HEARING / HE’S COME
OUT OF / HAYDN
Tag: Smiles
Gertrude Stein could quick to the cut
She does show up in my sets of art gallery poems, accompanied by Norman Rockwell, for good reason, if only a fictional role.
Here are ten things she really said.
- “We are always the same age inside.”
- “Why should a sequence of words be anything but a pleasure?”
- “It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.”
- “The thing that differentiates man from animals is money.”
- “A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.”
- “Literature – creative literature – unconcerned with sex, is inconceivable.”
- “I always say that you cannot tell what a picture really is or what an object really is until you dust it every day and you cannot tell what a book is until you type it or proof-read it. It then does something to you that only reading it never can do.”
- “It is always a mistake to be plain-spoken.”
- “Money is always there but the pockets change.”
- “America is my country, and Paris is my home town.”
For the art gallery poems, go to my blog Thistle Finch editions.
Kinisi 289
impoverished
by an ingrained sense
of impoverishment
In case you need encouragement on that novel
Yes, for those of you writers who should be well past the halfway point of your new novel draft by this time this month. As well as any others, working at whatever.
- “I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.” – William Carlos Williams, M.D.
- “Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players. I have 10 or so, and that’s a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.” – Gore Vidal
- “A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” – Eugene Ionesco
- “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anais Nin
- “The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.” – Zadie Smith
- “The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone’s neurosis.” – William Styron
- “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” – Robin Williams
- “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” – Philip Pullman
- “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” – Aldous Huxley
- “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” – Albert Camus
The dope on soap
Yes, one more thing we take for granted. Or, as I used to think, “granite.”
So here a ten things to consider.
- Soap goes way back in antiquity, starting with the boiling of fats with ashes and water, though the Latin word for it originates with “clay.”
- It’s been a mark of civilized people and sometimes the upper classes, from Babylon and Rome on.
- Over the years, olive, palm, and vegetable oils gave rise to other varieties, including Castille soap.
- Today, soap comes either in solid form, liquid, or powdered form, based on their use of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Liquid is considered easiest to use.
- Bar soaps have a lower environmental impact, according to one study.
- It’s sold in a number of specialty applications, including hand, face, shaving, body, dish, laundry, or floor-cleaning applications. Don’t overlook antibacterial, either, although it carries some long-term health concerns. Or the wide range of scents that can be infused.
- Ivory, first marketed in 1879, was the first soap that floated. Yeah, and it was 99 and 44/100s percent pure, according to the company’s claims.
- Modern synthetics, appearing around 1940 with Tide, also prevented the growth of germs.
- Soap can also be used to ease zippers or lubricate squeaky hinges, threading needles, and screws.
- The bubbles are incredibly thin and sometimes so much fun. Or even romantic, in a deep bathtub.
Maybe that’s what I’ll be giving everyone this Christmas.
Kinisi 287
X
RAY
TED
Aspiring novelists, good luck
This is the month many aspiring writers sit down and try to complete a draft of a novel before December sets in. For perspective, here are ten points as inspiration
“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” ― Dorothy Parker
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.” – Elmore Leonard
“Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.” – Meg Rosoff
“I just give myself permission to suck. I delete about 90 percent of my first drafts, so it doesn’t really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of my readers forever, because there’s a 90 percent chance I’m just going to delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating.” – John Green
“Anyone who says writing is easy isn’t doing it right.” – Amy Joy
“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury
“Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.” – Annie Dillard
“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” – Isaac Asimov
“I taught my brother everything he needs to know about writing.” – Stan Asimov
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” – Frank Herbert
Kinisi 286
Not just musically speaking
4th CHORD
Stacked neatly
Show some sympathy for those poor, lowly paid beleaguered clerks
They’re probably not to blame. Look, they’re usually struggling figures who all too often have to face self-entitled a-holes at the checkout counter or their equally crushed managers overhead. Here are a few things they’d love to tell you or maybe the offender before you or even their bosses.
Yes, here’s what they’d really love to say.
- “Let’s trade places. I’ll be the rude one, and you try to stay patient.”
- “If only our coffee was as strong as your attitude!”
- “Your tone is getting a price tag.”
- “Customers like you really test our ‘service with a smile’ policy.”
- “Your points would be more valid if they were less veiled in rudeness.”
- “We’re here to serve, not to be served attitude.”
- “Your words are as sweet as a lemon. Sarcasm intended.”
- “We promise fast service, not a tolerance for fast insults.”
- “You’ve mistaken my patience for a dumping ground.”
- “Have a nice day, somewhere else.”
While we’re at it, let’s go for a second round.
- “I appreciate your perspective, but rudeness is an extra charge we didn’t agree upon.”
- “Your impatience is understandable. Is it as urgent as your need for a manners refresher?”
- “Don’t worry, we charge by the item, not by the attitude.”
- “The ‘customer is always right’ policy doesn’t cover personal attacks. Please read the fine print.”
- “Did you mistake this conversation for an auction? Because you’re really bidding high on rudeness.”
- “We provide services, not psychic readings. Kindly state your problem, not your tantrum.”
- “Our products come with a warranty, but our tolerance for rudeness does not.”
- “Patience is a virtue, but it seems your cart is empty.”
- “The complaint box is for suggestions, not character assassinations.”
- “In our store, ‘sale’ applies to items, not civility.”
Or even a third.
- “We value customer feedback, but your rudeness is more of a monologue than a dialogue.”
- “Our goal is customer satisfaction, not ego inflation.”
- “Let me put you back into the waiting line.” However many hours that means.
- “Our service may be fast, but ‘instant respect’ isn’t on our menu.”
- “Our prices are competitive, but our patience isn’t limitless.”
- “We accept all major credit cards, but we don’t accept rudeness.”
- “This is a business, not a battlefield. Let’s keep the conversation civil.”
- “This is a store, not a stage. Kindly lower the drama.”
- Merry Christmas to you, too. And a *** New Year.
- Expletives deleted.
Jnana's Red Barn 