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Archive for the ‘Writers’ Category

Telling stories with no words …

Posted in Art, Writers, tagged on August 20, 2009| 2 Comments »

Words are my thing, my outlet, the tool of my creating, and it’s a good thing I have them because I suck at most other forms of art.

My daughter, Jenn, and my son, Sam, both amaze me with their ability to take something blank and turn it into an image that provokes recognition and emotion … it seems like magic to me.

Ernesto can make six guitar strings produce music so beautiful that I’m filled with toe-tapping joy or cry as it resonates deeply in my soul.

Being bound by words as I am, a story unfolding without need of any astounds me.

Here’s a link to an astounding story I can’t seem to find to embed, but MUST be seen.

Ernesto sent it for the kids, inspiring Sam toward yet another medium, and we thank him …

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Writing when there are no words …

Posted in Family, Loss, Writers, tagged , , on August 12, 2009| 11 Comments »

I don’t know why, but it came as a shock to me that because my son was not married, it was up to his father and me as next of kin to make a whole load of decisions we so did not want to make when he died: cremation or burial; where to bury; casket color and style and open or closed; clothes to dress him in; headstone material, design, size and copy; music … and words.

His dad thought it right that I write something for the funeral “program”, an idea that jarred me to my bones, to say the least. I could not imagine that I could find any words at all … but I did.

Here they are as they appear on the back page of the whatever-the-mortuary-handout-thing-is-called:

Jaren Eli Combes
17 February 1971 – 2 June 2009

The bluest eyes
The sharpest mind
The brightest wit
The kindest soul
The biggest heart

From tiny baby boy to
Big Guy
In stumbling steps
through 38 years
Reaching
Dreaming
Hoping
Giving
half of his last cookie
the shirt off his back
acceptance without judgement
love without condition

Illustrated composer
repository of memories
assuager of consciences
We laughed and danced in
his quirky brilliance

Too James Dean
to stick around too long
We run with the thought of
a rock & roll heaven

Find peace, my son

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Struggling with that “coming out of the shell” thing …

Posted in Writers, Writing for a living, tagged , , on August 11, 2009| 3 Comments »

Shells are tough ...

Shells are tough ...

In an attempt to light a fire under the part of my ass I write from … and, yes, that’s throwing a bone to critics, so feel free to chew away … I’ve set up a fan page on facebook for my work .

Here’s the link where readers can fan me, if they so choose.

I am well aware that I could be prying the top off a tin of burrowing invertebrates with this rather bold (for me) move, since there are a few of you out there who have been nagging relentlessly for me to produce more words linking together in one form or another and I am possibly inviting more of that sort of thing, but I need prodding.

Lest anyone get the idea that promoting myself in what feels a bit like a whimpering plea for validation … I mean REALLY!!! Fans???? … comes easy to me, well … it doesn’t.

Although I do love the facebookese that turned “friend” into a verb, asking to be fanned without the aid of breeze-making devices runs against the deepest of my grains. Administering Ernesto’s various sites for a while now has helped a bit, as I do see the value of putting information where people can get to it, but blathering on about the talents of another is far different than leading a cheering section aimed at me.

I’m tempted to say that I’ve swallowed my pride, but that seems the exact opposite of what setting up a fan page conveys, so I’ll simply let it stand and see how it goes; the point being to get work … and I do need more of that.

So … continuing in the vein that is trying to steer blood into the heart of my career, I’ll drop a hint like a sledgehammer: I write for money, so if anyone needs words and wants to pay for them … speeches, articles, web content, onesheets, bios, fairy tales, etc. … I am available for work and fanning.

Whew …

That was tough …

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New Photos

Posted in Friends, Island life, Older women, Seychelles, Writers, tagged on May 23, 2009| 23 Comments »

Just received some photos Kimmy took of me back in February, and since she’s very good and makes me look not half bad, I’m posting some here.

If compelled to comment, please keep in mind the words of Thumper’s mother …

Photo Credit: Kim Jade Pockpas

Photo Credit: Kim Jade Pockpas


Photo credit: Kim Jade Pockpas

Photo credit: Kim Jade Pockpas


Photo credit: Kim Jade Pockpas

Photo credit: Kim Jade Pockpas

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Banned in China, me … How cool is that?

Posted in Smarten up, Writers, Writing for a living, Writing for fun, WTF? on April 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

Censorship has always been fractious and very often random, with one person’s yikes being another’s yipee.

Any look at lists of banned books will provoke a prolonged head scratch in thinking people … like the 1931 ban of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” for its “…portrayal of anthropomorphized animals acting on the same level as humans”, that has to prompt questions on just what sort of drugs were popular in China at the time.

Lest anyone think that the world of wars over words has grown brighter lately, this recent offering about the American Library Association’s list for this year’s “Banned Book Week” might spell out that this is not the case.

Have folks not learned that wagging the naughty finger at art has the same effect on the market that a toreador’s cute butt in tight pants has on a bull? Or as Sherman Alexi, author of the oft-challenged “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” put it:

… the amazing thing is these banners never understand they are turning this book into a sacred treasure. We don’t write to try and be banned, but it is widely known in the [young adult] world, we love this shit.

You’ll excuse me, then, for the trill of thrill I sensed yesterday when a facebook friend and PP reader informed me that my post on pret a porte condoms in India got me banned in China.

Yep. Apparently the mention of the word “penis” … or maybe it was “schlong”, or possibly “survey” — who knows? … set up a chain reaction that caused clicking on a link to my blog to be a practice in finger futility.

How cool is THAT?

Here’s the ALA’s Top Ten most frequently challenged books of 2008:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

2. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R series by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

4. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence

5. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group

7. Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group

9. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

10. Flashcards of My Life by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

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