I have been told true writers also write poetry.
I suffered for my art, now it’s your turn.
Rainy night on Halloween
Lonely and safely tucked in
Five old movies and hot tea,
cat, old blanket and no cares.
The countryside is quiet as dead:
something knocks
on this dark night
you won't trick it with a treat.
Or something.
Maybe I should stick to prose, after all.
It’s been a long rainy day. I started this morning working on a translation (a screenplay for an animation series), then had to go and dig out an old monitor from storage when my brother’s monitor died, then finally got the counter-signed contract I had been waiting for … now the wait for the advance to arrive (and it will be never too soon … we need to buy a new monitor).
So, all in all, it’s been a busy day, waiting for tonight when we’ll start playing my new campaign.
Also, our regional governor decided we need a curfew, so no circulation between 11 pm and 5 am – and so our plans for a last dinner at Casablanca’s with our friends fizzed.
BUT, despite all that’s been going on, I was still able to catch a movie, and the good news is, you can watch it too, on Youtube.
Here is the trailer…
I watched it at lunch break, and it was a beautiful – if sometimes dramatic – experience.
More things tomorrow.
Now I’m off to dinner, and then to polishing my dice…
There is a very attractive call for stories that cross horror with adventure, and when I saw it I thought “Ah, that’s a job for me!” … but in two days I doodles a lot, and came up with nothing.
Which is disheartening, because… well, because writing is my job and my idea of fun, and I have always loved adventure.
So I started going through all the resources I had about adventures.
And here is what I found that got me writing.
I thought I’d share.
Now that the adventure angle is covered, I’ll just need to add horror.
And I’ve found an idea in that direction, too, inside this video.
I’ll keep you posted.
Last night I wrote a short story.
Big deal, you say.
Well, yes, I do write (also) short stories for a living, so writing a story is no big deal. But this was somewhat different.
First, because this was to be a 300-words flash fiction, with a very clear theme. And I’m not so hot about flash fictions.
Also, it’s an entry in a contest – and I do not do contests as a personal policy. You do, fine. I don’t.
Third… well, I wrote it in thirty minutes, after dinner, while I was waiting to start a hangout with my friends. It was just good fun – and I needed it.
And while we wait for the powers that be to decide on the contest winner, you can read the entries for free on the contest promoter’s website – just go to the Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores website. The link should bring you to the right place. Scroll down. My short is called Legacy.
And follow the guys, because they are doing a great job.
It’s been a tough time, it still is, and there is no light yet at the end of the tunnel. It happens, and we can only play with the hand that was dealt to us.
And yet…
Mars is in opposition – it’s close to Earth, and facing the sun.
It’s burning bright red in the night sky, to remind us why it was associated with war and violence.
And tonight Mars is at its brightest.
I was in the courtyard, a while ago.
The sky is cloudy, over Astigianistan, and there’s a cold wind.
Nobody walks the streets of the village where I live, the cats are huddled somewhere and there’s a dog barking, desperately, in the distance.
But still, through the breaks in the clouds that chase each other over our heads, I saw Mars.
And you might ask…
Did I hold my arms up, like heeding a distant call, and felt like I was being swept by a strong wind and transported across the vast of night, to ancient Barsoom, just as John Carter and Ulysses Paxton before me?
Yes I did.
But it was just a moment.
If the going is tough, it is also true I’ll have to face the music here where I stand.
And yet, wouldn’t it have been good?
Tonight’s challenge: try to come up with a viable idea for a sexy story about time travel – because there’s a new market I’d like to make a sale to, and that’s the gist of the guidelines.
It would be a thrice-good thing: breaking into a new market, making a sale, and trying my hand at something new.
And yes, I’ve written time-travel stories before.
So here I am, racking my mind – and quite frankly, I was never sexy in my life, and I don’t feel sexy right now.
Too many worries, too many distractions.
But this, too, is a way to fight back.
Keep doing new things.
Now if only I could dream up an idea…
Karavansara 