There are Times in Life When you Just Have to Kill your Babies

This quote is about the break between having the dream and living with it. But, you can read so much into a few words.

I’m a fan of writer Ann Patchett, whose book, Truth and Beauty, is one of my favourites. This week, thanks to the website, Brain Pickings, I came across a fantastic Patchett quotation that hit very close to home, especially the last line:

“The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write — and many of the people who do write — get lost… Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.”

The stark disappointment of words is something I know a little too much about. So often the idea in my head, which initially seems so good, falls apart once I begin to try to assemble the words on paper. Suddenly my remarkable idea becomes frustratingly ordinary.

Source: Lindy Mechefske – “the stark disappointment of words” and an easy flourless chocolate truffle cake

This quote makes me think about writers having to kill their babies. That was a quote I read about editing your writing. Your words and phrases being taken out of existence. Deleting unnecessary wordage. Editing.

But, I find in life, the idea of editing things or deleting them, or exterminating… there are lots of good words for it… is an important skill to have. All things but in moderation. If you can master that in life you will save yourself a lot of stress, have more space (physically and mentally) and save money too.

Of course, no one should literally kill babies, or other children. At least let them get to adulthood, or the age of 20, and be guilty of something on the extreme side, first. Its ok to be a little dramatic, just not too literal about it.

Editorial Services You Can Provide as a Home Business

Looking for ideas to try as a home business? I found a good list. Some require skills in editing, some lean towards technical knowledge, etc. Technical writing isn’t mentioned. But, indexing was interesting, not something I have heard much about.

Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and where grammatical, stylistic and typographical errors are caught.

Proofreading. This is the last stop for a “finished” piece. The proofreader makes sure the copyediting changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process.

Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software.

Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a manuscript on big-picture things like organization and content issues.

Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for manuscripts written by experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and then a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.

Ghost Writing. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and someone else’s name is attached as the author.

Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing that promotes a product or a service.

Book writing. Do you have an expertise in something professional, such as accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like knitting? Why not write a book about it?

Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book.

Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good way to make some money writing.

via Need a Business Idea? Here are 55 | Entrepreneur.com.

Speculative Fiction merging Non-fiction, History and Horror

Create a story, with some element of horror. An even that would give you nightmares, if it happened to you.

Don’t start with a family photograph. I think that would be a bit creepy, for you and your family. Find an old photograph, black and white works well for the dramatic effect. Also, anyone in the photograph is likely no longer living, if it really is an old photo.

Build a life for a person, or people, which could be real, but might not be. If you want to work on it, look into history for the local area. Find real stories which you can link to the people in the photograph.

Make a mix of non-fiction, possibility, and your worst nightmares.

Writer/Director James Marsh’s first feature, WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP, is an intimate, shocking and sometimes hilarious account of the disasters that befell one small town in Wisconsin during the final decade of the 19th century. The film is inspired by Michael Lesy’s book of the same name which was first published in 1973. Lesy discovered a striking archive of black and white photographs in the town of Black River Falls dating from the 1890’s and married a selection of these images to extracts from the town’s newspaper from the same decade. The effect was surprising and disturbing. The town of Black River Falls seems gripped by some peculiar malaise and the weekly news is dominated by bizarre tales of madness, eccentricity and violence amongst the local population. Suicide and murder are commonplace. People in the town are haunted by ghosts, possessed by devils and terrorized by teenage outlaws and arsonists.

Source: ~~Wisconsin Death Trip – About~~

See also: Dakota Death Trip – Site by Derek Dahlsad. (Archived, but still online).

Could you go this far and make a site about your own town? It would be tricky, the mix of real stories, real people in photographs and the addition of speculation.

The Cathedrals of the Fields

We hear about the grain elevators from Saskatchewan but less often about our own Ontario barns. Those hand built, long standing structures right in our own backyard, not literally in most cases. But, there they are. You don’t need to drive far outside of a city or town in Ontario to find an old barn.

Cathedrals of the fields is a great description for them. Probably the best I have heard. I should look for more.

“These are our heritage buildings in the rural landscape,” she said. “They’ve been called the cathedrals of the fields. The craftsmanship is beautiful. They might all look the same from the outside but, on the inside, they tell stories of the farmers who built them.”

Quote from Krista Hulshof – Source: Preserving Ontario’s barns | Farms.com

Are There Psychogeography Enthusiasts in Ontario?

“There is a class of walkers who share a certain camaraderie. We are not drunks, tramps, hookers, cops, priests, party-goers or night-shift workers; we are merely outsiders. On the rare occasions when we meet we acknowledge one another with a tiny tilt of the head, or a quick nod; but each of us carries his or her own solitude. We are invisible and cannot be touched.” – Sean Stewart

A quote for explorers and those who enjoy psychogeographical explorations.

I started Ontario Psychogeography on Blogger but I haven’t found a lot to post there.

Thank You, But is Your Mind Part of Your Body?

Can you thank your body?

I’d thank my body but I don’t know if it can communicate enough to understand it. I guess having the gratitude is enough, or will have to be.

The idea of writing a letter to your own body is off putting. Speaking in thoughts or out loud doesn’t seem as odd.

Not that I don’t appreciate it being there, I just don’t know if it can understand anything I think (say or write) without my brain. Do you include your brain as part of your body. Probably, its part of the hardware. But, the software part, isn’t that not quite included.

Autonomy – does your mind have independence from your brain? Thinking of the mind as the software, not something tangible and physical like the brain. Without your brain your mind couldn’t really do much. Is there some kind of line between the mind and brain, where they connect but are individual too?

Anthropomorphism – is your body an inanimate object which you have feelings for due to your close association? Does that make it real, or do you make it real by existing inside of it and using your brain to make it move?

Pareidolia – Not the same as feeling connected to inanimate objects, this is seeing faces in them. Different and yet a lot of fun. I thought it was worth mentioning.

Thoughts inspired from Pieces of K Blog, writing prompts:

Write a love letter to your body thanking it for carrying you and keeping you alive.