tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78339640134375900952024-02-20T17:37:33.329+01:00The Copper Moon ProjectSzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-70106427783447667062016-11-01T17:51:00.003+01:002016-11-02T09:07:16.134+01:00Let it be... so there will be<br />
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The garden chores are still ON, and I don't mind them. Not that I minded them over the summer, but now it's different. More relaxed somehow.</div>
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. </div>
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Re: the title of this post.</div>
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I have written a small story as a homework for our writers' group.</div>
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The task was to use ten special words, but I'm not the dadaistic type, you know, I seek meaning.</div>
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So my story is about a middle aged woman who is meeting her former friend only to realize that said friend and she have parted ways, drifted apart...since who knows when... but now they have nothing in common.</div>
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She is not really happy with her finding, but not really sad, either, because this is just how things are.</div>
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.</div>
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I wrote this story and read it aloud among my mates in the writers' group. They said this and that and I edited the text and then edited some more. And then I stopped editing.</div>
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.</div>
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I realized that one single short story can (may) not tell all the aspects of this phenomenon in one go.</div>
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I wrote what I did because that is how I felt at the time of the writing.</div>
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Now I have changed and my focus has probably shifted.</div>
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The subject (drifting apart) still bugs me, so I guess I will have a second attempt and a third, and all will (or may) be different from each other.</div>
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<b>But if I keep editing the first one, there will be none.</b></div>
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.</div>
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So I decided to allow my writing to have its faults and hiccups and whatnot.</div>
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.</div>
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Cheers,</div>
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SzF</div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-79475396535938522522016-08-09T11:05:00.002+02:002016-08-09T11:05:34.696+02:00Summer<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I apologize for my readers for not being around here really much, uhm, like, at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Summer is so full of garden chores, we are in the middle of a renovation of one room, it's been going on for a month now, since we hardly find time to move onto the next step, and also we at times just get into the suv and drive to get away from it all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Huh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'll be back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sometime.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cheers,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">SzF.</span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-23328218601871464082016-04-14T20:22:00.000+02:002016-04-14T20:22:23.771+02:00Reflect the feelings<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Last time we had a meeting with our writers' group we were given a short task. We had to write a couple of sentences about a place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The description of the place had to reflect the emotions you felt when you were there at that specific place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A really interesting and useful exercise, indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Have you tried it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Did you like it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Do you use this intentionally or unintentionally in your writing?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think this method is like salt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you don't use it, your writing may become dull. A much needed one indeed, but one that should not be overused.:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wrote about 6 to 8 sentences and the leader of our group said she needed this particular piece for the upcoming anthology. Only that I have to expand it into at least one page. Geez.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am good at cutting out material. Expanding is a pain :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But I have not given up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">:)</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdLVVGb6TEs/Vw_fuIB_29I/AAAAAAAACcs/KL6-C0NytpYig8AJfQ_0G1ccgO05vWtmgCLcB/s1600/Erd%25C3%25A9ly2016%2B021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdLVVGb6TEs/Vw_fuIB_29I/AAAAAAAACcs/KL6-C0NytpYig8AJfQ_0G1ccgO05vWtmgCLcB/s320/Erd%25C3%25A9ly2016%2B021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-87004246286917234942016-02-15T15:17:00.001+01:002016-02-15T15:17:06.401+01:00normal<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I guess there is a saying out there about rejection letters. It goes along that the only person who doesn't get any rejection letters is the one who never submits any material to anywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I did submit two of my poems for a contest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The contest is held by an off and online magazine that publishes a collection of writings two or three times a year. Each issue is preceeded by a contest, where the editors announce words to create an atmosphere, a call to the writings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The winners get a small~ish,but fair amount of money and publication in the paper. This is how I got published my short story in the spring of 2014. The words were 'Voices in the dark'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now my poems were not good enough, but hey, I gave it a try.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This time the words the magazine used translate to 'Someone might enter' (the room).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I guess this is just the way. More contest, more writing... and sometimes, success :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-83762613781998703782016-01-16T19:12:00.003+01:002016-01-16T19:12:44.928+01:00A video about the opening<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There is a video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHGlnEyHops" target="_blank">HERE</a>, please follow the link.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(for those of you only wish to see <i>me</i>, check at 1:13. I am standing in the far left with an orange scarf. And also at 1:20 again and at 1:33, too. I guess it is not much of a pain to watch between 1:13 and 1:37)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The paintings are cool and some of my favourites are shown from 2:10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As for the recital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I had three poems to read and I almost learned them by heart. At the peace of my empty home, when no one was around I was able to recite them almost completely. Like... I had to check one or two times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I learned to play with the words in order to convey the message or let the words shine more. Or more obviously. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the event however, I was a bit nervous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There were so many people around. There was a microphone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I looked more than two times into my papers, but the feedbacks and congratulations indicate that I was able to recite loudly, clearly and to the audience (not onto my paper). My husband said that I seemed to have immersed myself into the poems somehow and that my reading was lively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I really tried to do my best :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-18443310985488665542016-01-10T21:01:00.000+01:002016-01-13T09:15:10.280+01:00An update on the paintings <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For details, see the post just below this one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But it turned out that I will not read my poem only, but two other small poems as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh my.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It seems that the leader of our writers' group was so impressed by my reading at the "Garage Sale" event (see some posts below) that she wanted me to read aloud my poem and two others as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">These two poems, written by a fellow member in the writers' group are kind of simple at first sight and funny in a certain way. They contain some play on the words, but all in one, they are a bit depressive</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">They have words like 'nuclear apocalipse' and 'Geiger Mueller meter' and 'scafander' and 'irreversible'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In a sense I am lucky, though. The event will take in the Community House of Arts of our town and I am familiar with that building. This is where I go to every week for our choir rehearsal. The opening ceremony will take place in the big hall and this is where the photos will be on display, too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Last time we finished our choir session I stayed a bit longer in the building until no one was there in the hall and tried to say some of the complicated words aloud. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It felt weird, yet I knew I was doing the right thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I never would have guessed I would be thrilled with this kind of acting. If anyone asked me like 10 years ago like hey, how about reciting three poems at a public event, I would have freaked out at the very idea. Now I see it as if I had another tool at my hands to explore the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have no idea how it will turn out.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-53521085478352515292016-01-02T19:11:00.000+01:002016-01-02T19:11:10.252+01:00A poem for a painting<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My writers' group has met a young artist, a painter. She is going to have an exhibition on 14 January 2016, and we, member of the group were asked to contribute with small poems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">During the opening ceremony our poems will be read and I suppose all poems will be printed out and positioned beside the paintings on the wall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This young lady has a special talent and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B47ntZBIXDWlbW1ZQzV3dHFNeUE/view?pref=2&pli=1" target="_blank">this is the painting</a> that inspired me the most. (Please follow the link.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">She has many other interesting works like <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B47ntZBIXDWlZGtnTXpaU2M2elU/view?pref=2&pli=1" target="_blank">this </a>and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B47ntZBIXDWlV2Flc1V3Y2ZGTm8/view?pref=2&pli=1" target="_blank">this</a>, but the deadline for submitting the poems is 4th, so I am happy to have come up with one. :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I will be reading it on the 14th :) </span></div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-39124428576178703012015-12-12T17:06:00.000+01:002015-12-12T17:06:05.702+01:00Compress, diminish, decrease<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For the words of the title I looked up the antonyms of expand at thesaurus dot com, which is, by the way, an excellent source of words for me as a foreigner and a translator of English.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And the reason?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Every or every other year our writers group issues a book centered around one theme. The last one was around food for example.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The theme of the next (2016) issue is finding new homes, approaching and/or welcoming strangers, or strangers in general arriving to new destinations.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I guess the idea was inspired by the waves of migration and by the thoughts wrapped around the whole package.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do not wish to elaborate on that particular matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We are all entitled to have opinions and we all do/think as we see fit. But I digress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A couple of years ago, like 3 or 4 years ago I had this idea about a novel. I imagined the central figure a young man about 20~25 who encounters a stranger. They make friends. The protagonist is a simple young countryman living in the 19 century. The stranger, our protagonist does not (yet?) know, is someone from outer space or from somewhere else I don't know yet :) The stranger has come to destroy our culture as his ancestors has been doing it little by little over the centuries. The protagonist welcomes the stranger not knowing that helping him eventually will cause some major problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<a href="http://szegedem.hu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Gemenc-%C3%A1rv%C3%ADz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://szegedem.hu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Gemenc-%C3%A1rv%C3%ADz.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now, this 2016 book requires a short story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So I guess I may compress my idea of a novel into a short version. Or I just may explore one small detail of the plot in general. I don't know. I am unsure, but at least there is a drive within me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I may not never write that novel set in a historical time. That is too big a chunk for me, unexperienced, anyway.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My question: do you write short stories to explore a certain part of the realm of your novel, backstory, whatever?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I guess it is a good idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-13206399837097055322015-11-28T16:38:00.002+01:002015-12-12T16:45:20.771+01:00Garage sale ~ a public reading<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Public readings in our writers' group are usually quite cozy. It's mostly just us, members of the group, one or two relatives and random passers by.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But not this time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I stopped counting the number of participants at 50.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And unlike in the past, we did not just read our stuff while sitting comfortably in our chair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This time there was a definite speaker's stand with a microphone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Oh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The one who read had to work his/her way in to the front of everyone and read standing by the wooden stand and speak to the microphone while facing the audience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Oh. My. Stage. Fright.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But I survived!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And managed to get some words of honest appreciation, too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here how it worked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The theme this time was "Garage sale". Eleven members of the group had one item. These items were made into a list. The task was to write anything in your style and plot of preference. There was a word count limit and you had to incorporate your item plus at least 4 other items from the list.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All the items were displayed for the audience to see the whole time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My item was a pair of rubber boots. Other items included a perfume bottle, a set of poker cards in a box; a weaving loom, a diary, a painted Maria with Jesus and so on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I recall a short surrealistic poem about the contents of a room; a mysterious short story about a weeping Maria in a Greek hotel; a funny short piece about a Soviet spy during WW II; and a dramatic piece that involved the recalling and erasing of memories while developing photographs in a dark room. There were 20 readings.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My piece was about an elderly couple. At the beginning the man chops wood kindlers for the stove, but the lady calls him inside and dislikes his cutting the wood in those rubber boots. She insists that chopping firewood in those boots is silly, for the small waste falls into the boots making the job uncomfortable. The argument turns into a heated one. At the end the man sets the set of poker cards flying into the air by kicking the box. Finally he returns to chopping, to his axe and keeps wearing the boots and lets the small wate fall into the boots.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With this short story I kind of looked into our future with my husband :) I wanted to write about arguing. Write an unpleasant conversation. Or something unsettling. Because this is what I usually DON'T write about. I sort of stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote about interaction between partners. I voiced their negative feelings towards each other. I also wanted to show their frustration. At the end of the day though, I don't think these two truly dislike one another.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One commenter asked me whether I spied on some elderly neighbours. She found my characters so alive that she said I must have eavesdropped some of their conversation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another commenter said that my piece was among the best reads this evening and she was able to imagine a complete novel around this couple.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">More than one commenter said that part of the success of my story came from the way I presented it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well, I did rehearse it like 2 or two times, but I thought I was uneasy with the microphone, with speaking behind a formal speaker's stand. Wow. A success :) I mean I thought the story was among my better ones, but getting praised for presentation? That surprised me :)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2zFMu-kQcM/VlnHX_OEpJI/AAAAAAAACbY/7G_ukUQInrc/s1600/DSCF0131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2zFMu-kQcM/VlnHX_OEpJI/AAAAAAAACbY/7G_ukUQInrc/s320/DSCF0131.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-72790623462117676212015-11-24T11:08:00.003+01:002015-11-24T11:08:52.918+01:00Crossroads<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am stating the more than obvious when I say that I am not a writer.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For a writer writes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">:)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some people write for getting their names printed. I am not one of them. Well, not now. I used to be that person but since I have been publishing professional articles in monthly agriculture magazines since 2009 I am good. The need to get my name on printed paper is checked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some people write for getting paid. With those magazines? Check.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some people write for handing out advice, to get their opinion heard with masses. With those magazines? At times, check, too. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some people strive to enter the realm of literature or at least, some part of it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I also got into two of the anthologies of our writers' group these years. I got only into two and not four because I declined the latter two opportunities for financial reasons.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> .</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But some people write because there is something buggering them and they either found the solution or are in the way to get there. Well at times, I am one of those.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There is hope :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">You know, I wonder if those magazines get all my creative juices and there is nothing left for 'other' writing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If this is not the case then I am either 1) lazy or otherwise hindered to get my thoughts in order and set writing or 2) I have nothing to say.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If writing articles for magazines do take my juices it means that I am low on writing power then I have two options 1) accept it and write only when absolutely needed. Those do happen, mind you. But like one or two times a year. 2) raise my activities in one way or another.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So much for today and I am leaving for the moment with this photo.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Taken in 18 November 2015 in the Pilis Mountains.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t1-7V7HrlKI/VlQ22RyUrqI/AAAAAAAACa4/znB12hDcYBM/s1600/2015november18.jpg%2B%25285%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t1-7V7HrlKI/VlQ22RyUrqI/AAAAAAAACa4/znB12hDcYBM/s320/2015november18.jpg%2B%25285%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh well, this Thursday our writers' group is to have a public reading. More on that later.</span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-83327409249625171232015-10-16T18:23:00.003+02:002015-10-16T18:24:36.717+02:00Mixed emotions(I am too lazy to browse around older posts to see whether this topic was covered or not, but either way...)<br />
(And I feel kind of, no, kind of really stupid) to keep bragging about the very same novel I wrote in 2010. Every new post about the Copper Moon is a proof that I wrote the first draft and did nothing significant else with that particular writing ever since. It drowns me a bit. Copper Moon should have been edited and printed and sold out. Not in its present form, mind you, I know it's far from perfect...)<br />
....<br />
So one of these days I realized that it still lingers within me, although I don't think of being capable of adding another paragraph or page without the reader noticing the difference.<br />
Five years passed and I changed.<br />
I might not want to convey the very same message that was important for me back in 2010.<br />
I might want to shift focus.<br />
I might have to give up on it totally...if the non~writing/editing/polishing of it keeps drowning me.<br />
....<br />
<br />
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-53651639335577456632015-03-01T09:03:00.000+01:002015-03-01T18:01:06.085+01:00Different types of escapes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(You may want to see the official definition of <a href="http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/escape" target="_blank">escape</a>.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The role of writing in escaping, and writing as an escape in general: issues that have always been in the focus of writers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Some write to create a whole new world, new sets of rules, new buddies, new tasks ~ anything new, other~wordly, or simply 'anything else' will do instead of those the writer faces in his everyday life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Some write create a parallel universe to fantasize about their real~life problems. These writers tend to kill their demanding and unjust boss, take over the rule of the world (or at least, a small village), get their loved ones, or ditch their present ones.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At the moment I can not think of a third (or fourth) category (type), so feel free to add your ideas in the comments section. Genuinely new categories will be incorporated to the post.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">~</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Escapism must be coming from a problem unsolved.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I guess any type of escape can help the writer (or the reader) find the solution to his problem. For the first glimpse the first type looks more creative, but the second one a better way to cope with the original problem, but my judgement is biased as my escape~writing belongs to the second category.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What is your take on the usefulness of these two (or more) types?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Where do you feel your writing belongs?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(if you write for escape, that is...)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Great_Siege_Tunnels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Great_Siege_Tunnels.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-17215804800854958792015-02-27T21:22:00.003+01:002015-02-27T21:22:32.969+01:00no problem, no writing<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">and it is the other way around as well....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I will no longer cheat myself into believing I am a writer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do not want to finish it off, or call it a life, whatever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's just that I no longer pretend that my writing is not therapeutic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If something bothers me, I elaborate on the subject.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Be it a personal, or a second~hand experience, a feeling, a haunting memory, illness of mind, the state of being content, excited or aroused.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I let it out in writing, work my way into it, give an alternative life to it, and finish it off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But when there is nothing to tickle me I do not write.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">No problem?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">No writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">No writing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">No problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span><br />
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-78861880018552571042015-02-09T13:24:00.000+01:002015-02-09T14:59:10.875+01:00Reality vs. writing<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I was wondering the other day and I gathered that I was not a writer.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Writers write about anything.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do write, <i>per se</i>, but my writing is sporadic; and is based on direct experience.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In writing non fiction my motive is to show or find a solution, to say goodbye to a former problem, to create an alternative history, be it better, or worse, than reality...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But it is always based on personal experience.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am yet to come to terms with this finding.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And I end this post here for I am tired of writing so many I's and my's.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~~~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~~~ </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the meantime, my gastro short story is in the editing phase.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There are two parts to it. The first part is quite fine I guess. The second one is a bit tougher.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This photo (made by me in Prague, the Czech Republic on July 2014) shows the place where the final paragraph of the first part happens.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kiohWQmZKNA/VNimnqiTuKI/AAAAAAAACaA/GjUpvBZmuBs/s1600/DSCF0122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kiohWQmZKNA/VNimnqiTuKI/AAAAAAAACaA/GjUpvBZmuBs/s1600/DSCF0122.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh, I love that first part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is about something that should (might) have happened, while actually it never did. It is a story of a man (a married man) and his platonic lover, who is not his wife.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The second part of the story takes place in a lovely home, in the kitchen to be more specific, between said husband and his wife.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Why is the first part the better one?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Okay, you don't have to answer that :) :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But you know what...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Answer I dare you :) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hee, hee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-21885323166322072015-02-07T22:07:00.002+01:002015-02-07T22:07:27.193+01:00It's history<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The will to write for the history~themed fiction contest is history.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wanted to shed some light on some of the lesser known part of our history. I thought it was a good motive. An educational purpose.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But without a good story, it's just a motivation and not a story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The end.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">With that said, I read a lot, do my duties and try to carry on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I believe the chance will come.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sometime.</span></div>
<br />
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-43075967961866188742015-01-16T12:43:00.001+01:002015-01-16T13:50:05.897+01:00writing on schedule <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Charles had a good post on what effect time, tasks, unexpectedness and planning have on his writing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here is my take on the subject.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fortunately I too, have regular duties. Earning money with something you feel competent to is one great feeling. I can plan my days, but as a free~lancer I sometime have translation jobs that just seem to pop up out of nowhere, and the client wants it the day before he sent it to me...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Also, since I keep chicken, and manage a large garden, I may expect the unexpected.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Other than that my days pretty much fit in a reliable schedule.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So why is the low word count?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My reasons:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I write only when there is a story stirring within me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Therefore as Charles mentioned, some stories are written over a massively outstreched period of time. Take one of my last short stories for example. I started writing it August 2014 and finished it a day or two before Christmas. And I am not really content with the second part, so there's some editing work ahead...).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">2.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Writing has a general effect on me, on my nerves. I like writing, but it is also a kind of stress, sometimes in a good, sometimes in a bad sense.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Say, it's like a drug.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My job involves writing. Translating and editing, writing articles...all writing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There is a point for me, a state of being, when writing is more of a hard job than a source of joy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As long as my payjob is not done, I have to keep on writing...but when I am really tired, I don't usually seek writing again as a relief (except for states of inspiration, see point 1.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A fine example of this was the NaNo in 2010.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I had my jobs as well, but I managed to get down 800 to 2000 words a day for the purpose of finishing the novel in time.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the moment I have a plan to write a short story for a history~themed contest, but that is the subject of the following post.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-31385819514804565132014-12-22T19:54:00.006+01:002014-12-23T08:12:25.638+01:00easy come....best to stay?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Where shall I start?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Our house is relatively small, and whenever I write, be it a blogpost, a chatline in facebook, an article for an agricultural monthly, or any work in progress, the very action of writing is obvious to anyone in the house. It just can not go unseen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have gotten used to it, and it kind of inspires me, too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The kids don't seem to care, but my husband sometimes notes that I write so fast and am so immersed in writing as if my life depended upon finishing it, while at other times I type, do something and type again and so forth.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He claims that there is a correlation between the speed I write with and the quality of the outcome. He thinks the pieces I write with much enthusiam are better.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am not so sure... :) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But there might be a tendency.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When the scene is right in front of me, the feelings I want to convey are clear, (I type faster), the story is more vivid for me, at least. But for the reader?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My DH is just one of the readers :) :) </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What's your experience?</span><br />
<br />
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<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-71384952030725574692014-12-19T13:41:00.000+01:002014-12-19T13:41:05.750+01:00the gastro story<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There is this short story, totalling to about 4000 words, that I have been writing since late August.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's been a long time, but as per usual, I have my good reasons for not finishing ever since.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(I had to finish articles for the monthly magazines I work for, I even had a translation job in between)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And then there are the usual bad reasons...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Waiting for inspiration, waiting for something else.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At times I didn't even bother to open the file for days or at times, for a week or two.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sometimes I came accross ideas, facts, interesting aspects, and I slap my forehead and thank myself for having waited for such a wonderful component of the story. I even praise myself saying 'how good it was to NOT write the story... see? This one piece of idea/fact/aspect was just what you needed'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But I think it is the other way around.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Since I have the urge to finish the story (do I, really?) anything that rings that particular bell reminds me of the story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Do I classify as a procastrinator?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And also, if a story is not coming out by itself, is it worth writing?</span></div>
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<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-39924242590451752442014-12-09T08:51:00.000+01:002014-12-09T08:55:59.967+01:00Owe me, owe you<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yesterday I finished a short story, where the ending is based partly on my memories. This is a haunting, a nightmare~ish memory, the one you keep repressing, yet eventually, it has to see the sunlight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I worked along the story to have this memory well grounded, and when I was writing, memories of the past have, for some minutes, become things of the present, and I underwent the same pressure again.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As with all therapeutic writing, it took much of the stress away from me and I felt liberated.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But here comes the uneasy part: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This writing was not intended to entertain/educate only me, this writing will be read at a reading evening of our writers' group this Friday.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(I have already contacted someone to read it aloud for me...so I am not worrying about my massive stage fright)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The question rather is that am I able to make the experience as important for the reader as it was for me?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/06/article-0-1CE2B0F900000578-665_634x603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/06/article-0-1CE2B0F900000578-665_634x603.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I owed myself this story, but I also owe the reader (or the listener) to be able to grasp it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is the trouble of writing from one's own experience: the writer has bits of information he knows so well and feels so minute and/or evident that he leaves them out of the story. Yet these are needed for the experience to be complete.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On a second thought....</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I know that no reader/listener will feel the exact same thing what I felt. No problem with that.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But he has to feel something not unlike to what I felt.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">How do you overcome the problem of writing things out, writing about haunting memories? How do you make the feeling as memorable for the reader as it is/was to you?</span></div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-13987974876670039002014-11-18T16:25:00.001+01:002014-11-18T16:25:55.946+01:00<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">NaNo knocked on my door, bringing memories of 2010, but I resisted.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do not participate, neither did I in years 2011, 2012 and 2013.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yet the memories are so strong that when October is about to say goodbye, I feel the urge to sit down again and write, but with each year coming, the call gets easier to resist.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think I have to finish the first novel before starting a new project. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is just how I work, I guess.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It took me some months and even years to figure out the faults of the story, the story arch, the characters. Well I write 'figure out' meaning 'gaining awareness of'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am well detached by now to start rewriting.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Geez. I have just written that down.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">:)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I guess Charles is working in a much more practical, useful and economic way. But he is a published author, which I am not. :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I allow myself to be this way, while I do acknowledge the talent of those who keep steadily on writing, boosteed with ideas, plots and twists and all.</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg/962px-VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg/962px-VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-58467275453962163222014-08-02T19:18:00.005+02:002014-08-02T19:21:20.478+02:00too close<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have not written anything in the past couple of months. Summer is almost never a creative period for me because of my daily routine (I tend a garden) and whenever I sit down in front of my laptop it's for 2 reasons: either for fun (movie, chatting with friends) or for work. And for work I write.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And also, there is a story in my head, but it is so heavily related to my own life that I have issues about it. Actually, it was a first-hand experience in 2009 - and although I think I have analyzed, over-analyzed the whole thing over and over again, I just can not let it into words after words as a short story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is not a story <i>per se</i>, it is rather a bunch of emotions stuffed into a kind of funny situations. Maybe there is nothing to write about it. Maybe I am just not suitable to write it, or to write about it now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">- </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For this story I was thinking about a gastro-setting, where the characters eat and the way they eat and the things they eat kind of reflect their respective personality and/or the type of relationship they have with each other.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-60473041633961512452014-06-09T08:13:00.002+02:002014-06-09T09:00:56.463+02:00how my short story did<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">at the contest***.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As you may remember, the contest was dedicated to the 100 anniversary of beginning of the first World War (1914). This war re-wrote the map of Europe and devastated Hungary, as it resulted in loosing two-thirds of the country's original territory. (This is no typo here guys: 2/3).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Participants were expected to explore the effects of war, the deeds of heroes and those that served them silently in the back-country.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, pieces written about WW II. were also eligible.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There were two categories: one for prose and one for poems.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The story that won the first place in 'prose' was a superb story with so many emotions that it lifted your spirit in one moment and let it sink at the other. It was excellently written and left you in awe. A well-earned first place indeed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The other winning entries kind of left me untouched. There were 1st , 2nd and 3rd places and a special prize for both prose and poems.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">- </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I got none of these prizes, but I had the chance (as I had a year ago, too...) to talk to two of the three judges (acknowledged Hungarian writers and poets) and I have their opinion to share with you here.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the judges liked my short story so much that reading it left him wanting to meet the writer in person</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. I take it as a compliment. He also said that my writing was within the first 5 best of his choice but he dropped it because it was longer than the limit. Unfortunately not only it was longer but at times it was way too elaborate, unnecessary detailed and winding at places. Had I chopped it down to the character limit, the winding-style would have gone, too, he suggested. I was glad to take this advice and was overwhelmed with the praise :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The other judge I talk to also said that my writing was within the first 5-7 best of his choice but he dropped it because it was looong-ish and way too elaborate at places. Whew. :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He also said that in one particular scene I was quite obscure where I should have been more to the point. I thanked him too, for his time and personal consultation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I am so glad that the faults they found are faults I am aware of.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I did know that my writing tends to be way too winding (meandering) and/or obscure at times. I know the problem which means I may find a solution.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Geez, I am happy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">:)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">***</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is the third year of the contest. It is organized by the town where I live and is growing bigger and bigger as years pass. The awarding ceremony is hosted by the mayor of the town. It is held in the town library (a very famous one) and the results are published in the local paper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">http://writerswrite.co.za/30-famous-quotes-on-writing-in-plain-language </span></div>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-57342892028769461332014-05-16T21:42:00.000+02:002014-05-16T21:42:22.573+02:00on the writing front<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dear Charles :)</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dear readers,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">if any...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is to recollect all my activities and questions on the writing front.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I wrote a short story based on real events in WW II. This 6-page story has been submitted to a local contest where the main theme (inspiration) was war, the effect of war on families, on people, on humane feelings, and the like.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The story is about a family that lives in the countryside and takes place in the last year of the war when the Germans are gone, but the worse is still to come: the Russians, but the family's worst night comes when Hungarian soldiers roam the village. These soldiers pretend to be ill to escape the end of war, but they are hungry and greedy. The end is good, though.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Someone who lived through this hell allowed me to use his story, which I re-told from a perspective of a 11 year old girl.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I will update you on the contest.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I wrote a really short story (3 pages) about a 40 something man (he's the pov, first person) who is fed up with being overflown with information. Basically he is freaking out, turns into a catatonic state and feels utterly happy there. He doesn't care about being institutionalized, fed by a nurse and so on: he is happy to be able to watch the whitewashed wall from his bed because there is no information on the wall at all and it satisfies him. Until one day he finds out that there is a spider in the corner watches him. The end is quite a horrible one, but the character likes the outcome.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This piece was sent into a competition and it won me some money and the story got published in a magazine that is issued like 6 times a year or so.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The quality of other writings that came along my story in that particular issue of the magazine are quite good, but almost all of them are as dark as my story. Still I feel I am in good company.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I have not written anything since February.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(more may come...) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<br />SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-60131465794210450162014-01-05T22:11:00.001+01:002014-01-15T22:16:49.260+01:00writing projects for January UPDATED<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I plan to write at least one, but preferably two short stories by the end of January.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The first I am working on right now is a story set in the last days of the 2nd world war. The idea was given by someone I know at the writers' course I attend in town.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He was 2 at the time the war reached his village.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am writing his story, or rather, the story told by his older brother, the one who was 6 at the time of the events.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">- </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is not really and outstandingly difficult to see the world with the eye of a 6 yo boy, as my son (who has just turned 17 this December) once was 6, too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am a bit confused, though.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Am I to write the story to be read to kids? Is this a story to be read by adults? UPDATE: I definitely think it's the latter.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have to use the voice of a 6 yo to entertain adults.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hm...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Any suggestions?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There is a massive plot, with things going on, it's the voice that is crucial I guess.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am opting for a first person singular point of view character. That is, I am telling the story as if it was told by the kid himself.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Any opinions?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Thank you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">UPDATE:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I finished the first draft and so far, two test-readers (betas) have read it. One of them said the voice was too mature for a 6 yo, the other one said my protagonist looked/felt younger than a 6 yo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Go figure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">:)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(there will be more betas in the future, for I am planning to introduce the story in a competition.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As you surely know 2014 is the 100 year anniversary for World War I., and in Hungary alone there are at least 3 or 4 war-themed contests going on right now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833964013437590095.post-88246476455833004332013-12-30T21:36:00.002+01:002013-12-30T21:37:31.963+01:00Contemplating...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have not really written much these weeks.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My computer broke and I had to reinstall and restart the laptop.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I switched from Chrome to Firefox and this stupid thing makes blogging more difficult.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I may not frequent the blog as much as I used to, but the main reason behind the lack of posts is the lack of writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do have ideas, and I get them on paper. I play with them for a while but I usually find that the idea has already been written by great writers, and even if it seems a novel idea to me, there are great writers out there in the past and in the present, whose work worth more than mine will ever do, and also there are writers out there, whose work might not be as good as mine, but they are published while mine are not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I just contemplate and enjoy the good writing of famous and not-so-famous writers these days.</span></div>
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SzélsőFahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11600289147447182465noreply@blogger.com2