An Evolving Blog-Conversation . . .

 I first announced I’d be trying to stimulate Conversations on this blog back on February 12th…

Two readers actually made comments that led to my post on Feb. 14th…

This was followed by a response to one commenter on the 19th…

And, because of that same commenter, I was able to respond, carrying the conversation further on the 21st…

I should mention to readers just arriving here that these conversational blog posts are on Mondays and Wednesdays (and, in around 17 weeks, also on Fridays...).

I reblog on the other days; but, if the conversational format keeps working, we could have them more often…

And, as I indicated, something else happens here on Fridays, for awhile yet—the Story Bazaar…

So… 

There was a comment on that post on the 21st—it relates to the post’s title—Escaping with Books ~ or ~ Escaping into Books—and, here’s that comment:

“In the title of this post the first, intransitive, use of the verb ‘escaping’ means the narrator is escaping from some unnamed threat and is taking the books with them. The second use of the verb ‘escaping’ is transitive so the books then become the object of the sentence and the narrator is actually going into the books to escape from the horrors of the world? Feel free to argue with me. I just felt my brain implode, rofl.”

There’s no way I’ll argue with this reader…

First, I’m old; and, when I was in high school, we learned to diagram sentences—an aid to understanding grammar and syntax…

However, in spite of that learning aid (which I haven’t used in many decades…), my overriding education in those structural elements of language came from omnivorous Reading…

And, during the last 7 years of publishing this blog, my research has stumbled over plenty of articles that, for me, seem heavy-handed about what is “Correct” writing…

I write From my vast reading’s “memory” of structure; and, I write To the sound of the sentences…

So, transitive and intransitive can keep their names and I’ll happily comment on that reader’s Interpretation of the two halves of that post’s title…

Escaping with Books = “…taking the books with them.”

Escaping into Books = “…actually going into the books to escape…”

I agree, in principle, with both interpretations.

I do, however, see another interpretation for Escaping with Books:

Perhaps it can mean not only physically carrying a book in one’s escape but also carrying what the book, as a whole, Means to the reader…

I know the books I’ve read with great interest and identification, especially those I’ve read a number of times, are always With me; and, they definitely help me when I need to Escape from the pressure of today’s cultural idiocies—escape while I’m in the very midst of those idiocies…

So…

Still in a frame of mind that won’t argue with my reader’s interpretation of “Escaping with Books ~ or ~ Escaping into Books”, I could pose this idea:

Reading, with concentration and empathy, will help you escape into books as well as escaping with books—you can live inside the book; and, you can internalize the book’s world to help shield you from
“The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune…“

So…

If I’ve made any sense for you in this post, I welcome Your comments, so I can continue down the road of this blog’s conversational trail………
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If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
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Visit The Story Bazaar
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Best Source for “Book Promotion” Ideas
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~ My Bio
Google Author Page
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

Am I Authoring My Life or Are Others Writing It for Me?

 There’s a conversation going on here…

It began on February 12th and continued on the 14th…

So far, the conversation has been about an author’s conversation with the world and having a conversation on this blog :-)

Reader Comments on the 14th:

“I like the idea of blogs being a conversation rather than a monologue.”

“I think every author stands at that window of trust and wonders if it’s possible to jump and land unhurt. In a way, we are all shouting into the emptiness of bookspace and listening with surprise to faint answers.”

A comment about, though extending, those comments, on the 14th:

“‘Am I authoring my life or are others writing it for me?’ That’s a very interesting question. I guess we would all like to be the author of our lives but……. what author can truly say when they wrote a book they knew everything that would happen in it? On the other hand a book may have an author but it is also written in the reader’s head, who shapes its story in their imagination as well. So perhaps both states of being are desirable – you author and other people read “versions” of your authored work and somehow or other we all reach the end of the book, better read, still wondering if we understood the climax and the denouement and hoping there will be a good ending :-)”

I find this comment fascinating since it starts with a question I’d asked and immediately takes it to territory dealing with an author’s conversation with their own work—writer talking to their writing…

My response to, “what author can truly say when they wrote a book they knew everything that would happen in it?”, is that we can’t be absolutely sure what happens in our lives and the author can’t be absolutely sure what will happen in their book—until it happens—until it’s written…

But… We can plan intelligently and faithfully about our lives and the author can do the same about their book…

Still… We must accept what life makes of our efforts and the author must accept the “place” the book wants to go, as well as what readers want to make of the book…

The rest of that reader’s comment is still being processed and I may have to delay fully commenting until I’ve mined it for more meaning—rather like certain situations in my life—rather like certain situations in books…

Though, I do get some tentative meaning:

Life and books are being constantly re-written and the stories can certainly seem to blend into or clash with each other—we can either accept the situation or we can go a bit mad under the relentless flow—books take us places we may not expect nor like—life certainly does the same…

Yet, a book we don’t like can be put down and a life course can be abandoned…

Perhaps, the best advice, at times, is to find a book you like better—re-write your future with fresh plans…

Have I made any sense for you?

Have something to add to the conversation?

Have a few questions you’d like to ask?

Do, please, leave a comment or two…

The conversation continues on Wednesday :-)
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If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit The Story Bazaar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best Source for “Book Promotion” Ideas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ My Bio

For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

#BlogPosts as #Conversations

 Two days ago, I began a restoration of my commitment to regular blogging after a month-long psychological sabbatical (though I was re-blogging during that break…).

In Monday’s post, I said:

“I want to enlist my readers, you and you and you, in a long-term project…

“I’m hoping my regular readers at first, then, perhaps, folks who happen in, will begin commenting on the Monday and Wednesday posts, in a way that creates ‘bridging ideas’ that I can carry into my next original post—either your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, experiences, lack of experiences—you name it—perhaps, call it ‘creative writing prompt invention’—something to help me ‘thread together’ a series of posts…

“Sometimes, I may have only one comment that inspires what I write in my next scheduled post—sometimes, hopefully, there’ll be a whole bouquet of comments…”

Of course, if any given post has no comments, I’ll have to carry on the “conversation” myself—not very hard for this writer :-)

As it happens, there were two readers’ comments on Monday’s post; and, I was able to capture these two thoughts:

“I like the idea of blogs being a conversation rather than a monologue.”

“I think every author stands at that window of trust and wonders if it’s possible to jump and land unhurt. In a way, we are all shouting into the emptiness of bookspace and listening with surprise to faint answers.”

First, I notice the “flavor” of the two comments—one being directly about blogs as conversation, the other broadening the conversationality to “authoring”. Though, writing a blog is authoring; and, many authors write more than blogs…

And, one more curious form of “authoring” that comes from my belief that the Reader is always “rewriting” what conscious authors produce—the re-authoring of the author’s words—an authorial Conversation between writer and reader…

Plus, if we expand “authoring“—based on its etymology ( increase , promote , originate )—and apply it to other human activities, we can say the TV commentator is an author, the mother is the author of the household’s “rules”; perhaps, stretching it to ideas like the cook’s authoring of a cake…

Yes, I’m playing with the word; but, I’m an author, of blog posts, poems, short stories, a novel, and my own little Life…

I’ll end my end of this conversation with a question:

Are you authoring your life; or, are others writing it for you?

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So, this conversation began Here and continued right up there…

Where will you take the conversation in the Comments?
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If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit The Story Bazaar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google Author Page
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com