But first this: In an attempt to provide my One-Minute Memoir, I overlooked the fact that I’d have to pay for my life.
There is no way somebody will make me pay for my creativity. I mean, if I can’t get others to pay me, for sure no way in hell I’ll pay somebody else for making me create and submit what I’ve created.
The same goes for photographers who at first provide free photo feedback to their followers but then slowly start dropping hints that it’s time we start paying them back for their generosity.
How much should I charge for each door that I show you? For every nutria? Jumping dog? Grinning mom?
This is not to say that I have any bad blood with the organisers of the One-Minute Memoir challenge, even though they failed to mention the paying part in their announcement. Obviously this is how it’s done over there.
So I had to add another list to my Trello (thanks, Dan!) next to “To do”, “Doing” and “Done”. It says “Changed my mind”.
Good thing that I only just started writing my memoir before this discovery and not finished it, or I’d be much pissier. But since I’ve started it, let me finish it here on my blog. And then I can pay myself a gelato for every word.
Oh, and if somebody wishes to make their own, bummer. The deadline runs out today.
They were looking for “ultra-flash nonfiction of 100-150 words”. Here are mine.
Let’s see how much 150 words really is:
Yugoslavia, Slovenia. Seventies starting.
Ljubljana mother+Maribor father=child, baaam!
First in wide family. Little miracle.
Still recovering from not being one.Two loving grandparent couples.
Father’s father: stern but win-overable. I learn.
Father’s mother: handy elegance.
Mother’s father: determined joker.
Mother’s mother: opera lover.Kindergarten: bastards withhold water.
School: sick first year.
Ooh! Sister!
Education = oppression.
Puberty, boooo.
Basketball, yeah!
Seaside, soothing.
First loves.
Sarajevo Olympics.New school.
Spanish.
Females.
Too ambitious.
Looking bad in comparison.
Finally finished.Studies. University.
English / Journalism.
Four years. Didn’t finish.
No motivation.Slovenia’s independence.
Ten-day war.Half-Italian boyfriend. Italian school.
Living together. Five years.
Later, freedom.
Greece, Peugeots.
Vienna life.
Concerts, sister.
Romania visits.NATO attacks Serbia.
Dogs found.
Three raised.
Žak, the saviour.Enters ex.
Card tournaments.
Thirteen years and gone.Now Tuscany.
For life.So many words!
Could have done it in fewer.
In the gallery today, the city of my paternal grandmother whose birthday is today. Alas, her husband, my stern grandfather, died on this day too, many years before her, so she never celebrated it after that. Imagine that. The photos were taken last summer when we raided Maribor, the second biggest Slovenian city, for one day. Don’t worry, grandma, now we can celebrate all together.
Doesn’t life just gallop along? Your poem sure does. I love these lines:
First in wide family. Little miracle.
Still recovering from not being one.
My hometown is so far away and I haven’t been back since I was 12. How wonderful you get to revisit and photograph the past WITH your parents to share the memories. Gorgeous photos as always! You make me hunger to travel to Slovenia. I have always hungered for Italy. Soon. Very soon.
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Thank you, Susanne, it surely gallops away. Oooh, really, you’re coming over? They are conveniently close together, Italy and Slovenia. Just for you. 🙂
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Its a dream, M. A grand tour of places I’ve always wanted to see but other things have always popped up. I reckon in about 2 years time….
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Have a look, my father is telling you something. I think I told you once already. 🙂
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I liked the same lines Susanne did, especially since I’m always telling the wee ones they were never only children. Nice cadence in that poem, lovely photos.
Franciscan Basilica of Our Mother of Mercy looks remarkably, and I do mean remarkably like Sacred Heart here in Indy. Beautiful.
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Thank you, Joey. To me this Basilica looks like The Church. If somebody told me to draw a church, I’d draw such a church. I guess it was a popular design. And I think somebody dragged me in there when I was very young and for this reason I was NOT a fan of churches for a long time.
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It’s uncanny. I may send you a photo sometime. Or do it for doors.
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Oh, yes, yes, please, do that! 🙂
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Dear Susanne, Manja forgot to mention that her grandmother’s name was Suzana. 😀
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🙂 I think I told her this already once.
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Lovely photos. I’m glad to see you’re using Trello 😉
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Thanks, Dan. If I have it open, I immediately feel highly organised. 😀
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Thanks for your gentle persona. Earning money on the internet is a real trick. Good luck. Ha. I was there when NATO started attacking the Serbs. It, of course, changed everything. Thanks. Duke
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Thanks, Duke. I have two urban legends from that time and I wonder if they are true. One is that TV Serbia abolished all American content apart from one movie which it broadcast nightly. It was Wag the Dog. The other is that after losing a stealth, NATO pleaded: “We do deserts, we don’t do mountains.” Serbs will never let it go.
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I am pretty sure both are true. I was bouncing between Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica, Mostar, and Split, but I had friends in Serb territory and I remember them telling me about that. Those were terrible times. As to Slovenia, I never made it there. Bled looks nice. Is it? In general, the politics and history of the Balkans are tough and I can’t say I enjoyed my time there…awful war, really bad and I follow the Hague trails. Do you know the Mt. Igman road? Thanks. Duke
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I was never up the Igman. I was only in Sarajevo once as a 10-year-old, puking at the Baščaršija due to dad’s driving.
Slovenia got out of Yugoslavia with minimum damage. I’ve heard all sorts of talk who we should thank. But others suffered so badly instead. And you had to be right there of all places and all times.
Bled looks nice but last summer its mayor declared that Slovenian tourists should stay away for the summer and not create even bigger crowds. This is how we have it.
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Amazing how few words can build a picture of a person. Speaking of pictures, today’s are warm and wonderful!
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Thank you, Lexi. The picture is built, now what kind of Dorian is on it is another matter. 😀 Maribor is pretty for sure.
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Lovely sunny pics! How tragic that your grandfather died on your grandmother’s birthday. These things are always so sad, but that’s even worse. Loved reading your flash-memoir. Weird idea to pay in order to write your own memoir, it being such a personal subject just makes it even more strange. Well, people will ask for money. In Finnish there’s a saying, “You’re not silly if you ask, you’re silly if you give” 😀 I wonder what your memoir would be like if you could write it in a tweet, what is that, 150 characters, 180? 😀 I won’t even try, I’ve had 17 jobs for example, never mind 🙂
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Hehehe, that’s a great saying, I fully agree. And I can see how 17 jobs would create a problem. I hear Twitter has expanded its post limit to 280 characters. You haven’t noticed either, have you? Apparently they charge 3 or 4 euros or dollars per submission to eliminate inappropriate submissions. If you don’t have an established paying channel, that’s a problem too. But it’s even more the principle that made me say no.
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Nope, didn’t notice! (Twitter)
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New blog for the new year? What a fun way to start things off. Love your photos of Maribor. As a previous reader cited, I too fell for your lines, “First in wide family. Little miracle.
Still recovering from not being one.”
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Indeed, Atreyee, thank you. The previous blog was getting mighty full. Must be true, these lines. 🙂 And Maribor is quite a gem.
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😆 We’re all recovering from not being little miracles anymore.
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That’s an awesome quote!! 😀
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You’d be a great non fiction writer! 😉😉✌️ or flash writer lol
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Hehe, thanks, RayNot. Do you think good enough to have a book published? 😉
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Yep. I’d buy it ✌️👋
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enjoyed the gallery of pics – and the short bio was insightful.
and I share your thoughts on the charging – and would change my mind too.
My pet peeve is when someone volunteers and then gripes that they need to be paid. I am thinking of this health site I visit – and well, every time he gripes – the same few folks chip in a bit – and I stopped going there – don’t threaten to charge for page views – or just do it and get it done already.
and I am not sure as to how these folks are integrating their fees – but let’s see- for each of your doors I think twenty five cents would work – but maybe you could charge more for certain Tuscany doors (kidding)
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Thank you, Prior, good to hear that. As for my door fees, I’ll prepare the price list… not! 😀
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oh good – glad your artsy doors will still be free –
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Some people seem to know …
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Oh please, give me some more info. What does this person know that would be useful for me?
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My partner uploads her photos on a platform (forgot her name) on which the other users then rate whether the photo will be published. She does not earn money, but she gains a feeling for composition and so on. Then you could think about pay-for-download pages.
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flickr.com
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😀 Oh! I’m on flickr too but I’m not very active there. Regarding my photography, I’m a bit… how to say… I DO NOT wish to be like the others. Follow the rules. Do everything right. I like what I like, some like my doors, you like my windows. It’s enough. 🙂
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Stay the way you are. Money is for the posh.
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😀 Va bene! Thanks, but this post was not about that. I have no doubts about how to proceed.
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