rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

of woodsheds & sabbaticals & life well lived: on states of grace

SUNDAY

hello world, i been buried in the rewrite of RFTW, which is i guess fitting, thats what woodsheds are for
to make your novel the best it can be, call myself going to do a quick redpen and its still rolling pretty

quick but then i run up on rough patches that need work, but im just glad i got woodshed time to give them
i suspect this will be a couple of weeks, but it may take a month, maybe a full court press, ie no limit

i think the newplan is that i will do a 'redpen' rewrite every month, a couple of weeks off to get cold and
work on other projects, then a redpen of rest, it will make it a stronger work each time and there is not quite

the anxiety of before because its basically a finished work and im doing what i call poetry rewrites, which i
love - where you working the poetry and one word, one phrase, can add layers of meaning to the text

its kinda funny, that holybook was stressing me so i turned to novel as a kind of break,
in the past its been the novel thats done the breaking

still pulling for santorum, because he would lose epically in nov and i believe that the repubs not only
have to be defeated, they have to be thoroughly repudiated, totally discredited, then they might just

transform themselves into a viable party again, probably not but lets repudiate them anyway, i been hearing
where dailykos asking democrats in minnesota to vote for santorum, im down w/that, lets stir the pot

otherwise we get more folk like this banker who left a 1% tip on a $133 bill to express his disdain for
the 99%, and a tip of his own - get a real job, this is what we get if we elect mitt, the machurian candidate

a fig leaf for the kind of rightwing antipeople policies they will implement

you know what i think ima do, ima start aggragating again, not a lot, maybe 3 or 4 articles a day
that i think worth reading, did it once before and it got to be time consuming, but now that i been

freed of that novel i think i will try it again, try to keep it minimal maintenance

nyt article on crackup of republican party

"A Santorum nomination would be seen by many liberals as a scary and retrograde proposition. . . But in the long run, it might do a world of good, compelling Republicans to return to their senses—and forge ahead into the 21st century. Which is why all people of common sense and goodwill might consider, in the days ahead, adopting a slogan that may strike them as odd, perverse, or even demented: Go, Rick, go."

maybe more later, as i do my hourly newscrawl, right now im feeling fidgety, 9:21 am and i need to get to work

im just as stressed about taking maximum advantage of my woodshed, i got to use every day, every hour, every day, as i am about my schoolhouse obligations, but here the workload is my my own, my literary legacy

my books - thats what i live for, thats why im on the planet - making books

 all my love

 

 

WEDNESDAY

hello world, so im dug in on the hoodoo book of flowers, the graphicswork on mojorising took the whole weekend
and im so caught up in it now i cant stop till the phase is done, what im doing now is trying to do a real outline

of hbof, ive got about 60 pages of outline options, and do the 1st two movements (of 81) that will give me
a feel for how that book is going to work, lets say this week hopefully no more, then my rewdpen of RFTW

still havent decided if it should be one book or two (mojo & hbof), i see it as 1 book but i dont know if that works,  also i see
im going to have to do another, i keep being tempted to go universal w/it, but this will be a black book, a black holybook

i will think of it as 1 book and see what happens, right now hbof is about 400 pages, i hope to cut that by half
even still with my spatial stylee & fact that mojorising already about 200 pages the combined book will

still be fat, still asking folk about process w/publishing project, still dont know enuf to kick it off

started working on an article this morning off line and thought i should do it on rootsblog
might as well get some daily digital wordage out of it:

sometimes i question the time i spend on this blog & socialmedia but not only is this blog the venue where i can be
who i really am w/o industry or cultural gatekeepers but also it has influenced both my fiction and nonfiction style,

narrative licks i do here because they come natural to me i refine in my books and its always in the final
analysis about the book for me, even though im about to recalibrate my idea of what a book is

so anyway, this article: why the republicans have to be repudiated

whats my progression:

that obamas coalition trying to bail on him, im constantly takling fellow liberals down who been disappointed

in him but times are just too perilous for frailty, look at where we are

the republicans have gone stark raving mad, they encouraged that yahoo behavior in their base and now its come back
to bite them on the ass, the base has rejected the electable romney because its driven by ideological bloodlust

damn near theological bloodlust

the republican establishment are a bunch of cowards afraid to rein in their radicals,
for fear of being punished in primaries like the one romney flailing thru

its political suicide for a republican to be reasonable - but the current situation is brutal

in states where they republican have won unilateral power theyve gone hogwild

gunlaws, personhod laws, defunding planned parenthood and assault on public health and education, hogwild

they are overtly stealing elections by supressing democratic support blocks

they whole orthodoxy on tax increases are designed to defund america and make it incapable of living up to its domestic and foreign policy responsibility, make it so that it cant offer health care to its citizens, so it cant fix roads and librarys and hire cops and firefighters and teachers, so it cant afford to educate its children and train its citizens for the 21st century

to defund america so its weak enough to be drowned in a bathtub, our current debt and governing crises is an aberration, it was planned,whats the difference between what the repubs want and what the taliban wants

a weak america, unable to provide for itself

and republicans come up with policies designed to further weaken america because not only are they caught up in a taliban ideology but because they caught up in their bases rapid hatred of even the idea of obama

if the republicans win we will have more of them imposing their fundamentalist religious belief on the rest of us, dismissing science, womens reproductive health, women working outside the home, birth control, it

beggars belief, they are no better than some islamic fundamentalist bunch attempting to impose their
religious belifs on their society, it beggars belief

they have to be no only beaten, they have to be repudiated, they gon stark raving mad

and consider:  there might be 2 more folk appointed to the supreme court in the next 4 years, this one we got is the one that gave the election to bush, that gave the elections to the rich, to the hgest bidders w/citizens united

i see where 5 billionares have given 1/4th of the repub superpack money, money that is clearly swinging
elections from south carolina to ____________, and all these billionares are rightwing ideologues

basically american power has been given on to the highest bidders, legally

right now weve got a choice of taliban rick or raider mitt as president presiding over either a raid on american culture or a president who thinks hes running a theocracy

they not only have to be beaten they have to be thoroughly repudiated

its the only way the republicans will come to their senses, even though we thought buses loss would do it, the tea party rabid response to obamas election (wonder what that was about) mislead them maybe

okay, so much for this, i got to work on that outline today, this is the rough progression

will have to write it out in my customary style then conventionalize it, will send it to nyt op ed, failing that the washpost, if neither take it, as is likely i will place it here and on fb and keep on pushing, maybe approach that online magazine i did that guest blog for, i wouldnt mind establishing an online base, i liked their vibe

okay, rick, back to this after ive done a good days work, all my love

 

 

SATURDAY

so im working all day on matching prayers to the african highgods with george hunts imagery
but i got more imagery than i got prayers/highgods so them i start using them w/certain prophetic statements

of my own & babajohn & in multiple calls to the conqueror as deity - then im thinking i should deify some other folk -
im thinking martin and malcolm and harriet and gullah jack and ida b wells and zora and babajohn etc so now im coming

up with prayers to the deifiable of the ancestors, im in the groove, might give one more day to this process

and the huntworks looking really really good in the text, this will be a work of narrative beauty

old boy rickydoc in the groove

 

 

FRIDAY

so im dug in on my political chapter, its the biggest, clumsiest, most topical (ie dated) chapter
im cutting out huge swaths of it, redpen is more precise than keyboard, and what this makes me

realize is that ive got to redpen rest for the weary, i didnt, i keyboarded it and turned it in because i was
on deadline, and tired of it, it will survive it because its a more mature text, but a good redpen will take

it to higherground, lets say im thru w/this phase of mojo rising this weekend, i will set up the hoodoo book of flowers
then i will see if i got it in me to invest a week or two redpenning rest, still might not be able to stand reading it again

but i sure would like to redpen it before i invest the next two or three months into the hoodoo book of flowers
have it be all that it can be, in case something untoward happens to me in the interim - you never know

sometimes thats all my life seems to be about, a battle to get my work done to my satisfaction before i die
final analysis i got to come out of this w/a strong rest for the weary - 1 redpen, coming up, hot from the griddle

then i can schedule 1 more major hit, say june july aug - note the passage that will need extensive
work while im at it - can think about them while im hitting the hoodoo book of flowers

god i love this freedom thing

im out

mojo rising: confessions of a 21st century conjureman: take two

 

  THURSDAY  7:07

 
redpenning political chapter, came up w/this graphics thing yesterday thats really cool
so, plan is repen political chapter today, spend tomorrow weaving graphics innovation thru text

start hoodoo book of flowers saturday

basically what im doing is using georges works, i got a bunch ive downloaded off the internet
and ive got these passages that are prayers to various african highgods interspaced thru the text

they already set off to themselves - so i thought about putting them in boxes & play w/the graphics, i did so
and it still didnt have the pizzaz i was looking for, so i thought about matching them w/images and its - bam!

looking good! - so now i got to trek to memphis, convince george to go for it, then arrange to get photos of
better images than these low pixel internet babies, which in a pinch still might work because im using them

small in the text, but id much rather good quality photos, meantime i will use what i got so i can show him how it works

once again this blog is acting as a template for my printed work, now that ive started thinking about this
book graphically i hope to come up with other innovations to make it a work of art, i was reading a little while

back about publishers making their printed books works of art so that people will want to own an undigitized
copy - that appeals to me, sacred texts that are in themselves beautiful works of art, that will work

also im being influenced by my affiliation w/tara books - books as works of art, that will work
but this also contributes to it being a media work - maybe one of my hypertexted works

hypertextwork doesnt really get it, cause i want to go beyond hypertext - maybe call them hyperworks

i am so enjoying being a full time writer, but there is a certain deadening sense about it, you just sit there working, hour after hour, day after day, and its like the world is just going on w/o you, & you bored out of your skull, but still you sit there working, step by step, word by word, buiilding your little edifice - at least i got a reasonable expectation of being published

i really feel for those that dont,

this is a link to the writing dept reading last week, they did alright by me - it embarrasses me to actually
watch myself in performance, but i do appreciate them chronicling me, its all part of shaping your legacy

thinking about dana spiottas riff in stone arabia - self curate or die

im out, got about 40 pages of redpen got to be done today, im outta here

WEDNESDAY

hello world, im in a good space, down with a cold but whats a cold when you on sabbitical, just more work time
whats cool is that im working on a major project and as long as im working on a major project ( a book) life is good

this makes me realize i got to start preparing for retirement, i love being a full time writer, thinking about
starting up an old dream, rootwork press  -  finishing that novel (some touchup rewrites dont count) frees me up

now i can knock off some projects been waiting to roll, also the digital version of my novel
need to start looking for a digital artist to work w/me on that, another log on the i gotta pile

mojo rising rewrite going well, cutting out dated stuff, like i had a whole riff on khalid mohammed,
who at the time seemed to be a player but history has passed him by, im seeing whats stood the test of time,

hopefully making work more timeless, more sigifnicant

going to be a good seque into the hoodoo book of flowers because next chapter is divination chapter (6)
which is a prototype for hbof, ima extract it, put the hoodoo book of flowers there, and dig in

also im thinking about a project w/george hunt, me n geo been talking about doing a project for years
but it wont happen unless i cajole and harrass him, jesus, what else art, too many projects, too little time

so mojorising rewrite: reformatting now, looks more like my blog, a much less conventional narration,
more lyrical, then i want to cut it to the bone, less explanatory, more magical - then a redpen and im done

lets say done w/formatting by end of week, redpen over weekend, then chap 6, ie hoodoo book of flowers

& setting up rootwork press got to be ongoing from this moment on, do a 5 year plan, start building a team

okay, some quick commentary and im outta here

kinda slick how obama outplayed the repubs on the ss tax thing, set them up so they looked like
they were against middleclass tax cuts and only in favor of wealthy ones, exposed them

forced them to basically ok another stimulus - when they much rather the economy tank before the election

mojo rising section im working on now is about the political dynamics of black america and
the black world, kinda boring even to me - gotta cut it to the bone, tune it up, make it sing

so many projects, so little time, i got to go

all my love, i got to go

 

 

SATURDAY

dug into rewrite of mojo rising: the political stuff is easy, its the personal stuff that gets dicey
did my last reading for feb yesterday, frontloaded them all but it was kinda wearing, im dead tired

and it disrupted my flow for a moment, but im back in the production groove now, may have to cut back
10 pages a day is pushing it, but thats the only way i will be thru w/this thing by the end of the month

and im way too desperate to get onto the hoodoo book of flowers; just have to cut off judgment and do it

 

 

TUESDAY

so im working on the rewrite of mojo rising, not as bad as i feared, mostly cutting out excess wordage
kinda deep reading old memoir, revising it, wish i could do it w/my novels, im enjoying it right now

kinda interesting because basically what im doing is seeing whats stood the test of time

we will see how i feel about it a couple of weeks from now, also doing some redpen on novel when it cross my mind
wish i had held onto it now, cause this redpen, also called a poetry draft, is working the poetry and making it stronger

nice having that novel on the market, dont feel as panicky about life, like, okay, one good one on my record
and i will love mojo rising once im thru w/rewrite, actually feel like it will be component of my holybook so

its all good, ima give it the month of february, then its the hoodoo book of flowers: the great black book of generations

built me a babajohn fetish yesterday, will take a photo and put it on here but cannot do so at

the moment, serenity kitty is in my lap and not inclined to move, and i dont want to disturb her

ws just thinking about my holybook, how much the odds are against me pulling that off, but if i do,
a viable africanamerican holybook, shaping generations like the bible, the koran, the iching, et al

an african american way

wouldnt that be a wonderful thing to pull off in my life time

finishing that novel mean its time to get busy on that, im ready, and this will inform
that last rewrite or two that i still have to do on REST - damn, life is good

im sure the hammer is waiting to fall somewhere, best i enjoy productivity while i can
only thing stopping this show is family, health, or an act of god

later

endgame: do or die

WED: 12:27: thats it, im done, just sent it off, i could redpen it all one more time but im sick of it, its done
i feel really funny w/o that novel goading me, im lost w/o a major project in play, ima take a week off and get

back in the saddle w/mojo rising, only willing to give it feb, march im picking up the hoodoo book of flowers
in fact what i got to do is thnk of this mojorising rewrite as parts of THBOF:TGBBG

quicker i get thru the mojorising rewrite, the quicker i get to what i really want to do

in fact what im thinking is feb is already a shortmonth, maybe i should just take the weekend off, get back to work monday

WEDNESDAY: 6:37 am

you will perhaps not be surprised dear regulators to know i still have that manuscript on hand
im not quite happy with that last 20 pages, gon redpen it, told ellen i would be sending it in wed anyway

i been redpenning my last 20, making significant revision,willing to holdon to it till thur or friday if that what it take

bummer about newt, i wanted newt to win florida, i want him keep muddying gop waters, dragging mitt down

& exposing them for what they really are, & i want him to take it to the convention, i cant imagine he will

win the nominaton but i surely would enjoy that, he would be an easier foil
for obama than mitt, who will wiggle to the center as soon as he is able,

but mitt is such a caricature of the raider rapaciousness that got us into this
mess that i hope the american people will decide to oursource him too

MON: done deal: ima hold onto it one more day, play w/last couple of paras some more on gp, send it to ellen tomorrow, done deal

SUN: 5:56AM 103:109 of 115: ok, im basically done, got to enrich these last 6 pages or so, lets say wed i send it in

SUN: 5:20AM 103:102 of 115: i see why closure stressful, often to fix closure have to go back in text & fix points leading to closure

SUN: 4:6AM 103:102 of 115: been working same 3 pgs for about 3 dys, but they damn good pgs now - they good, im good, lets roll

SAT: 9:33 AM 103:102 of 115: realize now why struggling w/the page weary a writer so - each passage, endgame in particular, designed to evoke an emotional response - have to put myself in that emotional space to work the passage, and as soon as i finish one movement got to headset the next one, its grinding me down, collapse imminent, hang in there rick, you can do this

SAT: 12:36 AM 110:100 of 116: spun wheels all day, 5 a day not working, try 3 -- 16 pgs at 3 a day be thru by fri - reset pg clock to 100

FRIDAY: 3:31 AM: 105:100 of 115: moving forward again, slow but sho, at this rate id say ima need another week, good lord willing

THURSDAY: 3:10 AM: 100:97 of 115: endgame is killing me, its like this is where the novel goes to die, focus rick, focus

WEDNESDAY: 3:52 PM: 95:97 of 115: rough day of narrative mud & endgame reassessments, lost my cushion, still trying

TUESDAY 5:50: PM: 90:96 of 115: ive gotten very flexible, slogging thru endgame & narrative mud now, a days cushion

on the nature of the longgame

TUESDAY 6:35 AM:  90:84 of 115  at 84 only one page behind but starting day 5 pgs in hole, need 90 by days end

so actually 6 in the hole, so be it, step by step, word by word, its trench warfare seperate the writers from the dilletantes

gingrich is frightening aint he, he plays those base resentment codes much too well but i
still think he best foil for obama, i cant imagine him winning, romney i can - problem

of course is that you can never underestimate the american publics capacity for self destruction

i got to go, i got 6 pages need doing, only reason i stopped rolling at 84 was i hit a wall - thats still waiting
sometime when you get up in the morming and look at a wall fresh its not as bad as you feared, or you

lower your standards - my standards are getting a little more flexible everyday, im not going to miss my deadline

i man do not play that, a week or two behind i still count that as deadline, often thats when i get serious/ie
desperate -  a week or two i will accept, no mas - i do not miss deadlines, ima professional thru & thru

SUNDAY:  85:71 OF 115

ok, back in the saddle, clocked 11 pages yesterday, actually one day does not back in the saddle make
but im thinking positive, also coming into play is my system, thats partly why i have those 2 days a week off

for catch up purposes, falling behind ocassionally is unfortunately part of the deal when you daily deadlining
3 sentences, (or is that 4) ohwell, bes like that sometime -

also something i came up w/yesterday i have to play with, clarify and gain mastery over it , so i can
use it systematically in my texts, because i like to do it adhoc & making adhoc explicit is always good:

cascading trickeration - incongruent narrative conjunctions that make for intuitive revelation, back to back & breathless, every phrase, every word blowing the readers mind, expanding it relentless w/layers of speculative meaning, & understanding, o wow

found these two musicians when nyt had review of olatuja, and on one cut he was singing w/eska, so i hunted her down too, they both been added to rickydocs cosmic playlist, give you olatuja tomorrow - its all about pacing

you know one of the things i love about obama, he go against the blackfolk as loud and huffy puffy w/no followtru trope
as you know dear regulators de old spiritdoctor been trying to work the black soul/psyche - culture for the more pedestrian inclined - transform its weaknesses into strength

obama is a good example of the new blackfolk that im trying to forge:  he quiet, he deadly,
serious about his longgame, serious about taking care of business, a new model of blackness

for our youngsters, thats what im talking about 

 

 

 

SATURDAY  85:62 of 115

 hello world, as you may have noticed ive been in an unproductive funk last week or so, so it may
have been the best time, depending on how i respond to it, to receive the following 'fan' email:

========================

uh, mr hoodoo man,

it's been a very long time since i've visited your rootsblog website. to be honest, i really got tired of waiting for you to finish your book. pardon me if a little bit of my frustration, really anger, are reflected in my words. but, Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman, 1 used on amazon.com for $150? WTF! W...T...F?

i really want to give u the benefit of the doubt, because i can't conjure up a reasonable explanation for the above situation. do u have a book publishing or book distribution problem? really, in the digital age of 2012? uh, ebook, Kindle book, or even old school paperback in your longgame?

how are you going to influence a generation of black folks with 1 used on amazon.com for $150? any other hidden back alleys where i may purchase your priceless tome?

and i won't even get started on De Mojo Blues. one of the best books i ever read. let's see, hmm, that was back around 1986. a story left unfinished, no muthaf..k..g sequel yet? 2012? shit, you could have made a harry potter-like series out of that. yea, u really hurt my spirit on that one mr hoodoo man. i still haven't recovered.

again, pardon my words, i must be a vessel dem bones are speaking through. cuz, what they're telling me is that your longgame is now a shortgame,

shake, shake...

=========================
  

ok, where do i start - one, aint nobody more frustrated than me that this novel not done - so thats that

two, i try to keep production commentary down to 1st two sentences per post, then move on to commentary

so hopefully there is a little more substance to the ride than me me me, but in the final analysis
im all about constructing an artistic online avatar/traveling spirit & deep me is all about production

a struggle every wouldbe writer must engage and win

im just trying to make the ride interesting, the old enjoy the journey bit -  trying to shape the
production commentary so it will be useful guidance for any youngster struggling w/production

but ima have to tell you, like wolfie in amadeus, ultimately this is not for you, its for future generations
who hopefully will want to study and understand my process, the struggle of I man working out my legacy

as for distribution issues, just dont have time to fuck with it, every discretionary moment goes into novel

when i finish (and sell) this manuscript, hopefully this woodshed, then i will have time/focus to do a lot of

backed up stuff, including digitizing (as in cuttingedge hypertext) RFTW, but i just got to be patient,

fact that all my books out of print fuck w/my head a lot more than it fuck with his

got to stick to my longgame not matter what it look like to the public,
folk got to trust me, and if you dont trust me, fuck you too

i have to say this missive rocked me some - its value depends on how i use it, do i use it to get back in the saddle or do

i let it depress me further  -  its got to be the saddle, full of righteous i will show you fury - start slow rick, 3 hours a day

ok, is that it - o no, 1 copy of mojo rising: $150 dollars, i think thats kinda cute actually, 1 because that book is
dated and i actually rather folk not read it, it embarrasses me, i plan to update it this break - patience puppy

then publish it myself, that one ima keep as mine, full control - im not giving that one to the industry

two i like having a book thats so rare and valued its an investment opportunity, i kinda like that, since its
not apparently ever going to be a best seller (or even in print?) might as well go with the red door

and as for speaking to future generations who cant afford $150, or even $5, what the hell do you think im doing here

wasting time i could be working on RFTW is what, of which this post has used more than 2 sentences

hopefully i will be able to add some commentary later, for right now i got to get back to work - frustration?
man you dont know the meaning of the word frustration, had to work on my cv today, thought about how

ive given the last decade of my life to this novel, (really two but we not going there) had to take c.v. into the
office today and a colleague said hey arthur, i hear you having trouble letting that novel go, whats wrong

insert big sigh here 

(i also experiment w/narrative licks here that end up in novel basically, like that little lick just then, ima use that one - insert big sigh here - o that was smooth rick, god i do so love to play - whoa, i believe that was another lick, rick, a boom shaka laka of cascading trickeration - how deep can you go, rick, how many layers can you put in a text, a word, thats what i want to know, just how good are you, i mean really . . .)

i been working on this novel fullcourt for a decade now, folk starting to look at me like my name is ellison
i remember my 1st novel, 13 years, folk took to calling it, the phantom - hey art, how is the phantom coming

ha ha

fuck it, i got to get back to work, just put the world out of your mind rick, remember what babajohn said:
future generations will not care about the pressures on you, they will not care about bills, tenure, or your ego

all they will have is the work, make it count, do your best

as for the fan i will tell him thanks for the kick in the ass, tell him to send me a mailing address
and i will send him a copy of mojo rising, they are all up in my attic, boxes and boxes of them,

the publisher was going to trash them, they werent selling, they were just taking up her space,
i trekked down to the city, packed them in the car, put them up into the attic, all i can do

i got to go, got to work that cascading trickeration riff into the novel some where

big sigh here, really big sigh

all my love

FRIDAY 85:62 of 115

hello world, im in a very complicated space
o well, let me maintain

my girl etta james, queenmother of the blues, graduated today, may your work serve many generations

also momentus, trebor setag came out of his cave to bring this newsweek article to my
attention on fb, he must have thought it was important, so do i, andrew sullivan showing

appreciation for obamas longgame - a must read for all the hardleft purist whining about obama
doing this, obama aint done that, so you get a feel for how the longgame is played

and even sullivan dont see the full length of the game, some guy on huffpost was saying do we cripple the most progressive president weve had in a generation, just cause we not totally satisfied w/the way hes wove his game, and will we get a more progressive or less progressive (read romney or gingrich here) one to replace him,

and i might add have you really thought thru what a republican victory will entail, they have to be thoroughly
repudiated at the polls or this political cancer of their irresponsible worldview represents will just grow stronger

i been sending obma money regular (which is very new for me) & when i went home i found
sheree thomas doing precinct work, i was very impressed, i got to step up my game

obama strike me as a rightuous (as in want to do right) brother in a complicated spot

aint letting that brother go down without a fight

a writer got to do what a writer got to do

THURSDAY

im tempted to say one more day of sloth and im back in the saddle, but thats just a recipe for
never getting work done  - its got to be today, tomorrow never comes

progressive friends keep trying to get me to put obama down, not going to happen, just look
at the alternatives, i mean really, i agree with casca in a huffpost article this morning:

my progressive friends keep trying to get me to put obama down, he didnt do this, he did that -
well, thats not going to happen - i agree w/casca in huffpost this morning:

"Should we undermine the most progressive-minded president in at least a generation and will his failure help or hurt the progressive cause? Will his failure pave the way for a more progressive president or a less progressive president? This is the debate on the left."

WEDNESDAY 75:62 of 115

i been out the loop and off the grid, and have not been productive, bes like that sometime, now
i got to do catchup, everyonce in awhile my discipline goes out on me and i dissipate myself

god help me i am 15 pages behind, ok, if i get back to work and make the weekend i can make
up the 15 then, maybe get a couple pages ahead during the week, focus rick, you can do this

i believe in you

SATURDAY  60:62 OF 115

hello world - as you can see i took the weekend off, as scheduled, supposed to have 65 by monday so i will
be back in the saddle then, all i need is 3, it will be a cold day in hell when i cant get 3 pages - its all good

so, what do you think about colberts ad, i dont know what hes doing exactly with that super pac of his but
it sure is interesting, boy taking farce into uncharted territory, no longer satisfied w/being an observer

he is positioning himself as a player, he keep playing this hard and he will be influential,
just what that influence will be i hesitate to say, boy got a twisty mind - im impressed

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

 

 

FRIDAY: 60:62 OF 115

3 pages, not my best day but im still ahead of the game, should be on pg 60 now according to schedule:
ran up on a major hole thats going to require rewriting a couple of scenes to fix, bes like that sometime

ran across this photo online, every once in awhile i google arthur flowers just to see what comes up, this
photo did, i look kinda impressive dont i, hunted down the provenance, the spitting image bookstore in ithaca,

so, have you seen newts romney/bain video yet, its worth watching - its obvious now why the repubs up in
arms against him, if he doesn't backdown this dialogue will expose and clarify corporate raidship far more

effectively than the OWS movement could dream of, it will expose repub rhetoric for what it is and even more so
because it comes from one of their own - when newt complained about how hard mitt came at him in iowa,

mitt told him to suck it up - now that they have to deal w/their one of their best kamikazes coming at them
its going to be interesting to see how this plays out - it behooves those of us who actually care about

america to stir the pot, do it newt  -  okay, one more note and im gone,

this nation article, well written i thought, (ima keep an eye on this young brother) says that repub candidates
no longer feel compelled to speak in racial codes, they very comfortable 'calling a spade a spade' he say

mostly because their base is cool with that and there is no electoral penalty for it these days, santorum w/his
blah people, newts foodstamps (thats alright newt i forgive you, just keep tearing down romney & we cool)

they all pushing that blackfolk living off other peoples money bit (reparations anyone?)
according to this article its the election of obama that has totally freaked the repub base out

all the more reason for me to get back to work - 3 page days will not get me to the promised land

well actually it will but not in a suitable timeframe

pray for me

 

 

THURSDAY: 55:62 of 115

hello world, im feeling really groovy, my minimum pageage yesterday was 50, i got 59
damn if that aint a groove, had a little time for nuance work, thats refreshing

moving well because its mostly mature manuscript w/rough patches, but im moving into 2nd
half of novel now and its going to be tougher going because threads have to be wove

closure have to be satisfying

so far its been a great woodshed, my plan at this point is to:

- spend jan on a moneydraft (turn in to agent) of rest
- feb on rewrite of mojo rising
- mar: dig into hoodoo book of flowers: this 1 will take some months, lets say mar/apr/may
- june - new lowresidency gig univ of tampa w/jeff parker - 10 days, 4 months online crits
- jun, july, last draft RFTW - (if novel sold before then & editor asking for changes have to rescramble plan)
- aug: annual study of the shortstory, start the hoodoo tales, my book of shorts

by mid aug got to start thinking schoolhouse again, shortstory study will seque into that nicely
and somewhere in there will need a couple of weeks of zonked out postwoodshed rest

what i really want out of this is a clean RFTW and a viable draft of the hoodoo book of flowers: the great
black book of generations, thats my real prority (viable meaning if i die before i get to next draft its ok)

HBOF: my hoodoo holybook, my sacred text, my african american way - not too many writers have pulled off viable holybooks
i pull that off and it will shape many generations - for all practical purposes RFTW is a holybook too, a diff kind of sacred text

and you know something dear regulators, this time off make me realize, ima retire soon as i can
been thinking i would keep teaching until about 70 because essentially i like teaching, it keeps me on

my toes, trying to keep up with my fledglings, trying to stay one step ahead of them
but i think when i hit 66 im out, hopefully i still got a little energy left, some chops

ok, time to get back to work, the thing about the woodshed push is it doesnt matter how good you were yesterday
next morning you got to gird your loins and do it again, the same battle against procrastination and diversion

being ahead of the curve takes out some of the anxiety, if i miss my goal today im still ahead of schedule
but i know that weak days do not get you to the promiseland, weak days increase my anxieties about

about not having lived up to my literary potential before i die

not being after all the legacy i so hope to be

when im being productive thats when i feel like im being who im supposed to be
i cant do anything (well much) about the way the world receives it, all i can do is

conduct myself as if i were in truth the force i aspire to be

write the books i know im supposed to write

i got to go, i got to meet the beast

all my love

rdoc

WEDNESDAY: 50:59 of 115

at 10 points single space (easier to carry around) novel is 115 pages, im doing 5 a day (10 in a doublespace count)
starting today at 45, yesterdays count, todays count is 50 - did yesterdays 5, thats good, the big mo - tried to get a

little cushion but such is life, todays 5 will be hard, some scenes im still too
close to, they dredge up emotional unease sometime pain, it take a certain

kind of will to ignore that & plow thru - some scenes/poems/chapters/stories they hard to rewrite, still
too much emotional baggage tied to them, they the ones you have to step back & settle yourself, grit your

literary teeth & slog thru the pain, a professional thru & thru: writer got to do what a writer got to do &

a work dont cost you aint worth writing - ok i need to quit stalling, im going in - all my love

 

 

TUESDAY: 45:45 of 115

been awhile, been in the delta & on the road - low production, back in the cuse now & lookng forward to woodshed routine
according to my schedule 5 pages a day (10 doublespace) will get me to promeland end of january, a draft to send to agent

just finished todays 5, 11:08 am, i think now i will try to get 5 pages ahead of game, a little cushion

ok - some commentary, a break, and back to work:

this my read for 2012: romney, crippled by bain attacks, wins nomination - ronpaul naders him w/3rd party run that sucks away repub voters unhappy w/romney/bain - meanwhile back at the ranch obama gives biden state and takes on hilllary as vice, landslide - or maybe just another fantasy, im good at those too

doing performance for africanstudentassoc univofmemphis april 6, im billed as deltagriot done good -

o im going to enjoy this, the downhome special, full regalia: bells on my ankles, medicine coat & adorned in 101 talismans, rattle in my hand & working the prophetic - & when i step on stage so adorned their initial response will be who is this afroam pretender, then ima show them how we do it in the delta, show them afroams havent lost their chops, ima let myself go, unleash the full monty

this the kind of venue i live for, representing, ima rock the house and elevate they spirits - oldschool

& i believe its the anniversary of mlks death, a day of service
got to keep that in mind, while im rocking the house

im out, takes me days to recover from the road nowdays,
old boy aint the roadwarrior he used to be - dont mean i aint

gon kick it, just take me a minute to recover - all my love

 

production: everyday the good lord see fit to give me

FRIDAY MORNING

on the road, sitting in a roadside motel, trying to do a little catchup
my count before i left was 42, didnt do anything yesterday, all road

so now im about 3 pages behind and need a 50 before today is done
and i did some thoughts while i was on the road that i need to work into

the text while they hot - best i get busy - sure am sorry the repubs stood down
on the tax rebate - i was hoping to milk that one out a little, i had visions of folk

getting those short paychecks every 2 weeks & cursing out the house, ohwell

i cant imagine that any colored person would fall for ron pauls bullshit (nor the rightwing
in general for that matter, but sense they often do, perhaps they should read the 2008 tnr

article about his newletters, talk about oldschool, no if no and no but, problem is that a lot of
folk feel the way he does, theyve just learned to hide it better, the repub debates being a case

in point

im out, i got to clock 8 pages today, still got sat & sun for backup but i would
prefer to use the weekend to get some cushion for next week, the holiday

was reading where palin is accusing the whitehouse of blasphemy or something
because their christmas card doesnt mention jesus - it cross my mind that the word holiday

is probably a riff on holyday, wonder if i can use that somewhere

all my love

 

WEDNESDAY

okay, im in, rickydoc is in the groove, should be on the road but i had to dig in 1st
so now the road will be a day long meditation on the work, okay, this the way i woodshed:

(at least on mature manuscript) x pages a day will get me to a certain day w/a manuscript
at 10 pt singlespace (easier to carry around) my manuscript is 114 pgs,

at 5 pgs a day i will hit 114 on wed, jan 11

thats taking sats & suns off, if i dont schedule 2 days off i will take them anyway and feel bad so i do
5 pgs is nothing, a struggle but a doable struggle - the key is dont think about all you have to do, just do

your 5 pgs  - so i got 36 now, ima try to do 45 before i get on the road, bec thur will be on road and rough
the struggle will be doing my 5 while in memphis, living at my sisters, family and friends demanding

their pound of flesh, if i was sitting at the sacred desk this would be a done deal, the odds are actually
against me trying to do it in memphis, but it would be nice to do this draft in memphis, surrounded by

memphis ambiance and doing whatever research i can do in the memphis room of the city library
and if it is just too hard i will come back to sryacuse and schedule rest of january doing it

either way ima have a draft by end of january, 5 pgs a day will keep the blues away

that 5 is based on current pace  -  i started w/10 a day, 10 was too hard, cut back to 5, 5 im clocking, but its early, 1st half of manuscript always easiest, 2nd half got to tie up loose ends, its gets harder, 5 might be a problem then

i will cross that bridge when i get to it, will clock 5s as long as i can, it is a superhuman expectation but
superhuman expectation is the only thing that get a novel wrote

im actually betting that i can keep my focus while in memphis, and if i dont i wont hammer myself about it
but thats why im sitting here trying to clock a 9 before i get on the road, i know it will be diff 24 hour shift

so im trying to get one day ahead of the game, a 5 today would be 40, tomorrow would be 45, if i get it done
before i get on the road, im good until fri

(then you got your off days, if you dont stay on game during week, you can use sat and sun for catchup - or to get ahead of next week, so if im stumbling by friday will catch up this weekend, but the win is staying a day or two ahead, to account for the exigencies of the road, it keeps my anxieties at bay if im ahead of the game instead of behind)

i assume this dont interest you dear regulators, but production issues will obsess me during woodshed

everyday gon be a struggle to get my work done, to work productively and efficiently, to make use of everyday the good lord see fit to give me

all my love

rickydocs call: divinations 2012

MONDAY

having trouble getting my groove on, focus rick, 3 hours is not a lot to ask
(but of course if i focus enuf to get 3 that means i will be able to stick it for 6 - theoretically)

okay, 5:20, at 5:30 im going in, and im not coming out till 8:30, I will let you know how it went
1 of my stalls is wanting to do other projects, less daunting projects, like mojo rising redux

my plan is to do a revision of mojo rising every 10 years or so, feel like my memoir should evolve
as i do, see what im saying, would like to spend maybe last 2 weeks of 2011 working that

feel like i could get it off my plate, but no, best to stay focued
rest for the weary, rick, do or die, hopefully after draft do revision

of mojo rising before i get to work on holybook, the hoodoo book of flowers, the great black book
of generations, thats the one i really want to do, thats what was scheduled for this woodshed

ohwell, i actually feel blessed to have a chance to really work rest
a sabbatical & a manuscript in need, if that aint godhood let me know

SATURDAY

im in, 3 days now, that count as in, 1 day does not count, neither does 2 but
3 is good, im in, wouldnt say im rolling, but im in, 1 day into woodshed, im in



MONDAY

still digging in, still trying to get the groove, had to put rdocs
call down, dont nothing happen till i get the groove

SUNDAY MORNING

okay, let me start working on this year divination thing
ive decided to work it out here on rootsblog, so this will

be a process of working a piece thru in public, basically you
can ignore these early draftings, but i might as well get my blog wordage in:

okay, lets say 9 throws (i always break works in progress into 9 movements, a hoodoo thing)

personal
relationships
national
the election
globalization
panafrica
longgame
destinywork

ok rick, thats only 8, maybe use hoodoism for the 9th, of interest to me as wouldbe high hoodoo,
leave it open for minute, a little space for evolution of concept

so basically goal here is to give prophetic advice to my constituents for 2012

i got to stay focused on significance, something that matters, basically my constituents have to be
better prepared to finesse life, stronger, wiser, more successful - which is what makes my vision of worth,

okay, rick, so what are the issues under each of those categories
1st what do i think is most likely significant options/developments in these categories

what would be my generic reading/advice on these issues

1  personal

foundations, strengthen your foundations, rocky roads ahead, not the time for flying high, time for good solid foundationwork, prepare yourself to take advantage of shifting sands   (1st thing im noting, cant be too individualized when you throwing for society - 2nd thing im noting is that the corn factor is kinda high, what can i say, its a draft)

2  relationships

consider healthy relationships a foundational matter, negative relationships a drain on the soul, positize as many as you can, at least 9

3  national

(still feeling foundational, wondering if this a true reading, or is this just because this is the 1st call, a foundational event, didnt throw, just thought, hoodoo is traditionally headwork over handwork (as in divination intruments) - i would like to use instruments for theatrical purposes and maybe to see how the random factors play into process - but for the moment might as well go with the foundational thread, thats what came up when i reached inside for significance????  so, what would a foundational approach to national concerns 2012

i keep coming back to the election as foundational, its importance in shaping the american soul, a crossroads election perhaps, which nullifies #4, which leaves room for another throw, okay im burnt out, ima have to pick this up later

feeling the need to get back to work on my novel, still got schoolhouse paperwork, but i started my woodshed push on novel yesterday, feeling pretty good, which is why i got time to start doing these discretionary projects,

at this point still figuring out what this rewrite will do -

increased character complexity of my primary characters is a given

these are my other issues this draft and how i plan to try to handle them, or are handling them, am trying to figure out now
how to step up the game on these sequences, this 1st stage is humbling, all thinking, all questions w/no answers:

HOW MUCH HE WANTS HIS STORIES/HOLYBOOK TO SHAPE GENERATIONS – BE RFTW
sequ of 1^st person what I want this work to do passages, just generate them raw, then figure out how to use/refine them

HOLE IN THE WALL AS MEETING GROUND
Seq of scenes w/diff historical literary personalities & their legacies interacting at HITW

PLAYING HOODOO BOARD OF DESTINY,
Sitting in tree playing destiny board, making soothsayer choices on board & in life

ANGEL AS FA DRIVEN
seq of angel searching for her fa (fate) -  just what is her fa - significance

HIGHJOHNS QUEST FOR REDEMPTION
why does he need redemption, do we ever learn, or do i stonewall readers: "somethings ima keep to myself"

HIGHJOHN AS THE HIGH HOODOO
1^st imagining himself as highhoodoo, then scenes/stories that become evermore real

MOVING FROM TRIBAL TO THE UNIVERSAL
Moving from exclusive concern w/saving blackfolk to saving all humanity - how do I play this

MOVING INTO THE PROPHETIC
Use HITW as meeting ground; prophetic sequence: reluctance to manifest, angelprod; manifests; rejected

HORSE OF THE CONQUEROR
His prophetic tension w/being unwilling tool of the gods, his/humanitys relationship w/the divine

FUTURE SCENARIOS
Need infinitely more complexity & visionary nuance

sorry about this info dump, but im going into the woodshed and basically rootsblog reflects whats on my mind at any given time and this what its gon be, projects

this little idea is probably not going to last, i come up with ideas that i think work well with the contemporary social media component of building an online literary persona then get embarrassed at the access and draw down the veil, thats what i did with that last post about my student, initially i put up an emotional info dump, but then i refined it back

still have not quite got the nuances right on this brave new world of online literary personas, and

you, dear regulators, will probably recognize some of these issues as my own demons - what can i say

im out, i got to get back to my novel, i live for woodshed days, ima use every one best i can

all my love