There is a thought - maybe no more than a feeling, perhaps, that might become a true thought - that the earth is actually a live entity.
The real reason the continents have moved could very well be because the earth is larger now than it once was: the land masses that appear at the earth's surface have moved because of the movement of the earth itself, and not some floating plate-theory. A bit like blowing air into a balloon.
Studies have shown that the surface of the earth beneath the sea is younger than the rest of the planet. Some kind of evolution appears to be happening continuously. But why beneath the sea? Does water have a further use, or raison d'etre, that we do not yet know about, or possibly can't comprehend? Is water actually earth's blood?
Many scientists do say that the more they study in their own particular field, the more they feel that there is an existence of a sentient being far outwith the senses that we know, or understand we know.
Hmmm... I do wonder... Meteorites, volcanoes, tsunamis... self-help within the planet earth? Or divine intervention/treatment from another body/entity?
"Maybe it's something we haven't seen yet!" Aliens.
Noooo, not aliens the movie lol Proper aliens. Maybe not, as that moves us away a bit from the 'live planet' theory. Unless we were put here by aliens.
All this reminds me of the early days of internet chatrooms. Many a conversation was struck with someone on the far face of this planet back then. Someone said, in a main room, that Nature was not a concept. I immediately took issue with this, as Nature is totally a concept. What we call Nature is our perception of everything around us that is natural. Or what we believe to be natural. Nature may not be aware of us. There may be no Nature at all, only ongoing creation within the planet, or possibly evolvement. Maybe both. And we have no control over either. We can as easily be wiped off the face of the earth as woolly mammoths or sabre tooth tigers.
I know - let's colonize the moon.
Hmph - nothing much up there, except the aliens who spooked us from going back there since the early seventies.
Now I'm really rambling! I'll return at a more suitable juncture, when I'm not too tired to pontificate more about our existence.
Yep, I'm in creative mode again. Time to write... :o]
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Comfort Food
I've been eating too much of it, lately: biscuits, chips, mash, curries. Then again, I've been writing, so therein lies the tale. Still, honey and coconut oil ought to balance things out, as should apple cider vinegar and water. It all sounds odd, but when I see what too many people eat every day, all day, there's plenty of evidence that we're all headed for the funny farm! Food for thought... And I need to exercise - lots! The last time I went for a run, I don't think mobile phones were invented. At least now I'd be able to phone for an ambulance if it all proved too much. Then again, I'm always leaving mine in the house, so my next run may well end up being my last... hopefully... ;-)
Back to the writing, and I won't bore you too much. I've basically had to leave everything and clear my head before embarking on a rewrite. It's taken months, but I'm now able to look at things with a fresh perspective.The worst part has been getting under the skin of the 'reasons'. They need to be plausible reasons, helping the story along, stopping it at the right moment, then surprising the reader at other moments. The narrative, at all times, must be relentless.
Relentless...
Back to the writing, and I won't bore you too much. I've basically had to leave everything and clear my head before embarking on a rewrite. It's taken months, but I'm now able to look at things with a fresh perspective.The worst part has been getting under the skin of the 'reasons'. They need to be plausible reasons, helping the story along, stopping it at the right moment, then surprising the reader at other moments. The narrative, at all times, must be relentless.
Relentless...
Thursday, 25 July 2013
The Learning Game
You never stop learning, about people and things. I'm often surprised when I really shouldn't be. The answer is probably to try and think ahead a bit more. Surprises can be great, but most don't need to happen... life should be easier without them. Keep on moving...
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Walking the walk
Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted. In truth, I had nothing to say that hadn't already been said - I was repeating myself ad nauseum about everything. It had to stop, otherwise... well, I dunno, maybe I'd have stopped blogging, probably forever.
During this time away, I've had to do a lot of thinking; rethinking, mostly. I've been very pleased with what I'd come up with. But not so pleased as to the direction the story took - Dave Pimm, one of my fabled readers, pointed out a huge shortcoming, so I had to take this seriously into account.
Difficult.
Unravelling can take a long time, and the thought process has been so tiring. You fall asleep thinking about stuff and you wake up thinking about the same stuff. For days and days, nothing seems to change. And it goes on and on. But all of the greats have had to endure rewrites, so why should I be any different?
It's been a long, hard road. It's my life - there really isn't much else to it these days. My choice, I guess. Sometimes, I've felt I wasn't up to it - that this story was too big for me. I've calmed down now, though. It's my story, so how could it be too big for me. That piece of silliness has disappeared. It's been replaced by realism: if I don't get to half-way by October, when I'm off for a week, then I'm probably ruining things. So I must get to half-way by October. Not long, then. And a lot needs to be done.
So, I'll shut up again and carry on to the midpoint. Agent-hunting may well be my next act of self-harm after that ;-)
Crashing out
Catch you soon x
During this time away, I've had to do a lot of thinking; rethinking, mostly. I've been very pleased with what I'd come up with. But not so pleased as to the direction the story took - Dave Pimm, one of my fabled readers, pointed out a huge shortcoming, so I had to take this seriously into account.
Difficult.
Unravelling can take a long time, and the thought process has been so tiring. You fall asleep thinking about stuff and you wake up thinking about the same stuff. For days and days, nothing seems to change. And it goes on and on. But all of the greats have had to endure rewrites, so why should I be any different?
It's been a long, hard road. It's my life - there really isn't much else to it these days. My choice, I guess. Sometimes, I've felt I wasn't up to it - that this story was too big for me. I've calmed down now, though. It's my story, so how could it be too big for me. That piece of silliness has disappeared. It's been replaced by realism: if I don't get to half-way by October, when I'm off for a week, then I'm probably ruining things. So I must get to half-way by October. Not long, then. And a lot needs to be done.
So, I'll shut up again and carry on to the midpoint. Agent-hunting may well be my next act of self-harm after that ;-)
Crashing out
Catch you soon x
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Which way is up?
While drinking hot chocolate on this icy cold winter's night, I pondered my next literary move. It was, as the modern idiom goes, a no-brainer: I have to write what appeals to me most. At each time.
It's a funny thing, but to have got this far, and to have come up with what I have, is hugely down to all of the influences from my early life right up until now. In short: my own instinct as to what I would have liked to read and write, had I been looking in any bookstore. This had to be something I hadn't read before, nor seen/viewed in a movie. And I've read a million books and movies... I needed to trust whatever it was that brought me to this point.
So, consider this: I walked the streets of Shields and Newcastle, by day and night, in all kinds of weather standing in such places that appealed to my sense of 'witness', imagining what may have happened in these places. Afterwards, I discovered that Charles Dickens did the same. Bits of Dickensian life are dotted about my story. I feel like I'm walking the same path as the great man. Of course, his reputation and history is rather up there, while mine is somewhat 'down there'.
Unless I get it right, I'll always be on that lower level! Gotta dig deep...
I'm off from the 27th for eight days, during which time I'll have written stuff that will take me further down the road to completion. It's a long job and no amount of trying to speed things up is going to help. Once I've written most of the book, I'll return to the beginning and polish the good bits, eject the poor bits, and ensure the beginning reads more as I intended it to, not how it ended up. But nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and the slow burner of a beginning can, with a few tweaks, begin to rev along at a faster pace. It's fun, serious fun, but enjoyable, too. Got to keep on!
The plot Dickens - erm, thickens... ;-)
It's a funny thing, but to have got this far, and to have come up with what I have, is hugely down to all of the influences from my early life right up until now. In short: my own instinct as to what I would have liked to read and write, had I been looking in any bookstore. This had to be something I hadn't read before, nor seen/viewed in a movie. And I've read a million books and movies... I needed to trust whatever it was that brought me to this point.
So, consider this: I walked the streets of Shields and Newcastle, by day and night, in all kinds of weather standing in such places that appealed to my sense of 'witness', imagining what may have happened in these places. Afterwards, I discovered that Charles Dickens did the same. Bits of Dickensian life are dotted about my story. I feel like I'm walking the same path as the great man. Of course, his reputation and history is rather up there, while mine is somewhat 'down there'.
Unless I get it right, I'll always be on that lower level! Gotta dig deep...
I'm off from the 27th for eight days, during which time I'll have written stuff that will take me further down the road to completion. It's a long job and no amount of trying to speed things up is going to help. Once I've written most of the book, I'll return to the beginning and polish the good bits, eject the poor bits, and ensure the beginning reads more as I intended it to, not how it ended up. But nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and the slow burner of a beginning can, with a few tweaks, begin to rev along at a faster pace. It's fun, serious fun, but enjoyable, too. Got to keep on!
The plot Dickens - erm, thickens... ;-)
Sunday, 13 January 2013
And so, into 2013...
As I've said, ad nauseum perhaps, I will finish writing this first book this year. Looking at how things have gone, and discounting the length of time it has taken to get this far - I had barely an idea when I started - I've got to be pleased with what I've done. But now, we are about to find out if I'm any kind of writer: I've got to complete the job.
I will resist my initial impulse to dwell more at the beginning - or, at least, the step I erroneously didn't take after the first three chapters. The chapters I have done after these three are destined to come later. They are vital to the knowledge of the hero (I still refuse to use the term 'protagonist' - Snow White was a protagonist, would you believe - it sounds like someone wearing a cape and mask, carrying a dagger to stab someone in the back! I've met a few in 2012, but let's not go there any more. Can't believe a writer thought up that term for a leading man or woman.)
I'm going to pick up chapters already listed and planned and try to put as much into them as possible. Hopefully, the knowledge and experience doing that will assist in the writing of a beginning that must match up. The better the rest of the story is, the better I must make the beginning. I know where the beginning now goes, just I want more information in order to write it out properly.
2013 will see me out and about more. Not too greatly, as writing will never allow me to be as I once was. But I can't carry on as I did during 2012. I feel like I changed in 2012. Time will show what it all meant.
To all my readers of this blog, I hope you have a 2013 to remember. Way into the future, if you remember reading all this, it might mean we got to where we intended to go... x
I will resist my initial impulse to dwell more at the beginning - or, at least, the step I erroneously didn't take after the first three chapters. The chapters I have done after these three are destined to come later. They are vital to the knowledge of the hero (I still refuse to use the term 'protagonist' - Snow White was a protagonist, would you believe - it sounds like someone wearing a cape and mask, carrying a dagger to stab someone in the back! I've met a few in 2012, but let's not go there any more. Can't believe a writer thought up that term for a leading man or woman.)
I'm going to pick up chapters already listed and planned and try to put as much into them as possible. Hopefully, the knowledge and experience doing that will assist in the writing of a beginning that must match up. The better the rest of the story is, the better I must make the beginning. I know where the beginning now goes, just I want more information in order to write it out properly.
2013 will see me out and about more. Not too greatly, as writing will never allow me to be as I once was. But I can't carry on as I did during 2012. I feel like I changed in 2012. Time will show what it all meant.
To all my readers of this blog, I hope you have a 2013 to remember. Way into the future, if you remember reading all this, it might mean we got to where we intended to go... x
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Goodbye 2012
I'm looking forward massively to 2013. For one thing, this first book will be written completely, errors will be put right, and agents will be contacted. That, of course, won't necessarily make me happy - though I dare say I will be happier than I have been. That could be the key: be happier. If we all try to be happier, then maybe we will be happier.
It's easier said than done, of course. All kinds of things can get you down; money, work, lack of money and work, health, relationships. Guess I'm lucky, as I feel a lot better than I have been, and being single means I can go and hide when the world gets too much and I can put some music on or watch a movie, or something. Can't say I'll be single forever - it's certainly never been my plan to be single. And I will be more outgoing, more open in 2013. Ladies, form an orderly queue! lol you can tell I've had a couple of drinks - beaujolais from a friend, for Christmas!
I won't be out on New Year's Eve, but I will be out on New Year's day - in Laygate, of course! Should be fun and hopefully I'll get to shake the hands of a lot of good people I'm lucky enough to call my friends. We all have absent family, absent friends, absent a lot of things. The personal 'shadow' we drag with us, especially at this time of year, can seem so much deeper and longer than it really is only if we allow it. So let's try not to allow it. Don't worry, I won't charge you for this advice! ;-)
Anyway, all I'll ask from myself in 2013 is to try to be happier and to get out more. The rest I can't control.
So here's to everyone on New Year's Eve. Here's to everyone for 2013. Let's hope those last two numbers will be lucky for all of us!
Cheers... x
It's easier said than done, of course. All kinds of things can get you down; money, work, lack of money and work, health, relationships. Guess I'm lucky, as I feel a lot better than I have been, and being single means I can go and hide when the world gets too much and I can put some music on or watch a movie, or something. Can't say I'll be single forever - it's certainly never been my plan to be single. And I will be more outgoing, more open in 2013. Ladies, form an orderly queue! lol you can tell I've had a couple of drinks - beaujolais from a friend, for Christmas!
I won't be out on New Year's Eve, but I will be out on New Year's day - in Laygate, of course! Should be fun and hopefully I'll get to shake the hands of a lot of good people I'm lucky enough to call my friends. We all have absent family, absent friends, absent a lot of things. The personal 'shadow' we drag with us, especially at this time of year, can seem so much deeper and longer than it really is only if we allow it. So let's try not to allow it. Don't worry, I won't charge you for this advice! ;-)
Anyway, all I'll ask from myself in 2013 is to try to be happier and to get out more. The rest I can't control.
So here's to everyone on New Year's Eve. Here's to everyone for 2013. Let's hope those last two numbers will be lucky for all of us!
Cheers... x
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Merry Christmas to all my readers!
May I wish a Merry Christmas to all of you who come here to Blogland and read my literary ramblings x Not that there's much of a literary nature here, and Youtube has seen to it that the videos I uploaded look rather odd, too.
One thing I can say is that 2013 will see me searching for an agent at some point. I've got changes to make in my MS, but nothing so ruinous that I'll spend months (like I have done with other stuff) trying to get things right. I know what's wrong, so the right bits will appear.
I'm quite optimistic for the New Year that approaches. Successful or not, the first book will be completed and the agent hunt will commence. I might start to live ;-)
Enjoy yourselves and don't be too hard on yourselves: the world doesn't help you very much, so help yourself as much as you can.
Take care, all of you. I mean that xxx
One thing I can say is that 2013 will see me searching for an agent at some point. I've got changes to make in my MS, but nothing so ruinous that I'll spend months (like I have done with other stuff) trying to get things right. I know what's wrong, so the right bits will appear.
I'm quite optimistic for the New Year that approaches. Successful or not, the first book will be completed and the agent hunt will commence. I might start to live ;-)
Enjoy yourselves and don't be too hard on yourselves: the world doesn't help you very much, so help yourself as much as you can.
Take care, all of you. I mean that xxx
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
The past
Sometimes the past hits you and you have no defence. I've been looking back, thinking about things, revisiting places that have reappeared. Can't help but gaze at them, people, places, things that have happened, didn't happen, could have happened, over my shoulder. It has been said that there is no armour against fate, and I guess I've made no plans for the future other than that I will be around, doing stuff. Achieving what? Not a lot thus far, I guess. I took off all the armour long ago. You can't change what has been; you can't change how it's been. You can only try to control what will be. And then sometimes it's gone, slipping past you like you're standing still.
2012 Couldn't say it's been a great year...
2013 What are you hiding...
2012 Couldn't say it's been a great year...
2013 What are you hiding...
Sunday, 16 December 2012
A strange year...
... and a strange week!
Bit disturbed by the behaviour/attitudes of one or two people - not least in the past year, but also quite recently. The things people say and do. I've thought about things: they've lost me as a normal friend, I'm afraid. Their loss.
I must stress that these aren't my close long-held frendships I'm talking about - and there are a huge number of them - and definitely not my band of brilliant readers, so there's no worry there.
Still, I'm sure the usual justifying argument back will be that I am at fault ;-) We'll see how things go...
On the other hand, I've renewed a great friendshp from my school days. I've known a guy named Terry Ruane since I was about 11 years of age - we even worked down the fairground together and it's a wonder to us now how we never kept in touch. Terry did leave school before I did, so life can take you down different paths as you all know. We had a great chat on Saturday (alongside a convo with my younger brother, who was fresh from directing a production of Peter Pan in Sunderland) and we reminisced over a few drinks, joined by another good mutual mate of ours, Arthur Gibson. I had to leave, in the end, as I had to go to a retirement do in Newcastle, the presentation for which I missed by 20 minutes. :-( These things keep happening to me! They've happened all year! Shame on me! All of this meant I couldn't get back for the reunion in Laygate. A great shame, though one that can be remedied by attending the next one, something I couldn't do with the retirement gig.
An odd time, really, lightened greatly by Saturday afternoon's events, though I could tell you other stuff I saw/experienced/noticed in the past week, things that surprised me, made me think, but it's all depressing general stuff, mostly concerning other people, not me. Like how I actually fell asleep TWICE at my laptop!!! Perhaps I'm a raging paranoid catalyst, or maybe we all experience things like this now and again, just never talk about it, but even a quiet walk down to the park and sea front had me looking at people and thinking 'What on earth...'
Well, Wednesday sees me out and about. Told you I was trying to change my life a bit. But it probably entails going to two different places again - Jeez, Pete, just get there!!
A thought occurs to me that, if I make this my final post this year, then all of it may be left behind and 2013 can be a better year.
Maybe I shall try that!
Bit disturbed by the behaviour/attitudes of one or two people - not least in the past year, but also quite recently. The things people say and do. I've thought about things: they've lost me as a normal friend, I'm afraid. Their loss.
I must stress that these aren't my close long-held frendships I'm talking about - and there are a huge number of them - and definitely not my band of brilliant readers, so there's no worry there.
Still, I'm sure the usual justifying argument back will be that I am at fault ;-) We'll see how things go...
On the other hand, I've renewed a great friendshp from my school days. I've known a guy named Terry Ruane since I was about 11 years of age - we even worked down the fairground together and it's a wonder to us now how we never kept in touch. Terry did leave school before I did, so life can take you down different paths as you all know. We had a great chat on Saturday (alongside a convo with my younger brother, who was fresh from directing a production of Peter Pan in Sunderland) and we reminisced over a few drinks, joined by another good mutual mate of ours, Arthur Gibson. I had to leave, in the end, as I had to go to a retirement do in Newcastle, the presentation for which I missed by 20 minutes. :-( These things keep happening to me! They've happened all year! Shame on me! All of this meant I couldn't get back for the reunion in Laygate. A great shame, though one that can be remedied by attending the next one, something I couldn't do with the retirement gig.
An odd time, really, lightened greatly by Saturday afternoon's events, though I could tell you other stuff I saw/experienced/noticed in the past week, things that surprised me, made me think, but it's all depressing general stuff, mostly concerning other people, not me. Like how I actually fell asleep TWICE at my laptop!!! Perhaps I'm a raging paranoid catalyst, or maybe we all experience things like this now and again, just never talk about it, but even a quiet walk down to the park and sea front had me looking at people and thinking 'What on earth...'
Well, Wednesday sees me out and about. Told you I was trying to change my life a bit. But it probably entails going to two different places again - Jeez, Pete, just get there!!
A thought occurs to me that, if I make this my final post this year, then all of it may be left behind and 2013 can be a better year.
Maybe I shall try that!
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
The Future
Had a good conversation with an old mate of mine, Mark Peters - he's working away in Africa and won't be back until the 3rd of January. Glad Mark is doing well and the future looks bright!
I'm off to a reunion on Saturday night in The Trimmers Arms. It's a general bash for people connected to the Laygate area of South Shields, commonly known among us as Lagos, after the huge concentration of Ethnic mixes. It's a great place, full of lively and intelligent people, fiercely loyal to family and friends. Should be fun, as it's not a greatly serious reunion, given that almost everyone keeps in touch with someone anyway. It's good to have something like this - gets me out for one thing!
I haven't been writing or blogging much lately, though I noticed, for example, that I had 23 blog visitors yesterday - the vast majority Russian, it seems. I'm probably being spammed (like my hotmail account), though I hope I'm being spidered :-)
It's getting my head round the events and rearranging/realigning things after the third chapter. It's gonna take some doing, though it will be done for sure. A real test of my abilities in the modern arena, as I'm primarily a fantasy writer and I feel like I need to consciously move along in a certain way. Everything comes hard to me with this one. Not going to analyse why, as that would be a counter-productive 'dwelling-point'.
Christmas and New Year around the corner and I'm feeling optimistic. It's not a slog, but a long process. About time I put some music up on Facebook!
We'll get there... :-)
I'm off to a reunion on Saturday night in The Trimmers Arms. It's a general bash for people connected to the Laygate area of South Shields, commonly known among us as Lagos, after the huge concentration of Ethnic mixes. It's a great place, full of lively and intelligent people, fiercely loyal to family and friends. Should be fun, as it's not a greatly serious reunion, given that almost everyone keeps in touch with someone anyway. It's good to have something like this - gets me out for one thing!
I haven't been writing or blogging much lately, though I noticed, for example, that I had 23 blog visitors yesterday - the vast majority Russian, it seems. I'm probably being spammed (like my hotmail account), though I hope I'm being spidered :-)
It's getting my head round the events and rearranging/realigning things after the third chapter. It's gonna take some doing, though it will be done for sure. A real test of my abilities in the modern arena, as I'm primarily a fantasy writer and I feel like I need to consciously move along in a certain way. Everything comes hard to me with this one. Not going to analyse why, as that would be a counter-productive 'dwelling-point'.
Christmas and New Year around the corner and I'm feeling optimistic. It's not a slog, but a long process. About time I put some music up on Facebook!
We'll get there... :-)
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Existence
That we must hope
we are not all lost
we are not all lost
in some failed
transmission.
That
there is no error
in
the flash of light
and
the teem of rain,
upon
the stream of the silent sea
that
is
Creation
Of all that we are
and all that surrounds us;
in all that protects us
from all that destroys us.
For
should we not find
the
answers that we seek,
nor
ease the question
of
our bleak existence
As
embers we shall burn
upon
pyres we may not ever feel;
our
fatal dust,
drifting,
on
winds of churning
Eternity
Anon.
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