Back To Writing

In the late nineties, the New Orleans Public Library used to have a contest to write children's stories. It was more of a writing exercise for me as they gave you several items that had to be used in the story. I ran across my stories and decided to create new stories from the original title, Mr. Bane's Kids. Mr. Bane is a writer of Children's stories. His stories are influenced by his own kids, Kelly and Duane Bane and their friends, Andrew, Peter, Jazzmine, Karl, April and others. I thought I would perhaps use this blog to share some or part of the short stories to get some feed back. If I create an audience then I know that I'm on to something.

Some time this year I started creating what I thought the kids might look like. Sort of creating a brand if you will. Things got a bit out of control as I kept creating kids and then they became works of art. I am now condensing the number of kids, but since I have created my own digital stamps I now have a system so I can create as many kids as I want and paste them into the stories. I still have the originals that I can look at from time to time for inspiration. I purchased a magnetic dry erase board and I put the kids on magnets and now I can create the art work around them. I then photograph them and I can create different types of art for the stories and to sell separately.

Mr. Bane's Kids

by Dlonzo

Mr. Bane sat at the desk in his office, looking out of the window at the drizzling rain. He tried to think of something to write on the paper before him, but nothing seemed to surface.

"Daddy, daddy, I'm home," Kelly shouted.

Mr. Bane looked down from the balcony over looking the foyer.

"What is that ugly thing?"

Kelly looked up and smiled.

"It's not ugly. Is it? This is my art project. It's a fan."

Kelly ran up the stairs, Mr. Bane told her to be careful not to trip over the fan.

"What is it?" he asked again with a smile.

"I told you it's a fan. It is made out of verver root."

"I think you mean vetiver root."

"That's it," Kelly agreed with her father.

Mr. Bane thought to himself. Some people have too much time on their hands. Mr. Bane told her to hand it in her room. He sat back down behind his desk and began writing.

The next morning the rain continued. Kelly pressed her face against the window.

"Are you okay?" Mr. Bane asked.

"I guess. I hope the rain stops soon," she replied.

"We have plenty of time."

Mr. Bane told Kelly to make a list of everything they were going to do. She went up to her room.

When the doorbell rang, Duane ran from his room and leaped down the stairs.

"Slow down boy," Mr. Bane shouted.

"It's Andrew and Peter," Duane replied.

"I know who it is, just slow down."

Peter and Andrew went to Duane's room to play until it was time to leave.

"How come your dad is always home?" Peter asked.

"He works here. He is a writer," Duane answered.

"What kind of writer?" Andrew asked.

"He writes stories about children."

Mr. Bane knocked on Duane's bedroom door to see if they were hungry.

"No sir," they replied.

Kelly was almost finished her list and Mr. Bane began getting dressed.

Everyone sat in the living room waiting when the doorbell rang again.

(To be continued...)

Coming Soon

I will post two of my short stories that I had written many years ago for a contest for the New Orleans public library. They had a unique contest in which they gave you items that had to be included in your story. It's a great way to challenge yourself as a writer. Much like the group that writes stories using 50 words or less.

Thanks for stopping by and do come back again.

Remember Disco (1999) In memory of the Disco Queen Donna Summer

Come in here dear boy
have a cigar
listen to the beats
of a time gone by
Donna Summer was Disco Queen
hit after hit
freak out with  Good Times and those Sunset People
Stayin' Alive, Thank God It's Friday
Sylvester, Cheryl Lynn the Gong Show
It's Got to be Real
Labelle, those fine freaky sisters
introducing us to Lady Marmalade
Amy Stewart Knock on Wood
Looking for Hot Stuff with Bad Girls
who were Too Hot to Trot
orgasm on vinyl
seventeen minutes of
Love to Love you Baby
on Seville Nights, Boogie Nights
Get up and Boogie
Boogie oogie oogie
I'm your Boogie Man
Love and Kisses, Barbara Streisand
was the Main Event
Evelyn Chmapagne King or Queen
It's A Shame, but rumors start
Shake your Groove Thing, Shake your Booty
with the Disco Duck and Disco Lady.
When we are all alone do
The Hustle on the Soul Train get in line
More, more, more, Andrea's connection was
True, true, true
Don't Leave Me this Way, You Make Me Feel
Mighty Real, Do You Want The Real Thing?
Superman, Married Men, Paul Jabara created
the hits. We had the Disco Wedding
Honeymooned on Pleasure Island had a Disco Divorce
and was Trapped in a Stairway on film
without a Flashlight.
Disco Inferno, music made you sweat.
One hundred and twenty beats per minute.
Thump, thump, thump.
Leather Man, Macho Man, cruising at the YMCA
and In The Navy, one hit wonders.
Polyester, disco balls, strobes and rollerskating
Cher said, Take Me Home and was Hell On Wheels,
Do You Love What You Feel, Let's All Chant,
Ain't No Stopping Us Now.
Take Me To Funky Town on the way to The Zoo,
The Jungle or The Civic.
Everyone was jumping on the band wagon.
Love's Theme, Never Can Say Good-bye,
Rock Your Baby.
Platform and high heeled shoes
Bell bottoms and skirts fluttering in the breeze
from twirls and over head and between legs
great acrobatic moves
Disco was here to stay
So we thought, who knew?
Disco Fever, Gold Fever, Dance Fever,
Solid Gold, that was the thing,
Somebody's Watching You.
We visited Mac Arthur's Park, Disco Mountain,
Boogie Wonderland and saw the Manhattan Skyline.
Will I Ever Fall In Love in New York City, After Dark
on a Fairy Tale High, Lovin' Livin' Givin' Diana Ross
was the Boss, Grace Jones was a Goddess
scary pulling up to her Bumper
Discotheques, hallucinogens and Studio 54
the place that made stars of the beautiful
people or we imagined being.
Clap your hands, stomp your feet, give me five
Chase, Ride the White Pony, Give me A Break,
What can I do for you, What can you do for Me?
Runaway, He's The Greatest Danceer
The Ritchie Family got their big break
flashing skin and putting
Their Feet to the Beat
You ought to be dancing
Moroder said with the creation
of Casablanca home of Disco
Do you remember Disco?
Disco Nights, I Feel Love, Open Sesame
On The Radio, Jet et aime, Stars,
Everybody is one, In Hollywood Everybody
Is A Star, San Franscisco, You Got Me
Disco went Classical with the
Fifth of Bethoven and many
followed suit, we became hooked on
Classics
Many feared it, few embraced it
so new talent was brought in,
Where are they now?
Call Me, Ring My Bell, Disco Heat
You Give Me Fever, Too much to drink
or Love Hangover, make that a double
You've got the Cutest little Baby Face
Disco Swing, and Jazz
You Should Be Dancing
I Just Want To Be
I Just Wanna Dance with you
Dance, Freak and Boogie
Star Wars, Touch Me Baby
Love is the Ultimate
Sex and Drugs
Drugs and Sex
The seventies were free sexually
whatever your pleasure
you could fulfill your desire
The London Palladium
Dance, dance, dance
Yousa, yousa, yousa
The Beat Goes On
There, But For The Grace of God, Go I
We Are Family
Can't Stop The Music
Somebody did stop Disco
Enough is Enough
I Will Survive
The Last Dance
the last chance
no matter what
My Feet Keep Dancin'

                               -Dlonzo (1999) (Inspired by the poem Head of Disco) also written by Dlonzo

Impromtu

Although I had set out to make this a blog about writing, I had several other blogs to work with and this one didn't develop. I'm going to try again and perhaps center on some of my poetry, short stories and favorite blog entries from my other blogs. Then I can have a collection to turn into an e book.
I'll see how it develops.



At a point in my life
stifled, quiet, but not down
smile, it's a new day
life goes on,
there's a rhythm to life,
feel it, believe it,
have faith
let the cords connect
for the feet shall dance
a song one can sing
a groove in an instant
just out of nowhere.

Thanks for stopping by and do some back again.

Writing, back to basics

I haven't been writing here much, but I do write everyday. It's very important, that I be as creative as possible. I was thinking about poetry this morning. I have loved poetry since the first time I read a poem. When I was in high school it changed because I saw poetry from many different aspects. Poetry is an art and its not all rhyme and verse. Poetry is also known as concrete where one word can take on is own meaning in art.

In later years I learned that each poet has a style. There is a way to tell a story. It can be right in your face or it can be told in a metaphor.
Poems can be like music, or read with music. The spoken word was rap, long before anyone knew what that was. We now call it hip hop because it sounds better? Who knows, but some people enjoy it.

Poetry is like everything else, it's not for everyone.
A friend of mine had some magnetic words on their fridge and I used to organize them and I began creating magnetic poetry.

Years later I bought a magnetic calendar that I play around with from time to time to get into a creative mood. Sometimes I photograph the words and I post them as poetry art. Recently I began creating Poarty. It is a combination of a photograph with a poem written across it.

I always tell people, the best way to get into the writing habit is to create a journal. Keeping a book by your bedside you can record your thoughts, and dreams or just your word of the day. At the end of the year, take your words for the day and create a poem.

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. Continue to be creative. Do come back again or become a follower.

Continue to write everyday at least for an hour

Everyone has a story to tell. The problem is that some people don’t always know how to tell that story. People are not sure if anyone would be interesting in what they have to say. If you write for yourself then you will probably find someone that is interested in what you have to say.

When one begins to write they have to think about whether they are doing it to make money or if they are doing it because they have something to pass along. Information from their life that can be of importance.

When one starts writing you have to decide if its going to be biographical or fiction. Biographies are easy, but you may not want to tell your story because its so personal, but if you do it as fiction you can create characters that can live your life.

The one thing to remember is if you read it back and it doesn’t make sense to you then it won’t make sense to anyone else. Get a friend that will be honest to read what you have written. It’s better if you know someone that understands punctuation. This will help to make sure that reading your story has the proper flow.

Having a great beginning makes the reader want to turn the page, but you must be able to maintain that technique throughout to keep your reader interested.

Practice does make perfect. You may have to write and rewrite until you get a style that you make your own. The first rule of writing is to write about what you know. If you try to write about something you know nothing about then there will be a reader that may have had that experience and will know its not real.

Thanks for stopping by. Why not become a follower while you're here.

Page 1

(It is important that the opening page sucks in your reader. There has to be a reason to turn the page.)

The alarm blasted from the right side of the bed on the side table. Monte raised his head from under the mound of covers to feel the cold on his face. He looked over at the cell phone that had been set to wake him up. He reached over to grab the phone. He could feel the coldness on his left hand as he turned the alarm off. The outside light peeked through the louver blinds partially open in front of the patio doors. He took a deep breath and sat up in bed.

He began to think about what he wanted to do and what really needed to be done. He usualy made a list of things to do, but he hadn't done that in advance. He slid out of the bed and went into the bathroom to get washed up so he could think clearly.
His life was changing, but he didn't know to what extent. Nothing seemed different. He was doing the same thing he had done for the last eleven months. He was not regretting the day and not resisting what was coming, but he wanted to deal with it in his own way.

He decided to get dressed and he would make his list while having breakfast. Monte fixed himself a bowl of cereal and sat at the dinning table. Just as he began to eat, his cell phone began to ring. He hesitated to answer the phone. He looked to see who was calling and by the fourth ring he decided to answer.

"Hello."
"Happy Birthday," the voice on the other end said.
"Thank you," Monte answered in a soft voice.
"How does it feel to be fifty?"
"Not very different from forty nine," he answered.
"Well I hope you have a great day. I didn't want you to think I had forgotten."
"Well, thanks again for calling."

Monte ended the call and began to eat his breakfast and thinking he shouldn't have answered the phone.