Month: August 2019

Honest Feedback

Fandango12 Comments

7AF193A8-2E81-4E1F-88E8-595B30419BA2“You’re not showing much enthusiasm,” Dan said.

“Trust me, it’s great,” Cynthia said. “I’m sure it will make you very popular when you post it.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Cynthia,” Dan said. “It’s just that you seem so languid. Are you ill?”

“No, I’m not ill, Dan,” Cynthia said, “But I am bored. You’ve been writing and editing that thing for hours and I’ve read draft after draft and I think I’m too close to it to see it for what it is.”

“I can’t win with you, Cynthia,” Dan said. “This post is my masterpiece and all I ask for is your support and your honest feedback.”

“You want my honest feedback, Dan,” Cynthia said. “Fine, my honest feedback is don’t quit your day job.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt; (enthusiasm), The Daily Spur (trust), Word of the Day Challenge (popular), Your Daily Word Prompt (languid), Weekly Prompts (close), Daily Addictions (win), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (masterpiece).

Weekend Writing Prompt — Teapot Dome Scandal

Fandango15 Comments

15714936-0E1F-4373-B573-4223F683A6D3Back in the Twenties there was a scandal involving the President of the United States. It was called “The Teapot Dome Scandal.” The scandal got its name from a natural rock formation in Wyoming called the Teapot Dome.

What will future historians will call all of Trump’s scandals?

(48 words)

FE3CCD60-1A3B-4EA3-AA6B-50AD68EF6C97Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where we are challenged to write a poem or piece of prose using the word “teapot” in exactly 48 words. Photo credit: WyoHistory.org.

SoCS — Couch Potato

Fandango10 Comments

6B54C796-D350-443C-A59E-4AEB15458EE4“Why are you always just sitting there on the couch playing Candy Crush all day long on your phone?” Carol complained.

“Oh come on, sweet-pea,” Jerry said, “just look at me, I’m a regular couch potato.”

“Jerry, you always couch your answers in terms of fruits and vegetables and I’m sick of it.”

“Oh, pumpkin,” Jerry said, a hurt look on his face, “that’s kind of hash, don’t you think?”

“No it’s not hash, Jerry, and I think you meant ‘harsh,’” Carol said. “Let’s go out somewhere. The county fair is this weekend. That would be fun.”

“Bean there, done that,” Jerry said. I yam sure I don’t want to go there again.

“Did you just say ‘bean there’ instead of ‘been there’? And ‘yam’ instead of ‘am’? That’s so corny, Jerry,” Carol said.

“Carol, my little tomato,” Jerry said, “you know, deep down inside that we are like two peas in a pod. Why don’t you take your lovely pair-shaped body and set yourself down on this couch next to me? As soon as I finish this came of Candy Crush, we can add some spice to our lives. If you let me squeeze your melons, I’ll let you fondle my eggplant.”

“Ooh, you’re getting a little peppery, there, Jerry. Lettuce see what happens when you finally put down your phone,” Carol said. “You always were the apple of my eye, Jerry.”

Jerry smiled and said, “Aw, orange you a sweet potato?”

This bit of silliness was written for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. She’s asked us to write a post using the word “couch” as a verb or a noun.

Fandango’s Friday Flashback — August 30

Fandango11 Comments

My apologies. I totally forgot yesterday to post my Friday Flashback prompt. It’s been that kind of week, I’m afraid — a day late and a dollar short. Oh well.

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of you earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember?

Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 30th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on August 30, 2018 in response to a Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent.

The Apparition

549D5FE6-461F-4A4B-AB7D-9A517CA9C204Sean came back to this site every year since the incident five years earlier. As it was almost every time he came here for that auspicious anniversary, there was a thick mist hanging in the air. He stared at the point where he had last seen her and tears of regret filled his eyes.

His last view of Wendy was etched into his brain. She had walked to the land’s edge and was staring down at the waves crashing into the rocks far below. “Be careful, hon,” he remembered calling out to her. “Don’t get so close to the precipice.” And then she was gone.

I can’t believe how oblivious I was, Sean thought. I totally missed all of the signs. Her sister had warned Sean that something was wrong, but Sean thought her sister was a drama queen and was seeing things that weren’t there. But her sister was right all along. Clearly Wendy was suffering from a serious depression and Sean, preoccupied by his own issues, was distracted.

Sean heard a voice calling his name. It was Wendy’s voice, calling him to come over to her. He looked toward the edge of the bluff and saw Wendy standing there in the thick mist, looking down at the water far below. “Sean,” he heard her say. “Sean, come to me, come be with me.”

In a trance-like state, Sean walked toward Wendy. As he approached the cliff’s edge, Wendy was gone. Sean moved cautiously toward the edge and he heard Wendy’s voice calling him from below. He peered over the edge and saw her standing in the surf. “Come to me,” he heard her say to him. “Come be with me for eternity.”

FOWC with Fandango — Masterpiece

Fandango23 Comments

FOWCWelcome to August 31, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “masterpiece.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.

Good News If You Like Red Meat and Salt

Fandango31 Comments

0D7886F4-5D09-4E4A-8EE0-2DDAC461DB15Half of American adults live with one or more diet-related chronic illnesses, and poor diet is the primary cause of ill health in the country, leading to 700,000 deaths annually, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

So what does the Trump administration, under the leadership of America’s junk food president, do to address this issue? Well, for starters, it says fuck the scientists. What do they know? The Trump Administration has made a decision to direct the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture to limit scientific input to the 2020 dietary guidelines. This includes the guidelines with respect to the consumption of red and processed meats, for ultra-processed foods, which account for a growing percentage of calories consumed by Americans, and to the appropriate sodium (salt) levels for different populations.

Almost all dietary and nutritional experts have been recommending that Americans eat less red meat, cut back on their intake of salt, and avoid ultra-processed foods. So to Trump, it makes sense to shun scientific input into this dietary and nutritional research and to, instead, rely on the processed food industry’s lobbyists to influence “healthy” eating recommendations for all Americans.

But isn’t this the way of Donald Trump? He puts former coal, gas, and oil executives or lobbyists in charge of the departments of the Interior, Energy, and Agriculture and he picks a former Big Pharma exec to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

Big Business now runs the American government in the age of Trump. He has certainly been stocking, not draining, the swamp.

50 Word Thursday — Ready to Launch

Fandango3 Comments

432D0FB9-B2F9-4F0F-B8AE-A4689DA9460DSue thought that she was finally getting the hang of her job. Provided she did exactly as instructed, she should be able to get it right. She let out a little chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Cheryl, Sue’s cubicle mate asked.

“I’m just in a good mood, Cheryl,” Sue said. “Why are you always so churlish?”

“Churlish? Are you kidding me?” Cheryl said. “I simply have a realistic view of things, Sue. You, on the other hand, act, at times, like an animated cartoon character.”

“That’s not fair,” Sue said. And then she looked at the monitor and said, “Oh shit!”EBE45FB7-E098-4B61-AECA-5815DC0DFE1A(100 words)

Written for this week’s 50 Word Thursday prompt from Deb Whittam at Twenty-Four. The idea is to use the image above (unattributed), along with the line, “Provided she did exactly as instructed, she should be able to get it right.” from Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by MC Beaton, and to write a post that must be between 50 and 250 words, in 50 word increments.

Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (hang), Daily Addictions (funny), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (churlish), Word of the Day Challenge (view), Your Daily Word Prompt (animated), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (emergency).

Friday Fictioneers — It’s Not Rocket Science

Fandango10 Comments

AB9DBFF3-73C4-47DC-9A06-0E52DA74F819“I want to do a conga line dance,” Mildred said. Her four adult children were visiting Mildred at her nursing when Barbara, the oldest, asked her mother what she wanted to do.

“A conga line dance?” Barbara said. “Mother, don’t be silly. You’re in a wheelchair. How can you do a conga line dance?

Mildred got an annoyed look on her face. “You’re the one being silly, Barbara,” she said. “Your brothers, your sister, and you line up behind me and push me around the grounds in my chair while we dance to conga music. It’s not rocket science, dear.”

(100 words)

Written for this week’s Friday Fictioneers prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Photo credit: Linda Kreger.

FOWC with Fandango — Churlish

Fandango21 Comments

FOWCWelcome to August 30, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “churlish.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.