PhotoPromt Monday

Photo submitted by thefeatherednest

Joe sped home from work on the winding back roads when it dawned on him...today was his anniversary!  How could he have forgotten?  He would be in the doghouse for sure!

As he rounded the next corner he came across a small stand of flowers for sale.  They were simple, not like the dozens of roses and baby's breath that he would normally buy, but maybe Shannon would realize it was the thought that counts.  He sure hoped so, even if it was a last minute thought!

Joe chose the prettiest batch available and headed out.  But wait...he didn't have a card.  He went digging through his car for anything that could be thrown together.  That's right!  The kids left their markers in here over the weekend.  Grabbing the red one he took out a pad that he left in the paper and wrote out silly coupons of chores and favors that he would do for her.  Starting with taking her to dinner tonight, the rest of the list included a few nights of babysitting, breakfast in bed, that vacation she had wanted to take, and a few other unmentionables.

When Joe walked in the door with the small flowers and handmade coupon book, Shannon wondered what was going on.  After a few passing seconds she realized Today was their anniversary!  She had completely forgotten with the kids being sick.  Now she will be spending the next year making up for it.

Day 11 - Declutter

Today is Day 11 of Jeff Goins' Great Writers series and the word of the day is DECLUTTER

Jeff calls this cutting the crap.

Bottom line: There’s a lot of junk that gets in the way of good writing. And you have to kill it. Get rid of it. Totally annihilate it.

If you are going to write well, you must make your writing clean. You must get rid of the clutter.

The two most important ways to do this are:

Clean your workspace

Before you can get to work, you’ve got to get your tools in order.

Before you can do the work of creating anything, you’ve got to clear off the desk and get your stuff in order. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but your mess isn’t helping you. It’s not contributing to the creative. And you need to stop hiding behind it.

Get rid of non-essentials

Jeff is talking about the actual writing here. Erase all the lazy words and phrases, the pieces of prose that fluff up your writing but add nothing to the core content.

As Jeff (and Metallica) say Kill ‘em, kill ‘em all.

These fancy turns of phrase and flower pieces of prose distracting the reader from what you really want to say. And frankly, you don’t have time for them.

The challenge is to do two things:
Clean up your space. Spend some time (at least five minutes, but no more than 30) doing the following: clear off the desk, sharpen your pencils, put your files in order, take out the trash, wash the dishes, whatever. Do what you need to do to feel better about the place where you do your work.

Cut your writing down to its purest essence. Take away everything but exactly what you want to say. Then say what you have to say and be done with it.

I have been waiting in anticipation for this post because it is one of the most important to me.  I can't work if I look around me and see a mess.  It drives me crazy!  The entire time I am trying to concentrate on work I think, "I really need to vaccum", "I should put all those papers away", etc.

And I have seen during the flash fiction pieces I have written lately that I add a lot of unnecessary works.  I always try to go back and declutter there as well.

What about you?



7 x 7 Link Award

Yeah, I won!  First of all, a huge thanks to Michael Pierce for passing this award on to me.  If you are not already following Michael, you need to go check out his blog. 

There are two rules for accepting this award

RULE #1: Tell everyone something that no one else knows about you.
I'm a pretty open book so I don't think there is anything that at least someone doesn't know about me. If there is anything you would want to know, ask away. 

RULE #2: Link to one of the posts that I personally think best fits the following categories.

Most Beautiful - I posted this one day when I didn't have anything to talk about.  It's a picture of one of my favorite places on Earth, Looking Glass Falls.  I can't wait to go back and see it again next month.  http://randominteruptions.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-happy-place.html

Most Helpful & Most Popular - As you know, I am going through Jeff Goins' Great Writers challenge.  This has been an incredibly helpful and popular series.  Here is the link to all of the posts.  http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/

Most Controversial - I don't think I have blogged about anything controversial, so I can't think of a link to put here.

Most Surprisingly Successful - My A-Z posts were all about musical instruments.  One of the more popular posts was D is for Didgeridoo.  http://randominteruptions.blogspot.com/2012/04/d-is-for-didgeridoo.html

Most Underrated - Apparently the Oboe isn't a very popular instrument.  This post wasn't very popular during the A-Z challenge  http://randominteruptions.blogspot.com/2012/04/o-is-for-oboe.html

Most Pride Worthy - I had only been blogging for a few months when the A-Z Challenge came around this year.  I ended up doing a guest post on their blog that wasn't very popular at the time but I am still proud to have had the opportunnity.  Here is it:
 http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2012/02/teaching-often-makes-you-student.html

RULE #3: Pass this award on to 7 3 bloggers
(don't feel obligated to participate if you don't want to; it's just for fun!)
Here are the lucky recipients.  Go check them out!
Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe

Julie Deguia

Empty Nest Insider

By the way, this is my 100th post!  I made it!

Thank you again to all of you fellow bloggers who follow and visit me.  I truly appreciate the support!

Day 10 - Share

Today is Day 10 of Jeff Goins' Great Writers Series.  Click the link for more information from Jeff.  This series has been very helpful and informative so check out this link for additional links.

Day 10's challenge is to SHARE.

Jeff tells us that Great writers share. Not just their own knowledge, ideas, and expertise. They also share the work of others and credit them accordingly.

Ways to share

-Tell someone else’s story. Few things inspire like stories; find one that moves you and share it with the world. These can be great illustrations for your writing.

-Promote a friend’s work. Find someone’s blog, article, book, whatever, and promote it. Don’t ask permission (sidenote: you never have to give someone a gift).

-Make someone else the hero. Use your platform (however large or small it is) to promote someone else’s work. Dedicate an entire article or newsletter or speech to them.

Whatever you do, do it secretly and quietly. Try to not get noticed. Don’t let your right hand see what your left is doing. Freely share the work of those who deserve to be noticed.

The challenge

Find someone whose message we need to hear and share it on your blog or via Twitter or Facebook. Wherever people are listening to you (even just a few), use that opportunity to talk about someone else.

This is something we can all do, and many do!  The blogging community is a group of incredibly supportive and helpful people.  I see sharing all the time and vow to share myself.  This is not difficult. 
Book launches, promotions, events...  Whatever it is, keep sharing!

And spreaking of sharing, Did you know that today and tomorrow Stephen Tremp's book Breakthrough is free on Amazon today and tomorrow? 

Here's a description:
“In a world about to be radically changed by a scientific discovery that will trump for good or evil purposes, a power-play struggle unfolds with breakneck speed and riveting drama in Breakthrough. Filled with intrigue, romance, betrayal, action scenes that have you gripping, some spiritual contemplation and quandary, emotions that run deep and strong, and packed with a multi-faceted cast of varied and multi-dimensional characters, Breakthrough is a novel you will find next to impossible to put down once you start reading” - Marvin Wilson, author and editor.”

You can check out Stephen's blog here:  Stephen Tremp or to get the book
click here:  Breakthrough

Review of Construct a Couple

Last week was  Talli Roland's  launch of Construct a Couple, the sequel to Build a Man. 

Synopsis

Construct a Couple picks up where Build a Man left off, however it could be read alone also.

Serenity is spending more of her time with Jeremy, who has recovered from his stroke and has started a charity for other stroke victims.  As Jeremy puts all his time and energy into the charity, Serenity has  finally landed a job as a fact checker for Seven Days, more reputable than her previous tabloid job.  Although life seems to be coming together for the couple, they neglect to share intimate details of their work with potentially devastating results to them both.

Serenity dreams of becoming a successful reporter one day and is thrilled to be working with one of her idols, Helen Goodall.  As an attempt to break out of "Fact Check Row", she reveals a new angle on her first major story.  She is so excited to be taken seriously until she learns that the story could come at a major price.

What I thought:

Construct a Couple brings back our favorite couple of Jeremy and Serenity, as well as other colorful characters to keep things exciting.  Serenity and Jeremy both face conflicts throughout and struggle to do the right thing, often missing the obvious.  Construct a Couple shows how dedication in a relationship is sometimes not enough without trust and communication.

Taking on a new adventure in life is better done when shared.

You can check it out here:  http://www.amazon.com/Construct-A-Couple-ebook/dp/B008A6V1CW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1339640578&sr=1-1

Day 9 - Connect

Sorry this is a couple days late.  I had a very busy day on Friday and I spent yesterday trying to recover, but I wanted to get this posted before tomorrow's continuation.

Day 9 is all about connecting

Jeff tells us that great writers connect with other writers. Because before they were great, they were mediocre. They had to meet someone who inspired them, someone they aspired to be.
True networking is simply connecting with people.

He goes on to tell us about three relationships you’ll need as writers:
Friends
Fans
Patrons

To further detail each of these connections, Jeff goes on to explain:

Making friends
Find those who are pursuing your same craft, those of like mind, and get together with them. Buy a fellow writer coffee or lunch. Hang out, commiserate, enjoy each other’s company. These relationships should be mutually beneficial.

Finding fans
He tells us that in order to find friends, you help people. You take something that is obvious to you (but not to others) and you generously share it with the world.
Do this over and over again in different ways until you find one that resonates with people. If you haven’t already found it, knowing your voice is pretty important to this. Take some time to figure out why people would listen to you, then say what you have to say. Say it boldly, and the fans will come.

Earning patrons
This is the hardest part. It’s also the most important relationship you could make in your journey to becoming a great writer. These people — leaders and influencers in your industry — will help you grow your platform and get your message heard.

You have to earn it:
By demonstrating your competencies.
By serving someone else first.
By making a big ask.

The challenge
Find a potential fan, friend, and patron (one of each) and reach out to them. Today. Don’t ask for anything but this person’s time.

What’s an example of someone you’ve connected with? How did they help you?


I spend so much time with Blogger that I have neglected to get to know my local writing community.  I am planning to get more involved in the local libraries, sign up for classes, workshops, etc and meet others in my own community.  However, if anyone in the blogging community would like a critique partner I would be happy to volunteer.

Being the Perfect Ex

So they've moved on and found someone else. But if you really want them back you're going to have to work for it- even if that means a few changes. But do you really, really want someone back who didn't love you the way you were? Do you really want someone back who's already broken your heart? Aren't you sick of being a masochist? Maybe being the perfect ex means moving on. The perfect new love may be just waiting in the wings. Oops, is he/she being the perfect ex and just using you while trying to win the ex back? Your story/poem! You deal!

I rushed to the laptop first thing in the morning.  I had vegetables to harvest, goats and cows to milk, chickens to gather eggs from, pigs to gather truffles from.  I had to build another barn, a bigger barn.  I had to help my neighbors.

I quickly plant another crop, careful to plant something that I could harvest at lunch, or after grocery shopping.  I needed coins!  I needed neighbors!  I needed “gifts” to build more buildings. 

Bigger tractors, bigger chicken coops, more, more, more!

I rush into my office during lunch, quietly not to draw attention, and hover over my computer.  I MUST HARVEST! 

A meeting runs late.  NO!!!  My crops are all going to die.  All of my precious coins gone to waste.

Oh, and there’s the dog too.  I need to buy more treats so that he can do more tricks.

And tasks!  Will I finish in time for the free gift?

Staring at the screen…”ready to harvest in 2 minutes”, it says.  How taunting.  Slowly they grow from seedlings into a beautiful crop of flower or vegetables.

More land, more coins, more, more, more!

Then, I look out the window in my office and see the weeds growing in my own yard.  The leaves that need to be raked.  The empty space perfect for growing crops of my own.

What am I doing?  Consumed with a “farm” that doesn’t exist?

FARMVILLE, I’m sorry.  You were there when I needed you, but it’s over.  I have to break up with you.  My sanity is at stake.  I want more than you can give me.  Thank you for the great times, but…I need to write!

Deep down inside I know you will be there for me again if I need you, making you The Perfect Ex.


298 words/FCA