Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeff Rembert was posted by Ghost Parachute: A Literary Magazine on its website under Blog on May 20, 2020.
You’re staring at the screen, and you’ve got nothing. Your mind is a void. You type random words and hope a coherent sentence emerges. Still nothing. Your cat gives it a shot with words of her invention and does so with steadfast confidence. Still incoherent, but your cat doesn’t care. Your frustration continues unabated. In your cat’s eyes, you’re simply a dog. Good luck with that.
Futile efforts, cat judgement, emptiness of thought and desire are common. The origin of this state of inability remains unknown to scientists, literary professors and writing coaches. Politicians blame Belgium. Your father blames your mother’s side of the family. Your mother says something about a real father. While theories fail to adequately explain the malady, it continues to rage through writing communities, literary groups and freelance sweatshops.
And no one is immune. You have what some call writer’s block.
Writer’s block affects the young and old, the experienced and inexperienced, short story writers and novelists, romantic writers and fantasy apocalyptic authors (same thing), English undergrads and MFAs. Writer’s block doesn’t recognize borders, culture, race or political parties. It affects those with and without the latest technology. Starbucks patrons are particularly susceptible.
Editor’s Note: The following story by up-and-coming journalist RACHEL STAMFORD was published by Nicholson Student Media on its website NSM Today for UCF by UCF on April 8, 2017. Her story profiled our local writing group Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts.
As the sun sets on a Wednesday evening, twenty-or-so patrons file in to a small Winter Park coffeehouse. The walls are lined with bookshelves and the ceiling is adorned with colorful lanterns. Fairy lights crawl up the cement walls and over the bar in the back of the performance room. The bartenders serve wine and lattes alike under the menu written on a chalk board with names like Best Boring Waffle and Vote for Pedro.
While there is usually a featured writer slated to speak on the schedule, a clipboard left on a table near the stage offers last minute sign-ups to anyone who wants to perform throughout the night. The writers range from UCF affiliates to complete strangers and patrons of the coffeehouse.
One may see retired UCF math professor Mike Taylor reading his own science fiction. Writing and rhetoric major Ross Ellison is developing his novel, and asks the audience for critiques on his characters. A young man in a hoodie who calls himself “J” requests no one takes his picture, joking he has some “alleged outstanding warrants or whatever.” J. Bradley shows off copies of his newest novel “Jesus Christ, Boy Detective”. Published writer Shasta Grant stays in the back of the room and reconnects with her old dance coach; someone she ran in to at the venue just by chance, as they haven’t seen each other in over a decade.
Editor’s Note: The following blog also was posted in abbreviated form as “Reader View: Clinging to Dixie? Society will judge” by the Sante Fe New Mexican on July 20, 2015.
Original Meaning Has Come And Gone
You ask your son before he goes out to wear something other than a T-shirt otherwise people might think he’s a punk. You ask your daughter to put on a skirt with more length otherwise people might think she’s, well, you know. You ask your husband to shave before a dinner party otherwise people might think he’s a slob. You might even ask your wife to … best keep that to yourself.
What’s consistent is concern for how society perceives us and loved ones. We understand society perceives things a certain way and desire to avoid misunderstanding. So you ask yourself and those you care about to avoid giving an impression that’s not accurate as society will think what society wants to think. It might not be fair but historically we bring it upon ourselves.
Some people want to continue to fly the Dixie flag as a symbol of their Southern pride without being perceived as racist. Well, like Gen. William T. Sherman and his “March to the Sea” that army has come and gone. Society will judge you, I and everyone else based on modern-day perceptions, and of all the symbols representative of the Confederacy, Dixie is one symbol that long ago lost its original meaning. Today it stands for segregation.
The following piece originally was posted June 15, 2013, on my first blog “If You Knew the Voices in My Head.” With the discovery of old photographs (and the nostalgia that accompanies such a discovery) and my youngest daughter a year away from joining my oldest daughter as a college graduate, I thought it time to revisit the piece.
A Car Ride From the Airport and Small Talk
On the way home from the airport my college-age daughter and I discussed the now completed spring semester of her freshman year. It had gone well. She continued to make new friends, took interesting classes, experienced all she could experience in the diverse environment of a well-regarded university. She took a classical course load where her understanding and appreciation of society was stretched as her academic skills were enhanced.
The conversation was the small talk of car rides that follow a day of getting to, through and around airports from one end of the country to the other. How was the semester? How were finals? How was the flight? Mind bending stuff. And during our conversation we found ourselves discussing the past spring break when she enjoyed much-desired sun in the backyard while reading two books addressing distinct schools of thought. One book on feminism and one book on cultural conservatism. Truly mind bending.
Politics aside it was encouraging to hear she was exploring various views. And during our car-ride conversation she said she had come to realize just how far women have progressed in the past 100 years. How past generations fought for the right to vote. How past generations fought for equal participation in society. Yet the changes are subtle when viewed as single efforts yet significant when viewed collectively. It’s a shame we today don’t readily discuss these efforts with our young women in any place other than the classroom.
Join us every SECOND Wednesday for a continuation of Open Mic night for all writers, storytellers, poets and other creative types. We host at Stardust Video & Coffee beginning at 7:00 PM. Three featured presenters will start the evening followed by you and your work. A sign-up sheet will be available.
Please share the good word with other writers, storytellers, poets and their related groups and mark your calendars for another night of entertainment.
No charge to attend or present. We do encourage you to take a look at the Stardust menu of food and drink. No pressure to purchase. No pressure to present. Just show up, sit back and enjoy the good works.
Join us every SECOND Wednesday for a continuation of Open Mic night for all writers, storytellers, poets and other creative types. We host at Stardust Video & Coffee beginning at 7:00 PM. Three featured presenters will start the evening followed by you and your work. A sign-up sheet will be available.
Please share the good word with other writers, storytellers, poets and their related groups and mark your calendars for another night of entertainment.
No charge to attend or present. We do encourage you to take a look at the Stardust menu of food and drink. No pressure to purchase. No pressure to present. Just show up, sit back and enjoy the good works.
* * *
Our November featured presenters:
Mike Scotchie, storyteller of television repair, homeownership and parenthood, among other things, from Storytellers of Central Florida.
Ric Bauer, author of Lights, Camera, Action! and Our First Book Of Stories, Volume IV. His books are available at Amazon.com.
Tim Rumsey, storyteller from Storytellers of Central Florida offering a “Yogisms” tribute to New York Yankee great Yogi Berra.
Join us every SECOND Wednesday for a continuation of Open Mic night for all writers, storytellers, poets and other creative types. We host at Stardust Video & Coffee beginning at 7:00 PM. Three featured presenters will start the evening followed by you and your work. A sign-up sheet will be available.
Please share the good word with other writers, storytellers, poets and their related groups and mark your calendars for another night of entertainment.
No charge to attend or present. We do encourage you to take a look at the Stardust menu of food and drink. No pressure to purchase. No pressure to present. Just show up, sit back and enjoy the good works.
* * *
Our October featured presenters:
Sarah Wynde, author of A Gift of Time, A Lonely Magic and The Spirits of Christmas. From Orlando Indie Authors.
Lauren Zimmerman, author and proprietor of Writer’s Block Book Store, Winter Park, Florida. From Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts.
Curtis McKinnon, entertainer, host, MC and performance poet. From Diverse Word
Join us every SECOND Wednesday for a continuation of Open Mic night for all writers, storytellers, poets and any other creative types. We host at Stardust Video & Coffee beginning at 7:00 PM. Three featured presenters will start the evening followed by you and your work. A sign-up sheet will be available.
Please share the good word with other writers, storytellers, poets and their related groups and mark your calendars for another night of entertainment.
No charge to attend or present. We do encourage you to take a look at the Stardust menu of food and drink. No pressure to purchase. No pressure to present. Just show up, sit back and enjoy the good works.
* * *
Our September featured presenters:
Robin Schulte, Storyteller Extraordinaire from Storytellers of Central Florida.
Rusty Pliers, Raconteur, Animator, Actor, Pirate, Horseman and Writer at RustyPliersWriter.blogspot.com.
Kristin Durfee, Author of Four Corners, a young adult fantasy trilogy. The first book now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Black Opal Books.
What’s consistent is concern for how society perceives us and loved ones. We understand society perceives things a certain way and desire to avoid misunderstanding. So you ask yourself and those you care about to avoid giving an impression that’s not accurate as society will think what society wants to think. It might not be fair but historically we bring it upon ourselves.
