Gratitude #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. Today is the last day of fun. Wednesday’s are ‘One Liner Wednesday.’ Here’s my one line for the day.

 

Knights, and Peasants, and Kings…oh my! #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘knight.’

Knight…what to write about a knight? Before I knew it, I was deep in the midst of Renaissance Faire memories and missing them. I used to go every year – or at least most years. Then I moved to Texas and have only been once, probably 2009 or 2010.

I love the atmosphere that permeates renaissance fairs – the joy, the laughter, the revelry, and yes, the knights. Now that we’re deep in the digital age, with cell phones that do everything for us, I should be able to pull up pictures from that last fair in a snap. But with the digital age comes technology snafus. A crashed hard drive and a failed cell phone took hundreds of pictures with them in their failures.

Thankfully, I have a friend that made us all scrapbooks one year. It was probably twenty years ago, long before the days when cell phones snapped every memory we wanted to document. But because of her thoughtfulness and her knack of this ‘old-school’ craft, I could walk to the bookcase, pull out a photo album, and instantly be transported back to a day when we all went to the Renaissance Faire in Devore (CA) together.

Much has changed from this long ago picture. The husband is now an ex. Both boys are grown, with children of their own. (The youngest turns 30 in a week!) And the mother (now a grandmother) sports quite a few more wrinkles than she had here. But the beauty of the Ren Faires is that they don’t change all that much. You can copy and paste people into any scene and you’d never know what year it was. Wenches and peasants, nobility, kings, and knights – all in place to take us back to medieval times.

Not Your Typical Walk, Run, or Amble Post #SoCS

Today is Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Here’s the prompt for today’s writing:

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: movement. However, don’t use the word “movement.” Choose some sort of movement, and base your post on that. Enjoy!

You can see more details here, if you’d like to participate yourself.

I was racking my brain to find something to write about, without mentioning the ‘M’ word. (Not so easy to do on a Saturday morning after a busy week) Walk. Run. Amble. Stretch. Reach. Some of the words were inspired by Friday morning’s yoga class and I almost went in that direction.

But I wasn’t committed to that idea. I went about my routine morning tasks, still thinking of what to write about. Then the thought crossed my mind – writing about the unmentionable ‘M’ word prompt doesn’t have to be a word of physical action. Striving to reach personal and business goals is also something that follows the general idea. (And I know, I shouldn’t use ‘idea’ again as I just used it a few lines ago – but in keeping with the idea of stream of consciousness writing, with no edits, the word is staying.)

Work this past week was busy and I found myself not accomplishing my afternoon goals. I didn’t worry or fret about it. With all the flu and illnesses floating around, I also realize that there are times that I need to take care of myself and not push. I need to rest and relax so that I remain healthy and don’t lose days or a week to an illness. I had a few non-productive days that I didn’t finish my goals for the day. So this weekend I’ll buckle down and get back to business. I’ll get back on track of the process about getting closer to my goals – my writing goals for the month, and my personal daily goals. I’ll catch up on a few administrative tasks, add to the word count in two different manuscripts, get out my weekly newsletter, and take action with a small book promotion. By doing these, I’ll be a step closer to reaching another milestone. And that motion is just as good – if not better – than any run, walk, amble or stretch.

One Liner Wednesday #1linerWeds

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. Wednesday’s are ‘One Liner Wednesday.’ Here’s my one line for the day.

Colors in My World #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘color.’

Once I take the time to stop and look around – really look – I’m amazed at the colors that flood my life. Colors in nature. Man made colors.

Where would our life be without color?

It gives me pause when I think of the possibility of not being able to see color. It gives me a renewed sense of gratitude for my sight.

Liberty #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘liberty.’

Since I was drawing a blank on this one, I’ll simply post a picture of Liberty  – a site that I’d like to visit one day.

Not Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘silence.’

When I think of silence, I think of how my life has changed over the past forty years. When I was younger, I couldn’t have silence in my life. The radio was on – all the time. I slept with the radio on. I drove with the radio on. I remember one car I had for a few years. The radio was broken, so I carried a little portable cassette player with me, sitting in the front seat, blaring away my favorite tunes. I had a little plastic shoebox with all my favorite cassettes – mostly Led Zeppelin, KISS, Neil Young, some Bee Gees, and even a new fun group called the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Now, I’m…not-so-young…and I appreciate silence. I rarely have the radio on in the car. If I turn music on at home, it’s soft, meditative music in the background while I work – maybe once a week, if that often. And most mornings I try to take five to ten minutes a day to simply sit in silence and connect with myself.

Life changes through the years, including the number of decibels that occupy our existence.

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What My View Should Be #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘darkness.’

Darkness – that’s what my view should be right now.

Yes, I should be hibernating deep in a cave somewhere, sound asleep and out for the winter.

It was 9 degrees when I woke up yesterday morning! In north Texas. It should not be 9 degrees anywhere. Does the weather not know that I am not a winter person? (Although, on the flip side of this – my gratitude for the day is that I don’t live in Russia where it hit a negative 88 degrees! Yes, I’ll be thankful that I’m where I’m at and I’ll keep that rare 9-degree mark.)

So, if you don’t see any posts from me for a while – it’s because I’ve gone to hibernate. See you in the spring!

 

FREE OFFER – FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS. Do you like reading tidbits about what’s going on in a writer’s life? Like reading story snippets of upcoming books? Like getting free book offers and hearing about free book giveaways? Sign up here for Trisha’s Tidbits, my weekly newsletter, and get a free copy of FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS.

Predictions about Revolt? #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘Revolt.’

I was at a loss for today. Then I saw this meme, which I’d seen several times on Facebook and I loved it. It seemed to speak to the current state of our social situations. It’s so frustrating to meet up with friends for an evening out, or meal together, and they spend more times on their phones checking Facebook than visiting with us.

Fortunately I saw the Snopes link on this and went to check it out. It seems that the quote that goes with this photo, and a few other similar ones, cannot be attributed to the original 1984, written in 1949, but to the more recent theatrical adaptation. (It doesn’t really matter – I still don’t want to spend an evening visiting with someone that looks at their screen more than the people around them.)

Here’s what Snopes has to say about it:

What neither of these reviews make clear, and what the many memes get wrong, is that these words weren’t written by George Orwell in 1949, and do not appear in the novel 1984.

Despite a thorough search of the 2016 Enrich Spot e-book edition of 1984, we were unable to find these lines in the original novel. However, they resemble a speech from the book, made by O’Brien, a member of “the Party” who works at the Ministry of Truth:

The proletarians will never revolt, not in a thousand years or a million. They cannot. I do not have to tell you the reason: you know it already. If you have ever cherished any dreams of violent insurrection, you must abandon them. There is no way in which the Party can be overthrown. The rule of the Party is for ever. Make that the starting-point of your thoughts.

At another point in the original novel, the protagonist Winston notes: “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”

The earliest iteration of the quotation on Twitter dates to July 2014, during the play’s second run at the Playhouse Theatre in London. (It was first staged in 2013). During the same run, a second tweetattributes the lines to the stage adaptation. However, soon afterwards, the quote began to be falsely attributed to the 1949 novel, rather than the 2014 theater adaptation.

The revival of the play in Australia and then New York during the summer of 2017 has led to a resurgence in social media posts and memes falsely attributing the line to George Orwell’s 68-year-old novel.

Just Pondering #JusJoJan

I’m participating in Just Jot It January, a fun word prompt exercise organized by blogger Linda G. Hill. It happens all month during January. And it’s not too late to join in the fun. Check the details out here. The word prompt for today is ‘Contemplation.’

Contemplation – it’s something I do a lot. Probably most writers do. Or is that because I’m an introvert? It doesn’t matter why – the results are the same. I contemplate – or think – a lot.

However, this is one of those actions where I like to fall back on one of the family words to describe what’s taking place. Ponder.

Ponder – now that’s a great word.

I think I’ll ponder on that for a bit.

What ‘cha doin? Pondering.

When I moved to north Texas, I was delighted when I heard the name of a small town nearby. Ponder. We had to go visit. And…I had to get out of the car and stand there and ‘ponder’ for a while in Ponder.

But, I didn’t pick the word for the day. So we’ll cross ponder off the list and I’ll get back to my contemplation. Tomorrow I’ll return to pondering.

FREE OFFER – FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS. Do you like reading tidbits about what’s going on in a writer’s life? Like reading story snippets of upcoming books? Like getting free book offers and hearing about free book giveaways? Sign up here for Trisha’s Tidbits, my weekly newsletter, and get a free copy of FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS.