Life in progress

Monthly Archives: April 2017


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Raw – #AtoZChallenge

Real men eat it on the hoof.

The above quote is from a late friend of my father’s. He said it every time he cooked a steak, and though I thought he meant a cow, he always ate his beef medium rare… Ah, the 1970s. I was so young and innocent.

I had a friend of my own, of German heritage, who enjoyed eating raw hamburger meat with spices mixed into it. When I was in Japan, I was given a raw egg to mix with some kind of powder, to pour on my rice for breakfast. I left the egg in its shell. Why? Because here in North America we’re told to cook our food, and if, God forbid, we come in contact with it when it’s raw, DISINFECT! That stuff’s poison! Except there are so many people who survive other cultures.

A few months back, someone died because they ate raw salmon here in Ontario. Yet I love–I luuuuurve salmon sushi. So what’s the diff? Seriously, maybe someone out there can tell me. My best guesses are that they serve fresher meat (and eggs) in other countries, or that they’re more careful to keep their products at a safe temperature.

I’ve eaten raw bacon and survived. I’ve licked the cake-batter bowl clean. And don’t even get me started on cookie dough. Ugh! Nomnomnom.

What do you eat raw?

***
You know what you don’t need to cook before you consume it? My A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette, “All Good Stories”! It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Apr. 22/17

It’s Friday today and that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. The month of April, as you might have heard, is time for many of us to participate in the A to Z Challenge. With this taken into consideration, I’ll start the prompt with the letter of the day, just to potentially help people along. Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “spell.” Use the word “spell” any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use it in the first sentence. Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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Qualification – #AtoZChallenge

Qualification, schmolification. I can drive that rocket! Jus’ let me behind the wheel.

When I finished writing my first novel in 2004, I was hesitant to call myself a novelist. The way I saw it, the only thing that qualified me was the fact that I’d written 50,000 on the same subject. That something had a beginning, a middle, and an end; it had characters and settings and a climax. But it wasn’t ready to be published, and that’s what I thought qualified a person to be a novelist.

Then I wrote another book in 2006, and I started warming up to the idea that maybe I was a novelist, even though nothing had seen print. But still, I hadn’t taken any writing courses. I didn’t know if what I’d written was any good.

It would take almost a decade before I took a writing course, just to find out that I actually already knew what I was doing, for the most part. By then I’d started yet another novel and I was well on my way to calling myself a novelist.

And now… I’m still on the fence. None of my novels have seen print yet. Not one of the five I’ve finished, nor the three I’ve begun writing. But that tells me something. I see a pattern here. Do you?

I can’t stop writing novels. It’s how I pass my time. It’s part of who I am. I’m miserable when I’m not writing something. It’s not an urge, it’s a compulsion.  And the more I think about it, the more I believe that that is what qualifies me to be a novelist. I’m a novelist because writing them is in my blood.

So the next time someone asks me if I’m a writer, I’ll say yes, in fact, I’m a novelist. I write novels. They may be good, they may be bad, they may be unpublishable, but that’s okay. Because I do it for me. I do it because I don’t have a choice.

***
Whether or not I’m a qualified novelist, I’m definitely a qualified novelettist!  I have an A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette called “All Good Stories,” available for only 99¢ on Kindle and Kobo. It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories

 

 

 


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Purloin – #AtoZChallenge

Confession time: the word “purloin” has always reminded me of a nice, juicy piece of medium-rare beef .

I have to say thank you to my poor thesaurus today. For all the complaints I’ve bestowed upon it this month for some of the crappy words I’ve ended up with, this one makes up for them. I love the word “purloin” not because it’s a great word in and of itself, nor because it makes my mouth water, but for its synonyms. Reading through them in my thesaurus is like taking a page out of a noir detective movie starring Humphrey Bogart.

Bugsy made off with the goods, see? He musta pinched them when no one was looking, that dirty, no good thief. We’ve been snaffled.

“Filch, finger, lift, pocket, snitch, and swipe” are a few more.

With that, I think I’ll go to the store and appropriate a steak tomorrow. With my debit card, see?

***
Wanna read my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette, “All Good Stories”? You don’t have to pilfer it–it’s only 99¢ on Kindle and Kobo. It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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One-Liner Wednesday – Danger!

I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Crocs in Ontario waters!

Croc sunning itself by the water

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If you would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do,
you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com


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Occupancy – #AtoZChallenge

In the head of an author, multiple inhabitancy is par for the course.

Strangely enough, I didn’t have imaginary friends when I was a kid. I just made up stories in my head. Occasionally I wrote them down, but mostly I told them to myself over and over again, perfecting them–editing them, I suppose you could say–until I was ready to move on to the next story.

The characters of my tales inevitably took up residence in my head. Even now, when I go for a walk I’ll often see the world through the eyes of my characters. Sometimes another of my characters will walk beside me. I wonder if someone with extrasensory vision could see my characters with me, like an aura or a ghost.

This photo was not manipulated in any way – this is exactly how my camera captured the scene

P.S. I’m so sorry I haven’t been around to respond to comments for the last few days. I’ll do my best to catch up tomorrow. Hope everyone is well. 🙂

***
O look! You can buy my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette, “All Good Stories”! It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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Ne’er-do-well – #AtoZChallenge

The odds of being the black sheep of the family are drastically increased when you’re an only child.

“Ne’er-do-well” isn’t a word I’d have looked up in my thesaurus, but sure enough, there it is. I wouldn’t say that growing up I was a complete good-for-nothing, but I got into my share of trouble. I used to envy my friends who had siblings they could, in turns, play with and blame things on. I was the only one who could have done whatever was done in my family.

I love some of the synonyms for “ne’er-do-well.” Rapscallion, scapegrace, and wastrel are my favourites. Apparently I’m too old to be a scapegrace, but I can still be a rapscallion.

Any siblings of mine would have hated me for sure.

I can’t let this post go by without mentioning that another “n”-word of mine today is “nest.” I went for a walk earlier, and came across a swan building a nest. Not something you see every day.

***
You know what else starts with “N”? Ninety-nine cents! And that just happens to be how much my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette, “All Good Stories,” costs. It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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Song-Lyric Sunday – Rain – Buck-Tick

I’m back again at the Song-Lyric Sunday prompt with my favourite Japanese band, Buck-Tick. “Rain” is a song about sadness and regret, but it’s also about hope. It’s a really lovely song. Please watch (English subtitles are embedded in the video) and listen.

And don’t forget to check out Helen’s prompt and all the other participants here: https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-41617/ You can even join in too!

Rain
Lyrics by Sakurai Atsushi (as copied from the video)
Music by Imai Hisashi

Please try to see, even I’ve become tainted
Wounded with a worn-out blade
Irritated by the warmth and kindness, you turn your back
One, two, three, tears fall

Since when did even this become draining?
Nursing the wounds with whiskey
Confused by happiness and joy, you turn your back
Four, five, six, my tears overflow

Sing in the rain
The rain pierces you
In the end you laugh, and I am a Pierrot unable to smile
I never intended to make you sad
but even so…
Sing in the rain
People are such sad creatures
Smile for me as, soaking wet, you dance
If maybe one day the world will sparkle again
then I can go on singing.

Please don’t say goodbye,
happiness was being able to meet you
Seven, eight, a flood of tears

Sing in the rain
People are such sad creatures
In the end you laugh, and I am a Pierrot unable to smile
I never meant to hurt you
but even so…
Sing in the rain
The rain pierces you
You make me smile, even though I’m a clown who never learns
It was never my intent to cause you any pain
Even so…
Sing in the rain
People are such sad creatures
Smile for me as, soaking wet, you dance
If maybe one day the world will sparkle again
then I can go on singing

Sing in the rain
Sing in the rain
repeat…
(If you want to sing along at the end, the Japanese lyrics are Ame ni utaeba.

If you’d like to sing along to the whole thing, here are the Japanese lyrics in full

Rain
http://www.nautiljon.com/paroles/buck-tick/rain.html
Mitegoran konna ni mo yogorete
Boroboro no yaiba de motte kizutsuketa
Nukumori ni yasashisa ni iradachi se wo mukete wa
Hitotsu futatsu mittsu namida koboreta

Itsu kara ka konna ni mo yogorete
Kizuguchi wo whiskey de motte gomakashita
Shiawase ni yorokobi ni tomadoi se wo mukete wa
Yottsu itsutsu muttsu namida koboreta

Sing in the rain. Ame ga kimi ni tsukisasaru
Waracchimau ore wa waraenai piero
Kimi wo kanashimaseru tsumori ja nai sou ja nai no ni
Sing in the rain. Hito wa kanashii ikimono
Warattekure kimi wa zubunure de dansu
Itsuka sekai wa kagayaku deshou to utai tsuzukeru

Sayonara wa iwanaide kimi to deaeta yorokobi
Nanatsu yattsu namida namida afureta

Sing in the rain. Hito wa okashi na ikimono
Waracchimau ore wa waraenai piero
Kimi wo kanashimaseru tsumori ja nai sou ja nai no ni
Sing in the rain. Ame ga kimi ni tsukisasaru
Waracchimau ore wa waraenai piero
Kimi wo kanashimaseru tsumori ja nai sou ja nai no ni
Sing in the rain. Hito wa kanashii ikimono
Warattekure kimi wa zubunure de dansu
Itsuka sekai wa kagayaku deshou to utai tsuzukeru

Ame ni utaeba ame ni utaeba…


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#SoCS – The Measurement of Moo – #AtoZChallenge

The word my thesaurus gave me today is “measurement.” The following is pure stream of consciousness writing. Unedited.  Enjoy.

The measurement of moo can vary. It might be simply moo, it may be moooo–I think it depends on the cow.

Or perhaps it relies on how hungry is the cow.

A cow who is famished may have a lengthy moooo, whereas a contented cow might have a moo. Does this mean an overstuffed cow gives out a mo?

Mo, the cow, lived in a meadow where the grass was very green. She was a lonely cow–all of her cow friends had gone off to less green pastures. Which meant they were shipped off to farms where they only served hay. Mo knew this because one of them, as she was going by in the back of a truck on her way from one hay-ish farm to another, yelled out, “YO! Mo! Thar’s hay in them thar hills!”

Mo was not a contented cow. She longed for a bull to call her own. She was fat from all the green, green grass she consumed on a daily basis, and she was very blue. Which was why she didn’t go with the other cows. No one wanted a blue cow named Mo.

The years passed, and Mo got fatter and fatter. Her only visitor was Flo, the lady farmer who looked after the farm. Every day Flo came to pat Mo on the head, and Mo would say “Mo,” and Flo would answer back, “Ho! Did you say ‘mo’? You’re supposed to say ‘moo,’ ya stupid blue cow!” and yes, Flo said this every day because she had no memory from one day to the next.

But then, one day, a bull showed up at the fence. It was a runaway bull from across the way, and he happened to be green.

“Mo,” said Mo when she saw him. She carefully approached the fence. She’d never seen a green bull before.

“Mooooo,” said the bull.

“Are you hungry?” asked Mo.

“I am,” replied the bull. “I’ve been walking up and down this road for days. My farmer doesn’t know I’m missing.”

“Oh dear,” said Mo. “Why don’t you hop over the fence and have some of my grass?”

So the bull did, and months later, they had a little brown calf whose name was Moo. And they all lived happily ever after. Except for Flo, who couldn’t figure out where the green bull came from and why all her cows were so stupid.

The End.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is fun! Click the link and join in today. https://lindaghill.com/2017/04/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-apr-1517/


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Later – #AtoZChallenge

I was going to write this post before lunch, but my thesaurus had other ideas.

The temptation is great to take a picture of my thesaurus, to prove the word second from the bottom on the right-hand page is really “later.” And my quote above is not a lie. I procrastinated purely because of the word itself.

There aren’t very many synonyms in my book for “later.” There are seven: “after, afterwards, next, sequentially, subsequently, successively, thereafter.” Strangely enough, procrastination isn’t there. But “later” is certainly the word I use most when I’m putting something off.

And I put far too many things off lately. I have an excuse – I’m working. For money. Like, real money and everything. It’s my excuse for not publishing the book I was going to get out before this year, and then by the spring, and now, hopefully, before summer. And yes, it’s a good excuse, yet I’m getting angry at myself, because I really want to get my own book published. What I need is someone to kick my ass every time I say the word “later.” Yeah, that’s what I need.

***

Don’t wait ’til later, buy it now!  For only 99¢, you can get my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review

“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories