writing

#ThursdayThoughts Ten Word Photo Prompt Flashback: Unfinished

Standard
red and blue hot air balloon floating on air on body of water during night time
Photo by Bess Hamiti on Pexels.com

So it’s a flashback #ThursdayTen today, I have too much happening and not enough bandwidth for a new post. But hopefully this one is new to you!

Using the image as prompt, write a ten word story. Exactly ten words.

Ready?

Here’s mine:

Resolved, she plunged the balloon downward. She was going back.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Well, I asked for change

Standard
Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

And immediately the universe responded in the form of a new editor for WordPress. I’d clung to the previous previous editor for far longer than necessary, enjoying something about its clunky awkwardness, as perhaps we had a bit of a kinship.

So a few days ago I’d noted to myself how I’d adjusted to the newer-to-me editor, and couldn’t remember when I’d made the full switch. And kaplewie, an even newer text editor.

(Keplewie, if you were not aware, is the sound new text editors make upon arrival).

Here’s the funny part in all of this. I love technology. I love new technology. I love bells and whistles and buttons that look cool and take a while to figure out. Yet when I think blogging, I think page, words, picture, done.

I’m also quick to adapt to new technology. So why the reluctance?

I couldn’t say. I can say that I just discovered how you can edit paragraph to paragraph in this new “block” interface, and I think I kinda love it. The previous interface was sparse; I find this one clean.

So I got a change, almost on demand, took it, and I think I like it. One tiny change is still a change.

Now the real question is if it will keep giving me blog topics, because that would be the best feature of all.


Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.
Check out  my full-length novels: 
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 free!
Peruse Montraps Publishing

Sheryl Crow said it best

Standard

It’s a super sunny Tuesday, though a cold one, it’s only 20 F right now, and I have changes on my mind. Big changes, small changes.

Changes.

Maybe it was the election that got me thinking about them; maybe it’s because Thanksgiving is around the corner, which means New Year’s Eve isn’t far away.

But sometimes we need changes. For variety, because circumstances dictate. I’m an adaptable person but slow to change. I have to give myself a push to shake things up. Last week when I was sick, I ran out of yogurt, my usual breakfast.

I did not enjoy it.

But life itself is always changing, and either it can change around us or we can dive in, headfirst.

Well, don’t dive in headfirst unless you know exactly how deep it is, because we’re talking change, not recklessness.

I don’t know yet what my change will look like, the form it will take, it’s shape or depth. Only that it’s time to try something different, take on something different.

To evolve.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing

#MondayThoughts on, surprise, a Monday

Standard

I am finally, finally on the road to recovery from that new plague. I worked out this morning (yay!) only to discover another favorite trainer is leaving Daily Burn (boo! But good luck to Cece, she deserves only good, she’s worked hard and is amazing and I hope this opportunity is wonderful).

Last night, my DVR recorded absolutely nothing, there was some kind of glitch with it, so all the things I’d looked forward to, including my much beloved “Doctor Who,” were everywhere but in my queue. Bummer.

Luckily we live in a magical age where I can watch everything I missed today through various glorious means. Nowadays no TV shows are lost, only transformed.

Also you have to wait a day, but I already did that.

As for NaNoWriMo, my lack of writing over the last week and this weekend would definitely imply that I’m out. This year just wasn’t my year. Am I going to stop working on my project?

Nah.

And who knows how the words will shake out in the end. But sometimes the world gets in your way, and that’s just how it is. It’s OK.

Anyway, happy Monday all. I hope you’re off to a nice fresh start.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing

#MondayMood: Beast Mode

Standard

Still reeling from my workout, it was something else this morning. Good, but tough.

Fine.

This week is about buckling down, and that was a heck of a way to start it. Not over at Daily Burn; no, there, the week is about self-care. But aren’t they kind of the same thing?

Here’s a reality. I want to do NaNoWriMo. I know what I want to write for NaNoWriMo. But to get to that, I have to finish a manuscript that hasn’t gone anywhere in a while.

The thing about writing is you just have to do it. There’s no other way for the story to get from inside your head to a page, virtual or otherwise. At least not yet.

Though Aunty Ida would probably have a method, if she weren’t fictional.

Probably fictional.

There may be a universe out there with an Aunty Ida. How terrifying is that thought?

But I digress.

So we’ll so how this week goes, right? I mean it’s easy to say big things on a Monday while still in the aura after a killer workout. The proof is in the #AccountaClub.

Time to put my typing fingers where my mouth is. But only figuratively because that sounds gross and kind of unsanitary.

Any big plans this week?

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing.

Ten word photo prompt: Unknown

Standard

photo of person walking on deserted island

Photo by Tom Swinnen on Pexels.com

It’s that time! Using the photo above, write a ten-word story, here in the comments, on your blog, wherever. If you do blog it, please leave a link so we can find you!

Titles are OK, but not too long, and I hate having to say this aloud, but nothing that denigrates anyone or their experiences. Let’s keep this fun. Even if horror is your thing, which is fine.

OK, here we go:

She strode from eternity, unsure if life would yield again.

WHEW! This week was a tough one!

Is it just me or is it Wednesday?

Standard

I kinda feel like Wednesday blogging is when I hit a lull. Of course, some blogging weeks are tougher than others, but it seems like, for a while now, I get to Wednesday and wonder hey, what do I have to say today?

Hopefully something.

Let’s keep going and see.

There’s no doubt about it, sometimes things are more of a slog than other times. No rhyme or reason, really, either, it’s more like the entire energy of the universe is different solely because the universe feels like it.

We’re all entitled, I suppose.

But it’s a moody, moody universe.

I’m trying to get out of my head and back into my head, which sound kinda like contrary concepts, but I need to clear out the fire and the gloom and the urgency of the world so that I can get back to my pretend worlds with their own fire. As you know, that’s a huge struggle for me. I’m still trying to figure it out, but I’ve got to get it done.

So that’s where I am right now, here on a Wednesday. Present but not present.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing.

When horses fly

Standard

Yesterday, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, where they were placing a new sculpture somewhere requiring a crane for the transfer. A huge skeleton of a horse, the artwork was headless, the head already placed in its destination.

In the cab of the crane, the operator waited to start the move, his foot casually propped up against the door frame. Like this was nothing. Like operating that enormous piece of equipment–and it was enormous–was nothing.

The other workers grabbed the heavy chains and tightened straps to hoist the sculpture. And then, finally, when it seemed they would never lift it, there it floated into the air with a grace unexpected from metal. And the crane operator vindicated his nonchalance.

It wasn’t a sight I expected to see yesterday. In fact the whole visit was full of new things and surprises: a textiles exhibit; a collection of Islamic art; the work of Hairy Who?, an art collective from the 60s.

Did it change what’s happening in the world?

UH, no.

Did it make me not think about it for a while?

Definitely.

There’s a little bit of escape in finding the new within the old. Fresh eyes. Fresh perspective?

Not this time.

But I can say I’ve seen a horse skeleton hoisted high against the Chicago skyline. And that’s something.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing.

Ten Word Photo Prompt:

Standard

man wearing suit jacket sitting on chair in front of woman wearing eyeglasses

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Hey all! Sorry this is so late today, I’ve been watching the confirmation hearings, much to my dismay.

You know the drill, ten word story based on this image. Here, your own blog, whatever works. Just makes we can find you!

Here’s mine, which may or may not be influenced by the proceedings.

Coffee cup nearby, she shared her feelings with steaming liquid.

Wobble through Wednesday

Standard

woman punching red heavy bag

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I had a fantastic workout this morning. Kickboxing with Erica on Daily Burn, and wow, did it wake me up and get rid of some aggression. Had a decent breakfast, and discovered “Forever” on Amazon. It’s weird.

I love it.

A little bummed because there’s a bit to the concept of something I’d started, but it’s funny how creativity is like that. Someone wrote a poem about it, I wish I could remember who and find that poem again. I thought it was Gwendolyn Brooks, but I’m not sure.

Anyhow she compared inspiration to a herd of cattle thundering past, and you have to grab it by the tail before someone else does. It’s so true; sometimes it’s like there’s something in the air. If you don’t use an idea, someone else will.

And in this case, I think so much better than I was leaning toward. Oh well, it happens to all of us.

Watch it, though. It’s a very well-crafted show.

So that’s me on Wednesday. I hope your personal week is looking up, because our collective one is, well, something else entirely. The small things matter right now.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

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 free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing.