As you may have noticed, it’s Friday (though soon to be Saturday). As I did not get to this post yesterday, I thought I would put it out now, for after all, better late than never! The Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji, is one of the most iconic buildings in Japan. Situated in the historic city of Kyoto, the Kinkaku-ji is a Buddhist temple set in a walking garden known as Rokuon-ji, which translated means “Deer Garden Temple.” While the site…
I have been a self publisher my entire writing career. It started with my first release back in 2013, and snowballed from there, with a few releases here and there, what I could fit around my day job, until finally I decided to leave that job and become a full time writer. Only once did I submit to a publisher, and that was not accepted. The only things I have ever done that were not self published were audiobooks, which…
Though my brother spoke of the coming of spring, I have not seen anything of it yet. We are still cold and we are getting enough snow to bury us until June, as this photo from my front window will attest. As I spoke at some length about this in my last post, I will not bore you any further. But you can likely tell by my choice of image that I am eager to leave the winter behind and…
Anyone who knows me well understands that I do not like winter. When I lived in Japan, people would not understand when I told them, given they knew I was from Canada. Being from Canada is exactly what has made me so contemptuous of the colder months. There are some definite benefits to living in a colder climate, such as fewer venomous creatures, less extreme storms and the like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thus, you will…
Going back to Handel for this Tuesday Tunes, though there is a reason I’d use this particular composer again. In 1738, Handel resented the opera Serse (Xerxes, based on the Persian king–the name is the Italian form) in London. The opera was, unfortunately for Handel, a failure, lasting only five performances, for various reasons we won’t go into now. After a revival in the 1920s, the opera rose to prominence and is now Handel’s most well-known. The opening aria from the…
In the summer of 1741, George Frideric Handel was presented with a libretto composed by Charles Jennens. The libretto was arranged entirely from portions of scripture, in particular the Old Testament, and became the lyrics for Handel’s famous oratorio, The Messiah. Many stories have been told about the composition of this famous piece. It is true that he composed the entire work in the space of about three weeks, and many have taken this as a sign that Handel was…
Did you ever wonder why poor people are called “piss poor?” The saying originates from the practice of using urine to tan animal skins. (Gross, I know!) Families who did this to survive would pee in a pot and sell the full pot to the tannery. I don’t even want to think about how the tannery smelled! Of course, if you were so poor you could not even afford to buy a pot, then you “didn’t have a pot to…
Christmas is past and now we move into that week between Christmas and New Year’s. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but this has always seemed like a week in limbo to me, with little happening other than waiting for the year to end. I am also not much of a fan of New Year’s, for I have never seen the movement of one year to the next as anything exceptional. Maybe I am a bit of…
As this will be my last post before Christmas, aside from the final chapter of our serial, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Whatever creed, religion, or belief system you ascribe to, I hope you have an amazing holiday season and a peaceful and happy New Year. As a final Christmas wish, I’d like to share with you a bit of holiday cheer from my family. The video I have attached below is the full cantata,…
It is strange to say there is little going on just before Christmas, but when it comes to publishing, there is relatively little going on. I am hard at work writing, but my current project will not see the light of day until at least February or March, longer if the audiobook company decides to pick it up. It has a tentative title: No Indignity so Abhorrent. I hope that does not give you too many shivers. While the book does…