October 2018
Blog
We live in such an angry world lately. A lot of it has been
brought about by the political upheaval we are forced to abide day in and day
out in this country and so many others. We scarcely notice that Mother Nature is
staging a soon to be irreversible upheaval herself.
Hostile Environment: A Haiku
by Ann Wilmer-Lasky
We all
live in such
An
angry world, even the
Weather knows no bounds.
I am reminded of the story so well told by Pierce
Brosnan’s character in the movie “Dante’s Peak” (one of my favorite movies): “A
frog put in boiling water will jump out, but one put in cold water will stay as
the water is heating up and be boiled to death.”
It seems we are the frogs – in both the environmental
world and the political boiling pot. As a whole, we are sitting in the kettle
doing nothing, while it simmers- ever closer to the boil.
I usually stay away from the political arena for the
same reason I shy away from contemporary fiction. I am more comfortable with
the way things were than the way they are.
But I’ve lived so many years, I cannot help but make
some telling observations. We (the United States) and the world are going
backwards even as we make such great technological advances.
We have lost ground in civil rights and women’s rights
– even to prominent women in Iraq being executed ostensibly for being
prominent.
Certain factions are doing their darnedest to roll
back the rights gained by women (Roe vs. Wade) and the LGBTQ community (not
sure where baking a cake ranks on the religious scale) as well as minorities
being systematically denied access to voting.
I s it any wonder these narrow-minded individuals also
deny that Mother Nature is having a go at us? Their blinders do not allow
insight into science. Their explanation for denying climate change is that
weather always fluctuates (we have seasons, don’t we?). Therefore there cannot
be global warming if we still have winters.
Arguing that science is fake, they claim that the
creators of the Earth would not allow it (or us) to be destroyed.
Hello! It has happened before to this and other
planets, and it will happen again. A sentient creator has nothing to do with
it. It is the way of the Universe and has been for far longer than these same
people will allow the Universe has existed.
Back to our anger. I believe it is fomented by our
discontent. We are no longer blissfully ignorant enough to accept what our
“betters” are telling us. We are resentful that they seem to be dragging us
kicking and screaming down the path they want us to follow.
As for a solution? I see none and that is frustrating.
If the tables or the tides turn, the anger will simply erupt on the other side.
Tolerance and acceptance seem to have gone by the wayside. And religions once
thought to be all-embracing and accepting have retreated behind a wall of
exclusivity and exclusion.
So what does that have to do with my writing? I’m
having a hard time getting past these life concerns. I am little able to
concentrate on my writing, my editing or my publishing.
It doesn’t help that I’ve run into a major snag on
editing my Black Oak sequel: “Vengeance Bound”. It seems it’s taken so long to
write, that some of the sections have lost their continuity. I also discovered
a lost chapter that I wrote, that was typed into the computer, printed and then
promptly lost. When I started back up writing again, I knew I had written
something, but could not find it, and it apparently was not saved in the
computer file. So, I rewrote what I thought I had written. Now, having found
the original, it seems I have the posse arriving in Laramie both before and
after the brotherhood of shapeshifters left on the stage and/or train before
heading further west.
As soon as I get my timeline and continuity
straightened out, I’ll get the sequel published and get to “Global Warning”, my
Haiku chapbook about climate change.
I want to get those and my Sam Rock sequel published
before year’s end. However, I also need to get the second Castleweaver chapbook
published before year’s end, or it’s not going to be the 30th
Anniversary of its first publishing.
Where has the year gone? (that question from the
person who calls herself the world’s best (worst?) procrastinator. Oh, yes,
NaNoWriMo starts November 1st. Guess I have the rest of the year cut
out for me.
Until next time, I welcome your reactions and
responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are
links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts
with me there:
I’m also including
a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:
All of my
books are available on Amazon.
October’s featured novel is my 1940’s
noir fiction “The Seasons of Sam Rock”
https://tinyurl.com/ydftx4xq
This month’s featured poetry
chapbook is “Life's Lemons and
Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8
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