High Aspirations

This morning No.3 son aka Top Gun came to me an d very seriously declared that he had matured over night and one of the things that he wanted to do before he was 30 ( he is now 18) was to climb Mt Everest. Being the ever encouraging mother I nodded and smiled saying ' That sounds nice dear' . It was only later this evening when I sat down to rethink the happenings of the day that I considered Top Gun's statement. High Aspirations! Most of us have them, how manny of us carry them though? It then occurred to me that Top Gun's aspiration could be correlated to my own writing life. 

What do we each aspire to do as a writer? Do we write for our own pleasure or because to put our thoughts on paper helps clear our mind.  Are we happy just to see people we know and care for enjoy our work? Or perhaps we blog because we have an innate need to talk to someone or record memories for future generations? Perhaps we dream that one day we will have a work in print, even more that it'll become a best seller. 

What ever our aspirations whatever field we take, I think Top Gun hit it bang on when he announced that he was going for the top. As adults we can shake our heads and comment cynically  ' He has a lot to learn' as so he has, but then maybe we can learn a little from our young novice like to aim high in life.

Culture and Etiquette part 2 or froth or no froth

Captain Corsair(my husband) and I were sitting enjoying our morning cup of coffee when the Captain glanced up at me with a white frothy moustache and asked my opinion on the depth of crema on a 'good' cappuccino. I really didn't know the  answer to his question so I played suitably dumb (not a difficult thing, I have found and ladies quite handy when dealing with the captain). Now let me explain; the Captain bless his p&q's fancies himself quite a barista and each morning and evening we indulge in an espresso, made with love by the Captain. This morning Captain Corsair stated that in his opinion, the mark of a 'good' coffee was the depth of creamy froth the barista managed to create. He liked to be able to eat his coffee with a spoon. As I have said I remained mute on the subject but it got me thinking. Although I like cappuccinos occasionally, my coffee of choice is a tall black-I like to savour the  aroma and enjoy the tastes of the different coffees. It occurred to me that the art of coffee making is much like that of marriage or any other task we undertake for that matter. It also pointed out how graphically different men and women are in their approach to these tasks.
     As I sat eye-balling my morning coffee and considering the vast differences between men and women, and I thought that when it all boils down life is really a froth or no froth situation isn't it?

Culture and Etiquette

Tonight my husband and I have a date to watch the DVD version of Dr Zhivago. I am really fortunate that as a small child I was raised by parents who encouraged me to enter the world of culture and art. I am not referring to which knife and fork to use with which meal( however this was undoubtedly part of the teaching) no I refer to Theatre, musicals, ballet, live performances, art, singing and the list continues. This encouragement makes me what I am today- a writer. I love the plots the intrigue the characters that formulate a story. When I watch a movie, see a play, read a book I find myself breaking down the story into its various sub-plots. I analyse each character and reinventing them or deleting them altogether.
Imagine Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, without the white rabbit! 
Tomorrow my husband and I are going to see Dr Zhivago being perfumed on the stage in Brisbane. It will be interesting to see if Boris Pasternak's book is very different to the stage show. I'll let you know.

Teenagers-learn to love them

Teenagers, they are unique. In any generation they are a species known only unto themselves. Their whole lifestyle is different to any other phase of maturity. It is during this awkward time of volatile hormonal changes that young people decide what attitudes and beliefs to call their own, what moral standing (if any) they will adapt or create, who of their acquaintances are worthy of becoming friends. It is during this pubescent period that they discover sex with all it's complexities. Only as one generation passes into another, these complexities seem to multiply. This is an era of choice, it doesn't matter about such restrictions as moral value or even religious value. In this teenagers world those things are of secondary worth(if any worth at all). 
How sad is it that the majority of our young people have a second language--profanity. Old fashioned word?Sure it is, but there is none better I could describe the words that I hear our high school kids churning out. That brings me to my next point. Although these kids are the adults of tomorrow what they learn today is what they put into practice tomorrow; and who are their teachers? Us, parents caregivers, school teachers, doctors, ministers chaplains and the list goes on. So instead of complaining about today's teenagers-- learn to love them.

Defining the difference between Crime Writer and Criminal.`

````Hello again! Calling all writers of crime, thrillers, mystery, and police procedural in fact at one stage or another every writer touches however briefly on some form of crime, so calling all writers. I give you a hypothetical situation: you are watching a re-run of Wire in the Blood for the umpteenth time and it get to the part where the cops raid the perps home and find amongst other incriminating paraphernalia a bookcase chockablock full of titles such as 'The Profile of a Serial Killer' or ' How Best to Dispose of a Rotting Corpse' or the murderer's choice ' The Life and Times of Ted Bundy'. Do you ever experience a twinge that could be misinterpreted as guilt by association? Does the contents of this criminal's bookcase remind you of the contents of your own? Ouch!
Okay lets view this pragmatically. Truth is whether we are writing non- fiction or fiction we rely a lot on reality, we research constantly, bringing ourselves up to date with and making ourselves aware of any incident or set of circumstances that might pertain to what ever we are writing at the moment. In a crime writers life that involves researching crime. Ditto! 

Easter... anyone?

''It's Easter once more. My youngest son said to me the other day, that the magic had gone out of Easter. It was just another day. Sadly I wondered when his boyish enthusiasum had waned and then I reasoned that at 17 he had other things to occupy his thoughts. That made me think of our heavenly Father and how sad he must feel when we loose the wonder and mystique of the real reason that we celebrate Easter. How He must cringe when He sees us wilfully forgetting that his son died a horrific death that we might be forgiven our sins, of which there are plenty.
Take some time this Easter to stop, kiss a friend, hug a child, smell the flowers, offer a lift, give some encouragement,just be there when you're needed, tell your husband/wife that you love them.
Love one another as Christ loved you"

Late Night Blogging -ain't it grand

Hello All! It''s 1.50am here in Eden and I am sitting in my little part of heaven - my office, with a tall cup of black coffee, my trusty lap-top and the twins(my two rag-doll cats) curled up together on the day bed. Now I ask you what more could a writer ask for? Only one problem, here I am blogging and I should be writing. My muse is getting quite irate, however I point out to her that there are only 24 hours in the day and until some bright spark comes up with a way of extending that allotted timespan,  I , a mere mortal have to work with-in the present confines.
As I sit here happily blogging away I wonder how many other mad bloggers are simultaneously tapping furiously away at their keyboards, and I wonder what passes through their minds. Why do they blog? What are they're expectations. I mean obviously we don't just sit here mindlessly tapping away with no means to an end-or do we?Care to share your reason for blogging? 
Tune into my next blog and I will share mine. Have to go now - coffee's cold!