Day 361of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

A LITTLE HINDSIGHT NEVER HURTS.

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Hindsight - something I generally don't indulge in openly. Too many times it's of a personal nature and comes off as self-piteous crap. You know, "If only I'd done this instead of that." OR "If someone had only warned me about________." Go ahead, fill in the blank and make my second sentence prophetic.

 

I prefer sticking to the non-personal, the global observations. For instance, despite what the super wealthy kept promising about the importance of massive tax breaks for them and the effect these would have on the economy, over 95% of the rise in personal wealth went to the top 1% of the American population. Income for the middle and lower income brackets continued to decline.

 

Despite the horrific predictions and its rocky start, the Affordable Care Act is gaining popularity and isn't rife with the consequences the far right wing warned about. As a matter of fact, a large part of the system's early problems were in denial of service attacks that were being launched by the conservative doom-sayers. Doctors haven't fled the country, hospitals haven't spontaneously combusted, and, for the first time since universal, one payer health care was proposed in this nation, it might just happen.

 

Speaking of the far right - you know, The Tea Party and the lunatic fringe hiding behind them, the ones being financed by the billionaires who were the sole beneficiaries of all those tax cuts mentioned earlier. What happened to their stranglehold on the Republican Party? The simplest answer to that is the American people finally wised up to what a bunch of under educated, no neck bigots they really are. It doesn't take much exposure to figure out that the Bachman's, Cruz's, Cantor's, et al, aren't as smart as the average sixth grader and are seriously out of touch with the majority of the population. This isn't to say that the other side doesn't have its share of mental midgets, they just don't let them run their own sideshow.

 

Oh, what ever happened to that vast pool of literary talent the miracle of self-publishing was going to reveal? If you've sampled any amount of these freshman debuts, you know they were drowned in an overwhelming sea of shit. Just because you can publish your own writing, doesn't mean you should. But then again, the ego quite often knows not the depths to which it can drag its owner.

 

I have never seen so much poorly considered, clumsily crafted, less than mediocre drivel in my entire life! We are being consumed by words for the sake of words. Emotionless, unsympathetic, and mundane are really 'way too kind a list of descriptors for this vomit. You have people who want to talk to you about suffering, danger, love, and loss that haven't experienced the imposition of a missing set of car keys or more personal discomfort than having their teeth cleaned. I'm not saying you have to be a depraved son-of-a-bitch to write effectively. But it doesn't hurt.

 

Lastly, to all you conspiracy theorists, those among the general public, those with media outlets for their end of the world rants, and those playing the role while holding public office. Get the fuck over it! There was no Kennedy plot, Nixon did screw up, and the Gipper is not a damned deity. (Hell, he wasn't even a good actor.) Quit looking for the alien invasion, the New World Order, and the universal health care "death panels". Drop all that bullshit and get down to the job you were elected for - not screwing anything up too badly during your term in office. If you could do just that small thing, we'd all be better off!

 

 

 

 

Just a little rant from your Uncle Dane.

 

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Meanwhile...live a little closer to the edge, love in free fall, write (but not before you read a whole lot more by recognized authors of quality. REALLY!)

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the
page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher.

Day 360 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

SO IT'S OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW. AGAIN!

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I don't know about you, but I'm not a resolutions kind of guy. I could give you my cynical take on that time worn tradition but I'll defer to a greater, more entertaining cynic, Mark Twain, who said;

 

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever."

 

Instead of the corrective, I prefer to look more to the productive. I take up a new course of study, read authors I have been putting off forever, go to new and interesting places, hang around with intelligent, driven people, take a new direction in my art and writing. None of this is done in the spirit of resolving shortcomings or making good my reprehensible nature.

 

Face it, I damned well do what I will, no deadlines, no amending, no guilt, no heretical resort to religion or morality. As a matter of fact, I've found my batting average to be far better when those players are kept out of the game. Besides, a little immorality just makes the whole thing a bit more interesting and my chances at success better. At least it's still fun if I miss the mark.

 

You want to have a more enjoyable year? Turn off the damned television. Go to the library. Check out the museums. Take some classes. Sit down and write your damned book. A page a day will give you a novel in less than a year. Learn to draw, paint, sculpt. Put away the cell phone and buy a real camera. Join a band or a chorus or the local little theater troupe. In short, get off your dead ass, go outside, and rediscover the universe. It's still the greatest show ever.

 

Just some helpful hints from your Uncle Dane.

 

 

 

 

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Meanwhile...live like you mean it, love like it never hurts, and write as if you were the next Pulitzer winner!

 

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the
page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher.

 



Day 359 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

THIS CLOSE TO THE END AND I BET YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO FORGET!

 

HAPPY DAMNED NEW YEAR WORLD!

 

MAYBE WE CAN MAKE THIS ONE JUST A LITTLE BETTER THAN THE LAST! GO ON, SURPRISE ME, I DARE YOU.

 

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Meanwhile...live, love, write! A page a day in 2014 and, before you know it, you've written a damned book.

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the
page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher.

Day 358 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

ONE WEEK LEFT

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Hard to believe, but I've been hammering away at a blog for over a year now. Most of that time has been spent in this 365 Day Challenge. It was just after the New Year that I began inflicting myself on the world on a daily basis and I am a little proud to be able to say I haven't missed a daily opportunity to do that very thing!

 

One of the side benefits is that I have reconnected with a number of people in the literary, visual, and performing arts. I've re-ignited the passion that I had let die down for so long. I have been afforded opportunities, over and over, to get my name and presence into the public conscience, and am enjoying the whole damned thing immensely.

Having spent the last twenty years dragging my ass into a day job that, to be kind, isn't exactly "intellectually" stimulating, I am grateful for the chance to unpack the wild and perverse avenues my mind is capable of creating.

 

The people I have rekindled my friendship with are enormously stimulating. The interactions we have are no less than mind boggling at times and the constant give and take is a well spring of inspiration. All of this because I decided to remember that, first and foremost, I am an artist and, when I am immersed in that milieu, I am as happy as a fucking clam. For those of you who have followed my rantings over the preceding months, Mille Grazia. It was a wonder to watch the visits counter ticking away. At the end of this next week of posts I'll release the official tally for the number of times people have found their way to my page.

 

This weekend we will be practicing a bit of paganism. A new acquaintance is hosting a burning of the Yule. Let's all celebrate the rejuvenation and renewal of the sun in its passage through thew sky and the beating back of the night!

 

 

 

 

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Meanwhile...live, love, write and hold on to your passion as you would your own life!

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the
page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher.

Day 357 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

CLEARING AWAY THE DETRITUS AND CLEANING HOUSE.

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Another Christmas is packed back into its boxes. The house has been put back in order now that the guests have gone home. The New Year looms just around the corner. What are your plans?

 

What are mine? Oh, there are so many things either waiting for their date or for me to initiate their beginning. I have a  couple of readings coming up, one in Santa Barbara and the other in Ventura. (See below).

 

February 8, 2013, 4:00-6:00 PM at Grenada Books, Santa Barbara, CA. (Dane F. Baylis and Fernando Albert Salinas.) Open mic follows.

 

March 9, 2013, 2 pm, All Erotic Reading at Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA.

 

I have feelers out to try and schedule more. I am offering my chapbook, SELF INFLICTED, for sale on-line now that I've figured out how to do the Paypal thing.

 

In several days I'll be starting the transition from this blog into a new site on Wordpress. That ought to prove a little challenging, but nothing that can't happen. The end of the 365 Days of Blogging Challenge is now only eight days away. It will be nice to get it over with. Being "on" everyday has been a bit more difficult and time consuming than I thought it might. That I'm the only member of the original group still doing this (as far as I know) is both satisfying and disheartening. It's more a reflection of my pit bull nature than my talent, I'm afraid. The new blog is something I see as a weekly publication with possibilities of guest bloggers in the form of writers, editors, publishers, and artists from several disciplines.

 

In the meantime, short stories and poetry get written and revised, submitted, and rejected on a fairly regular basis - and occasionally something does get accepted. The imprint I started in November has had a couple of inquiries from hopeful poets and we'll see how that fares. The Editor-in-Wife has shown a good deal of enthusiasm about her part in that enterprise and is urging a more proactive and aggressive marketing approach.

 

The Wordpress blog will include more of my photography and art. The art will be available for purchase, the photography may be offered in a stock licensing arrangement. There's also a nascent idea I have brewing involving poetry audio books. I'm not one hundred percent sure on those last two yet, but, as my retirement from the day job gets nearer, I am looking for something to fill in the open time and I can't think of anything I'd enjoy more than getting eyeballs deep in the art scene again. I'll keep you informed as things progress. Also look for the new website, I'll be providing a URL, opening date, and any other data that seems pertinent.

 

 

 

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Meanwhile...live, love, write as if you were already a Pulitzer winner!

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the
page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher