Picture is Frank Myslive's Seventh Generation. Lovely, warm use of colour.
1, 2: A couple of straight-talking agent's blog sites: Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management and another at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
3, 4: A pair of useful writer's sites: Tawny Taylor and Ask Allison. Allison writes freelance but her comments are acute and applicable.
5. Just bought Elizabeth Bear's Worldwired (Bantam Spectra). She has one and one-half pages of acknowledgements beginning with her first readers. Very nice. Note to self: In that happy event - besides Miss Snark - would have to thank all of you.
6. Stealing the Shiny Bits ( stolen from Margaret Atwood) While reading an old (1979) DAW book, Heroic Fantasy, a collection of short stories edited by Gerald W. Page and Hank Reinhardt, a line caught my eye: "...eyes bright as hell." Will have to slap my hands to keep from stealing that.
7. I Am So Screwed Department: Yahoo had an article this week on how to tell if people were lying. One of the watchforit characteristics was the habit of the interogatee to look away. Ha. I often do to collect my thoughts, not being a particularly quick verbal communicator and imprinted with the dictum "it's not polite to stare." If pushed, I may resort to suppressio veri and suggestio falsi, but I seldom lie. Don't have the brains, memory or patience for it.
8, 9, and 10: Gigglers:
Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter than they are when they come at you really fast.
Intaxication: Euphoria on receiving a tax refund. Lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Universal Law: As soon as you find a product you truly like, they will stop making it.
11. Opening With Dialogue: Have just figured out why an extended dialogue opening might be really, really bad. I hate loud speakers too.
12. My poem Wise Woman is up at Wild Child Publishing.
40 comments:
It's nice to see that poem up elsewhere. :D
Improved, I hope, Karen!
Thanks for all the links, but I couldn't find your poem! Did I miss something, or do I just need another cup of coffee? :)
Margaret Atwood: very difficult not to steal from her.
especially in a poem titled Wise Woman - shall have to check it out
jlb couldn't find the poem. me either and I've had about 6 cups of coffee
Hi Bernita. I found your poem! Poetry bar in the menu -- November Poetry Page -- read more.
I can hear your poem set to music. A lovely ballad. I'll print it out and play it on the piano tonight. Thank you!
November Poetry page, JLB, click "read more."
She said (more or less, and abbreviated) "writers are like jackdaws...we only steal the shiny bits...to build our own untidy nests" Anna!
I loved that line of hers.
Try clicking "read more" on the poetry header.
How nice of you, EA!
What melody does it suggest to you?
#7 I had to learn to make myself look people in the eye as I had problems with it when I was younger. So I will be damned if I am the first to look away - lying - I try not to do that as I would have a hard time keeping stuff straight - LOL - not from misgivings of being dishonest... thought that is a good enough reason not to =)
Sorry, interrogators. I've known several liers who looked straight at me innocently while they fibbed. My children among them.:o
Intaxication- I shouldn't laugh that hard in the morning. I hurt something.
A veritable smorgasbord of deep thoughts and inspiration!
I can't get the Kleinman link to work.
I always heard that liars look down and to the right, and that's how you can tell.
I just can't see the point, the value, of lying, Dennie, quite apart from moral considerations - if indeed they can be separated.
That's right, Robyn, the truly accomplished can smile and smile and be a villain.
Thank you, Scott.
Happy smorging.
Try it now, December.
Think I've corrected it.
Shy people often look away too.
To me, the best guide is story inconsistency.People's explanations not comforming to logic, common sense or normalacy.
What I was told was looking one direction meant you were trying to recall something, and looking the other meant you were making something up (not necessarily lying, though.)
but I can't remember which is which
Saw an interesting book on reading body language. May ask the DH for it.
Beautiful poem, Bernita.
I have a habit of 'shielding' my eyes with my lids, lol, or looking away during thoughts, or to gather my statments, especially if it is something somewhat important, or complex. I don't see that as what they are speaking of however... when you make that statement, or speak that thought, then, can you look the person you are speaking to in the eyes? That however is not the sole province of the truth, I've found. Body language that goes along with it is a must. My son can't lie.. not doesn't... just can't. LOL He CAN however look me in the eyes and make a statement as to what it is he's 'lying' about, but he can't do it with a straight face. hahaha GOTCHA.
I wonder about left-handers, Nessili.
Some left-handed people are also left-footed. The "opposite" habit might also apply to glance direction.
Of course these are merely guides, not absolutes. It's the accumulation of "ticker" habits that raises suspicions.
Thank you, Tami.
That's much like I do, especially involving something complex.
And then there are the people who will stare off into space when making a sly or dry joke.
Woot!!! On the poem! :-)
LOL -- I did the overboard acknowledgements thing for Soul Haven. You're in there, Bernita, and of course Karen, and Tami, and Michelle, and Sandra, and December, and a bunch of folks I've had the privilege of "meeting" through blogs.
And Jeff has a blog??! Sweet! Gonna go visit him. :-)
Wonderful poem, Bernita! I so admire your gift!
And I'd have to tie my hands behind my back not to steal that little snippet.
But you will have need of me,
my lord, as the shadows draw
closer, and your lost grail seems
far away.
Very nice, Bernita.
Re looking away. The looking down and over is lying generally. Looking up and away is thinking what you want to say next. It takes practice to figure out whether someone is digging for the answer in their memory or innocently thinking versus trying to come up with a lie.
Also, liars who are tense tend to have a pusling carotid artery, sweat, dialated pupils, rapid/increased breathing. They do things with their hands and have other nervous gestures. Fidgeting, in other words. Defensive body language can also be an indicator.
Someone who won't look at you when he/she answers, who fidgets/taps fingers or feet, bites their lips, plays with their hair...them I'd say were lying.
re good liars: Like Robyn says, some people can do this. Sociopaths, for one. But any rehersed statement is good.
Just remember, these guys are often given away by eyes being too wide open, dialated pupils, any trembling.
Over the top "innocence" is suspicious! LOL.
Thanks for the extra directions for finding your piece Bernita - it's lovely. I read it a few times to soak it in... It sounds like both the beginning and then ending of a story, all in one.
Thank you, Sonya.
Sweet of you.
Jeff has a great blog - he just doesn't post often enough!
Sela, thank you. Nice alteration of a cliche, isn't it?
Thank you, Steve.
That's grim on people who are naturally figety, twitchy, or exciteable, Writtenwyrdd.
But as you say, it takes practise to differentiate.
I like how you handle the subject without frilly language.
Written, I remember reading of a case when one guy was busted because of that. His statement was memorized. He told exactly the same story every time.
Seems that John D. Macdonald used that clue in some murder mystery or other too.Same story, even to pauses between words.
So glad you like it, JLB. Thank you. Even wise women must calculate the greatest need.
Thank you, Cynthia.
One has to be careful, though in minimizing, not to expect words to carry more resonance than they can bear. Hope I didn't overload them.
Good thoughts! And I love the "Intaxication"!
Blogger is being such a poop. This is the first time I could get to the comments, and it ate my post, twice last night!
So I gave up!! We're in the middle of more flodding, that in many ways is worse than June! It rained 4 inches in three hours!
More flooding. Oh Bonnie!BTW, the trash can seems to have disappeared.
nice blog
The painting makes me feel happy. I'm serious. It's cheerful and the colors are extraordinary. I like the way they're blended.
I let you pass by,
for you were battle-bound,
and ballad-driven.
LOVE it.
Nice poem. Good work.
Thank you, Praise (indeed!)
Think it's a combination of pointillism and poster form with palette, Tanya.
My favourite lines too, Gabriele! Thank you.
Thank you very much, Dave!
Not your thing, I know, so I appreciate it.
Woohoo! Frank Myslive is my uncle; he painted and painted and painted (not bad for a fellow who lost one arm in an industrial accident at Inland Steel!). My mother had a lot of his paintings, and when she died, I sent about a dozen "back home" to Indiana so family members could have them. I still have about a half-dozen that I always remember having been in our house, though. Thank you for posting his work!
Thank you Bats, for posting a comment.
I think his paintings are warm and wonderful.
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