Writers Gonna Write

That’s what we do. Even when we are frustrated or discouraged or feeling very much inadequate … we write.

Even when we don’t feel like it, we write.

Even when we don’t put it down on paper, we write.

Advertisement

Upside Downside

 

 

If there is an upside to downsizing, it is finding little treasures that you had long since forgotten you had. Thus, rummaging through a box of memories one day, I found a tiny book that had completely slipped my mind. (Not a hard thing to do nowadays!). Its has generated many laughs and much conversation.

Insults and Comebacks somehow made it into my box of cards from grandchildren and embroidered hankies from my grandmother. Don’s ask me why. I picked it up, gingerly opened the first page and didn’t stop laughing until I got to the end of the book. I normally do not like insults, and I really don’t like saying nasty things to people, but this was in the anonymity of my home and with no one personal in mind, so I figured it wasn’t hurting anyone.

Is This Your Lemon Pie????

Let me take you back a few years.

My friend, Sandy, could bake up a storm. She could look at a recipe and know immediately that she could make an award winning copy of whatever confection she had just read about. She was young and knew that there was nothing culinary she couldn’t accomplish.

Round Robin Part 4

Hello there,

As you know, we writers of Paddle Creek, are working on a round robin story. When it came time for me to write my installment however, I got sick and have been ill for several weeks and got behind on all things writerly. I am doing much better now and have finally written the last installment of our story. Enjoy!

To Be Continued … (part 2)

Part 2 of our Round Robin project, by Pat Meyers

 

“I actually think I am figuring this out,” I announced to Violet two days after the all-blue incident. “The first day he was in white and bought an old copy of Pride and Prejudice with a white cover. The next visit he bought a rare edition of Alice in Wonderland in a blue cover, wearing blue, driving a blue Prius_.

“And this helps us figure this out, how?” Asked the impertinent Violet.

To Be Continued… (part 1)

(As we mentioned in our previous post, here we begin our round robin short story. Part 1 written by Bev …)

It seemed curious to me at the time–the stranger’s appearance simply oozed mystery and intrigue. He dressed in a stylish fashion; finely tailored suit, silk shirt, fashionable necktie, leather trench coat and wing-back shoes. But all in white. Not a smidgen of color. Except, of course, for his hair. That was candied apple red. See what I mean about curious?

It was Monday morning, and I was working at Twice Told Tales, a used bookstore in Las Vegas, Nevada. We usually attracted a t-shirt and flip-flop crowd who liked to spend their days with a Starbucks in one hand and a dog-eared copy of a Jack Kerouac book in the other. We would not be a comfortable place for the white leather  trench coat group.  Not exactly the immaculate environment you would expect a “Mr. Clean” to visit, if you know what I mean. Heck, I wouldn’t have expected his white convertible to even slow down as he drove by our store. Oh, did I forget to mention that he drove a white custom Chevy convertible?

7 Reasons to Write Your Own Book

I have heard lots of compalints through the years about how poorly something was written. I have read stuff and thought: “Ugh! That got published?”

SO . . .

What to do if you don’t like how books are being authored these days? Write one yourself!

Sam Elliot Has Udders?

The sound of that deep-chested, country drawl drew me to the living room. I am a sucker for a deep voice, cowboy swagger and flinty-eyed gaze. Stony Burke was my first love and I could hardly wait for Lawrence Welk to be over on a Sunday night to watch Jack Lord’s denim-clad backside hit saddle leather on a bucking bronc. John Wayne, with his distinctive crooked swagger, tilted hat and drawl-halt lines introduced me to the western comedy of McClintock! fame and I loved every minute of it. Sam Elliot has taken the cowboy role different places with being a celestial grave-digger, one-armed lawman and now an animated, cinematic, guitar-toting bovine. Yes, you read that right, a cartoon cow in a movie called Barnyard.

The Saga of the Chickenfish

According to Wickipedia on birds, “The scientific consensus is that birds are a group of theropod dinosaurs that evolved during the Mesozoic Era…Fossil evidence also demonstrates that birds and dinosaurs shared features such as hollow, pneumatized bones, gastroliths in the digestive system, nest building and brooding behaviors.” As well as Wickipedia on fish, “The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. Early fish from the fossil record are represented by a group of small, jawless, armoured fish known as ostracoderms.” This tells me the chickenfish has been around a bazillion years, has a beak not a jaw, is covered in feathers over armour plating, enjoys the benefit of a gizzard, clucks, builds nests, swims and fails at flying when falling off a cliff but is okay when it crashes into the ocean. I haven’t a clue why such an odd creature has a saga, but it must because it says so on my awake-dream list. I also could have been dreaming about a television commercial re-run starring Charlie the Tuna tasting like chicken. Either way, the chickenfish did not come into existence without thorough research.

Do I Hear a Ding a Ling?

 

Exiting my vehicle onto the craft superstore parking lot, I beheld a sight which gave my inner writer a thrill. The right and left door guardians of the red kettle couldn’t be more diverse. Left door ringer was singing Jingle Bells at the top of oh his lungs. No, not the song, just Jingle Bells, over and over with different cadence, inflection, notes and volume on each repetition and fierce bell ringing to accompany his solo. I kept my distance and headed to the right door which was manned by a tall, bear of a man, standing completely silent with barely a flicker of his bell to indicate he wasn’t a blow-up version of a lawn ornament.