81 years ago today hundreds of thousands Allied soldiers risked and gave their lives the invasion of Normandy in the fight against fascism. I wonder what they would think of the world today.
https://www.geoffreygevalt.org/p/fred-june-6-1944

@gg I can smell the plumeria from here, bringing back memories of warm sun and sandy beaches

Greetings from Mexico.
I’m thinking of staying.
#silentsunday #photography #writingcommunity

@OldYogre gee, which one? :)

Help someone. Help them monetarily, emotionally, physically, or mentally. It doesn’t matter how you help as long as you do.

#life

@ninetiger and the flag remain at half-mast

@Emmacox that's cool.
#photography led me to this man who then gave me a brief, taut response to my questions that told of his grief. In the post I add that I was watching from afar because so many people were coming up to him. At a lull, I asked if I could take a picture; he then gave me that jolting answer. ... Since more people were lined up, I backed away and his answer and sorrow haunted me all day and by the time I drove home that night, I had the story and dashed in and wrote it.

At the fair, I was taking pictures of this farmer at the cow barn and asked him, mainly to distract him from my lens, whether he had any cows in the barn.

"Nope. Sold ‘em all off this summer after my son passed." …

The answer haunted me all day. And it led to writing a story for stage, to resuming my novel, Hiram Falls and to writing about the process: https://geoffreygevalt.substack.com/p/3-journal-a-photograph-unlocks-me

this is the third installment of my free monthly series.

“…My failed first draft had led me to develop a plan and a timeline. I was now ready to embark again on writing Hiram Falls. Or was I?

"No.

“Self-doubt was in overdrive, a gnawing in my belly, an insecurity about my writing that sometimes is so severe I wonder if I have any talent at all. I needed to put a few things in place to help me combat it….”

Three things actually: audience, a team and a tool to maintain consistency. For more: https://geoffreygevalt.substack.com/p/4-journal-dealing-with-demons (free)
#writing #fiction

@SergKoren being one (73), I tell most people I'm just fucking off.
the ones who really care, I tell them I write.
the ones who inquire with a job offer, I say, 'whatcha got?'

@SergKoren endings are tough. I thought I had one until I was in a writing group that I was leading and my own friggin' prompt led me to winging it and bango! I had my ending.

@davidtoddmccarty ahh. thanks.

@SherBeareth thanks so much. nice to have winter again, no?

up in #vermont, up on the little hill I live on, we are and have been for the last few days, in a state of perpetual snowing. quite lovely. large fluffy flakes sometimes. pelting windy sometimes, light fine floating down sometimes, adding up, mounting up, plow guy has been here three times, skiing in the woods. winter. finally.

@SJHoodlet
(2) after a while I realized they/we were doing 'social' writing, that is they would share a draft of some poem or slam rant or story or piece of music, or they'd do it live, right there on the site, knowing that others would say something, acknowledge, tell them what they liked about it, what confused them.
they took creative risk. they helped each other out. they collaborated. they build community.
it is so hard for us adults to do that.

@SJHoodlet
(1)you are the third or fourth to remind me that we tend to be introverted. True that.
And wary. careful. cautious.
when i ran a nonprofit for teen writers, I was bowled over by how quickly they connected with each other, supported each other, encouraged each other, how civil and engaged they were simply because I had created a site where they were safe, meaning they were treated with respect.

@SJHoodlet
Sarah, thanks for your thoughts.

But, more importantly, thanks for all of your interactions with me and other writers in your time here. You've added a great deal to this 'community' of writerlies.

@alan you are right, of course.

I've been on the web since early 1995 and the evolution and shifts of communication have been remarkable and I will say that ALL ages of Internet users these days engage far less than they did.

And you are spot on with your observation that It's The Platform, Stupid ... and there are no places I know of that really foster interaction, sharing and posting new work right there on the platform. And conversations are often disjointed here and elsewhere.

@mkj @nlowell @arjaybe

mkj, the scrolling on urge is so much easier than responding or following a link.

it then gets down to what are we scrolling for? what are we looking for? Or are we just filling time?