Category Archives: making a positive difference

Post-pandemic sci-fi story

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I got an idea today for a post-pandemic sci-fi story that’s joyful, and it’s one of the things keeping me going right now: a vision of a better future.

I’ve written some of it at home today, where I usually write. So, not much change for me there. If there’s anything good I can take out of these Covid-19 “stay at home” times, it’s that, with any luck, I’ll be more productive with my writing having to be home more right now. If I can stay off the Internet long enough that is…(a usual battle for those who work at home, and yes I spelled Internet with a capital “I” despite what some recent word-trends would have you do; after all, the Internet is the name for a thing: the world network of computers that is public (used to be just the WWW prefix of the World Wide Web, but has grown). That’s a proper noun. /Grammar rant mode off.  If you think I’m wrong you can get off my lawn 😉

Funny how that works, that staying home and productivity ratio! Writers (and I think this is true for most who work from home) generally get more done during the cold months than the warm months. Too many things to do outside when the weather is nice, pulling away our time and attention, it seems. Then the cooler weather eventually sets in and thoughts go back to word counts rather than vacations,  warm summer nights, and days that never seem to end.

Writing about a possible future can be an important part in creating it. We’ve seen this happen again and again, but unfortunately those futures were mostly dystopias. As much as I have enjoyed such stories and movies that were very artfully done, I hoped such worlds would not come to be, and yet they largely have; I always wondered why there were not more possible futures I’d like to live in. What we choose to write is up to us, but I think it’s time we write about more uplifting possible futures than the current state of the world we are now in. Maybe then we will find we are living in a better world one day.

See my previous entry about The Prescience of Science Fiction Authors for more on this topic, and where writers get their ideas to write about the future.

 

Read my ebooks FREE for the next month on Scribd

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Read my ebooks FREE for the next month, and a million more, on Scribd during their Read Free For 30 Days promotion in response to the Corona Virus/Covid19 pandemic, no commitment/credit card needed. https://www.scribd.com/author/246458895/David-Sloma

#Covid_19 #shelteringinplace #lockdown #pandemic #Read #Free #readers #Reading #CoronaCrisis #COVID19 #StayHome #stayhomechallange #scifi

Harlan Ellison – Memories and Lessons

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Harlan Ellison was one of the first professional writers I ever met.

It was in the 80’s, during one of Harlan’s lecture tour stops. I was a wide-eyed teen, voracious reader (especially of fantasy and sci-fi), and also a beginning/aspiring writer. His talk to the large crowd was wild and entertaining, filled with outrageous stories – here was a real celebrity writer in our midst! His admonitions on the hardships of the writing life were not enough to deter me, but they did shock me at the time (I found out years later he was mostly right).

The highlight of the show was when he read one of his new stories! That put me in awe, not just because I got to hear a wonderful story from a master writer in his own voice, but he said afterward that it was “just how it came out of the typewriter.” No rewriting! He explained that he was able to do this after being a writer for over 25 years. I thought he might have been embellishing about his skill slightly, as some of his tales seemed a little far-fetched, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve learned from him and other long-term writers that this sort of thing is possible; I’ve even had my own experiences with it.

After the show, I lined up to get a book signed by Harlan and also got his infamous barbed wit/temper directed at me! Seems I was being a little too much the acolyte writer as I hung around at his elbow after getting my book signed, wanting to bask in his presence and collect any pearls of writing wisdom he might choose to bestow on those crowding around him. So he shooed me away like a fly! I believe he even said “Go away, shoo!” I can chuckle about it now, but at the time I was a bit miffed. Ah, Harlan!

Harlan Ellison gave me someone to emulate, showing that the dream I had, to also be a writer, was possible. For that I’m thankful, and also for the many stories of his I enjoyed and dreamed on.

Do something nice for yourself

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It’s good to treat yourself sometimes. I’m sure you’ve heard it said it’s good to do something nice for yourself. Sometimes people get so busy that they forget to have fun in life. That’s easy to do.

Don’t let in happen to you. Marvel in the everyday miracles all around in nature, take some time out, have a treat, enjoy something in your day, even if only for a few minutes.

After all, what are we working so hard for, if not to enjoy life more?
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Blog Post Streak Count: Day 8

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What do you want to do with your life?

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I knew from a young age that I loved writing, reading, and words. So, it’s no surprise that I followed those interests in my life. I knew early on that I wanted to be a writer.

Some people have a hard time figuring out what to do with their lives, and I haven’t really had that problem. I’ve done many things in my life, but it’s always come back to the writing, primarily.

Writing was something I did as a child because I enjoyed it. I would often draw pictures to go along with the stories and imaginings. It was fun! I would see my favourite movies, then make up stories about them. Maybe this was early fan fiction?

Many of the jobs in my life were directly writing related, and I think this was a natural progression. I find writing comes easy to me, usually, no matter the type of subject matter. I guess you can call it a gift; I certainly think it is, a talent I was given. I wrote before I got paid to do it, and I would still do it if I didn’t get paid. So, you can say I found my vocation and passion. I am grateful for that.

I know some people struggle with their purpose in life, and if you are, I would say to follow what Joseph Campbell, author of The Power of Myth series said, and that is to “follow your bliss” and it will lead you to your purpose and passion.

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Blog Post Streak Count: Day 6

Tip Jar: If you like what I write, you can help me do more of it by clicking on the Paypal Donate button below. Thank you!




Inspiration: David Lynch – Twin Peaks season 3

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David Lynch photographed for GQ magazine, March 2017

David Lynch photographed for GQ magazine, March 2017

David Lynch, the filmmaker, painter, photographer, fine artist, coffee appreciator, and inner peace/meditation foundation founder is a real inspiration.

Later this month (on May 21st for you Peaks freaks, like me), season 3 of Twin Peaks begins which consists of 18 hours of new episodes, picking up from where the TV series left off in 1991 – about 26 years ago!

This new series is quite a feat for anyone to direct (and co-write, with Mark Frost), and more screen time than many directors have for their entires careers! What an accomplishment for David Lynch! And he’s 71 years old, too! Wow, BOB, wow! (Fans of the show will get that BOB reference.)

The date of 26 years ago also makes the prediction of the character of Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks true, when she said words to the effect of: “I’ll see you again in 25 years” – which was when season 3 was being made.

David Lynch has been a source of inspiration to me for many years, in both my creative endeavours and my life in general. So, thank you David Lynch, and I can’t wait to see the new season of Twin Peaks!

Twin Peaks – Official Series Site | SHOWTIME
http://www.sho.com/twin-peaks

The David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace https://www.davidlynchfoundation.org

Why I’ll Miss Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy

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Why I’ll Miss Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy
By David Sloma (www.davidsloma.com)

Leonard_Nimoy_Spock_1967

It started on a black and white TV from Eatons department store. The brand was Viking, their house brand. I remember that tube TV used to take a while to warm up, and when you switched it off the picture slowly disappeared into a small white dot in the middle of the screen. There was only one speaker, no cable channels, and the signals were collected by a “rabbit ears” antenna—that was how I was introduced to the original Star Trek series in the early 1970’s when I was a child.

Even with that humble TV set, the stories of Star Trek came through to my young mind and heart as crystal clear as in the latest HD, sparking my imagination from then on. The episodes thrilled me, at times scared me, amused me, and made me wonder about unknown things and possibilities. With plays set in space, I found real lessons about life on Earth. Star Trek started a fire in me, and also in the world at large. I thought a lot about outer space and travel to the stars, years before I was old enough to drive a car. Those tales are surely part of the reason why I write science fiction today.

I liked Captain Kirk because he was the Captain, and he did alright with the ladies (both human and alien). But there was something strange and deeply intriguing about the man in the blue shirt with the pointed ears and weirdly cut black hair: Mr. Spock spoke to the outsiders, the ones who didn’t feel they fit into a world not of their making. For a supposedly cold and mostly logical character, only half-human, I found a lot of feeling in Spock’s portrayal. It would be years later until I came to appreciate what he stood for more deeply.

As I grew up and the TV sets in our house got better, I kept watching Mr. Spock through the years. I learned there was a real man behind the character of Spock, indeed there were real people behind all of the characters I’d grown fond of on-board the Enterprise (and even some of the aliens, too). I found out the ships were not real but only TV and movie sets. They were not in space but on movie lots. And the actors behind the characters aged as I aged, too.

When Leonard Nimoy passed away on February 27, 2015, I felt a bit of shock. A part of my childhood had ended, I felt. In fact, Spock had been there through most of my life and now he was gone. There would be no more movies or TV shows with Mr. Spock in them, I had to accept. I still had the action figures, toys, cards, comic books, videos and other stuff of Star Trek from the years, but there would be no more new appearances by Mr. Nimoy.

I felt sad about that and also blessed, as I remembered how much he had given to the world. He kept being Mr. Spock long past the point of needing the money and that says the world to me. His work lives on and will prosper, of that I have no doubt. They just don’t make them that like anymore.

Thank you, Leonard Nimoy.

Dreams Come True

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I’m sitting in a park writing this. Why? Because I can, and because it’s a dream come true.

With my ThinkPad X60 in the park, my "office" today.

With my ThinkPad X60 in the park, my “office” today.

Decades ago I worked in towers. Specificlly, the tall office towers of downtown Toronto that I can now see far in the distance (I’ll put a pic up).

They were great for getting a view in, but were not someplace I wanted to remain for long.

The Towers

The Towers

Those towers are tiny to me, now, from my view in the park and seem like toys. They are in dream-scale, like they might not even be real. That’s how I feel about my past, and what has lead me to here and now.

When I worked in those tall towers, I was young, just eighteen and out of high school. I worked for six months in those towers, and I swore I would not end up working there for the rest of my life. I finished up there and went back to school, to university to study Creative Writing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunities back then that writers and content producers have today to self-publish on such a grand level. Also, I had done some buying into the erroneous belief that it was not possible to make a living on your art; what a foolish notion to entertain.

Many years went by, and I had even more jobs of different kinds, most of them in offices, too. But I still was not living my dream, and that was to do my creative work full time: writing, filmmaking and other art forms, too..

Suddenly the other day, I looked up from my computer and realized that I was now, in fact, doing what I had been craving to do for all these years! I was working on my writing, film and video making, and other art with all of my time and effort (though, when you are doing what fulfills you, and makes you happy, I don’t think it needs to be called “work”).

There were many times through those years past that I thought my dreams and goals were so far away that I might never reach them. However, I am living a lot of them, now.

I still have many goals and dreams to realize and strive for, as it’s on ongoing process.

But, I just wanted to say that dreams do come true, and you can do what means most to you in life. Just keep going when it’s tough to do so, and know they are real.

 

From the park “office,”
-Dave

A good day for a park "office" visit.

A good day for a park “office” visit.

p.s. Posted this to my blog from the park, too.