Red is roses, lips and heat.
Red tastes like strawberries.
Red smells like tomatoes and watermelon.
Red makes me feel romantic.
Red is the sound of burning embers and “I love you”.
Red is flowers, love and a sunset.
Red is a blushing bride on her wedding day.
Red is commitment.
Red is a beating heart.
Wordless Wednesday
Coffee Shop Chat
My friend Laura at Caffeinated Fiction found this neat little idea on Tessa’s blog and encouraged me to participate, so I decided I will participate here every other week on a Monday, since I already have specific things I post each day. So now Mondays will be one Monday I post something about writing or my personal writing journey and the next Monday I will post a Coffee Shop Chat. I hope some of you will joins us in the Coffee Shop Chats as well. (I’m not a coffee drinker, so I’ll be drinking tea).
What’s a Coffee Shop Chat?
There are a ton of writers out there in Blog-Land, and sometimes it’s just hard to connect. We are so focused on writing our next blogpost/ working/ schooling/ dealing with family stuff – we forget how much fun it can be to just sit and talk!
Coffee Shop Chats are one way you can connect with other writers, readers, bloggers, whoever! It’s a time to just share, laugh and drink a cup of coffee or tea (or two.) You can share exciting events from the week, the latest book that’s inspired you, a great movie you’d like to recommend, or even share prayer requests. All the things you would share if we were sitting in a coffee shop together, spending an hour away from the cares of the world.
You can post whatever, whenever you like! Don’t forget to add your ‘link-up’ to the bottom of the original post on my friend Tessa’s blog (listed above). That way we can all find one another and can respond to one another’s blog posts. Click here to go directly to her blog and scroll down to see the Guidelines section and the How to Post section, once you’re ready to participate! Don’t forget to comment on another blogger’s posts first (mine counts!)and to answer and include CONVO STARTERS!
Ready? Ok, let’s get together!
Music I’ve Enjoyed:
I am a HUGE Toby Mac fan and I LOVE his latest album, “This is Not a Test”.
Why do I love Toby Mac and his music? Because Toby is the real deal. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. He donates to charities, reaches out to communities, spreads God’s word through his music and in his concerts and helps other Christian artists reach their goals. And there are many times that something that is said in our Sunday school class or our Pastor’s sermons that brings a Toby Mac song to my mind because it applies.
What I did this week:
I started school with my youngest son. We are homeschoolers and we finished our 2015-2016 school year at the end of April and had off the months of May and June and the week of the 4th of July, and because we like extra time off at the Christmas holiday time, we start school while summer is still going on. This week we had one day of Physical Education and Science and three days of History, Math and English Literature.
Here’s what we are reading:
We are studying the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder for history.
We are studying The Chronicles of Narnia for English Literature.
My son is doing lapbooks on these books. He is artistically inclined and loves doing lapbooking and notebooking.
I had to laugh the first day we started these books this week. I read from Little House in the Big Woods first and my son said, “This is a good book.” Then I sent him to complete two math sheets.
After math, I read from The Magician’s Nephew and when I stopped, my son said, “No, you can’t stop. You have to read more!” Yes, my son could read these books on his own, but one thing my boys and I enjoy is for me to read some of the main subject books out loud to them.
The two convo starters I will answer are from Tessa’s Christ is Write blog:
- Do you write more during the summer or take a break?
I write more during the summer because I have more time for writing.
2. Do you prefer summer or fall?
I prefer fall. Here in Pennsylvania, we get quite a lot of temperatures in the upper 80s to mid 90s that are accompanied by high humidity making the temperature feel ten degrees or more than the thermometer reports. I much prefer the comfortable temperatures of fall.
Now here are some Convo Starters for You:
- What’s your favorite book of all time?
- What’s your favorite hot beverage and your favorite cold beverage?
- Where is your favorite vacation spot?
- If you could have lunch with any author (alive or passed), who would it be and why?
- What is your favorite childhood memory related to reading or writing?
Flash Fiction Friday: The Thief of Westhaven
As he walked through the woods, he heard leaves crunching up ahead. He creeped from tree to tree wary of what may lie ahead. As he slipped up behind the large trunk of an old oak tree he saw her, a woman of exquisite beauty. Her auburn hair appeared to be blazing with the sun’s rays shining on it. Her lips, red and moist, touted an invitation to a kiss. Her large eyes sparkled in the unusual color of violet and her complexion, a flawless peaches and cream. She paced back and forth wringing her hands. She was dressed in tan leggings and a dark green tunic with a scalloped bottom. Tied to a cord around her waist hung a lumpy, brown bag that jingled at each of her steps. A bow lay on the ground near her feet, and slung over her shoulder, a quiver of arrows.
He decided on a cautious approach to offer assistance, but before he shifted from his position a thundering noise came through the trees to his left and a great, sleek, black stallion trotted to the woman.
“Oh, you’re here! I feared you had been killed.” She wrapped her arms about its neck and pressed her face against its jaw as the horse nuzzled her neck with its lips.
“We must get out of here.” She seized her bow, grabbed hold of the stallion’s long, flowing mane and heaved herself upon its back, and as he stood mesmerized at the sight, beauty fled from his undisclosed presence.
A knowing grin slid across his face. No one would believe that the thief of Westhaven was a beautiful woman.
We Are Diverse; We Are the Same
We Are Diverse; We Are the Same
by Kelly F. Barr
Walking down a city street
I’m intrigued by all the diverse faces;
Some white, some tan, some yellow, some black, some brown,
All attached to diverse bodies:
Some tall, some short, some thin, some fat, some soft, some muscular.
When I talk to people, no matter their skin color, I find diversity
In the music they listen to, the books they read,
The activities they take pleasure in,
The causes they defend, their passions,
The things that get their dander up, and their beliefs.
Some see the diversities as the people themselves.
Some appreciate and respect the diversities; Some fear and abuse the diversities:
The rich kid who looks down on the poor;
The bully in the schoolyard harassing the quiet, unassuming child;
The gangs in the city streets fighting and killing those of different ethnicities.
The racists who see themselves as superior
Verbally and physically attack people of different colors;
The parents who disown their child for converting to a different religion
Or for loving someone whose skin is a different color;
The elderly woman who trembles in fear when a young man with a nose ring walks by.
Despite the diversities, we are all the same;
We are all human. When cut, we bleed the same blood,
When a loved one dies, we all grieve.
We face the same fears and temptations.
We are all born and we all die.
Walking through the hospital E.R., I see
Two gang members who lay bleeding, one black, one Hispanic.
In the maternity ward two moms scream in labor, one white, one Chinese.
In the cancer ward white, tan, yellow, brown and black all on chemotherapy.
I question the doctor. His response,”We’re all the same biologically.”
Yes, we all laugh, we all cry.
We all face challenges and bask in victories.
We all need human interaction so why don’t we reach out a hand
To help one another no matter our skin color?
Together, let us celebrate that, though we are diverse, yet we are the same.
Wordless Wednesday
Top Ten Tuesday
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday as suggested by The Broke and the Bookish is Ten Facts About Me, any kind of facts about me that I want to share. I have decided to share Ten Facts About Me as a Blogger:
- I began blogging just about eight years ago.
- My first blog was a blog where I shared about family activities and homeschooling.
- My second blog was all about homeschooling (this blog is still live at Blogspot. It’s called Homeschool View.)
- My third blog, I attempted and failed miserably, was about being a Type 2 Diabetic.
- This is my fourth blog, and I believe, my final blog because it is about the things I love most: writing and reading, so I love writing and sharing on this blog. Yes, I also share some of my photography, but that’s a hobby. This blog has undergone changes a couple of times as I wanted to blog often enough in a week that people wouldn’t lose interest, and I think I have finally succeeded by posting five days a week — Monday through Friday. Also, I was hoping to create blog posts that others would enjoy reading or viewing so that they would want to come back. There is a possibility that this blog will undergo future changes as I seek to post things my readers want.
- I am hoping that I will be able to grow followers on this blog who will be interested in reading my novels when I begin to publish them. So, if you’re a historical romance fan or know someone who is, I hope you will consider following my blog and tell your historical romance fan friends about it.
- As I get closer to time of publication, I will share some things about the historical period of my novel, something about the characters, and some other goodies to tempt you to read my novel.
- I love when visitors to my blog leave comments. I like when you share your thoughts and experiences. I like to get to know my readers this way.
- I do my best to read other blogs that have to do with reading and/or writing and leave comments when I do to let them know I was there.
- I like to connect with other bloggers with similar interests and would love to help other writers who blog by having guest posts here on my blog or doing guest posts for other writers’ blogs. If this interests you, leave a comment or message me on Facebook and we can set something up.
Flash Fiction Bonus
Hi Everyone, I don’t normally post two posts in one day, but my good friend, Laura of Caffeinated Fiction has a birthday today, and she even announced her age, brave woman!
In connection with her age, she issued a challenge I couldn’t pass up. She is 42 years old today and challenged her blog readers and writing friends to write a Flash Fiction Story with 42 words or less, and stipulated that it must contain the word “birthday”. (I love the idea!)
Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I cannot pass up a writing challenge, so here is my 42 word birthday flash fiction story for Laura:
Another foster home. Her tenth birthday. She had no expectations.
“Dinner!” New foster mom called.
Foster mom cleared the table and returned from the kitchen.
“Surprise!” Foster Mom carried a cake with candles. Foster Dad pulled a gift from under the table.
Camp NaNoWriMo
Okay, so I’m sure you’ve heard of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November, where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days of November. Well, I have not participated in the November NaNoWriMo yet. Seems too stressful to me in a month with a major holiday, right before a month with an even bigger major holiday, two of the three holidays that are most important to our family.
But, now there’s Camp NaNoWriMo in the month of July! This one lets you set your own goal for the month of July. You also get to be part of a group who share a “cabin” (this is all online), where you can encourage each other throughout the month through messages you post in your cabin. You write in whatever program you normally write on your computer and simply update your word count every time you write and add words to your novel or whatever project you are working on.
I chose to do this because a couple of friends were doing it and encouraged me, plus I needed some motivation, but not too much stress. So, I had about 14,000 words written in my novel in progress, so I set my goal for 30,000 words. I figured that was more than half of what I’d already written, but still a challenge for me.
Here we are on the 10th of the month and I have not written every day, but I am still on track to meet my goal according to the stats the Camp NaNoWriMo website keeps for me. Seeing that helps my motivation too.
Another motivation: If I succeed in reaching my goal by the end of the month, I will get a badge to post here on my blog, and that might not be a great prize, but I do NOT want to fail, so the fact that some of my friends, and now all of you know that I am doing this will also keep me motivated because if I don’t post a badge on my blog by the end of the month, all of you will know that I failed, and I CAN’T HAVE THAT! 😀
How about you? Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo? What was your experience?
Flash Fiction Friday: Scars
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Then came the pouring rain pelting down so hard it stung her bare face and arms. Mavis ran for shelter.
She rushed into the log cabin, closing the door behind her. Her breath caught in her throat. Ray stood in the middle of the room. His cold, dark eyes held her in a hard stare. Mavis trembled, not just from the chill of the rain.
Her eyes spotted the near empty whiskey bottle on the table. She turned and tried to open the door figuring it was better to chance being struck by lightning than to take another beating.
Ray swiftly closed the distance between them. He grabbed her upper arms before she could get the door open. He turned her to face him. “Where ya been, Mavis?”
“I was taking care of the animals.” Her voice trembled.
“The stupid animals could’ve waited. I’m hungry and you’ve kept me waiting for my supper!” He shoved her toward the kitchen.
Mavis stumbled. After regaining her balance, she grabbed some wood and fed the barely burning embers. She grabbed two frying pans. She mixed up buttermilk dough for biscuits, cut them and put them on a tray in the oven. She peeled and sliced a few potatoes. She put a steak in one pan, some lard and the potatoes in the other.
“Hurry up! I’m powerful hungry.” Ray started across the room.
“Please God, don’t let him hit me.” Mavis whispered.
Ray stopped behind her. He stood so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She tried to still her trembling as she turned the steak then the potatoes.
His arms wrapped around her waist. He kissed the side of her neck. “You’re still a good lookin’ woman, Mavis.” He reached with one hand and pulled the clip from her hair and let the brown waves cascade down her back. He ran his hand through her hair, kissing her neck again. He breathed in her ear. “You know how I love your hair free and loose. You should let it hang more often.”
“I have to get the biscuits out of the oven.”
Ray stepped back just far enough to allow her to retrieve the biscuits. When she had set them down and moved the pans to the back of the stove, he wrapped her in his arms.
She hated the smell of whiskey on his breath.
“Forget supper, Mavis. I’ve got a mighty hunger for somethin’ else right now.” He leaned to kiss her. She turned her head away.
“Oh, now don’t be silly, Ray. The food’s all done. You should eat it before it gets cold.”
Ray grabbed a handful of her hair. “Don’t tease me, Mavis.”
He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. Her heart felt like a heavy stone in her chest. Tears stung at the backs of her eyes and she willed them not to spill over.
Afterward, Ray went to the kitchen and ate, while Mavis lay in the bed silent tears rolling into her hair.
No, he hadn’t hit her, but she wasn’t sure whether it was the beatings or the being taken advantage of that hurt more. Both left their scars.
Kelly F Barr 