Month: June 2019

#AccountaClub Friday, June 28, 2019

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And that’s June. Isn’t it bizarre? We’re here already. It’s tough to believe, June already gone.

It’s raining again, in a kind of a resigned, slightly dismal way, with streaks on the windows and a quiet gray hanging in the air. Not a joyful Friday, weather-wise at least.

On to the nitty-gritty, the #AccountaClub part where we talk how we’re doing with our ongoing goals.

Writing was…tepid. I’m not going to lie to you. I find that the louder the political drums beat, the harder it is for me to detach and focus on imaginary worlds. Probably because I feel like I should be doing something more concrete to try to stem this muddy tide.

Fitness, though, went really well, five days, five workouts, and I’ve just marked off the last one of June. It’s helping tremendously, I think, sticking to this fitness program. In case you’ve missed it, I like Daily Burn, a streaming channel that has live workouts five days a week, all new, plus programs and a whole library of past workouts. The variety is fantastic for me.

And that was my week. How was yours?

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

Ten Word Photo Prompt: Procrastination

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(Photo by Junior Teixeira on Pexels.com)

Is the world ending? You betcha. Democracy dying before our eyes?

No question.

Still doing a ten word story today?

Why not?

We can fiddle (with photo prompts) while freedom withers. What else can we do?

Anyway, you know the drill. Using the photo above, write an story of exactly ten words.

Here’s mine.

“Twitter. Five minutes,” it beckoned.

She was never seen again.

#WednesdayWisdom or, well Wednesday.

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I need to stop watching “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Reality is dark enough, and watching, knowing there are plenty of people who would be thrilled if society were structured that way, is really doing me in, so to speak.

I’m stressed right now and it’s heading in all directions.

Which, of course, is normal, given all that’s happening and all that could happen, but it’s tough to keep the “could happen” in perspective.

The apocalypse is kind of overwhelming. I guess that’s the thing about apocalypses.

Apocalypsi?

Apocalypses.

I bet they never thought they’d have to make that one plural.

Meanwhile, I’m slowly closing in on the end of this first draft, so at least the world I can control is in hand.

Well, sort of control, my characters are rebelling. AGAIN.

Characters sure have minds of their own. Which seems cosmically unfair, to tell you the truth.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday time. Have a good one.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#TuesdayThoughts Thinking about the unthinkable

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It’s one of those innocently sunny days, the kind that pretend as though there’s never been a cloud in the sky.

Faker.

Still it finally looks like summer outside, with the sparkling leaves and lush green grass. Given the amount of rain so far, it better be lush.

I cannot pretend that I am not preoccupied with the thought of children wallowing in filth, in the very conditions that breed epidemics, without proper cooked food, without toothbrushes or soap or blankets or beds. An unabashed evil has taken root, twisted, insatiable.

And there’s no clear way to stop it. Some of the people with the power to stop it are the very source of that evil. Were this a story, there would be some kind of magic, some kind of spell that would end it.

But it isn’t.

If you want to know how you can help, there is a comprehensive list of organizations in this article.

With that, I trudge into Tuesday. Have as nice a day as is possible.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#MondayThoughts as scattered as showers.

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Don’t mean to shock you, but it’s gray again today. Heavy clouds and maybe rain and not nearly July at all.

So difficult to believe this year is half-through, but the calendar proves it. Slow-moving disasters sure fly by in retrospect.

It’s quiet, though, not much traffic, and what I hear is hushed, like the cars are also waiting for the rain.

It’s a good day for writing.

I got out this weekend, Saturday was beautiful, and went to the Chicago Botanic Garden. For some reason I looked at it like a person visiting from somewhere else, and took in how sweeping the gardens are, how vast, how varied. What a gorgeous place.

The break was good. I haven’t looked at my photos yet, though. I should probably do that. I don’t think I got anything spectacular, but we’ll see.

So a’Mondaying we shall go. Hope you have a wonderful one.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#AccountaClub: Friday, June 21, 2019

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Somehow we’ve come around again to Friday. It was another slow week and fast week and I have no idea how time does it.

It’s weird.

Writing-wise I’m coming into the home stretch with this manuscript, it’s at an emotionally sticky part and my character doesn’t want to go through it so neither do I, but there is only one way.

Her epiphany is looming.

On the exercise front, this week was pretty smooth with the workouts. Five days, five live ones, and they were all solid, all enjoyable in their own way. Today was yoga and it was a fabulous way to end the week. The newest trainer led a workout on Thursday and I liked him; I really wasn’t sure that I would.

And that was my week. How was yours?

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

Ten Word Photo Prompt:

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(Photo by Martin Péchy from Pexels)

It’s ten word photo prompt time! Using the photo above, write a ten word story. Exactly ten words.

Ready?

Here’s mine.

The house grew there, like a tree but with plumbing.

#WednesdayWisdom and who am I kidding

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Me to myself just now: “OK. One…two…three…BLOG! And BLOG!

“Blog!

“Any second now.”

Apparently I’m too familiar with my mental tricks for them to work.

Or am I?

I think I’m heading for tea today, rather than another cup of coffee. It’s gray outside again, not for change, that’s for sure, and tea sounds cozier to me.

I know what’s coming next in the manuscript I’m working on, and I think I’ve been putting it off. I’d like to blame my protagonist who is definitely putting it off, but seeing as she’s a figment of my imagination, it’s possible we might both be a little bit responsible.

Meanwhile that tea isn’t going to make itself. It should.

But it won’t.

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

Thinking slow #TuesdayThoughts

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It’s pretty chilly for June. Last year, we were steaming away with incredibly high temps, and this year, it’s feeling like April.

I’ll take the cooler temperatures but I’m not sure everyone would agree.

Yesterday’s can-do optimism has given way to something else, something waterlogged with the news that just keeps going, with one ridiculous thing after another.

Exhausting stories of endless entitlement and unearned privilege, of shocked horror at consequences for actions, of people who should stay quiet asserting they have the right to be front and center.

You have to wonder if this is all deliberate, stuck as we are in the minds of writers. I feel like it’s shifted to Bradbury at this point.

Maybe more coffee would help. I’ll think about that.

Regardless, off I go into the great expanse that is Tuesday. Have a fabulous day.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.

#MondayThoughts: Thinking Monday

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Sometimes I wonder if we’re a little unfair to Monday. I mean, there it is, just doing its Monday thing, getting the week going after a weekend of inertia.

It’s got to be a rough gig.

No one ever says “Thank goodness it’s Monday!” It doesn’t have restaurants named after it, there are no Twitter trends with “yay” right in the name.

“Monyay” doesn’t have the same ring.

But Mondays do bring with them a unique gift: a new start, each and every week. Even if the official start of the week is Sunday.

See how a day could get grumpy?

Let’s try to embrace the Mondayness of it all, and make it a real sleeve-roller-upper.

Have a great Monday.

Check out  my full-length novels (affiliate links): 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
See what I’m writing on Medium.