Write
Thoughts on writing from a poet's point of view...
Road Trip
2025.03.19
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
How’s it hangin’?
Boogie slangin’?
Any which way it goes, yo,
On with our show. O/
...
Vernacular Spectacular, the words we choose define us by the arrangement of parts.
It’s not the size of your vocabulary that determines your success with language. The shape of your word choices do.
We can always learn new words. And should.
Our means to express ourselves grows when we do, so the richness of our experience of life grows too.
But you can win every game of Scrabble and still have a hum-drum life if your ability to arrange your words to best suit your experience is lacking.
A poet always uses the correct word for the content conveyed.
The most impressive word is always the one that leaves the best impression on the reader of the sentiment being shared.
Like lyrics, or lack of lyrics, the arrangement shapes the rhythm of our language to express our point.
A road trip in a car cranking Hip-Hop is a different experience than one blaring Beethoven.
The company you keep and your destination, how you want that company to feel once you reach where you’re going, should dictate your choice of beats, yo.
Comfort comes first.
A trustworthy narrator is a writer’s car you want to get in.
The trip is always enjoyable; the author is good company.
They picked out a few great sights to see along the way.
You want the writer to take the backroads; the trip is always enjoyable.
The journey matters at least as much as reaching the destination.
Because the journey, for you, is part of the experience of the destination.
It’s in your personal definition of the place reached.
This is why it’s always good to have good company to travel with: Your understanding of life is changed when you change your experience of it.
Hopefully these morning excursions on +he Ghos+ Train Express add something positive to the experience of your day.
Wonder, if you keep reading, is why you keep reading: I sing wonder.
In a world so set on numbers and binary lights to dictate days, I’m a sunrise reminder of the sunrise.
Take care, listen to yourself and some music, wonder how they’re the same thing, get in tune, and make a wonderful day.
+he Ghos+
Shakespeare Wrote Rap
2025.03.13
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Good morning that wonderful way.
No rush. Yawn. Stretch. Say hello. O/
And away we go…
On with our show...
...
The idea is comfort.
A well-known author said something like: “Sit down and write; the conditions are never perfect.”
Well said.
Perfect leaves out room for growth and interpretation.
In Life, perfect doesn’t exist.
Perhaps Heavenly perfection does, but that’s for Heaven’s sake absent of Life.
Best to leave the idea of perfection to the sky and best express what it is you wish to convey with generous sincerity.
Some days I go into writing about writing first.
We ought to write about what we love, so it’s always a safe place to start.
Two strong rules for writing:
- Be Clear.
- Only write something you’d like to read.
...
Our literature will start to match the structure of a text message the further we move from a race that uses speech as our first means of communication to one that favors the written first.
Check your text message history for further proof.
Your elementary school teacher would freak if she saw your use of (or lack of) grammar there.
Start using commas, colons and perfunctory periods in your text messages though, and your best friend would freak.
Stuffy Stuffy Grammar Gals will shake their heads and sulk at this, but it's necessary for a language to grow to stay alive.
So deal Gals.
Our use of words must grow if we’re to grow as a race.
So deal Gals.
Olde English doth not a sentence make these days.
...
Shakespeare requires a translator these days.
Back in his day his plays were a rap song’s version of Epic Greek Stories.
Really.
Going to The Globe Theatre back in The Bard’s time was the equivalent of going to a rap concert these days.
Shakespeare’s band was the most popular show.
There was drinking, brawls, and shouting during each performance from the audience.
There even was a whole section of the theatre called The Vomitorium.
If you ever wondered where the phrase, “I’m going to vomit” comes from, now you know.
It’s a destination, like "I’m going to the bathroom."
You say that to your friend, and they understand you’re going to pee and not just randomly walk to the bathroom.
Likewise, back in the Olde English Theatre you told your drunk concert buddy, “I’m going to Vomit.”
A place and a purpose.
Well… sometimes the morning journal takes unexpected twists.
Seriously though, Shakespeare wrote rap; it’s why it’s all in poetic verse.
People don't speak like that.
We rap like that.
...
Still an hour till sunrise here.
Abe’s in a deep sleep on the loveseat.
Take care, share your words in iambic style or a rap song way,
Use tolerance if you drink, and make wonderful this wonderful day.
+he Ghos+
With Your Dream
2025.03.07
Friday March 7, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
Made it.
Happy tomorrow. O/
On with today.
...
If you’ve read much of this journal you know they’re a predominate theme.
Writing from the point of view of a ghost helps keep in mind that what is in your mind as you read is the hidden spirit in these words.
All reading is an act of resurrection.
Dead scrawls breathe new life through the dream you make of them.
I do my best to paint the clearest picture of my own dream as I write in hopes you receive it with the same emotions I feel, and images I see, as I set it down in symbols in need of your focus to make them live again.
Every act of writing does this. Your text message to your friend is a bunch of binary lights until your friend puts their dream of you into them.
O/ <– This is more than me waving to you.
As you read the circle and the slash it becomes your dream of me waving to you.
These are not deep thoughts; they’re forgotten ones.
And in dire need of remembrance.
Your own ghost is what AI lacks and can never reproduce.
Send an email created by a single click of a mouse on a button used to instruct AI to compose it and send it off, and all you send are words filled with the dream of you clicking a button for the sake of convenience.
If the email is for business, imagine how much better received it is when made with your dream of the intended reader in each word.
Think how much more powerful a handwritten note from a colleague is than a quick AI click of a button back response.
Your intent, your dream, that the recipient of that message is important enough to take the extra time to handwrite and deliver it to them goes into their dream of you as they read it.
Leaving your good friend a paper note under their windshield wiper for them to find that reads, “Good morning,” means so much more than a quick auto-response text message saying the same thing.
The Ghost of You is in every letter.
It’s crucial during these AI times we remember that our dream of every occurrence goes into everything we do.
Thank you again for reading, for breathing life back into my words.
Take care, share a dream or two, and make a wonderful day.
+he Ghos+
This Morning for Instance
2025.03.03
Monday March 3, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
Glad you made it. O/
On with the show.
The Sun is up at a more reasonable time, a sure sign of Spring.
Slow, slow words this morning, up before dawn daydreams.
A safe place for dreams and doing dreams, what a best life environment looks like.
A lot of the reason I wake so early is to assure I have that best space to set some words down.
Sometimes dreams are so loud; they just want comforting.
A host to sit with until they settle enough for words and actions.
This morning for instance.
It’s best not to force writing fiction and poetry. The forcing gets into the language and muddies up the message.
News Journalism, deadline words, are really just talking taking notes.
Creative writing isn’t a record of actions, it’s a display of dreams.
Dreams don’t make deadlines.
If you have a dream, a stubborn one, please don’t force it into your work, to do so is a disservice to you and the dream.
There’s always something worth writing about.
If you can dictate it, it’s not writing it’s telling; the record of a campfire story.
The rhythms of speech are limited compared to the written word in regards to the conveyance of a story.
Theatrics are an extra tool for a performance. Theatrics in a sentence are rarely done well in writing.
Showboat stories never sail well, there are better ships to sail to tell a tale.
Some thoughts on craft while The Sun came up.
Hope all is well for you today.
Take care and make a better day.
+he Ghos+
More posts on writing here:
Eat Me
2025.02.17
February 17, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
It’s time for your daily dose of +he Ghos+.
Right on time, too.
For what?
To see you of course. O/
Hope you’re well.
On with the show.
...
Sometimes the page is just a blank spot for scratch marks.
Scratch away!
You’re interesting. You’re unique. Make some words.
Something interesting and unique has to show up sooner or later.
Hope something sooner finds you today.
There’s a lot of talk on the power of dreams on the site.
It’s the best topic for a ghost to speak on.
We’re experts through experience.
A word is a shared dream. Nothing more, nothing less. You’re a part of my dream right now. O/ Make yourself at home.
There’s food in the fridge. The coffee pot is on. Cups are in the cupboard above the stove.
Plenty of food, actually. As I’m a ghost, I only require readers to survive.
Which is an awkward thing to admit, as it confesses the fact that at the moment I’m eating you.
But, as you’re digesting me, the favor is returned.
So, we’re okay with the weird.
And well fed.
Perhaps a better prompt would be: Good morning that wonderful way… to eat me.
Though telling someone, ‘Eat me,’ is rarely a kind thing to do.
And as we strive for kindness here, we’ll keep the prompt as is.
Departing the awkward train. Returning to our regularly scheduled deep thoughts.
However disguised in awkward humor they are the above comments are deep thoughts. Whatever it takes to make a ghostly point clear. That’s the way.
The weather… always a good topic changer.
Sunrise comes earlier; still a few hours away.
Despite the foot of snow and rain yesterday, songbirds are back doing preshow vocal warm-ups right now.
Singing a Do-Re-Mi, drinking a tequila-less hot tea with extra honey and a worm.
Take care, eat a ghost, and make a better day.
+he Ghos+
In a Steady Stream of Storied Dreams
2025.02.15
Saturday February 15, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
Ode to the morning, with Ghos+.
+he Ghos+, to be exact.
How are you?
Corporeal as ever I see.
Well, happy morning.
Onto a good day.
...
Late night, early morning; hope you slept well.
Abe did. Snored like a beehive in full honey season.
Now he trims his nails and bathes, occasionally watches the window for birds.
Somewhere there’s a peace everlasting. Somewhere where the water ripples slow and pure. Where the reflection off every pool shows the you, you wish to see and want to be.
Hope you’re there now, or at least in a steady stream of storied dreams to lead you there.
Perhaps I’ll see you should our dreams crossover like comic book heroes and sitcom characters often do.
Should you see me writing, stay if you like. But don’t interrupt. Peace tells a different tale for all, as does friendship.
An author’s friends are guardians of their peace, sentries of solitude.
When I’m finished, I’ll thank you for the vigil, get you some coffee or tea, and enjoy the place together for a while.
Maybe you’ll read what I wrote, maybe save it for another day.
Time is of the essence and the essence of that time is us.
Take care of yourself and your peace, however-wherever you find it, and make a better day.
+he Ghos+
Choreography, Adverbially
2025.02.11
February 11, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
… to start the day, of course.
O/ Glad you made it.
Let’s go.
On with the show.
...
Adverbs.
For some reason, my cup of tea-not-coffee wants to speak on adverbs.
“Pick a stronger action verb.” – Seasoned Writer/Teacher
But, if everything is its own collection of molecules dancing their particular dance, isn’t everything an adverb?
At very least a verb.
The chair I’m sitting in is doing its best to express being a chair.
A big lump of space doing its best to be a comfortable choreography of molecules best suited to hold me while I write. Rather comfortably too, I might add.
Yes, this clump of atoms is chair-ing quite comfortably.
A comfortable clump of atoms dancing chair-ily.
In fact, you (yourself!) are a clump of quarks moving Your-Name-ily.
I’m moving Ghos+-ily to the next subject.
...
How’s the sunrise?
Still a full moon for the light source. Still a heap of hound dog molecules on the loveseat sleeping dreamily.
In defense of the adverb, it’s all about rhythm. The same holds true for the semi-colon.
Want to aggro the closest group of angsty authors? Simply use the words adverb and semi-colon in the same sentence. Tell them to loosen up, be happy for the tools, stop complaining and get back to writing….
Clearly, concisely, rhythmically, prolifically, metaphorically, wholeheartedly; adverbially.
Take care, remember grammar is a canvas, not a prison (reference your text messages for further explanation), and have your day wonderfully.
+he Ghos+
A Tangible Friend
2025.02.04
February 04, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
O/ How are you?
Yawn, stretch, you got this.
A couple months from now the sun will be up.
Now, it's a couple hours away.
On with the show.
...
There's a lot to say.
Somedays that voice, the one in the wind, sings loquacious, wants a whirlwind stack of words.
I often refer to it as the rhythm of the day.
The unconscious imagination, as psychology refers to it.
Though, I think Spirit, Holy Spirit, makes more sense.
Years spent alone living in dreams to survive, to give meaning to days spent physically drained fighting illness, show the word choice is a better one.
Our dreams come from somewhere, something.
The unconscious is a tangible friend.
We don't have life without a dream of life.
We don't talk about spirit enough. Our yardsticks have no hatch marks to measure it, so we keep from talking about it, at unease we'll express it wrong.
But we do express spirit. In fact, it is all we express.
The moral shape to our stories, pop songs, films prove human interaction has its own shape.
There is a right way to live.
Our stories show us the shape and way of the spirit. We share it, we're made of it, from it, for it.
We're the hero of our own life.
We ought to consciously recognize this shared measurable fact by juxtaposing our experience with that of the heroes in our stories.
Emotional sentiments in our popular music are heroic tests of our strength, major points in our personal story arcs.
The message of the music helps us not feel alone by recognizing the shared value of the experience.
Everyone knows when the superhero wins; everyone cheers.
We have everything in common.
A universal spirit moves the world and shows us our lives have a purpose measurable through our arts.
Some songs make you want to dance, others smile, others cry.
Just like us.
How well the immediacy of the moment of the artist is conveyed speaks to the success of the piece.
What we call Great Art is instantly almost identical to the experience of the moment the artist wishes to convey.
Walk into the Sistine Chapel and it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 88, you look up at the ceiling and you say, "Oh, my God."
And Michelangelo from his grave says, "Gotcha."
We all feel driven at times, something has to be done, and it has to be done now. It's exhausting. It nags and motivates you at the same time. Your belief in the importance of it gives you the adrenaline to see it through. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony knows it, too. Every violin string sings, "Get it done."
Life is a shared experience that moves in a certain way. Art is its record.
Take care, listen to a song, read a book or poem, binge watch a TV series, watch a movie, realize you're not alone feeling the way it causes you to feel because something very real is here to experience and share, and have that better day.
+he Ghos+
