Mozart's Brain Too - Number 2.8 Read online

Mozart’s Brain, Too

  What?? More Random Creative Writing Squibs??

  …And More Odd Things To Consider??…

  Broadsheet No. 2.8 – Questions and Directions?...

  Wim Baren

  Copyright September 2016

  Westminster & York, Ltd.

  ISBN 978-1-3704-5930-8

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

  stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any

  means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise,

  without prior written permission of the copyright owner. Nor can it

  be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in

  which it is published and without similar condition including this

  condition being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.

  [A broadsheet is, well… You already know, because I say it before every Mozart’s Brain Broadsheet. Go ahead… Nail it to a tree. Or to the cathedral doors in Worms, Germany, like Martin Luther did a couple hundred years ago. ‘Nuff said…]

  ♠

  Well, now it’s time for something completely different, as Monty Python used to say.

  What’s that?... You don’t know who Monty Python is?... Dearie, dearie me. I’ve just (carbon-) dated myself. But I am wondering… Should these Mozart’s Brain broadsheets be continued? Are they growing ‘old’ in your eyes? Uninteresting? Uninformative? Uninspiring?...

  Now, like many of you who write stuff for a blog or as a column somewhere in that crawlspace called the Web, I also look at simple metrics – signs, really – of how what I write is received by the world. I don’t get paid, these broadsheets are not priced, so maybe looking at page view and download information is a bit precious. You know, a little vanity streak’s opiate. How much acclaim does ‘the world’ provide what we write? Do they like it? Does anyone other than me care?

  ♠

  I am a newbie (maybe two years) at creative writing. So I can claim no brilliant pearls of expertise to share with you as a world-famous author. Plenty of other folks can do that.

  Tons of books about how to write exist. Some of them are really first-rate, inspiring in themselves. And they’ll teach you almost everything you want to know, answer all your questions about the craft and the art. I just bought “Screenwriting for Dummies” because I want to know what that area of expertise is all about, how it relates to writing novels and plays, and it’s already been a marvelous introduction. So glad I got it!

  Anyway, millions of web pages offer glittering advice which, if followed faithfully, will improve anyone’s skill set. Just look at the bookshelves of bestsellers and see how many of those authors have a blog / website / some media presence. Nearly all of them do. I’m new even to that, but I’m trying to get better. Have a Facebook presence. Also am on LinkedIn and Twitter. Looking to set up a blog, and move these thoughts to it for ease of posting and getting feedback. Enabling an exchange…

  Given all of what I’m immersed in these days (part of me is polishing up some computer mission simulations - games, really - for release in the near future, the rest of me is trying to figure out what social media is all about, and still maintain a creative writing production schedule), getting my social media act together is going to take time and patience, but it’ll get there. Some day…

  ♠

  I mention all this because I know I drifted into the realm of ‘How-To’ in my last Broadsheet, Number 2.7. a move which risks losing attention and/or patience from many readers. Talked about why we have to know what the final ending of our novel is before we start writing the first chapter. Thought I could draw some parallels with other fields not related to creative writing.

  Maybe I got too serious, too practical, not light-hearted or inspiring enough. Well, I’ve been a teacher / educator / facilitator for many years for business professionals around the world. Enjoyed it hugely, but in that world, you, the class instructor, are the lead, the source of the new knowledge which these people are paying for. You better have all the right stuff, or they’ll spot your weaknesses fast. Bang! There goes your credibility…

  Hence, I’ve tried to keep the ‘practical insights’ I’ve had really light, just dancing across the water’s surface. Not wanting to get into the weeds with them. Most all of them have been well-received, by my reckoning. Not world-renowned, but of interest to many out there. I’m flattered by it. I truly am…

  Anyway, it’s too easy to sound didactic (like somebody who is ‘preaching’ truths, not lifting the mind with its own energy of discovery.) Never liked preaching, ‘cuz it never works.

  ♠

  Which is why this really short broadsheet is kinda, sorta asking a question about whether I should continue as I just did with Number 2.7, or stay lighter, more inspirational (and more flip?). Of course, I’m not being very light right now, but I want to feel that what I write for anyone’s consumption is felt to be of some use – some enjoyment, actually.

  Now, since email is seemingly less popular than tweets and instant messaging, neither of which I do well, or at all, I’ll just have to continue to guess at what people think. Page views and downloads – like the world’s most sophisticated indicator of commercial success, the cash register – are what I’ll rely on.

  In the meantime, I’ll continue to open myself up through expressions, images, thoughts, ideas, insights, and all the nonsense I’ve been providing so richly from the start of these broadsheets. Feel free to comment or not, as you wish.

  One last thought.

  I’ve been using 10 as the limit for each of these two Mozart’s Brain series. I’m closing in on the end of Mozart’s Brain, Too, as you can see. I’ve got an idea for a third such series, probably no more serious and profound than what you’ve been exposed to thus far. I really like writing this stuff. It’s unconstrained (except for grammatical and syntax rules… mostly…) and lets me feel like I’m floating for the short time I’m immersed in doing them. By the way, it follows one of the most frequent recommendations I see for new and aspiring writers. Write every day. Write something, anything. Let your thoughts go. Free yourself from silence on paper or the screen. Being staid and reserved might not serve you well, except in certain circumstances.

  ♠

  Being staid and reserved has its place. Let me tell you an anecdote, which happened many years ago, to close out this piece.

  At a regimental dinner in Great Britain, the Queen was attending, and had the place of honor at the head of the table, at which all the regiment’s officers were present. All were in their finest military dress for this grand occasion. After all, it was not every regiment, nor every year, that the Queen would honor a military unit in this way.

  The solid oaken polished table, draped with the finest lacework table cloth set along its length, for the seventy or more attendees, was laid out with a marvelously precise elegance for which the British are widely known, crystal and silver glittering in the warm lighting around the large and spacious room, the table’s central decorations of gorgeous floral arrangements with silver candlesticks set along the center in perfect alignment.

  Now the main course was a beautifully done duck - Duck à l’Orange. And it was ceremoniously placed before the Queen, awaiting cutting and serving. The tradition called for the youngest of the officers to do the honors of cutting. The young man was nervous, but bore himself with a rigid dignity.

  He began the slicing, the carving knife and fork gleaming, spotless.

  As he started, something slipped, and the entire duck – gravy and seasonings – slid off from the ornate silver s
erving plate and dropped flush into the Queen’s lap. Everything went deadly quiet, and most of the officers’ faces, including the regimental commander’s, went white with embarrassment.

  The young officer looked stunned for but a moment, and recovered his bearing. He turned to Her Majesty and with a dignified aplomb, asked,

  “Ma’am… Might I trouble you for that duck?...”

  ###

  About The Author, Wim Baren

  Wim Baren is the pen name of the author, who has had an abiding fascination with history and the many things throughout it that are so incredible that they could not have been made up.

  The author attended an eastern college and then served in the nation’s armed forces for three years in Viet Nam, a very green place with, at that time, a high metallic density to the air.

  From there, he realized that his technology education at college was already obsolete, and went to a small business school where he learned all about strategy and business and finance, and entered the financial services business, in which he labored until he realized that people wanted not so much advice as they wanted help on actually getting things done that they wanted to get done.

  He turned his hand to consulting in project management, became an independent consultant, developed professional education courses in projects and risk and leadership, even a software learning application (!), and generally made as if this were his final career choice.

  But it wasn’t.

  And since I’ve turned my hand to authorship, this little work, among other offerings, was a quick brainwave that I thought I could share with others who might like a little literary confection, coupling the worlds of the real and fantasy.

  Feedback (What you really think, but please keep it polite, respectful, as others would do for you) is really welcomed from you, as well as your recommending this little opinion to your friends and family, and neighbors, and passing strangers.

  Reach me at [email protected]