Writing

Rory’s Morning Dawdler — 02/15/23

Fandango8 Comments

Rory, the king of questions, also known as the Autistic Composter, has come up with a new series of questions that he calls “The Morning Dawdler.” He poses four questions three times a week, questions he says are “inspired by life, humor, conversations and observations, town life, blog posts, writers, gardening, news stories, television, entertainment, and human curiosity, and so on.”

Here are Rory’s four morning dawdler questions today.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?

I’d be a giant Redwood tree. Why? Because Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth, reaching more than 350 feet high. Nice view, huh? And Redwoods can also live for thousands of years.

Name 5 uses for a stapler other than stapling.

  1. Paperweight
  2. Weapon to throw at a coworker who is annoying you
  3. Musical instrument in the percussion family
  4. To attach things to walls or bulletin boards
  5. In a surgical setting, to join tissue together to close a surgical wound.

Do you believe in tipping for good service received and do you think that tipping makes for a better service?

I assume this question is about financial gratuities and not a tip of the hat or which horse to bet on in the fifth race at the track. In that context, yes, I do tip for good service and I believe that the prospect of a tip can lead to better service.

Do you have a blog to write or do you have a blog to socialize only and which one could you survive without if one was taken away?

I have a blog to write. The socialization aspect of blogging is icing on the cake. I started my first blog in 2005 and until I migrated it over to WordPress and discovered a vibrant community of bloggers, my posts generated minimal social interactions.

As to Rory’s question about one being taken away, I’m not sure how to answer it. If the socialization aspect of blogger were taken away, I would still write blog post with no or limited socialization, just as I did for nine years between 2005 and 2014. But if the writing aspect of blogging were taken away, what’s left? No writing, no blogging, right? Maybe I’m not understanding the question correctly.

Rory’s Morning Dawdler — 02/12/23

Fandango14 Comments

Rory, the king of questions, also known as the Autistic Composter, has come up with a new series of questions that he calls “The Morning Dawdler.” He poses four questions three times a week, questions he says are “inspired by life, humor, conversations and observations, town life, blog posts, writers, gardening, news stories, television, entertainment, and human curiosity, and so on.”

Here are Rory’s four morning dawdler questions today.

What is it about writing that you enjoy?

I feel that I can express myself much better in writing than I can verbally. Writing down my thoughts, opinions, and perspectives gives me an opportunity to read what I’ve written and to refine it, sometimes multiple times, until it expresses exactly what I’m thinking or feeling. I also enjoy how writing gives me an opportunity to flex my imagination and hone my composition and crafting skills when I write short pieces of flash fiction. Finally, I enjoy the interaction with other bloggers here on WordPress.

You have twenty minutes to take five practical everyday items from your house that will fit into a backpack that you will need to survive for two weeks in the wild – what do you take?

I’m not exactly a survivalist and I doubt I’d ever find myself spending two weeks in the wild. But I think I’d need these six items at a minimum.

  • My iPhone and charger.
  • A large water bottle.
  • A sleeping bag.
  • A warm jacket.
  • Thick socks.
  • Hiking boots.
  • Oh, one more thing: a box of kitchen matches.

Have you ever experienced road rage while driving in your car as a driver or passenger in someone else’s car?

I get angry when I see drivers do really stupid or dangerous things on the road, but I try to keep my rage in check. As my wife often reminds me, in the U.S., you never know who may be armed.

Do you complain or keep quiet if you receive lousy service when out and about and what is most likely to tick you off the most?

I will complain if I’m served the wrong dish or if something that should be served hot is only like warm. What ticks me off the most is when the person I’m dealing with is downright rude or nasty.

WDP — Leisure Time

Fandango31 Comments

What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?

I spent almost 50 years of my life getting up each and every day and going to work. A lot of my work involved writing proposals, presentations, analysis documents. I also interacted with coworkers, clients, prospective clients. I even tried to find some time on weekends to write The Great American Novel, but never got very far.

Then, at the end of 2016, I retired. No more proposals, presentations, coworkers, clients, prospective clients. Just me and my wife (and the kids when they found time in their own busy lives to visit with us). Suddenly I had an abundance of leisure time. An over abundance, actually.

So, what should I do with myself and all of this new found leisure time? I wondered. After a month or so into my retirement, my wife apparently got tired of me just hanging around and always being underfoot. She said to me, “Hey, you like to write. Why don’t you start a blog?” It was actually more of a demand than a question. Then she said, “That will keep you busy and out of my hair. You’re driving me crazy.”

I thought about that for a minute. Hmm, okay, I could express my points of view on the world around me and publish them on the internet, where they would be out there for anyone to stumble upon, virtually speaking. And maybe some people actually would stumble upon my blog posts and enjoy what I wrote. Maybe some would even responded to my posts. Comment on them.

Maybe not just my family and friends, whom I would tell about my new hobby, but total strangers from around the world would read, like, and comment on my posts. Maybe I could actually form connections with a large and vibrant community of other bloggers.

So I started blogging. It felt great to see my thoughts, perspectives, ideas, notions, and opinions “in print” for all the world to see. I discovered flash fiction and realized that, while I was unlikely to ever write the Great American Novel, I was a decent very short story writer and blogging allowed me to hone those skills and get almost immediate feedback from those who read them.

I discovered that there were writing prompts to help bloggers like me come up with something to write about and to post on our blogs. I even started creating prompts of my own to help nudge and inspire other bloggers to come up with ideas for their posts.

So, with all of what I just wrote as background, the short answer to today’s WordPress Daily Prompt is that what I enjoy doing most in my leisure time is blogging. And as the photo at the top of this post suggests, I do almost all of my blogging on my smartphone.

WDP — The Perfect Space

Fandango7 Comments

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

I already have built the perfect space for reading and writing. It’s inside my head. And the beauty of my reading and writing space is that it’s everywhere and anywhere I am.

And what facilities my highly flexible, perfect reading and writing space is that I do virtually all of my reading and writing, including blogging, on my iPhone, which is always on and always with me.

For example, right now I’m sitting on the couch in our family room. My wife is watching the latest episode of The Property Brothers Forever Home on HGTV. I’m inside my head — my reading and writing space — tapping this post out on the virtual keypad on my iPhone.

Who could ask for a more perfect reading and writing space?

Image credit: Andrea Faria at Pinterest.

One-Liner Wednesday — The Most Fun

Fandango12 Comments

“Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.”

Terry Pratchett, English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels

I don’t know, Terry. If I think real hard about it, I might be able to come up with something you can have more fun doing by yourself other than writing.

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