Tag: half-penny thoughts

  • Half-Penny Thoughts — 04sept26

    What’s with this trend I am seeing of writers who publish Kindle-first books of giving superfluous subtitles to their work?

    Or has it always been around at this frequency and I am only now noticing it? I am well aware that the idea of using a superfluous subtitle in of itself is not a new thing, but when this month’s offerings of “free” Kindle books for Prime customers are littered with subtitles that make no sense to add, I have some head scratching going on inside my skull.

    “Title: A Novel“

    “Title: A Thriller“

    “Title: A Historical Romance“

    “Title: A Horror Story“

    In every case, the subtitle doesn’t add to the title, but arguably subtracts from it. The subtitle describes the book’s genre/subgenre, it doesn’t create an narrative atmosphere in any way.

    (more…)

  • Half-Penny Thoughts — 21aug26

    Whether in relation to my own writing or to others’ writing, I am often surprised at the interpretations readers assign to the pieces in their comments.

    In those moments, I cock my head off to the side like a confused puppy and even sometimes audibly utter, “Wot?”

    That’s not to say anyone’s interpretations of anyone’s writings is wrong — because writing that invites individual interpretation is when writing is at its best. But I am trying to say that sometimes those interpretations come from a place I never imagined might exist.

    Sometimes, that place in the comments is so far removed from what I imagined I wrote or read that I have to go back and see if we are referencing the same piece. And I am not always satisfied that the commentor and I are looking at the same thing, or are even in the same galaxy, let alone neighborhood.

    So it goes.

    My invitation to join a entirely and absolutely scientific discussion prompt for today is: Is this a wholly personal experience and am I the odd duck? Or it pretty much the norm from your experience? Bonus points: Do you disagree with my earlier statement, “Writing that invites individual interpretation is when writing is at its best”? Agree?

    Please Note: Right now, the US is phasing out pennies in favor of nickels as the base measure of the dollar — “What could possibly go wrong with that idea?” they asked after declaring the penny ‘cancelled’; no more $1.99 deals, I expect — so you’ll need at least ten thoughts before that threshold is crossed.

  • Half-penny Thoughts — 18aug26

    At risk of sounding like I am a broken record myself, I am still pondering the idea of what makes a form of artistic expression (music, writing, etc.) “unique” as opposed to “derivative”.

    I make it no secret that I employ AI for exploring ideas, philosophy and personal education (i.e., “How do I construct a coldwave synth pad on my Hydrasynth? What wave types on my three oscillators, envelope and LFO settings would help me get that sweeping ‘icy’ sound?” or “Explain to me the Sámi cosmologic worldview as currently understood and correcting for Christian bias in the written records. Point out the suspect areas and provide scholarly references for further review. Do not rely on information gathered from unsupported or unreferenced statements.”

    Things like that. AI is really good at collecting information quickly and doing a darned fine job of filtering it when you give the right instructions. Plus, no ads.

    (more…)

  • Half-penny Thoughts — 17aug26

    I was thinking about narrative and the phrase “there are no new tales left to tell” and its myriad variations.

    Looking into it, someone was suggesting writing in “the quiet, eerie margins” was a writing space left largely untapped. Described as: “It is the difference between a sudden, violent storm (the loud center) and the heavy, electric stillness in the air just before the barometer drops (the quiet margin).”

    Of course, I’m curious about your thoughts.

    Are there truly no new tales left to tell? Is everything derivative? Can you think of a story that doesn’t have an easy analogue?

    Or, how would you interpret writing “in the quiet, eerie margin”? Do you have a different description or opinion? Where would you start if you were writing in/of the margin?

  • Half-Penny Thoughts — 05aug26

    You are walking down a trail that you walk all of the time between this place and that place and you are quite fixated on minding your own business when a artery branches off from the trail that you could have sworn had not business being there, or that had failed to exist before (whichever came first).

    So you stop and have a Little Chat with yourself.

    “I don’t recall there being a Mysterious Trail leading away from this much Bigger Trail before in this particular spot, do you?” you ask the air.

    “I am quite certain there was not a Mysterious Trail leading off from this one. I would have noticed if there had been,” you reply.

    And, being the Observant Type of person that you are, you nod in agreement with yourself — surely you would have noticed a Mysterious Trail before now, had it existed.

    Also being the Adventuresome Sort (oh do be an Adventuresome Sort for today — you might like it), you decide to see where the Mysterious Trail takes you.

    The Mysterious Trail narrows and closes in on you until you are not quite sure if the Mysterious Trail still exists and you are just about ready to return to the Bigger Trail when you find yourself stepping into a Forest Clearing.

    In the center of the Forest Clearing is an Ancient Well — or it looks rather Ancient anyway, though you admit you’ve put off getting new glasses for longer than recommended and it might just be the Ancient Glasses and not the Well having that Ancient effect.

    “Well. That’s not at all what I would have expected,” you say to yourself.

    Before you can reply, a Something sitting at the Well responds instead.

    What is the Something at the potentially Ancient Well and what is their response that interrupts you from answering yourself?

    Tell me in the comments.

  • Half-penny thoughts — 29jul26

    Ever get that whole, “oh, piss on it all” moods?

    No angry so much as just exhausted by trying to live in a world that doesn’t seem to much care for you or what you do? A world that insists you stay in your place at the margins because your clockwork is not in full synchronization with all the other Barbie and Ken influencers that get paid to try to turn us into a commercial product (or, at least, someone who endlessly consumes)?

    Or, maybe just weary at being the only person who believes in holding doors open for another person (regardless of gender), or letting a car merge ahead of you in rush hour traffic (typically to get the bird flipped at you because you slowed down to do so)?

    Or maybe trying to do something other than what a prompt into an AI chatbox can do: music, writing, art, opinion, philosophy, (or, I don’t know, make the sparkliest rhinestone jacket anyone has ever rhinestoned), what have you — only to see people cheer on AI slop or write a “roses are red, violets are…” composition while you are greeted with crickets? And a jacket Liberace would have envied.

    Or where someone says “It’s been a while since we spoke,” acting as if it was more like “last winter”, but was closer to 20 years? And then thinking it will be as if it were last winter indeed, when you know for a near fact that you might not speak for another 10 years after they satisfy their need to say they kept in touch, or discover that you can’t go back after 20 years with the click of twin ruby slippers and chant, “there’s no place like home”.

    You get a choice most of the time: take one pill to buy into the delusion and conform. Or take the other pill and stay beyond the pale.

    Looking at one hand, then the other. Pausing. Contemplating. Navel gazing. Philosophizing…

    Eh, fuck ’em. Toss both pills over the palings, ignore everything and walk the thin, liminal places they ignore. Piss on it all.

  • Half-penny thoughts — 20jul26

    Giving name to a musical project should be easy, right?

    No. It never is.

    It’s worse than naming a character in your story. Or a fictional place.

    Everyone should be named Bruce and Sheila, and everyone should live on Main Street in Greenville. Sometimes I even write stories with placeholders like that.

    See how simple that was?

    But if I want to start a musical project… Eeesh. All the good ideas are taken.

    I swear this is the absolute truth.

    I bet there’s even a band named “Bruce and Sheila” (google tells me there are gospel groups performing under that name — several of them, in fact — so there goes that idear).

    If you were starting a band that did coldwave/darkwave music, what would you call it? Be silly. Be creative. Be deadpan serious. I honestly want to see your ideas below. It could be educational. I’ll even give you kickbacks after my first half-million if I use it.

    I’m sure Greenville is probably taken and isn’t all that coldwave, so don’t suggest it, please.

  • Half-penny dreadful, erm… thoughts — 16jun26

    I’m being abandoned with the cats like I am every summer — this is but the first family trip of two planned events. I get to scoop cat litter while kids scoop up more stuff they don’t really need. But the same could be said for the new kittens, although I am being made to say they are everybody’s kittens.

    Who gets to stay home with them while everyone vacays? Right. My kittens.

    Anyway, on Sunday next week, I get to put on my little witchy-dress and dance out under a solstice moon (although, sadly, not a Strawberry Solstice Moon) all by my lonesome. Not skyclad. There’s been restraining orders issued against that.

    If you had a day and evenings completely to yourself (and the resident clowder), what might you do if weather was not being cooperative for dancing in a little witchy-dress? Or the neighbors call the police on you? AGAIN!?!

    Unwitchy-dress dancing is welcome too. Dancing can be omitted if the idea is that I watch some witchy romcom instead. Oh! We can have a streaming party!

    Or, maybe — I should not wake up at 2.30 in the morning from nightmares and, if I do, go back to sleep even if my brain is “noping” that idea.

    It’s getting punchy over here.

  • Half-penny thoughts — 13jun26

    I was joking around with my twin daughters last night about music and starting up a band (one more than a passable singer, the other plays flute and piano). They are toying around with starting up a cover band that does 80s songs in their own style and with their own instrumentation and in the middle of the discussion I smacked my forehead and cussed.

    “Total missed opportunity,” I said. “I wish I would have thought about it when I was playing with various bands when I was younger.”

    “What?” they asked, in unison.

    (more…)

  • Half-penny thoughts — 12jun26

    You know how it is when you are looking for something and you cannot seem to find it no matter how hard you try and then you stop looking for it and it suddenly appears?

    Maybe it is an object you lost.

    Maybe it is a social thing, like a new beau.

    Maybe it is a word on the tip of your tongue.

    Or a song you are trying to recall.

    You turn around and see it, whatever it is. You are in the shower and suddenly the fragment becomes whole. You sit in a cafe and a stranger asks if you have a piece of paper to spare.

    When we are no longer looking, it seems we find what we are looking for.

    Or maybe it is just me.

    Oh! Butterflies!