IWSG August 2020 – Just living is not enough

How is everyone keeping busy these days? I’ve discovered the worst thing about spring cleaning is figuring out what to do with all the stuff you don’t want any more when no one is open to take it. All the boxes and bags everywhere have the dogs convinced we're moving.

Can you believe it’s August already? Whether you’re just passing through, or looking for a comfortable online group in which to share your writing journey, you’ve come to the right place! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers resources, tips, timely news, how-to’s, and don’t do’s – all the support we writers can use to make the most of our craft.

We meet on the 1^st Wednesday of every month. Feel free to browse around and mingle. As in the words of IWSG founder and “Cassa Series,” author Alex Cavanaugh, “Your words may be the encouragement someone else needs” Join us!

Our awesome co-hosts for the July 1 posting of the IWSG are:  

Susan Baury Rouchard, Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jennifer Hawes, Chemist Ken, and Chrys Fey!

The optional Question of the Month is:
 August 5 question - Quote: "Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don't write short stories, novels or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be."
Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn't planned on writing in? Or do you choose a form/genre in advance?

My answer: Yes, and not usually ; -)

It’s International Pirate Month! Do you have a favorite Swashbuckler? Did you know they wore patches not to cover up eyeless sockets, but to always have one eye accustomed to darkness for quick trips below deck?

August is American Adventures Month! I once sold a motorhome in less than ten days with a simple phrase the buyer swore reached out and grabbed him: “See America from the comfort of your living room” Indeed, we saw a lot of it that way. While it might not be as easy an option these days, we still do. Except, these days, the kids and I also travel virtually, picking a different state each time.

Last month we chose Nebraska. Known as “The Tree Planters State,” it is home to America’s largest hand-planted forest.  Kool Aid and the Rueben Sandwich were invented there. We all got a kick out of CARHENGE, Omaha’s close equivalent to Stonehenge, and the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium featuring one of the world’s largest indoor rainforests, a coral reef, as well as an indoor desert in a dome (including meerkats!) has been placed on our MSIP (Must See in Person) list!  Anyone out there from Nebraska?

Among several excellent books I read last month was one entitled “Sold on a Monday,” by Kristina McMorris. I must say, the story sticks to your heart as peanut butter does to the roof of your mouth. Simply indelible.

As far as writing, I am brimming with excitement!

See you all sooner than later ; -)

 

“Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower,” Hans Christian Andersen

 

Let's Not Try...

Happy New Year!

Have you put away the holiday decorations yet? Around here, there’s always at least one thing that gets forgotten in the clean-up that ends up spending the entire year by its lonesome self on a shelf inside the coat closet. This year, there were two items overlooked by Mr. Fastidious (he was in charge this year, and much more thorough than I am). First, I noticed my neighbor’s door wreath as I looked through the circle of my own. Then, I pondered how long both wreaths might remain on display as I savored a piece of chocolate I’d chosen from a wicker Santa bowl, still on my dining room table. Not bad, I’d say, considering the number of remnants we’re likely to find around the yard after an Easter Egg Hunt.

Honestly, I’m not a whip-cracker.  See, I’ve been relegated to the proverbial ‘observation deck’ since mid-December when I discovered coffee doesn’t exactly enable me to leap tall buildings, as evidenced that fateful morning I tripped over a measly step stool and broke my shoulder. They should have named me Grace. Nevertheless, this new and thankfully temporary vantage point has afforded an extraordinary perspective on holiday celebrations.

Did you tear up the town or block out the sound of New Year celebrations? I don’t think I’ve stayed up until midnight since Y2K. We were, however, awakened not long after the Old Pueblo’s first annual “Taco Drop” this year by one of our dogs barking at her own reflection in a window through which fireworks would have no doubt bedazzled her a couple of hours earlier.

Most years, I look forward to local and national recaps of the preceding year as they invariably jog some potent memory wherein the best creative juices flow.  Curiously, there seems an apparent reluctance or ambivalence in recall, for very few sources deem last year at all notable,  focusing instead on a decade of years already reviewed after each one ended. I, for one, was paying attention.

For instance, something made an historic landing on the far side of the moon (Hint: it wasn’t Pink Floyd).  A single infamous summer made headlines for the 50^th time. A few refreshing new trends have emerged in the discarding of live/cut Christmas trees. One is the placement of them, devoid of tinsel, lights, and ornaments, of course, in lakes and waterways, providing shelter for young marine life. The other, an original form of repurposing by a veteran and true American Sunbeam, (and of special interest to me of late - ha!) is the creation of handcrafted canes and walking sticks.

I didn’t get around to making plans for the New Year before I was sidelined (so to speak), but I have a list of writing projects waiting patiently in the wings for my most anxious return. How about you? Did you make any resolutions you’d be willing to shake on?

Throughout history, handshakes generally acknowledged mutual agreement to a promise or a deal or perhaps greeting a new friend. Shakespeare apparently had yet another reason in mind when he wrote (Iliad) in reference to the settlement of a conflict “Let’s not try to kill each other” Clever placement of words, wouldn’t you say?

Happy Writing!

2018 A - Z Challenge - Y

Y    Things We Appreciate

Back in 1907, Chicago car salesman John Hertz, along with Walden Shaw began using trade-ins as taxicabs. Hertz painted the cars yellow to attract attention and in 1915 incorporated the Yellow Cab Company with a fleet of 40 cars. By 1925 it was the largest taxicab company in the world and boasted a fleet of over 2500. Several significant innovations were introduced under the leadership of Hertz, including the automatic windshield wipers, smooth-riding balloon tires, and telephone dispatch. But in 1929, John Hertz gave up his share of the Yellow Cab Company to focus on a rental car company he’d purchased in 1923. After merging with Checker, Yellow Cab remained in business throughout the years and in the late 90’s split off on its own again and founded the Wolley (yellow spelled backward) Cab Association, which runs a fleet of 120 bright orange cabs in Chicago.

Yellowstone National Park – The nation’s first national park was established and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. Encompassing nearly 3500 miles including areas of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, the park is well-known for its geothermal features such as the ‘Old Faithful” geyser that erupts every 91 minutes, and Yellowstone Lake; one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America, is centered over Yellowstone Caldera which is the largest super-volcano on earth. There are 290 waterfalls, 2 rivers, and 3 deep canyons to explore, though 80% of the park is forest and grassland. 311 species of birds, including 26 pairs of nesting Bald Eagles had been documented within the park as of 1999.

Bison are among the 60 different mammals you might see roaming free, though, for the bison, Yellowstone may be their last remaining stronghold. When the photo of Park Ranger Horace Albright and his dinner companions was taken in 1922, the practice of feeding the friendly bears was a favorite tourist activity, but several years and a few hundred injuries later, the practice was abolished.

Speaking of bears and Yellowstone Park, did kindly Yogi the Bear of Jellystone Park ever remind you of Ed Norton (played by Art Carney) from the television sitcom The Honeymooners? As many Hanna-Barbera characters were based on trending celebrities, Ed may well have been the inspiration.  I’m kind of partial to Yogi’s best friend Boo-boo ;-)  Fun Fact: Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters who wore a collar so that animators didn’t have to re-draw his entire body for each frame.

Any thoughts? Can you add to the list of things we appreciate that begin with the letter Y?

Getting Back To Moving Forward

Wishing everyone a happy and productive month of August! It’s American Adventures Month, and if that doesn’t give us something to write about, we could always revisit or begin journaling. Perhaps write an article, an essay or a trailer for the last good movie you watched – or your next bestseller? You could also sharpen your writing skills with any of the many great resources offered by the Insecure Writers Support Group, founded by Alex Cavanaugh, right here and right now on this first Wednesday of the month, when IWSG members convene through blogging, Facebook, and Twitter to talk about whatever is on our writing minds and agendas. See what we’re all talking about here.

What’s on my writing mind? Well,

Photo by: Phil Reeder

For years along a winding two-lane road stood a weathered wooden sign with the word “Serendipity” crudely etched between its jagged edges.  How so? I fleetingly wondered, until summer’s lushness moldered in a bitter winter’s mire and a ramshackle house appeared. Much like the candy bar I’d tucked behind the horseradish where no one else would find it, the barely-discernible tire tracks that led to the crumbling house constantly beckoned my return.  Then life, as it so often does, intervened.

So now, years later, having unearthed the prefacing manuscript to the sequel; sketchily entitled “Serendipity,” I wonder if the story still breathes with the energy I poured into it so long ago. I have the drive, but what if the path has grown over? Only one way to find out, right? Can’t wait to tell you how it goes!  There you have the current scope of my journey, how’s yours?

As to the Optional IWSG Question of the Month, ‘What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?’ I recently read a novel by two authors who, at one point repeated (nearly exactly) the same paragraph from one page to the next. Not sure who was at fault, but I think I’d speak to the editor. That being said, and speaking from experience, the job of an editor seems much like tightrope walking between grammatically correct and creative expression. Either way, words are in precarious balance, and this is where insecurity seeps into the spaces between each word I write when revisions come into play. Will there be anything left of my story? Or dare I commit (writing without revising) “the literary equivalent of waltzing, gaily out of the house in your underwear” ~ Patricia Fuller.  Somehow the old drawing board doesn’t seem as daunting after all ;-)

Fun fact:

Mickey Spillane ordered 50,000 copies of his 1952 novel Kiss Me, Deadly to be destroyed when the comma was left out of the title.

Happy Writing, Reading & Editing!

He Crowned Thy Good

Good morning America, how are you?

If you’re reading this on Wednesday (as planned) that means the internet hasn’t crashed, we’ve survived the election, the sky didn’t fall and this is still our country! We’re on a roll folks. Let’s keep thinking the good thoughts as we go about preserving America as the greatest country in the world.

I’ve got a huge pot of chili simmering on the stove, but since it’s not yet ready, here’s a couple of what I like to call ‘comfort tunes’

Next week I’ll be digging up ghosts of patents past. Until then, stay strong, stand tall and stand together – We, the People, are the winners!

What song reminds you most of America? How many states have you visited? What is the best thing about living in your state?