Day: September 13, 2020

Sunday Writing Prompt — Cards on the Table

Fandango27 Comments

What the hell? Alan thought after he opened the package he received from his editor. He picked up his phone and called the guy.

“Josh here,” the editor said when he answered the call.

“You arrogant son of a bitch,” Alan yelled into the phone.

“Ah, Alan,” Josh said calmly. “I guess you got your manuscript with my edits.”

“Don’t pull your down-home, woodsy routine on me, you worthless, spurious bastard,” Alan said. “Who do you think you are to redline my entire draft and to replace entire sections of it with your revisions? I hired you to edit my book, not to rewrite the damn thing.”

“Alan, you’re just like all of the rest of the wannabe novelist who write shit and then claim you can publish your claptrap independent of editors and publishers,” Josh said.

“Are you calling my manuscript shit?” Alan asked. “You so-called editors couldn’t write your way out of a wet paper bag. All you do is take other people’s creative work and tear it to shreds.”

“You think you’re a creative artist, do you, Alan?” Josh said. “Your manuscript has about as much creativity as a carbon copy.”

“You weren’t saying that when you wanted me to hire you, Alan said. “You claimed, with that deceitful smiling face of yours, that my draft covered a wide sphere of interests and with your great prowess to tidy it up, it could be a best seller. Were you lying then, Josh, you unscrupulous dick?”

“Okay, Alan,” Josh said, “I’m going to put all of my cards on the table.”

“I wish you would, Josh,” Alan said.

“Alan,” Josh said, “Don’t quit your day job.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Sunday Writing Prompt (cards). And for the Three Things Challenge (sphere, arrogant, smiling) from Di at Pensitivity101. Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (editor), Ragtag Daily Prompt (woodsy), Your Daily Word Prompt (spurious), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (replace), And Word of the Day Challenge (independent).

Song Lyric Sunshine

Fandango20 Comments

I’ve been nominated by s.s. at Mindfills for the Sunshine Blogger Award. So thank you, s.s. for the nod.

I don’t follow most of the rules for these blog awards, but I do answer questions, and the questions for this award are intriguing because they come from song lyrics. So here goes.

1. What’s love got to do with it? (Tina Turner)

My question is what “it” is. Before I can tell you what role love has in “it,” I need more information.

2. What if we said goodbye to safe and sound? (Troye Sivan)

I guess we’ll find out if Donald Trump gets re-elected in November.

3. Who’s zoomin who? (Aretha Franklin)

These days, everybody’s zooming everyone else in order to stay in touch with family and friends.

4. How do you sleep? (Sam Smith)

Fine. Thanks for asking.

5. How do you want to be remembered? (Magic)

I’d like to be remembered fondly, but I’ll be dead, so….

6. What if God was one of us? (Joan Osbourne)

He’d probably be lying in the street with a cop’s knee on his neck yelling “I can’t breathe.”

7. Where did all the good people go? (Jack Johnson)

I’ll let you know when I get there.

8. Are you listening? (Paramore)

What? Did you say something?

9. Do you practice what you preach? (Black Eyed Peas)

I don’t preach. I express my opinions, my perspectives, and my observations. Take ’em or leave ’em.

10. What are you waiting for? (Nickelback)

An invitation.

11. Why worry? (Dire straits)

What me worry

I’m going to tag Jim Adams. As host of the popular Song Lyric Sunday series, these questions are right up his alley.

Who Won The Week? 09/13/2020

Fandango10 Comments

10CC3057-4EEA-4C80-B8C1-700C0FC6C906It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

This week’s Who Won the Week winner may seem to most of you to be an odd choice. Nonetheless, I’m selecting the coronavirus quarantine as the winner. Why, you ask. Well, let me explain.Survey SaysA recent survey of 2,000 Americans over age 21 found that two-thirds said the pandemic quarantine has made them a better person.

The results found that the quarantine has changed Americans’ outlook on life. The survey revealed that 55% of respondents were a bit embarrassed by some of the things they valued pre-quarantine, and the many months spent at home gave 70% a chance to learn more about themselves.

Some respondents gained the time and flexibility to delve into new hobbies and discover new passions. Many respondents say that they plan to continue those hobbies once quarantine is over.

This opportunity to explore personal interests beyond work has led 27% of respondents to indicate they are hoping to achieve a better work/life balance coming out of quarantine.

Being close to the people they care about was a major theme for respondents, as 46% want to spend more quality time with friends and family, and 38% plan to create more meaningful relationships with those around them.

Bottom line, Americans seem to be coming out of this quarantine feeling, despite the hardships, that they are better people. And that’s why the coronavirus quarantine is my pick this week for Who Won the Week.

Now it’s your turn. Who (or what) do you think won the week?

Song Lyric Sunday — Contradictions and Juxtapositions

Fandango12 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the theme “contrasts.” I thought about this for a long time and was having difficulty, so I went to Dictionary.com and to its thesaurus and entered the word “contrast.” One of the synonyms was “oppositeness.” BINGO! What song is more illustrative of oppositeness than The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye”?

“Hello, Goodbye” was written solely by Paul McCartney, but it was credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song was released as a non-album single in November 1967, and was commercially successful around the world. It reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1967.

Alistair Taylor, McCartney’s friend who was visiting him, asked Paul one day how he wrote his many songs, and how he came up with his ideas. Paul took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration of his hand-carved harmonium. As an experiment, Paul asked Taylor to shout out the opposite of whatever he sang, such as black and white, yes and no, hello and goodbye, etc. From this, the song was born.

John Lennon hated the song. He viewed it as inconsequential, saying it was “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions.” What further infuriated Lennon was that his “I Am The Walrus,” was issued as the B-side to McCartney’s A-side “Hello Goodbye.” Shortly after the song was released, McCartney, somewhat defensively, given Lennon’s criticism, justified the song, explaining that, “The answer to everything is simple. It’s a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white. That’s the amazing thing about life.”

Here are the lyrics to “Hello, Goodbye.”

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go go go, oh no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why and I say I don’t know, oh no
You say goodbye and I say hello
(Hello goodbye hello goodbye) Hello hello
(Hello goodbye) I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
(Hello goodbye hello goodbye) Hello hello
(Hello goodbye) I don’t know why you say goodbye
(Hello goodbye) I say hello/goodbye

Why why why why why why do you say goodbye goodbye, oh no?

You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello

You say yes (I say yes) I say no (But I may mean no)
You say stop (I can stay) and I say go go go (Till it’s time to go), oh
Oh no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello hello

Hela heba helloa
Hela heba helloa, cha cha cha
Hela heba helloa, wooo
Hela heba helloa, hela
Hela heba helloa, cha cha cha
Hela heba helloa, wooo
Hela heba helloa, cha cah cah [fade out]

FOWC with Fandango — Replace

Fandango34 Comments

FOWCWelcome to September 13, 2020 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 “replace.”

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. Please 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.