Writing, Reading and Painting - I Have the Usual Many Irons in the Fire

I'm working on my next story for The Real LJ Challenge with a Sunday posting deadline. I'll be sure to let you know when you can read it, and when/where to vote for me if you're so inclined. I'll need all of the votes and positives possible, I'm up against a very talented group of writers and our moderator is stretching our minds with his prompts. 

Sometimes understanding what's not working for you 
is harder than letting go. It's the same thing in 
writing - requiring serious dumping of a lot of words 
or complete themes on occasion. 

I think that's one of the things I really enjoy about this little challenge. It pushes my mind into areas it might have never thought about, and forces me to write to a theme - although the themes are often quite esoteric and sometimes rather elusive. In other words, it's a challenge; and I like that aspect. I've only done this once before - was the "new kid on the block" the last time LJ Idol was held. I was fortunate enough to make some good on-line friends through my efforts last time and we'll see what happens this time. It's always something different because life doesn't do re-do's or replays. 

There are so many directions that the mind wants 
to take. It's hard to corral them sometimes, and steer 
them onto a path that will be helpful to you and others. 

I've been reading Salmon Rushdie. I wanted to read his latest book "Knife" which he wrote after his survival from that horrific knife attack when he was a speaker at an event in Chautauqua, New York. He's very well known in literary circles, the author of a LOT of books. But the book he's most associated with is "The Satanic Verses" which caused the Ayatollah Khomeini  to declare fatwa against him, which of course is a death sentence and lasts until that person has been slain. It's been years since "Verses" was published, yet here was this young man coming at him with a knife, and coming damned close to murdering him. To understand the present, one must study the past. So, to understand "Knife", I read "The Satanic Verses". He's an excellent author, but I really didn't see a lot in the "Verses" to cause this kind of kerfuffle. Still, it obviously did, and fatwa is a death sentence that doesn't expire, so this act of violence could occur against Rushdie again and again. 

I didn't realize what a prolific author 
Salmon Rushdie was, and he is 
talented - there was a LOT to take in. 
Do I recommend the book? Maybe. It's 
confusing, the timelines jump here and there 
and his thoughts about it being three 
different books isn't far wrong. 

I'm glad I read "The Satanic Verses", but I doubt it's something I'll bother reading again. He says in "Knife" that originally he had thought about making it three separate books, which I could easily see. But that he realized it was all about a single character, the Archangel Gabriel. I could see that too, and certainly can't disagree with it. Still, I fail to see what the fuss is about. Of course, I'm more of an agnostic than anything else, so the myriad of ways that people choose to worship isn't my personal path. 

I'm finding "Knife" to be a very interesting 
read as well. I hadn't been aware of 
exactly HOW badly he was injured, just 
that he was attacked. It actually took 
several months until he was out of the 
hospital and recovering. 

It's looking like I'll have to give up my Friday off. The weather is finally turning to the positive for fence work, and DH will be busy with the fence for the next several days. We'll finally have several dry days in a row, so he's got a very limited window of opportunity to get this fence done. We'll see how well things dry out today, and he'll start the painting tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that this all comes together. 

What's the saying ... "Second verse, same as the first"? 
Well, we haven't gotten to the second verse yet, because 
we've been stalled out on the first verse. Hopefully these 
next few days will be successful in our attempt to get the 
fence sealed and ready for our next few years of 
weather. I'm crossing my fingers (and giving up my 
Friday off). 

So, I'm out of here. This was supposed to be a short post and it ended up as a mini novelette. Sorry about that - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow with a new chapter and we'll see where my thoughts take me then. In the meanwhile, be kind to others, smile a lot, and Slava Ukraini.