Saturday, June 17, 2017
Wrong Ocular Tom Betty Fischer lived about three doors up the street from Talbott’s General Store and Post office. Betty’s husband Joe was an over-the-road trucker, out of town sometimes for a couple weeks at a time. There’s only so much time a woman can devote to dust bunnies and furniture wax, and... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, June 16, 2017
ROUND TABLE RESPITE
I had looked forward to Thursday’s write as an escape from political blather. Our topics for the day were light, memories of the playground, funny bits from school, etc. But… Since the topic was on all our minds, we got into a round table discussion of Wednesday’s news, all day breaking story and... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
SELL ME A STORY…
There’s a commercial I cannot stand to listen to. Any time it comes on I either change the channel or hit the ‘mute’ button. It’s the background music that makes my temper flare: a slow and somber version of “Tomorrow.” As in, “The sun’ll come out tomorrow…. Tomorrow… it’s only a day awaaay.” The... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Situation critical.
This morning a guy from this southern Illinois neck of the woods took an AK-47 style assault rifle and began shooting at a bunch of guys at a baseball practice in Alexandria Virginia, a bucolic suburb of Washington, D.C. It just so happened these ball players were republican congressmen preparing... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
But, was it appropriate?
Last week I posted the first chapter of “My Disco Ball is Broken” here on Blogit, a pathetic bid for feedback. In years past I’ve posted pages from longer works bits of dialog, plot ideas, character studies here. And your comments have always given me answers to my writerly questions. What works?... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Why Teach The Arts in Public Schools?
Remember this? “Joy to the world, All the boys and girls, Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!” It was Three Dog Night, singing the song by Hoyt Axton. My friend Bob, a keyboardist who sings, had a gig Saturday night at the Alton Museum of History and Art’s celebration of Miles... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
A LINK TO THE BBC
“Can writing about pain and secret feelings really help boost your body’s immune system? BBC Future investigates.” http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170601 One of the writers in the Write Your Own Story group at the Main Street Center posted this BBC link on Facebook. It seems the kind of... Sign in to see full entry.
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Trust ‘em at Your Peril
There’d been no secrets inside the walls of our little house, Mama told us how bad it was: no money, no help, no one we could trust or count on. Sometimes the truth came out when we asked for something: to join the scouts, a bicycle, music lessons. Mother could lash out under stress, she was a... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, June 9, 2017
Main Street Center Writers
Thursday was the day Big Media looked forward to the way kids look forward to Christmas. The stockings would be stuffed with testimony of former FBI Director James Comey. Some of us were tempted to skip the writing session and watch it. It was up to me to come up with topics so interesting that... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, June 5, 2017
Return to “Disco Ball”
Someone in the writing at The Center group asked me last Thursday if “Bloody Helll….” was the only novel I’d written, and of course I said no. I gave a quick recap of “Waltzing With Zombies,” which has nothing to do with waltzing or zombies, “Women’s Work,” about an 1890’s bank robber/schoolmarm and... Sign in to see full entry.