Friday’s Odds and Ends

First I have to say I am dismayed that it looks like Bernie Sanders will not get enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination as a presidential candidate. Unfortunately, a lot of the reasons have to do with the political power in Washington – both parties having party machines that control too much of what happens. Another reason is the skewed media coverage. Too many media outlets were concentrating on the Trumster and his foibles, or covering the Hillary campaign, and Sanders was getting less air and print time of any of the three leading candidates. Much less.

William Rivers Pitt wrote a great article following last Tuesday’s primaries, and it is worth a read.

After you read that article, check out Meryl Streep as Donald Trump. A hilarious video.

That’s all the political nonsense we need, although I must admit the Streep imitation was priceless nonsense. 🙂

I was going through some of my old photographs and came across this one of the first cat we had out here at Grandma’s Ranch. The dog is Misha, who had been a city dog before we moved to East Texas, but she adapted quite well to country life. And she liked the cat.

Writing Tips

In a recent post on Writer Unboxed, Donald Maass did a great job of explaining what makes some books “literary” and how we can add a literary aspect to our books while still writing commercial fiction. Reading his post, I kept think about Louise Penny and her books set in Quebec, featuring Armand Gamache. She gives the reader just enough postcards to help us see and feel the place that is Three Pines.

Before reading Donald’s post, I’d never heard of using a postcard technique and the balance between it and scene, but it makes perfect sense.

• A scene enacts a change in story circumstances; a postcard illuminates something that we haven’t yet fathomed or perceived.
• A scene leads to further action; a postcard leads to deeper understanding.
• A scene is about what happens; a postcard is about what we discover.
• A scene is an event that has implications; a postcard is a moment with meaning.
• Scenes change characters; in postcards, the change is in readers.

Scenes hustle us from point A to point B.  Postcards sink us into point A.  A scene takes us in a new direction; a postcard shows us a static picture and says wish you were here.  Neither intention is wrong.  Both achieve a narrative effect, seeming to move us along, somehow, except that the direction of scenes is forward while the direction of postcards is deeper.

Friday’s Funnies

I saw a woman wearing a tee-shirt with ‘Guess’ on it. So I said “Implants?”
She hit me.

I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose fitting clothing.
If I HAD any loose fitting clothing, I wouldn’t have signed up in the first place!

Marriage changes passion.
Suddenly you’re in bed with a relative.

Don’t argue with an idiot;
People watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Wouldn’t it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press ‘Ctrl Alt Delete’ and start all over?

Wouldn’t you know it…
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
But FAT cells live forever.

Life is like a roll of toilet paper.
The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

Why do croutons come in airtight packages?
Aren’t they just stale bread to begin with?

If people from Poland are called Poles,
then why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist,
but a person who drives a race car is not called a racist?

If it’s true that we are here to help others,
then what exactly are the others here for?

Do Lipton Tea employees take ‘coffee breaks?’