Blow Your Stack Saturday/Snippet Sunday/Weekend Writing Warriors 30 July 2022

 

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The following is ten sentences from my stupid garbage daily diary. I keep kicking around the idea of gathering these thoughts into some kind of memoir/self-help book thing. 

I always wind up thinking "how the hell could I help anybody when I'm such a damn mess?" However, the people I've felt most "helped" by in this world are other messes, not the Shining Stars farting rainbows as they leap across the heavens. 

So, this may be part of a WIP or it may just be filler as I try to pull myself back together and start trying to promote my stories again.

OFFICIAL SNIPPET START

On July 5, I received a few books that I ordered from Thriftbooks.

You, the reader, need to check out Thriftbooks.

https://bit.ly/ThriftBooksCie

One of the books was The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

I wrote my name in my new book the way I did when I was a little kid.

“This book is the property of Ornery Owl, July 2022.”

Okay, I didn’t write the Ornery Owl name when I was a little kid because I didn’t think of that one until 2019. But The Artist’s Way is the property of Ornery Owl, because that is the persona that will heal the rest of me.

One of the first things Julia talked about is writing three journal pages every day. These are supposed to be handwritten. I don’t know if that’s going to happen.  

OFFICIAL SNIPPET END

(Spoiler: it's been happening all month. I'm actually kind of surprised.)

I've really been struggling this year, so thank you for indulging me with this snippet from something that may or may not ever be published depending on how evil I'm feeling. If I'm feeling especially evil, I will probably unleash it on the world.)

Ornery Owl

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474

http://wewriwa.blogspot.com/

Friday Book Hop 29 July 2022

Genre: Music, Memoir, Nonfiction

Buy Link: 

https://amzn.to/3PLOeql

I will earn a small commission from Amazon for any books purchased via this link.

Hey-ho, let's go!

It was one of those crystal-clear evenings in the late winter of 1969. My mother, my brother, and I had recently moved into a new high-rise apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens, with a spectacular view of Manhattan.

Leigh, Mickey. I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir . Touchstone. Kindle Edition. 

https://www.rosecityreader.com/

https://readingismysuperpower.org/

The first time I came to see Marky in the Ramones, he was mainly concerned with how he looked in his new jeans.

Leigh, Mickey. I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir (p. 221). Touchstone. Kindle Edition. 

http://www.fredasvoice.com/

Book Blogger Hop Question:

22nd - 28th - Is there a hard-to-find first-edition that you would love to own? If so, why? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Anything by my favorite authors of the macabre. Imagine having an original, first edition Arkham House collection of Lovecraft's work. I can almost smell the insanity! Or maybe I forgot something in the oven.

https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/p/blog-page.html

Until next time, keep it Cthulhu. Sanity is overrated and I wanna be sedated.

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Friday Book Hop 15 July 2022

 

Buy link:

https://amzn.to/3OZ8957

I will earn a small commission from Amazon for any books purchased via this link.

“The study of psychological trauma has an ‘underground’ history. Like traumatized people, we have been cut off from the knowledge of our past. Like traumatized people, we need to understand the past in order to reclaim the present and future. Therefore, an understanding of psychological trauma begins with rediscovering history.”1

The author chose this quote from Judith Lewis Herman to begin her book. Considering the subject matter, it works perfectly.

1 Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2015), 2.

https://www.rosecityreader.com/

https://readingismysuperpower.org/

“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Laura selected this quote to begin Chapter 17. I would argue that there is also strength in knowing when to back off, to re-evaluate, to rest. I was one of those people who went to work deathly ill on more than one occasion. I always ignored health problems until they became critical. At nearly 60 years old, I am now learning to do certain things I should have been doing all along for my well-being.

http://www.fredasvoice.com/

Book Blogger Hop question:

15th - 21st - Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, do you prefer listening instead of reading? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

I both listen and read. My audiobooks are essential for long drives when I'm alone. I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest cities average 55-60 miles away. When I'm at home, I generally read e-books. If I listen without focusing on another activity, such as driving, I'll fall asleep. Not because I'm bored, mind, but because I start to relax. 

https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/p/blog-page.html

Until next time!

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Make it Happen Thursday: Organizized

https://odysee.com/@90smetal:4/powerman_5000_-_organizized:c?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

I doubt I will ever be fully organizized, but I keep trying. Here is this month's schedule:

Writing Schedule for July 2022

Sunday Selections (Photography)/Poetry Sunday

(Finish and send off entries for Lincoln Poetry Contest)

Mental Health Monday (Encouragement Project)

Tasty Tuesday (Cooking with Ornery Owl), Watkins promotion

WIP Wednesday (Naughty Netherworld Press stories)

Work on editing/formatting The Wizard's Key

Make It Happen Thursday/Blog Hop Thursday/Wordy Thursday (Weekly roundup, editing, reviews)

Make blog posts for the month.

Seek My Fortune Friday (Work on stories for publication elsewhere)/Fanfiction Friday

For July: The First Line autumn entry (Lily)

The First Line Nonfiction: Write a 500 – 800 word essay about the first line from a favorite literary work.

Blog hops: First Line Friday/Friday 56

Not sure I'm going to bother with the fiction entry for The First Line. They've rejected both of my previous fiction submissions. I'm getting this hunch that I'm not their cup of tea.

Sexy Saturday (Erotica stories)/Shameless Self-Promo Saturday

For July: Naughty November story for Cobblestone Press

Do Triberr tweet queue

Specific Events

Release the Beast July 15

Send out the newsletter.

And now, it's question time.

What would I really like to be working on?

All Tales from the Dreamlands/Cthulhu Mythos/Fetchiverse all the time.

But, guess what.

That’s not commercially viable.

I really want to go out and kill everyone who has it all together and put their heads on posts in front of my house to warn all those other well-organized and successful jerkfaces to beware.

Before anyone thinks they have to call the police or animal control to restrain an ax-murdering round owl, slow your roll. I am being hyperbolic. I’m not actually a murderous psychopath, plus I'm too lazy to bother hunting people down and killing them. I’m just aggravated because it seems that all I ever do is struggle while some people have wonderful things throwing themselves at their feet.

Ah well, on we go. 

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

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https://godoggocafe.com/2022/07/07/make-it-happen-thursday-23/

Insecure Writers Support Group 6 July 2022

 

If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

The Harry Potter universe is less horrible than some, but it would only be fun if one was a wizard. With my luck, I'd be a muggle or a house elf. Anyway, it's not all fun and games, what with death stalkers and Him Who Must Not Be Named and all that sort of thing.

At my age, I'd have to be a professor, I suppose. 

I'm old, tired, and grouchy. I'd be Snape, but with gray hair and saggy boobs.

Then again, the Owl thing does come naturally. I'd be Hedwig, but ornery.

Ornery and Harry

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https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Hope. Dreams. Life... Love: Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors

Hope. Dreams. Life... Love: Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors:  Welcome to my blog. Today I'd like to share an excerpt from my all time favorite book Blue 52. On Sunday when you finish here you can g...

Tending to a president's funeral would certainly be an honor for a mortuary. 

My great-uncle was a mortician. He definitely didn't fit the stereotype of the cadaverous (pun not intended) fellow in a dark suit with slick black hair. He was a gregarious, slightly round fellow who wanted to help people through the most difficult time in their lives. He was just 64 years old when he died from prostate cancer. He had a house by a lake and it was pleasant to watch the sunset there.

Aurora Springer: A wild look - excerpt from Stung by the Cobra for ...

Aurora Springer: A wild look - excerpt from Stung by the Cobra for ...:   Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday . Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres. ...

A compelling scenario. I have always found that the kind of men who harass women aren't particularly choosy about looks. I've never been any raving beauty, but have endured my fair share of harassment. Now that I'm over 50 (closing in on 60) and therefore invisible, such harassment is, fortunately, rare, but it still happens on occasion. As a resident at the retirement community where I used to work once asked, can't these damn men leave an old woman alone?

Freedom Friday: All the Animals

 

Image by CJ from Pixabay

My late father had a saying.

"We're off like a herd of turtles!"

Then there's the old saying, "slow and steady wins the race."

I ain't so sure about that one at this stage of the game. It seems to me if I'm going to get a win, I kind of need to get it sooner rather than later.

Today's Thera-Pets card was a nice otter with the following message:

Don't focus on success or failure. 

Just focus on your effort.

Focus on trying.

To purchase the Thera-Pets deck by Kate Allan, follow the link.

https://amzn.to/3NAo48x

Kate has another one that I like. She shared this one online. I had it displayed on my old Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood blog. The blog still exists as an archive, but I had to stop posting there because the only comments I ever got were from bots. 

This is the attitude that I need to remember. 

I got trolled yesterday by some sick fuck after sharing a link to an article about the Emmett Till case. The woman whose accusations led to the then fourteen-year-old Till's brutal murder may finally be tried for her role in the crime. It's a damn shame that her piece of shit husband and his piece of shit half-brother will never do any time for their direct role in the killing. Both of them are dead. They even confessed to a Look Magazine reporter that they had committed the murder, but thanks to double jeopardy laws, they couldn't be retried. If that ain't a steaming pile of shit, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I and others who shared the article got tagged in a post that contained the phrase "kill n****rs" copy-pasted repeatedly. I know, that's some real jeenyus right there. How can anyone hope to compete with that level of brilliance? I reported and blocked the shithead, obviously. However, I was left unsettled. It reminded me of being cyber-stalked back in the early 2000s. 

I wasn't worried that the guy doing the cyberstalking was going to be able to physically harm me. He was in India. He wasn't rich, just some dumb fuck with several screws loose. He probably couldn't have even gotten a visa to travel to the US. His harassment was all online. He knew I was a sexual assault survivor and he would leave comments like, "We want you. We think you're sexy."

Yeah, I know, referring to himself in the plural is not exactly an indicator of solid mental fortitude. It was still unsettling. 

This dogshit for brains ass clown would also needle me about the fact that my posts never got many comments. 

I tried to block him, but Blogger's blocking function is seriously half-assed. I used another blocking app for a while, but this is how deranged this guy was. He let it slip that he would get around the blocking app by going to different cyber cafes. There are a metric ass-ton of cybercafes in Mumbai. I shut down my original blog because dealing with him was so odious.

So, for those who think I should turn off comment monitoring and allow anonymous comments, the response is not only no but hell no. 

The dumb piece of shit from yesterday is not going to bother cyberstalking me. He was a hit-and-run troll. Still, it reminded me of my cyber stalker from the early 2000s, and that was not a fun stroll down Memory Lane. Most of my memories aren't, and that's why I'm in the state I'm in.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Ornery Owl is once again done with everyone's shyyyyyt

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"Never mind about it, Ornery! It's time for breakfast!"

Hangry Wyrm

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