Category: Mind and Spirit

Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.

A tale of truths. About writers. And other strange happenings, part II.

Published February 26, 2014 4:02 pm by Claire

Where were we now? Oh yes, back on the job in California, shortly after my trip to Ireland. Dealing with writers.

I hope not to disappoint after yesterday’s cliffhanger. But this really is about writers and not about defiance and resistance — though it is possible that my old friend Maurice could make another appearance before this story is done.

—–

Not long after returning, I was making my way down the pile of short-story manuscripts when I ran across another from one of those “two percent” writers — the almost-wonderful ones.

This manuscript told a charming tale, perfect for the kind of magazine we were working on.

25 Comments

A tale of truths. About writers. And other strange happenings

Published February 25, 2014 5:39 pm by Claire

Let me tell you a story.

This may ramble a bit because it goes both into the ancient past (well, my ancient past) and into places far away. But it begins with Ms Lynn Shepherd, she of the infamous “JK Rowling should get out of the way so no-talent hacks like me have a chance,” HuffPo journalistic fart.

I never told you, but for a very short time, I was a magazine editor. I mean a very short time. We quickly ran out of ways to praise the airline whose magazine it was and the CEO lost interest.

But in the moments it lived, it took fiction submissions. And paid decently for them. Even then, fiction was dying out in magazines. Had been for decades. The golden days with golden pays of the 1920s-40s were long gone. Nobody wanted made-up stuff anymore. They wanted relevance. But we took fiction submissions.

Boy, did we ever. After our birth announcement appeared in a major writers’-market magazine, we took nothin’ but. Two-foot-tall heaps of it.

—–

That stuff broke my heart. It freakin’ broke my heart in ways I’ll never forget.

16 Comments

This month’s best fisking

Published February 24, 2014 6:12 pm by Claire

I usually ignore self-important little whiners (like this one, for instance) who think the world would be a better place — for them — if it would only run on their agenda. I mean, seriously. Life is just too short. Anyhow, Ayn Rand, for all her personal and literary faults, said all that ever needed to be said about such types in Atlas Shrugged. Still, it’s fun to watch a master tear self-righteous losers to pieces. To wit: Here’s successful writer Larry Correia savagely fisking a HuffPo whine-a-thon by unsuccessful writer Lynn Shepherd. Shepherd thinks that the world’s most successful…

18 Comments

Good-bad attitude; good-bad reasons

Published February 22, 2014 11:57 am by Claire

Good bad attitude

Thursday, I went to that place I inaccurately refer to as The Big City. Mostly it qualifies as The Big City only if you’re used to places like Chicken, Alaska, or Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.

Still, despite not being as cosmopolitan as Casper, Wyoming, or as bustling as Pocatello, Idaho, our Big City has its metropolitan moments. Not all of them good.

To wit, we were at a stoplight, third in line to make a right turn, when an elderly gent started hobbling across the street with the aid of a cane. He was moving at a pretty good clip for a bent old guy. But that wasn’t good enough for the jerk whose truck was first in line for the turn.

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Said cretin laid on the horn. Hoping to accomplish what, I can’t imagine. Did he expect the old guy to hop on his cane and fly the rest of the way across the street?

My friend L. and I were indignant and feeling very bad for the harrassed octogenarian. But he didn’t need our sympathies. As he stepped to the curb, he raised an arm high over his head and gave the truck jerk an emphatic “friendly finger” before striding onward.

—–

Bad good attitude

The occasion for the Big City expedition was birthdays. Two friends are about to have them and a third missed hers a few months ago because she was in the hospital wishing she were dead.

So I told the three I’d take them to lunch at a lovely winery near the Big City. We’re blessed to have a gorgeous winery in this otherwise dreary working-class area and it’s always a treat to go there.

12 Comments

“No, Sire, it is a revolution.”

Published February 20, 2014 6:10 am by Claire

And that’s not a good thing. Simon Black on food, revolutions, and other matters. (Nothing you don’t already know, but some good reminders, nevertheless.) The main difference is that Westerners have been brainwashed into believing that the civilized people voice their grievances in a voting booth rather than doing battle in the streets. It’s a false premise. Unfortunately, so is violent revolution. As my dictionary so perfectly defines, “revolution” has two meanings. First, it can denote an overthrow of a sitting government, whether violent or ‘bloodless’. But in celestial terms, ‘revolution’ denotes a complete orbit around a fixed axis. In…

6 Comments

Drip … drip … drip.

Published February 18, 2014 7:50 am by Claire

I found this yesterday via Tam and have been thinking how to comment/elaborate on it: “Assortative Relocation, Remington, and You” by WeaponsMan.

He’s taking the long look at Remington’s just-announced decision to open a plant in Huntsville, Alabama.

Remington has been identified for nearly two centuries with an otherwise unheralded burg in upstate New York. Ilion. That’s where a man with the marvelous name of Eliphalet Remington designed his first gun. And since 1816, apparently not much else has ever happened in Ilion other than … Remington.

The company says it has no intention of abandoning its plant or employees there; it’s just expanding (and good for Remington). Furthermore, a Cuomo spokesthing waves its arms and frantically shouts, “New York isn’t losing any jobs! New York isn’t losing any jobs!”

But this is how it works. Even a union official (member of a crowd that tends to be oblivious to ways in which actions produce consequences) understands.

SAFE Act … general nannying … high costs of doing business … crushing regulation = eventual goodbye.

9 Comments

Three deaths; two funerals

Published February 13, 2014 12:11 pm by Claire

This is another of those where I begin without knowing where I’m going. Bear with me.

—–

About 15 years ago, I attended a funeral on a desolate hilltop in Wyoming. I’ve avoided weddings and funerals most of my life. This was only the second funeral I’d ever been to.

The first had been conventional, insincere — and an excruciating ordeal for everyone involved.

The Wyoming funeral was the most sincere thing you could imagine.

31 Comments

Read Joel. Just do. And to Frederick and Anonymous: Thank you.

Published February 12, 2014 6:13 am by Claire

“If you knew you were going to die this year …” I suspect that Frederick, the dying man who just paid for Joel’s new batteries, is the anonymous soul who allowed me to print his story here last year. I don’t know. But judging by the great spirit Frederick has shown Joel and the great spirit with which “Anonymous” approaches his death, it’s a good guess. Judging by the fact that Frederick is now in hospice care, I guess his time is short. So Frederick and Anonymous, whether you are two or one, thank you for sharing your tremendous spirit…

2 Comments

Things pre-ordained (but mostly about the SuperBowl)

Published February 3, 2014 10:22 am by Claire

Watched the SuperBowl last night. First football game I’ve seen in 20 years. But I used to love pro football and with “my” Seahawks playing (not to mention this being the Stoner Bowl), I had to tune in on the computer. Funny how the game seemed pre-ordained to go the Seahawks way from its first seconds. The instant that flubbed first snap flew over Peyton Manning’s head and the ‘Hawks fell on it for a safety just 12 seconds into the game (earliest score ever in a SuperBowl), the Broncos seemed out of focus, off their game — and doomed.…

24 Comments

A Sunday afternoon ramble

Published January 26, 2014 4:24 pm by Claire

Boy, this working for a living stuff is hard. Stimulating, challenging, often fun, and a great way to break a long financial drought. But hard.

This afternoon for the first time in quite a while, I was able to wrap up work before meandering in the woods with the dogs. Brilliantly sunny day — and we’ve had more of those than any winter I can ever remember here. I’m sorry for you in the east suffering all those Bad Boy winter storms (Zeus or Giorgio or Henri-Claude or whatever they’re calling them, these days). I’m sorry for you Californians facing a dangerously dry summer. But here? Glorious!

Anyhow, so instead of charging out and back for the sake of doggie exercise and canine elimination needs, I actually rambled. Meandered. I might have even managed a few minutes of strolling. It was amazing. Really.

—–

And now I’m just rambling here. Just writing down whatever comes to mind. These little verbal expeditions tend to embarrass me, but they also draw a lot of thoughtful, touching comment. Which is I guess at least part of what this blog ought to be about. It’s one of the best feature’s of Joel’s blog, that he just exposes all those warts and lets you visit him inside the Secret Lair on good days and bad.

—–

Still, other things go on in the world.

18 Comments