DLKeur: To Infinity & Beyond, Forever » thoughts on the fly

A Wonderful Quote

dlkeur — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:16:04 +0000

Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like an unleashed imagination. ~William Arthur Ward

Rude and Crude

dlkeur — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:45:25 +0000

I think it is rather rude of some people to suggest that I’m not successful enough to suit their ideals of who they think I should be. In fact, I think it’s crude.

Today’s Funny

dlkeur — Sun, 09 May 2010 06:12:43 +0000

So, do tell me, spammers: what does hair style info have to do with premium hotel rooms? Or, for that matter, what does replacing windows have to do with cosmetic hair removal info? Or…oh, never mind. I realize you’ve not got a clue. I just find a quick content check what the spam filters siphon off the server to be hilariously ludicrous.

Protected: A’s and L’s

dlkeur — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:32:59 +0000

Want a Funny?

dlkeur — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:09:15 +0000

Want a funny? I was looking at some statistics to substantiate a position in an argument and came across some other interesting statistics. Get these:

Most neo-conservative women buy Harlequin slurpy, wet panty pulp “romances”, not high quality books, despite all the “family values” rhetoric that spews forth from their brazen mouths.
Similarly, neo-conservative men are the most avid, if furtive, consumers of porn.

That’s an eye-opener. I’ll never quite look at neo-conservatives quite the same ever again. Here I thought they stuck to the bible as their main body of activity, literary or otherwise.

The Interesting Thing About My Husband’s Associates

dlkeur — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:26:56 +0000

I just love it when contacts I make and develop through friends and family connections are assumed by my husband’s associates to be theirs exclusively to take credit for and cultivate, treating my husband as if he’s some sort of second class entity. Shame on YOU.

Pounding Her Pulpit

dlkeur — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:02:57 +0000

There’s a woman — a missionary, no less — who absolutely insists that we all sit up and pay attention to her every post, her every new self-promotional effort. I’d can the feed if I could, but I can’t because there are good things happening in the group and there are good people in it. But every time I get another notification with this woman’s name on it, I just get this indescribable urge to hunt her down and stuff all her spam-bytes back down her throat. It’s bad of me, I know, but, gawd, some folks just have no manners whatsoever. Problem is, despite the misery she causes with her bloated self-infatuation, all these “nice” people fawn all over themselves telling her how she just floors them with her energy. It ain’t the energy that’s flooring them, tell the truth, though. It’s the audacity! She’s a missionary, remember, guys? So she can handle the truth, right? (Yeah, yeah, we know she can’t, but, hey, tough, I say.) So, guys and gals, quit your fawning and tell it like it is. Tell her to shut the f— up if she ain’t got something other than her own horn to blow!

Social Networking Fools

dlkeur — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:58:27 +0000

Is it something in the water? Are there really that many folks out there in the real world who have nothing better to do with their lives than “tweet” on Twitter or send instant messages, text messages (cell phones) and generally blather and blah? How in the world do you concentrate on “doing” if all you do is blather? Productive get-togethers are one thing, but this “social networking” is for what? To try to win folks over to partake of your…what? Seems to me it’s just another way to make mouth noise just because. It’s the lonely hearts club trying to find friendship and love…or something. Who knows. What I know is that it’s human white-noise, and I have no use for human white noise. It’s a waste of time and life. Go DO SOMETHING!!!

One Thousand Raindrops

dlkeur — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:05:03 +0000

I sit outside at morning twilight and listen to a thousand raindrops. It’s quiet, except for the raindrops…and the wind (I think). But, wait, there is no wind, no movement in the treetops. Is it, then, the lake, its waves? No. That underlying roar is raindrops hitting a thousand roofs. One thousand raindrops each upon a thousand rooftops while humans mostly sleep. Good morning.

And Speaking of Boring, Writers…

dlkeur — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:47:38 +0000

I’m trying to reopen The Deepening, not as an online fiction magazine, but as a stimulating place to discover the joys of reading fiction. I have a category called Peek Behind the Scenes which is supposed to give a look into the creative minds responsible for the stories. Unfortunately, nothing much comes up in the way of “interesting” when it comes to many writers. Most writers are REALLY BORING. A look at their forums and their blogs will confirm this if you doubt me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know authors who ARE exciting people. Their minds are constantly abuzz with what-ifs, they are forever rolling out new ideas, playing with possibilities, toying with potentials. A few. Some really good ones, too. But the majority? Omigod. Dry, boring, awful. The only thing coming out of their fingers when it isn’t fiction is their medical history, their love life, and their daily routines from brushing their teeth to their craving for adulation and praise (“Pweez, pweez, wuv my stories and gimme lotz and lotz of muny.”)

I’m sorry, but if the best thing an author has to offer as insight is some sappy, giddiness about how much they totally adore the false flattery given them by some reviewer they paid, or, worse, some whiny moan about how hard it is to get published, nobody cares, especially me. What I want to hear is how they conceive their worlds, what generates an idea to form itself into a plot, what drives them to create characters and how they make them so real that their readers want to know more and more about those characters.

What drives the ideas? What music, sounds, visions, happenings? What happens inside them to make such magic happen with words (if what they do is any good, that is…which, for the majority who call themselves writers, isn’t)?

What do I see and hear from writers, though?

“I’ve got an adorable baby, a husband, a cat, and a dog. I live in Anytown, AnyCountry. I want to be rich and famous someday. I love my new patio, and my favorite color is red.”

“I’m simply the most marvelous thing since chocolate syrup. You really will love my new book called Sonya’s Sunshine Dream and you need to buy a copy over at BlankDotCom where all my books are published by DumbSap Publishing.”

“Those rotten publishers and agents won’t even look at my book. They didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to my query until over six months after I sent it in. And then they said no. I mean, sure their guidelines say ninety days, but I’m special….”

Um…get a life?

Of course, artists aren’t much better, and neither are muscians, but, right now, I’m ranting on writers because it seems to me that I should be able to look somebody up and they should have more in their bio and on their blog than “I’m married and have two kids…,” ”My eczema is better,” ”I just finished tidying up my closet…,” or “I just got rejected again….”

Nobody cares. Really. Give us some insights into what catalyzes your creativity, what excites you, what makes you write a pulse-pounding story. Else, hang it up. Don’t say anything. That would do you less harm.