Tihmmnmmish's Very Laid-Back Summery Poolside Threadcast

[hmmnmm]

he peeks periodically
hasn't been in the poet mood
wants to write but hasn't much
starts but stalls, fizzles
desires but doesn't act
stuff like that
but I peek

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I'm so glad you're here

 

[hmmnmm]

been going round and round with the idea that everything I've done up to now is not very good, and everything I thought I thought I think is proably wrong; so if I proceed this day from a clean slate... ? maybe it's the summer

not meant to be as dour or dire as it may appear

 

[UnderYourSpell]

your presence is like a raft in a sea of turnip heads

 

[hmmnmm]

gotta say this tho it won't be said very well and I'll not be able to discuss much because wife's going out of town in a couple days and taking the sweet snazzy laptop... good time to reconnect with the beauty of pen and paper.

Yesterday it hit me that writing, or merely trying to write, erotic prose or poetry, made me a better writer/poet. Maybe not a good one, but certanly better than otherwise. Because I slacked off writing in general and have been wanting to get back on it, but having trouble finding that familiar comfortable feel. Aside from lack of exercising the writer/poet muscles, I think it has to do with a mistaken assumption some time ago that erotic literature wasn't really my thing. I think it still may not be, but, it was a mistake to throw it all out in one bucket.

And (nodding to Ange's mentor thread), if I was in a position to instruct or mentor another or others, I would advise that if they really wanted to improve, they should study erotica, try to write it (fiction or poetry, either). Even if the results are not stellar and even if erotica is not the main objective. I really think that erotica (when it's done well) must be about the most challenging there is, and it can do nothing but make you a better writer/poet. Because there's a common objective, but the goodies/details must be handled with utmost care, or else it lays flat or goes too far. So there's gotta be words between the goody details, that should be as interesting or catchy as the goody details. That's tough to pull off.

Guys like Zoot make it look easy. I think he tried to explain some of this to me a few years ago, but as usual I didn't listen too good; sometimes it takes these things a while to sink in.

If any of that makes sense...

 

[hmmnmm]

And up until about 24 hours ago I did battle with the fear that people I knew in real life would find out that I'd been spending time on an erotic literature site. But that fear of discovery is beginning to melt away. So what. Why should I be embarrassed whether anyone I know knows or doesn't know? Shouldn't be. Should've never been. Within another month I think that fear shall no more pester.

 

[butters]

write on, dude, write on...

and i'll take a bit of that advice, too. soon

 

[hmmnmm]

write on, dude, write on...

and i'll take a bit of that advice, too. soon

Wile E. wants Roadrunner

will be what I poetically-writerly meditate on these next few weeks
I think it can't be a bad idea for a sort of guidepost or root or a pad to lauch or branch much from

 

[hmmnmm]

Coyote - Roadrunner Templates

 

[hmmnmm]

been awhile

and it may've served whatever its purpose had been at the time and may be obsolete now, or may even be a tad early, and I see some things just don't seem to change and might just have to live with what seems an ongoing uncertainty, maybe it's some of that ready-made essential conflict. But it's sure hot enough for it.

 

[Angeline]

and it may've served whatever its purpose had been at the time and may be obsolete now, or may even be a tad early, and I see some things just don't seem to change and might just have to live with what seems an ongoing uncertainty, maybe it's some of that ready-made essential conflict. But it's sure hot enough for it.

It's hot here, too. Eighty-five and sunny today and yesterday was the same. Summer arrived with May, it seems. I have to go buy my tomato and other seedlings now.

Ongoing uncertainty is everyone's life, no? I'm pretty certain there will always be uncertainty in my life. It's one of the few things I AM certain of. Are you missing the Cascades?

 

[hmmnmm]

"Summer arrived with May"

Seems you aptly summed it, Ange. Some serious sun action going on.

I just can't finish stuff. Start lots. But finish? No way. Don't think it'll ever happen. Sometimes I think of trying to make that deficiency work to an advantage, like to not think about when or if something comes to completion or if the connective tissue and source is linear or otherwise, sort of like one continuous something or other. But I think I tried that too, probably a bunch of times. And then while i was out walking I wondered if maybe sometimes if the maxims about the necessity of rewriting can't be sometimes abused. LIke maybe take more care in the initial words, but once the words are down, leave them, at least a few days, to dry or come back with a different state of mind. See? It's happening again.

Far as the rest, man I'm glad we did it. Wish we'd done it a couple years sooner, but the right timing came along. That's one thing I'm certain of. Kind of surprises me too that I've no real hanker to be anywhere else for the time being. Next year? Maybe. Don't see it, but who knows. I just know that (except for that little bit about the writing hows, whats, and ifs) this is the best I've ever felt, in an overall sense.

 

[Angeline]

"Summer arrived with May"

Seems you aptly summed it, Ange. Some serious sun action going on.

I just can't finish stuff. Start lots. But finish? No way. Don't think it'll ever happen. Sometimes I think of trying to make that deficiency work to an advantage, like to not think about when or if something comes to completion or if the connective tissue and source is linear or otherwise, sort of like one continuous something or other. But I think I tried that too, probably a bunch of times. And then while i was out walking I wondered if maybe sometimes if the maxims about the necessity of rewriting can't be sometimes abused. LIke maybe take more care in the initial words, but once the words are down, leave them, at least a few days, to dry or come back with a different state of mind. See? It's happening again.

Far as the rest, man I'm glad we did it. Wish we'd done it a couple years sooner, but the right timing came along. That's one thing I'm certain of. Kind of surprises me too that I've no real hanker to be anywhere else for the time being. Next year? Maybe. Don't see it, but who knows. I just know that (except for that little bit about the writing hows, whats, and ifs) this is the best I've ever felt, in an overall sense.

I'm glad you're happy to be where you are now. We're beginning our third year in the current location and really love it--a vibrant city in the middle of nowhere!

As to editing, I agree one can go crazy and end up editing the life out of what one has written. I've done that and then thought "where'd my poem go?" I tend to not so much edit, but take my time finding the right word or phrasing or line break as soon as I've finished a first draft. I tinker and move things around until I feel like I've got the right words in the right order. After that I rarely edit (except, say, to fix a typo) until a long time (like months or years) has passed. We go through stages and change as writers imo, so I might edit something years later if I see ways to make it better that I didn't when I first wrote it. But even that I don't do too often. I'd rather just write something new.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

To write is fun but to edit is divine. The act of fully shaping a poem to be more itself is a time consuming but worthwhile act of love.

 

[champagne1982]

To write is fun but to edit is divine. The act of fully shaping a poem to be more itself is a time consuming but worthwhile act of love.

And to edit in the sun... A cool drink to hand and lazy dog companions baking beside your lounge... ahhh, yes. But today, it's raining, and a meer 40 degrees f. We haven't reached the magic 68F yet. <sigh> Mayhap after cinqo de mayo.

 

[hmmnmm]

Oh I can spend days on one. And still find other ways. It really seems to be strongly mood-influenced. Or state of mind when doing it. So sometimes what looks okay one day causes violent revulsion on another day. Works the other way too (and here I include the prose/fiction intentions). If I set something aside because it looked like it is simply horrible and with no hope of rehabilitation, maybe another day, week or two later, maybe forgot about it, look at it, find myself laughing: actually I kinda like it.

The latest attempt to address this frustration is to (as Ange suggests) try to think more New. Go old-fashioned with pen and paper. Sit there at the kitchen table, or look out the window, go for walks, get a few pictures, come back, scratch out a page or two, let it go where it will, then set it aside, maybe type some of it up, see what it looks like, maybe mess with it, but mainly to get into that every-day rhythm, and not worry about it being prosy or poetic or fitting into any slots. So far it's working pretty good - I don't mean the actual word-works being any good or no good, but it feels good, at least so far.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Changing avatars is always challenging. I have a few avie pics but need new ones and sizing is always a challenge. I must say the best avie I've seen in awhile was Tristesse's nude AV. I was reminded of that AV again as I googled Praxiteles.

So how do you guys pick your Avatars? Is it better to use an actual picture of oneself or to find something on the web? What do we hope to accomplish with the AV photo? To evoke a mood, conjure a personna, make friends laugh, plant a stake in the poetical discourse with some icon? Whatcha think?

 

[Tzara]

Changing avatars is always challenging. I have a few avie pics but need new ones and sizing is always a challenge. I must say the best avie I've seen in awhile was Tristesse's nude AV. I was reminded of that AV again as I googled Praxiteles.

You and Tess have some of my favorite avatars, but you probably both know that.

So how do you guys pick your Avatars? Is it better to use an actual picture of oneself or to find something on the web? What do we hope to accomplish with the AV photo? To evoke a mood, conjure a personna, make friends laugh, plant a stake in the poetical discourse with some icon? Whatcha think?

The only photo I can ever remember of me that I used as an avatar was of my hands playing my guitar. I used to use avatar photos that tied into the quote in my signature (Jasper Johns quote, Jasper Johns photo--either of Jap himself or of one of his artworks--for the av). Or I'd use photos from old movies (Metropolis, Dr. Strangelove) or favorite rock stars (a young Neil Young, Gram Parsons), scientists, poets, whatever. Sometimes they're kind of a joke (Vanilla Ice, Tony Orlando), sometimes not (Jim Carroll and Patti Smith).

Basically, they're just kind of fun.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Thank you both. I choose my AVs for various reasons, this one makes me smile.
Others for emotional reasons, my own art (gone now courtesy of MS) and occasional self-pics, heroes as with Tz, strking erotic shots (this is an erotic site after all), I could go on but will save you from boredom.

 

[Tzara]

Thank you both. I choose my AVs for various reasons, this one makes me smile.

I've always liked this one, which reminds me of a cat my wife and I shared our life with. He liked to launch himself from the floor onto my chest everyday at 4 AM, presumably because he was hungry.

Never onto my wife, oddly. Always me.

Bastard.

I miss him, though.

 

[hmmnmm]

Oh there's some fine avatars in these parts. Me, like most things, I never quite got a good handle on the avatar. What to do with it, what, if anything, to suggest it says or means. Lots of times go without. Sometimes use a picture I took, though when I see the sized-down version suitable for this joint, my nose often wrinkles reflexively. Kind of like adding a few words under the avatar: I never know what to say there. Just something to fill the space. Like the user name. No conscious deliberation, just something to use, not expecting to stick around for this much time. But even though I don't put much thought into the avatar, I'm really glad there are those who do.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

This one helps me feel serene.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

http://*****/aA3Zy

Fried spam, anyone?

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Is there any of that serenity going spare?

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Is there any of that serenity going spare?

Where've you been? I've been missing your smiling face.

I'd give you a relaxing massage if I could, failing that, close your eyes, breathe deeply and picture your favourite, peaceful place.

<<<< aroma therapy.