the semicolon project

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

This post isn’t about punctuation. It’s much more important.

Today I went to a tattoo artist, and for $60 I let a man with a giant Jesus-tattoo on his head ink a semi-colon onto my wrist where it will stay until the day I die. By now, enough people have started asking questions that it made sense for me to start talking, and talking about things that aren’t particularly easy.

We’ll start here: a semi-colon is a place in a sentence where the author has the decision to stop with a period, but chooses not to. A semi-colon is a reminder to pause and then keep going.

In April I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. By the beginning of May I was popping anti-depressents every morning with a breakfast I could barely stomach. In June, I had to leave a job I’d wanted since I first set foot on this campus as an incoming freshmen because of my mental…

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A Secret Pleasure at the Gym

Posted on June 18, 2015June 18, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

recumbent bike trainers with TV monitors on top

No, it’s not the swimming pool. It’s not the hot tub. It’s not the gorgeous male trainers.

It’s the closed captions.

Some machines at the gym have TV monitors attached so users won’t become bored. A wise move.

My first day on the recumbent bike, I said to myself, “Oh, pish-tosh! I don’t need television. I have an active mind and a rich internal life.”

The second day, I discovered my internal life isn’t rich enough to keep me pedaling for twenty minutes without my active mind imploding. So–on with the TV. Since I hadn’t brought earbuds, I turned on the closed captions.

Viewing choices are limited: some cable movies, lots of sports, a travel show, all about as stimulating as watching your knees rise and fall. But one news station runs unscripted programs, most related to business and the economy.

And the closed captions for those unscripted programs are a hoot.

During one session, I managed to take notes. Here are some of the fragments I recorded. Remember, the program was about finance, and my knees were moving up and down at 9.4 mph.

Captions

1. … when people gathered to talk about the economy and cucumbers…

2. …too much of Peoria for political to sin…

3. …when like at Europe the monkey is struggling and falling apart…

4. …and to see Barry big surprise interest from some pastries…

5. …we have the armpit that all of our options fade with time…

6. …the importance of a kiwi in Europe…

7. …call the stow the hillbilly of what is coming…

8. …take on a ministry the comics not to forget…

9. …the markets found some milk without the markets coming up…

10. …learned from a tumor and people said a tomato…

All that in just one session of violent bodily exertion. What more could I want?

Yesterday earbuds were available, but plugging them in didn’t cross my mind. Nor did announcing my find.

Those captions are my own little secret. When other cyclers look my way, wondering why I laugh aloud, they can just wonder.

And when the rest of the health nuts have dropped out from indolence and ennui, and I alone register perfect attendance, and when the muscleiest trainer can’t drag me off the bike, the Powers That Be will admire, nay revere, me. And they will give me head pats.

Gad, I love those headpats.

*

If you missed yesterday’s post about torture at the gym, you can read it at O Treachery, Thy Name Is Puller-Downer Thingey.

And yes, I’m pretty wiped out today.

O Treachery, Thy Name Is Puller-Downer Thingey

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Brightly colored instruments of torture, heavier than they look.

More colorful double-dealers.

For strengthening the core. Deceptively innocent in appearance, but treacherous at its core. One mission: to unseat the trusting rider. Passive-aggressive.

For strengthening the cardio-pulmonary system. Old technology corrupted by new. See below.

Digital conspiracy #1: Information dump–time, speed,calories, watts, resistance, heart rate–heart rate? None detected. So much for cardio.

recumbent bike: "NO HEARTBEAT DETECTED" — recumbent bike trainer monitor: “NO HEARTBEAT DETECTED”

Digital conspiracy #2: TV monitor/pacifier. Vast wasteland pulls cyclist in, won’t let go. Twenty-minute rep turns into forty. Dr. Phil. “Shape It Up, Woo Woo!” (I did not make that up. It’s in Wikipedia.)

recumbent bike trainer TV monitor: Dr. Phil

Vile trickery. Toil masquerading as recreation. It seemed like fun. Too long did I tarry.

Today’s lessons:

1. When the trainer says to do 12 of something, do 12. Don’t do 30.

2. When you’re counting, pay attention. If you think you’ve done 12, don’t do another 8 or 10 just to make sure.

3. When the trainer says to go home and ice something, go home and ice it. Don’t forget and then decided it’ll probably loosen up and resume bending of its own accord.

4. When the sky opens and water pours onto the parking lot only three minutes before your cardio session is set to end, don’t just keep pedaling until the downpour stops. That’s too much pedaling.

5. Curb your enthusiasm. Stop doing more than the trainer and your brain tell you to. OCDs do not win. They just go home and ice things.

Tell Your Arts Story

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Awesome post. Awesome poster.

Ramona DeFelice Long

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, and so created two agencies dedicated to the development and preservation of arts, culture, and history in the U.S.

On September 29, 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities will celebrate their 50th birthdays. If you are an artist or historian, you are invited to be part of this celebration.

The NEA has issued an invitation to artists to share how art influences and inspires you, your family, your community. The project is called Tell Us Your Story. You can submit an essay, audio, video, and photos. In September, the NEA will begin posting stories on their website.

As the grateful recipient of fellowships and grants funded in part by the NEA, I wrote an essay and submitted it. I was thrilled when, last week, the…

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From Play to Publication Panel

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

So What Else Is New?

Posted on June 11, 2015September 9, 2016 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

To do two things at once is to do neither.

~ Publilius Syrus, in Moral Sayings (1st Century B. C.)

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.

~ Ecclesiastes 1:9, Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV)

*

Quotation from Publilius Syrus is taken from Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit and Wisdom from History’s Greatest Wordsmiths, by Dr. Mardy Grothe.

It’s a Mystery: Malice Domestic 2015

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

My belated report on Malice Domestic is on Writing Wranglers and Warriors. With lots of pictures.

Writing Wranglers and Warriors

Post by Kathy Waller

*******

Malice Domestic Mystery Convention 2015. Hyatt Regency, Bethesda, Maryland.

Sunday afternoon, May 4, 2015
Malice Domestic Convention Day 4
I should go to the Agatha Tea and Closing Ceremonies. It starts in ten minutes.
But after a plane trip, a ride on the Washington, D. C. Metro,
days of intense workshopping, nights of sleep deprivation,
I am just conventioned out.
Anyway, I forgot my gloves.
So while others sip tea and engage in polite conversation,
I shall sit in the bar, on this squishy couch,
and rest, and write.

Sisters in Crime Guppy Chapter Breakfast

Seeing so many people in love with books–specifically, with mysteries–is exciting.
The convention has been, to employ a cliche because I’m too tired to come up with something original, a whirlwind of activity. I’ll have to look at my program notes to remember what I’ve done.
Two things, however, are burned into my…

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Yes And No

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

A Pondering Mind

“The oldest, shortest words- ‘yes’ and ‘no’- are those which require the most thought.”

– Pythagoras

http://www.bquot.es/s/3610

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100-Word Story: Pogo Stick

Posted on May 29, 2015November 19, 2016 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Friday Fictioneer Challenge: Write a 100-word story based on the photo.

I heard them talking.

Daddy said, She wants a pogo stick.

Mama said, She has enough presents.

Santa brought a pogo stick.

Daddy smiled. Sturdy.

We went outside.

Mama frowned. Don’t fall.

She’s fine. Daddy lifted me on.

I bounced. The pogo stick didn’t.

Daddy frowned. Spring’s tight. You’re not heavy enough.

Daddy tried. He bounced down the sidewalk.

Mr. Smith came over. Can I try?

Daddy jumped off. Sure.

Mr. Smith bounced down the driveway. This is fun.

Let me try again, Daddy.

Daddy bounced up the driveway.

Mama brought me my doll.

She’s right. I have enough presents.

Instructions for this week’s story—

” The following photo is the PHOTO PROMPT. What does it say to you? I dare you to look beyond the subject. I double dare you!”

I looked far beyond the subject: The rings of metal at the base of the metal skeleton reminded me of a spring, which reminded me of a pogo stick, which prompted my 100-word story. Maybe I’ll look more closely at the reptile and try again. There’s a lot of potential in that lizard.

*

To read more stories by Friday Fictioneers, click the frog, below.

Diary of Louisa May Alcott: Virtues and Vices

Posted on May 29, 2015May 29, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

IMG_0191.2 — The Davis Tribe of the Tiger

Louisa wrote in her journal about a conversational lesson with Mr. Lane:

“What virtues do you wish more of?” asks Mr. Lane.

I answer:–

Patience, Love, Silence,

Obedience, Generosity, Perseverance,

Industry, Respect, Self-denial.

“What vices less of?”

Idleness, Wilfullness, Vanity,

Impatience, Impudence, Pride,

Selfishness, Activity, Love of cats.

from The Girlhood Diary of Louisa May Alcott, 1843-1846:
Writings of a Young Author

Hookahs, the Kasbah, and Charles Boyer: All a Matter of Balance

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

On Writing Wranglers and Warriors today–

Writing Wranglers and Warriors

Caterpillar using a hookah. An illustration from Alice in Wonderland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As you read this post, please take note of the way the word anyway is used. This will be important later.

So I’m sitting at the computer bar at Bookpeople again. I should be revising a short story that drags on and on–I think it will be a good story, when I finish, maybe next year–but I am distractible. I was not distractible in school. But in real life, especially when I’m still in the grips of May mold, I am a Facebook magnet.

I broke away from Facebook in favor of a task I wanted to do–this–but I can’t stop thinking about my immediate surroundings.

Two empty stools away from me sits a Danish journalist named–no, I’ll omit his name. It’s very Danish, though. He’s stationed in New York and is in Texas to research and write…

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Book Launch: The Taexali Game by Nancy Jardine

Posted on May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Today Nancy Jardine shares information about her new novel, The Taexali Game, which launches May 22.

Welcome, Nancy.

Everyone loves playing advanced interactive computer games, don’t they?

Callum Fraser’s games are totally awesome but when his Rubidium Time-Leap flips Aran Bruce and his best friends—Brian and Fianna Fraser—back to AD 210, the reality is incredible. They have a task list to fulfil, which includes solving a local mystery, but it’s a nightmarish business when Ancient Roman Emperor Severus and his legions heap death and destruction on the Taexali Celts of northern Britannia.

Giving help to Celts and Romans alike becomes a lethal assignment—some Celtic chiefs are as foul as Severus and his beastly son Caracalla. Dicing with death becomes the norm for the time travellers from Kintore, Aberdeenshire.

Will they complete the mission and return to Callum unscathed?

Thank you for opening your blog to me to share the information about my latest novel!

The Taexali Game officially launches on the 22^nd May 2015.

The action of The Taexali Game —Book 1 of Nancy Jardine’s Rubidium Time Travel Series of Adventures for Middle Grade/YA readers (and anyone older who loves a good fast-paced yarn)— takes place in ‘Aberdeenshire, Scotland’ in AD 210, during the invasion of the legions of Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome. The local Taexali Celtic tribes of this far north in Britannia have already had dealings with the soldiers of Rome, back in AD 84, but they haven’t been good subjects. They’ve been causing such a lot of grief to the Governor of Britannia that the Ancient Roman Emperor, Septimius Severus, has come to Britannia to flood the north with his super-trained army to teach the wayward Celts a harsh lesson.

During their adventure, Aran and the twins— Brian and Fianna— are initially in awe of the Roman fighting machine but they find Emperor Severus’ is a horrible man. That’s only till they meet the emperor’s son Caracalla who is even nastier. None of them want to be skewered by a Roman gladius or slapped into Roman slave chains but avoiding that fate is nearly impossible.

As well as uncovering the answer to a local contemporary mystery, the time travellers have a task list to fulfil but how can they when the some of the Celts they encounter are just as deadly wielding their Celtic longswords?

This adventure novel is designed as a rollicking good read with the added bonus of being a companion novel to younger readers doing a study of Celtic Roman Britain. There’s a wealth of historical data used in the novel, gleaned from archaeological interpretative information, wrapped up in a fast-paced, readable, adventure mystery quest.

The fantastic cover design is by graphic artist Neil Saddler who has done a great job to encompass the main aspects of the novel- its impact both local and global.

The novel is available across Amazon in paperback and ebook formats.

Amazon UK Amazon US Amazon France Amazon Canada Amazon Australia

Amazon Germany

More about Nancy Jardine

Her Celtic Fervour Series of Historical Romantic Adventures (3 books to date) is set in first century AD northern Roman Britain. Book 3 (AD 84) culminates in a horrendous clashing of Celtic Sword and Roman Gladius on the foothills of Beinn Na Ciche (Bennachie) where the amassed Celtic warriors of the north, led by tribal leader Calgach, take on the mighty Roman legions led by General Gnaeus Julius Agricola. Book 2 of the Celtic Fervour Series was in the long list of books read for THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2014.

Nancy Jardine also writes contemporary mystery romantic fiction which gives her the opportunity to include fabulous world wide locations in her novels—Amsterdam, Vienna, Heidelberg, Barcelona to name only a few. She has also had great fun using her love of ancestry research when creating the family trees for two of her contemporary mysteries. Take Me Now, a humorous mystery/thriller will be re-launched by Crooked Cat Publishing on the 5^th June 2015. Topaz Eyes, a mystery /thriller was a Finalist in THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2014.

Please contact her/ or find updates on her writing at these author links:

http://nancyjardine.blogspot.co.uk http://nancyjardineauthor.com/ Twitter @nansjar Facebook: http://on.fb.me/XeQdkG and http://on.fb.me/1Kaeh5G (for The Rubidium time Travel Novels.) email: nan_jar@btinternet.com

Amazon Author page for books and to view book trailer videos:

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nancy-Jardine/e/B005IDBIYG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Most novels are also available from Barnes and Noble; W. H. Smith.com; Waterstones.com; Smashwords; TESCO Blinkboxbooks; and various other ebook stores.

All are welcome to pop into the official Facebook Event that’s on-line to launch the novel on Friday 22^ndMay. Participate in fun quizzes featuring Celts and Romans and win a novelty prize. The grand prize of a signed paperback of The Taexali Game could be yours, or if you only read on kindle a few review e-copies will also be on offer as prizes. https://www.facebook.com/events/839159202815971/

The Lowdown on the Political Road

Posted on May 14, 2015May 22, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

The gravel road in the picture below (and, for a time, in the header above) runs from Texas State Highway 80 just north of the town of Fentress to where it intersects with Farm-to-Market Road 20, about five miles to the northeast.

The sign at the intersection reads Political Road. The sign denotes Caldwell County’s approval, but the name existed about a zillion years before anyone thought about marking it.

And therein lies a tale. I relate it as it was told to me, but, in deference to the etiquette of small-town life, I omit names.

Once upon a time in the 1920s (or maybe the 1930s; I didn’t listen carefully enough), the formerly insignificant thoroughfare rose to prominence during a race for County Commissioner of the local precinct. The incumbent promised that, if elected, he would pave the road.

Hence, people in the area started calling it the Political Road, and the name stuck.

When I went to Fentress a couple of months ago, I drove the length of the Political Road. I expected to see it built up with new houses.

But there’s still not much out there.

I saw some cows resting beside a dying fire. That was a welcome sight. I love cows. I don’t see them often enough. They are superior to houses.

So that’s the story of the Political Road.

Except for one more thing: The incumbent County Commissioner lost the election.

The road still isn’t paved.

***

Backroads of Texas by Larry Hodge and Ed Syers is a good source of information about roads more interesting than I-35 and SH 130.

Faith Amid Doubt

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Austin Mystery Writer Valerie Chandler writes about doubt, a feeling familiar to most writers.

Austin Mystery Writers

Ever have doubts about your capabilities? I think we all have. (Except for maybe a few oblivious people out there.) But doubt and fear are normal reactions when it comes to how we feel about our own artistic expression, including writing.

The older I get, the more I see how things are connected. We draw upon previous experiences to prepare us for new ones. In this case, since I’m fairly new to writing, I often find myself comparing writing to making music. I’ve been singing since I was eight, playing piano since the age of nine, and playing in band since junior high. So I have a lot of experiences to draw from. (I won’t tell you how many years. Let’s just say it’s many decades!)

Now I’m not an excellent musician. I’m good at sight-reading choral music and the technical aspects of music. (That was the only way I…

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100 Words: I Told You–

Posted on May 8, 2015November 19, 2016 by Kathy Waller in Uncategorized

Friday Fictioneers: Write a 100-word story based on the prompt.

faucet-21-224x3001.jpg (224×300) — PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Madison Woods

Screams pierced the air. The woman dropped her trowel and raced across the yard. “What happened?”

Pushing through a ring of children, she lifted the crying child, examined the swelling lip.

A Greek chorus erupted.

“–wasp–”

“–hydrant–”

“—stung–“

“Lisabeth, I told you not to drink from the hydrant.” Then, turning, “She’s four. You’re ten–”

“I was rescuing Kitty from–Mom, I can’t watch her every second.”

“Get the baking soda.”

TLC applied, the woman returned to gardening.

Screams pierced the air. She ran.

“Lisabeth teased Kitty and–“

“Lisabeth, I told you–”

***

Every Wednesday, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields issues the Friday Fictioneers challenge. She posts a picture prompt and invites readers to write stories of 100 words or fewer and to post them on their blogs the following Friday. This week’s prompt is here (scroll down the page to see it). Rochelle’s story follows it.

To read more stories by Friday Fictioneers, click on the frog, below.