This day! Yikes! It started with a sad situation for my son.
Our internet has been so sketchy today.
I attempted to do my first Podcast. I did the recording on Zoom. I thought I was capturing the set-up of my yWriter project for this November. What I got is a recording of my glasses and my voice yammering on and on. Then I could go no further because of a bad internet connection.
So to soothe my soul, I pulled out the hat I was knitting. It was supposed to be a fast one as I was e-wrapping. But 5 inches in, I found it was too large. So I had to frog-it, rippit. Now it is only an inch long and that’s part of the fold up brim.
Tomorrow is another day. I’m hoping for insight. Anyone know how to share screen on Zoom on the laptop?
On the plus side one of my NaNoWriMo project is ready for wordage!
With NaNoWriMo coming up fast, I’ve decided to forgo the rest of #Inktober. The story the first ones of the month prompted will be rewritten possibly as the main NaNo 50K or as part of a threesome I need to finish from before. I will use the prompts in the story and make drawings or sketches.
There is only one week to prepare for the three projects.
What made me decide this? I haven’t played my recorders for days. Having too much to do only makes me feel guilt. Guilt makes me unproductive. So I need to figure out my time better to keep it free and fun.
I got more of the story written to go with #inktober, but I haven’t finished the pictures. If I get the time I’ll start adding the pictures. Just a bit of a review Crystal was leading the pickle flavored guard, William, and her new friend Cindy to her trailer.
Crystal led the trio to her trailer. It was a cozy RV. “William, take these and hit the shower.” Crystal tossed him a towel and a sweatsuit “It’s a little too big for me so it’ll probably fit you. At least until your uniform is clean and dry. Toss them out before you shower and I’ll wash the clothes.”
After his shower, William sat in his temporary sweat clothes beneath the clock. The ticking was louder than the rain on the roof.
Cindy started laughing.
“What?” William asked as he finger combed his mop on top. “There wasn’t a good gel to contain this mess!”
Even with the dryer balls bouncing in rotation the tick tock grew louder.
“Hey!” Cindy jumped up and pointed to a stream of water leaking from the ceiling.
Crystal grabbed a pot to capture the flow. It filled quickly. “Oh, boy! That’s a big one!” Crystal was getting stressed. William saw the crystals in her eyes. He knew what that meant. He looked around and noticed the football helmet. He looked under the sink and found the stuff for stopping leaks. He donned the helmet. “It’ll keep my hair out of my eyes”
William went straight out into the rain and climbed up the ladder on the back of the RV. He found the hole on the roof and plugged it.
Back inside soaking wet again, William looked at Crystal. “I don’t suppose you have another sweatsuit?”
“No, but there’s a robe hanging in the bathroom.”
They tossed the sweats in the dryer.
William felt silly in the satiny robe but it was far better than another hallucinating session.
Everyone sat near the fireplace. It wasn’t real. But it did warm them physically and calm their souls like a real fireplace.
“How did you come by your name, Crystal?” Cindy asked.
There that’s the story so far now I have to get busy on the drawings and continue the story later hope you enjoyed it.
Well, the story has taken some weird turns today. Wish I knew where it is going. Without further ado here’s today’s installment.
As Crystal stood in the fresh air behind the theater, she felt it happen. She knew what to expect. Time to choose. “I pick you.” She pointed to the fan who had assisted her in getting out.
The fan knew it meant she should protect Crystal at all cost. She stood proudly. There was no greater honor.
Finally, the pressure gave way in an explosion of sorts. The crowd of people surrounding them were instantly transformed into animals. Some the fan recognized, some were beings no one had ever seen before.
Crystal became small, a tiny lizard. The fan scooped up Crystal and held her carefully in her hands.
The animals wandered away. Most were hungry so they headed for the nearby woods.
Now isolated Crystal began to grow. Soon her protector couldn’t contain her. The fan wrapped her ward in her sweatshirt . Soon even that wasn’t enough. “Crystal what can I do?”
The lizard grew large enough to hold the fan on her back. Then she ran toward the candy-striped guard shack. Maybe her friend the watchman could help them.
Crystal nearly dropped her fan as the scene that awaited them was a pool of blood with a pick axe leaning against the shack wall. Where was her friend?
The fan pointed toward another building where the bloody footprints led.
“We need to find a safe place for you. Let’s try the warehouse over there until we feel safe.”
Crystal was now nearly as large as the guard shack. The warehouse would be best.
Though the door was locked, Crystal used her front legs as arms and broke the lock. They went in and found a corner to rest in.
~~~
Now for the #Inktober2021 ink.
Some scary stuff but at least a hero is safe for the moment.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โlid.โย Use it in the literal sense, use it in the metaphorical sense, use it any way youโd like. Have fun!
I decided to combine #SOCS’s ‘lid’ with #Intober2021 where the prompt of the day is ‘pressure’.
Here’s the story’s continuation:
Trying to keep the lid on seemed to increase the pressure. The watchman clicked on his watch and scrolled to Crystal’s name and hit send. When her face came on the screen it was full of understanding. Her crystals were growing nearly taking over her irises. It made her look blind, but he knew it was the opposite. He warned her to get out while she could.
Crystal looked around at her fans. She felt the one who had whispered before, tugging at her arm. She whispered again, “Let’s get out of here, this way!”
Crystal let herself be pulled while bowing and thanking the enclosing crowd.
~~~
Shoot! Another cliffhanger! What is going to happen? I wish I knew! Anyway, here’s the #Intober2021 ink.
First of all, I like drawing with a pencil. I’m not doing well with the finality of ink when I am not at all versed in how. So sorry, not sorry. Besides, this is to encourage my writing. Having multiple words yesterday in trying to catch up was easier to pull out the story. But this is going more slowly. First the pic and then the bit I’ve written.
Maybe I should use markers to color in. I can’t seem to leave the sketch in black and white. And that bit at the upper left is the watch on the guard’s arm, not a pill bottle. Okay, the story installment:
The watchman looked at his watch. Panic set in his bones. He noticed the crowd closing in on Crystal.
How was he to rescue her while obeying her command to let her enjoy her fans? But midnight approaches, and he now what that means!
My friend was telling me how much fun she was having with Inktober. She is not only inking illustrations but also inking a journal or story to go with the picture prompt. That sounded like fun so I’m joining seven days late.
Here’s my days 1-7 #Inktober2021 submission and then the story that goes with it. Since I wrote the story long handed I felt it too personal to take a picture of my handwriting.
Arriving proudly at the ball, Crystal, dressed in a formfitting suit, grabbed the mic. “I refuse to be a vessel for another man!” She loosened the knot at her neck, as she continued, “No wonder guys are so cross! Ties are the worst thing since high heels!” At which point she kicked those glass slippers off the stage.
The belt was next, then Crystal squirmed out of the skin-tight pants. Her jacket was long enough to cover the goods or the raven-black panties covering said goods.
The crowd was cheering her on. This wasn’t on the itinerary but none would object. Still, the spirit wasn’t in her to continue. She bowed to wild applause and then descended into the audience.
In my #Inktober sketch above I made a close of Crystal’s eye a sneak peak, I think, is that she was born with a crystal in her eye and since then has developed several each gives her powers. The list of prompts is on the Inktober 2021 website. I’m hoping the writing part will spark something for NaNoWriMo some people call October Preptober. That last link was a Google search and there are so many there to help a person get ready I think I’ll keep it open and wade through them all later.
How many want to join me in either Inktober or NaNoPrep?
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โpin.โ Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way youโd like. Have fun!
Pinterest is a history lesson of my passion over the last few years. Ah, but then so is this blog.
Writing starts and continues as the place I put a lot of energy. But I used to sew. I found the race of pulling the pins before the needle hit them too stressful. Not to mention the ripping what I sewed. Ugh! And sitting in the position of leaning over the machine hurt my back. Sewing fell as a passion.
Crochet became my next passion. I could make hats for charities and spend time creating. But my hands didn’t like the constant positioning.
Then I learned to loom knit. Even ripping, frogging, or tinking projects was fun. More yarn, more chances to improve.
I tried to dry felt but found the constant hand movement hurt so another craft bit the dust.
Now I’m having fun playing my recorders. It hurts my hands sometimes but it seems, if I’m inconsistent (skipping a day here and there) that my hands get more proficient and hurt less. It doesn’t carry with it the fulfillment the loom knitting does. I’m not helping anyone else. But maybe that’ll be something to come?
Drawing has the same feeling. I can get lost, as lost as when writing, in a project. True, I don’t feel the giving feeling there like I do with the knitting but I don’t feel wasteful of my time and energy. I wonder what that is? Should I see how I can expand somehow into something more charitable?
Music is coming alive in me again. What can I do with it? Is it okay to just enjoy the journey? Does it, too need me to pin it to the social magazine (how I think of Pinterest)? I really want to pinpoint my passions to understand how best to approach the ‘work’s of the fun.
And now with health improving, I wonder where that will lead. Hiking, camping? Let’s just put a pin in that.
Do any of you have a Wattpad account? I have had my first book, Haven, up for critique there. It can also be found here on this site. That is only the first four chapters. The whole novel is on Wattpad. I would love to get constructive feedback.
Anyway, the reason for this post isn’t to plug said novel but to tell about my day. You see, Wattpad and NaNoWriMo had an editing tutorial. It was called Edit Smart, Not Perfect: How to Polish Your BestWork Yet. I don’t know if this link will work, but I got to watch the Zoom here.
It was quite informative, and I hope they will put it on YouTube, so it is more accessible for all. If any of you find it at another site, let me know, and I’ll fix what I put here.
Anyway, that is how I started my morning. About the time that was over, I got to Zoom with my friends for our usual Friday meeting.
After a fun long chat, I decided to go watch the DuoCon. If you have Duolingo, you might be interested in watching this:
So I am even more motivated to edit my novels and keep going on my multiple languages. I have so many things I am into right now that I am trying to figure how to fit everything in a day or week. Life is exciting and quite the adventure!
A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novelโฆanything you like. Or take the challenge below โ there are no prizes โ itโs not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.
Word Prompt
Thwart
Challenge
The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose. You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you. The only rules are these:
your poem / prose must contain this weekโs word (see note below). The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total โ it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out โ you can be as creative as you want as long as itโs there somewhere.
the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this weekโs challenge. No more. No less.
A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc). If you find you are struggling to use this weekโs word you may substitute it for a synonym โ just include a note to explain the swap. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!
Canโt wait to read what you have come up with!
* Whispers and Echoes โ is an online journal of short writing โ read it here *
Thwart is a strange word, isnโt it? I doubt I have ever used it in my writing or about my writing. It always sounds like a wicked bad guy is hurting the good guy. I picture a sword and shield coming out as folks are finally reaching their happy place.
And yet, in board games, that word is tossed like thereโs no tomorrow!
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
Books, games, music, and life โ filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
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