#MFRW Best Friends


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‘Member when I said I was adding a new thing? Yeah, this is it. A blog Challenge. Like I don’t have any other thing to do. *Laughs uncontrollably* OK, now that we’ve had a good laugh.  You know me though, over achiever! Anyhow. . . I love a good challenge.

It’s week 5 of the 52-week MFRW blogging challenge. They said that it’s never too late to join, so I am jumping in at this point. I have to give you fair warning, I feel compelled to “catch up” and post the previous ones as well,  just not today.  To learn more and join in on the fun, go to MFRW.

This week’s topic is Meet My Best Friend. I can’t just pick one.

On one hand, my best friend forever would be my hubby.  He’s the yin to my yang. We are complete and total opposites in our personalities, yet we have common values. I’m outgoing and talkative and he’s the quiet reserved type. I’m creative, he’s analytical. It causes some problems at times but things are never boring. I’ve often joked that our problem has never been a lack of passion, but rather misdirected passion at times. Passion that has resulted in heated arguments. Passion that led to big fights. OK, I know some married folk who will say they never fight. Good for them but how boring. I mean come on! They miss out on all that good makeup sex!

He still puts the beat in my heart. OH wait,  you don’t want me to go there. Anyway, where was I? Maybe we should move on to my bestie.

My writing buddy, my sounding board, my soul Sista chick friend! That would be my wonderful friend Misty! If we lived closer, we would be a force to be reckoned with and get into way too much trouble.  It’s not like we are twinsies or anything,  but we think alike on several points. Misty writes horror/thrillers. I write romance/drama/ whatever I feel like dabbling in. We seem to have similar struggles in certain areas, and common core values.  Misty isn’t afraid to be gut level honest with me either and tell me when I am way off base, or what the heck was I thinking? I respect her opinion and honest talk.

I have to be honest, I  have been guarded most of my life against allowing anyone really close. One part of me sees other women with their girl friends and I am a bit jealous that I don’t have those kinds of connections. It’s my fault that I don’t though, because I don’t allow anyone to get that close to me. If you allow someone close, they can hurt you. Yes, issues that go way back to my childhood days and are tied to roots of abuse,  that have been dealt with but scars still remain.

You have to give the hubs credit for dealing with the baggage and the scars. Same goes for Misty or any of my friends for that matter. I tend to be cynical and not let very many people close.  I have a million friends that I can talk to,  schmooze with, talk about anything yet nothing. But, only a very select few ever get to that part of me that gets beyond the superficial.

Other than that, my close friends are limited to a couple of ladies from church and my writer group, Chatty Chicks. Without these wonderful online friends, I would never get any writing accomplished.  We discuss life, writing, struggles, drama, and everything in between over coffee and writing sprints. This is my rock solid grounding in the morning. We share in our victories and console each other in our losses. One of the ladies in this group does not drink coffee, but rather tea. It’s OK. She’s British, so I guess she can be excused. She’s also adorable and brilliant so we keep her. She’s our surrogate across the pond daughter. The rest of us tend to be mothering towards her. Part of it is the age gap,  but another part is she is just so stinking cute you can’t help but take her under your wing as if she were our own. Each member of our little group offers something unique. I guess if we didn’t, one of us would be unnecessary. As it is, it’s the perfect blend of sass, laughter, sense, and nonsense. Each of us are on our own path, but in that small group, our paths coalesce for our morning (afternoon for Emily across the pond which also allows the non-coffee drinker more grace.) sessions of chat and word wars.

Friends make life worth living. They truly help us get by. They help us get over the hurts hang ups and hard knocks. They urge us to do better than average. They push us to rise up out of the muck and mire. They are there for you, even if they don’t like where you are, what you say, what you are currently doing. They overlook all of those things to see the real you inside and come along side us during the happy moments and offer us tissues during the sad parts. They celebrate our wins, cheer us forward, and share the Ben and Jerry’s when we have fall aparts.

Give your friends a hug today. Send them a card, offer a hug, buy them lunch or a balloon!
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=276245

Other posts in this series:

  1. Raindrops on Roses
  2. They’ll Survive – I Guess
  3. Binge Watching #MFRWauthor
  4. Thank God for Grace in Editing!

Write on my friends, write on!

 

 

 

 

The Blogiverse


Routine is a thing I hate.  Routines become ruts, ruts become deep graves for the walking dead. I once heard someone say a rut was a grave with the ends knocked out.  Not a pretty picture, is it?

I like to keep things fresh and new. I know the benefits of a routine and a schedule, but it doesn’t have to become a drudgery.

It’s like . . . if you have a  bologna and cheese sandwich every day for lunch for a month BORING! But, you  could vary the way you have it. Day one might be the traditional bologna and cheese on white with mayo, lettuce and a tomato. Day 2  could be bologna cut in squares with different kinds of cheese squares on snack crackers. Day 3 might be  bologna chopped up into a form of ham salad.  Day 4 might be an open faced bologna melt. See what I mean?  It’s still bologna, but served differently it keeps it fresh, maybe not your favorite thing but more palatable.

As my weekend normalcy is already off kilter, I thought hey why not shake it up! I went out into the blogiverse to check out what else is out there.  Do you have any idea the number of people that are blogging? It’s astounding!

I recently shared my usual blogroll, but today I am sharing a few of the interesting new finds that I will keep my eye on.

Pointless & Prosaic – a guy with a sagacious wit that I can appreciate!

Normalcy Is Overrated  – the thing that caught my attention first is the book reviews.

Not All Things Touristy! – travel of course, some lovely photographs!

Modern Diversity – a kitschy blog, some good music here!  Loved the Soulful Sunday!

Organized Chaos –  just getting started but going to stay tuned to see how this one plays out!

Did you know there are blogs  about cooking, cleaning (yuck), bullet journaling (several, had to choose only a few), gaming, repurposed furniture, junking, . . . the list goes on and on.

So many blogs, so little time to read – sigh.

Well, that was my diversion for the morning but it’s time to get back to work.

Keeping the Crayons Sharp


Adult coloring books are such a ginormous hit these days. Ironic isn’t it? That we spent most of our lives  rebelling against the lines,  determined to not be limited by the lines, coloring outside the lines, driving outside the lines . . . OH wait,  that was just me.

The following are a few LINES that  my new bullet journal allow me to color outside of. I swear, I am having an OCD overdose.  I may have to send Ryder over at Bulletjournal.com some manly roses or a plant or something. You can all thank my friend Dana from Satin Sheets Diva for the continued bullet journaling posts.

I know there are all sorts of creative people on youtube sharing about their artsy fartsy journals,  for now I am happy that I  have one journal not five for various functions. (By the way, not making fun of those –  they are brilliant.  I’m just not there yet. They give me something to shoot for!)

Where was I?  OH yes . . . the lines that I am coloring outside of:

  1. In submission guidelines in a 1980 magazine, the submission was required that your sentences in the manuscript read from left to right, top to bottom, the exception being only for poetry. HA! HAHAHAHA! I Laugh in the face of proper ordered wordage. I can write down the side of my page, I can write diagonally across the page, I can even write from top to botom if I choose to do so because it’s mine, Mine, MINE! In celebrating this newfound freedom, yesterday’s journal reads like this:  2016-02-04 11.20.22
  2. Same submission guidelines (Yeah, I found an old Writer’s Digest while cleaning out my basement.) A good way to break into freelance includes editing grammatically weak tattoos and ghostwriting hate letters to the telephone company. WHAT????  What does that even mean? By today’s translation does that mean that I should go get a grammatically incorrect tattoo in protest of  one of the phone companies?  Sprant with a circle and strike through? Or maybe I should go retro and get a bell with a circle and strike through.  I *heart* Hal – on a tee maybe. That may be way before many people’s time, maybe not. I dunno,  I’ll have to think aobut this one.  This one may be rebellion fodder for another day.
  3. Do not bind the pages together of your manuscript s together with C-clamps.  I had to laugh. Of course the  innner child finds the humor of this irresistible. My solution –  not a C-clamp, but these things are so handy! Since this is my first go at this venture,  I’m not really worried about anything super cool. Come on,  the notebook was 33 cents! 2016-02-04 11.17.18
  4. The placing of smiley face stickers on or about your manuscript does not measurably enhance its appeal.  Get thee behind me Satan!  Of course it does! Smiley faces are the bomb. It lets you know of your happiness  level on those days that you feel like the storm clouds of life are following you around. Smiley faces are a necessary addition to any  journal or calendar or notebook or  anything. (See image above with smiley face addition.)
  5. To sell inspirational pieces and lovely poetry you must have a three part name and  credentials behind your name. Ms. Ellie Mack the Divine! How’s that?  That’s five parts. Why aren’t you laughing? I will come over there and “inspire you” to laugh one way or the other buster. Let me tell you my lovely poetry.  There once was a lady from Mitts who had  these really big . . . . .  moving on. I’m not sharing my poetry. I am not a poet. I have notes. Notes that are mine not anyone elses and are for my eyes only.   I have quotes. Quotes that are meaningful to me because it’s MINE and it’s for me.  YES,  I am being a selfish bitch! I’m over 50, it’s allowed.
  6. Dont seal the SASE. BWAHAHAHAHA! Billiant.  I would have never thought of that on my own.  Now If I can just come up with some place I need to send SASE to. . . (For you younguns that don’t know what SASE is –  Self Addressed Stamped Envelope)
  7. Use top quality ink, never handwritten in pencil. Seriously? First off, who would submit  their work even in 1980 handwritten?   If it were back in the 1800’s maybe but 1980?  I mean we had these huge typewriters that weighed as much as a grown man.  By 1985 we had dot matrix printers available, granted typed was better than that, but still. So, . . . just to be  kitschy, I am dedicating tomorrow’s journal entry to crayons. Do they still come in the big ultra pack with the sharpener built in? I may need to run to the store tonight and buy me a box. OOH! Then I can make a rainbow bridge with my favorite colors and add gold glitz and silver around the edges. I may have to make my own coloring page. I haven’t actually used crayons in a long time.  I think I need some.

The deal is this is MY journal.  You do what you want in yours, I will do what I want in mine.  It’s for my eyes,  for me to keep my daily grind from grinding me down to nothing. It’s to keep on track and not miss apoointments and have a bit of reflection for successes and failures.  It’s a way for me to track my blog posts and hit my goals.

Nex time (bullet journal blogpost) I’ll share a little about my layout and what I’ve already tweaked.  This is the main reason why I love this system – I can personalize it in whatever fashion that I want to, or not. If I don’t want to write a bunch of stuff that day,  I don’t.  If all I want to do is write down my todo list that’s fine.  If I am feeling particularly long winded then I can write like the wind.

Live it OWN IT Love it!

(Words borrowed from one of my mentors!)

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie

2015 in review


The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

3 Days, 3 Posts – Book Tag No. 1


Just a fun little blogging challenge, from PaulaActon’s blog. For 3 days, post a quote from a favorite book. It’s that simple.
I can do that! Easy peasy right?  Then I thought about it.  Oh wow, what book would I choose?  Decisions decisions.I asked my daughter for suggestions, unaware that she was studying for her final in her Shakespeare class.  She looks up at me with this “You interrupted me for that?” look on her face, then calmly said Hamlet.  
Erm, uh, . . . that’s really not my favorite Shakespeare so I thought we’d go with the theme and post my favorite quotes from the Bard from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, my favorite Shakespeare. 
Shakespeare quote

 Now I have to go look up a term,  one that a fellow writer posted in a thread in a writing group. I didn’t know the term for what I had used these for, but I’ll go find out and share that tomorrow.

I’m not sure if there is a format for tagging people for this post,  but I am going to challenge a few of my friends to share from THEIR book, or their favorite book.

VL Locey

Karen Docter

Aya Walksfar

Aedan Byrnes

Joshua Cejka

Short, simple and to the point. That shouldn’t be too hard right guys?  Guys? Why are they running away?

Tune in tomorrow  for your daily dose of literary gold. Write on my friends, write on.

Till next time ~~~~~

Ellie