NaPoWriMo 2020 Catch-Up Day 10 + April PAD Challenge 2020 Catch-Up Day 10: The Word That Destroys

you

say it's

just a word

but

it's a 

word that destroys

you

don't need

to say it

what

do you

gain from it

keep

your hateful

thoughts to yourself

just

maybe the

problem is you

~cie~

NaPoWriMo: Write a Hay(na)ku

April PAD Challenge: Write a the (blank) that (blanked) poem. 

NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 4 + April PAD Challenge 2020 Day 4 + April PAD Countdown Catch-Up Day 6:

Image by Engin_Akyurt from Pixabay

A secret wish that I keep hid

Is the hope that dreams really do come true

Like I thought when I was a kid

A secret wish

The way I believed when the world was new

And there was magic in everything that I did

Before harsh reality twisted the screw

I say of foolish beliefs I'm rid

That I've buried the dreams that never grew

But a quiet place in my soul loves what logic forbid

A secret wish

~cie~

notes

The NaNoWriMo prompt was (generally) write a poem about a dream.

The April PAD Challenge prompt was a wish poem.

The April PAD Challenge countdown prompt was a quiet poem.

The poem form is a Rondeau.

NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 2 + April PAD Challenge 2020 Day 2: Grover Doesn't Run Wild

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Grover doesn't run wild

It's a place most people mistake for dull

Sitting far from the highways and byways

Sprawled out lazy in the middle of the prairie

A relic from another time

Filled with broken souls driven out of elsewhere

Connected to nothing and nowhere

Grover whiles away the hours unnoticed

The trucks roll by on the road outside

Nothing moves quickly

Save for the wind

Which knocks over trash cans

And erodes buildings

Grover doesn't run wild

It just bides its time

Embracing its broken family

Without interfering in their lives

Another day begins and ends

In this nowhere land filled with nobody

Hidden in plain sight

On the lone prairie

~cie~

notes

I am behind already, and I don't apologize. I am extremely busy.

Here are the prompts. I incorporated all of them, in my way.

NaPoWriMo: Write a poem about a certain place

April PAD Challenge: Write a "space" poem

April PAD Challenge Countdown Catch-Up (Day 8): Write a persona poem

Aunt Cie's Ornery Newsletter

Image by heidijergovsky from Pixabay

Hello, friends of Aunt Cie's Attic, Good Stuff from Grover, and Team Netherworld Creations/Naughty Netherworld Press! Today I am creating my first-ever newsletter, and I've got to admit, I'm in way over my head. So we are going to do this one step at a time.

The nifty little house designed by Heidi Jergovsky actually looks like a cartoon version of the ole Grover Hotel! It's absolutely perfect. So, we will start with this little graphic to create a logo.

I then took the picture to pixlr.com to make this logo. You can do quite a bit with the free Pixlr X.

I then went back to my MailChimp account to upload the logo.

I've sent myself a test email and now I will wait for subscribers!

I put off starting an email list for years because I was overwhelmed by the thought of maintaining such a thing. MailChimp can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. I don't have to maintain a list myself. MailChimp does that. A free account is more than enough for most bloggers. 

I have numerous sites and projects and it was becoming cumbersome to cross-post to multiple sites. Now if folks subscribe to my newsletter, they can stay up to date with what's what on all of my sites. Also, you can thank me for putting my subscription option in the sidebar and not in one of those wretched pop-ups. Those things fill me with liquid murder. I hate having that blasted pop-up fly in my face every time I visit a site, even if I've already subscribed!

That's about it for now. I hope to see some of you subscribe soon!

Your Ornery Old Aunt Cie

Ornery Owl

Image copyright Open Clipart Vectors on Pixabay

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Wordy Thursday: Ornery Book Reviews: The Lovely Bones

Genre:
Mystery

Rating:
Five out of Five Stars for Goodreads

Disclosure

If readers purchase a copy of the book using the above link, I will receive a small commission from Amazon. The following is a duplicate of my review for Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this touching and powerful book. I appreciated the author's ability to connect the reader with Susie, the victim of a horrific crime committed by a very evil man. I enjoyed experiencing Susie's thoughts from her vantage point in the afterlife. I also appreciated the fact that the author discussed the ways in such a devastating incident disrupts the family of the victim. I simply can't think of much to say without giving away things that the reader should discover for themselves, so I'll keep it brief. Read this book (or listen, as I did.) It is an amazing experience.

The following questions are from the Insecure Writers Support Group Book Club discussion of this book.

1. The main character, Suzie Salmon, is killed in the first chapter. The author, Alice Sebold, has very little time to build Suzie as a character and get readers to connect to her.

QUESTION: Did you feel a connection to Suzie in Chapter One? What helped to create that connection?

I liked Susie from the beginning. She was an ordinary girl. Personally, that's one of my favorite protagonists: simply an ordinary girl trying to get through life.

2. Have you ever written a story in the point-of-view of a ghost/spirit?

If yes, what technique did you use? (How did you handle not being able to use certain senses such as touch and smell, and was your character able to interact with other characters?)

I primarily write paranormal/science fiction hybrids, so I write about ghosts quite a bit. My ghosts can see, touch, and smell things but have trouble interacting with the living unless they encounter someone who is sensitive to their presence.

3. The story jumps from character to character a lot and includes a lot of flashbacks. Did this detract from or increase your enjoyment of the overall story?

I thought the author did a great job of this and it added richness to the story.

4. What did you think of the description of Suzie’s Heaven?

I liked the realism of it, although I think it would suck to be there. I request a different heaven!

5. Overall, people love this book or they hate it. Where do you stand?

I liked this book very much and recommend it highly. It gets the Ornery Seal of Approval!

Ornery Owl

Image copyright Open Clipart Vectors on Pixabay

NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 1 + April PAD Challenge 2020 Day 1: Escape on the Asphalt Sea

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

on an asphalt sea my son and I ride

as long as the weather is on our side

we make a journey to retrieve

items from a place that we must leave

on an asphalt sea

as the earth turned, so did the tide

fortune has not been on my side

I search for reasons to believe

on an asphalt sea

some days I do not mind the ride

other days I wish to escape inside

over the years there have been reasons to grieve

I examine the dreams that my mind may conceive

on an asphalt sea

~cie~

notes

I combined the NaPoWriMo prompt with the April PAD Chapbook Challenge prompt AND the April PAD Challenge Countdown prompt. Go me!

Insecure Writers Support Group Meets COVID-19

April 1 question - The IWSG’s focus is on our writers. Each month, from all over the globe, we are a united group sharing our insecurities, our troubles, and our pain. So, in this time when our world is in crisis with the covid-19 pandemic, our optional question this month is: how are things in your world?

The world wags on. I live in a remote rural area, and if I didn't have to emerge to do stupid things like going to the pharmacy (it's always a fight to get the necessary amount of insulin), going to finish clearing out an old mobile home to get it ready to put on the market or paying the weekly visit to my mother (300-mile round trip) I would rarely emerge. (Not saying that going to visit my mother is stupid, but the other two things are definitely a source of aggravation.)

Since I do freelance work from home due to being disabled, my life has, fortunately, not been significantly impacted by the Hell Virus. I know that if I were to be infected by a serious case of it, I'd be dead. I have asthma and diabetes. I'm 55 years old and disabled, and the world already thinks that people who look like me should die. I would be triaged as not worth saving. I probably should be scared, but if I put my energy into being scared nothing gets done. So, I get on with things.

I loathe the Orange Menace occupying the White House. His narcissism during this time of crisis is beyond the pale. He should have been hauled out in handcuffs when he was impeached, but like toenail fungus, he remains. I have more respect for toenail fungus than I do for my country's so-called "president."

Yeah, that's about what I've got for now. My snarky alter-egos Ornery Owl and Sly Fawkes collaborated to make this post, which is worth what you paid for it.

Fat and Ornery

Image copyright Open Clipart Vectors on Pixabay

Sly and Snarky

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com