The Art of Writing

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe
- Gustave Flaubert

I ran across the above as one of my "quotes for the day" and I find it has a strong ring of truth.

I would venture to say it is probably the same with all the arts. When you work at expressing yourself you discover what you believe. And, I believe, when you are a Christian, and live for the experience of God's love, then when you participate in the creative act you are constantly discovering God.

After all, we believe He is "everywhere and fills all things." Then, as a Christian, you should be able to learn to see God everywhere: even in the darkest of places, for even there the absense of His Glory proclaims his presence.

Thus for the artist who is also a Christian, more than discovering what you believe as you write, you are also discovering the point at which your belief system intersects with the Ultimate Truth. And as a creator of fiction, you discover as you write the ways in which God interacts with the world that you hadn't even dreamed of. You discover other people's perception of the Divine (or lack thereof) and it enhances your own appreciation of the work and wonder of God.

Regards,
Basil

The Eternal Order of the Onion

For those who haven't discovered it, my fictional blog "Dream Dreamer" is now underway. Check it out here! Today's topic: The Eternal Order of the Onion.

Regards,

Basil

An obvious saying

I get these quotes of the day, and you have to guess who said them. Often they are very obvious, and you don't even have to have known in advance who said them.

Today's quote was:

"It's about time law enforcement got as organized as organized crime."
- Rudolph Giuliani

I was wondering what RG was doing these days, and discovered that NYC has an archive of all their mayors (here's RGs). He is apparently writing books on leadership.

I'm going to write a book on non sequitur thought processes some day. I'm going to have to - being an expert in that category.

What does this have to do with anything? I really don't know.

Regards,
Basil

Unholy Dreams

I've had one of those dreams again...

(This is a work of fiction... an absurdity... nightmare...)

Or is it a lovely iridescent chimera?

I was inspired my my absurd poem of earlier today to embark on a journey that I knew was inevitable, but was afraid to start. Mind you, I love to write things that seem absurd. They seem absurd until you get beneath the surface and decipher what it is all about.

I began this blog here as a work of fiction. It is staged as a Dream Blog. I noted that numerous people at blogger have what they call "Dream Blogs" and they log all of their dreams.

Well, I shall be logging all of my dreams in a dream blog also. Only, it's fiction. There will be a story that arises out of the characters that present themselves in my dream blog. I cannot say that it will seem to be a coherent story. But I hope it will be somewhat captivating. I hope it will be meaningful. And, although it has all the makings of a journey through hell, I hope that it will point toward heaven.

For those of you who know me here, never mind the author's name. I try on different author's names like clothing. I protect myself against theft of intellectual property by making sure that I own those names as a business. My writing business doesn't make much money, but it does makes some (that is, I do have published works under a variety of nomes de guerre.) But the point for me right now isn't making money, it is saying something. My head is full of this stuff and I have to find an outlet for it. So here is a new, experimental approach: a fictitious blog. I'm not doing anything completely new. Stephen King has done similar things.

Well, here is one that I am sharing with you my friends. Proceed at your own risk.

~ Basil ~
a.k.a.A.K.

A Found Poem

by Basil Bug

(Okay, I didn't really write this poem, I found it, right?)

(Isn't that what found poetry is?)

Okay, I lied. This is partially found and partially written. It is written, rather the way a bird makes a nest.

Blessings and Creeds, A Menagerie

I held up the knife,
"slave to my wife"
the Welts pic post
funny Johnny Cochran sayings
with interesting words
right into my twilight.

Then they sing the
Lutheran hosptial creed
(who are the Welts any way?)
(and how can we unravel their
Protestant appreciation of theosis?)

He enters and bows
takes his gnostic wedding vows
St Ephraim blessing sex?
No this is a bad dream.

Go back, I say, go back to Thy monastery
Enter into the abode of darkness and flee from
the romanian girls singing the Philokalia on MTV

serbian bikers
anatoilan hitch hikers,

"THE ANCHOR HOLDS" and "sheet"
I say... and rather abstain from sweet-meats
I say...
As st. raphael patron saint of prayers for unrequited love
begins his latest hit song

The poet laughts, sings aloud the sayings
funny & prophetic
of a wandering traveler throug the vast void
of infospace, searches,
searches, searches for
Sick Comments And Bumper Sticker Sayings
so that he can take more delight in
free demonic bitmaps

Amen.