Vienna Writers’ 2nd Birthday

Last week us “Vienna Writers” came together for our monthly meeting. We’ve been meeting regularly now for two years, and there have been a few achievements and milestones along the way. I’m proud to say that many of the current participants have been coming since the beginning or near enough to it. It’s a vibrant group with participants working on various writing projects, from flash fiction to novels,  from short stories to screen plays. We’re starting to see the fruits of our writing and critiquing endeavors: publications.  Just recently I had another short story accepted for publication. I’ll post more about this in coming weeks. Others are submitting stories, polishing novel chapters, screen plays, memoirs, preparing submissions, etc.

It is a long road being a writer.  There is no guarantee of success, and success itself is open to individual interpretation. If writing then is a journey, I guess my time with Vienna Writers makes for a pleasant one. Without the group it would be a rather lonesome experience. So thank you to everyone in Vienna Writers for your company, enthusiasm, and experience. Here’s to a big year in 2012!

Dinosaur Therapy Inc

Today I received a story rejection after a 127 day wait. I’ve had plenty of stories rejected (and rejected, and rejected!) so I can take it in my stride with only a few sobs. More difficult to stomach is the time some magazines hold material before rejecting it (I’ve had longer than 127 days). Naturally there are reasons: they’re swamped with submissions, the editor is ill, they’re volunteers anyway, etc. All valid. Nonetheless, I’ve come to realize that between story completion and publication it is not unreasonable to expect a year or two to pass. I guess if you keep on writing and submitting then the lag is less pronounced (since older stories are coming up for publication).

After receiving the rejection I was sitting with my son watching a documentary on dinosaurs. We watched a comet slam into the earth and wipe out all the dinosaurs including a couple of baby T-Rex who’d just lost their mother after she got into a deadly scuffle with some heavily armored dinosaur with a big ball on its tail and a pea-sized brain. I watched this devastation and I told myself, compared to them I’ve got it good. I said this a few times and it helped.  It was kind of therapeutic. Perhaps I could be the founder of ‘Dinosaur Therapy Inc’

Seriously though, if you are going to submit prose or poetry anywhere then I recommend you check out Duotrope. Here you can explore markets and also look at statistics such as response times, acceptance ratios, and pays scales.

Where to from here?

The other evening I read an online article (ref. below) titled “The Thirty-one Planes of Existence”. According to Buddhist cosmology there are thirty one planes of existence, or realms where life might manifest (where one might be reborn). In case you’re ever quizzed on this (the final question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, perhaps), here they are in descending order of refinement:

• The Immaterial World (realms 31 to 28): No bodies. Entirely mind. Tricky realms to enter.
•  The Fine Material World (realms 27 to 12): Extremely refined bodies of pure light.  Extremely refined degrees of mental pleasure

(The above realms are considered the heavenly abodes)

• The Sensuous World (realms 11 to 5 are favorable; realms 4 to 1 are deprived): Dominated by the five senses. Humans are in there in realm 5. Although we experience suffering, we are in a favorable position to develop virtue and wisdom (no pain, no gain!) and strive for Nirvana (non-existence).

Realms 4 to 1 include Demons, Hungry Ghosts, Animals, and Hell Beings. Tip: Avoid these if you can.

So there they are. No excuse for not knowing your realms now!

From a speculative fiction writer’s perspective these thirty one planes of existence might provide fertile ground for exploration. In Ian M Banks’ novel, Surface Detail, he explores virtual worlds where wars are played out (to prevent the carnage of a real war) and where Hell realms exist to punish wrongdoers. His portrayal of these hell realms with demons and fire and extreme suffering is frightening. Perhaps he took inspiration from Buddhist cosmology.

Here is a link to the Access To Insight article, The Thirty-one Planes of Existence:

The Thirty-one Planes of Existence

It explains things far better than I have here (well, they didn’t mention Ian M Banks!)

New Year’s Resolutions

There are some years that slip past without them; others are tagged with those hopeful (rarely much contemplated) expectations: New Year’s resolutions. I’ve made a few and I’ve mostly stuck to them or at least forgotten the ones I’ve transgressed. Anyway this year we heralded in the new year without anything too concrete. I said I’d write a pile of short stories and hopefully they’d be better than earlier ones. Another Malone talked about heading off to the gym.

Friends stayed over on New Years eve. We stood on the balcony and watched the fireworks bursting in the fog out in the valley. At midnight, as is the tradition here in Austria, we danced (or attempted to dance) the Vienna Waltz and wished each other a big year for 2012.

We talked about 2012 and one of our guests explained how Earth was shifting from the third dimension into the fifth dimension (thus bypassing the pesky fourth), and how there would be a corresponding shift in consciousness. We would all realise our creative potentials, reject neo-liberalist crisis economics, turn our backs on capitalism and turn to help one another and end all war. I liked the sound of it all but harbored skepticism. Still, if we all made it a new years resolution to look out for one another and engage in random acts of kindness then perhaps we might find ourselves hovering in the divine fifth dimension. By the way, here is a link to a an organization devoted to delivering random acts of kindness:

Random Acts of Kindness

Many thanks to Emilien Maienfeld for the photograph. Emilien’s photographic blogsite is on my links