One who shall die - greets you!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I do not fear death

If that so, why are we paralysed with fear when we think about our death?

It seems like we are going to lose something.

What?

Life?

Chance?

Chance for what?

It's been said that people much more regret for things they didn't do then for things they did.

Are we, actually, afraid of life? Of living?

And what really means to live?

Aren't we doing that all the time?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

To write or not to write?

Photo taken from Huffpost.
Amanda Patterson at Writers Write has written an excellent post The Myth of Writer's Block. She says:
The most common excuses for not writing are:
Family: I have children. I’m the family taxi. I have to be there for my husband/wife.
Work: I work long hours. I’m too tired after a day at the office. I have to work overtime so that we can afford a new car / bigger house.
Time: I’m too busy. I’ll do it tomorrow / next month / next year. I can’t write late at night / early in the morning.
General: I’m not inspired. I’m too old/young. I’m too tired/depressed/sick.
Our Favourite: It’s not what you know but who you know in publishing. (I thought this one works only in the Balkans. :-))
And poses a question:
If you were told you were going to die tomorrow, would you regret not having written?
Searching for a good photo for this post, I found Rick Smith's article What Would You Do if You Were Going to Die Tomorrow? Or Not.

Fits well, doesn't it?

And don't forget to read Amanda's post. :-)

Friday, March 15, 2013

Friday, March 8, 2013

Young@heart

Two things amaze me: the human spirit and the human will.

In this post, I was thinking to write about how changing context transforms content into something else but we all know that very well. We do that all the time when we twist and deform truth to fit in our narrow point of view only to preserve this unbearable way we live. We do that every day failing ourselves and those around us who we so eagerly and desperately try to love. But we fail. We cannot succeed only by wishing and hoping. And the others do the same to us and we are all stuck in that unspoken and invisible conspiracy of turning a blind eye to who we truly are and to what we really should be doing.

But, every now and then, something rises in our lives that we cannot ignore. Sometimes it scares us, sometimes inspires us (and it's the same thing - just interpreted in a way how do we feel: attracted or repulsed). To me, it's the spirit and will in action. The spirit as the ground to be human being and the will as the way to be human being - to live our short lives the best way we can for ourselves and for all those that we love.

This people inspired me today. Thank you unknown fellow humans. May the light shines on all your paths still to walk.


Fix You - Young@Heart from Enzo Gianvittorio on Vimeo.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Samizdat


Don't know what is the right reason but, somehow, I was always in that samizdat bullshit. When I was a student of Croatian language and Literature in the second half of the 90's, I was publishing artzine named OFF Skroz (with a help from my friends and collaegues Enver Krivac and Mišo Novković) and we published six issues. Even our first novel (collaboration with Krivac) was also self-published. Somehow, at that time, we thought nobody wants to publish our work because it was too subversive, too provocative and too politically incorrect. I believe one of the reasons was the fact that we were living in a small province town not so much far away but enough away from big publishers and the cultural epicentre in the capital city. Maybe we were more unnoticed than subversive? So, after we published our first novel Picinic and after we published Mišo's collection of poems Moonrain, we came to conclusion about two things. First: anyone can publish a book if one has enough money (vanity publishing). And second: there is no point in publishing a book if no one will ever read it. So we quit with writing and self-publishing.

For 13 years.

OK, not exactly. I published a novel 5 years ago and in that time Krivac published a novel, a comic collection and soon will publish a short story collection but all that time we actually spent on learning that there is no money in writing and publishing books in Croatia – if you're a writer. (this time I won't write about publishers in Croatia.) For writers in Croatia the only satisfaction is to hold their damn book in their shaking hands. That is the most you can expect and that is the most you'll get. Who wants to write and publish if that's the best you can get? I know a writer, and I believe there are more writers out there who think the same, who once said to me: "You know, I made peace with myself that I would never earn any money from my writing. So I satisfy myself with holding my book in my hands."

Fuck that, man!

Jesus Christ!

FUCK THAT!!!

That's what I say.

No one will live on behalf of my work while I work for free. I'm no slave, motherfuckers! Did you hear me? I'M NO FUCKIN' SLAVE, ASSHOLES!!!

And for you writer-sucker, it would be better to hold your dick in your hands than a damn book!

So, in the last few years some people invented smartphones, e-readers, e-books, tablet computers and some other people saw opportunity for making big bucks and so I heard about self-published authors and the new way of publishing, so called e-publishing. And what can I say? No thanks (I'm too old for that shit)? Of course not! Self-publishing is in my veins. I've always been doing that. The only difference now is there is a slim chance that I can actually earn some money from doing something I always needed to do. To write.

Self publishing – here I am!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Mold

'

Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
Try to find some money then you die

All lyrics here.