Energy and Love, G.

I am a photographer with free time and energy to share. If you would like anyhting, just ask.

"candy doesn't have to have a reason, that's why it's candy" - charlie in charlie and the chocolate factory

"the gingerbread trail", is all the magical artists and events and pictures I post, if others connect to me because of what I share and follow the trail, then perhaps new connections are upon the horizon. :) I love finding ways to meet and get to know people on the interent. :) always and forever

more things are coming my pretties.........yes, yes indeed they are. a hub a portal to our internet world. perhaps......


and please understand, my expectations on others is very very very minimal, if anyone should ever wish to leave a comment and interact I so appreciate it, and even if it's just to read and think, and we'll pick it up at a time when our paths cross, life is so beautiful that way, there is no one hard and set fast rule. it's amazing!

you guys are the greatest, thank you for magnificent conversations, always.

whoah...........

I appreciate all of the thoughts here, and it is going to provide for more dialogue. I was not expecting to get so much back, but it is great feedback, and whereas I was looking for a few questions to answer verses suggestions to change things, I appreciate the time and effort. It's a great place to start, and I value the idea of structure, even though I am sure all of our structures are completely different. but hey, I do believe there is always more than one perspective, and I love to hear others, so I hope you know how much I appreciate this.

we are off on another photoshoot today, enjoying the fresh air and sun, fun, and great company. never sure how long it takes cause we don't place time limits on our creativity. and I will appreciate the time to reflect and come back and dive in.

oh yes fox! I do enjoy myself, the goal is to enjoy each and every moment, full of love appreciation, respect, and kindness, these are the interactions I require in my personal space and time, there is no other option. :) (and I am always seeking those connections in others :), I use a ginger bread trail to find them. :)) and in this current time I am seeking more.....

cat, appreciate your love goddess, this has been one remarkable journey wouldn't you say, i'm so grateful you and I were able to take the time to get to know each other and build this connection. I really appreciate it, you have been consistent, never giving up, and always keeping a smile on your pretty face. :) and that is something I APPRECIATE so much, more than I think you will ever know.

and matt, wow! we for sure need to take things into more depths of conversation. we for sure need to chat more and get to know each other, I find that it is easier to understand the person first, and to understand the kind of lifestyle they live and how they navigate, this makes it much easier to receive ideas and structure. as you know, our year policy, it takes time to fully get to know somebody. this will make it much easier for me to understand your methods. they are quite different than my own, and as much as I do appreciate that they are different, it takes me longer to digest, to understand, too see the way. :)
and for the record, I do have a "book" that I am reading and researching with a furious passion, for the last six years, one that fills me with life and zest, and one that has shown the most truths in this world and navigation, that "book" is shone. :) my conversations, explorations of life, and navigation is in complete harmony with my own. he completes me with peace, passion, love, and it the two of us were to ever end up on a deserted island together, we would live out the rest of our lives with just as much love and excitement we have right now.
I have just been waiting for the right time to introduce. There is always a purpose. always. :)

love you guys.........

G., you said: "I use a ginger bread trail to find them. :))"...
Now what the hell is as "ginger bread trail"...?

G-Crush... Friend for Ages,

Oh the changes I have seen in you. You are an amazing being and goddess. The advise solicited here is absolutely beautiful, and I could not add anything of value here. Although, I may something to say, communication for me... geez, following blogs etc is hard in my complex life. I'm not sure of how many people are out there that are like me. I agree that focusing 1 blog in 1 place is necessary but I also would suggest another form of communication, for those of us who do not blog. Just a thought...

Also, despite my life, I am ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS willing to lend a helping hand or answer a cry for help. Sometimes to my detriment. G, if you need help in organization or with anything please, DO NOT hesitate to hit me up. I will and have bent over backwards to help anyone.

Much love....

All right, G—as Bill might say to Sookie, “I’ll bite.”

Here are three points that I have found make for effective writing. (And apologies if they sound a bit school marmish...I used to teach composition.)

1. The best writers read.

Voraciously. And often strategically. They read for more than content; instead, they pay attention to structure, style, and voice—they pay attention to the craft of writing. They determine what type of writing they want to pursue and focus on those authors that speak to them most compellingly. Early in his career, when Hunter Thompson was developing his skills, he would retype entire Hemmingway novels to learn how the master Papa wrote with such muscular clarity. When I was writing my dissertation, I would carefully deconstruct the essays of Barbara Ehrenreich—one of my favorite social critics—to understand how she constructed her thoughts. Because your writing of choice seems to currently be the blog, I recommend you find another blogger who speaks to you most powerfully and think carefully about why you find it so powerful. Is it their clever turns of phrases? Their ability to develop an idea? Their humor? I suspect it will be multiple aspects, but disentangle their work in order to understand how it functions as a whole.

That’s the reason I gave you that book on memoir, which I think is a fairly close form of writing to blogging. Other than that scappy former graduate student, the writers in the book are at the top of their games, all discussing the craft of memoir--basically, how they write it. I recommend you first read Michael MacDonald’s chapter for his thoughts on voice, then Patricia Hampl’s for her style (when I re-read it last week I thought you might especially enjoy, and might want to emulate, her voice), Fenton Johnson’s for its structure, and mine because we’re friends.

2. The best writing has structure (as Catwoman suggests).

Structure is necessary to develop ideas. An idea is introduced and developed, initially, in one paragraph. It is further expanded through the next, possibly by introducing a related idea, possibly by continuing to focus on the original idea but going deeper or broader. Ideally, all this should relate to a central idea that you have either introduced at the beginning of the writing, or that you are heading toward (or both). This is the most common advice I give to authors in my position as an editor—you need to tell us what you are up to right away in the introduction of the book and then develop this “so what” throughout the manuscript.

The reason that structure is so important is because the best writers write for their readers. And readers need structure. If a house doesn’t have a foundation, with walls and ceilings built on that foundation, you can’t inhabit it. The best writers enable their readers to inhabit their worlds through their writing.

But more than that, structure is what can make writing elegant, beautiful, sublime.

To understand structure, writers need to revise, revise, revise. The text of my dissertation is 240 pages; 4 chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. It took me about 3 years to write it, and for about two of those years, I wrote for two hours pretty much every morning, two hours every night. Much of that work went toward revising—I would trash 20 pages after I figured out a better way to structure my thoughts.

A blog, of course, won't need as much revision as a dissertation. I could keep revising this post for a few hours until I felt it was perfect, but I don't think that's the function of a blog--which, as I understand them, are meant to quickly communicate thoughts. To be effective, though, they still need some development, methinks.

Eventually, with much practice, structure can come more naturally. But all writers revise, no matter how seasoned. That myth about Jack Kerouac writing ON THE ROAD, fully formed, over the course of several Benzedrine-fueled months is simply that: a myth. He had been writing drafts of pieces of it for several years.

3. The best writers understand the power of words.

For most of our collective history, humans have endowed words with mystical powers beyond their meanings. The ancient Jews warned against the misuse of the word Yahweh (god) precisely because it was invested with so much power. It was so sacred that to over-use it was profane. (Indeed, on a side note, I have lately been fascinated by our culture’s fixation with only those words it considers profane, but so little about those that should be considered sacred.) When words are taken lightly, they lose their magic. It’s one reason I swear so rarely—when I tell someone “fuck you,” I want it to carry weight.

The best writers respect words because, in so doing, they can gain control over these words. This leads to precision and, consequently, effective communication. For inexperienced writers, words control them. The classic example is the freshman composition student who modifies a noun with a laundry list of adjectives—e.g. the Hughes poem “Harlem” is evocative, compelling, lyrical, profound, and clever. All true. But do we need to understand all these adjectives in context with one another? I doubt it. Take them one at a time and explain. Make them concrete—“When Hughes writes of a ‘dream deferred,’ this single phrase evokes a history of racial oppression against blacks in America.”

I think of it like riding a horse. The best riders understand a horse’s power in order to control it, not out of authoritarianism, but so that they can ride harmoniously.

You are a good writer, G, and I can hear your voice in your blogs. Keep at it and it will become stronger.
Hope this helps.

G.! I am sure, many people read your thoughts and enjoy your feelings. But as you know, our attention span is limited, as thousands of new thoughts, impressions, websites, things and inspirations are bombarded on us on a daily basis...

However one is clear: You have to many websites! People are confused already enough...focus on ONE website, and post everything there! (Of course this can be subdivided in bohocrush and your personal thoughts, but one url is important!)

Then let your twitter posts (and maybe even facebook-posts) automatically appear on your site, (there's sure as hell a technical trick to do so) so that all your communication can be enjoyed in an snuggly cozy place...

kiss and enjoy yourself!
fox

Ooh, well you steer it pretty well. Im grateful for your open ness and interfacing with other bohos about stuff like this. While you dont need your hand held, things get crazy sometimes and a friendly wing upon your shoulder, fluttering you towards clarity, can be a good thing.

Admittedly, for me, I have cut out the long emails to your gmail account. This is because you have suggested to others that you are always on some different communication tool/aspect and cant predict when you will flow back to the email thing. Also, I did notice that you have gotten busier like a mofo in the last few months.

The idea that your attention could be more divided does not/would not surprise me. There is alot of "busy seasons" throughout the year that people have to reorganize and reshape scheduling. I believe this is so, whether you have a 9 to 5 (which you and I dont) or are living free to your own schedule.

I do agree with Uwe. t makes sense to have a place for brief snippets of thought (140 character Twitter) and a place like Tumblr to show things, and have a brief paragraph of info/text about what inspires you (other things that cant fit on Twitter's 140 character limit)

However when it comes to the important things--like long blog entries that give out your hopes and dreams...I think that you might need to round them up and place them on one website. It has actually gotten harder to keep in the know of your deeper aspects of life because of how many sites you are on.

Im finding that when I dont have a structure AT ALL (not even a tiny one), sometimes I drift and feel like I miss out on things because I am non-commital to paying attention on anything. So, a bit of structure helps