Sheila's Guests and Reviews

Last October I challenged myself to write (or at least post) a drabble a day on my writing blog . A year's gone by and now, give or take the odd day missed and some with two postings, I've got a whole years-worth of drabbles. I've collected them into hand-made mini-books to sell as drabble-birthday cards, with a master copy on Lulu, Drabble-IT , that contains the whole set. (366, 'cause I added one, just in case the year in question should plan to leap.) If you should happen to be looking for a calendar with a difference (or with stories and poems), well, I'd love to sell you one... Meanwhile I've challenged myself this year to post a dribble a day--50 words instead of 100. It's definitely harder so I'd really appreciate the occasional visit, just to keep me on my toes: http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com

I've nearly finished a year's worth of drabbles --100-word stories and poems on my drabble blog . I'm not quite sure what possessed me to start. Maybe there was a challenge somewhere, probably on gather , last October. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself and wondering what to do next. There's always dribbles I suppose--stories told in 50 words--or there's snippets told in 30--or, whatever... Meanwhile, I've collected those 365 pieces ready to release them on my lulu store . And I've got a set of home-made "birthday books," one for each month, with a drabble for every day--sort of a readable birthday card. I didn't manage to sell them at the summer fair, but I'll try again at Christmas... or you can email me for more information. So... drabbles, dribbles, snippets ... what do you think I should do for my daily writes next month?

It doesn't look like my efforts have improved the queries reaching my site, but I have to admit, coming up with a catchphrase feels nice. (And I do thank you for your encouragement.) Now I can label my advertising materials more appropriately, and the timing's great since I have my first Christmas Bazaar coming up next weekend. I've even updated my Lulu storefront to match - http://stores.lulu.com/sdeeth - and I like the new version much better. My next job will be to make sure all the colors of the headers are the same, and then to update my blogs so their colors match too. Soon, I hope... Meanwhile it's November and I still haven't written my first poem-a-day for the Poetic Asides challenge . But I have posted two Mayflower drabbles on my drabble blog . Time to wax lyrical I think... Poetic Asides to the rescue...

Actually they're watching football (soccer) now. You know; the one where you actually use your feet to kick the ball. But we watched a really silly movie first, and listening to the guys play spot-the-mistake was quite fun. Apparently it's okay for movies to be illogical, but only if they have enough action to keep you watching. Soul-searching without logic's not allowed, they say. So I'll keep that in mind while I edit my writing tomorrow. No introspection without external action, unless I'm sure my facts can stand the readers' scrutiny. Meanwhile I'll scribble illogical drabbles, and check for inspiration on Gather's Wednesday Writing Essentials . It doesn't take so long to write 100 words, and it leaves me free to turn round and watch all the goals.

This one was another gather challenge, from the Genre Shorties group. The piece has to be 100 words or less, and should be a newspaper article about Cell phones, Reality TV shows, High calorie foods, The Weather, or The price of beans. I might use it again sometime, but I wrote my drabble about cell phones. And I emailed a submission to an agent that I met at the Muse Online . If you're not there this year, and you're looking for great writing tips, great internet tips, great connections, great advice, etc... well, I'd certainly recommend you sign up for the next one.

It's Wednesday again. It must be time for Gather's Wednesday Writing Essentials . I feel like I've scarcely got time to think this week, with the Muse conference to attend, but I'm sure I can manage the odd hundred words. So, here's the prompt that I read when I logged on this morning: • include the thoughts of an animal • something needs to be incongruous • use the Visual Thesaurus' Word-of-the-Day on the day that you write to this prompt • use the word happy or sad, but not both A quick trip to the dreaded Visual Thesaurus yielded "swashbuckler" for the word, so, knights and animals... There used to be a swashbuckling fox on childrens' TV in England. I don't remember much about him, except he wore plumes in his hats and he was, well, swashbuckling... But that got me placing my knight on a trusty steed with a fox in the trees. Something incongruous? Well, it is October, and if you've been following my drabble blog, you'll know I've...

I met an editor at Wordstock on Saturday; she said I should send one of my novels to her, so I skipped round the room in delight. Today, at the Muse Online Conference , another editor asked for one of my novellas. (A third said no, but hey; that's okay. I'd rather know upfront that it wouldn't work.) There's also the possibility of sending a children's picture book out, but I'll wait till I've learned a bit more about how from one the Muse's great chats. And then there's my one about math... The Muse is great - you should try it next year. Great chats. Great workshops. Great opportunities. And life is exciting and busy. But one day soon I want to write. Still, I did write a drabble for Halloween - albeit a very quick one: My drabble blog

These were the prompts for Gather's Wednesday Writing Essentials this week: • include something disagreeable • use the word, "hogwash" • something needs to die • use whatever you wrote to create a separate (or not) haiku that you also publish in the same post • tag with at least seven appropriate words On Washing a Hog “Hogwash,” said the American. The Brit looked round at streets and litter, searching for a pig perhaps in a barrel of water. He reached for the wallet that lurked in his inside pocket. Perhaps the stranger hoped he’d give him cash to buy a hog and wash it. The American, wise to concealed weapons permits and their flaws, promptly pulled out a gun. Luckily the bullet missed the Brit, embedding itself in a wall, where it pinned a fruit-fly that nobody mourned. “Hogwash,” said the American, but the Brit turned sadly away. He still maintained his belief in gun control. (100 words) And a haiku? Speeding bullet flies Mercy’s tree of life revised Fruit-fly’s plea...

I'm going to be running a women's group at church. I wonder if they realize how very disorganized I am? Anyway, here's my 100 words from last Wednesday Writing Essentials on Gather: Financial Planning for Dummies : “Right, let’s get everything out on the table,” said Jen. Mac, ever faithful, emptied his pockets of new pencils and ancient cracker crumbs. “That’s not what I meant.” “I’m looking for something; sure I’ve got some sense in here.” “What?” Jen shared a smile with the others. “Mac’s got sense?” Then he counted it, a dollar and thirty in change. “Everyone has coins in their pockets,” Mac said. “Just look what goes into the trays at airport security.” “So?” “So I hang around insecurely and acquire a few donations. We’ll be fine.” “He could be right.” “Or we’ll be fined.” (100 words) Prompts for Wednesday Writing Essentials, September 16, 2009: * Something must be new * Reference looking for something * Use a pun * Include the words "cracker...

Weathering the Storm They’re called life’s storms, those days when waves desert the shore, churn up and down instead. High on my shelf I watch myself, flailing, drowning, wed to uncertainty. He doesn’t ask about my day, but did I remember this, do that, go out to buy the other. I say I will, then filled with resentment don’t ask how his day went either. It’s not his fault, or mine, I know. The son leaves soon; the sun—skies turning gray like the last cloak of summer. Life’s storms are just the passing of time and I'm glad we’re sharing the boat. 100 words Written for Gather's Wednesday Writing Essentials : The prompt was * write about "love lost" or "love found" * do NOT use the following words: love, hope, kiss, or forever * answer the question of where * even if the piece is fiction, reveal something true about yourself

The Wednesday Writing essentials prompt was a bit more complicated this time: • mention one of these six obstacles to achieving goals – procrastination; crisis management; switching and floundering; television, telephones, internet and friends; emotional blocks; and illness • use the word August • reference temperature in some way • freewrite for five minutes and include that freewrite at the beginning of your article. So here’s my effort, though I struggled to find five uninterrupted minutes: Freewriting... His most august majesty sits above us, cool in his shade while we broil in the heat down below. A lazy movement implies no procrastination, no prevarication now, don’t switch your point of view or flounder. We live to obey. We live to serve. But, since he’s a cat and he’s stuck in the tree, we also live to find a stepladder and climb and rescue him. And since the son is filling in his next online MFA application, with me as backup, I’m not sure I have five minutes for freewriting,...

Okay, I know it's Thursday, but here's another drabble written for Wednesday Writing Essentials on Gather. It's called "Turn." “Turn left,” says he. “How far is it now?” “Be less if you turned the right way.” His eyes start to frown. Her fingers tense round the steering wheel as she feels him rejecting her skills, the glorious sparkle of her diamond fading to dusk. Downhill and slow; musk-scented trees bow low to the engine’s murmur, darkening sky while heaven’s diamonds shine... up above the world so high... “Turn left,” says he. And, “How far is it now?” So he sighs. She stops the car. “Turn my way.” She turns. He plants a kiss. And rejection flies far far away. © Sheila Deeth, August 2009 Written for Wednesday Writing Essentials: • include at least five words of a song • type one word twice and see if your reader catches it • use onomatopoeia (language that imitates or suggests the sound to which it refers. Think: cuckoo, gurgle, swoosh) • use the word ...

I’m typing words on a page, and letters fly from keyboard to screen. My muse is hitting the high notes, laughing today, as fingers perform a percussion of clattering dreams. And coffee’s bitter brew steeps sensuously, its scented veil trailing across my eyes. But when I look at the wide white screen the notes of the muse have gone flat. Did I mean to write that? “Obituaries” will soon be telling its own. Textnovel’s page is gray, the keyboard stone, and finger-ends are wearied skin and bone. “Save chapter, start another?” Hit okay. The author and the muse together groan. (100 words) Written for Wednesday Writing Essentials : • include three senses in your article • mention a book by title, either a real book or one you've made up • use the word "page" • make sure someone shows a noisy reaction such as cry or scream or roar with laughter, etc. “Obituaries” is the romantic mystery I’m writing for a competition on textnovel.com . You have to join the site to read, but if any...

I loved her but love makes you blind. I didn’t ask. She didn’t tell. Her strangely fearsome hell. Today, I’d question everything and risk whatever loss, except I’ve nothing left to lose. What I called love, she simply called possession. Bat-transformed, she flew into the night, left me behind. She didn’t realize I was still alive, and nor did I. But now I’ve changed and followed, bourn a stake into her heart because of love, and this its cost. I’ve let her go. D’you hear the sirens mourn? Fear me and tell me what you choose. I love you so. Written for Gather Wednesday Writing Essentials • Use the technique known as persona • Include the word "possession" • Reference transportation in some way • Make this piece dramatic

Another drabble, written in response to Gather's Wednesday Writing Essentials challenge... Warm and sweet, thick’n heavy, the air is treacle and bubbles release their childhood scents from the pan; jam butties for lunch. “Peanut butter’n jelly” says the voice in her head, but what have peanuts got to do with fruit? “If you fall in the jelly you’ll be in a jam,” chants the memory of children and books. “But Mum, what’s jelly got to do with jam?”—American books that couldn’t even spell “colour.” Ah, but Sheila’s American now, spells “color,” eats “Jello” at parties… and stirs the pot of memories, warm and sweet; jam butties tomorrow, flavored with love. 100 words Written for Wednesday Writing essentials * include a glaring incongruity * use the word Jello * include your name, and * make reference to something falling A quick translation for my American friends, butties = sandwiches, so-called 'cause they've got butter on. And chip butties (i.e. sandwiches wit...

Another 100-word challenge from the Genre Shorties writing group on Gather . This time the challenge was to write romance where a modern-day character travels back in time to meet someone famous from history. I'm not sure how well this fits the requirement, but it was fun trying... They say you should always take snacks on trips through time. But don’t share with the locals or you’ll contaminate the journey back. I took an apple. Of course, the fruit on Eden’s trees was absolute temptation. The scents were out of this world; hints of strawberry, apricot wine, summer distilled into winter’s brilliant pearls. She walked, hips swaying, with perfect lips poised for the perfect kiss, and he was perfect male. But the fruit fell from my hands as I stared. Two apples on the ground. One snake coiled round. If they choose wrong I’ll be trapped here forever.

The sun was glowing orang e as it fled into darkness . The distant horizon crawled closer with night, while owls called their ghostly cries, and creatures rustled in the trees. The children huddled close, voices frozen to stone, and their thin arms shivered, chilled by fear or the cold. “And then?” whispered one, as silver moonlight bathed her face in white, and starlight dripped like tears. “What comes next?” The storyteller turned. “And then,” she said, “the ghosts appear, floating high over the table, one for each of you.” And it’s true. Vanilla pudding does look ghostly when served by moonlight. Story written for Genre Shorties , a new gather group that I joined yesterday. The writing prompt was to tell a sci-fi story in 100 words or less, including at least two of the words: glowing, darkness, orange, fear, and pudding . I like drabbles.

I've been drabbling my way through Revelation on my gather page, and a friend commented on one of my entries ( Day 42 ) that "forgiveness is merely overlooking the mistakes made by others..." But what if overlooking another's mistake feels like sacrificing yourself all over again - your feelings not only unimportant to everyone else, but even to yourself? Maybe that's when we pray, as Christ did, "Father forgive," and let God do for us what we can't do for ourselves. Forgiveness becomes not "merely overlooking the mistakes," but releasing ourselves from the mistakes of others so we become free to be healed.

Today's the last day in the preview for my Easter book. Watch the Israelites crossing the River Jordan as they enter the Promised Land. See page 9 of http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=4401106

Wish me luck. This is my fourth and final bazaar—our own neighborhood, running all day Friday and Saturday. I’m sharing the stall again, begging all my friends to visit, and hoping for more sales. Meanwhile… Lulu’s offering a deal on my other book—the one I’ve not published yet. Should I buy some, to sell after Christmas when I’ll need something non-seasonal to attract customers, or should I just hide away and wait till the Holidays next year? Ah, so many dreams. Well, at least I’m down to three boxes now, and there’s plenty of room in the closet.