okwriteblog - about Steves Shorts.

There's Wisdom in Women.

2005-10-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

"Oh love is fair and love is rare;" my dear one she said,
"But love goes lightly over." I bowed her foolish head,
And kissed her hair and laughed at her.
Such a child was she;
So new to love, so true to love, and she spoke so bitterly.
But there's wisdom in women, of more than they have known,
And thoughts go blowing through them, are wiser than their own,
Or how should my dear one, being ignorant and young,
Have cried on love so bitterly, with so true a tongue?

Rupert Brooke 1887 - 1915

Brain Pain

2005-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

A fresh tale has been eating away in my head for the last couple of months.
It will concern village life in England prior to and during WW1.
Concentrating on several individuals (brothers, parents, lovers).
The idea is to show dramatic changes to their approach to life,
to each other and to God.

One of the most dramatic chapters will concern activity in the trenches,
for this part of my research will involve learning conversational german.
To this end I have enrolled at learno.com which seems to offer what I want
and, best of all, it is free.

My first task though, is to build the various main character back stories, establish
a setting and develop the theme. So out with the aspirin and on with the story.

Daily Grind - a Blessing

2005-10-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Rise between 6 - 6.30 gmt.
Cereal and coffee to break the fast.
Check emails (3) (daily).
Check blog (sometimes).
Visit spoiledink.com and writers.com (alternate days).
Pick three random nouns and type for 15 mins' (usually about 300 words).
Review previous days work.
Edit.
Type for the next hour with the interal editor turned off.

Thats' sounds easy enough doesn't it?
Ah but if only life didn't intervene
My life has the unfortunate habit of interuption
Of always sticking its' hand up and saying "here I am, do something with me"
It creeps up behind me usually when I am engrossed with the heroine or villain
and bangs me between the shoulder blades yelling, "well howdedode y'all"
That is the sour side.

The sweet side is when I see beautiful wife, my lovely daughters
and my absolutely fantastic grandsons.
I think, on balance, I would rather have life's little annoyances than not.

Word Verification

2005-10-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

dear reader
thanks for spending the time of day with me.
but unfortunately I must ask you to stay a little while longer.
I don't know about you, but my postings seem to attract spam comments,
Blogger has a little trick designed to cut this out.
It is called Word Verification. You will find it under `Settings'
This should result in any automated spam messages being confused as they will require a human input to verify a printed word.
Unfortunately if you should wish to comment you will also have to verify a word.
Hence the reason for you to linger a little longer.

thanks for putting up with this convoluted message.

Sucking fingers

2005-10-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

My digits need exercising everyday
it helps to keep arthritis at bay.
If I miss a session they moan and fight
like ten cranky old men
putting the world right.
So I type as often and fast as I may
churning out rubbish all night and all day.
From time to time I'll come up with a phrase
that suits my mood, that hones my gaze.
that points the way to that hard to start book
So I just keep banging away.
My hands can go suck.

If you can keep a cool head when all about you are losing theirs.

2005-09-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Feet on the Ground
At last the aftershock subsided to a bare tremor. Alan, white as a ghost, the skin on his knuckles almost opaque he had been gripping the edge of the table so hard, finally opened his eyes.
"Oh my God, " he said, "I hope that’s the last one, I can’t stand much more of this."
"Pull yourself together Alan," said Mary externally calm but churning inside, "tremors are a feature of life we have to get used to in these days of global warming."
"But not here in Birmingham, this is the UK, not Alabama."
"And this is the 21st century, you have to face it, times are changing in more ways than one, even the weather is up the wall these days."
"It’s just that you see such terrible things on the TV, people trapped in collapsed buildings for days, rescuers with masks on because of the smell of rotting bodies."
"What ‘s on the TV and what’s here today are two totally different things. We have no damage I can see apart from a few pictures out of place on the wall and dust everywhere." She looked at the dust and continued guiltily, "I just don’t know where that all comes from either."
" Mary I’ll be honest. I’m scared shitless."
"So am I, you stupid, stupid man, but we have just got to carry on as normally as we can otherwise we might as well shoot ourselves before the building collapses on top of us. And then, what if it doesn’t?"
Although Mary finished with a sarcastic tone in her voice she knew that normality had to be resumed as soon as possible otherwise Alan would totally go to pieces.
"So what would you like for your breakfast?" She said, trying to inject spirit into her voice "Cornflakes or toast?"
"I can’t eat," replied Alan, "I’m not hungry, my stomach is all in a knot."
"Well I just hope it never gets to the collapsed building stage because you will be hopeless. A dead loss. I’ll have no hero who will dash up on a white horse to rescue me."
Mary picked up the T.V. remote and tried but there was no response.
"Power must be down," she said, "I’ll try the tranny’."
"There you are, we’re doomed, doomed I tell you." Alan, prickled by the dead loss taunt attempted to laugh as he sought to introduce some cliched TV humour into the situation.
Mary smiled as she reached for the transistor radio, "that’s enough Fraser, but seriously, if the power’s down we are going to freeze, it is the middle of January after all."
The transistor radio clicked into life and the comforting tone of John Humphreys voice filled the room. "…confined to the Smallheath area of Birmingham. Electricity supplies have been interrupted in a few areas. The authorities will issue a statement later. Very little damage has been reported but we will bring any updates as and when they come in."
"There you are," said Mary, "outside this area, everyday life is going on as usual. Now what about that breakfast?"
"I suppose toast will be off the menu if there’s no power so it had better be cornflakes hadn’t it?" said Alan.
Mary breathed an inward sigh of relief and said "Coming up," over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen.
Suddenly there was a knocking at the window, peering through was Alice, Alan’s sister.
"Come on in, the doors open." shouted Alan eager to be able to share his fears with somebody who might be sympathetic to them.
She came in wrapped up like an Eskimo, rubbing her hands, "Hi, It’s cold out there. I’ve been ringing the bell for ages, I think it’s broken."
"Never mind the damn bell, what’s happening out there?" demanded Alan.
"Well not a lot really, people just standing around talking and acting dramatic as if it was something serious. Bloody hell, I’ve seen more shaking at the Ritz."
Mary chuckled, thank God for `feet on the ground’ attitudes.

A new challenge

2005-09-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
I have been challenged to write a 20000 word childrens adventure story for 8 to 14 year olds; in three months. Sounds a lot in a short time but really it works out at less than 2000 words each week or just over 300 a day. It doesn't sound to bad put like that but then there are the different stages of editing and redrafting to do so towards the end of the three months time will become something of a premium.

Having never even considered this genre before I thought I would not know where to begin. After a bit of thought the different parts are beginning to fall into place. I now have my main characters, my setting and my conflict zone, well sort of.
But once these things get together on the page they start to do their own thing so who knows what the end result might be.

Just thought you would all like to know, thanks for listening. Here goes...

keep tuning in for updates.

Still here after all this time

2005-09-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over,
the goose is getting fat
for the last three months
I have been a lazy...so and so

Isn't it surprising how one little line can wake you up and re-energise you.
About Steves Shorts has been almost defunct recently. But not quite because
I have just received a one line email `great site enjoyed my visit'. That was it,
five words, enough to make me think, if somebody out there in cyberspace
can take the trouble to email me then perhaps I should take a little trouble also.

If anyone is interested the piece commented on is `Why I Wear Red'

Isn't it strange?

2005-04-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

Since I returned from my annual Easter vacation to the city to visit relatives, my writing has suffered. I find myself procrastinating, doing this, doing that or doing nothing. Yes nothing seems better than writing at the moment. But that is it! Eureka! Nothing is better than writing; I've got it, by George I think I've got it. Isn't it strange

third eye.

2005-04-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been away. Not anywhere interesting such as Siberia, or Camp Delta or any other such holiday resort. I simply went to the city for a few days. I stayed with my family, which was nice, went for a meal which was also nice. And then, last night, I came back home which was very nice. But the really good thing about my absence was that it gave me a slightly different veiwpoint on one or two subject matters.So now it is back to writing, or trying to, with a different eye.

Big Brother

2005-03-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

Listen,
The whispering of the grass,
Observe
The tunnelling of the mole,
Attention,
The bugging of the class,
Beware the tapping of the phone.
Evade,
The spinner of the web,
Replant,
The branch torn from its root,
Repel,
The spider from its mesh,
Slowly,
The creeper sends its shoot.
Centre,
The Queen bee builds her cell,
Surround,
With numbers that protect,
Design,
The hive to hold the swarm,
Wing,
Budding Queens to embryo cells.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ageless Dream

2005-03-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

She felt lonely as she sat on a small wooden stool before the blazing peat fire. She opened her legs wide to allow the heat to reach her innermost loins. With closed eyes she dreamily pictured young, virile, muscular men. Murmuring huskily through toothless gums she whispered, "If only I was twenty one instead of eighty one."

An early blogger

2005-03-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

At the moment I am reading `Journal of a Novel' by John Steinbeck. It is the saga of the trials and tribulations he went through while he was writing `East of Eden'. It really is an interesting read but most interesting of all it is not unlike the material which we all submit daily to our individual blogs. It would not be out of place now in the 21st century.

I have just been travelling and thought I had seen everything. I have seen ribbed ones, colored ones, even ones with extensions built on. But today I went through the Stena ferry line at Stranraer and there in a machine in the gents room were whiskey flavoured ones. I wonder who the target audience is for those?

The Journey

2005-03-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

This was to be the final addition to Johns’ Lepidoptera collection; his lifetime quest. Nervously sitting in the Station Parcel Office he opened the package with trembling fingers. He gasped; before his eyes lay a pile of crumbled flaky dust, the butterfly had disintegrated along with his dream. Misty eyed he walked sadly toward the platforms edge.

A change is as good as a rest

2005-03-14T23:46:00.000-08:00

I have been assessing my present workload; A novel about WW1. A short story surrounding supermarkets. A comic piece retelling how the burning of the cakes by king Alfred was viewed by the people of the village.
The latter two projects are really used as diversionary tactics, I find they relax my mind. When I am thinking about subjects as varied as historical events and todays everday life, I find I can catagorize and box all the clutter which floats around, getting in the way of what I really want to do. I suppose they are really simply another form of writing exercise, although these two when finished will be submitted somewhere or other on some, as yet, unspecified date.

Why I Choose Red

2005-03-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

I fight in red for the same reasons
That Garibaldi chose the red shirt
- because a few men in a field wearing red
Look like many men - if there are ten you will think
There are a hundred; if a hundred
You will believe them a thousand.
And the colour of red dances in the enemy's rifle sights
And his aim will be bad - But, best reason of all,
A man in a red shirt can neither hide nor retreat.

I love this poem by Hugh Macdairmid, one of Scotlands favorite poets.

The best made plans of mice and men

2005-03-13T23:42:00.000-08:00

Any new venture can loom before you, appearing like a huge obstacle to be overcome. Well that may be so but to tackle it you must start off in the first place. Some people say that any journey starts with the first step. I believe a journey begins earlier than that, it begins at the planning stage. Without some element of planning you may find yourself wandering all over the place. So get yourself a map.
This is particularly true when writing. Planning can likened to the laying of foundation stones. It is what supports and holds the story together. Don`t believe those authors who say that they don't plan at all, they just sit, pick up their pencils and the words simply flow.
It may be possible to start a story that way, but at some point every writer will have to sit back and think, What now? Which Way? Should I introduce a new character/kill off the old one. This is planning, a bit late, but planning all the same.

a new week heralds the start of new work

2005-03-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday 6.50 am. My day always starts this early. These early hours are the peaceful ones, no invasions from outside. I am able to really get things done before life wakes up and takes the pen out of my hand. I need a routine. It is necessary for me if I am to get any serious writing done. Check emails, blog, writing exercise and write in that order. Blogging this early wakes my mind up, gets the old grey matter turning before I turn to the writing exercises, they begin to channel thoughts towards whatever my present project is. Today it is poetry. I shall post at least some of the results at a later date

Well hold my tongue

2005-03-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Despite my moans about second hand bookshops earlier. I count yesterday as very lucky. Walking around the bookshop I came across a rare John Steinbeck book , `Journal of a Novel'. I dont mean it is rare in terms of value but rather it is simply a book you rarely come across. It is a book that was written by Steinbeck describing his writing of `East of Eden'. A classic. I, as an amateur writer had been looking for it for years so goood old second hand bookshops, where would we be without them.

Second hand bookshops

2005-03-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

Does anybody out there use these shops? Most of them are pretty reasonable (or used to be) but in the last few years they same to have become greedy. I think a lot of them are doing business on the Internet these days and the prices they can get for books on line far outweigh those off the ordinary punter off the street.
Sometimes it can be nothing short of highway robbery. They sell, for instance, a beat up paperback for £2.50, when it was only £1 new in 1960! They buy books in job lots from deceased peoples estates, whole librarys for 50 quid and then sell them as if they purchased them individually. Highway robbery. What do you think?

Frustrated or What?

2005-03-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

I have just spent an hour trying to get one of those free websites up and running. They are not hard to do and when they work can be pretty damn good if you are with the right company. Anyway I am filling in all the usual gumf about this that and the other unecessary information and I finally click for the last page and bingo;
I get one of those stupid `bad gateway' or `timeout' notices that lurk on everybody's computors.

Well what did I do? I did the only sensible thing, clicked the back button, nothing! went to history and clicked the relevant page, nothing! So I decided to start again went to page one and began filling in all those questions once more. Terrific right until the last moment when I was informed my new site name already exists, now I know it didn't 10 minutes earlier because they ok`ed it then. So they must have put the name on the record even though the form was never finally completed. fuck - fuck - fuck! It was a good name as well.

Orchidmania

2005-03-08T23:47:00.000-08:00

did you know there are said to be over 25000 species of Orchid? I didn't but I found out last night while I was talking to this chap. I think he went through every one of them. I say `think' because I nodded off after number 501 and awoke at about 2498. He hadn't noticed his words had fallen on sleeping ears. Good luck to him I say, it must be nice to have an interest that totally takes you over.

Like George W Bush I bet you cannot guess what his all consuming interest is?

Guess what?

2005-03-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

Frau Dagmar Hastrup; Gertrude Jekyll; Felicite Perpetue; Angela Rippon and Sue Lawley:
What does this illustrious group of ladies names indicate? no it is not another version of grumpy old ladies nor is it a gang of suspicious Miss Marple wannabes. Each of the names above indicates what?
let me know and win nothing but the pleasure of getting something right.

Alternate pastimes

2005-03-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

I feel it is essential for you to have an alternate activity to turn to. It isn't any good, for instance, writing all the time. You can become so absorbed that it is impossible to see the wood for the trees. You need to be able to doother things. It is surprising how your main interest, in my case writing, becomes clearer and more focused when I become involved in something else.
Yesterday the weather was fairly pleasant except for a stiff breeze so I ventured into the garden for the first time this year. It was pretty cold believe me. Anyway I soon warmed myself up with a bit of digging and tidying up the debris of winter, overgrown moss paths which wind their way through our conifers. It really clears the mind for plotting and planning the next short story or poem. Most satisfying.
The first rabbit of the year has begun digging for a place to lay its kittens. It happens every year aroung this time. The babies are lovely to look at, but oh the damage they do to our young seedlings. Still it is a pleasant life.for them and for me.

A neat writing exercise.

2005-03-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

A neat writing exercise (for me anyway) is to take an A4 lined pad and just write on alternate lines a tale of whatever grabs your fancy. On the alternate lines write another story in a different coloured pen or pencil, just fill the one page each morning.
Of the two exercises I am writing about at the moment, one is about a man held prisoner in a hut in the snow capped mountains struggling to escape.The other is concerned with 18th century England, a fire at a Manor house, horses, young women swooning, strict fathers etc etc.
I do it each morning approximately 280 words for each tale. I find it good writing practise, first because I am using a different medium, pen and paper, because I normally use the PC all the time. I find it is also good for improving my hand writing which has become almost unreadable since I began computing.
If anybody out there in cyber space has any writing exercises let me know.

Some ramblings

2005-02-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

Despite all the previous mentioned problems I have managed to get a bit of work done (writing that is).
At the moment I am working on a childrens story about King Alfred and the Burnt Cakes but with a difference.
I am doing the story from the viewpoint of one of the cakes. Should be interesting.

I find that the best way to create a story with a different angle is to do just that, approach from a direction nobody in their right mind would expect. Of course it doesn't alway work but so what it's all grist to the mill as they say in Yorkshire or is it Lancashire. Its all writing practise and it should be done regularly.
`write as often as possible, not with the idea at once of getting into print, but as if you are learning an instrument' J.B.Priestley

A short moan

2005-02-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

It has been one hell of a January! My daughter has been sick, my car is reaching that time of life and my PC is grumbling like an old man whose run out of chewing tobaco. But I' ve still got my health eh.
It's not that these things dont happen to everybody at some time or other but please not all at once.
Anyway moan over.