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 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c   |
How have I gotten so wordy? Yesterday, I decided to write a short story (300 words) for the "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  . The prompt was: include this line in your story "Get off my property." A vague memory came to mind and I decided to write a little creative non-fiction. The plotting goes like this:1. New neighbor moves in. They have a dog. 2. Next day, mc mows grass and runs over smelly poop. New neighbor suspect. 3. MC waits and watches and catches new neighbor's dog in the "act". Prompt line. 4. Following Sunday, mc meets new neighbor in church, disagreement tentatively resolved with much embarrassment. This all seemed like it should fit in less than 300 words so I am typing away, but by the time I came up for air, I had 371 words, and I was only on the watching and waiting part  . It is a big problem for this writer to know where to cut. In the past, I wrote many 300 word stories. What happened? I have become a wordy sloth ... with an unfinished story.until next time...c |
| I didn't realize I hadn't written anything about the W.A.G. meeting last Sunday. The speaker was Patricia Charpentier (a fancy French spelling for Carpenter), an "expert" on the memoir. She has ghostwritten many of them and has her own book on the subject titled Eating An Elephant. The title is catchy, but most of the information I've already heard before in my Writing Your Life History Class. She did have us do an exercise I found interesting. She talked about how most people write differently with pen or pencil then with a keyboard. I never thought much about this, but, now, I am a believer. We were asked to finish this line with a short paragraph (with pen and paper): I am from ... I wrote some interesting things, to me at least, that gave me more insight into how I got where I am. Although she did not go into any explanation of why this difference occurs, I can think of a big reason for myself. I am always editing as I am typing which interrupts my train of thought. It's the left brain fighting with the right brain. I'm thinking more about paragraphs and spelling and sentence construction than content. Those things are important, but not at first. I know everyone says write freely without corrections to begin with, but that is very difficult to do on a keyboard for me. Even if I am tempted to correct on pen and paper, I have the evidence of it ... and the thought. I think this might be one time where old is better than new. until next time...c |
| I just made the tastiest egg salad for my lunch ever. Usually it is just boiled egg, a little mayo, a little mustard and salt and pepper. Today I added chopped celery, craisins, and sunflower seeds - yum yum. Great on one-half of a toasted English muffin. I cut all my grass yesterday evening, and since I didn't start until 7 p.m., I barely finished before dark. I know winter is coming because it is getting dark earlier  . That is a nice thought with the heat index over 105 degrees today! Whew! The last time I mowed, the riding mower did not want to cut off when I decreased the throttle speed and turned off the key. This time I remembered the sensor under the seat and was ready to stand up, but it shut off as it is supposed to. Must have been operator trouble, as Jim would say  .My son called a few nights ago, and asked me to send him some of my stories. You could have blown me over with a feather to compare my surprise to a cliche. I'm thinking about Me and the Rooster and Dancing in the Moonlight. It must be really boring in North Dakota! Yesterday, I started a little weight-lifting routine (per my doctor) to tone-up my wings (not for flying). I know the exercises are working because I have sore arms this morning. My doc says every other day, ten reps, twice each. We shall see... until next time...c |
| Not a long blog...just a sort of infomercial. This is one of the reasons I love my local writers' association. http://www.writersalliance.org/WAG%20Digest%20Vol%204-7-8.pdf Lots of information here that I thought some of you might enjoy ,.especially at the end with all the places to submit.Happy weekend... until next time...c |
| Today I listened to some lovely music by this duo, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151638782757155&set=a.473367652154.254... The lady puts together the critique pods at my Sunday writing group and plays the guitar and sings like you would not believe. Then I had lunch with her and husband and another friend, and enjoyed the best salad ever at Salad Creations. Woohoo! On the way home I stopped by the library to pick up a book on hold, The Dome (Stephen King). I've never read it and must find out what happens. It's a series on ABC and once a week is not fast enough. When the librarian brought out the book, my mouth dropped open. Has anyone seen this book? It is huge! And no renewals. I guess everyone wants to read it now that it's on TV. Since I have been galavanting around all day, I need to get cracking on a review and some transcribing so... until next time...c |
| I had my yearly physical yesterday and weighed in at 131.5 pounds, which according to the doc is a little hefty for my 5'2" height. Lose another five or ten pounds, she says. I am down 4.5 from last year, but she ignores that. What a Simon Legree! Plus, I quit eating meat last October. That brought a teeny smile, but then, are you getting enough protein? Yeah. I hesitated about asking her opinion on all these moles my skin doctor is removing, but dove in anyway. She quickly and with much verbosity let me know that dysplastic atypical moles will turn into melanomas and must be removed. We agreed that I had many (20-40) suspicious tiny black dots, and she even commiserated...a little...but did not swerve from her opinion. So I am doomed to many more scars, but at least I will be breathing, hopefully. Labs and a mammogram are scheduled for next week, but I don't anticipate any problems there. Her recommendation on my osteoporosis - continue taking my calcium and don't fall. She offered the shot, but I refused. I've read too much bad stuff about those drugs. She had no response to that so I took it to mean she agreed .Afterwards I picked up some flowers and stopped by the cemetery then came home to cool off. Our heat index was over 100 degrees again yesterday with only one little shower that did nothing for the temp but make steam heat when the sun came back out. August is living up to its reputation. Please, no bad hurricanes this year.... until next time...c |
I went to my memoir group meeting last Thursday and had another delightful time, over with too soon. There were nine of us, one gentleman, an invitee from the Friends Meeting House. Ann divulged the secret to our thwarted plans for meeting there this time. It seems Arnold, the member with the hearing problem who made the original suggestion, is currently unable to attend our meetings. His wife had a fall, and he must stay at home with her until she recovers.  for Arnold.The visiting Friend was friendly and even had a story to share about his young granddaughter and her interest in his aged and wrinkled hands. He laid out a lovely scene of them sitting under an old oak tree discussing the aging process with a little comedy thrown in ... very nice. Everyone else had a story, too. Dottie hilariously told about falling off their boat, not so funny at the time, Joan related how shy she was as a child (none of us could believe that), Barbara, who has finished her memoirs, had a fictional story about letting go, Ann told another laugh-at-yourself story about being stopped for speeding on the way to the Tampa Airport, Wuni related a trip long ago to New Mexico and the Grand Canyon and trying to cope with little children, Betty told about accompanying a friend to a bar to hear the friend's band member son, who played a dance tune where everyone bumped into each other, and Penny gave a laughable rendition of all her favorite and disliked foods and why. There is always a round of applause after the stories and lots of questions. They all liked my Uncle Nick story, and I had several pictures to pass around. The actual reading takes forty-five minutes to an hour, and then we spend an hour jabbering, much fun .Friday was back to normal things, mainly yard work, which, because of the heat, trickled over into Saturday and today. I continue to see bunches of hummingbirds at my feeder. I cannot believe the variety...who knew? Yes, it's pretty dull around here...but I like dull... until next time...c |
It is almost time to leave for my Writing Your Life History II Group so this may be shorter than usual. I wanted to thank ♥tHiNg♥  and scarlett_o_h for their very helpful reviews on "Uncle Nick" . Uncle Nick is now revised and hopes he presents a better picture .Naturally, it just started pouring rain, but, hopefully, our meeting will not be cancelled. We'll probably have a poor turnout though, At least it's cooler. On Monday, I visited with WAG's (Writer's Alliance of Gainesville) critique pod coordinator about joining one of the groups. Seems they are all full, but there are three new members so we may start one of our own. On August 14th I'll be sitting in on one to listen and learn . Four people seems to be just the right number so I hope we get one more interested person. Patsy says new ones form all the time.I have to leave so... until next time...c |
| Hope everyone is having a good Saturday morning. I should be out there working in the yard, but it's hot. I'm continuing to work on my "Uncle Nick" story for the August 1st memoir meeting. I've added and deleted and corrected a lot so far (in Word) and will re-post when I am ready to print. I had hoped to get some feedback for improvement from someone here, but no luck yet. To begin the story I made a wheel with bunches of spokes (things I remembered about Uncle Nick). This really helps me later on as I write because I seem to forget things so quickly. I don't think it's age. I was always that way. I have always been one to write things down. After that, why do you need to remember them? I dug out lots of old pictures (even made a few sketches of Uncle Nick for more visualization) and found a couple of news stories about him in my old hometown newspaper (yellowed with age and ready to split in the folds). My Aunt Sadie saved stories and stuffed them into a photo album. It is amazing what you can find when you look .I received sad news yesterday on our memoir meeting from Penny. We will be getting together at the library, not the Friends Meetinghouse. She said she would explain when we are together. I was looking forward to the new surroundings. Maybe it has just been delayed. There is a breeze coming in the open window to my left. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can smell the salt air. Oh to be sixteen and at Rehoboth Beach again! until next time...c |
| The hummingbirds continue to come. Yes, plural, I can tell the difference between them. Some are ruby-throated, some just have shiny green backs. Their little feet are always tucked up underneath them, and I read they are only for standing on branches, not for walking. They lap the nectar rather than sucking it up as I thought. Their long beaks remind me of upholstery needles. They do make little squeaky noises as they are fluttering and their gossamer wings make a droning sound similar to bumblebees. They come to eat even through hard rainstorms! My electricity went off around three o'clock this morning. I guess the noise of the computer shutting off woke me plus the silence of the overhead fan and the darkness without the bathroom night light. As I turned my head to look at the bedside clock, all was dark. I keep a book light beside it, so I grabbed it to go investigate. I could hear what sounded like GRU trucks in the distance, but couldn't be sure. My kitchen wall phone is the only one that works when the power is off so that is where I headed to dial up the outage number. That works better than the cellphone because it automatically gives the home address. But they already knew and the automated message said crews were working. About two hours later, the power came back on, and, eerily, the television came on. I never had that happen before. So I reset all the time machines, explained the situation to Mopsy, and went back to bed .It was raining, again, when I finally got up for real, but now the sun is shining. Our rainfall is breaking records. I just now had a chance to clean up the fallen squirrel's nest. I thought I might find a dead baby in it, but there was not, thankfully. That would have freaked me out. I borrowed (ebook) The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg from the library a couple of days ago and finished it last night. I enjoyed it but the ending seemed rushed somehow. I may be expecting too many answers from books , or maybe I just need better explanations. Anyway, whatever I read, I always get something out of it and that is what counts.until next time...c |
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