Sometimes

Sometimes, all I have time to do is feed the words into a program that randomly generates ‘art’.
You can make your own at Wordle.

Fuzzy Focused Stills

They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” or “Every picture tells a story.”
but…
camera shotsand anglesand fuzzy-focusedblack and white stillsare only snapshotsin freeze-frame.
movement is implied.

Not Much Different

writingspeakingcomputersandpens

not much different than:

pencilscrayons andchalk

Intellectual (?) ideaspresentedusing toolsfrom a Child’sART BOX

From the Notebook: Quality

I was cleaning out some papers in the notebook, and found a handwritten note to myself which said,
Don’t worry too much about perfection; but always worry about quality.”
It was written in a scrawl and I don’t remember when I wrote the note or why I wrote it down. It’s a thought taken out of context. [...]

Writing Stuff That’s ‘Allowed to Suck’

I recently heard Mur Lafferty say something like this in her podcast. I’ve only just discovered her show–so I’m catching up on older episodes–and I think she says something like this almost every time. I’ve also heard this idea articulated by a number of other writers and teachers over the years, though not using the [...]

The Image Civilization

Last Friday, I said this:
 “There will come a day when the word will once more regain its supremacy over the picture. I will be there when that happens.”
Maybe I’m wrong about this. 
I drafted the post rather quickly and most of it was written with my tongue in my cheek. That’s not an excuse; I’ve harbored [...]

Wrong Stuff Getting Said

Because I’m just too busy, I’ll post today a comment from Tuesday’s post, plus my answer.
Vic said:
Sometimes I think that with all the sources for the written word maybe there’s just too darn much said. I want to be famous for NOT writing the next great American novel or expose. Can I be known as [...]

Dream Exchange

“You should be a writer for a newspaper,” he said.
I nodded. “I tried that and it didn’t work out,” I said.
Flashback:
I walked into the office of the smallest newspaper in the county and was told that I needed experience before I could be considered for a job. Even at twenty-two years old, I was insulted. [...]

Infrequent Words

In my conversations with people today, I heard people use words (or used a word myself) not used with any frequency:
In describing a scene at a negotiation downtown, a lady I work with said, "…and there were fisticuffs." Another co-worker scrunched his face as though he didn’t know what she said. I explained, "You know, [...]

Made to be Broken

My daughter and I were talking about writing the other night after she told my son that an essay “should look like a diamond.” I suppose this may be helpful under some circumstances, but some writing rules only exist so that writers can break them.
Another “rule” is “show, don’t tell.” Again: This is helpful, sometimes, [...]

Monday. Monday! MONDAY! (Entry 5/21)

Every so often, for my own sanity, I go into what I call a "self-imposed news void." I don’t read newspapers or magazines or listen to talk radio or watch news on television. This self-imposed prohibition against the consuming of news products includes not only hard news, but also entertainment news, sports news and–a recently [...]

Using Andy Rooney’s Voice

This is a test of the emergency blogfast system.
This only a test!
I’ve not been writing much lately.
This happens from time-to-time. I’ve nothing really to say that’s worth writing down. Enough said.
Add to this not writing about stuff, I’ve also not been reading about stuff either.
Funny thing is that I don’t really care.
Don’t get me wrong; [...]

Nothing to Show

I was planning on updating my blog with entries written in my notebooks since I’d been out traveling so much. I didn’t have access to the Internet in every location, in fact, in very few locations.
A couple of things happened:

I didn’t write as much as I had wanted and
What I did write turned out to [...]

Bravery in a Second

Henry Laskowitz was fat. We would refer to his condition today as morbid obesity. He was a nice enough kid and I liked him. Henry and I were friends. His obesity did not bother me.
Henry’s father was Jewish. His mother was Christian. The Jewish-ness of Henry’s dad did not bother me either, though I perceived [...]

Good Friday

My Dearest Hadassah,
I suppose that should come right out and tell you: Jesus is dead!
The details are confusing. It was quiet last night in this part of town; but by Herod’s palace and the Roman garrison, crowds gathered to either ensure Jesus’ death or to plead for his release. By morning, from one report that [...]

Holy Thursday

My Dearest Hadassah,
Today will probably be my last Passover in Jerusalem. I can no longer walk up and down the hills like we once did so many years ago. Although this has been a most eventful and exciting trip, it has also been quite exhausting.
So much has happened this week. The Galilean, Jesus, is the [...]

Wednesday of Holy Week

My Dearest Hadassah,
With all of the excitement the past couple of days, there hasn’t been much time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city we love. I woke up early this morning and took a short walk to where I could see the sunrise above the temple. I went to our spot and [...]

Tuesday of Holy Week

My Dearest Hadassah,
The last few days have been like a wind. All the old thoughts have blown away; new thoughts remain, and these new thoughts are so strange, so odd and almost foreign. They are from another place and another time. These thoughts are so fresh and new and yet so steeped in ancient wisdom.

Monday of Holy Week

My Dearest Hadassah,
Although I was exhausted last night, I didn’t sleep much. Our host placed Matthias and me in a room with each other. I tried to close my eyes to no avail. I stared into the darkness and thought about what we had seen earlier in the day. I suspected that Matthias was awake [...]

Palm Sunday

My Dearest Hadassah,
What a day? What a day!
I thought that I’d scratch out some thoughts just so you don’t think I’m making things up and—for later—so that I remember that this really happened, that it wasn’t a dream.
Most of the journey to Jerusalem for the feast has been pleasant. We fell in with a group [...]