Day: June 5, 2019

It’s Nice To Be Recognized

Fandango13 Comments

257375C6-FCEF-4801-AAE4-079944910BE2Melanie, over at Sparks From a Combustible Mind, gave me a shoutout in a post she wrote responding to a nomination she received for the Blogger Recognition Award. So first, congratulations Melanie.

Truth be told, Melanie didn’t nominate my blog for this award. She’s really not into this whole nomination thing. But what she did was to list my blog among “some blogs worth a look, which deserve recognition, but which I’m NOT NOMINATING.”

So second, thanks for including my blog in your shoutout list!

I think what I’m supposed to do now is to publish a post on my blog about having been mentioned in Melanie’s Blogger Recognition Award post. In that post, I’m supposed to give a brief story of how my blog started. And I’m also supposed to give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

How My Blog Started

I’ve been blogging for 13½ years. I actually wrote about that here in a post about the thirteenth anniversary of my first blog. I started that blog because I liked to write and I wanted to share my writing with others. But no one noticed. Oh well.

I went through a couple of blog iterations until I started this blog in May 2017 after a two year absence from blogging. I decided to get back into blogging because I needed an outlet to vent about the lunacy of Donald Trump and, through prompts and flash fiction, to divert my attention from what Trump and his Republican sycophants are doing to our country and the world.

Advice to New Bloggers

  1. Blogging is addictive, so be prepared to devote yourself to blogging and to risk your job, your family, and your real world relationships.
  2. You will “meet” some interesting, creative, fascinating people while blogging and you’ll likely develop some real friendships with other bloggers from all around the world. Interacting with these other bloggers, reading their posts, and commenting is as important and as rewarding as publishing your own posts.

Okay. If any of you want to share how you started your blog and/or to offer advice to new bloggers, now is the time to it.

Alphabet Confusion

Fandango9 Comments

“You’d better hustle if you’re going to make it in time,” she said. “Did you check the drug store’s exchange policy? You don’t want to go all that way only to be surprised.”

“I’m pretty sure I remember seeing advertising indicating  a fairly liberal returns and exchanges policy,” he said.

“Well, for your sake, I hope so,” she said. “Far be it from me to instigate a quarrel, but, sweetheart, there is a huge difference between the Preparation H hemorrhoidal suppositories that you came home with and the Plan B morning after tablets that I told you to pick up.”

“Well, you can understand my confusion, right?” he said. “Plan B and Preparation H both have letters in their names.”

She just shook her head.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (hustle), Weekly Prompts (drug stores), Ragtag Daily Prompt (exchange), Word of the Day Challenge (surprise), The Daily Spur (advertising), and Your Daily Word Prompt (instigate).

2019 #LinerWeds Badge Contest

Fandango14 Comments

91845F49-2C1C-4A81-B9D9-50EEA07944F6Linda G. Hill, the blogger responsible for the enormously popular One-Liner Wednesday prompt, has implored us to “get out your art supplies, ladies and gentlemen, because it’s time for a new One-Liner Wednesday badge!”

The current badge, from Cheryl at Dreaming Reality, is displayed at the top of this post. But Linda likes to shake things up, so she holds this annual contest in which she asks her One-Liner Wednesday followers to come up with new badge designs. Thus, this week’s One-Liner Wednesday will be the last one with Cheryl’s badge.

The rules for this badge contest are listed on Linda’s post HERE. Linda will be sharing all badge submissions on her blog on Monday, June 10th, along with a poll that will close the next day, Tuesday the 11th. The new One-Liner Wednesday badge for the next 12 or so months will be the one that receives the most votes from her readers.

I am submitting my badge design below. It’s a picture I took last fall during Fleet Week in San Francisco. The image below was taken from Golden Gate Park and it shows the Navy’s Blue Angels jets in formation doing a steep climbing maneuver, reaching the zenith and then arching back down. And then I ran it through a Prisma filter for the final effect. Here it is:0A8DF2A1-A357-4ECA-B2A4-2D609C05C697So if you like this badge design of mine, go to Linda’s blog this coming Monday and vote for my badge!

Thanks!

In Other Words — A Source of Resentment

Fandango9 Comments

03875C41-C880-43D2-A84F-3106D7461F33I have never been one to toss out a quick and easy compliment.

When it comes to romantic relationships, that has been to my detriment.

My inability to speak flattering words is a bit of a bafflement.

And it’s not something that my lovers view with any measure of amusement.

It turns out that my lack of exuberance can be a source of resentment.

In other words

Written for the In Other Words prompt from Patricia’s Place. The challenge this week is to write a story or poem of five lines or fewer using the picture above and/or the word “compliment.” Today I used only the word, not the picture Patricia provided. I substituted another image I found on the internet that I felt better illustrated my story.

One-Liner Wednesday — Caught Stealing

Fandango6 Comments

43A1A761-8227-4731-AD3E-C19892408999

“The difference between baseball and politics is that in baseball, you’re out if you’re caught stealing.”

Unattributed

It’s time to hold our elected officials accountable. When the time comes, go out and vote!

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.