?`s and ANNEswers

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Timekeepers

From the Archives – May 9, 2006

What is it about clocks that intrigues us? Especially the large, landmark variety? I ponder this as I look forward to meeting my son tomorrow evening under the four sided brass clock in the middle of Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal. It’s been everyone’s favorite meeting spot forever.

Famous clocks abound, not only in New York which also boasts of the Times Square digital classic, but also in other cities around the globe. There is London’s Big Ben, although Google® tells me this is really the name of the bell beneath the clock face and not the name of the clock itself. I say this is splitting hairs by now. Or maybe nanoseconds.

Gisborne, New Zealand, has the Millennium Countdown Clock. Since Gisborne is the first city in the world to greet a new millennium, this clock is already counting down the centuries until the start of the third millennium. This is an ambitious task, especially since nobody alive today will be around.

I looked on Google® for other famous clocks and learned of the Glockenspiel in Munich, Germany; St. Mark’s Clock in Venice, Italy; and the 9 O’clock Gun in Vancouver, British Columbia. But I was disappointed when one of my personal favorites didn’t make anybody’s list. It’s the clock that hangs on the corner of the Marshall Field building at Randolph and State Streets in Chicago; and I have met many people there over the course of my connection to that city. I’d hate to think that because the name Marshall Field is gone from the particular building that the clock is less important.

Perhaps the most ominous is the Doomsday Clock of the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,” which was created to alert the world of the danger it faces from the proliferation of nuclear weapons. This virtual clock appears on the cover of each issue of the bulletin; since 2002, its hands have been fixed at seven minutes to midnight, midnight being symbolic of a cataclysmic end to life as we know it. In a way, this clock is the one under which we all wait.

Leave a comment

For the Record

From the Archives – June 14, 2016

Every day owns some historical scrip; because of this, various newspapers carry columns of “What Happened on This Day.” So I’ve decided that for today, I’ll offer my own version. It is probably one that won’t be found in local rags.

For instance, on this day in 1381 King Richard II of England met the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt. They had a variety of familiar issues: taxation, political tensions, war and finances. While not well recognized today, the Peasants’ Revolt was significant back then and has been studied inside and out by historians.

In 1642, the first compulsory education law in America was passed by Massachusetts. Keep in mind this was more than a century before the American Revolution.

In 1789, Captain William Bligh reached the Dutch settlement of Timor after traveling 3618 nautical miles in an open boat over six weeks’ time. He was the Captain of the HMS Bounty, when his first mate, Fletcher Christian, and others mutinied and put Bligh and those loyal to him into the open seas, hoping they would perish.

In 1834, sandpaper was patented by Isaac Fischer Jr. But the emery board wasn’t invented until 1910.

In 1923, “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” was the first country music song to be recorded.

And now we’re to the current day when the newspapers take over.  But if you really want to cull the richness of any day, Google® “This Day in History” and see what the papers leave out.

Leave a comment

Tenth Man

From the Archives – November 4, 2016

It’s been two days since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series after a 108 year drought. Chicago is going crazy, although in a good way; and today the parade winds through the city.

I’ve pondered what I could add to the celebration. Sport columnists are paid to dissect the game. Newscasts are on the scene. And almost everyone knows someone who’s passed on without enjoying this singular moment.

My husband talked about his Dad, who never saw a championship. One of the last photos of my Mother, the one that was displayed at her wake, is of her and her husband at Wrigley Field. And don’t forget Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and Harry Carey.

The only thing I haven’t seen elsewhere (and perhaps I’ve just missed it) is the seventeen minute rain delay. I’ve heard that the Cubs huddled in a meeting to focus on who they were, how far they’d come. And when the rain stopped, they went out and broke the Billy goat curse. I believe Ben Zobrist deserves the MVP for the series, but the rain deserves the title of Tenth Man on the Field that night.

Leave a comment

Spice Exchange

From the Archives – March 28, 2015

I’ve been known to purchase a certain spice or herb for a particular recipe, only to find we didn’t like the final result. Perhaps I used a quarter of a teaspoon and am now stuck with the rest of a pricey container of the spice.

On a lark, I pulled three such investments from my spice drawer: ground sage, cream of tartar (two of these), and ground coriander. It was my intention to write about the concept of a spice exchange, sort of a home party idea I just made up.

It goes like this: Several close friends who live near each other (This is crucial.) would make a list of the spices they have. One person would compile a master list and share it. This way, the next time one of us needs an eighth of a teaspoon of some exotic item, we check the list and see if an exchange member has that item to spare.

Of course it requires some advanced planning so that the spice in question can be obtained before the recipe is started. That’s why living nearby is important. But, hey, I know a great group of organized women who plan ahead; besides, who buys ground coriander on the spur of the moment!

Leave a comment

Moonlight Sonata

From the Archives – April 4, 2016

It’s one of Beethoven’s signature compositions, that piano piece with umpteen octave fingerings in the left hand and complicated sharps, flats, and surprises in the right. It’s also a piece that every serious intermediate student of piano attempts.

I’ve attempted it twice in my many years of lessons, hoping to play it better the second time because I’ve become a better pianist in the interim. A month or two ago, I decided to resurrect “Moonlight Sonata” once again. My hands are becoming stiff as I age, and I wanted to engage Ludwig’s sonata for what I believed could be the final time. My piano teacher had no objection.

I set about finding the music and reviewing it. Started on the first of four pages and felt as if I was moving along. My sight reading was better; my understanding of the fingering was too. But on Page 2 something happened. I think it had to do with moving some notes from the left hand to the right to accommodate my smaller hands. Or maybe it was simply an old-fashioned epiphany.

Either way, I found myself not looking forward to working on the piece. I started to avoid it. Then I realized I never really liked “Moonlight Sonata” as a musical composition; what I found attractive was its difficulty in fingering and the challenge of that.

So I went to my lesson and said, “You’re not going to believe this.” I had the feeling my teacher expected me to have had some sort of revelatory moment with Beethoven, one that would make the composition even more endearing, and that she definitely would believe it.

“I’ve never really liked ‘Moonlight Sonata,’” I said. “I find the music rather dull.”

My teacher was incredulous. “Then why have you spent so much time learning it, not once but twice?” I explained about the challenge of playing it. She was still incredulous, but in that moment Ludwig and I divorced. I knew I’d never play his “Moonlight Sonata” again.

However, I’m happy to say my music teacher and I are still together.

Leave a comment

Writing Advice

From the Archives – September 8, 2019

I recently saw something on Facebook that, as a writer, intrigued me. It was a statement that read: “Write drunk, edit sober.”

Basically, it means write with wild abandon but edit with surgical precision. It made me wonder what other ways to say this.

Maybe “Write like there’s all the time in the world. Edit like there’s no tomorrow.”

Or “Write down everything that comes to your mind. Edit as if you are the reader and not the author.”

Or “Write without looking back. Edit without looking forward.”

Or “Write like a house on fire. The edit version is the remains.”

Or “Write without thinking of what you’re doing. Edit by thinking about every word as unnecessary.”

No matter how you say it, I’ve learned from experience that writing with abandon but editing with precision is good advice. That first draft can be everything you want to say, while the edited version is everything you want the reader to cling to.

After pouring over various options, I’ve decided that “Write drunk, edit sober” is more succinct than anything I came up with on the spur of the moment.

Leave a comment

From the Archives

Tomorrow I’m starting a one-month writing project to find 15,000 additional words for a novel I wrote years ago. It sounds quirky, retro, questionable, but it’s one of those things on my bucket list that I keep coming back to.

So November is my current turn at finishing this project. It’s not exactly a NANOWRIMO fit. (See October 28), but I’m using the basic guidelines. And I won’t be blogging regularly. Instead, there will be blogs from my 20-years of archives (I doubt there’s anyone out there who’s read them all.).

The total of all the words I’ve written in this format is equal to the number of words in Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov combined. Surely there will be something of interest as I take a break.

See more 10 Minutes in category | Leave a comment

Let It Be Noted . . .

That the Yankees won last night in a final ditch effort to stay alive in the 2024 World Series. The question is: Given last night’s post, should Earl and I watch our team and jinx it. Or should we go to bed and see what happens tomorrow.

The game doesn’t start for another half hour, so we’re still up in the air. What would you do?

On other notes, Halloween is tomorrow. It’s the holiday of the sugar high. Where we live we have no costumed visitors of any age, so it isn’t a big deal. Still I have friends who live in high circulation areas and spend beaucoup bucks on treats. I’m not sure which approach I prefer.

Either way, we’re celebrating a friend whose birthday is on Halloween. We’re doing pizza and birthday cake – two primary food groups – and enjoying reminiscing over our 20 years together. Let it be noted . . .

See more 10 Minutes in category | Leave a comment

You Don’t Want Us on Your Team

It’s game four of the 2024 World Series and the LA Dodgers are ahead three games to zero. The Yankees could face elimination tonight on their own turf. Which makes me wonder if Earl and I are a jinx.

We rooted for the Cubs most of the regular season. When the team didn’t make the playoffs, we rooted for their arch-rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. But they lost in the first round of the playoffs, so we switched our allegiance to Detroit. That team lost to the Cleveland Guardians. So we switched to the New York Mets, a completely different league, which is not something baseball enthusiasts embrace lightly. And then the Mets lost to the Dodgers, who are now in contention for a World Series ring.

The things is we are not Dodgers fans; we want the Yankees to win. But with the game score 3 to zip, it seems likely that we will once again root for a losing team.

Perhaps another way to look at this is that we helped the Dodgers win by rooting for their opponents.

Do you think this works in politics too?

See more 10 Minutes in category | Leave a comment

NANOWRIMO

Na-No-Wri-Mo is shorthand for National Novel Writing Month, always held in November each year. It’s the brainchild of Chris Baty who founded it in 1999 as a challenge to everyone or anyone or someone to write 50,000 words in the month of November. It isn’t about the best 50k words; it’s about getting them down on paper. It’s about silencing your editor and going for quantity over quality.

Because that’s often where good work begins.

I’ve participated more than once. Sometimes with my sons, both authors. Sometimes with friends for inspiration. And sometimes with a singular purpose in mind. Like this time.

I’m going to use NANOWRIMO in an unusual way, and it doesn’t matter if Mr. Baty approves or not. I have a novel that is three-fourths there in many ways, so I’m going to use November to finish it. To block out other obligations and focus on the writing. To eliminate distractions with the intention of zeroing in on what I need to do. To put writing first.

In the meantime, my blog, annebrandt.com, will provide daily commentary from my archives. I hope you continue to check in; you might be surprised at what’s in my blog library.

And, from time to time, I’ll update you on my progress with my current literary project.

See more 10 Minutes in category | Leave a comment