Tag: writing

A Post You Can Scroll On By If You’re Scrolling Down My Blog’s Timeline

This is me figuring some things out.

This is one of those meta posts. Yes, I’m taking up space here to do some “out-loud” thinking about what I want to do here. Sorry! Bear with me (if you’re out there at all) and I promise next week will be better.

That’s where I want to start I guess. I’m trying to be more consistent about this thing. I mean to start posting dependably every Tuesday. This will be my fourth Tuesday in a row, so it seems like this may actually happen. It’s also true that early in this blog’s history, I did a couple of “seasons” – three-month periods where I consistently posted every Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, I had more views then and even had a couple of posts that drew a small amount of attention.

I was never very deliberate about what I posted in those days. My intent was simply to keep writing. I had just come out of an MFA program with a “Creative Nonfiction” degree and was trying to work towards… something. I know not what, at this point, but someting. In the years since, I have managed to keep writing, but not always here on this blog. You can look at my “About Diane” page and see a few things that have appeared in other publications.

But most of what I’ve done is not published, except for what’s on this checkered and not-very-directed blog, and a metric tonne of social media posting. I have a novel in the works, a novella, and I’ve just decided to self-publish a chapbook of mixed essays and fiction sometime this coming year. It has become time to devote a bit more energy to this thing and see what I can actually accomplish.

That’s the backstory. So what’s next? I think an important next step for me is to build some sort of constituency. I haven’t tried very hard to do that, but I do know it to be possible. It’s time to make some stuff happen. The question is: how?

I think this blog needs to stand on its own. I need to post consistently. I’m doing that much and will continue to. This is my first line of “offense”, if you will, and my sincere hope is to post things that will be of interest. Scrolling back through my previous posts of late, I see that I have developed a pattern: I review albums and try to contextualize my thoughts around whatever music I’m posting about with thoughts from my life and from the world as I see it. I also do much the same thing without the music; see my “Zeitgeist” posts.

What that indicates to me is that I orient towards cultural commentary. You may be surprised to find that I am still looking for indications. I chalk that up to a lack of conscious planning about what I mean to say when I come here to put down some thoughts. You could say that this is more of an observation than a deliberate choice, but I’m fine with the diagnosis.

Essentially, this is what they used to call a “perblog” or Personal Blog. For me, this will almost always be pointed outward at the world, but it will definitely come from a point of view somewhere between these two slightly-ringing ears and a little bit behind these two hazel eyes. A broadcast from my personal brain radio, if you will.

I hope you will tune in from time to time. I’ll try to make it interesting. Please like, subscribe, and if you’re feeling generous, leave a comment!

Zeitgeist 11/25/25

It’s been 62 years and a couple of days since Kennedy was shot and killed, most likely by the CIA. Just this morning, I was thinking about how it feels to me like we’re living in the 125th year of the 20th Century, especially here in the US. I think all of the concerns of post-WWII America are still with us. We just keep dancing around the same old things — burgeoning fascism and the plight and willingness to fight of everyday people in this country to keep what we and our forebears have fought for in the past. I honestly can’t say what we’re headed for, but I know we’re still recycling our past, which is not sustainable.

I hope we manage to break the cycle of resentment and corruption that seems to be the biggest impetus acting on what’s going on in the world, but there’s no guarantee that we ever will. I’m convinced that if we don’t manage the feat, we’re in for a hellish time going forward – not that the 20th century has been such a picnic up until now.

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I’m playing my bass again

That’s been interesting. It had been long enough that my fingers wouldn’t do precisely what I wanted them to when I picked the thing up after a decade away from it. It’s nice to have the thing in my hands again, and this little combo practice amp I bought sounds better than my old live rig did.

I got it cleaned up and restrung by the guy over at Replay in Turner’s… Ray, I think his name is? I may be wrong about that. He has not been super-supportive, but he did do a moderately good job cleaning up my bass. He seems sure I’m not going to stick with it, and told me when I’m ready to sell my Rick to let him know. Thanks dude, I’ll keep that in mind.

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I just finished a revision to the novella I’m working on, and resisted the temptation to go right back to it. I definitely have more work to do on the thing, but I think that the story will benefit from my taking a little time to process. That being said, I admit it might be a year before I get back to that particular story.

In the meantime, I’m beginning the selection process for a chapbook. My conception of the thing right now is that it will look like a volume of poetry, and it will contain a few short poems, perhaps, but most of it will be prose. My idea is to walk the line between fantasy and creative nonfiction. Some pieces will be clearly on one side or the other of that line, but I’m hoping to find some way to synthesize the two things together. Based on the work I’ve found so far, I should be able to accomplish the feat for the 16-20K words I’ll need. Once I get that done, then I will go back to the novel for another pass.

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Finally, my wife’s health struggles continue. She’s keeping up her spirits as she spends sooo much more time interfacing with the health care industry than anyone would ever want to, feeling the impact of the various problems she’s in the midst of fighting. She’s still active and hardworking, which is amazing.

I am so glad we are together, she makes my life better in countless ways. She says I do that for her, and I am trying to believe her. I’m skeptical sometimes, but I do try my best to be helpful and supportive. I love her like nobody’s business.

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That’s about all I have for now. I’m going to try to be a better correspondent. People seem to like when I post here, so I promise to try. Do me a favor and leave a comment once in a while? The occasional like and subscription are also much appreciated.

TTYL.

About the Shadormas

my latest bunch of short poems explained

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written a bunch of shadormas. A Shadorma is a poetic form that originated in Spain and is like a haiku, in a way. The scansion over six lines is 3-5-3-3-7-5. I’ve found it a fun form to play around with. I mean, I have written about 30 of the things in a two-week period, so clearly, I enjoy them.

I like short form poetry. I like the math-y-ness of the various forms I’ve tried, like American Sentences. I’m sure my enjoyment of and facility for them is related to my former avocation of songwriting.

The larger group of poems had a lot of what we all seem to be thinking about these last few months – the creeping fascism, the danger and distress of these times – but 30 poems is a lot, so after some high-grading, I found that only 2 of the 9 pieces I have for you today refer to the Trump regime directly enough so that it’s clear what I’m talking about. After practicing reading these poems a number of times, I’ve come to realize that the shadow of fascism and the stupid cruelty of the regime hovers over all of them.

So… uh… enjoy?

8/1/25

Ten More American Sentences

Read at the Sunday Word Open Mic, 7/6/25

Six black vans. Two cop cars. A school bus with blacked out windows. Ice convoy.

Mar-A-Lago Alcatraz. Leave the alligators out of this mess.

Shadow on my soul. Fear I’ll die under torture by the government.

I wake in the night thinking of Montreal. Mornings I wake up at home.

Took the garbage out this morning. The local systems are still working.

Local systems are best. You only drop bunker busters on strangers.

Gil Scott-Heron said, “The Revolution will not be televised.” Hi.

No matter what, we must keep fighting. You and I can beat back the fash.

Saw you in the Square that fine day, screaming about a revolution.

Two Trumpers and a thousand screaming, dancing, feisty lefties. Winning.

Update About My Incessant Scribbling

I guess this is a thing now.

I recently got published in Meat For Tea: The Valley Review with a piece called The Casserole Tree. I read at their issue release party at Gateway Arts Center in Holyoke. I didn’t read the published piece, I had already read that one out, and there was something else I preferred to share. I liked that event. It’s in a bar, there was music and visual art and poetry and rock music. I’m looking forward to the next one.

As far as the piece I read at Gateway Arts, I plan to read that one again at Paul Richmond’s Third Tuesday Word this week.

Work on the summary of The Story is proceeding. It’s taken me months to even summarize this thing, and all I can think as I go through it is how much work it needs. I am sure it’s going to grow from the current 120K draft, but who knows by how much? All will be revealed in time, I suppose, but this thing is not going to get shorter, and there is so much work to do. It really is going to take years.

I want to read an exerpt from the thing in front of people, but open mike slots are 5 minutes as a rule and I want to read for at least 10. I haven’t found a 5 minute chunk that’s worth excerpting!

In other news, I still have the Socialist Ghost Story sitting out, waiting to be returned to. I was struggling with that one a bit, but I theorize that the reason I was struggling is Too Many Irons In the Fire. Once I can devote my whole brain to it, it will come into sharper focus. I am afraid it might be a while before I do get back to it. Maybe I should drawer it, but I definitely want to go back and finish it.