Donald L. Vasicek

Category: Poetry

  • “Fantasy”

    I think I’m going to wait and see if you call me.

    Meanwhile,

    I’ll eat some plums and do the dishes,

    read Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”

    and fall into the mailbox to see if

    you’re hiding in there.

    -Donald L. Vasicek

  • “Dipping Into Life”

    The blackened shadows of doubt

    seem to hover over in a sky

    brightened by success, tempered

    by failure, and eventually cast in

    a die by the ever constant challenge

    of making something out of life.

    Nothingness parallels boredom

    and the challenge in life itself

    lies here.

    -Donald L. Vasicek

  • “How To Destroy Writer’s Block”

    What I learned several years ago was
    to push myself to write.  By writing
    at the same time each day, even if
    it is for 15 minutes, I write.  If it is
    not writing an article, screenplay,
    book, etc., but just writing, I write,
    at the same time each day.  This
    approach to writing is vital to
    the professional writer.  It is like
    professional athletes do before
    a practice or a game, they loosen
    up to reduce the danger to injuries.
    A writer must loosen up before they
    write, or they will experience an
    injury, some refer to as “writer’s
    block.”

    I select something about which to
    write.  A pen setting on the table
    in front of me, for example.  I
    study the pen.  I think about the
    pen.  I ask myself, “What can I
    write about this pen for 5 minutes?
    I define the shape, the color, and
    the angle to the table the pen is
    laying.  I define the metal clip
    on it.  I define the steel tip on it
    I define the color of the ink in
    the pen.  I note the name of the
    pen.  I write about the pen in a
    Zen-like story form.  I take all
    of these elements and put them
    together in a fashion that tells a story
    about the pen.  The theme of
    the story, is the pen.  The theme
    is what holds every story together,
    like the roots of a tree.

    One can always write.  The question
    is, how much brilliance does one
    have to write, when the mind
    refuses to give one anything to
    write?  This is when the writer
    must take charge and write.

    When one desires to write their article,
    screenplay, book, personal letter,
    business letter, etc., and has
    difficulty in getting started for the
    day, or night, or what have you,
    do a writing exercise such as I have
    described above.  This warms up the
    mind to turn to what one sets down
    to write in the first place.  Write only
    long enough to get the mind to
    working again, before you return to
    what you want to write.

    And remember, anything anyone
    writes is brilliant.  It’s just a matter
    of how the writer puts what they
    write together, that defines brilliant.

    I hope this has been of help to you.

    Best Regards,

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net