Tag: #writingchallenge

Posted in Challenges

#SoCS – 7/15/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The Art of Letter Writing

I have many books on my desk, most of them have to do with writing and novels. I do have one novel by Annie Proulx called Postcards. When I saw that novel’s title, I was reminded of a conversation a friend and I had some time ago. We discussed the lost art of letter writing. Baby boomers, like my friend and I, have written a lot of letters, on paper with a real pen, in our time, though perhaps not for a number of years. If you are a millennial, for example, you may have never written a letter except electronically. Maybe I’m doing you a disservice? Maybe you have written traditional letters? I would love for you to comment if you have!

Back to the subject. One of my first experiences with letter writing was when I was under ten years of age and had a pen pal. Francois lived in France and we wrote each other as soon as one received a letter from the other through high school. I often wonder what happened to her. As I grew up and went through undergraduate school, I wrote various cousins, boyfriends, and friends. By the time of graduate school, it was the early days of the Internet and everyone was fascinated by email. Letter writing for me was gone. It’s been gone ever since.

Life got busy. Electronic communication was quick and easy. In its defense, I would not have had time to keep up with many of the people I have without it.

I do, in some ways, miss letter writing. It’s a very personal way of communicating. You have to choose your stationery. Some people prefer to use a fountain pen, which you have to fill with ink. The person on the other end of the letter gets to see the person’s handwriting and feel their emotions more distinctly. New forms of electronic communication – email, messaging, texting, social media, chat rooms – aren’t nearly as personal. That, in fact, is why emoticons and stickers were developed. They try to convey the emotions that letter writing used to convey.

Reach out and touch someone by writing a letter. They will appreciate it!

#SoCSBookTitle

Posted in Challenges

The White Light

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Is this all that’s left?” Grace wondered as she surveyed the contents of her late mother’s bedroom. After her mother died, her sisters had ransacked it before Grace had arrived. The closets and dresser drawers were open. Her mother’s jewelry box was even gone.

Grace walked over to the table where the jar her mother used for her crystals stood. Clear quartz crystals. Grace’s mother had believed in their healing powers. Her sisters hadn’t taken those because they laughed at that idea. Grace picked up the jar to take with her. There was an explosion of white light.

Photo credit @ Janet Webb

 

Posted in Challenges

Jumping Into the Fire

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Kid, get out of the way,” Rafe yelled. “You’re going to be in the line of fire.”

The police department was chasing a criminal who had escaped from the medium security prison outside of town. This young kid had just climbed to the top of a wall the policeman feared the criminal would try jumping over. The police were stationed at strategic points below the wall.

“You’re chasing Ryder, right? I have something to tell you,” the kid cried out.

The police looked at each other, not knowing what to make of that. One of them asked the kid what he was talking about. The kid was only about 15 years old.

The police officer said, “What are you referring to?”

“He’s not the only one at fault. He’s my friend and I helped him rob those houses. Please don’t hurt him.”

As the kid climbed down the walls toward the officers, Ryder jumped over the wall and shots rang out.

 

Posted in weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare 7/8/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Good morning everyone! So sorry I am a little late. I am glad we decided to meet in the coffee shop for our #weekendcoffeeshare this morning today. I am busily getting ready for my trip. I can spend a short time with you. Then, when I leave, you can hang out here as long as you like. I see the owner did as I asked and prepared his special raspberry scones for all of you plus cold as well as hot beverages. Great!

Yes, I am taking a short trip to my friend’s house, Marty, who lives in Tennessee. She is having some surgery and I am going to help out and just spend some time with her. I am sure I will write some while I am there, but it will be sporadic.

I would be so interested to know how your writing is going? I am going to try something new when blogging. I have opened a new blogging site. It is hidden from the public for now, but I will open it up at some point. It is going to be only fiction and consist of short stories, novellas, and something new for me, serialized novels. These are works I am going to try to sell. When I open it to the public, I will be very interested in your comments! The only works I won’t be selling are short stories that are characterizations of figures in my novel. They are simply to stimulate interest in my novel. So watch this space! Tell me what you think!

I hope writing and life are going well for all of you! I must go for now. Enjoy the beverages and scones and I will look forward to your comments and hope to see you again next weekend for our #weekendcoffeeshare.

 

 

Posted in Challenges

#SoCS – 7/8/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Unconditional love is a thing I’m not sure we humans know. Maybe we do. I think we think we feel it more often than we actually do. There is a bond, as old as time, between a person and their dog and a person’s dog loves him/her unconditionally. No matter what we do. We can ignore our dog. Abusive people can even abuse their dog. The dog still loves their person unconditionally. I’ve always thought it was a miraculous thing. This unconditional love between a person and their dog.

Some of you may know that, recently, my dog has been sick for a while now. I’ve written about her in a couple of articles, “Tender Betsy” and An Update About Betsy.

On July 4, 2017, just three weeks after Betsy was diagnosed, she passed away.

I’ve had many special dogs in my life. They are all, indeed, special. They all give me a chance to know that I can love unconditionally. Betsy was at the top of that heap. I have been inconsolable.

In a few weeks, it will be time for me to decide whether or not to get another puppy. I’ve never been without a dog. I feel sure I eventually will. I will never forget the dog from the movie I saw so long ago, “Lady and the Tramp.” Betsy looked just like Lady. She was beautiful, inside and out. She made me laugh and later, cry. She comforted me. She was my constant companion. As the veterinarian put her to sleep, she went to sleep licking my face. Betsy was only four years old. I’ll never forget my little spaniel. She was a very loving trooper.

Posted in Challenges

Upward Mobility

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Another stack of manuscripts,” Jenny thought to herself as she started opening envelopes.

As an editor, Jenny read and edited dozens of manuscripts each year. Debut novels mostly. Few would make it. Publishing was changing. She had always wanted to write herself, but her finances had never allowed it.

She started reading a manuscript that was an environmental thriller on climate change. This was the kind of thing she wanted to write. She knew how to do it for mobile applications.

“Why not!” she thought. She threw the jar of used staples across the room and walked out the door.

 

Photo credit @ Claire Sheldon

Posted in Challenges, Uncategorized

One Liner Wednesday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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A line from my upcoming novel:

“All Wendy knew was that it was torture trying to have sex with Patrick whether she was sober or drunk and it would have been even if she was straight.”

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Posted in Challenges

Cold Blooded

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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It was Sunday night in Harlan County, Kentucky. Jeremiah and his girlfriend, Jamie, were walking to services at Holiness Church of Harlan. They’d heard something new and exciting was going to happen tonight. Both young people had gotten dissatisfied with their church recently. It was becoming increasingly conservative.

Near the middle of the service, some of the men carried in a wooden box. Jeremiah and Jamie looked at each other, neither knowing what was going on. The pastor opened the box and pulled out a large rattlesnake. Jamie grabbed Jeremiah’s hand. Their’s had never been a snake-handling church although they had heard of such churches. Supposedly, if the snakes didn’t bite the handlers, they had the appropriate amount of faith.

One of the men in the congregation went up to handle the snake. It took about 20 seconds for the timber rattlesnake to bite him on the hand. As he was screaming and the snake was put back in the box, Jamie and Jeremiah ran out of the church, knowing their religious preference had just changed.

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 Non-fiction

Magnet

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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All of my life, I have been drawn to writing as if it were a magnet. Even on days like today, when life’s burdens are very heavy for me, I only feel like myself if I write something before the day’s end.

My love affair with writing began when I was a child. I got stories published in the Highlights for Children magazine. Writing was interrupted by the other things that children do. I rode horses. But most importantly, I played the piano. I suppose I can count that, in a way, as writing because I wrote scores of music.

Then came lots of academic writing in the form of scholarly papers. Suddenly, twenty years ago, when I was right in the middle of my career as a college professor, I was hired by a brokerage, which will not be named! For several years, I was a journalist for them and wrote breaking news, while continuing my career as a college professor. I was working for this organization on 9/11/2001 when the Twin Towers came down. I had to cover that story and I will never forget it.

Throughout the decade of the 2000’s, I wrote for a variety of organizations and in many capacities. What I wrote is more important than who I wrote for. I wrote in my field of finance as a freelance writer. I wrote magazine articles on a whole variety of subjects. I developed online courses for corporations and their executives.

Then, I discovered blogging. I had become interested in writing fiction. I had always had an interest in fiction, but I had a busy career. I had really had two busy careers, academia and freelance writing. Writing fiction was a luxury I could never afford until I retired. I started trying my hand at fiction and ended up writing a novel, which is what I am doing now.

To all of you who are younger than me and embarking on a writing career, let me tell you one thing. You can make a living freelance writing. It is not necessarily easy but it is possible. You have to be persistent and organized. That is actually more important than talent. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a class in freelance writing to get started off on the right foot.

I think writing was what I was what I was supposed to do with my life because I’m drawn to it like a magnet. If I’m upset, I want to write. If I’m happy, I want to write. If you feel like that, write, and try to make your living doing it!

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