Category: Writing

Posted in Challenges, nonfiction, Writing

#SundayPoser #175

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Blogging has been an important part of my life since 2016. I’ve been blogging off and on, for eight years. I’ve actually had a career in writing in the fields of finance and business since 1998, but at that time, I was also a college professor of finance. Finance and business are a far cry from creative writing! I juggled the two careers, teaching and writing, until 2008 when I retired from teaching. I became a full-time writer, but I only wrote non-fiction in my field of finance.

For a while, I freelanced for a number of companies and websites. After 2008, I landed several contract jobs and writing actually started to be an encore career for me. I was still freelancing as a finance and business writer. I also wrote a bit on education.

Since I was a child, I had dreamed of writing fiction and engaging in creative writing. I had no training or experience, but I did have a wonderful mentor who helped and encouraged me. When I finally discovered blogging, I thought I could hone my limited creative writing skills by blogging. That was eight years ago.

I’ve had to take some breaks from blogging over the years when I was working a particularly hard contract job that required long hours. I’ve always come back to my WordPress blog and this wonderful group of bloggers.

Blogging and reading other people’s blogs never bores me. We have some wonderful professional writers here in our community whose work I thoroughly enjoy, along with other writers who write more for fun. Some have made a successful career from their blogging. I have a wide variety of interests so reading and writing on varied topics is suitable for me.

Blogging has also given me an emotional outlet. I’m an introvert, so talking to people is occasionally difficult. I can say everything I want to say through writing and blogging.

Thanks to #SundayPoser!

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing, Writing Challenge

Harbinger – #writephoto

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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It somehow seems unfair that, as you get older, life gets harder. Haven’t we paid our dues by now? Isn’t it time for easy street? Apparently not. I’ve just spend one of the hardest summers ever and I’m hoping it isn’t a harbinger of things to come. I don’t normally believe in omens, but the events of the past summer has filled me with fear.

The good news is that I’m enjoying improved health. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit long-lost relatives — my father’s side of the family. It was wonderful to see them. Then there is the bad news. My life was flipped upside down this summer, early on, when my husband had a huge health scare. Major, unexpected, and emergency open-heart open-chest surgery. I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified in my life and I remain frightened. He survived and has recovered quite well. I’ll never quite recover from the fear. Then, one of my best friends, a childhood friend, passed away, again quite unexpectedly. I still don’t believe he’s gone. To me, we’ll always be kids, camping out in my backyard.

On top of all this, my contract writing job ended. I knew it would, but I’m still sorry it did. I don’t quite have it in me to job hunt. At least not right now. I may wait awhile, then freelance. I don’t think I’ll take another contract position. I’m not cut out to answer to a boss at this point in my life. Operating my own freelance business is more my style now. Writing non-fiction business articles. Perhaps breaking into the B2B market. I also have other areas of interest – politics, culture, education. Maybe finishing my two books. A novel and a book of flash fiction. Those are my ventures into fiction, except for the fiction I have written and will write on this blog. I’ve made a good living writing freelance in the past.

I was reminded this morning of the harbinger I really should focus on. Three months  ago, I rescued a little dog named Clara. She’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a breed I’ve loved for years. She is seven years old and had served as a breeder dog in a kennel. I won’t go into all of her problems, but she was not well when she came to me. She had been neglected and only valued for her puppies. Clara has had a long summer of veterinary care and loving care in my home and she’s started to blossom. She’s starting to respond to us and she’s remembering she’s a dog who has the opportunity to play and be happy. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Perhaps Clara is the harbinger I’m looking for since fall has arrived and winter draws near. She represents hope for the future.

Posted in Fiction, Writing

Catch Me if You Can

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The nursing home was like new and the two ladies were old. They had come to see their sister. They were triplets and the nursing home had only been remodeled in places. When they looked down at the old brick floor, they twittered to each other that it was not only old but dirty. They thought their sister was in a nicer place. The bright young lady behind the desk directed them down a hall to the left when they gave her their sister’s name. Halls ran off the dank lobby in every direction.

Huddling together, they turned and walked down the hall. The young lady had said Pearl was near the end of the hall. They noticed the doors had no names on them and wondered how they would know which door she was behind. They paused where there were only four doors left although one door seemed to go to the outside.

One of the sisters didn’t know what to do but call out, “Pearl?”

No answer.

She called out louder, “Pearl, answer me!”

The door at the end of the hall was flung open and there was Pearl.

”Catch me if you can,” she answered the call.

 

200 words

Photo Prompt by J Hardy Carroll

 

 

Posted in Challenges, Writing

One Liner Wednesday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Sixty years ago today, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing 70,000 people. A few days before, a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, by the United States, killing around 150,000 people. The plane that dropped the bomb was the Enola Gay and the Commander was Robert Lewis.

Commander Lewis said he saw Nagasaki simply disappear. When he did, he wrote one line in his journal. That line is my contribution to One Liner Wednesday. Commander Lewis wrote:

My God, what have we done?

Posted in Challenges, Writing

Three Things Thursday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Three Things Thursday is just a fun little exercise about things we have been grateful  for during the past week. Here goes!

ONE

Going to the pier in Bokeelia, Florida for the last time until fall! I love the ocean and this pier is awesome. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to go to this pier, visit with the wonderful people there, see the fish and birds, and photograph the sunrises and sunsets.

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TWO

Learning about the tropical birds of South Florida. I won’t see these guys again until fall. This is an egret sitting on the banks of the lake behind our place.

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An Egret at the edge of the lake at our house

THREE

Getting back home to Kentucky after being gone for awhile to our island in the sun in Florida. This is a bur oak tree that used to be in our back yard.

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Posted in Blogging, Writing

Wrapping Up My Blog for 2016 and Making Changes for 2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Hello everyone! This week, I am dedicating my work on my blog to wrapping it up for 2016 and getting things going for 2017 with some changes.

Watch this space to see what I’m going to do with the blog to wrap it up for the year and get it ready for 2017.

I also need input from you, my readers. I want you to know that I have appreciated your support so much since I started this blog in April 2016. I can’t believe it hasn’t even been one year! It has been wonderful to write for you and to read your comments and have your support. I’ve also so enjoyed reading your blogs! For my readers and followers who don’t have blogs, I value you as well and would love feedback from you. What do you like? What don’t you like? What would you like for me to do differently?

If you have ideas for me, I would love to hear them. Ideas about how to structure the blog. Ideas about subjects I should tackle. Do you like fiction or non-fiction? Any idea at all. I would like to hear them all and I will be responsive to your needs since you are my readers and followers!

Please use the comment section to give me your ideas. If you prefer to give me your ideas privately, just use the Contact Form and no one will see it but me.

I look forward to reading your ideas. Thank you for your support in 2016 and I am excited when I think about blogging in 2017! #amblogging

Rosemary

Posted in Travel, Writing

#weekendcoffeeshare 12/24/2016

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Good morning, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah, to all of you! Please come right in and join me for our Christmas Eve special #weekendcoffeeshare. I have several types of coffee for you. I have just about every type of tea as I am a tea aficionado. Blackberry and other herbals. Russian and other bold teas. Lighter green teas. Even white tea which is a treat to try. My favorite Hot Cinnamon Black Tea. I also have, as a holiday treat, scones and muffins. So load up your plates and let’s talk!

The Holiday Season is here. It isn’t especially my time of year but so many people love it. I’ve been around some friends this year who really get into Christmas and it’s almost been a new experience. I haven’t celebrated Christmas in a big way in a lot of years. Watching my friends prepare for their holiday has been amazing and overwhelming. I don’t see how they do it! Those days are gone for me but I have enjoyed watching them.

Since we’re all writers, I want to report on some writer stuff. I got my Brother laser printer hooked up this week. It is WiFi-enabled and it was terribly easy to hook up. It is handling two different computer with ease – an iPad and a Windows laptop. I’m impressed. I’d forgotten how easy a laser printer is since I have used an inkjet for many years. Here’s the good part. This laser printer was no more expensive than an inkjet. I can remember when they cost $700. Check out Amazon if you need a printer. You will be pleasantly surprised.

I probably would not have thought of a laser printer had it not been for another writer who recommended it. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Chuck Wendig. He is a well-known horror writer in the U.K. and increasingly in the U.S. I love his website and reading his writings. He is amazingly talented and gives great tips to other writers. He also hosts the occasional challenge which are indeed challenging. I would recommend signing up to receive his blog. One caveat: It is at least R-rated so if bad language offends you, don’t do it. Trust me, the information you will gain as a writer is more than worth it. His site is terribleminds.com. You don’t have to write in his genre to take advantage of the information he passes on.

Speaking of gear for writers, my new keyboard for my iPad arrives today. I will report next time on it. Take a look. You can find it at querky.com.

So that takes care of Christmas presents for writers!

I’ve had a productive writing week and hope all of you have too. I am making good progress on my novel which has morphed from a romance novel into a psychological thriller. If that sounds weird to you, believe me, it was weird to me too. Now that I have let the story flow naturally and become what it was meant to be, the writing is easy. I have some free time over the next couple of weeks and I am shooting for maybe 20,000 more words.

I’m taking a trip! Soon, my husband and I are taking our RV and going to Florida to escape Kentucky’s cold weather. I’m just about over having four seasons and am ready for one season – a warm one! We’re spending several weeks there and I was lucky enough to find a house sitter. We will be in my favorite area of Florida most of the time, the Gulf Coast along the peninsula but will spend a week or more along the panhandle as well. I hope to get lots of good pictures and have many experiences that I will share with all of you.

I will blog the entire time I’m gone and I also have a consulting project I will probablly have to work on. But only for a few hours each day.

That wraps it up for this Christmas Eve edition of #weekendcoffeeshare for me. I would love to hear your plans for the holidays! Leave a note for me and tell us about them in the comments! Next time we talk, it will be New Year’s Eve, the dawn of 2017. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #Christmas #Florida

Thanks to Diana and Parttimemonsterblog.com

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized, Writing

#SoCS – Dec 24/16

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Good morning to everyone! I only have one thing of importance on my mind today. I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone out there celebrating the holidays. In the United States, it has been such a disturbing year from a political standpoint. Since starting to blog on WordPress this year, I’ve met so many wonderful people of all political and religious persuasions. When we interact, their politics or religion never occurs to me.

I hope that, in 2017, we can all come together – Christians, Jews, Muslims – and every other religion and every political persuasion – and show our governments who seem to be trying to tear us apart, that WE are, indeed, the world. That despite the differences in how we worship or who we elect to lead us, WE are the world. The people and not the small groups of governmental officials. Those officials don’t represent us all and, in some cases, represent very few of us.

When we interact one on one, politics and religion don’t matter. We’re all just people, trying to survive, take care of our families, somehow make our way toward self-actualization. We can get along with our neighbors who may worship differently or have a different view of political governing, but WE, the people, are the world. WE are important, not the little groups at the top who try to cook up something between us. No matter what country we live in.

I’ve met a lot of people this year from all around the world. I want my blogger friends on WordPress to know that knowing them and reading their work has enriched my life. I have new friends on Facebook because of my writing who are also writers and I feel the same about you. I’ve come to like Twitter as there are people there who will help a budding writer and I’ve certainly made new friends there and I want to thank them. It hasn’t mattered one bit about their politics or religion and they haven’t let it matter about mine. I respect all these people immensely. I want to thank all of you for your friendship and help this year.

My old friends. What can I say? The year has been hard for me and to those of you who have shared those hard times with me, I will never be able to repay you and you have my gratitude. My old friends are more than special to me and I hope you will always be in my life.

To all of you, have a blessed holiday. WE are the people and WE are the world. Don’t let anyone take that away from US. #religion #politics #Christmas #Hanukkah #amwriting #amblogging #writing #WordPress

Post in response to Stream of Consciousness Dec 24/16

Thanks, Linda!

Posted in Politics, Writing

Protecting Ourselves in Today’s Uncertain World

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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In writing posts for Elizabeth’s Creativity Challenges (number 29), I’ve focused mostly on factual information. When you are writing about the word “protect,” as I am for this post, I would normally focus on the factual information on what we as a nation could do to protect ourselves from the uncertainly and distress in the world. I could also focus on what we as individuals could focus on to protect ourselves. I find myself in a different place as a writer than I’ve ever been and I think, at least according to some of us, we find ourselves in a different place as a nation.

I have to pose a question. How do we protect ourselves from our ultimate protector? Not just the protector of the United States but the protector and the most powerful man in the free world? No one more than me hopes that myself and my contemporaries turn out to be wrong about President-elect Donald Trump. I hope that he is our protector and our leader as he is going to swear to be on January 20, 2017.

I don’t believe we are wrong. At best, I don’t believe Mr. Trump knows what he is getting into. I don’t believe he has enough political or diplomatic knowledge of the workings of the world to understand what it means to be President of the United States. He sees it as a power grab. A power grab from “the other side” however he defines the other side. Since he is now a Republican, I assume he defines the other side as Democrats. He, himself, was a registered Democrat not long ago. Men who become leaders because they seek power and without the understanding of the ramifications of that power are dangerous when they command armies.

At worst, Mr. Trump does know what he is getting into and is doing things like waging Twitter wars, appointing inappropriate people to his Cabinet that have conflicts of interest, focusing on issues that are irrelevant like his feud with the New York Times, because he considers these things more important than, for example, taking his foreign policy briefings every day. This begs the question of why the President-elect does not want to know what’s going on in the world? Is he really that arrogant? Or is there a darker reason?

Another issue. Mr. Trump alienates the media on purpose. Why? He doesn’t want to be held accountable by the media. The media is an unofficial source of checks and balances. Perhaps more or less corrupt than our three branches of government. Even though we are skeptical of Congress, there are some good people there that are honest and who would try to help.

Is the protection between us, as citizens of the U.S. or the free world, suddenly just gone? What a horrifying thought and there is nothing we can do as individuals to protect ourselves on a global scale from that.

Can we protect ourselves on a personal level? That is a good question. We don’t know how Donald Trump is going to govern yet and we won’t know for sure until after January 20, 2017. We can’t plan for what we don’t know. What we can do is protect our state of mind. We can try to stay positive at least about ourselves. We can’t spend 24/7 thinking about the state of the world or we will be useless and unable to help ourselves or anyone else. We have to get on with life. Work, socialize with like-minded people, see friends and family. Don’t spend too much time living inside your own head. Instead of just getting your news from sound bites on cable news, buy a newspaper. Read that newspaper. Form your own opinions. Keep yourself physically healthy. You will feel better if you eat the right food. Drink water. Get exercise to relieve stress.

My opinion? We may need our strength. Individually and collectively. Just as important. We don’t know yet. #amwriting #amblogging #writing

 

The Challenge here is to use your creative talent to bring light into the current distress in the world around you, in whatever form that talent takes. The word today is “protect.”

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Essays, Writing

O Holy Night – A Personal Note

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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I just heard my favorite Christmas song, O Holy Night. It makes me think about the true meaning of Christmas, minus all the commercialization. It also makes me think about my dad. That’s why I marked this blog post as a personal note. It’s very personal. All the beautiful, spiritual Christmas songs remind me of my dad. He was a beautiful, spiritual person who loved Christmas and made me love Christmas.

So why am I writing this blog post? My family and friends wonder why I can’t enjoy Christmas anymore. Maybe this personal note will help them understand. I haven’t been able to enjoy Christmas since my dad died many decades ago. I’m sure many think I should be able to get past that by now and get back to enjoying Christmas. How I wish that were true. You see, my dad was Christmas to me. He taught me the Christmas story, much more than Sunday School or church ever did. He got up with me in the middle of the night to admire the tree he decorated with me. We looked for the star in the sky together. He always smiled and was jolly with me. He taught me to smile and laugh and have fun and, of course, enjoy Christmas.

Then, he died. At Christmas. He was younger than I am now when he passed away. He knew he was going to die even though he had only been ill for six weeks. He had been in the hospital for a few days and when we got back to the family home after he passed away, he had left presents for all of us. They weren’t there when we took him to the hospital only a few days before. Don’t ask me to explain that. We buried him on Christmas Eve when it was 19 degrees below zero and the snow was one and one half foot deep. I’ll never forget when they played Taps, as he was a veteran, and the men who were freezing and who were his friends and were determined to serve as pallbearers anyway.

His brother, my Uncle Billy, was here for the funeral. He came from Detroit and, given the weather, it was not an easy trip. He came for me. He stayed in a local motel and he took me back there after the funeral and got me drunk. He knew what I needed. To get drunk and cry. I wish it had been a permanent solution.

For a few Christmas’s after that, I tried. I really did. My mother was still alive and I tried for her, but I realized that she was not a “Christmas person” and it was not necessary. I quit trying and haven’t since. Every year, I tell myself I’m going to try. I never do.

I acknowledge Christmas in my own way but always very privately. I listen to the spiritual Christmas songs like O Holy Night and I always play piano at Christmas but only those songs. I take a wreath to the cemetery. I celebrate the birth of Christ. I also celebrate and grieve the death of my dad. He was a man who lived life to the fullest. I’m very much like him and have often been criticized for that, probably because I’m female. But, that was another lesson my dad taught me. Not to care what others thought and said and to live my life to the fullest.

Another legacy my dad left that not many people know about is that he was a writer. He didn’t try to make his living as a writer as he had his family to support and that would have been almost impossible then. I have some of his writings that I cherish. I also cherish that he gave me his gift, at least a part of it. He was better than me.

In four more days, my dad will have been gone 33 years. It feels like yesterday, just like it does every Christmas. I will go to the cemetery, play my songs, and remember how he used to sing Ava Maria in an operatic voice. I will hope that Christmas is over soon.

#amblogging #amwriting #writing #Christmas