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

Comments

[Karen Simpson]

Wow can't wait to see this. I love reading about your work in progress because I get excited about the work!!

[arf]

thanks karen, be hard to tell you how much i appreciate your support - sometimes its you that keeps me going, how is your new novel coming, im looking forward to it

[Mildred]

Man, they got you nice and proper! Those pics of your reading and performance! Love them absolutely. Let me take the link to my page. Can't resist the good thing.