A Writer’s Mind
If you were to look inside a writer’s mind, you might be confused, in awe, angry, depressed, surprised, happy, overjoyed, or scared, (yes, be very afraid because a writer’s mind can sometimes be a very scary place.) and there is no mind like a writer’s mind. Ideas pop in and out of our heads all day long. Some ideas stay with us while others drift away. We see a helicopter fly over and we have the beginning plot for a book or a movie script. When we mow the lawn we can write a short story or a great novel in our head. We see a logo for a business and we write a limerick or a full promotional ad campaign.
Which is what happened to me and inspired this blog post. Here, I’ll show you.
Over the rainbow, my drain runs free.
Thank you, Sand ‘n’ Sea, for fixing it for me.
And at a great price too!
I found a pot of gold.
Or,
Over the rainbow, your drain can run free.
Just give us a call at Sand ‘n’ Sea.
It also brings out my crafty side,
So how does your writer’s mind work?
And what inspires you to write?
Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their weekend.
Hugs till next time
(Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I earn any money from Sand ‘n’ Sea for promoting their business on my blog.)
Frustrated with Amazon
I love reviews. Good ones, bad ones, criticizing ones, and helpful ones.
It’s been 3 months since I hit the ‘publish’ button for “Wisps of Words” And the reviews are slow to come in and I was wondering why. Then last week my cousin Debbie texted me and said that a screen popped up and told her that she had to spend $50 before she could leave a review.
What?
I told her don’t go through the Amazon app on her phone. Go to Chrome and type in Amazon and go through there.
She did and this is what she got;
I asked her did she just open an account to leave me a review and she said yes.
My son said, “I thought everyone had an Amazon account.”
Evidently, they don’t.
When I gave paperback copies of my book to people, I put a note inside.
Just like this;
I’ve gotten a lot of wonderful feedback. But the reviews are just not there. And then I find that others aren’t being allowed to leave reviews either. This is crazy. I feel like I’m being punished. Hahaha.
Cecilia tried to leave a review and couldn’t so she put her review on my “waiting” post in the comments https://karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com/2023/02/27/waiting/.
My friend Helen messaged me on Facebook and told me that she tried to leave a review and this is what she got in return,
I just don’t understand. And now I am wondering how many others are not being allowed to leave reviews.
So if you have read, “Wisps of Words” Just leave a comment on this post and let me know if you liked the book or not.
Hugs till next time
Waiting
We all do it. From the time we are born, till we die. The agitation. The anticipation. Stress. Excitement. Anger. Happiness.
We wait in line at the grocery store with ten other people when only one cashier is open.
We wait for the bus in the pouring down rain.
We wait for that dreaded phone call. Am I going to live? Or, did I get turned down for my dream job?
We wait in waiting rooms at the doctor’s or dentist’s.
We wait for good news. We wait for bad news.
We fear the worst, but hope for the best.
Sometimes, waiting isn’t very bad.
We wait for Christmas morning, hoping Santa has been there.
We wait for our birthday party, our wedding day, and to finally hold that bundle of joy after waiting for nine months.
What do we do while we wait? How do we pass the time?
We pace the floor waiting for that phone call.
We strike up conversations or thumb through magazines.
We crochet. We write. We read. We scroll through our cell phones, reading emails and text messages. However, there are times when nothing helps pass the time. Time drags on forever when we are waiting.
Waiting takes a lot of time and work. Wonder if it would pay well to be a professional waiter.
Why am I writing about waiting? There is a story in my new book titled, “Waiting”, about a young boy who is frustrated and angry for having to wait. If you want to know what he is waiting for pick up my new book, “Wisps of Words” The e-book will be free this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
What are you waiting for and how do you pass the time?
Hugs till next time,
Karen
P.S. I love reviews. Good or bad. Therefore, if you read it let me know what you think.
And I just received my first review!
adam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Touching short stories
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2023
Excellent writing work with emotionally touching stories in ‘Wisps of Words’. The way it was written, almost puts you in the writer’s shoes. You can smell the smells they are experiencing, see and feel what the writer is at that moment in time. Amazing work! Cannot wait for the next publication Karen releases.
Wisps of Words
My brother passed away on January 31, 2001. I wanted ‘Wisps of Words’ published on Amazon on January 31, 2023, but I ran into a few formatting issues with the ebook. So I decided to make the publishing date 2/3/23. My 65th birthday. I hit the ‘publish’ button yesterday morning. Success! Right? No. Amazon shows it as being published on 2/2/23. Oh well. The ebook is now available on Amazon for 99 cents. Find it here.
It took me ten years to finally get ‘Wisps of words’ finished. A lot of hard work and a lot of procrastination. Haha.
So, let me tell you a little bit about, ‘Wisps of Words’
‘Wisps of Words’ is a collection of short stories and poems about life, death, and the afterlife. Most of them are fiction and a few are non-fiction written as fiction. One of the stories, ‘Ghosts’ I wrote in 2001, three weeks after my brother passed away for my English 101 composition class in college. I didn’t get a great grade on it. However, my professor wanted me to submit it to the school paper. The not-so-great grade came from the fact that I didn’t really follow and write the class assignment. Haha, I was such an outlaw. However, I didn’t take that class to become a writer. I just needed the credits for my degree. And yet, here I am.
None of us want to face our mortality. We don’t want to think about dying or losing our loved ones but death is a part of living.
I hope that the stories in, ‘Wisps of Words’ will touch your heart and maybe it will change your perspective on life, death, and the afterlife. I don’t know. I do know that life can be way too short.
I want to thank Eden Baylee and Robert ‘Sharky’ Pruneda for all of their help. Love you guys!
I’ll leave you with a quote from the book,
“Sometimes we must experience the sorrow of death to fully appreciate life.”
Hugs till next time,
Karen
P.S. If you do get a chance to read, ‘Wisps of Words” Please leave a review. Good or bad, I love reviews.
Sandi
After I wrote about Rocky and Athena, I wanted to do a follow-up, because there are always two sides to every story. Twelve years ago my son texted me a picture of his new puppy and the only reaction I had was, “Please tell me that’s not a pit bull.”
Many of us have the misconception that pit bulls are bad and that is not entirely true. All dogs, like all people, have their own personalities, dispositions, and demeanors. For centuries, society has stereotyped different dog breeds, Doberman Pinschers, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and now Pit Bulls as being aggressive and unpredictable.
So let me introduce you to my son’s pit bull. When I talked to him on the phone after he sent me the photo, he told me her name was Sandi, “With an “I”, he said. Meeting Sandi for the first time, I found her to be sweet, shy, and a bit timid. She had the biggest smile and when she wagged her tail, her whole body wiggled. My son lived two hours away but I made it a point to get together at least once a month so Sandi could get to know my dogs and me and we could get to know her. My Duggy simply adored her and the first time Sandi came to our house, my Mitzy let her know who was boss. Mitzy would plant herself right at the point where the hallway ends and the living room begins and would bark just one time. Sandi would back up, go through the kitchen and lay on the dining room floor. Sandi had great respect for Mitzy and her boundaries, but she also feared her. Which was funny because Sandi would grow to be 3-4 times the size of Mitzy. However, Sandi did figure out how to get around Mitzy so that she could lay on the couch. I had an L-shaped sectional couch and Sandi would climb over the arm of the couch on one end, walk along the cushions until she could lay next to me.
When my son would have to work out of town, he’d bring Sandi and Sketch to come stay with us. Sketch is his other dog. We call him “the Butler.” He has these long back legs and just the way he walks is hilarious. Sketch is a small dog with floppy ears and a curled tail. They would come into the kitchen and demand the homemade doggy cookies. One time I didn’t have them baked when they arrived so they barricaded me in the kitchen until I got them made. They loved coming to grandma’s house because here they were spoiled rotten.
There is probably only one time that they didn’t want to come stay at grandmas. I can hear them now, “We don’t want to go stay at Grandma’s. She makes us eat our vegetables, and we have to sleep on the couch,” and horrors of horrors, “last time she gave us a bath!”
Giving Sketch a bath is a breeze but Sandi…I got her into the bathroom easy enough but getting her in the tub was a different matter. I straddled her and lifted the front half. Getting her front paws on the edge of the tub, I lifted the back half only to have her front paws drop back down onto the floor. I gave up after three tries and took her, the shampoo, and the towel out back, and using the garden hose, she got her bath. Thankfully, for her it was a nice warm sunny day here in California
As Mitzy grew older, she began to lose her hearing and eyesight and had a little bit of dementia. Mitzy had a certain path she would walk in the house when she wanted dinner. One day Sandi was sleeping on the dining room floor when Mitzy began walking. When Mitzy got to Sandi, I am guessing she thought it was a speedbump, Mitzy climbed up across Sandi’s belly. Front legs on one side back legs on the other Sandi slowly stood up letting Mitzy’s back legs drop down on the other side and Mitzy continued on her way. It was a funny sight to see and even though Sandi was startled, she stayed calm.
My Mitzy was a mama’s girl and she passed away peacefully here at home in July 2019. She was sixteen years old.
Sandi was a grandma’s girl and she followed Mitzy over the rainbow bridge 10 months and 10 days later in May 2020. Sandi was ten years old.
I miss Mitzy and Sandi very much.
There is so much more I could tell you. Like you cannot judge a book by its cover. Sandi was a big sweetheart. She didn’t have an aggressive bone in her body and she loved everyone she met. I took her to the vet once and I was nervous of how she would react, but she was the perfect patient and everyone at the vets loved her. At home, she was the only one that would wag her tail and smile at the mailman while the rest of the dogs would run from one end of the fence to the other barking their fool heads off. In fact, you hardly ever heard Sandi bark.
Mitzy was a Spaniel/ Dachshund mix. And she was a tough one. One time I was out walking Mitzy and Duggy and a woman walked up to me. Pointing at Mitzy she said, “I’ll bet she’s the friendly one and he’s the mean one.” Nope, quite the opposite, Duggy who is a Chihuahua mix loves everyone and Mitzy only loved me. If you woke her up she would snap at you and even nipped my dad (among others) when he tried to pet her.
The one thing they all had in common was how scared they were of the loud fireworks on the 4th of July. You ever have four dogs try to set on your lap at the same time?
To wrap it up, after the Rocky incident I am hesitant to approach any dog. Big or small, they all can bite. But thanks to Sandi, I no longer judge a dog by their breed.
When I started writing this a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across an article and video of another pit bull who didn’t want to go home with mom but wanted to stay at grandma’s. Find it here, https://pethelpful.com/pet-news/pit-bill-leaving-grandmas
Well that’s all for now.
Hugs till next time
Rocky and Athena
(A short horror story)
It has been two years since that fateful day. A time Kaitlyn would like to forget but will always remember. It was the week before Halloween and they were into their second lockdown since the pandemic began. No pumpkins, ghosts, or witches decorated the front yards. No trick-or-treaters would knock on doors. No Halloween.
The neighborhood was quiet that Friday morning. No cars coming or going. No people out and about. Kaitlyn sipped her coffee and stared out the kitchen window. With a sigh, she placed her cup on the sink and as she turned to walk away, movement down the street caught her eye. She watched as Rocky and Athena walked down their driveway and head towards their neighbor’s house. Kaitlyn had met Athena a few weeks back and found her to be a sweetheart. Kaitlyn wondered if Rocky was the same way. They seemed to be opposites. Athena was tall, thin, and graceful with a friendly smile. Whereas Rocky was shorter, stocky, and muscular. Kaitlyn got the impression that he was arrogant and standoffish. However, together they were a beautiful couple.
The couple emerged from one backyard only to walk down the driveway to the next house. Curious as to what they were up to, Kaitlyn kept her vigil of watching them. As they went house to house, Kaitlyn lost sight of Athena. However, when Rocky ventured towards the cross street, Kaitlyn knew she would have to do something. She sat her cup on the sink and walked out the front door.
***
Kaitlyn’s legs were shaky as she walked on the opposite side of the street across from Rocky’s house. As she got closer she saw that Rocky was back in his front yard. Kaitlyn took a deep breath and in a soft voice, she said, “Hi fella,” and without warning Rocky charged towards her. Kaitlyn put up her left arm as he pounced and she went down with a thud. She could feel his hot breath and the fuzz on his muzzle as his mouth closed around her forearm just above her wrist. His teeth sinking in. Kaitlyn screamed out, “Help! Cory! Help!” Rocky let go and bit into her upper arm. Kaitlyn heard someone yelling,
“Hey!”
Rocky let go of her arm and went back to his yard. Kaitlyn looked in the direction of her own house and saw her son, Bubba, running towards her. “Slow down,” she called out.
“What?” he asked.
Kaitlyn was afraid Rocky would take Bubba as a threat and charge him. She put her hand up, “Stop running.” Her legs wobbled as she stood up and her hand shook as she grabbed the handle of the recycle bin that she had fallen next to.
Bubba stopped beside her, “Are you okay? What were you doing?”
“I was just going to let Cory know his dogs were out.” Kaitlyn told him as she pulled the recycle bin along using it as shield between Rocky and them.
“You were lucky that I heard you walk out the door. I thought maybe Denis had fallen again and you were going to help him.”
***
Getting back to their house, Kaitlyn headed straight for the bathroom. Her hands shook as she pulled off her shirt. She didn’t want to see but knew she had to find out how bad her upper arm was. She cringed looking at the torn skin, but at least it wasn’t bleeding too much. She poured peroxide on it before applying bandages. She put on a clean shirt and headed for the couch. Her heart still pounding, sweat formed on her brow, and upper lip. Her stomach did flip-flops as she ran for the bathroom again.
Her stomach empty, Kaitlyn rinsed her mouth out and used a cool cloth to wipe her face. She ran the brush through her hair and grabbed her keys. It was just another day and Bubba had to be at work.
The End
Most of the names have been changed to protect the innocent, even mine. And if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m Kaitlyn. This happened two years ago today, October 24, 2020. I wish I could tell you that I learned something from this, like mind my own business or not my problem but… I was battered and bruised, sore and swollen with a few extra holes that I never expected, but at least now I can cross, “Get attacked by a pit bull” off my bucket list. ( You can look but no it’s really not on my bucket list. )
That’s it for now,
Hugs till next time.
My List of Buckets (My Bucket of Lists)
Oops! I got that backwards. It should say, My Bucket List. I was reading license plates while stuck in traffic a couple of weeks ago and the car’s plate in front of me had the letters, VOP and I pointed it out to my son and told him that my POV is backwards.
Anyway, we watched the movie, “The Bucket List”, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, three weeks ago. My oldest son had never seen it. Good movie. Hey, did you know that the race scene was filmed right here in my hometown at the Auto Club Speedway? Cool, huh? However, the movie got me to thinking about my own bucket list.
You see, I haven’t felt good lately and yet, I feel fine. I have this cough, and it’s been going on for two years now and yet, I’ve had it for a lifetime. As a baby I would get all congested and cough. My parents would take me into the bathroom; turn on the hot water in the shower, close the door, and get the bathroom all steamed up so that I could breathe. (Didn’t they have humidifiers back then? Gee, I did not think I was that old. Ha-ha.) When I was in elementary school, I would cough all night long, every night for a month and the next month I would run high fevers at night. High enough so that a few times my parents took me to the hospital where they would pack me in ice to get my fever down. Then the coughing would start up again the following month and it only happened certain months out of the year. The family doctor couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me so he suggested that my mom keep me indoors after 3 p.m. He thought it might have had something to do with a change in the air pressure. My cousin hated this idea because we didn’t get out of school until 3 p.m. and we couldn’t play outside. In fact, I talked to my cousin a few months back and she reminded me of those dark days blaming it on my asthma, but I didn’t have asthma then and I don’t have asthma now. I’m not short of breath. I do not wheeze. There is no tightness in my chest. I have no symptoms of asthma. Even as an adult, if I go to an evening baseball game in the park, or an outdoor concert at night, I will cough all night. Now, I’ve developed a new symptom. After a coughing fit, I go into a sneezing frenzy.
So what has caused this latest coughing spell? Well, as a child, we only used evaporative (swamp) coolers and to this day, that is what I still use to cool my house.
On the other hand, maybe it is long-term covid. Did I have it, you ask. I got sick December 30, 2019 and testing had not been started yet, so who knows. Maybe I was one of the very first cases. I don’t get sick very often. Prior to that, I have not been sick since December 2007. That’s twelve years between cold viruses. Pretty good, huh?
In October 2020, I went and got a tetanus vaccine and the woman asked me if I had, had my pertussis vaccine. I told her no but I should have told her I did not want one either, but I was in shock at the time. (A different blog post to come.) For those that don’t know what pertussis is, it is whooping cough. And I have been coughing ever since.
Last, but not least, I could just blame it on the weather. Global warming/Climate Change, but that is also another post soon to come.
However, this is supposed to be a post about Bucket Lists, so let us get started. When it comes to my bucket list, it is quite boring. Well, not for me but others might think it is. You see I have no urge to travel the world. If I did travel, there are only two places I would like to see, Times Square on New Year’s Eve and Mount Rushmore on a clear fall day. I do not want to go skydiving, or climb the highest mountains. I don’t want to be rich and famous and live behind gated walls with bodyguards following me everywhere. However, I do want to live comfortably and be known and loved for who I am.
I make lists all the time. To-do lists. Grocery lists. Things we need lists. Goal’s lists. We will categorize those as my, ‘Bucket of lists.’
Now on to my Bucket List
Blog Posts
My List of Buckets (Yay! Done.)- Climate Change/Global Warming
- To Vaccinate or Not
- Hate
- Bullies
Rocky and Athena (A short story)- The Invisible Demon (A short story)
- Who am I/Who I am
Series Books
Chris’ Journey Turning Different Corners
Book 1 Her Journey Begins (Already published)- Book 2 A Corner For Life
- Book 3 Moving On, Coming Back
- Book 4 The Final Corner (Title subject to change)
The Reincarnations of A.M.B.E.R.
- Book 1 Alexiah
- Book 2 Matty
- Book 3 Bibliana
- Book 4 Eliorah
- Book 5 Rachel
Short Story Collections
“Wisps of Words” (almost ready to publish) and “Prompted by a Photo”
Non-Fiction
‘Dad Called Today’
Children’s books
- Kiley Paints Her World
- Kiley Visits the Farm
- Not a Cloud in the Sky
- The Monster in Tommy Tree
- Kiley’s New Neighbor
- Kiley and Friends Stand Together
- Kiley’s Adventure on the Deep Blue Sea
- Kiley’s Color and Learn About Animals
- Kiley says, “Let’s Write About You”
As you can see my bucket list mainly consists of my writing. It does not matter if I become a famous author or not I just don’t want to take all these stories to the grave with me. They are meant to be shared. And the way I have been procrastinating, I had better live a LONG time. Ha-ha.
There are two more things to add to my list. As a child, I took piano lessons for three years and the only thing I can remember how to play was a simple song my step-dad taught me called, Robin in a cherry tree.
So what I would like to do is relearn how to play the piano just enough to be able to play, “California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and Papas” and “Another Day in Paradise” by Phil Collins.
Well, that’s my Bucket List. What’s on yours?
Hugs till next time.
Let’s Start Again!
Happy New Year! Well, 2021 has left us and it’s time to begin that uphill climb into 2022.
How are you going to spend this new year? Any plans? Goals? Or resolutions (shudder)? I don’t make new year’s resolutions. To me, they are like promises that you can’t keep. But there are some things that I would like to do this year like read more, write more, work on my bucket and to-do lists.
But today, I want to talk about movies. One of my favorite movies is “The Equalizer” starring Denzel Washington and in the movie, he tells the young girl at the diner about a list of 100 books you should read before you die. I love to read. Give me a good old-fashioned paperback novel and I’ll read it cover to cover, but not everyone likes to read. So, I thought we could come up with 100 movies to watch. I’ll share some of my favorites with you and I would love for you to share some of yours with me.
Ready? Here goes. (And these are not in any particular order.)
The Equalizer
The Help
Driving Miss Daisy
The Proposal (Betty White was awesome in this. May she rest in peace.)
Oh, God starring George Burns
John Q
Bohemian Rhapsody
Unstoppable
Lord of The Rings (Loved all three)
The Avengers (I prefer the ones where they work as a team but the individual movies are okay. Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, etc.)
Remember the Titans
And if you’re a Stephen King fan, Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile.
Tom Hanks fan? Forrest Gump, Turner and Hooch, Castaway, Sully and the list goes on.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a big fan of Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.
And last but not least,
The Bucket list. Did you know that they filmed the speedway scene right here in my hometown?
Well, that’s enough to get you started. If there’s a movie you think I might like, leave me a comment.
And if you prefer to read instead of watching a movie just google, 100 books to read before you die.
I’ve checked out some of the lists and most of the books I agree with and then there are some that I haven’t a clue as to why they’d be on the list. But to each his own.
Okay, that’s it for now.
Hugs till next time
HELP!
Is it avoidance? Procrastination? I’ve been struggling to write. To move forward with my writing seems to be non-existent. Heck, I’ve been having trouble moving forward with all of my projects. Even this blog post has been hanging around in my head for a month or more now. I can accomplish everything from start to finish. Writing. Remodeling my house. Yard work. From beginning to end. But, only in my head. Putting everything in motion has me stuck.
Am I afraid? But what’s there to be afraid of? Maybe people won’t like my stories or the way I write? And why now? It’s never stopped me before. And it’s not writer’s block, because all the stories are in my head just waiting to be put down on paper, to be typed up, and thrown out into the world. I sure as heck don’t want to take all these stories to the grave with me. (Which will be a different blog post coming soon. Well, it will be if I can get myself in gear and moving forward. Haha)
And my projects! I start and then…Like replacing the broken bricks on a planter. I’ve started on it, but have faltered along the way. And I have legitimate excuses too. Like, it’s way too hot out or I won’t have time to finish it. I’ve done brick work before, so why am I so afraid that I’ll mess up and have to start over? I just don’t get it.
So what do I do? How do I move forward and keep moving forward?
I’m sure we all struggle from time to time with this procrastination. With that little voice in our heads causing us doubt in our abilities. What do we do?
What do you do? How do you keep yourself motivated and moving forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
So, now that I’ve finally gotten this blog post written, I’ve got the song, “Help!” by The Beatles, stuck in my head.
Enjoy.
Okay, that’s it for now. Hugs till next time!
Oops!
Even though my last post was about saying good-bye to 2020, I realized there was more about the year that I’d like to put behind me. Most of that post was positive, but there were negatives too. So what better way then to tell you about it and show you.
Sorry about the video being shaky. I hadn’t figured out how to download the footage from my surveillance cameras, so I video taped the video with my cell phone. LOL. And the oops comes in at about 34, 35 seconds.
My neighbor couldn’t decide whose yard to park in. His or mine, so he split the difference. He wasn’t hurt but his car was totaled and he did a bang-up job on my planter, wall, and fence. Literally. This happened right at the beginning of our stay at home orders, so dealing with the insurance was more of a mess than the yard.
My insurance adjuster would not come out because of covid and everything was done through emails, text messages, and video calls. Then she told me she wouldn’t go after my neighbor’s insurance. I had a $1,000 deductible and thankfully, my neighbor paid that. The insurance adjuster sent out a company that they work with to do the estimate and I’m beginning to think my adjuster didn’t even look at the estimate. She sent out a check minus my deductible and said my case was closed. That company wanted two thousand more than what the insurance paid. Evidently, my adjuster thought it was a done deal because she went out of town and didn’t let me know. I finally got in touch with another adjuster and she said she would look into it and call me back within two days and she never called me back. It took almost 3 months to finally get it fixed. Long story short, my neighbor sent a guy over to give me an estimate and he came in just over the amount the insurance paid. And he did a great job.
He took it from this,
To this,
To sum it up…My neighbor was cited for excessive speed and reckless driving. (Yes, I did file a police report when it happened.) When my house insurance policy came up for renewal eight months later they raised my rates. I never did hear back from my adjuster. Two months after they raised my rates, they decided to go after my neighbor’s insurance and found out he didn’t have any. Next time, I won’t file a claim. I’ll do the work myself.
What I’m thankful for is that my dogs were not out in the front yard at the time because they would have been in that very corner barking as the neighbor came up the street.
Oh well,things happen. It’s just a part of life.
Hugs till next time.
karensdifferentcorners 