, Dragon Magazine, reader comments, short stories, Spencer's Peace, Writing on 25 Feb 2015| 4 Comments »
Last night, as I was doing my taxes, something wonderful happened. Keep in mind: this is “wonderful” on a small, very personal scale. I did not happen upon the answer to problems in the Middle East or a cure for rampant stupidity. Nor did I find a loophole in the tax code that doubled my refund.
So, that’s what it wasn’t. With your expectations properly lowered, let’s move onward to what it was.
I was filling out Schedule SE (rather pleased that I had enough writing income to warrant its use) when an email came in. It was a message redirected to me from the Contact page here on this blog. I don’t get many direct messages from blog readers, and about half of those I do receive are from people wanting to market their wares via a guest-post on my blog–cheeky bastards–so when it was clear that this message was from a reader and not a self-promoter, it was already a good sign. I opened it, and I read.
In the hyperbolic style of internet memes: What happened next blew my mind. (more…)
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