How To Write . . .

     

Tucson Weather Today

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A member of the online writers group to which I have belonged for more than 20 years recently used a haiku contest submission to illustrate a point. It did not seem to me to be a traditional haiku because it did not adhere to the recognized syllable count nor the original Japanese intention of line interaction. But I am not a poet and I know little about the formal mechanics of literate poetry, so I will just fall back on the old cop-out and say: "I'm not an expert but I know what I like."

Here is the submission:

He is burnt beyond recognition
This boy
Whose mother smokes in bed.

Whether you call this haiku, or a short poem, or perhaps prose-poetry. Or even if you don't categorize it. It's an effective form of writing that hits the reader with a sudden shock. It a good example of how I would like to be able to write -- to write  with effect -- to write with meaning.


When I look deep and try to find why I write, or why I want to write, I am usually doomed to failure. I don't know why. Founding Father John Adams said as early as 1805: "The rewards ... in this life are esteem and admiration of others -- the punishments are neglect and contempt. . . . The desire of the esteem of others is as real a want of nature as hunger...."

Maybe that has something to do with why I write.

Maybe that has something to do with why all writers write.

Do you suppose?

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TRIVIA

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

Shortly after midnight on this day, August 13 in 1961, East German soldiers began laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.

Berlin residents on that first morning found themselves suddenly cut off from friends or family members in the other half of the city. Led by their mayor, Willi Brandt, West Berliners demonstrated against the wall, as Brandt criticized Western democracies, particularly the United States, for failing to take a stand against it. President John F. Kennedy had earlier said publicly that the United States could only really help West Berliners and West Germans, and that any kind of action on behalf of East Germans would only result in failure.

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear down the wall.

East and West Germany became one nation again, signing a formal treaty of unification on October 3, 1990.

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WORD FOR TODAY

composition
noun
1.  the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole.
2.  the resulting state or product.
3.  manner of being composed; structure: This painting has an orderly composition.

The term composition means 'putting together,' and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing to photography, that is arranged or put together using conscious thought.

In the visual arts, composition is often used interchangeably with various terms such as design, form, visual ordering, or formal structure, depending on the context. In graphic design for press and desktop publishing composition is commonly referred to as page layout.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

(Aug. 13, 1899 - April 29, 1980)

Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, billed as England's best director, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939 and became a U.S. citizen in 1955.

Annie Oakley

(Aug. 13, 1860 - Nov. 3, 1926)

Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Moses) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar. Oakley's perhaps most famous trick is being able to repeatedly split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22 caliber rifle, at 90 feet.

Fidel Castro

(born August 13, 1926)

Fidel Castro is a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who was Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the Commander in Chief of the country’s armed forces from 1959 to 2008, and as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011.

Minnie Joycelyn Elders

(born August 13, 1933)

Joycelyn Elders is an American pediatrician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the first African American appointed as Surgeon General of the United States. Elders is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization and distributing contraception in schools. She was fired mid-term in December 1994 amidst controversy. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

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Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.
--Edgar Allan Poe

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

3-14-13

    

Tucson Weather Today

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Last night I searched the sky for a glimpse of the comet but was not able to see it. I must be looking in the wrong direction, or else there is another reason I can't see it. Lots of locals here in Tucson are sending in photos to the TV News channel so it may just be my aged poor eyesight.

Oh well... who cares, anyway.


The temperature is supposed to reach 80 degrees Fahrenheit at noon today and 90 degrees at around two o'clock this afternoon.


So. How is the writing of my book progressing?

Don't ask.

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HISTORICAL CLIP

On this date, March 14, 1919, Max Brand, perhaps the most prolific writer of western stories, published his first novel, The Untamed.

Max Brand was one of 21 pen names used by the Seattle-born author Frederick Faust. Faust claimed to dislike the American West, and he spent most of his adult life in Europe. Embarrassed by his "lowbrow" stories, he never appended his real name to any of his popular works.

Unlike many western authors, Faust made no pretense to historical accuracy in his works. His novels concerned a mythic West of his imagination, and he rarely provided any identifiable geographical details or demonstrated any mastery of the minutiae of western life. His strength was his ability to tell a compelling story, and he had a keen sense of style.

In The Untamed, Faust created the hugely popular Dan Barry, a peaceable man who avoided trouble whenever possible. However, when Barry or those he cares about were attacked, he was transformed and was capable of wreaking violent vengeance on wrongdoers. Faust continued Barry's story in two bestselling sequels.

Besides gaining fame and fortune as the author of Max Brand westerns, Faust also created the character of Dr. Kildare for his medical thrillers. Faust died in 1944, having written an estimated 30 million words, including more than 500 western serials or short stories.

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WORD FOR TODAY

composition
noun
1.
a. The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole.
b. The manner in which such parts are combined or related.
c. General makeup: the changing composition of the electorate.
d. The result or product of composing; a mixture or compound.
2. Arrangement of artistic parts so as to form a unified whole.
3.
a. The art or act of composing a musical or literary work.
b. A work of music, literature, or art, or its structure or organization.
4. A short essay, especially one written as an academic exercise.

The term composition, in written language, refers to the collective body of important features established by the author in their creation of literature. Most often, composition relates to narrative works of literature, but may also relate to essays, biographies, and other works.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Albert Einstein

 

Born March 14, 1879
Died April 18, 1955

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory.

Frank Borman

 

Born Mar 14, 1928
Age: 84 years old

Frank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so. Before flying on Apollo, he set a fourteen-day spaceflight endurance record on Gemini 7, and also served on the NASA review board which investigated the Apollo 1 fire. After leaving NASA, he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Eastern Air Lines from 1975 to 1986. Borman is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. In the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Borman was played by David Andrews.

Michael Caine

 

Born Mar 14, 1933
Age  79 years old

Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite) is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive Cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over one hundred films and is one of Britain's most recognisable actors.

He made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in a number of British films, including, Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). His most notable roles in the 1970s included, Get Carter (1971), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and A Bridge Too Far (1978). He achieved critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, and in 1986 he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Hannah and Her Sisters.

Caine played a British con-man in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), and Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). He received his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules (1999). Caine played Nigel Powers in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember, and more recently portrayed Alfred Pennyworth, the butler in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. He also appeared as supporting characters in Nolan's 2006 film The Prestige, 2010 film Inception and Pixar's 2011 film Cars 2.

Billy Crystal

 

Born Mar 14, 1948
Age  64 years old

William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times through the 84th Academy Awards in 2012.

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Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
--Edward Gibbon