Tag: contemplation

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Coffee and Contemplation: Been on Hiatus

I spent November away from blog posts. I had a lot of work, personal issues, and challenges with which to contend. The personal matters I won’t get into. I’ve had a lot of work. Some of this was hourly jobs. I have three part-time jobs trying to make ends meet. This took up a lot of personal time and a lot of writing time. I also manage social media for a local company, and they had a lot happening over the last two months. I’ve been a busy bee and chose to back off from the blog work for a while.

I had also planned on releasing another book on November 19 and I’ve had to push that back to December. I didn’t have time to format the book but it’s almost ready and I’ll have an official announcement soon. This will be a collection of personal nonfiction writing. I’ve compiled blog posts I’ve written for the last two years on many websites. I’m looking forward to it. It will be a smaller book. I may do more blog writing in the future and create another volume. I haven’t planned that far ahead yet. But I’m excited to complete another project.

This book will come out at the right time. In January, I have a show in the Tucson Fringe Performing Arts Festival. I’ll share some personal stories and poetry in a live performance. I’ll have more details on this as they arise. I’m sharing some poems from my book “Men Are Garbage” and sharing the stories behind some of them. Some of those stories will be in my collection of blog writing. This will be a nice taste of what each book has to offer. The goal is to inspire people to buy the books or at least tell their friends about my work.

I plan to release another collection of poetry in January. I’ve finished writing the poems. I have not begun formatting the book. I do have a cover made. If all goes well, this will release in late January. More details on that as we move closer to the new year. You can read some of that unpublished poetry by becoming a patron on my Patreon Page. For $1 a month you’ll have access to weekly posts featuring unpublished poetry. You can cancel at any time. I may even post unpublished poems more often if there is a demand for this.

The biggest contribution to my hiatus was the National Novel Writing Month Challenge. NaNoWriMo 2019. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I did this two years ago and succeeded. I tried again this year and am far behind. I did not hit my goal, but I will continue writing my first full length novel. My total word count for the book is 85,000 to 90,000 words. I’ll keep writing until it’s finished no matter how long it takes. With how busy I’ve been, I’m surprised I wrote as much as I did. 

Starting in December, I’ll return to my regular weekly poetry posts. I’m having a Cyber Monday sale on December 2, 2019. I’ll post more about that and what items are on sale. This will only feature eBooks on Amazon. More details to come. I will say I appreciate any comments on my posts. I often do not get much feedback for my writing. With how much I write, I’m at a point where I need some encouragement and support to keep going. I also need some new ideas for the blog. Or to at least change my approach on what I already do. More to come.

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Coffee and Contemplation: What’s So Bad About Horror?

With the sequel to the film IT (2017) releasing soon, I’ve become impatient. After seeing the first film, I added this film to my top 5 favorite movies. I felt the horror film had finally gained some credibility. Despite the popularity, horror still gets a bad name. Horror films are rarely featured at film awards except for special effects of sound design. The only exceptions are true crime films about murder or serial killers. Nothing with creatures or other supernatural figures make the cut unless they’re animated children’s films. I’m certain there are other exceptions but I’m too lazy to do that much research.

The newest rendition of Pennywise is a great film. It’s written well and directed well. Coworkers and colleagues of mine said they didn’t like the film. Their reasoning was they like classic horror movies and that one felt too “blockbuster-y.” I disagree. Classic horror is great, but one cannot compare that to newer films. Consider each film separately without bias from previous films. What’s strange is the media’s take on the new film from Stephen King’s novel. Many media outlets and blog writers didn’t call the film horror. Instead they used terms like “psychological thriller” or “coming-of-age.” 

These terms are good descriptors, but the term horror must be included as well. Laura Bradley writes in her Vanity Fair Article (2017), “The new It movie, you’ve probably read time and time again, is a great coming-of-age story a la Stand by Me.” Other than both stories being from the mind of King and both stories being about kids, these two films don’t have much in common considering genre. Bradley goes on in her article to make some excellent points about how Beverly Marsh is portrayed in the new film. It is worth the read. But why doesn’t she call it a horror film.

Another interesting fact most people may not be aware of, on Instagram, the hashtag #horror has a disclaimer. When you search this hashtag, Instagram gives this message, “Can we help? Posts with words or tags you’re searching for often encourage behavior that can cause harm and even lead to death. If you’re going through something difficult, we’d like to help.” Last time I checked, enjoying horror films, shows, or novels didn’t mean you wanted to harm yourself. Instagram is attempting to censor many industries including female fitness influencers. I wonder if this was how the censorship in Nazi Germany started. When did America become a fascist dictatorship?

My main question is why does horror get a bad rep? Yes, there are some lower quality films that use the objectification of women to make up for poor storylines and terrible makeup or special effects. That’s a generalization of the genre. It has other facets. There are some great films that often get overlooked because the audience said it wasn’t scary enough. The film Jennifer’s Body (2009) is a brilliant film. The dialogue is smart and fun. The story sounds like an overdone troupe but it all works well.

The film tanked at the box office ten years ago. The reviews from critics and regular movie goers were harsh. It’s making a comeback as a cult classic but there are at least two reasons for its failure. Number one, it was marketed as a horror film. This is not accurate. Constance Grady called the film what it is in her Vox Article (2018), a “feminist horror comedy.” It was funny with great social commentary. The only people who thought it was scary were stupid men and boys. They were scared of the idea of a strong female character who ate men. It made them uncomfortable.

Reason number two, 2009 wasn’t ready for the statement the film made. The scared men and boys influenced the ratings and reviews. There were still large groups fighting against homosexuality. The public opinions of Megan Fox and Diablo Cody were poor. It was the perfect storm of negativity. I thought this film was hilarious and loved every minute of it. Do people only allow themselves to like horror films once they’ve been around for a while? Is it not okay to like supernatural horror movies when they’re new?

What I want from filmmakers is for them to focus more on the story and less on trying to scare their audiences. Those troupes are overdone. I want a good story. Jennifer’s Body has a good story. IT has a good story. I recently saw Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) and it has a good story. I haven’t looked for any reviews. I wonder what others are saying. It is a great film and a great adaptation of the children’s books by Alvin Schwartz.

I want audiences to change their perspective of horror film as well. I want hardcore horror fans to accept all form of horror. Not just slasher films or creature features. I want those who dislike horror to stop generalizing the genre and give new films a chance. Is that too much to ask? I don’t expect people to change overnight. I hope people will surprise me.

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Coffee & Contemplation: The Beginning

I am adding a couple new things to my blog. For you poetry lovers, I’ll soon start Twofer Tuesdays, where I post two poems in one post every Tuesday. Twice the poetry you get on Mondays. I have not decided if I want to bring back Hump Day Haikus. Currently, I just have not written enough haikus to make that a weekly consistent thing. Maybe I can do something once a month. For now, the only poetry item I’m adding is Twofer Tuesdays. If that’s not enough poetry, you can subscribe to my Patreon for $1 per month to gain access to my unpublished poetry before anyone else.

The other item I’m adding to my blog is posts like this one. Coffee and contemplation involves me writing out my thoughts while drinking coffee. Topics are only limited to things I think about. I may rant about society. I may tell you my favorite things. I may word vomit nonsense into the post and have no real agenda or purpose with the post. I’m trying to get myself to write more on my blog in between writing fiction and poetry. If you want to see more writing, tell people about my blog and my books. If enough people buy my books and subscribe to my Patreon account, I’ll make enough money to write full time. That’s the dream anyway.

My next book comes out September 19. You can pre-order The Morbid Museum on Amazon Kindle. Amazon does not offer pre-odering of paperbacks, but you can pre-order a signed copy of the paperback in my Shop. Visit the shop for more details. I also have a few events coming in October and November. I’ll provide more details once I have them. Until then, the best thing you all can do is share and comment. Tell your friends about me. If you’d like an advanced copy of my forthcoming book, I’ll email you a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Reviews are what help writers succeed. Fill out the Contact Form if you’re interested. Happy reading.