Sweet nothings

when handed a writing challenge

... might as well write it on your blog. So - heres my latest writing challenge from my online group. You can read mine then perhaps write yours...

Write about the last emotion you felt

write about whats to your left this minute

write about the last thing you said out loud

 

 

Part of me loves a challenge and writing tasks are always a fun challenge.... loving english lit ever since I learnt at school there is no wrong answer, merely a convincing descriptive or argument... 
Part of me rebels instantly with any demand or instruction and doesn't want to make the effort. Just keeping it real ;) 

Last emotion... 

Honestly I'm not proud of admitting it, but it wasn't a very kind emotion. It was somewhere between rising anger and hurt. Another dig online from a nasty person who just cant seem to go away. And then a realisation an old acquaintance had unfriended me on Facebook. again. - she has facebook issues!
Silly to let either get to me... one is a person I really cannot bear, their thoughts and opinions mean so little anyway. Another is someone I never see anymore, except perhaps to raise my hand to say hi as we drive by each other on a school run.  So, why does it matter? why the need to defend and justify myself? Some basic human desire to be liked and understood I suppose. Some 'need' that I find very weak in myself. If I examine my thoughts I really don't care. But it bothers me.  Learning to let them talk, let them whisper, and in the case of a 'not really a friend'- let them move on. Just stop listening.  it only leads to absolute indignant fury on my part.  Be more like X { a friend who is tough enough to not let this kind of drivel hit home}  Remind myself to focus on my life and all the good things thats been happening, and the nicest people I've mixed with this week :) 

To the left of me...

I'm at my desk, and for once its fairly tidy. To the left of me is an important letter, put here on my desk in the hope I will not lose it, nor forget to answer it. (There are no guarantees, its entirely dependant on how many more important letters get put on top of it)
There is also a stretchy hair bobble - normally on my wrist or in my hair I am generally never more than two meters from a hair bobble ;)  There is also a slate coaster that my sister bought me, with a coffee cup etched on it, that I like very much. There is a cat to the left of me but at my feet. He is apparently hungry again, and the fact its 11pm means very little to him! my ignoring him attempts are not going well...

The last thing I said out loud...

Aside from telling the cat he is not being fed, I read out loud this challenge.  The last conversation was with my other half about next weeks plans, the good, the bad and the complicated.  And a brief catch up about work. Our work overlaps; my photography and social media are used by his companies,  and the mutual input is great. I've no doubt my next conversation will be with either the bossy cat or the snoozing puppy :) They and I are usually up late together, and they get to hear my varied thoughts on what I am writing/editing/creating.

 

 

repeat.

Is it me.... or does anyone else notice seeing the same things over and over? 
the online adverts -

Want to write a novel? click here to find the six easy steps to a best seller!

Want to tone up? click here to find the simple trick you've been missing!

Want to get more readers to your articles? follow us to gain the simple truth behind writing a great blog!

Trying to be a Supermum and run a home business? We show you how!

SAME old same old. Dressed up new ways. Does anyone believe it? does anyone follow the 'life coach superstars'? anyone think they can lose weight with 'three easy steps'? 
well yes, people do. Or... really -surely?!- people hope these steps MIGHT be true and save them lots of hassle? 
NOTHING loses weight for good other than eating right and moving more. Nothing. No, not grapefruit, not powdered chemical meals {ban them!!}, not diet biscuits, not starving yourself.... nothing. It takes WEEKS. MONTHS. and - heres the kicker; you have to CARRY ON. Holy unfair huh? 
Nobody writes a best seller/top article/good read because they followed a particular set of steps {or we would all do it} You actually have to be a dedicated writer. 
Nobody needs to be Supermum, never mind that AND something else. 

It makes me so tired - soo tired - scrolling by these adverts. Watching them 'pick on' the weak, the tired, the vulnerable, the desperate and promise them things they cannot deliver. Listening to their latest converts preach to others.  When really we all know it. We know a pyramid salesman when we see one, we know there are no quick fixes, and we know we have to work hard to gain anything. 

Are we so afraid of hard work? of encouraging others? of things taking some time and requiring commitment? 

 

Write now. a paragraph a day from one word. Jan 14-feb 14 2016.

squelch

Serious amounts of mud in my world. It has been raining, then flooding, then freezing. then raining. FOR LIKE EVER!

I own a horse and I own a dog who needs walks. So -no chance of staying in; out of this mud and rain. On top of this, I've been trying to walk 10km a day. Its been muddy, and tiring, and bloody cold, and horribly damp. 
but .... breathtakingly beautiful. Crisp fresh air, frost, dew drops, blue winter light, deer, ice crystals, tumbling streams. Every morning that I struggle to get up and wonder why I cant stay in bed just five more minutes {that IS every morning....} that feeling has been replaced by utter joy at the view, a laugh at the dog's antics, happy chats with fellow horse owners, or even just cosy relief at a hard earned cup of tea once back home in the much more appreciated warm.

Silver linings people ;)

 

Write now. a paragraph a day from one word. Jan 14-feb 14 2016.

 

ankle deep mud. mmmmm. 

write now. 2

Mood.

How to lift a bad mood. Go outside. Look at the light, find the details and see all around you. 

Really see. Notice your neighbours fence, see the cracks on the pavement that make an initial K. Hurry your walking, for no particular reason. 
Turn the corner, increase your stride to climb the hill. See the seasonal hedge growth, sparse and tangled, note the thorns and the hanging dew drop 'hats' each leaf has.  Cross the road. 
Notice the fallen leaves have now lost all their colour and are a deep sludgy brown, heading towards rot. Be careful not to slip.
Catch sight of the striking bright moss green, a real eye-catcher amongst the dull and muted colours elsewhere. See the strands of sheep wool caught on the wire fence, as the wind pulls it back and forth.  Feel the sharp chill of the air hit your lungs and breathe in, properly, for the first time all day. 
Let the grey blue winter light wash over you, lift your face to the skies as the wind whips around your neck. Remember your gloves; back at home, sat on the stairs. Shove your fingers into the fleece lined coat pockets. Stamp your feet in the clear rain water puddles and leave glorious dark foot prints behind you. Suck in your breath again as the chill reaches right through you, despite the many layers.  See the blackbird fly in front of you, calling a shrill warning to all others that you are on your way. Cross from the pavement to the dirt track.  Delight in the bright cheery colour of the red berries strung through the hedgerow, recall from somewhere being told the brighter the berry the colder the winter.  See the sheep lift their heads and watch you go by, chewing cautiously, slowly, incase you are a reason to flee. Realise a Robin is keeping up with you, flitting branch to branch along the bushes. Take a little joy in his company, and bid him hello.  See the floods have receded, enough to show the pathway, but still coating everything in thick treacle like mud.  Walk alongside the stream, now full of rushing water, remembering how you can barely see the trickle of water during the summer months.  Exclaim to yourself at the early daffodils who have already decided to stand up tall. Crunch, with your muddy boots, the thin almost invisible ice that sits across the puddles. tuck your chin into your scarf, lift your shoulders towards your frozen ears. Turn the corner, cross the road.  Just keep walking. 

 

Write now. a paragraph a day from one word. Jan 14-feb 14 2016.

write now. 1

Conform. 

Do you ever wander... how things came to be? How we 'all agreed' this piece of paper would be worth fifty pounds ...but this piece of paper only worth five?
Who decided we cant go here, must apply for this, or that we need a form for this entitlement. How we agreed who was in charge and who wasn't? how religion religious organisations got so much money behind them... and became the centre of as many corrupt investigations as politicians and bankers? Why nobody really hears the political news anymore because its all the same, and we forget how much it affects our life?

How many times do you try to explain to a toddler or six year old; we just don't 'do this' in public? we just don't question this, or that? and found your words are pretty feeble and make no sense even to yourself as you hear them leave your mouth....

Why you mouth off at restricted countries and places that withhold freedom of speech and women's rights... and then realise we haven't travelled that far from them actually?
Why the big fat cats are usually unknown names at the top of companies and yet have a say in our politics? Our media? Decide our food our fashion or our 'rights'? Because money gave them power, and more 'rights' than you.  
Have you realised that that very media tell us what we think, what we should worry about and fill us with only the censored side of facts? Doesn't it ever bother you that we never know the whole story? 

As you wearily tread thro your day, the nine to five and all the drudgery in-between, the commuting, the bill paying, the hard slog, do you ever look up? 

 

 

Write now. a paragraph a day from one word. Jan 14-feb 14 2016.