Month: October 2018

Happy Halloween

This Week’s Halloween Poetry Challenge from Colleen Chesebro – Synonyms Only

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Happy Halloween

 

Halloween Poetry Challenge

 

This week’s Halloween Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge from Colleen Chesebro asks us to use synonyms only for the words ‘Grave‘ and ‘Afraid’

 

COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 108, “AFRAID & GRAVE,” #SYNONYMSONLY

halloween

 

WELCOME TO THE smileys-pumpkins-044068HALLOWEEN EDITION OF TANKA TUESDAY!

Hi! I’m glad to see you here. Are you ready to write some syllabic poetry?

 

Tanka Poetry Challenge

 

Here are the TWO prompt words for this week’s challenge: “Afraid & Grave,” #SynonymsOnly

Have fun and write some Halloween poetry!

 

Here is my Halloween Double Etheree:

 

 

Halloween

 

It’s

That time

Of year when

Spirits unleashed

Rising from their crypts

Making their presence felt

Witches celebrate Samhain

As the veil thins – some find this day

Ominous while ignoring the spirits

Of the dead – decked out in ghoulish attire

More focused on the trick and the treat

Petrified by looming spirits

But eager to fill their bags

Children in for the hunt

Costumes made to scare

Witches unite

Halloween

Sacred

Night

 

For Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, you can write your poem in one of the forms defined below. Click on the links to learn about each form:

HAIKU IN ENGLISH 5/7/5 syllable structure. A Haiku is written about seasonal changes, nature, and change in general.

TANKA IN ENGLISH 5/7/5/7/7 syllable structure. Your Tanka will consist of five lines written in the first-person point of view. This is important because the poem should be written from the perspective of the poet.

HAIBUN IN ENGLISH Every Haibun must begin with a title. Haibun prose is composed of short, descriptive paragraphs, written in the first-person singular.

The text unfolds in the present moment, as though the experience is occurring now rather than yesterday or some time ago. In keeping with the simplicity of the accompanying haiku or tanka poem, all unnecessary words should be pared down or removed. Nothing must ever be overstated.

The poetry never tries to repeat, quote, or explain the prose. Instead, the poetry reflects some aspect of the prose by introducing a different step in the narrative through a microburst of detail. Thus, the poetry is a sort of juxtaposition – different yet somehow connected.

Cinquain ALSO: Check out the Cinquain variations listed here: Cinquain-Wikipedia These are acceptable methods to use. Please list the form you use so we can learn from you. 

Etheree The Etheree poem consists of ten lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables. Etheree can also be reversed and written 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The trick is to create a memorable message within the required format. Poets can get creative and write an Etheree with more than one verse, but the idea is to follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Reversed Etheree Syllable Count: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Double Etheree Syllable Count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Senryu in English 5/7/5 syllable structure. A Senryu is written about love, a personal event, and have IRONY present. Click the link to learn the meaning of irony.

 

Please visit Colleen’s post for more details on how to enter weekly and how to submit.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Scary Witch

 

Thrilled to have my poem chosen as poem of the week at Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge, visit the recap HERE

 

Poet of the week

 

Duh!

Just Sayin’ – People Who Just Don’t Get It

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Duh!

 

 

It’s been awhile since I posted a rant, and yesterday while in the hospital waiting for my gross and vile barium dose of radiation exam, I couldn’t get over the inconsideration of one person.

 

The patient area in the designated hospital area has people awaiting all sorts of glorious tests from CT scans to Angiograms and ultra sounds, all having patients (like me) eagerly and hungrily awaiting their turn and looking forward to getting our tests over with and having a meal. I’m not a real big foodie or anything, but I think there’s some psychological aspect to the rule of no eating after 10pm, waking early and waiting for 2 hours before it’s our turn that makes us think about food just because we can’t eat – or at least, a nice hot cup of coffee.

As I waited my turn, I kept busy reading on my Kindle when a young man walks into the patient waiting area with his steaming hot bag full of McDonald’s fries and some sort of a giant burger he pulled out and began eating voraciously. As the smell wafted through the area and his constant crinkling of the bag and the numerous wrappings taken off his food and scrunched back into the bag kept annoying my concentration, I shook my head in disbelief. All the other patients were eyeballing him just as puzzled as I was.

I couldn’t help but wonder if people don’t even think. It didn’t appear he was with anyone, or possibly he was waiting for someone to finish their test, but regardless, there is tons of seating throughout the hospital and if he couldn’t wait to eat, what the hell was he doing sitting with the hungry and the grossed out people like me trying to suck back my venomous glass of fake flavored chalk?

I continued to look up at him as he chomped furiously on his ‘happy meal’, and I’m quite sure it was when his eyes finally locked with my ‘death’ stare that he got the hint and scrunched up his noisy bag and took off while still chewing and special sauce dripping down his mouth.

 

No food allowed

 

The man was well into his twenties and should have known better. Have we really come to the point where hospitals need to post ‘no eating’ signs in patient waiting areas for gastrology testing. Really? I should think this would be common sense for anyone to know better not to have a feast in these designated hospital areas, but hey, common sense and courtesy seem to be missing in many places these days.

Time to bring back respect and compassion in more ways than one!

 

Just Sayin'

 

Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

Sunday Book Review – What Did I Do? – Chuck Jackson – #Memoir

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Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

 

My Sunday Book Review today is on Chuck Jackson’s – What Did I Do?  As a memoir writer, I was curious to read Chuck’s book, especially since he dangled weekly carrots on his blog by sharing chapters. Well, good strategy I say to Chuck, because we all know once we get hooked on a book, we don’t want to have to wait a week to read the next chapter!

 

Chuck takes us back to his childhood where he grew up moving around a lot as his father was active in military. And Chuck’s story takes us into a familiar world where his parents seemed to have a lot to learn about parenting. The emotional abuse Chuck endured by both his parents and the physical abuse from his father’s hand left Chuck wondering what on earth he had done to deserve such treatment.

 

 

Blurb:

 

All Chuck ever wanted was to please his parents and have them love him. What Did I Do? is his recollection of the abuse he received from both his parents. When he saw love and happiness in other families, he wondered why not his? His self-esteem was shattered when they told him he was undeserving to be their son. Convinced it was his fault, he hid the physical beatings until the severity began to be noticed outside the home.

In writing this book, Chuck came out of the darkness to expound on the stigma attached to child abuse. He admitted to the effects of shame, anger, guilt, and depression he and so many others experience. He tells the story of survival where he felt invisible. Experience his desperation for a warm touch and a kind word of praise. Follow Chuck’s story and help answer the question, What Did I Do?

“Wow! What a read—and what a story. This book is so well written, it reads more like a novel. It’s a page turner all right. This story is hard to take only because of the abuse described…” Andrew Joyce, the author of the best-selling novel Redemption

 

My 5 Star Review:

 

Jackson takes us back in time into his childhood where he was adopted by his parents at 14 months old. Where one would think adoptive parents would feel so blessed to have a child, this story isn’t one of them. The author opens his heart in his telling without whining or complaining of what he endured, but instead questions – What Did I Do? As we learn about the emotional neglect he suffered along with the physical attacks from his father, the author steals our heart and has us wanting to reach out and just hug the boy.

We get a good look at emotionally bankrupt parents who carry their own demons, which gives us a hint at how they project their own unhappiness in their lives on to poor Bobby (author’ name in the book). This void of love Bobby exists in doesn’t sour his desire to want his parents to love and appreciate him, but rather, disturbs him through life as to why they couldn’t give him any affection. Eventually, Bobby runs away from home with fears that the beatings won’t stop despite the apologies that sometimes come after a consequent attack.

The story gives us insight into not only what the child had to live with growing up and into adulthood, but has us shaking our heads at what on earth went wrong in his parents’ life to make them so self-absorbed and uncaring.

I would highly recommend this book to parents to have a look at what abuse can do to a child through Jackson’s eyes and words, as well as for anyone who has been abused to be inspired by how Jackson handled his life and still came out as a compassionate good person without falling victim to his upbringing and continuing the trend of abuse. #Recommended

Reblog and share

#Blogshare – Keeping the magic of #romance alive with Sally Cronin

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Reblog and share

 

Sally Cronin was a featured guest at Jacquie Biggar’s blog this week. I was touched by Sally’s beautiful post with her take on love and romance. I’m sure you will be too. Please enjoy!

 

Smorgasbord Reblog – Keeping the magic of #romance alive – Sally Cronin @sgc58 #Inspiration #WritersHelpingWriters

 

I was delighted to be the guest of USA Today Bestselling author Jacquie Biggar on Friday. Jacquie let me share my views on romance…..

 

Keeping the magic of romance alive – Sally Cronin

 

My thanks to Jacquie for inviting me to share my views on romance. It is one of the elements of our lives which is universal, and much sort after. People often ask what the secret to a happy relationship is… darned if I know. All I can offer you is some of the little things I have come to appreciate over the last 50 odd years of dating and relationships. Make that 55 as I had a crush on Peter Birch at primary school age ten which resulted in my first broken heart!

Because many of you who are reading this are writers, I thought you might be interested in a few statistics on the billion-dollar-a-year Romance book industry via Romance Writers

  • The annual total sales of romance novels per year is in excess of a billion dollars.
  • Romance novel share of the U.S. fiction market is 34%.
  • 82% of romance readers are women.
  • Average age is 35-39.

What interested me about these statistics is that romance is a hot ticket item. It is also evident that romantic stories are very much sought after by women, but clearly not as high on the list for men. Something that those who feel men are sometimes not as romantic as they might be, would find interesting!

Another statistic is that the average age of those seeking out romance stories is between the ages of 35-39… which begs the question… Do women in their 40s, 50s, 60s give up on romance, or they are simply not catered for by the romance writers?

Like most young girls of my generation, I was infused with the myths surrounding love and romance at an early age. Between fairy tales and my mother’s desire to make the goal of romance clear cut in my mind, I surmised that at some point a Prince Charming, on a white horse, would sweep into my life, whisk me off my feet, and we would ride off into a future of bliss, children and Happy Ever After.

I was encouraged to take the available wisdom to heart, and with hopes and dreams of my own, embarked on my own dating adventures. The trouble with ingrained expectations is that they are not always as revered by others, particularly the opposite sex.

However, after some false starts, at the age of 20, a more mature Prince Charming of 26 did arrive, in uniform and driving a classic American sports car. It seemed that expectations had been met and exceeded, and it was crowned with a spectacular wedding with matriarchal approval on both sides. We drove off into the sunset with clanging tin cans behind the steed… which proved to be tolling bells of doom!

Trouble is what you see is not always what you get! And when compounded with differing expectations of what a relationship is supposed to be, and a lack of commitment of one of the participants, things tend to fall apart. After four years, some interesting life lessons, and an expensive legal intervention which took three years, I finally managed to extricate myself with a vow to never marry again.

Then wouldn’t you know it, six months later, into my life walked a softly-spoken, unassuming guy who took me out on a date and asked me to marry him before the night was over. Five weeks later, without any ceremony, and with just our parents in attendance, we exchanged rings and our own vows.

The last 38 years have taught me that romance is not one-size fits all, is unique to two people who love each other, and is not always about red roses and chocolates.

Some of the elements that spell romance for me.  Please head over to Jacquie’s to read the rest of the post…thanks Sally

via Keeping the magic of #romance alive – Sally Cronin @sgc58 #Inspiration #WritersHelpingWriters

 

Note:  After you’ve hopped over to continue reading, please visit the announcement of Sally’s Halloween Bash next Wednesday at the Smorgasbord! Check out this post for details – Halloween at the Smorgasbord

 

 

Books by Sally Cronin

Visit Sally’s books on Amazon!

 

 

 

 

We are the World Blogfest

#WATWB – Young Children Performing Daily Acts of Kindness

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We are the World Blogfest

 

It’s that time of month again where authors contribute to #WATWB – We are the World Blogfest by showcasing some of the good things being done in the world to counter-act the negativity.

 

For this month’s contribution I’d like to share a video I came across, where one little girl shares her Daily Kindness Calendar where she colors in her kind acts daily and offers some great suggestions for kids to create smile cards and thank you notes to give to their fellow classmates to leave a smile and a positive message in their day. This is a wonderful project that teachers are teaching kids to use kindness in the classroom by filling a bucket with good deeds.

 

Kindness Activities for Kids

 

 

#WATWB runs monthly on the last Friday of every month. If you’d like to join in by adding a post of positivity, you can add your post link HERE. This month’s hosts of the Blogfest are: Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Mary Giese and Roshan Radhakrishnan Please link to them in your WATWB posts and go say hi!

 

If you’d like to join in the #WATWB, please add your link HERE

 

Tanka Tuesday

Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 107, “Haunt & Spell,” #SynonymsOnly | Colleen Chesebro ~ The Faery Whisperer

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Tanka Tuesday

 

Welcome to Colleen Chesebro’s weekly poetry challenge. You can find the various forms of poetry accepted below, and for today I’ve chosen to try out my first double tanka. Feel free to join in weekly by reading the rules below and clicking on the link to visit Colleen’s blog.

 

This week’s 2 words given to us by Colleen are Spell and Haunt. We must use synonyms only for those words in our poetry.

 

 

C26C72ED-8E9F-4598-AD71-AE1D0F6DCBEF

 

WELCOME TO TANKA TUESDAY!

 

HALLOWEEN IS ALMOST HERE smileys-pumpkins-044068

Hi! I’m glad to see you here. Are you ready to write some syllabic poetry?

HERE’S THE CATCH: You can’t use the prompt words! SYNONYMS ONLY! Except for the first challenge of the month ~ then, the poets get to choose their own words. 

 

This week’s words are Haunt and Spell

 

What Man Hath Wrought

 

What Man Hath Wrought

 

World evolution

Frequented by man’s greed

Spurs ruination

No regard for pollution

Hexing Mother Nature’s gifts

 

Open eyes wide shut

Indeed what we reap we sow

Plagued by denial

Cursed by man’s incompetence

Prelude to devastation

 

For Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, you can write your poem in one of the forms defined below. Click on the links to learn about each form:

HAIKU IN ENGLISH 5/7/5 syllable structure. A Haiku is written about seasonal changes, nature, and change in general.

TANKA IN ENGLISH 5/7/5/7/7 syllable structure. Your Tanka will consist of five lines written in the first-person point of view. This is important because the poem should be written from the perspective of the poet.

HAIBUN IN ENGLISH Every Haibun must begin with a title. Haibun prose is composed of short, descriptive paragraphs, written in the first-person singular.

The text unfolds in the present moment, as though the experience is occurring now rather than yesterday or some time ago. In keeping with the simplicity of the accompanying haiku or tanka poem, all unnecessary words should be pared down or removed. Nothing must ever be overstated.

The poetry never tries to repeat, quote, or explain the prose. Instead, the poetry reflects some aspect of the prose by introducing a different step in the narrative through a microburst of detail. Thus, the poetry is a sort of juxtaposition – different yet somehow connected.

Cinquain ALSO: Check out the Cinquain variations listed here: Cinquain-Wikipedia These are acceptable methods to use. Please list the form you use so we can learn from you. 

Etheree The Etheree poem consists of ten lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables. Etheree can also be reversed and written 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The trick is to create a memorable message within the required format. Poets can get creative and write an Etheree with more than one verse, but the idea is to follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Reversed Etheree Syllable Count: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Double Etheree Syllable Count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Senryu in English 5/7/5 syllable structure. A Senryu is written about love, a personal event, and have IRONY present. Click the link to learn the meaning of irony.

 

Visit Colleen’s post below:

Source: Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 107, “Haunt & Spell,” #SynonymsOnly | Colleen Chesebro ~ The Faery Whisperer

Vision perception - Memoirs

I’m Featured at Conversations With Colleen Chesebro: Meet Author, D. G. Kaye

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Vision perception - Memoirs

 

Last week I was thrilled to be featured author over at Colleen Chesebro’s – Conversations with Colleen. I’m talking about first drafts, messages we leave in our writing, and more. Check it out!

 

CONVERSATIONS WITH COLLEEN: MEET AUTHOR, D. G. KAYE, (AKA DEBBY GIES)

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Conversations with ColleenThe October Edition

Hello everyone! This week I’m happy to share with you, my dearest friend and Canadian author, D. G. Kaye, (Debby Gies) as my guest. Debby puts up with my silliness every day, so when I begged asked her to pick three or four questions from my huge list HERE she was willing to give it a go.

We all aspire to be successful authors and the best way to learn some of the tricks of the trade is to ask questions. Debby has answered so many of my questions about book publishing that between us, we could write a book!

As many of you know, Debby also shares her goodwill through our blogging community by sharing our posts across the web and in the various Facebook groups, she belongs to, and by always cheering us on. I don’t know what I would do without her love and optimism that she sends out into the universe every day. ❤

Debby

 

Debby is also a member of the Sisters of the Fey blog, a group of eight authors who came together to share their love of all things magical. Debby’s specialty is writing about angels. Check out this post HERE and see if your angels have been connecting with you!

Please welcome my dear friend, D.G. Kaye

 

Hi Debby. I’m glad you’re here. Now, I have to know… Have you ever destroyed any of your drafts?

 

Absolutely not! My writing life is similar to my real life – I’m a packrat, lol. I learned early in my writing career to never delete anything. There’s a space for everything . . . eventually.

We should never delete our unused work because there are always valuable morsels we can use at a later time. I have many journals filled with writing ideas and articles I haven’t yet published, as well as many deleted parts from early drafts in my books which I keep in a file. I’m a hoarder when it comes to keeping original earlier drafts of my manuscripts too. I’ll usually highlight parts that weren’t used in the final drafts and copy the passages on to a Word doc for future considerations. One never knows when there’s a nugget of value from past work that can fit in somewhere else!

 

A packrat? I would have never guessed. Great plan, though to recycle what you’ve previously written. So, what does the word ‘retirement’ mean to you? Do you think writers ever retire?

 

Retirement means we’ve finished working – time to relax and not have to get up and go to work anymore. It’s a time where we’re free to pursue our hobbies and anything else we feel we want to be able to do that we couldn’t when we had our 9-5 jobs. But writing, for me, and most writers, I suspect, is a lifetime hobby or job.

Writing is a passion, not a job. It feeds our soul and we hope that our words and stories continue to feed the souls of our readers. It’s one of the few jobs that have no retirement age limits. In fact, I believe that some of our best writing comes as we age and acquire more knowledge and experience.

 

I agree. I think we become better writers as we age. How do you think your writing style has changed over the years?

 

I believe like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Although us writers are often our own worst critics, always seeking perfection, there is always room for improvement and growth. We don’t always notice as time passes, our writing naturally evolves.

As writers, we are readers too and everything we read becomes our teachers. Please continue reading . . .

 

 

Source: Conversations With Colleen: Meet Author, D. G. Kaye, (aka Debby Gies) | Colleen Chesebro ~ The Fairy Whisperer

Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

Sunday Book Review – While the Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle and Elsie Eaton

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Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

 

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m sharing my review of Robbie Cheadle’s latest release – While the Bombs Fell. While Robbie is better known for her children’s books she co-authors with her son, Michael Cheadle, Robbie has written this book in collaboration with her mother, Elsie Eaton, to share her accounting of her childhood during World War II in Suffolk, England.

 

 

 

Blurb:

 

What was it like for children growing up in rural Suffolk during World War 2?
Elsie and her family live in a small double-storey cottage in Bungay, Suffolk. Every night she lies awake listening anxiously for the sound of the German bomber planes. Often they come and the air raid siren sounds signalling that the family must leave their beds and venture out to the air raid shelter in the garden.
Despite the war raging across the English channel, daily life continues with its highlights, such as Christmas and the traditional Boxing Day fox hunt, and its wary moments when Elsie learns the stories of Jack Frost and the ghostly and terrifying Black Shuck that haunts the coastline and countryside of East Anglia.
Includes some authentic World War 2 recipes.

 

My 4 Star Review:

 

This book is a collaboration between author Robbie Cheadle and her mother Elsie Eaton, as Cheadle expresses her mother’s wartime memories written through the eyes of a young Elsie.

I would say that the writing style and voice here is more geared toward a younger audience – older children as well as adults, who may want to learn what it was like in wartime for a child growing up with the uncertainty of siren warnings, sharing beds, toys and clothing with siblings, and their playtime amusements taking them through til the end of the war. We learn that the simplest of makeshift toys and something as simple as eating an orange can delight a child, keeping them oblivious to the surroundings of war.

The authors give us rich descriptions of the hardships taken on by Elsie’s father to keep the family fed, as well as the day-to-day chores Elsie’s mother performed to keep her family clean, fed, safe, and happy through the changing seasons and elements that change with the seasons. It was interesting to read and learn how the simplest of food and sparse household items were meticulously used to keep a family going through difficult times – and a good reminder about the abundance of everything we so often take for granted in our present every day living. There are bonus wartime recipes shared at the end of the book.