Tag: #weeklychallenge

Posted in weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare 07/01/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Fourth of July weekend if you are in the U.S. If you’re not, welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare on this first weekend of July! Grab some coffee or tea and whatever pastry looks good to you this morning and join me in my writing room. I’m looking forward to visiting with all of you this morning.

Thanks so much for joining me for the #weekendcoffeeshare today. I wasn’t able to be with you last weekend. It’s been a busy time at my house, some of it good, some not so good, but life got out of control last weekend. If we were having coffee, I would tell you that the main reason for that was my little dog. Betsy has always been so healthy – I thought. Seems I was wrong. Her breed is plagued with genetic health issues. I had hoped she had escaped, but it was not to be. She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and has developed a condition called Syringomyelia, a condition of the spinal column. I won’t go into it anymore than that except to say it is always fatal. We can give her a normal life for a while by managing her symptoms but only for awhile. She is only four years old. So a difficult week became a difficult weekend.

How is your writing coming along? When something upsetting happens to me, my creativity takes a nosedive! I’ve written a little this week, mostly for this blog. But, my novel is sitting, simmering, on the back burner. I have so many ideas in my head for it and so much of it mapped out. I hope to get back to it this coming week.

I do have some other things to do this coming week. My BFF is having surgery on July 10 and I am traveling to be with her. I’ll be getting ready to travel this coming week. I’m anxious to see her and help her as she goes for her surgery and starts the recovery process. She has been sick for one year as the doctors could not really figure out what was wrong. It is an unusual condition. Hopefully, not too serious from a surgical standpoint. We live a little over 200 miles apart. I’ll be able to write a short #weekendcoffeeshare next Saturday and then I’ll leave for a few days.

I don’t know how many of you share my problem, but let me just say that sleep is so very important. I am a long time insomniac. My insomnia has been particularly bad recently. I actually got a decent night’s sleep last night and feel so much better today. I can feel those creative writing juices kicking in again!

If we were having coffee, I would tell each of you to have a good upcoming week and I hope you write well!

Posted in Challenges

Toast

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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She didn’t want their relationship to end like this. But she’d discovered what he planned to do. She would do it first. He’d never know it was coming. She couldn’t believe it after everything, that he wanted it to end this way. He’d get what he wanted. Her way. He was toast.

52Words

 

Posted in Challenges

One-Liner Wednesday 06/28/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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A line from my upcoming novel:

Kate said, “Abby, you don’t know Miles anymore and he could have changed, maybe not in a good way.”

 

1Liner-Wed

Posted in Challenges

The Knock at the Door

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Dad, can we go to the Children’s Park today?” Jeremy asked.

Greg had been promising his son, Jeremy, that they could go to the Children’s Park in  the Town Square during the weekend for a while now.

“Get your stuff together. Let’s go, son,” Greg said.

When Greg and Jeremy got to the Children’s Park, Jeremy cried, “Look, Dad, something new!” He ran toward a number of large, wooden statues that had been placed in a central location in the park. There were even statues of green Martian men. Jeremy played while Greg purchased a replica of a statue for him.

A tired Jeremy and Greg arrived home in the late afternoon. Jeremy put his statue in his room. Right before he went to bed, there was a loud knock at the door. Greg answered. It was the large green Martian statue.

In a loud voice, the statue said, “Where is my child?”

Jeremy ran to his room, grabbed the small statue, and threw it at him!

Posted in Challenges

The Adventure Tour

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“So this was what an adventure tour was like,” Michael thought, as he and Sasha disembarked the small vessel onto Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific.

Pitcairn is one of four volcanic island, still under British control. Population 54. They trudged up the path to their new digs, lodging with a local family. Most families were descendents of the mutineers of the past.

Their family spoke some English. The young girl followed him everywhere he went, aggravating Sasha. Pitcairn was not heavily visited and she hadn’t seen many outsiders. He and Sasha had planned to fish as the waters held all kinds of species of fish. The young girl watched.

Michael and Sasha were fishing in shallow water. Their idea was to get a big fish, something the entire family could have for dinner. They snagged a large white fish. The Pitcairn family would have a wonderful dinner tonight..

Posted in Challenges

Song Lyric Sunday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, our theme is to post a song with a word that describes a sound in the title or lyrics. So in the spirit of my generation:

Have You Ever Seen the Rain

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Written by John Fogarty

Someone told me long ago
There’s a calm before the storm
I know it’s been comin’ for some time
When it’s over so they say
It’ll rain a sunny day
I know shinin’ down like water
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
Yesterday and days before
Sun is cold and rain is hard
I know been that way for all my time
‘Til forever, on it goes
Through the circle, fast and slow,
I know it can’t stop, I wonder
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
Yeah
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
Songwriters: John Cameron Fogerty
Have You Ever Seen the Rain lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company

Posted in Challenges

Old Man Red

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Grandpa, you said you’d tell me a story about my momma.”

“Yes, Dolly, Here goes.”

Old Man Red saw everything. He sat on the fence, behind the well box and within sight of the backdoor. He dominated his territory. Those cats that live around here sometimes tried to bother him and he scared them away.

What really bothered him was the girl. He remembered when she was young. She was only just fifteen. Almost every night, when they didn’t know he was sitting on the fence, she snuck out the back bedroom window. He didn’t know where she went. She came home right before he woke up in the morning.

Today, he couldn’t wait on her. He woke up and crowed. The sun was coming up. She wasn’t home yet. She came running in and I caught her around the waist. I sat down with her, held her, and talked to her. Old Man Red had done something good. The girl never snuck out again.

“Grandpa, what do you mean that he crowed?”

“Dolly, Old Man Red was a rooster.”

“Oh Grandpa, roosters don’t think like people!”

 

Posted in Flash Fiction

Through the Rabbit Hole

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The little Blenheim spaniel ran to greet every visitor that came into the old bookstore. Josie bent down to pat her. Josie had one book she wanted to find and she was told she might be able to find it here.

She started down a row of books marked “Fantasy.”

“Odd,” she thought to herself. She didn’t recognize any of the books. Some smaller books were lying on the floor around a stool, so she sat down and started reading. Later, she realized two hours had passed and she was almost finished with the book. The shopkeeper walked up to tell her he was closing for the day, but she could come back the next day and read.

As Josie walked home, she mused on what a wonderful book she’d just read, but she didn’t recognize the title or the author. She read a lot of fantasy.

She went back to the bookstore the next day. She only had 20 pages left to read in the book she read yesterday. She started reading and the same thing happened. Two hours later, she was still reading the book. The book was growing longer, and even better, every day. A real-life fantasy.

 

FFftPP

Posted in Flash Fiction

Family

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Tonight had been high school graduation for Jacob’s class. Mom, Dad, and Sara, his sister, had been there to watch him walk across the stage. He was pretty proud of himself. It had been a struggle at times to get to this stage.

Jacob had straightened up and graduated with straight A’s. He had slipped up tonight. After graduation, he had gone out for a while with friends and had a few drinks. He was walking home.

He was only two houses away from home. A car pulled up and a guy jumped out and tried to pull him in the car. He started fighting and yelling. He was just about to lose the fight and he felt someone pulling back and he heard Dad yelling in return. Dad had heard the commotion. The car sped off and he fell to the pavement. Dad picked him up and held him. He saved him again. He’d been watching out the window for him to come home.

Posted in weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare – 06/17/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Good morning, everyone! It’s so busy around here, I’ve just put out some pastries here on the table and the coffee machine is by the door. There is also hot water for tea. Please help yourself! I’m so glad to see everyone this morning!

I guess the big news this weekend is that it’s Father’s Day. I hope that those of you who are fathers are having an awesome weekend with your children.

I suspect I’m not the only one who feels like this, but Father’s Day is a little difficult for me. My dad has been gone for a long time – over 33 years. He passed away when he was younger than I am now – too young. Of course, I remember everything about him and our relationship. I was much closer to my dad than to my mom. He was usually jolly and he taught me so many things. My dad was from Sweden and emigrated to the U.S. Not long after he emigrated, he joined the Navy because World War II was just starting. He was in the Navy and the war until the end.

He was injured. His ship was almost sunk in the Pacific theatre. He watched the carnage on the beaches of Normandy. When he finally came home to my mother, he was shell-shocked and a changed man. Gradually, he became somewhat like himself again. He never ever talked about the war except a little to my mom who told me about it. It took them a long time to have me, but they finally did. My dad was the best father a girl could have.

I miss him every day – still. As I get older, I think I miss him more. I hope you’ll excuse my nostalgia this weekend. Father’s Day is one of those tough times.

I think I got my writing “gene” from my dad. He was a beautiful writer in his spare time, as was his father. My grandfather wrote in Swedish. Both wrote personal essays and what these days we call op-eds. Writing has come naturally to me since I started writing as a child. Did anyone in your families write?

One of the other things going on with me is that we are having our house appraised. The appraised is on Wednesday. Sometimes, appraisers just look at the outside of your house, but we have requested that he come inside as well. This means a whole lot of work getting the house ready. I will be doing a lot of that over the next few days!

Mid-June is a lovely time here in Kentucky. The flowers are just starting to bloom and show their colors. We have a lot of bright blue skies and sun. It is one of our best months. June and September are my favorite months in Kentucky.

I’m finally over bronchitis, which I still had the last time I wrote a #weekendcoffeeshare. It lasted six weeks! I probably kept the drug companies in business. I hope all of you are well!

That’s it from here this weekend. I have to get to work! I’d love to hear what’s going on with each and every one of you!