February 2015

2-11-15

I rode the bike for the first time in a week yesterday after our trip to Cambodia, Taoyuan, and downtown Taichung. I read on, half a chapter, in One Hundred Years of Solitude and stopped; the book is as crazy as Alice in Wonderland. I also wrote a poem, a rare occurrence since I finished Han River Poems. I have pondered the point-of-view and tense in It Won’t Work and have decided to keep it in the third-person past. My fiction writing has all been towards that manuscript; I haven’t expanded Smoke No Fire in a few months but I have decided to keep the two works separate after considering combining them. I still haven’t moved forward on Cats Journey to Taiwan though I did some research for sidebars on cat traveling tips.

      One writing project I promoted was taIWWan blog. I mentioned it in response to a Taiwan News in English, a blog by fellow Taichung ex-pat, Courtney Donovan Smith, posting about the Sunflower fools who were indicted yesterday. I don’t bother commenting on meaningless bourgeois political news; only Taiwan labor news that affects workers here. My article about the “Stinking Fish” in Taiwan politics was about that; the dumb fuck-offs who shot their youthful wads are in deep shit for their naivety. The government will not help workers and a living wage cannot be gotten from the top-down; the dufuses who aren’t interested in organizing themselves into labor unions are wasting their breath and the ex-pat schmuck know-it-alls who write about politics help no one but themselves. I just report labor news here in taIWWan.

2-13-15 

      I copied the paragraph in the last journal entry about the 119 fools in the so-called Sunflower Movement protests, meaningless protests that got nowhere and helped no one except the police who could fine-tune their reactions to the next useless student demonstration. 

      I just added the last paragraph, too, to the taIWWan blog and Facebook post. No one will read it. No one will care. I may as well be jerking myself off.  My actual writings, not only in my head, are as real to anyone as my internal dialogue. Almost no one notices, anyway, even though I want to make a dent in reality. For now, I am entertaining myself. Maybe one day someone will notice and take heed. 

2-15-15

  I asked the I Ching if I should combine Smoke No Fire with It Won't Work and I was advised to stop thinking so much; do nothing but meditate, it said. I wrote three pages in a new thread with the sub-plot of Tony DeFibrillato; that is a new name I'm working on giving his character, thinking of a defibrillator. I want to compare him with Jerry Rubin who left the movement to become a stock broker ultimately being run over by a car on Wall Street. Though Emerson stays true to his revolutionary convictions, his high school friend capitulated to become a police officer and detective. Maybe I should call him Tony DeFibrillato

     The weather has been beautiful the past few days. I am sitting on the patio while writing this. I have resumed riding up the Han River after our return from Cambodia and extra nights in Taoyuan and downtown Taichung. I am bringing one book with me to read again when, for a few weeks, I had started bringing two and even three; my attention was getting dilated. One book is enough to read. 

     There have been over fifty hits on the opinion piece in the few days since I wrote "Sacrificial Sunflower Fools" in taIWWan and posted to English Taiwan News blog. There have even been about seven people who commented including Michael Turton who called my piece "high comedy." Everyone who commented is not ready to volunteer to help organize workers into unions.

      One clown who commented on the piece mistook me for a "Pan Blue" blogger until Turton put him straight. One guy insulted the Wobblies and used fear of violence to condemn labor organizing. Another turkey said unions are good but the Sunflower protesters are, too. Of the fifty plus hits, not more than twenty went back to the "Stinking Kettle of Fish" opinion piece I referred to which named some in the DPP responsible for co-opting the movement. I don't plan to respond to any comments. No one wrote to me directly. Two people liked the post including the author of the blog.

2-19-15

   I wrote a few more pages towards It Won't Work on the Tony thread, to be placed somewhere in the chapter "Burning Photos." In the manuscript, Emerson feels the backlash of Reganism in America and KMT neo-liberalism after martial law is lifted in Taiwan. He also ends his relationship with his abusive wife in 1989, just as I did, but he doesn't meet a "Leona" and he doesn't have children; he has open relationships with sister workers in the IWW and a few more dumb Taiwanese women. I am still thinking of taking parts from Smoke No Fire, the parts about the women Johnny Livewire had relationships with, and put them in It Won't Work. I want to make a "woman sandwich" with the vast no-fun and sexlessness of his married years 1979-1989 in between. I can even throw in the affair with Maureen as an eye-opener when he returns for his Bubby's funeral. Right now, there's not enough sexiness in It Won't Work and it won't work as a popular novel without it. 

     I've been thinking of adding a "Writer's Journal" to the in-progress on-line It Won't Work blog by taking journal entries such as the one above and consolidated them. Readers could get an insider’s look at the creation of a novel and what goes on in the mind of a novelist. Ha-ha! I'm even thinking of charging for the privilege on my website. Ha-ha-ha! I would add a "1" to the blog name and only give access after the buyer pays his fee. Right now, the blogs on It Won't Work and Smoke No Fire are not in the list at the back of Forgotten People of Taiwan and Han River Poems, nor have I promoted my website Readings and Ridings where it is displayed. The charge would be $5-8 or 200-300NT.  

2-21-15 

     My website, Readings and Ridings, is looking good. It is better than having a radio station in my head, though not many more people can see it out there. The fiction, poetry, and blogs I have written are real but, like my imaginary radio station, for my pleasure in the alone of my time; one must write for oneself.  If I had a friend to party with, or if I had a full-time job, my time would be bloated or stolen. 

      There are now nine pages of hand-written text on the 'Tony thread' for It Won't Work that I have to elaborate on and transcribe into the novel. Tony is a perfect example of the person who flakes away from progressive ideals; who gives up and becomes part of the problem. It's his kind, along with the obstructionist do-gooders within the movement that have helped the ruling class kill off progressive ideals (like environmentalism) and workers' power. Emerson Davinsky stays true to lofty goals but keeps his individualism.

      I wrote a few more pages on the “Tony Thread” in It Won’t Work and embellished and transcribed four pages into the manuscript late this afternoon while Leona was out with her Tainan friend.

2-22-15

    I lifted another scene from Smoke No Fire and placed it in It Won't Work; the scene about Johnny (now Emerson) renting an apartment near Brooklyn College. Instead of Johnny travelling to college by bus from Borough Park to rent an apartment, Emerson takes the IRT from his Mom's apartment where they live in Gramercy Park.  Emerson studies at Brooklyn College for the Mandarin classes, I Ching, and t'ai chi lessons of Prof. Wade. He doesn't go to Kingsborough or get involved with music but he "borrows" Johnny Shortwave's girlfriends. I could leave Smoke No Fire intact for now. It keeps its music and drugs. Emerson only smokes some pot and drinks beer; he doesn't get carried away like Johnny. I think I will lift Johnny's high school and early college job at the delicatessen, too, but I have to change the location. He can work at a supermarket in Gramercy Park and transfer to one in Flatbush near Brooklyn College keeping his union membership. He meets a lot of women at the deli counter. In San Francisco he will be an off-the-books part-time house painter and work in the Hole in the Wall hot dog stand before going on welfare, just like Mr. Temple did, but he won't get involved with Cloud House or poetry. With the scenes I could lift, It Won't Work, already 190 pages, can be bolstered to 240 or more, with still more scenes to write. My first novel, when printed, will be well over 300 pages. 

     I can't wait to get to my second novel, my first science fiction historical novel, with time travel back to take care of the conquistadors and imperialists before they cause any damage in the New World, Asia, Middle East, and Africa! I can have a team of Toxic Avengers setting the world right before Armageddon, leaving the indigenous people alone to develop society collectively and respect nature.

2-23-15 

     I crossed the "200 page" threshold in It Won't Work with more borrowings from Smoke No Fire to come in addition to more political shenanigans encroaching on Emerson's endeavors. 

2-24-15

I spent a good four hours editing the It Won’t Work manuscript and updating it on the blog. Only readers who pay $5 on my website (and friends who request it) can read it. As with Smoke No Fire, it’s not even listed in the back of Han River Poems or Forgotten People of Taiwan; only Cats Journey to Taiwan and, ironically, the two published titles themselves, can be read, for free, if one buys the books. I’m not fooling myself; no one will be interested in reading my manuscripts besides me; I even removed the link for free viewing from my website. No one will pay $5 for the privilege of reading my novel under construction, or even when it is completed, but I am having fun setting up the company like it really matters. The infrastructure is there, and functional; $5 will, through Pay Pal, be deposited into out TD Bank account. Ha-ha! When I am ready, I may try to interest a publisher in buying the rights. 

 2-26-15  

        Facebook has spit my taIWWan page back to me after making it a business/organization account a few months ago and severing my ties to the 775 people who liked me. TaIWWan is now linked to my DavidtempleFDR Facebook page where I can access all the likes personally again. I also was asked if I wanted to tie in a website to my Facebook pages and I did add www.readingsandridfings.jimdo.com. I have many Facebook pages, some I never use. Here's the list:

1. johnnyshortwave@hotmail.com

2. davidtempleFDR@hotmail.com

    a. taIWWan

    b. Union Community

    c. Education Emancipation Organization

3. indydaiwan@yahoo.com

     That is 6 Facebook pages I have in addition to 14 blogs and 2 novels under construction! If I didn't have a life outside the seat in front of a computer, I could keep busy all day being a 'forwarder' (as Arlen calls himself) or smart-ass commentator.

2-27-15

The taIWWan posting of three pages from George Kerr's Formosa Betrayed about the incident that started the massacre called 228 has garnished 41 views so far; the 228 holiday is tomorrow. I put it on the blog and on Taiwan News in English Facebook as well as my own Facebook pages. It might yet reach the 56 views for the "Sunflower Fools" post I gave similar boost.