Author: R.M. Carlson

Freelance writer, blogger, aspiring novelist. Former career as a college prof in finance. Encore career as freelance writer for a number of financial websites.
Posted in Challenges

Border Crossing

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Jerry, how much traffic backup is there now? Can you see the statistics?” Rhonda asked..

“You don’t want to know. Hundreds of vehicles. Mostly oil trucks. Some are stuck to the road. The snow is starting to falling.”

Jerry and Rhonda were agents working at the Portal, North Dakota border crossing site. Portal is one of only three 24 hour, seven-day per week border crossings from the U.S. into Canada. It was December. Trade between the U.S. and Canada didn’t wait on the weather.

There was suddenly a break in the action. A big oil rig was stuck in the ice on the road. Some of the workers were trying to help. Jerry jumped up and went to the back room of the checkpoint. Rhonda watched the truck for a moment and then followed him.

Jerry grabbed her and said, “At least it gives me a moment alone with you.”

Posted in Challenges

The Estate

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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She sat down at the end of the counter in her favorite diner. She knew she had to eat while someone else was with her very sick mother. Ruby, the waitress, came and took her order.

Her cousin, Mac, suddenly walked into the diner and sat down beside her.

“Ally, we have to talk about her estate,” he said. “She wanted the cousins to share in the estate.”

“What do you want me to do, Mac? There is no will.”

“Make a fair distribution, Ally.”

“If she wanted you to have anything, she would have made a will,” Ally said.

Posted in Challenges

The Coyote

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

It stared at me, its eyes never leaving mine. I slowly pulled the pistol out of the waistband of my jeans and raised my arm, aiming it. It never flinched. My left hand held my dog’s leash. My dog was what it wanted. That wasn’t going to happen. A standoff had ensued.

Posted in Challenges

One Liner Wednesday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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This is one line from the novel I’m currently working on, a psychological thriller:

“Even though she was there with him and he held her lovingly, he didn’t think about her because sociopaths don’t do that kind of thing.”

Posted in Uncategorized

Blogging and Appropriateness

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Do you ever have a qualm about a blog post you want to make? Is there ever anything you really want to write but you are unsure if it is appropriate for your audience here or if it will possibly be offensive to some or most of them? That certainly happens to me.

If I write about subjects considered controversial – politics, erotica – to name just two, it always worries me about offending people. It even worries me about whether this is the appropriate forum. These days, I write mostly fiction, but I do throw in some non-fiction essays. I’m interested in a wide range of topics. I could offend any number of people.

Then again, this is my blog. People can read it or not. Within reason, I should be able to write what I want. Isn’t this all about creativity? However, if I am writing for a particular challenge and the administrator of the challenge asks that the stories be, for example, PG rated or below, I should respect that or not write for that challenge.

Having a qualm about particular blog posts happens to me often. Am I being too sensitive or is this a legitimate concern. What say you?

Posted in Non-fiction

Trump: What Are We Waiting On?

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Donald Trump. At this point, I cannot bring myself to say President Donald Trump. Does a President of the United States, the leader of the free world, give away classified secrets to our adversary, the Russians, because he needs to brag to make himself feel good? That’s what happened a few days ago when he met, in private, with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador. It makes the job of any of our enemies so much easier. Our President has put us at risk. What does this mean for our intelligence community?

The intelligence community keeps us alive. Donald Trump has just put that in jeopardy. Do you think that the intelligence community is going to keep sharing information with the U.S.? The answer is no. They are not. We are now in more jeoprady than before our President opened his big mouth because of his bigger inferiority complex. To make this all worse, Donald Trump basically admitted what he did in a tweet.

This, in my opinion, is the worst thing Trump has done. There are other things.

Trump fired the Director of the FBI, James Comey. Comey was leading the investigation into the Russian connection to Trump’s campaign. Trump fired the man who was investigating him. Shades of Richard Nixon and Archibald Cox. Trump could be impeached just for firing the Director of the FBI. Then, he threatens the Director with the existence of tapes if Comey talks about their conversations. The President of the United States threatening someone like a common thug?

Then there is the evidence that Trump is using the Presidency for profit. When the President of China visited, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, was seated beside him. She ended up with Chinese trademarks for her clothing line.

I have mentioned just a handful of inappropriate actions Trump has taken since his inauguration. Perhaps passing classified information to the Russians is the most dangerous and certainly the worst, but not the only egregious action he has taken.

My question is what is Congress waiting on? This man needs to be removed from office. It may already be too late now that he has passed classified secrets to the Russians. He has now put us all in danger. It is time to act. Impeachment is not enough. We are in uncharted territory. In my opinion, he is mentally incompetent and needs to be physically escorted from the White House. I don’t know who would take his place. Mike Pence, Vice-President, does not seem to be the right choice as he has been complicit with many of Trump’s actions.

What are we waiting on? Destruction of our democracy and our country, not to mention danger and our way of life?

Posted in Flash Fiction

Frosted

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Ruby didn’t understand why things kept disappearing. Her hairbrush. The book she was reading. She hadn’t found either of them. It was only she and Ralph in the house. He wouldn’t take those things. What need would Ralph, her husband have for them? He was as puzzled as she was.

Today, her Christmas cactus was missing. Ruby felt like she was losing her mind. Could it be dementia? She even looked around outdoors and there it was. Covered with frost. She snatched it up, taking it inside. She knew something was very wrong.

As she went inside, she heard Ralph on the phone and stopped when she heard the words “nursing home.” She realized he was talking to his brother about her. They were planning on putting her in a nursing home and Ralph had been setting her up.

She would show him.

Posted in Uncategorized

Mother’s Day: Founded in Appalachia

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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*This post was first published on Mother’s Day, 2016. I thought I would post it again.

Mother’s Day, an important holiday to many of us, originated in Appalachia. It was founded in 1858 by Ann Jarvis. The founding of Mother’s Day was in response to the need for sanitation for new mothers since the infant mortality rate at that time was so high. Infection spread easily through mining camps and the small communities. Diseases that were prevalent were small pox, tuberculosis, whooping cough, measles, typhoid, and diptheria, to name a few.

After the Civil War in 1865, a woman named Julia Ward Howe who was both an author and an activist, wrote the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic and her husband was responsible for trying to clean up the unsanitary conditions that existed during and after the Civil War in the army camps. More men died in the camps from unsanitary conditions than were killed in the war. Howe wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation which urged all mother’s to leave their homes for one day in June and work for peace in their communities. There existed two versions of Mother’s Day.

In May 1908, Anna Jarvis, the daughter of Anne Jarvis who established the initial version of Mother’s Day, worked tirelessly to see her mother’s vision fulfilled. She enlisted the help of others to get an official day established honoring mothers. In 1912, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother’s Day. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation declaring the second Sunday in May a national holiday — Mother’s Day. Its symbol became the carnation.

By the 1940s, Anna had soured on Mother’s Day as it was celebrated in modern society, particularly its commercialization. She passed away without ever becoming a mother.

Mother’s Day lives on and we celebrate our mother’s, or their memory, every year…..all thanks to a woman from Appalachia. #mothers day #appalachia

Posted in Daily Prompt, Finance

Hospitality in the Retail Sector

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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I went to a new day spa last week. I really enjoyed my experience there. Part of the reason that I did was their hospitality. Of course, that is supposed to be part of the experience at a day spa. You pay for a period of hospitality and pampering, although some are better than others. I have visited other day spas that were also very hospitable and some that were not. I doubt the ones that were not stayed in business very long since hospitality is part of the business model for day spas.

During and after my visit there, I started thinking about business today and how inhospitable most retail business is to customers. I don’t shop much in brick and mortar stores, preferring to do most of my shopping online. But when I do shop in the brick and mortar stores, it always strikes me how retail stores could do so much better from a profit perspective if they were only hospitable to their customers.

The sales staff in large retail stores certainly never make a move to help the people shopping in their stores. That attitude trickles down to even the smaller, boutique retail shops. Although the smaller shops occasionally help their customers, particularly if asked, I would not call them hospitable. In most stores today, sales staff seems almost non-existent and the staff that does exist seem to prefer to stand around talking to each other instead of helping customers. I’ve even had sales staff tell me that the product I’m looking for is available online but not in their stores, so I would be better served by shopping in their online store.

When I hear that vocalized, I always wonder why there is even a brick and mortar store there? If they don’t have their own products nor the sale staff that wants to sell them, why don’t they move to 100% online? They would save so much money.

I call the current attitude of many retail stores the “Wal-mart Mentality.” Anyone who has read much of what I write knows my issues with Wal-mart. Wal-mart may have provided a low-cost way to shop but trying to find assistance if you are shopping there is impossible. There are not hospitable. It seems that, since Wal-mart came to communities, other retail outlets have adopted their business model of not helping or caring about their customers.

I’m left wondering how much more profit retail businesses would make if they would be more hospitable and helpful to their customers. If they trained their sales staff in courtesy and hospitality, I would guess they would see their profit margins rise.

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare 5/13/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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It has been a long time since I have hosted a #weekendcoffeeshare and I am so happy to see all of you walking up my driveway this morning! Please come right in. I’ve been excited all week, knowing that I could see my blogging friends today and Jenn and I could serve you some goodies. I can’t wait for us to be able to talk!

Please come to the kitchen island and help yourselves. We have various blends of coffee beginning with Columbian, both regular and decaf. We also have tea, both green and black, and my special favorite, a black flavored tea called Hot Cinnamon that I think is delicious. Help yourselves to some of the pastries. I love the scones we have. We even have a few donuts. The Boston Creme are especially good though I shouldn’t be eating them! Try the cinnamon buns!

When you’re ready, please join us in my writing studio.

Make yourselves comfortable. I’m so glad to see you. I hope everyone has been well and that the writing muse has been with you. I’ve been reading your stuff in our little writing challenges and everyone is so good it blows my mind! I hardly know how to comment.

Up until this week, I haven’t written as much in the writing challenges as I normally do for the last few months. You might have read that I have been busy relocating to South Florida, but only part time. We aren’t staying there in the summer. Really from the end of March until the first of November or thereabouts. It’s just too hot and there is a terrible mosquito problem where we live. One day when we were there, moving into our place, in April, I stepped outside and a helicopter made a pass over our place and dumped mosquito spray on my head! They are fighting what I fear is a losing battle against the zika mosquito and really all mosquitos.

I so love where our tiny little place is in South Florida. We’re on an island in the Gulf and it’s an awesome place with great people. I so look forward to being there in the winter though lack of space where we live makes me feel claustrophobic. It’s a good thing I can be outside most of the time!

The last time we talked, I think I told you about my book. It’s a psychological thriller. I have written about one-third of it. Part of that one-third is part one of the novel. I’m writing it using the three-part model. I had someone read Part 1 and got positive reviews so I am happy about that. I’m into part two and still enjoying writing.

We are now back in Kentucky and I have a good writing atmosphere where we live. We don’t have any plans this summer except to be at home, so I’m actually going to have time to write. I hope to finish the first draft and edit it this summer. Then, go through it and finish the second draft before we leave for Florida very late in the fall. In a few weeks, I’ll be trying to find an agent. If you have an tips for me on finding an agent, I’d love to hear them!

After being in Florida, where there is a terrible drought, Kentucky looks like a jungle. It is so green and lush. There has been a lot of rain. But everything is foliage because of the rain and there hasn’t been much foliage by the flowering plants. The weather report looks like this week will be summer and I’m looking forward to being out in the sun.

I’ve talked too long. I’ll let all of you chat now. Good luck with your writing and I hope to see you next week for another #weekendcoffeeshare!