From 6S 'Pancakes not pockets'

 I have always viewed my inner self - brain? mind? - not so much as compartments as layers.
Something akin to a stack of pancakes.
This stack, capable of re-ordering itself, contains many reject pancakes, batter poured before the pan was hot enough, a scrunched up mess, soggy and raw.
Interleaving these are later ones, well-cooked on one side but charred on the other.
As time goes on, and because of insufficient batter, others are irregularly shaped and holed, allowing glimpses of what lies below.
And as I keep trying new recipes, different flours, the consistency changes, as does the seasoning, ranging from the sweetness of sugar to the bitterness of lemons

[This was prompted by Khaalidah's post on 6S  'A little mad' ]

Warped holiday tale - a 6S challenge

The idea is to add an episode onto a tale begun by someone else.  This is my response to Michael Brown's post yesterday, which is to be found here:

http://sixsentences.ning.com/profiles/blogs/warped-holiday-tale-35

“You must identify, and you must acknowledge” Clara continued, “and you must choose, for on this occasion you cannot return to your past. This time you must go forward, into the future – and it will be a future in which you inhabit the physical body of another.

"The choice of body is yours: Adam is intelligent and strong and handsome, but he carries within him the knowledge that he is capable of murder, Giselle has a life of pain before her, but on the way she will achieve intense happiness, the like of which is not granted to many, and finally, there is Mark – and Mark is your grandson, the grandson you have not yet met, for he has not yet been born.

"I ask you now - which of these three will you choose? – and I tell you that you must choose now – because you are due to die within the hour.”

Book covers

Last day of November

Apparently one person in the Darlington & Tees NaNo region has written 460,000 plus words .... and there's another I think with 150,000 plus.   It's something to do with World Wars but I can't find out more detail.

Ten o'clock and I have already done my T10 piece for today and posted a well-polished piece ('Cast list for a Play') on 6S.  This is the third in a newly focused series of Shenanigans which, among other things, will possibly give me some novel-writing practice.   I should like to dive in blindly for the NaNo next year.

Now back to 'Holding steady' - tightening and attempting to put more in for Sean.   Also intend to re-size the pages as Julia suggested for easier on-screen reading.

Writing from New Orleans

Nine members of Six Sentences met in New Orleans at the beginning of September for what we hope was the first of many get-togethers of fellow writers, and although there is no doubt that the trip will continue to inspire us all for many more months, a selection of writings on our first, abiding impressions, has been gathered together by Mike Handley and this most wonderful souvenir produced by him..      http://issuu.com/pompetous/docs/hows_of_the_rising_sun


The book includes writings by Michael Brown, Teresa Cortez, Julia Davies, Joe Gensle, Jared and Mike Handley, Shauna McClure, Gita Smith and me.

6S comment

"Yes - I know, I know the waking at three the words in the head the repeating and polishing and repeating until it is absolutely imperative that I get out of bed and go and write them down (type them out because these days that is where I have to write) and after that its too late to go back to bed.
And at the moment I am immensely frustrated because I have the words, the talking the conversation filling my head but am not permitted to write it down until the first of November.
Which is why you're getting this particular blast of words because I think you might understand.
At least, most of the time (only two haiku in my life) I'm not counting syllables. And I enjoy reading the result of you doing so"

A comment I made yesterday on Ron Lavalette's post (6x3): Two Small Threes by 5
one of a series in which he has been exploring, with wit and insight and poetry,  the difficulties of being a writer

Another book

Yesterday I began reading David Lodge's 'Souls and Bodies' - an account of the lives and the impact of Catholicism on a group of people who were undergraduates in the mid 1950s.   This was recommended by Michael Brown in response to my request for help on 6S and is proving a fascinating - and extremely useful - read, reminding me of so much about life in Britain at that time, as well as enabling me to get a better idea of how Sean & Bridie might tackle the question of a Catholic marriage.

Re-reading Toby Hecht's blog 'Collaboration' on editorial interventions, and from thence considering acknowledgements, it crossed my mind that among those I list in my eventual novel (ha ha!) perhaps MDJB should be one - but really that seems not to be the point at all.   Are people whose list of those they feel obliged to thank for help runs to half a page or more (sometimes a LOT more) confusing perhaps the (maybe sycophantic for a purpose) acknowledgements necessary for a dissertation, where exam success rests upon a good mark, with the more grown up and individual production of a novel, or are they wishing to share the blame should it be a failure?

In December, in vain, is strange

Imagine, if you would, that you are stood in the doorway looking into a room of about fifteen feet square; the room itself is dark, but light from behind you illuminates it to some extent.

And imagine that this light is reflected back at you from what seems to be hundreds of strands of that shiny narrow ribbon used to tie birthday presents suspended from the ceiling; (I haven’t done an accurate calculation, but you should assume that each ribbon is hung no more than a few inches from its neighbours). The ribbons (silver? red? blue? – you can choose) differ in length, their ends between one and three feet from the floor, and tied to each is a tiny, shiny CD, each scribble-patterned surface glinting. Diagonally across the room, on the opposite wall, is another doorway; there is no light beyond but you are able to pick out its somewhat indistinct outline.

Your task (of course there’s a task!) is to make your way across the room through the hanging ribbons, as directly or indirectly as you please, to the other doorway, and on your way you must randomly collect at least six and no more than ten of these CDs, which you cut from the ribbons with the scissors provided (warning: scissors are a sharp pointed instrument).

On reaching the far doorway it becomes possible to read the words that are written on your CDs, whereupon you discover that common to each is the word ‘love’, the other words - song titles or phrases from songs – will, when taken together, give as good and authoritative a definition of love as you are likely to find anywhere.

[Successful submission to Love6S]

6S Truth, daring and developing ideas

While knowing that I could write, in the manner of 'can't everyone?' since I inevitably assume that if I can do it must be easy, I hadn't really considered myself to be 'a writer' as such, not quite considering the writing up of research in the same category. 6S, mentioned by Julia, looked interesting, became addictive and once I'd joined inspired me to try different voices. Now writing is taking over. My first post on 6S, Truth or Dare, referred to my 'boringly pedantic' style and expressed the hope that I would 'circumvent my instincts, dare to escape from the bounds of the proven, and colour in some of the monochrome facts which beg to be illuminated.' Not straying too far from reality was important but by adding 'a little bit of fantasy icing to the rich historical cake' of resource material - especially Tom's photo albums - has been truly satisfying for me.