THURSDAY
thanksgiving, americas most problematic holiday
for politically inclined minorities
but its got so many good family memories you
go along with the festivity program - w/that family grace
otherwise
i feel about thanksgiving like i do martin luther kings birthday: i work harder
i know thats what martin would have wanted
and i try to include some native american props in the days blessings:
some long live the tribes, may they prosper in this year
was unduly optimistic when i said earlier that i
could probably redpen these last 50 pages or so
now in process of breakdown and its worse than i thought (i question my talent:)
got to dig in for the longhand but i knew that anyway
i had a lot to say about whats happening in the world
but now all i can think about is getting thru breakdown process
today
i should be using this online time on rickydocs top ten but i just dont have the focus
let me see if i can come up with something profound to say and get on up out of here
i hope you enjoying the day and the time off from work
hope you and your family in a warm and comfortable space
specially the katrina folk, hope you making do
hitting that straight lick with a crooked stick
cause life aint nothing but unrelenting struggle
with fleeting moments of grace
gotta take it as it comes and play it as it lays
gods blessings on us all
im gone
rickydoc
WEDNESDAY
okay, lets do rickydocs top ten
this weeks theme will be rickydocs top ten issues
facing black america, america and the world
i do this thing of a weekly theme or full posts
because when i (or future generations) read over my posts years later
i want them to read well
i want them to be literary works and not just little
topical statements that dont age well
this came from me reading my backposts one day
and noting what stood the test of time and what didnt
i assume i bore a lot of folk with these extended posts but im more
concerned with my historical rep than i am what you think
by working on weekly themes i get to edit, to make connections
and context the topical
okay this weeks theme will be rickydocs top ten
issues that frustrate me and that i would give full
attention to if i could
also i got to start working on my annual griotic report
rickydocs state of the unity 2005
these top 10 issue lists will start that process
also lately i been focused it seems on violations of what i would america be
and i fear folk will start accusing me of slacking overtly black issues
but thats me walking that line between being a black nationalist voice
and a universal voice - sometimes im dealing w/overtly black issues
sometimes im dealing with fundamentally progressive issues
and sometimes im dealing with personal issues: things that just piss me off
make me smile or laugh out loud, and of course my creative and ideological projects
right now am breaking down rest for the weary
because ive made so many changes i dont know what i have any more
every morning i wake up with a plan for that days work
for the most effective use of that days little 24 hour window of opp
i used to could work 3 days straight, nowdays i do 3 hours work i need a 3 hour nap
i just aint the bull i used to be
but what happens is you get more and more systematic about your production over the years
you get more bang for your daily buck
im always paying attention to the dynamics of production and adjusting accordingly
when i get into this phase of a draft, where ive done so much work its no longer what it was
and i dont really know what it is anymore i break it down - i have a system
i mark and number each narrative movement/segment (on average say 2 a page)
comment on what it is doing, was supposed to do, can do - what will take it to higher literary ground
then i do a new outline based on changes
then move narrative chunks around to fit new structure
then shapeshift narration to fit new connections
this keeps me from just sitting there staring at a manuscript wondering what to do next
i dont play that - thats where you find downtime and writers blocks
i just break that monumental task down into manageable steps
and i dont look at the whole thing, thats discouraging, i just look at what i got to do today
i can get thru this breakdown process in a 2, 3 day crunch
then i got to sit down and redpen whole manuscript, one of those brutal redpens
where you might as well just smear red ink all over the page
then i will have a good draft, i dont think it will be a clean turnin draft, too much new
manuscript, but who knows what i will have at the end of this process
will have to do a couple more full redpens but each one will be less and less fundamental
more and more polish, putting the poetry on it,
discretionary work, days and weeks instead of months and years
still got three scenes, last ones in the novel, that have to be cleaned up
could just redpen them cause they clean enuf to get away with a redpen
but they need to be redone longhand like ive done all the rest of this novel
this is the firsttime ive longhanded a novel instead of computer typed it
cause i get richer work when i longhand even if it does take forever
specially when you have to do repeated drafts of each segment
but still its richer work, so i decided i would longhand this one , my important novel
my wouldbe masterpiece
my opus epicus magnus rex
but now that im at the end of a long drive i want to just redpen it
then i know i will make my deadline
but its the endgame where novels often fall apart and limp to the finishline cause the writer
is tired of it all by then - and driven to a kind of literary insanity by the ticking clock - as i am now
so i cant fall for that trap, i want my endgame to be the strongest part of the work
so i got to longhand those last 3 scenes on general principles, or is it 4 scenes
i got to longhand/cleanup:
- angels interaction with community when she tells them true story of family/community myths
- one of highjohns stories about a prehistoric tribe in the east african birthplace of humanity
- one of highjohns stories about amiddleaged academic couple on a university planet in the future studying the old earth myth of the angel and the conjureman
- mothers stroke and family sequence
- some cleanup on the endgame of angel and highjohns see saw love leading to endgame
- some dramatization work on the prophetic sequence
whew, more than 4, theoretically i could spend months on each one of these, easily, specially that angel and community section, a lot of characters needing work there
but hey im driving it home now - they not getting months, they getting days and weeks
fortunately im working off drafts so its not from scratch - so its just almost impossible, not quite impossible, i can work with not quite impossible
but whats happening as i work these last scenes is that im having to go backwards
as i go forward,
cleaning up the community sequence for instance forces me to
backwork into earlier manuscript and update all previous community sequence work
so you constantly structuring, every day you structuring
my plan is text is the morning (my strong work period) structure in the evening
what i would like is to take a fully revised draft to kenya w/me
and do a whole lot of redpen work while im there (dec 12th -28th)
longflights over the atlantic and big chunks of time like that, i just
might be able to redpen that whole novel - god that would be sweet
rest for the weary - good to go
okay, let me do this top ten list - i got to get to the days novelwork
three lists i think (i will flesh them out over the week i hope)
top ten issues facing black america and the black world
americas drift to the right
helping katrina victims in face of government indifference
aids and afroamerica
fighting for progressive health education and welfare policies
freeing haiti from american puppet government and trying to get it back on destinical track
genocide in the sudan (its genocide however you parse it)
neocon american imperialism and the war in iraq
the 2006 elections (prep to leveraging 2008)
black self identity and the republican outreach
community empowerment of black communities on all levels
revitalizing the movement in the wake of katrina and the rightwing ascendancy
the formation of a continental african body
there should be a subsection here for african american foriegn policy interests
and at the top of that should be empowering our foreign policy instruments
our ability to influence policy on and events in
africa
africanist conflict w/islam: sudan, nigeria, sudan, mauritania, chad, ivorycoast, etc
instability in the horn: somalia, ethiopia, eriteria, kenya etc
tribal conflicts in centra africa, uganda, rwanda, burundi, congo, etc
tribal conflict on the gold coast: liberia, ivorycoast, etc
developmental issues of the south: southafrica, zimbabwe, mozambique, etc
human resources and african development: continental
continental africa and the african union: continental
etc etc etc
and the black world
black identity and empowerment the blacks of south america and the carribean
black identity and empowerment the blacks of north africa and arabia
black identity and empowerment the blacks of india and asia
black identity and empowerment the blacks of fiji, papua and the melansian islands
and so forth along these lines, i believe you get the general idea
looks like more than 10 doesnt it, im just riffing off the top of my head
will refine as i go thru week, just got time to start it on the ticktock now
thats always the first step, just get started
what about the top ten issues facing america
(gon be a lot of overlap with the top ten issues facing black america)
finessing the rightwing ascendancy
progressive health education and welfare policies as opposed to necon social darwinism
rebuilding an equitable neworleans and the 0gulf
pushing back the rightwing assault on american liberties
fighting a neocon corruption of american ideals that encourages torture as official policy
bringing the boys (and girls) home from iraq
securing the american homeland from terrorism
reining in bushs budget deficits and those abominable taxcuts for the wealthy
supporting a globalized foreign policy over an imperial one
revitalizing the space program (we got to get off this planet)
okay, now, the top ten issues facing the world
fundamentalist jihadist islam
fundamentalist neocon american imperialism
israel and palestine
human rights and democracies of various sorts
amelioration of the human condition (hunger, poverty, gender, et al)
the environment and in particular global warning
empowering (and humanizing) the un and other global structures as progressive forces
global development of human resources
disaster response preparation
war and terrorism
whatever, i got to go
okay okay, i know i know
these lists are rudimentary and not yet focused
im just riffing off the top of my head and i dont have time to work
this now - im starting to get antsy about getting some novelwork done
i have to be ruthless with myself about this internet time
thats why my writing computer is not connected to the internet
and on that note i got to go
i will get back to this later today
tomorrow, whatever
be well
my love to you all
rdoc
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