The Writing Life

    

Not many people understand what the life of a writer entails. When we are earnestly in pursuit of our profession we spend more hours on our work and/or craft (and more diligently) than most people do at any other job you can name. I’ve lost count of the times people have asked me in person or over the phone, “What are you doing? Where have you been?” Average work days for most people are eight hours a day but for the past 17 years it has not been unusual for me to work at writing for more than 12 hours in a day and no less than 8. Ah! Those were the days! I can tell you that we are not only dedicated, in most instances, but if we could work longer days- if it was physically possible, most of us probably would and certainly not complain about it. Mainly, I am speaking for myself in this case but I’m sure that my fellow bombastic-but-ardent scribes most likely do the same or more. Some of us sleep.

     Once writing becomes a serious part of your life- for whatever reason you

are writing- words take on an importance in the way a surgeon’s tools become integral to his skill as a physician and healer. We scour dictionaries, pore over thesauruses and read obscure sources for the best word in order to give our ideas and theories impetus. We are not just pouring out words, we also devour them like hundreds of pieces of rice and corn at a meal. We must feed on words in order to create them. Our behavior is not unusual given our profession. Our words and ideas must have meat with fat on them! New words flash like neon signs in our minds for hours if they are powerful enough and our ideas are formed by how we feel about certain words. We are full of word prejudice; Arbiters of words, you could say.

     Writers are accused of being daydreamers in early childhood and even into adulthood. Having never experienced this type of criticism from anyone, I have come to understand that it’s quite common. The sentences we write take about 50 to 100 times more forethought per sentence. (You can give and take those numbers and still basically be right about the math. It’s an individual thing for each person.) We certainly come across to people as very quiet so we stare much more than we talk and you can be sure we’ve observed everything in our path, the room, the concert hall or the shopping mall. Observations come with the territory and believe it or not, it’s exhausting. Sometimes it can be tiresome to pay that much attention to certain mundane aspects of life. There are a percentage of us who believe that is what our job actually is- observation and then to paper. Journalists at heart- believe it!

   

  Personally, I was a poet first before I ever wrote anything else. My first book of poetry, Seasons of the Heart, is primarily a collection of my first poems up to the brink of adulthood- before I moved out and away from my parent’s house. Poets are very special writers and any writer will agree with me on that premise. They may expound much further than I because I am a poet and a writer. There are two workers inside of me needing to take that precious time. My poet is hungry these days and needs more sleep and sitting quietly observing everything. But the poet has learned how to swoop down like a heron on a surfacing fish in the water. When those poems come, everything stops and the poet writes and soars through those castles in the air. Castles? I’ll throw one in if I must but for now… 

   

    

The best gift a writer can be given is extra time. Mundane life activities such as housework, cooking meals, general self-care, driving anywhere, shopping and exercise take away time from what we’d rather be doing. We might be the worst workaholics in the world but I once read a quote from a famous feminist writer to this effect: “Writing is the one thing that, when I’m doing it, I don’t feel like I need to be doing something else.” That sentence sums up why we do it. Compulsion comes into play here but with the effect of positivism that other compulsions don’t normally convey. When we go for a walk it’s usually to clear our minds for another eight hours of solitary confinement with a P.C., typewriter or perhaps a notebook if we are having a restless day. 

 

     When you see a writer friend absorbed in internet research, a nose stuck in a book, pounding away on a keyboard or hiding in a corner with a pad and pen, don’t shake your head and stomp your feet. We’re being who we are. Yes, we really love you but we must write. Take us to lunch once in a while and don’t pay any attention when our eyes glaze over. We’re saner than you realize and we just need a little space for that idea fermenting in the brain. 

     In conclusion, here’s a piece of advice to all those who are sadly watching the writer quietly go about his/her work. If you buy them anything, as a gift perhaps, buy them some extra time. “How does someone buy time?” you ask. Of course, you can’t literally buy time but there are many things you can do for them which frees up said time. Be sensitive to what is unnecessarily taking up their precious hours to the point of distraction and there’s the answer. For me, personally, if I could afford a cook and maid I’d hire them now. I like having a decent-looking yard but wish I could just stay at my computer rather than mow or rake the lawn or any of the other numerous outside tasks which seem to be endless. If I had a handyman to fix the 100,000 things that need doing- bliss!

Enough said !

The Castle Lady

Friday Night at the Movies

  

Back on March 4^th, the night of the Oscars I took the evening off to settle in and see what everyone was wearing for glorious attire, hair and makeup styles and of course, the winners of best awards. I was keen on seeing clips of The Post and Darkest Hour because the stars of these two films are two of my favorites- Meryl and Gary Oldman. To me they are not mere actors but true personas of their respective characters and in this case, of actual people and not so open to interpretation by the emulator. Even Oldman’s wife was purported, by him at the Golden Globes, to say that when she went to bed it seemed as if she was going to bed with Churchill but glad that she’d wake up to her husband! When you can fool a spouse, loved one or someone who knows you very well you’re a thespian of the highest order, as far as I’m concerned.

Meryl Streep never ceases to amaze me no matter who she depicts and she’s had some challenges which have increased her abilities even just within the scope of her work in the 21^st century. Most recently she has shown an uncanny ability to become the heroine in question whether it’s Julia Childs, Margaret Thatcher or a previously obscure woman such as Florence Foster Jenkins. Portraying living people must be a challenge unique to its genre but portraying people no longer living would be more difficult because they are no longer available to consult or observe and inquire about events in their life and how they felt- if given the opportunity.

    

I read Katherine Graham’s book, Personal History, some years after it was originally published in 1997 (on loan from my Aunt Florence) during two flights and a week long visit to Washington, D.C. in August of 2002- only a year after my grand tour of castles which coincided with 9/11 ! I felt pressure to turn it into a fast read because there are well over six hundred pages of it but the wealth of information it packed boggled my mind and it was written quite in the manner that the title implies. When I was finished I felt that I truly knew Ms Graham as well as any of my family members. Her husband Eugene and children- particularly her daughter Lally- were very well drawn in the book and the struggles and personal pain well conveyed.

     Since The Post actually centers on her inherited role as the editor and publisher of the Washington Post a good part of what I read wasn’t a part of the movie. In fact, very much like the movie All the President’s Men it was meant to center on herself and Nixon era Washington, D.C. The plot of the film conveys how she handled the hottest potato that any newspaper ever dealt with in U.S. history- that of Watergate. Her book covers history that predates her in 1908 (when her parents met) clear up to the 1990s where it wraps up rather tersely but still packed with information.

 https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/gary-oldman-oscar/

     After the Oscars aired I became determined to see these two films in the context I think all films should still be viewed. At a theater near me, of course! So, on March 16^th, for the first Friday in I-don’t-know-how-long I took off for the hills (literally) for a movie watching marathon. What would we do without the dollar movies, huh? I skipped dinner for this so it was in order to get something at concessions and get in the right theater to watch Darkest Hour which had already started at 6:45. I think I only missed the first five minutes but I had the sinking feeling that this movie started with some bang because other than knowing that Oldman was looking every bit like Churchill- had he been a little less corpulent in his life- I didn’t know at what point in WWII we were looking at and as it turns out, was irrelevant according to the viewpoint of this film. There was some humor which I noted went over the heads of Americans but because of my travel savvy caused me to be the first and sometimes the only person laughing like a hyena at the quips. This screenplay, written by Anthony McCarten, certainly gave me a perspective on Churchill I would’ve otherwise never understood on my own. Gary was, of course, absolutely brilliant and owned the part. I’ll bet that no one else will ever try to personify Churchill again except for a spot or two on Saturday Night Live- where nothing is sacred.

     I had to wait a little in the lobby before The Post started for the last show of the evening at 9:45 p.m. I’m sure I was bug-eyed by then but didn’t care about that at all. I was about to see the marvelous craft of Meryl. In fact, she once again shed Meryl and became Katherine Graham during a time in her life which put her at her most stressed and drawn besides the hospitalization and subsequent suicide of her husband, Phil. Meryl didn’t look physically drawn but I feel she did a tremendous job in making it emotionally apparent and I’m very interested to know how Ms Graham would’ve felt about the performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIlKOu5GzmE   (video clip of The Post)

    

Unfortunately, Katherine (or Kay as she was known by those who knew her well) passed away in 2001. Only a year before I read her book she had a fatal fall on a visit to Sun Valley, Idaho with a blow to the head. Within three days she passed away and was interred at the historic Oak Hill Cemetery which is just across the street from a former home of hers in Georgetown. As abruptly and almost rudely as her end was, her life played out quite rich in experiences and associations with people. I was in awe at how much detail of her life she remembered well enough to write a book without wordiness or embellishment. The movie’s screenplay doesn’t really cover a large part of her life but the drama it centers on begins in the twenty-second chapter of Personal History and the events leading up to 1972- that unforgettable year for anyone who lived through it.

     Any film which brings to light the way that newspapers compete and interact with each other is a subject of real fascination for me. I believe in the printed word every bit as much as having additional media such as the internet. It’s my opinion but I have a lot of company whether the media people want to believe it or not. Having the printed word unassociated with government control of any kind is absolutely essential to a democracy. People do not seem to understand that the internet is not wildly free country. (If you watched Zuckerberg on T.V.- a billionaire, you understand- saying, “Sir, yes, sir” over and over again you have seen what kind of control the government plans on exerting on the American populace.)

     If you have not seen these films I urge you to, by whatever means. Awards aside, these were the blockbusters of the year as far as I’m concerned. Check them out !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfXHYgTRps   (Meryl being interviewed about the part)

You May Already be a Winner !

     

     I’ve wanted to share this information for a little over a year now and this is most likely as good a time as any. Sweepstakes are normally not my thing. How many of you have bought lottery or Lotto tickets on a regular basis? My understanding about this subculture we have in common with almost every spot in the world is that a good percentage of the global population spend their discretionary income regularly on buying these tickets, entering sweepstakes and trying their luck on any number of chance-to-win gaming. (Not including out-and-out gambling at casinos and gambling resorts.) There are parts of the world where a lot of this is illegal, most likely because there has been so much fraud connected with these temptations for fortune. It seems like nearly everywhere you go to do business, for pleasure or perhaps even your mailbox (with companies such as Publishers Clearing House) have some type of chance-to-win game or sweeps offering incredible amounts of money (or pricey luxury items) as prizes. Even Avon gets into this once a year and they allow the representatives to participate! One hard and fast stipulation is that with sweepstakes they can’t require you to buy anything in order to have a chance to win something. So the theory goes…

     I admit that I have been caught up in this madness with free Monopoly game tickets supplied at specific grocery stores. I’ve been trying to win that one million dollar cash prize for going on four years now and I have won some prizes like $50 grocery gift cards or even $5 cash here and there. Winning anything will keep you trying, you know! I don’t know if the mentality of this is all that healthy but it certainly can make you a better consumer, in truth. Now that can’t be all bad, can it? LOL  If we could fathom what the chances actually are we most likely wouldn’t even start with the entering, buying or just collecting tickets. Free chances to win are the biggest draw. You won’t even notice that you actually are spending more money than you ought to, huh ? Wink.

     At any rate, there is always a chance to win the big prize. The doozy. One starts to think about the logistics of spending or keeping a million dollars. It can truly make your head swim! When that happens to me I usually just sit down and start reading a book. So much for getting overexcited. Can money buy you all the time in the world? It can if you want it to but there are many things money can’t buy. It won’t buy back your health and won’t make people care or have compassion. You may catch yourself overindulging in something you know is no good for you. It cannot ultimately bring you happiness. If you are not a happy person before you get the money, you most likely won’t be any happier after you do get it. For years I’ve quoted this because it’s true and KISS rock star Paul Stanley was the first to say it. “Money has the unique ability to help you forget about money.”  Indeed. One has to consciously and purposely ignore money. In adulthood, it’s irrelevant until you have to pay a bill or assume responsibility for something which gains its impetus on the spending and taking-in of cold, hard cash.

      The big smile you see in the photo below for this entry is a nameless winner of the jackpot for which she’s holding said ticket. That’s a lot of money even if she had to share a portion with other winners. Not a bad cash outlay- $5- to win perhaps $5 million or much more, huh? I’d be smiling like that, too, you know. Millions of dollars won is life changing money. You’ll notice that it’s a quick pick ticket so she didn’t choose any of the numbers on the ticket. “But what is that product that she’s holding bottoms-up in the photo?”, you ask. Notice that the number is an exact replication of the A-line on her ticket? Wasn’t this a quick pick? It certainly was and there is an astounding answer to those questions. Her Zone diet purchase lot number just happened to mirror her winning number! She noticed this shortly after she found out the ticket was a winner. (Not before, by what I understand.) Perhaps, it’s a sign- certainly not an omen but rather its opposite. It was not instrumental in her winning a dime and yet there it is in black and white- just in case she missed or decided not to play that day.

      I have a theory about this that may also make you think long and hard about chance or being lucky. To me, that’s a sign that she was destined to win that money almost like an approval seal from God. It was not luck, it was meant to happen. This may give you a better or different perspective on gambling but hopefully not to an extreme. All of these purveyors of sweepstakes and ticket-to-win gaming outlets always say, “You can’t win if you don’t play.” That’s true and healthy. Just keep it to moderation. Don’t let the idea of winning more money than you could ever in your lifetime accrue by any means take over your life and mind. Be grateful for what you have and just be happy. Bring happiness to that win and it can make all the difference in the quality of your life and those around you.

The Castle Lady

When We Lose Great Men

     A year before Billy Graham’s passing, which occurred on February twenty-first this year, I was made aware by Christian Television programming that he had achieved his 98^th birthday and was amazed. I realized that he was getting up in years from his wife Ruth’s passing some years back and was hoping that he would make it to his 100^th birthday. So many people think that this is still a rare occurrence. They are incorrect, however. It has come to my attention that many more people, than ever before, are not only achieving their centennial but are living past that iconic age by several more years! While I can’t make any scientific conclusions from my casual research on this subject, it is certain that something is changing in our world that makes aging past the age of 100 possible. Are people living better? Are they maintaining superior health practices or sustenance in their daily lives? Perhaps they are just luckier than people were in the 20^th century. (Before and after World War II the average life expectancy of males who worked regular physical labor jobs was 39!) Heart attacks were the number one cause of decease through the second half of the 20^th century. Stress was blamed for this, eventually but I’m sure the fact that smoking and drinking alcohol which was very prevalent during the second half of that century also played a part.

     The 21^st century has taken a turn for the better for overall health but our stress factor may be worse than ever. Blame it on the times. Billy Graham did and with emphasis in nearly every one of his sermons which always focused primarily on salvation. I think he was wise in staying on subject. Jesus never asked us to do more than what Billy Graham did on almost a daily basis throughout most of his career as an evangelist. He may very well be the most accomplished evangelist the world has ever known aside from Jesus himself. (Billy Graham would’ve wanted me to say it that way!)

     I think it is rather consequential that Billy Graham passed away not much more than a month after I put up an entry on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on my rock pages blog on his national observance day. Something about it seems right and natural. I believe that Mr. King’s dream is coming true and is being realized even while people are on the march and saying things must change. They are right but it must start in our minds first. Go back and listen to his speech which he left ringing in our ears before he was taken from our presence. He knew that he was starting a fire that someone else would have to hold up and speak out and continue to remind us that we must unify because Christ decreed it. These two men were much more alike than they were different. What more needs to be said?

Say it!

The Castle Lady