Writers

Hi guys
Xmas is coming- Buy one of my art works for your best friends at :
http://www.redbubble.com/people/Rolandrimsky

hey ev'ry1

i am new on this group and i am very excited to learn from each and every talented writers in this group!

"Friends, I , the returning officer hereby declare Hon tortoise, Ludgate as the elected President of territory 28793 XX of crater Palanduma, Mars. Out of the Total 23987 votes, 23943 were discarded as void. God bless all."

I have been doing my crafting this week getting my christmas cards maked so not alot of writing being done. My garden has to have so work done on it too. The children book I am having a go at is still being hard work at the bit of it that I cannot think of the next bit. I know the end and the start is down. It is getting it to the end. I write short storys and this one is alot longer. But I would like to do it if I can. Working on christmas storys for my blog this weekend. Happy writing all

........thing out! Hopefully I'll get used to the set up! Any other good folk from the UK???!!!

I just wanted to say hello. Im pretty new to blogging and am still learning the ropes. I get great pleasure writting poetry, and thought that by bloging. I could share it with other people. The following poem is titled

Chaos of alcholism

Stripped of dignity
and set on one.
Stood at the bar like
he lost someone.

Why wont you just tell
him whats going on?
Ten pints later
crying for his Mum.
Where did it go wrong?
Where has he gone?

"Could of been something"
He mutters "could've shone
Instead I'm Here,
Having another one"
Drinking his answers
His questions have gone.

Hi hope you all read my little story I posted. Working on some christmas ones now. I write for children but hope all will like them. I am still working on the bigger one. But it is not going to well. Cannot get sat down to write it lots of things to do around the house. I also love reading old books and I sit down to write then end up reading a book. I know I should be writing but I do it. Or I end up in the garden on a good day. Maybe I will get work done this winter when it is to wet outside. Happy writing all .

I can't seem to find
Any my space in my mind
There are the things
To do
the people Who
must be seen and spoken to

I can't seem to find
Anywhere to sit and hide
To watch
and learn from my children
Missing them is watching
Through someone else's eyes

If it's coming, let it come.

Bring on the darkness. I've waited so long for it's cold shadow to descend.

A month I was told. Three have passed and still I wait.

I relax, and here it comes. All pain gone.

I am no more.....

Leaves a trillion on my lawn
I rake and then...
They're back by dawn

I rake, I sing,
I'm full of beans
I feel as though
I'm in my teens

The air is clean
the morning's fresh
This time of day
for me is best

Heart a pumping
back now breaking
But I must continue
Raking

Because the gardener
comes on Friday
So the garden
MUST be tidy

I cannot have him
think me lazy
Though my husband
says I'm crazy

The tree that sheds
the leaves galore
Aint even ours
It's theirs next door!!!

Bang, bang, bang!
I gritted my teeth and sat quietly.
Bang, bang, bang!
I tried desperately to pretend it didn't bother me but it was no good, I was mad as hell.
Was it the fact that I was tired or was it really annoying?
In my pondering I hadn't noticed that it had gone quiet.
I started to relax and with a deep sigh, went back to my book.
Two words in and there it was again, the rhythmic kicking of the back of my seat.

My long haul flight to Thailand had been marred by some little brat kicking my seat. Well enough was enough they were going to get the full force of my wrath.
I stood up and turned in my confined space and shouted at the top of my voice
"Can you stop kicking my seat? Four bloody hours of bang, bang, bang. I've had......"

I was halted mid sentence by the sight before me. My seat was being repeatedly kicked, and I had every right to complain, but the culprit was a little boy with Cerebral palsy.

Floor open now and swallow me; wait a minute, I would be outside the plane then, falling at speed. Perhaps that would be my punishment.

His parents and most of the other nearby passengers glared at me.
I sat down again hanging my head in shame and said nothing for the rest of the flight.

I am not a creative writer...
I am a destructive writer

The thing that it has been
Is not as it shall be
And not as it should be

I discern faults and cracks among the surfaces
and among the faces there are gourds
and shells of eggs
and pickle jars
and horses
with feet of clay and eyes alight with dust

Do comment please.
I am curious to learn where this new material is going, and how long the stream is. Seems an endless not...

Here's a picture of the proof copy of the paperback edition of Alternative Poetry Books - Yellow edition. It was exactly right and so the book has now been released for sale on the various Amazon sites!

It is only £4.99 in the UK and $7.99 in the US and is various prices in other countries.

It can be bought from my blog (linked to from the picture) - where I am still selling signed embossed certified copies (only 50 so once they're gone they're gone) for the same price as the standard copies are selling on Amazon.co.uk - £4.99 - but with £2.00 P&P

I have started a Blog Tour to promote the book and my first interview is on the WordPress Blog site with Janet Colley on her "A Place of My Own Blog" : http://jscolley.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/interview-with-a-poet/

The yellow edition is the first of a seven book series which is intended to build to create a rainbow of poetry for your bookshelf.

I'm busy putting together the Pink edition (instead of Indigo) to be released in December/January and the Red edition will be released in time for Valentine's Day.

I took advice from my lovely Blog.co.uk readers as to the format of the book and the price so here's hoping I got it right

You can read a free sample short e-book on the Freado website here : http://www.freado.com

My little yellow/red book is on the front page twice as it is third in rank for most viewed book and second in rank for most pages read! Just click on the image of my book on the Freado site and it will take you to a free view sample of the yellow edition.

Sorry if this entry is a bit spammy - this is the first time I've done something like this and I'm finding it hard to get the right 'tone' I think. I just get a bit over-excited and then possibly get a bit too pushy. It's difficult for me to judge.

My second book, The Magical Properties of Plants... and How to Find Them is almost published. The proofs have been painstakingly checked and sent back, corrections made, and now it's just a matter of waiting. As far as I know, publication date is 1st November or thereabouts.

It's a bit like giving birth in a way... I know roughly what it will look like, but not the detail. It will have illustrations that I finished earlier in the year, but I don't know exactly where they will end up in the text. One, which was drawn to resemble a woodcut, heads up every chapter.

I always like the way my publishers put their books together. On my first book which came out last year, I was amazed that they even used the sort of font that I'd envisaged!

And of course, I'm already writing on my next book - and the one after that. I thought I'd finished the next one... it was sitting on my desk, waiting for me to pack it up and send it off and then... WHAM! A chance browse in a book and I realised I'd missed something really important.

Now maybe some people would say 'Sod it' and just send the manuscript off, but not me. In a book of about 300 pages I'm not going to settle for anything less than my best. So I had to bin the printed text and go back to the original manuscript and rewrite. But I tell myself it'll all be worth it in the end.

I had something rather similar with this present book (the one on plants.) It grew so large and unwieldy that eventually I decided to go back and rewrite it in order to lose 12,000 words. Even so, the finished book has weighed in at over 400 pages!

If you're going to write a book, demand the best from yourself. You deserve it!

Chapter 1

Wet, wet, cold and wet. The story of my weather. When the sun shines it only melts the frost and the breeze only forces the rain on to your face. Do I need to explain anymore why I moved? Well, I suppose my dad’s promotion could account for some part but only a very, very small part. I don’t know who was more surprised at my reaction to the news! Me or my parents? They did the whole
“Can you come downstairs for a second Rachel, me and your dad need to talk to you about something”
So the typical ‘big news is coming’ intro. Maybe a death, pregnancy, adoption, selling the house, but never would I have guessed I was getting the best news ever. Moving to California! Some people would see that as the worst possible news. You know, moving out of childhood home, starting a new school in 5th year (well 11th grade from now on) in a new country half way across the world. Yeah, not me. For me it was like music to my ears. And the music was good. It was more like party music than a lullaby but not some cheesy celebration song either. More like “get this party started”. That kind. But seriously what was bad about moving to California? The sun, the sea, the cute surfer guys and the chance to start my whole life over.
Ok, my normal life was not that bad but Glasgow was becoming a bit cramped and predictable! And my friends were starting to get on my nerves! I never felt like we were really all close. There was too much making fun of people and not sticking up for each other. I mean what kind of friends are those! But here’s looking to the future and good friends
So now on the plane from London to Los Angeles airport I kind of now understand why my mum and dad are so surprised at my reaction. You see I forgot to ask them the obvious question: where are we staying? Obvious to some people but apparently not me. So, yeah a couple of days later I hear where we are actually going; Cayucos, California, USA. Where? I know! So I did a bit of googling and it is located in northern California on the coast. It is half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco 222 miles from Los Angeles, which almost a 4 hour drive and 223 miles away from San Francisco. Basically away from right bang in the middle! Then I noticed the current approximate population is; 2700. That's’ like only double the amount in my school back home! I probably haven’t told you but I'm pretty much a big town/city girl. I'm like the bubbly, chatty, friendly, funny girl who always has people around her. Yet here I am moving to some tiny place with 2700 residents, some of which aren’t permanent and most are like over 40, and I wonder why my parents were confused at my excitement of moving.
Now on my 3 hour 45 minute car journey from Los Angeles airport I am preparing for the end of my normal life. I am ready for rural mania. Let’s just hope the beach is worth it.

I'm listening to the unbelievable work of Antony & The Johnsons.
Inspired? Don't know, but this fell out of my fingers...

Long ago
I was pulled from the fire
But the embers still glow
And I am still burning

My arms
Ached less then
I was strong enough, and willing
For years
But now the dust
Has fallen
Covers all and people
Write their names on my eyes

I rarely punctuate my verse, or edit back what first emerges.
That way I feel it keeps the spontaneity of the moment in which it was written.
It is entirely a thing of that moment.

I also habitually break the structure and rhythm of the lines.

What does that say...?

I like poems in general that tell a story although I am willing to look at anything in verse because I enjoy it.  I enjooy listening to poetry read well and I like to read it for myself.  Reading other poet's work will inspire me to write my own most of the time although when I read Marrianne Moore I feel inadequate.  When I read Chaucer or Shakespeare I get interested and become deeply involved with it.

I love to write blank verse and rhyming couplets. 

With Island Artists I also enjoy performing and reading my own prose and verse.  There is a thrill about having an audience for your work who will respond often by asking for more if you get it right and heckle you if you don't.   As I said, I like poems that tell a story so one day I began a poem inspired by Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky  and the mad genius of Spike Milligan to emerge two years later with a sixty page epic poem with illustrations drawn by myself. 

The title is The Turval and the Grobble  ISBN 987-1-4452-0198-6 which I not only enjoyed writing but also enjoy reading.  When I read portions of it I wonder where on earth it came from recognising influences from my studies of Shakespeare's works and Chaucer's - a certain bawdiness combined with a desire to write a comical story that is a little bit saucy but at the same time is good verse.  I think I have done it right.  

Should I really be listenign to TG at my age...?

Anything
Anything

I do not have
Anything
For you
Despite the screaming

Anything
Anything

I do not want
Anything
From you

Bleeding in sleep
Does not leave
Anything
For me

You could be anyone
But you are not anyone
And tonight
Does not mean
Anything

You turn to steal
From me
But I do not have
Anything for you

Turn to steel
Turn to stone
Turn to sleep again

Anything could happen
Anything could happen

What just happened?

You did not say
Anything
I did not feel
Anything

Taunting and trivial..
He was there again,
him and I
the conversation
again.

Talking
before sleep hits,
Words,twist inside.

'Disappointed'
'Embarrassed'

'YOU DID NOT'
'YOU DID NOT'
'YOU DID NOT'

No, I did not
But you...
you did.
Over and over
again.
You did.

Voice outside sleep
is strong.

I stand up.
I face him.
I tell him.
Screaming silent words.

Silent now.
Heart racing.
Tears falling.
Hands clenching.

Wishing to be somewhere else
Someone else

Wishing for sleep
and silence
and sense.

He does not hear.
can not hear.
Never hears.
He is not there.

He is here.
Stuck.
Deeply piereced
inside the fragments of thought.

Inside the mess of memories
The mess of me.

Plot

In 1989, Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron) was a big success in high school. He seemingly had it all, when, right before the championship basketball game, his girlfriend Scarlet Porter (Allison Miller) informed him she was pregnant. In that moment, he made the decision to throw everything away (including basketball and a chance at a scholarship) and proposed to her.

Twenty years later, Mike's (Matthew Perry) life has come to a standstill. Scarlet (Leslie Mann) has separated from him, forcing him to move in with his geeky and wealthy best friend Ned Gold (Thomas Lennon). His job is going nowhere, and his kids Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Alex (Sterling Knight) want nothing to do with him. While visiting Hayden High School to reminisce about the life he threw away, he encounters a mysterious janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray). On the way home, he sees the janitor standing on the edge of a bridge - apparently about to commit suicide, Mike runs towards him, but his path is blocked momentarily by a passing truck. When he reaches the edge, the janitor is gone, and there is a strange vortex below the bridge. Mike slips and falls into the vortex, blacks out, and awakens back on the bridge. When he gets home, he discovers that he has been magically transformed into his 17-year old self.

Ned sees Mike in his house, and thinks he's a thief. Ned fights with Mike, as Mike trys to prove he's the real Mike. When Ned trys to hit Mike over the head with a picture of the two of them at their 1989 graduation, he realizes that's the real Mike. Mike then returns to the school to find the janitor that he spoke with the day before and became aware of there being no such person working there. Mike then decides that with Ned posing as his father, Mike enrolls at Hayden High as "Mark Gold". He believes he has been given the chance to live his life over again, "but to do it right". Then he discovers that Maggie is dating the basketball captain Stan (Hunter Parrish), who is bullying Alex. He realizes that his real mission is to help his children, and makes friends with both Alex and Maggie. With "Mark"'s help, Alex gets a place on the basketball team and the girlfriend he desires. "Mark" comforts Maggie when she is dumped by Stan, who was pressuring her for sex. "Mark" also meets Scarlet. He helps her decorate her garden, gaining a new appreciation for her, and dances with her before she goes on a date (to the song that he and Scarlet danced to at their wedding). "Mark" and Scarlet clearly feel a connection as they danced, and are about to kiss, until Alex walks in on them. At first Scarlet seemed uncaring that her son is right there, but then she feels embarrassed and tells "Mark" that she is Alex's mother and that this is inappropriate.

With "Mark's" help during the basketball game, Alex makes the winning basket. Meanwhile, Ned is attracted to the principal of Hayden High, Jane Masterson (Melora Hardin). Although his initial attempts to 'peacock' her fail he manages to take her out to dinner. When "Mark" notices the two of them leaving he decides to throw a party at "Ned's" house to celebrate Alex scoring the winning basket and to help him get the girl he likes. Purring the party Scarlet appears, looking for Alex, and "Mark" tells her that Alex could have a girlfriend by the end of the party and brings her up to the balcony to show her. Ned and Jane soon bond over a love of The Lord Of The Rings. However, when he takes her back to his house, they discover an out-of-control party raging there. (after Maggie tries to have sex with "Mark") Maggie sees Ned and goes looking for "Mark" to warn him and finds Mark with her mother Scarlet. While "Mark" and Scarlet are talking, Mike's feelings for her are reawakened, (especially after she tells him "he's really become a part of the family"). But when he kisses her, she is appalled, and slaps him and calls him a "weirdo little man child" even though he chases after her and tries to tell her that he is Mike. This exchange is witnessed by Maggie and her friends, who are all disgusted, especially since Maggie has become smitten with "Mark".

The following morning, Ned reminds Mike that it is the date of his divorce hearing with Scarlet. "Mark" appears in court to read a letter from Mike O'Donnell. Scarlet is touched by the letter. When she sees that the "letter" is really just a piece of paper with directions on it, she realizes that "Mark" spoke extemporaneously. Later, at the championship game, Mike makes a gesture which she recognizes as his. Realizing that she is in the same situation as twenty years earlier, she flees the scene. Mike follows, handing the ball to Alex, who goes on to make the winning shot. The janitor catches sight of Mike and changes him back into his adult self. Mike promises Scarlet to spend the rest of his life making it up to her. Scarlet and Mike kiss and reunite.

In the end, Mike happily reconciles with his family, and becomes the coach of the Hayden High basketball team, while Ned and Ms. Masterson seem to have a "relationship".

Cast

* Zac Efron - Mike O'Donnell (17 years old)/"Mark Gold"
* Leslie Mann - Scarlet O'Donnell (37 years old)
* Thomas Lennon - Ned Gold (37 years old)
* Michelle Trachtenberg - Maggie O'Donnell
* Sterling Knight - Alex O'Donnell
* Hunter Parrish - Stan (Maggie's boyfriend)
* Melora Hardin - Principal Jane Masterson
* Matthew Perry - Mike O'Donnell (37 years old)
* Jim Gaffigan - The Coach
* Nicole Sullivan - Naomi
* Brian Doyle Murray - The Janitor
* Margaret Cho - Health Teacher
* Allison Miller as Scarlet O'Donnell (17 years old)
* Tyler Steelman as Ned Gold (17 years old)