Day: December 26, 2022

TMP — Guilty Peeve

Fandango10 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

First let me say that my peeve doesn’t piss me off. In fact, I feel guilty about even mentioning it. After all, we in Northern California are in the midst of a multi-year severe drought. Still, the fact is that this week we are going to be hit with what is known as a Pacific Atmospheric River. It will dump a boatload of rain in the Pacific Northwest and the San Francisco Bay Area over the next eight days

Yes, we need the rain. Desperately. But my dog hates the rain and I hate walking my dog in the rain. And drying her off after bringing her in is a task neither she nor I look forward to.

So yeah, I feel guilty about complaining about all the rain we’ll be getting. And I feel for all of those who have been suffering through frigid temperatures and blizzard conditions over the past few days, when all I have to complain about is getting soaked walking my dog.

But the fact remains, for admittedly very selfish reasons, I’m not a happy camper about all this rain. But it’s my blog and I’m going to peeve about it.

Don’t hate me.

Blogging Insights — No Vacation

Fandango5 Comments

It’s Monday and Dr. Tanya is back with her weekly Blogging Insights prompt. She provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote.

Today’s quote is from Eugène Ionesco, a Romanian-French playwright.

“A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.

I think it would be a stretch for me to call myself a writer. I’m a blogger, and being a blogger most often involves writing. That said, as a blogger, I admit that I am very often thinking about my blog and what to write. What word shall I feature on my daily one-word prompt? What image should I choose for my flash fiction prompt? What line for my story start prompt? What topic for my provocative question prompt? What old post to choose for my Flashback Friday prompt? How to respond to the prompts from other writers? How can I post about my perspectives on things, about what’s going on in my life, and yet maintain that delicate balance between remaining anonymous and expressing who I am?

Bottom line, I spend more time thinking about my blog, writing posts, reading other bloggers’ posts, and commenting on them than I do any other activity during my waking hours. So, I agree with the quote. I never take a true vacation from blogging or from thinking about it.

Share Your World — 12/26/2022

Fandango15 Comments
Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her post-Christmas 2022 questions for this week.

1. If you have been given a variety of gifts, do you have to clear out of older stuff to make room for it?

I was more of a gift giver than a gift receiver this year, so no, I did not have to make room for new stuff by throwing out the older stuff. My only reason for ever throwing out older stuff is if it no longer works, is broken, or is worn out.

2. Do you overindulge with food for special occasions and then come to regret it with either weight gain, guilt, or severe indigestion?

I admit that, when I was a younger man, I would stuff myself at holiday meals and suffer the consequences. But I am now at the age where I know better than to do that and I have enough self-discipline that post-holiday meal weight gain, guilt, or indigestion due to overeating are no longer issues for me.

3. What is your favorite part of any celebration?

When it’s all over, including cleaning up, and I can sit back and chill.

4. Are you looking forward to getting bargains in the January sales?

I’m not really the bargain hunting type. I buy what I need or want when I need it or want it.

Gratitude: What are you grateful for today?

I’m grateful that Christmas is over.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #199

Fandango13 Comments

Welcome to Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from the WordPress Free Photo Library provided by Pexels.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows two girls sitting on top of the passenger cab on a pickup truck looking off into the distance toward some mountains partially obscured by clouds.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Situation

Fandango19 Comments
FOWC

It’s December 26, 2022. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “situation.”

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. Show them some love.