Contemplating October Writing

October is just a few short hours away. Halloween and Nevada Day are October 31, yes, Nevada joined the union as a state on Halloween. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that information just yet. I won't have to work on that day and many people in Nevada will have a three day weekend.

October is NaNoWriMo preparation month. So I need to figure out what I'm going to write about and set the plot up in October without writing anything on the Novel itself. I'm taking a course on reviewing and I'm planning my review schedule for October. I have to pay for another month's premium membership on writing.com by October 15. There is a lot going on in October writing wise. It's going to be a busy month.

Monday Poem written September 29, 2008

When is the moon's day?
Monday the workweek begins;
another hour's sleep.

NOTE: Haiku is 5 7 5 syllables. Monday was originally dedicated to the moon.

Sunday Poem written September 28, 2008

Sun's Day;
Under a partly cloudy sky
Notice the temperature rise
Degree by degree toward
Another triple digit Las Vegas day;
Yearning for cooler weather.

NOTE: The first letters of each line of an acrostic poem spell out a word or phrase. Originally, Sunday was the day dedicated to the sun.

To a Blank Page

I look at the snow-white page,
unmarked by stanza or line,
I ask the questions upper most in my mind:
Is this the cure for writers' block?
Is this an embryonic ode?
Is this an unconceived story?
Is this the birth canal of creation?

The answer my muse gives me is:
Yes, it is all of these and more.

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Writing Interruptions

Jalál (Glory), 1 Mashiyyat (Will), 165 B.E. – Saturday, September 27, 2008 about 7:02 AM Pacific Time

I begin a new 19-day period of writing goals. I've rearranged my goals so that those with deadlines or income potential are the first on my list. This morning I partictulary noticed the interruptions that occur when I'm working on a writing project.

There are two ways of viewing an interruption. A writer can view the interruption as a roadblock, as a sign that he/she needs to give up the project completely. The other view of an interruption is as an indication that one needs to take a rest and back off from the project for a few minutes.

The second view of an interruption lets the writer save the present work, take care of the interruption and return to the project. Usually interruptions occur at critical moments in the poem or story and derail or stop the writer's train of thought. The individual can ignore some interruptions, like telephones ringing. This is the reason someone invented answering machine, let the machine pick it up. If the person leaving the message has a critical issue then answer the phone, with no explanation as to why you let the answering machine take part of the message.

If the writer views the interrupt as a rest stop rather then a roadblock the writer come back to the project is refreshed. What was causing problems before the interruption is solved and the writing takes on a new freshness.

Sign up for Novel Writing Month begins in October

October is the month to sign up for National Novel Writing Month, which begins November 1. The goal of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days. This year NaNoWriMo is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

I just visited nanowrimo.org and they have just launched their 10th birthday celebration. Take a look at the site and read the breaking news. Check out the Procrastination Station or just browse the website. If you have ever wanted to write a novel, November is the time to start. Sign up and join the fund.

I have already went through my pre-November traditions of attempting to login and realizing I had forgotten either my login name or my password. I forgot my password, and yes, I forgot it twice. I forgot my password from last year and had to get a new one. Then I forgot that password and had to have it reset again. Now I am ready for November.

Appling the 80/20 Rule

On the evening of September 26, I set another group of 19-day writing goals. It isn't that each set of goal are extremely different from the ones I set this 19 days. In the next, 19-day period I'm attempting to apply the 80/20 rule.

I'm putting the most important goals at the top of the list. When I work on a to do list of my goals, I work from the top down rather then using an A, B, C priority designation. This means that I have to put the most important goal activities at the top of my list or I put them off.

This next 19-day period, I've placed the October issue of the writing.com fantasy newsletter I help edit at the top of the list. I've been putting it at the bottom and consequentially I don't get to it until the last minute. After that comes the blogs I'm attempting to earn money from and then the other writing projects. I'm not going to reevaluate this method of goals setting until October 15, which is the end of the upcoming goal setting period.

Writing about the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule states that when a writer has a to do list containing ten tasks, two of those task return 80% of the value of the list. These top two priorities are the most challenging on the list because they lead the writer to achieve his or her goal. The other eight items are usually "make work" activities the writer uses to avoid the two most challenging activities on his or her list.

This is an interesting theory and, given the human tendency to procrastinate, probably true. The question is how does a writer go about achieving the two most important goals on the to do list. A good way to start is for the writer to make a hard copy of what he or she most wants in life. All of us think about what we most want in life, but how many of us write it down. Then review the actions leading to our life goal.

Reviewing the actions leading to achievement of our life goals is the next step in achieving them. The "to do list" is a daily action plan to achieve those goals. By writing a daily to do list and then reviewing the actions completed and asking ones self "Did this action lead me to achieving my goal today or did it cause me to put off achieving that goal?" The other thing a writer has to do when making his or her to do list is squelch the inner critic.

Writing about a Slide Rule

I have a slide rule in its case. This was something I picked up at a yard

sale several years ago for $1.00. Originally, it was an expensive slide rule, not the most expensive, but it cost over $30.00.

I bought it on a whim, I do this sometimes when I go to yard sales. I see something, which I have absolutely no use for, but my intuition says buy. If it isn't too expensive, I'll buy it. I bought it for $1.00.

I took it too the Antique Road Show the last time they were in Las Vegas and had it appraised. It's worth about $65.00. I'd sell it for that, if I could find someone to buy it. Unfortunately, I can't find anywhere to sell it. Since I can't seem to sell it, I'll use it as a muse. I'm going to set it on my night stand and attempt to write a poem about it, when I can't sleep and don't want to get online.

I wonder what this slide rule would say it it could talk. That would make a good point of view in a poem or even a short story. I've written poems from the point of view of an inanimate object, but never a short story or piece of flash fiction.

Autumn has arrived

Today is the first day of autumn and I live in Las Vegas. Trees are still green and from the feel of the weather there won't be a freeze anytime soon. That means the trees will stay green for some time to come. It's this time of year that I miss Oklahoma and the leaves turning from green to orange and yellow.

Of course, when the leaves turn that means more work because the leaves start falling off the tree. Then you have to rake them, put them in plastic trash bags and sit them on the curb for the crews of the garbage trucks to pick up. When I was a child, my grandfather burned the leaves, which fell off his cottonwood tree. However, burning leaves isn't done anymore.

I don't miss the smell of burning leaves as much as I miss the beauty of fall and the leaves turning all sorts of beautiful colors. After the leaves changed then you waited for the first snowfall of the year. You hoped that it would snow on Christmas because a white Christmas was beautiful.

I was born on a snowless Christmas Eve, eleven minutes before midnight. That sounds like a good idea for a Christmas poem. I know it isn't even Halloween or Thanksgiving but it isn't too early to think of Christmas poems.

I bought a Sunday Paper today

I bought a Sunday paper today. I can't remember the last time I bought one, it's been at least a year. Normally, I watch the news on T.V. or get if off the Internet, but today I went to the store and bought a paper. I got it so that we could have a T.V. guide and I could read the Sunday comics.

I missed reading the comics on Sunday. The comics during the week are no big deal, but I enjoy reading them on Sunday. I'm going to finish all my writing projects for the day, then I'm going to set down on either the couch or love seat and read the paper. I've already read to comics.

I've found myself in a rut lately and I think this will help me get out of it. I'll get a few ideas for poems or short stories. You can always depend on the Sunday paper to have some interesting stories. Stories that are much more interesting then you find in the paper the rest of the week.

Another thing that the Sunday paper has, which isn't in the other days are coupons. Today's paper has $209 worth of coupons in it. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can get some cents off on. I've missed reading the Sunday paper, I don't know why I didn't buy one before today. However, today I decided I'd just drive down to the store and get a paper.

As I'm reading the paper, I'll see what I an use as the subject of a blog entry. I think some of my entries are getting a bit boring. I could be wrong, of course, but it never hurts to have some backup subjects to write about.

I'm experimenting with posting photos and graphics

I'm experimenting with posting photos and graphics in this blog this coming week. I want to see if my readership increases when I post a photo. I noticed yesterday that after I posted the picture of my grandparents I had an increase in readership.

I don't know yet which photos I'm going to scan and post. I have several large Tupperware containers in my closet with photos in them. I've been intending to go through them, but just haven't taken the time. These are as good a reason and time to do it as any. I'm not sure yet whether I'll write a poem, article or story to go along with the photo. The type of writing I do depends on my muse and what kind of mood I'm in at the time.

I will say this, I'm in a positive mood this morning. I have lost of stuff going on in my life that could turn that around. However, I'm going to continue to write no matter what type of mood I'm in. I've found out that prayer and writing improve my mood. I'm doing both this morning. I hope my mood stays positive the rest of the day. I have some problems to solve and I can't solve my problems if I'm depressed.

Writing about my Grandparents

I found a professional photo of Grandma and Grandpa Newland. The photo was taken in Blackwell, Oklahoma, but I don't remember when it was taken or who took it. When photos like this are done, a person seldom writes down the year or the photographer who took them. Now I wish I had.

I wrote a tribute today in my writing.com blog Snow Melt. It was a response to a leading journal entry by another member. I'm considering writing a larger tribute to Grandma and Grandpa Newland. So the blog entry is a good start to that project.

I can think of other things now, that I didn't put in the blog entry. My grandparents encouraged me when I was growing up. They made sure we had a spiritual education while my mother worked. Grandpa was my father figure after my parents divorced. They were always there for me when I was growing up. They took care of us when Mom worked at night. I'm not sure I can write a fitting tribute to them, but I have to attempt the project.

I got my car fixed today

I got my car fixed today, at least the immediate problem. I still have other work to have done on it, but I have the problem with the radiator and hoses taken care of. I realized yesterday when I walked home from work, that I can't walk the distance I could when I was 16 years old.

I have a 1991 Toyota Camry and I'm going to have to take care of it because I can't afford a newer car. So the next thing to do is to get a spare, have the oil, stuff changed and have a tune-up. All that cost money; although once I have some more work done on it I might be able to get a title loan.

I have a new radiator, new hoses and a clean car. The mechanic had the car washed. I think I'll find my title, have the car washed again next month and see if I can get a little loan on it. I'm not sure that will occur. I've tried before to no avail, but it's worth a try again. I need to get more money coming into the house.


No matter how much I want t give up when I'm depressed, I know I'm not going to give up. Right now I'm weary and on the verge of tears. The tears aren't going to do any good. The weariness will go away eventually. I just have to keep plugging away and keep writing on.

Writing about Chocolate and Coffee

It's Wednesday and time for midweek reflections. I need chocolate. It's been an interesting week, to say the least. My car is still setting in my driveway waiting for me to take it to the mechanic. I'm going to have to put oil in the car before I drive it and I have to go to work today. As it is, I may have to take Thursday off if I can't get it to the mechanic today.

I need chocolate and I don't have any chocolate ice cream in my freezer. I have food in my freezer, but no chocolate ice cream. The only chocolate I have in the house is the instant hot coco mix, so I'm going to put a package of that in my coffee cup and pour coffee on it instead of hot water. I have my chocolate and I have my coffee in one cup. I can drink my chocolate and coffee at the same time without a problem. Sometimes, life can be wonderful.

Coffee and chocolate mixed
together in a single
stress reliving cup
life is wonderful.

Writing about the lack of control

Lately I can't control anything in my life. All though, I don't think this is a recent phenomena. Perhaps that is why I like writing fiction and poetry. In a story or poem, I have some control over what happens. In real life, I have not control at all. I planned to go to the Lady's Night poetry reading and read some of my work.

Fate, God and the universe apparently had other plans. Actually, what I should say is my car had other plans. I noticed that it was over heating yesterday, so I came home and parked the car in my driveway. I presumed that the only problem was I hadn't kept close enough eye on the water in the radiator.

I let the car cool down over night, which is what I normally do in these cases. I went out this morning to put water in the radiator. I put water in and it kept leaking out. After closer inspection of where the water was coming from, I determined the problem wasn't the radiator, but a hose or other component. If the problem was the radiator I could have used stop leak.

It turns out the problem isn't a hose either, but has something to do with the thermostat covering. It apparently has been, leaking for some time and I didn't know. Anyway, someone is working on it now. If he doesn't get it fix or at least where I can drive it, I'll have to have it towed to my mechanic Wednesday or Thursday. I didn't have it towed today because I didn't have Triple A, I now have Triple A, but it takes 24 hours for activation.

NaNoWriMo Approaches

National Novel Writing Month is in November. Sign up for participation in this event begins in October. In November 2007 a total of 1,187,931,929 words were written by those participating. Anyone who has ever wanted to write a novel needs to join NaNoWriMo and attempt to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1 and November 30. For those who want to know the daily word count goal, that is approximately 1,667 words a day.

I have participated in this event since 2005 and have completed only one novel. I didn't complete the novel I began last year. I'm going to attempt it again this year. I will simply start out where I left off in that novel. I can't count the words I wrote last year, but I can count the words I write this year. I'm looking forward to completing this novel.

Lady's Poetry Night in Las Vegas

Tuesday, September 16, at 7:00 PM the 2008 Lady's Poetry Reading will occur at the reJAVAnate on the corner of East Flamingo and Pacos. The title of this years reading is The Women of Estrogeniuses. The hosts for this reading are Danna Nordin and Lucy Botwick. The poets featured are Madeline Beckwith, Renee Christy, Neva Darbe, Joan Paulette Dudley, Rosa Mendoza, Megan Milligan, Ms. China, Kari O'Connor, De'Anna Price, Elizabeth Quiñones-Zaldañ a, and Sharon R. Schwartz.

Lady's Night
is more the just a free drink
or flirt with a good looking bartender.

Lady's Night
is an evening of passionate poetry
and hot coffee.

Lady's Night
is a crowded room
and beautiful women
dressed to the 9's.

Lady's Night
is a Las Vegas tridation.

The beginning of a new week of writing

Sunday a new week of writing begins. A new week of experiencing the miracle, that is life. A new week of disappointments and truimphts. A new week of learning about myself. A new week of blog entries and looking for a new approach to old themes.

Each week begins with such hope and joy. It can end that way as well. Each day that begins and ends with prayer and mediation keeps hope alive. Every day is full of distraction, which attempt to keep a person from focusing on the important issues. Prayer, mediation and keeping a personal journal returns the individuals focus to important matters.

Keep writing
everyday write something,
keep praying
everyday say a prayer,
keep meditating
everyday meditate on something beautiful.

Journal Writing in a Contest

I entered the Follow the Leader Journaling contest at writing.com again. This edition of the contest started on September 11 and end on October 1. Each day one of the contestants writes a lead entry and the rest of the contestants respond, in some way, to the entry. The responding entry must have the same title as the lead entry.

My leading entry titled "Coffee and Chocolate", occurred on September 12. My writing.com blog is Snow Melt. This is only the third day of the contest, but it has already inspired some very interesting posts in the contestants' blogs.

I picked coffee and chocolate as my subject because those are my favorite foods. These two items top the list of the things I like to eat and drink. Coffee and chocolate has played an important part of my life since I was a child. My parents and my grandfather (my mother's father) were coffee drinkers. Therefore, it is only natural that I drink coffee.

I can drink coffee all day and sleep at night. I am also one of those people who likes strong coffee. All though, most of the time I drink my coffee black, I do like specialty coffees. I am especially fond of the coffee that has chocolate in it. In fact, a few weeks ago I had a new coffee and chocolate treat, it was called "chocolate covered coffee beans", they were heavenly.

Writing While Tired

I wonder if writing when you are tired is like driving in the same condition. A person should not drive when he or she tired because of the danger of falling asleep at the wheel. If you write while being tired, there is the danger of falling asleep at the keyboard.

If you fall asleep at the keyboard, your head will fall forward onto the keys. This could be dangerous if on drools when asleep. I guess I should be careful, normally I drooling is my sleep is not a problem, but I am in the process of having all my teeth extracted and dentures put in. Missing teeth seems to encourage drooling.

All right, I have probably said a lot more then anyone reading this blog entry would like to know. That is a danger of writing a blog when tired. You write things that readers would just as soon not know. I suppose I could delete this entire entry and start over, but I am too tired to do that. I have to make the entry now or not at all.

I woke up at 12:00 AM this morning and I have remained awake ever since. I am tired, but there is not use going to bed because I will lay there and stare at the ceiling. While my bedroom ceiling is boring, it is not boring enough to put me to sleep. I could stare out the window, but that will put me to sleep either. Maybe I will try sitting on the couch, for some reason I can sleep better sitting on the couch then lying in bed.

Writing about Dawn on September 11

It is Thursday, September 11, 2008; I woke up between 3:00 and 3:00 AM this morning. Not as early as I usually wake up, but early enough to be awake when dawn arrives. The arrival of dawn to Las Vegas always brings memories with it. Sometimes those memories are of my childhood and my grandparents. Sometimes those memories are of religious services or other events.

This morning I am remembering dawn on another September 11. Then I worked at a college computer lab in Henderson, Nevada; not a difficult commute from Las Vegas. I remember the alarm clock sounded at 4:00 AM. I got up, turned the alarm off, made coffee, run a bath and contemplated turning on the morning news. Instead, I opted to say morning prayers. I had to be at work about 7:30 or 8:00 AM that morning, so I decided it would be the evening news I watched that day.

I did not find out about the twin towers until I arrived at work. There was no T.V. in the computer room, but that did not matter because we had Internet access. If you have Internet, access a T.V. is not necessary. We kept one of the computers on a news website all day, I am not sure of the website because I was more interested in the news itself that day.

This morning I remember another September 11 dawn. I remember driving to work and hearing the shocking news when I arrived at my job site. I remember receiving the news over the Internet. I remember writing a poem, which was published in a chapbook of 9/11 poems. I remember dawn on September 11.

Write about a car trip.

Daily Writing Practice Prompt for September 9, 2008: Write about a car trip.

This is an interesting prompt, which brings back memories of my childhood. I remember a car trip taken by the family over the Fourth of July holiday. My grandfather drove the car with six passengers. Four of those passengers were children under the age of ten. My grandfather was a very patient person.

I don't remember the type of car he drove at the time. What I do remember was packing all the food in the trunk of the car, which until we started loading it seem very large. However, as we put the boxes and things into the trunk it got smaller and smaller.

My grandfather, grandmother and mother rode in the front seat. We four kids, two girls and two boys, rode in the back seat. It isn't a good idea to put four sibling in the back seat of a car at the same time. However, my grandfather was not a man to put up with squabbling. He was also the type of person who meant it when he said he would pull off the side of the road, if we caused problems. All grandpa had to do was start to pull off to the side of the highway and we settled down.

I think I'm going to have work on this memory a little more. Maybe do a free write and see what else I remember about that trip.

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Writing: Estimating Word Count in a blog entry

I estimate my word count in a blog entry by counting the words in a single paragraph and then multiplying this by the number of paragraphs. In most cases, I write between twenty-five and fifty words per paragraph. This means that I have to write approximately four paragraphs to get a two hundred word blog entry.

I have found this is the quickest way to estimate the words in a blog entry. I use this method because it takes longer to count the words any other way. I normally make my blog entries early in the morning before going to work. This method allows me to save a little time when making the entry. Word count in a blog entry is not that big a deal and I would much rather use the time to correct spelling and other errors.

I am a little more particular when doing word counts for short stories and novels. This is because the paragraphs in my novels and short stories vary more in their length. For instance, when I write dialogue the paragraphs are much shorter then when I write description. With short stories I usually use the word count feature of the word-processing software program I am using at the time.

Each of these methods give different word counts. However, unless I think I need an exact count they work just fine. If I need an exact word count, I print a hard copy and do a manual count of the words in the document.

Writing about a new 19-day period of achievement

Kamál (Perfection), 1 ‘Izzat (Might), 165 B.E. – Monday, September 8, 2008 about 4:33 AM Pacific Time

It is time to start another nineteen-day period of achievement. I did not achieve the minimum daily word count goal set for each day of the past nineteen days. However, I did figure out one of the problems in that area. I am obsessing too much over the word count goal itself instead of focusing on what I am writing.

This is one of the dangers in having a word count goal. It does not matter how loose that goal is sometimes the goal itself becomes the focus rather then how to achieve that goal. The focus has to be on the story, poem, novel or essay that the words create. Therefore, I have changed the amount of words in the items I am creating.

During this nineteen-day period, I have placed the greatest amount of words in short stories and novels. This means, that once I make a blog or journal entry (unless something important occurs) I am finished with that entry for the day. Even if I do not make the minimum word count for that day, I do not make another entry to complete the minimum word count goal. Instead, I will just write more words when I am working on the stories or poems planned for that day.

Writing about coffee pots and other technological objects

I got to thinking about coffee pots, refrigerators, and the names we use to refer to these objects. My grandfather made coffee in an electric percolator, which he referred to as a coffee pot. I make coffee in a drip coffee maker with a glass carafe and I refere to the carafe as a coffee pot.

My grandparents had an electric refrigerator, which they referred to as an icebox. My mother still refers to the fridge as an icebox. My grandparent called the refrigerator an icebox because the that was the type of fridge they had in the early 1900s. The iceman came every weekday and Saturday morning to deliver a block of ice. The ice block was placed in the bottom of their icebox and it kept the foods from spoiling.

Because my grandparents had an icebox when my mother was small child, (my mother was born in 1921); Mom refers to the fridge as an icebox. Therefore, when writing a novel or short story, a writer has to consider the terms that the characters us for object. This makes the story and the charactors authentic to the reader.

If the story is set in the past, then the writer needs to use the terms the people of the era used for objects. If the story is set in the present, but the characters are older then the writer has to look at the words they use to refer to technological objects such as refrigerator. In conversation where these words are used, the writer needs to us words that the character would use.

The little things like this that make the story believable within the context of the story. It does not matter if the story is historical fiction or science fiction, the characters will have their own names for technological object based on their cultural background and family history.

Write about a fragrance

NOTE: This is the Daily Writing Practice Prompt for September 6, 2008, which is from the Yahoo Group Daily Writing Practice.

I read somewhere recently that the human nose can detect about 10,000 different scents. That is a lot of aromas. I have learned from experience that some scents have emotional attachments, either good or bad, to them. One fragrance that always brings back pleasant and unpleasant memories for me is a tobacco scent.

The aroma of Prince Albert always brings back memories of my grandfather. Grandpa rolled his own cigarettes from the time he was thirteen years old. I remember watching him roll a cigarette using Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco. I remember the aroma of the tobacco permeated his clothing and his bedroom. Even when he wore after shave lotion, the aroma of the tobacco he used was always there.

The tobacco he used to roll his cigarettes did not smell the same as the tobacco in the prerolled cigarettes he bought. The odors of the two were ccompletely different. Whenever I smell the aroma of smoking tobacco, I remember Grandpa. I remember watching him drive a car, make coffee, and I even remember sitting by his bed in the hospital as he lay dying. I remember the scent I always associated was still there to his last breath.

It is the last that is the unpleasant memory for me. I am not sure what he died of, I know what I suspect it was, but I cannot say for sure. I never looked at the death certificate to find out. I am not sure it matters at this point, what caused his death. What is important are the memories and the subtle fragrance that brings those memories back.

An author must look at all the fragrances in his or her life and the emotions that go with those fragrances. When a writer describes a scent in a story or a poem all the subtlies of an author's aroma memories must be included in the description to make the description real in the context of the story.

Writing before Dawn in Las Vegas

It is early and the sun is still beneath the horizon. Las Vegas never actually sleeps; it has a terminal case of insomnia. I, on the other hand, do get a little bit of sleep at regular intervals, occasionally. Last night I went to bed at 8:00 PM and got up at 1:30 AM this morning.

I lay in bed for a few minutes looking out my bedroom window into the darkness. Some people know precisely what time they get up without looking at a clock. I don't, I have to get out of bed and walk into the living room to find out the time. True, if I put the clock beside my bed, I wouldn't have to get out of bed to look at it.

The original reason for putting the clock that far away from my bedroom was to force me to get up and turn the alarm off. However, for the past nine or ten months I've been getting up before the alarm goes off. The reason for putting the alarm clock in the living room no longer exist, so I can move to clock to my bedroom.

I like getting up before the alarm goes off and before dawn illumines the sky. I like looking out the window and watching the sky change colors in the morning. The gradual change of shade of the sky indicates a change in the city. There is a difference between Las Vegas at night and Las Vegas during the day.

I like living in Las Vegas, the city with terminal insomnia because if I get the midnight munchies, I can go to a coffee shop in one of the hotels and have someone else fix and serve me my snack while I write in my journal.

Writing about Eavesdropping

Daily Writing Practice Prompt for Thursday, September 4, 2008: You eavesdrop on a conversation. What do you hear?

One of the prompt groups I belong to is Daily Writing Practice a Yahoo Group. This prompt is one of those I receive in my yahoo in box on a daily basis.

I eavesdrop on a conversation. What do I hear? I hear disembodied voices. I hear voice talking, shouting, yelling or are they arguing, I can't always tell with disembodied voices. Some emotions show through in the tone, but not all.

If I really want to be sure of the emotion and the meaning of the words, I have to be in the same room. I have to see the expression on the faces of the individual involved in the conversation. Tones of voices can be deceiving because some people are emotional by nature. If a person is emotional, then his or her tone of voice changes with the content of the conversation.

I eavesdrop on a conversation. What do I hear? I probably hear something I didn't want to hear, that is the danger of eavesdropping. Eavesdropping implies some type a barrier between the person listening and the people carrying on the conversation. What type of barrier is between the person listening the people carrying on the conversation? The type of barrier between the eavesdropper and the people talking can distort voices or meanings.

I eavesdrop on a conversation. What do I hear? I hear disembodied voices. I can't always tell if I know both people talking or not. Sometimes I my think I know both of the people by their, but accents only suggest only the part of the country or the world a person comes from. Different people share accents and I can't always tell if I know both the people talking or not.

This writer is a day behind

This writer is a day behind. I know today is Wednesday, September 3, 2008, but I keep thinking today is Tuesday. On Tuesday, I kept thinking it was Monday. Three-day weekends that end on Monday always affect me this way. All week I'm going to be a day behind.

The old say is "A day behind and a dollar short." Of course, that saying does not factor in inflation. If it factored in inflation, it would be "A day behind and two hundred dollars short." It also does not consider an individual's personal financial situation. However, this blog entry did not start out about my financial situation, which is an offline journal entry rather then a blog entry.

Anyway, I woke up this morning thinking today was Tuesday rather then Wednesday. After fully waking up, I knew it was Wednesday and trash pick up day. Fortunately, all my trashcans are already at the curb. They have been setting there waiting for today since either Saturday or Sunday when my "yardman" cleaned my backyard.

My neighbor trimmed oleanders that day as well. There are bundles of oleander limbs waiting for the trash trucks. I am going to have to worry about trash this coming Saturday because my garage is full of plastic bags waiting for me to put them in the trashcans. They will just have to wait until I get home from work and have empty trashcans.

I am glad I did not have to lug trashcans to the curb this morning because I would not have made it. I am going to set the trashcans out Friday night. It is all right to set them out the night before because they are safe from dogs or other animals turning them over by dogs or any animal. The only animals I have witnessed running free in this neighborhood are cats, people keep their dogs in the backyards or house. My time sense will return to normal before Friday.

Morning is Laundry Time

Morning is time to do laundry for the day. I can remember my grandmother doing laundry once a week; her laundry day was on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. The day of the week she did laundry depended on what the weekend plans. If the following weekend was a three-day weekend, like Labor Day, then she did laundry on Thursday. That way she had the dirty cloths washed, dried and put away before we left for "The Lake" on Friday evening.

If grandpa planned an ordinary weekend trip to "The Lake", she did laundry or as she called it "The Washing" on Friday. If there were no weekend plans then Saturday was laundry day. The interesting thing is that grandma did laundry once a week for six or seven people. There are only two people in my household and we do laundry every day.

I have written several laundry rants, so I am not going to do that this morning. This morning I am attempting to brainstorm concerning memories of my grandmother doing laundry. I am going to write about laundry day memories. I have several poems about my grandparents and I thought it would be nice to put them all in a chapbook and give copies to my brothers and sister. A chapbook of family poems and memories would make a good gift birthday or anniversary gift.

Anyway, I have several poems about grandma and grandpa, but not enough to make up a chapbook. I need to write a few more, so I thought something about laundry day. I could also ask my sibling and my mother what memories they have concerning my grandparents and include them. The good thing about being a writer is that you do not have to spend a lot of money on gifts for family when you have pleasant memories that you can put down on paper.

Happy 8th Birthday writing.com

Writing.com is celebrating its 8th birthday in September. I joined writing.com in 2002 and celebrate my writing.com birthday in October. When I first joined it was as free basic membership, after being a free member for several years then I paid for a basic membership. After having the paid basic membership for a few months, I paid for an upgraded membership. This year I paid went for the premium membership level.

I always wanted to write, but until after I joined writing.com, I did not have the confidence to pursue writing. Joining writing.com gave me the confidence to pursue writing and expand the genre I work write in. Now I write poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and novels. I am also one of the editors of the writing.com fantasy newsletter.

My writing has improved since becoming a member of writing.com. Other members review the piece I post in my port. There are contests that help improve my skills as well. I attempt to log into writing.com everyday and either make a blog entry or review the work of one of the other members. When I review someone's work, then someone reviews my work.

I like the idea of getting my work reviewed by my peers because, in most cases, the review gives suggestions on improvement. I find that not only receiving reviews contribute to improvement, but reviewing the works of other people also assists in improvement. When I review other peoples work, it show me what to look for in my own stories and poems, which need improvement.

Come and join us at writing.com. Look at the portfolios of the members. If you enjoy reading or writing then writing.com is the place for you.

Happy 8th Birthday, Writing.com!

Write on!