A Free Read

It's amazing to me how simple internet research can lead one to such unexpected finds.  This phenomenon is my favorite part of the world wide web, much more so than all the abundant social media.

Today, I found a formerly unknown tale by author Conrad Aiken because I looked up the biography of late actor David Carradine from a cult favorite of mine, "Sundown: Vampires in Retreat".  Mr. Carradine starred in 1971's "The Secret Farmhouse" on Rod Serling's anthology series "Night Gallery".  That evening's double episode included an adaptation of Mr. Aiken's story "Silent Snow, Secret Snow".

Whew...  Convoluted enough for you?

Anyway, I thank "The Virginia Quarterly Review" for providing the following free read.  I hope you take a few minutes and enjoy this chilling gem.

Silent Snow, Secret Snow

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A Writer's Dilemma

Deciding to get comfortable and write a little, I leave my laptop for what should be just a minute or so.  It’s a cold, wintry day, the house a bit chilly to save on heating costs.  So I go in search of my newest favorite garment for just such an occasion.  Only there’s a problem – my eldest cat has staked this same piece of clothing as a nice, cozy spot to curl upon.  Dumb me, I should have known better than to lay the jacket on the bed.

Oh, well.

I sit with her a few minutes, not knowing how I might possibly persuade her to move along, and end up watching my fish in the newly cleaned aquarium nearby.  It’s because of the fish tank maintenance that I shed the jacket in the first place.  Somehow animal husbandry never seems to end for this simple suburbanite.

Where was I?  Oh, yes, I planned to write.  Time to get up off the bed and quit watching clown loach antics.

Still without something to warm me, I decide to return to my office.  The nearby vent should suffice for now, except there is a problem here, too, as the second eldest of my three cats has settled comfortably on my chair.  It doesn’t seem fair to dump a sleepy kitty off her perch, no matter how gently.  Using a dining table chair at my desk, I drag another from the table into my office.

Problem solved.

Meanwhile, long minutes have passed and I’ve still not written a thing.  In addition, I don’t know where the youngest cat lurks.  Then again, she distracted me earlier by knocking a decorative piece to the floor.  Maybe she’s done with her part in this play.

I’m going to write, I decide grimly, so here it is.  It’s not exactly great prose.  And now I need to turn up the music to drown out feline snoring while I post to my blog.

How is your day going?

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A Haiku for the Day

Winter Harvest

In limbs fruit laden

His face matches the berries

The house finch warbles

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A Haiku for the Day

Preparations for Winter

Tales flash in the tree

Squirrels gather winter food

Frost lies thick as snow

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Long Overdue, a Post for a Friday Flash Fiction

A Word of Advice

One more ring sounded and then her answering machine clicked on.

“Lori, pick up.  I know you’re there.  I can see your car parked out here on the street.”

Thursday Thirteen - The View From My Back Porch

Sitting outside to write on a chill day, I couldn't help be distracted by the view. It's not oceans or mountains, but I still see some fine things. You can't help noticing that many are birds. I only miss my summertime friends, the turkey buzzard.

1. Cardinals

2. A red bellied woodpecker

3. Black capped chickadees

4. Neighbors visiting

5. Starlings

6. My bare Japanese maple

7. A tufted titmouse

8. Sparrows

9. A stalking cat (okay, that was yesterday, but still)

10. The barren "vulture tree"

11. My neglected Eastern Bluebird house

12. Grass that needs cutting

13. House finches

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Thursday Thirteen - Vacation Wishes

As I type, I'm looking forward to a vacation. I hope:

1. That I won't be groped too badly by airport security

2. It won't be too hot and humid in Florida

3. Mom and Dad are both well for our two night stay

4. Dad has another good fishing day out his back yard while we're there

5. The Salvador Dali museum is as cool as I hope

6. There are some awesome things to buy at the museum shop

7. The hotel is as swank as expected

8. Beach time is cocktail hour

9. The big cat rescue visit is half as fun for the animals as for us

10. Restaurants are excellent and relaxing

11. Shopping might unearth some fun fashion finds

12. The cat sitter comes in and out without setting off the alarm system

13. I come home with a demeanor other than wanting to bark at everyone at work

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Thursday Thirteen - Inspiration from Author Chris Cleave

I make no secret of the fact that I'm an aspiring writer and am participating in National Novel Writing Month. Recently I read on the NaNo website an inspirational message from writer Chris Cleave and decided to share thirteen of my favorite sentences from that message. I can only hope he would approve. Here goes:

Often sheer euphoria at your own brilliance will keep you writing late into the night, and you can hardly sleep because what you’ve written is so damned good. Then you wake up the next day and read it, and you realize it’s a pile of self-indulgent crap. This happens to me two days out of five. Then you get the opposite case, where you beat yourself up because the ideas are coming so slowly and all your dialogue seems timid and pedestrian. A week later you might look back on that day as a pretty solid performance, where your characters were honest with each other and maybe even created a couple of touching moments.

The more I learn about the writing process, the more I suspect that there is no such thing as a bad day at the keyboard. Sometimes you need slow days where you work through a dozen ideas that aren’t destined to fly. It creates a kind of intensity that eventually goads your brain into giving you a good day. Or sometimes, if you keep having slow days, then perhaps the novel really is asking you a deeper question about whether your plot, or your characterization, or your theory about the human heart really is up to scratch. Experience is knowing when you’re having a slow day, versus when you’re having a slow novel.

The good days are when you perform; the slow days are when you learn to perform better. The only bad days as a writer are the ones when you are too cowardly or too lazy to sit down at the keyboard and give it everything you have.

If you can sit down at the keyboard every day in November and give it everything you have, then there is no writer on earth who is better than you.

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