Ravens' View

Welcome to my blog

 

This blog may seem a little unfocused, but then so am I - I'm a writer, photographer, trombonist, grandfather, and promoter of graffiti as an art form and a community change agent. You can subscribe to my posts, over on the right hand panel, via RSS feed or emails, or follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I've been retired for a few years, and busier than ever - no idea how I found the time to work before. Two years ago I moved downtown to the Parkdale/Hintonburg area, and love it. No house to maintain, walk everywhere, cafes, groceries, beer store, library, even a "local" nearby. Nice area to explore on foot with my camera, or as a base to explore further afield on my bike. 

I've started writing more short stories, often inspired by Flash Fiction challenges from sites like Terrible Minds and Flash Fiction Friday. I post them to various sites, as well as in this blog - here's a link to my stories so far. Recently published my first one, online in the Pittsburg Flash Fiction Gazette, for money! I've joined ROW80 also, an online writers group where you set daily objectives, and track and share with others - peer pressure works. I write regularly in here, contribute to some newsletters, and have so far completed two novels for the November NaNoWriMo challenge. First drafts both of them, so I'm busy editing before November rolls around and I tackle a third one.  

My tromboning is limited to the Ottawa New Horizons Band - in my fourth year. Not ready to jam with friends in a pub - yet. My photos are here on Flickr, as Ravensview Images. Some of my recent photo sets are London Ontario graffiti,  a local Building Trades Ball Tournament, music at my local O'Connell's pub, an Obey mural downtown, and of course House of Paint. I've also covered live music events such as Ottawa's  Bluesfest and the Folk Festival. 

From my initial photography of back alley art I developed more interests and links into the culture of Hip-Hop, and have volunteered in several youth-related areas. I have worked with Const. Scott Mills of Toronto Crimestoppers, he uses this same approach as a way to reach youth and show them they can be valued members of the community. Check out his work at  Legalgraffitiart on YouTube. I wrote for him a "how-to" guide on neighbourhood transformations, that went into the Ontario School Resource manual, used by many police forces as reference.  

I've also kept developing my photography skills - and of course buying more equipment. I do have many old pics to scan in still, but also have a lot (as in thousands) of photos up on Flickr.

Lost in Translation

This week's challenge from Terrible Minds was to use a random sentence for your prompt. Here's what was asked for - 

Okay.

Click here right now. http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomSentence/RandomSentence.aspx

That is a random sentence generator.

You will get a random sentence and you will use it as either the first or the last sentence of your up-to-1000-word flash fiction entry in this week’s challenge. For instance, I got the sentence: “The textual silence swallows against the geometry.” I have no idea what the fuck that means, but it’s great.

Write in any genre, you have one week. Due by June 1st, noon EST (Friday).

I clicked a few times, and got several interesting sentences, so decided to use them all. This is sort of a sequel to a previous story I did for Chuck, The Fire of the Gods.  Used some characters from a local radio show too, Afghanada.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears... Oh My!

This week's challenge from Flash Fiction Friday was about fear.

F3 - Cycle 81 - Lions, Tigers and Bears… Oh, My!

We fear the unknown, more specifically the unseen. Our minds wonder and wander at an odd sound, creaking cracks, things that go bump in the night.

 Behind my house is a 30 foot Pine a nearly as high Maple, reaching well over my roof. In my bed at night, my wife sleeping soundly, I hear a crash from above, patters across my ceiling. I know what it is, but I can’t help thinking something is up there more deadly than a squirrel or raccoon. Logically, I know they jump from the tree to the roof and across to my deck, food aplenty awaits them. Sometimes, the mind just wanders. Fear of the unknown reminds me of the classic movie The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and her cowardly crew get scared in the Haunted Forest more from the idea that it’s haunted, than any real danger.

This week write a story about perceived fear, either triggered or based on a phobia, and to make it fun use the following word list:

Dark, Crunching, Eerie, Monster and Fear.

Genre: Open      Word Limit: 1313

Cue: A story about fear using the words: Dark, Crunching, Eerie, Monster and Fear

Deadline: Thursday May 31, 9:00 AM EST

Here's my story -

ROW80-2 checkin 5/27 On the Ice Road

 

Yet another distraction - damn you Internet!!! I recently found a link to a Youtube channel with past episodes of Ice Road Truckers online. I used to watch this show a few years ago, but had to cut back on TV and boost other things up my list - like writing. But I started watching these a few days ago and couldn't stop! Just one more, just one more, and then it's 2 am again. The annoying thing is that for me they're not really that entertaining. Good enough to keep me watching, not good enough that I feel moved or changed by what I see. More annoyed than anything it seems. The big deal is the danger of ice roads - but no one ever breaks through. That would likely be fatal - I get that - but how many times can you show shots of cracks in ice, underwater views of a truck passing overhead, driver white knuckled and talking about all the cracking noises? OK - rhetorical question - because the answer is that apparently you can show that scene, with a few tweaks - at least once each show, for five seasons. Other than that, put in a mix of characters, roll the cameras, and start pulling the puppet strings.

This is 'reality tv', a big market, a good way to produce shows cheaply, to satisfy the voyeur in the viewer. And to show us how to write a cheesy script. 

Speaking of writing, I need to get this post done and tackle some objectives. Status is OK, but these need a change of focus from so much time on "other'".

The Paint Colour Title Scheme

This week's challenge from Terrible Minds was about colors. Or, here in Canada, colours. 

TM 2012/5/18 - The Paint Color Title Scheme

 I love shopping for paint because the paint colors are so bizarrely and uniquely named.  And I thought, hey, a challenge based on some of those colors would be kinda rad. So, here’s the deal.

I’m going to list ten paint colors. Choose one. This chosen paint color forms the title to your story. Bonus challenge: try to make color a big part of the story. In imagery, plot, character, whatever.

 Here, then, are the colors:

 Grasshopper Wing

 Bone China

 Timeless Lilac

 Pageant Song

 Burnt Tile

 Fuchsia Kiss

 Flamingo Dream

 Glorious Gold

 Mermaid Song

 Flint Smoke

 You, as usual, have one thousand words and one week to complete. Due by Friday, the 25th, at noon.