In My World

Today's Writing Prompt: Letters When was the last time you sent (or received) a hand-written letter?

Today's Writing Prompt: Cold What's the worst part of having a cold? There is no worse part to having a cold.  It is all worse.  You feel like crap.  Look like crap.  No sleep because you can't breathe.  Miserable.  Aches and pains.  The only good thing about a cold is generally people leave you alone and that is a good thing.  Because who wants to be around people when they have a cold?

Today's Writing Prompt: I Quit! What was the most recent thing you quit? I can't think of anything recently that I have quit.  I still have all my bad habits.  I still worry too much.  I still work my Dreaded To Do List everyday even though I am so far behind that I wonder if I will ever get caught up.

Today's Writing Prompt: Coffee Date Who would you like to meet over a cup of coffee (or tea) today?

Today's Writing Prompt: Winter Wonderland It is wayyyy below zero here this morning. What does your Winter Wonderland look like? (Or summer wonderland, I suppose, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere?)

Smoke is children’s author Winstanley’s first adult work, an unforgettable collection of short stories that is both searing and thought-provoking. Smoke features a cast of characters across Canada and New Zealand, showing us glimpses into their lives of loss and heartbreak. In these eleven linked stories, Winstanley takes a hard look at intergenerational trauma and their impact on characters from multiple points of view, but her characters are not victims—anything but. Guilt, self-reflection, compassion, and forgiveness are central themes in this collection of stories that help us understand the degree of responsibility we hold toward the events that happen to us in life.  “In each of Nicola Winstanley’s powerful stories we feel for and feel tender toward, even love, these characters trying to navigate through their lives the best they can, with earnest hope and often unrecognized resilience as they find ways to make do and, despite everything, continue to be themselves, to find a...

So anyway . . . this article shows up in my Facebook news feed the other day and it got me thinking. My usual pet peeve in restaurants is that they don't clear the dishes away quickly enough but this article got me looking at the whole thing from a different angle. Without my permission, restaurants have abandoned, or simply overlooked, a classic tenet of service etiquette (I'm talking about entrees, not the ubiquitous small plates, which demand a different etiquette). Rather than clear plates once everyone at the table has finished the meal, which has long been the custom, servers instead hover over diners, fingers twitching, until the very instant someone puts down a fork. Like vultures, they then promptly snatch up the silverware -- along with everything else in front of the customer. If you're lucky, they might ask permission before stealing your plate. When a server clears a plate before everyone is finished, he or she leaves the table with a mess of subtle but imp...

Today's Writing Prompt: Environmentalism Do you take any steps to protect your environment, such as recycling, helping wildlife, or planting local plants? Sadly, I am not as active in protecting our environment as I wish.  I do try and think twice about my actions that might leave a "footprint" on the environment.  I do use the recycling bins when I am someplace where they are available.  

  Today's Writing Prompt: The Worst Weather What's the worst weather event you've ever encountered? Living in Canada means we get all kinds of interesting weather.  Living in SW Ontario means we can experience the sub-tropical right up to arctic conditions.  The worst weather event I can remember was the ice storm in 1976.  I was in high school and when I was walking home at noon I didn't like the way the rain was freezing.  It was a really difficult walk home.  I recall phoning my mother and letting her know that we would be staying home for the afternoon.   By the middle of the afternoon the storm was settled in and life stood still for a few days.  We were very lucky to have a fireplace and gas stove and gas water heater so we did pretty well.  We all slept in the front room in front of the fire place and we had a blanket up over the front room door to keep the heat in.  Our house was full of people every day.  It seemed at times...

Imagine you buried a time capsule 20 years ago. Today you get to open it! What would you have placed inside? I would have been 34 and I have to say I can't really remember what I was doing then.  Probably working, looking after my family and volunteering.  I may have included a journal I'd just filled, a newspaper for the date the capsule was buried, some favourite photos, a favourite book, something I had made by hand like a scarf or some mitts.  I'm sure I would have added a photo of my family.

My journaling prompt for today is:   If you could own a magical cooking pot that never ran out of food, what kind of pot, pan, box or dish would you like to have? What would it make? If I had a magical cooking pot that never ran out of food I wish it would make a non-stop crock pot roast dinner.  I love pot roast especially when lots of veggies are included.  It is so versatile to make into hot sandwiches and soups as well as serving with Yorkshire pudding.

Happy Publication Day to Susan Wadds’ debut novel, What the Living Do! (Regal House Publishing) With equal measures of compassion and bite, What the Living Do plumbs the twisted depths of survivor's guilt and childhood trauma to grapple with the question of self-worth.  More about the book: Sex and death consume much of thirty-seven-year-old Brett Catlin's life. Cole, ten years her junior, takes care of the former while her job disposing of roadkill addresses the latter. A cancer diagnosis causes her to question her worth, suspecting the illness is payback for the deaths of her father and sister. Thus begins a challenging journey of alternative healing that she doubts she deserves. Just as Brett surrenders to the prescribed cure, a startling discovery sends her on a more profound exploration of cause and effect. Encounters with animals, both living and dead, help her answer the question: who is worth saving? About Susan Wadds: Winner of the Writer’s Union of Canada’s Prose Cont...

Set in the early and mid-‘80s in the Middle East, A Simple Carpenter plays out against a backdrop of strife in Lebanon and ethnic/religious tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel and Palestine. This historical backdrop serves as an empathetic and thoughtful commentary on our modern political climate.  Part biblical fable, part magic realism, and part thriller, A Simple Carpenter follows the epic journey of a ship’s carpenter stranded on a small Mediterranean island and visited by a frightening mysterious creature. He’s lost his memory but has acquired the ability to speak, write and understand all languages. After his rescue, he spends time in a Lebanese coastal village recuperating with a group of nuns who, observing him perform what appear to be small miracles, take him to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Later in Beirut he’s hired as a translator for the UN peacekeeping force, and is recruited as a messenger for a group named Black September. On a quest to find his tru...

Do you have a favorite spot to go out for coffee, tea, brunch, dinner, etc?  What makes this spot so great?

Today's prompt is . . . What do you think is the most important thing for today's kids to learn in school? I'm definitely not an expert in the subject but it seems to me kids need to learn the basics --reading, spelling, writing, comprehension, math.  Without these basic skills how are they to accomplish the things that they need to do?  How do you write a resume and cover letter when your writing skills aren't honed?  I think we need more art, music and physical education. 

Today's Prompt: What Would You Do? How far would you go for your family or loved ones? Give up your career? Your life? Take someone else's life? You know, I've been sitting here thinking about this for quite some time and I'm still not sure of my answer.  I know I have sacrificed for my family but never so far as to take a life.  I'm not sure I could ever do that.  But you just never know . . . given the right circumstances . . .  I hope I never have to find out.

Now I know I'm going to receive polite laughter from certain friends when I say that I really enjoyed La La Land. I can take it. I really enjoyed this movie. It was nostalgic and fun, less than serious, and had a surprise ending that cracked me right up and made me sad at the same time. Isn't that worth giving this movie a try? La La Land is the story of an aspiring actress and a jazz musician in Hollywood. As they become successful they are faced with decisions that could destroy their love affair and the dreams they worked so hard for. I love all the song and dance numbers which reminded me so much of the "old" days of movies like . . . Just give it a try. I have a funny feeling that if you allow yourself to accept all the cheesiness, you will love it. Academy Awards, USA  2017 Winner Oscar Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Emma Stone   Best Achievement in Directing Damien Chazelle At 32 years and 38 days of age, Damien Chaz...

I'm in a very serious mood today. Do you ever get tired of telling people "I'm fine"?  I am.  Because I'm not always fine.  Actually most of the time . . . 

Today's Prompt: Best Activity You and your friends all get together on a Friday night. What are you most likely to do? What's your favorite activity to do with a group of close friends? My best activity includes dinner at our favourite restaurant, having a family dinner, and playing board or card games.

  The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits is a gorgeously complex work of literary speculative fiction. With elements of science fiction and horror dropped in amongst stunning literary prose, the debut novel spans centuries, covering humanity’s colonization of the moon, a war with alien beings, AI minds governing Canada, and a giant spacefaring whale. The book is centred around Toronto and shows a version of a Canadian future that will amaze and stun readers, while raising important questions about the ethics and power of AI, humanity’s claim to space, and the systematic destruction of our current planet.  “Ambitious in scale and scope, inventive and concrete in its imagery, The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits is a weird and splendid delight, haunting and sincere.” –Jake Casella Brookins, Locus Magazine  The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits is now available wherever books are sold. @wolsakandwynn @ink.stained_wreck @river_street_writes #scifi #canlit #horrorbooks #speculativefiction ...

If money was no object, where would you live? How would you spend your time?

  What's the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love?

What would your reaction be today if you found out you (or your significant other) were pregnant? Go beyond disbelief. I know, it's not a possibility for many of us, but imagine for a freaky moment that it is. How would this affect your life? Oh heck no!!!  I am far too tired.  I have looked after all the crawling, pooping, eating creatures I intend to in my life . . . LOL . . . except for cats and dogs, of course.

So why, when I've said so many times how much I hate violent movies, do I love this crazy movie.  I've also said more than once that I hate Quentin Tarantino movies.  And yet I've now seen two of Tarantino's movies that I love . . . Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchained. Perhaps it has something to do with the stars of the show which I absolutely love.  Christoph Waltz cracks me up.  And I love to hate Leonardo DiCaprio. The short version of the story is that Django ("The D is silent. Payback won't be.") is teamed up with a German bounty hunter.  The hunt bad guys.  The bounty hunter agrees to help Django find his wife who had been sold off.  They find out where she is and come up with a really complicated plan to free her. There is a lot of violence and red stuff and the language is a "bit" much but the story is good and the actors are amazing. Academy Awards, USA  2013 Winner Oscar Best Performance by an Actor in a ...

 What would you change about yourself or your life? Is there a way for you to change it?

What do you think of people who have bad manners? Here is my pet peeve . . . In fact, I think it is the worst etiquette faux pas today . . . saying thank you for something and being told "no problem".  I can't even tell you for certain why it bothers me so much, but it really really does.  Perhaps this article can explain my annoyance better than I can . . .  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-problem-yes-its-a-big-problem/ (CBS News)  A certain catch phrase is posing a problem for our contributor Bill Flanagan:   When did everyone born after 1980 decide that "No problem" was interchangeable with "You're welcome"? Who spread that virus? The Taliban? Listen, today's young people: If you want to infuriate someone born before 1980, just keep telling him "No problem" when they ask you to do something that is most certainly NOT a problem. A very nice young man who worked for me used to have a little trouble getting in on...

  The Stones of Burren Bay is fast-paced YA novel set on Manitoulin Island that combines magical realism, Irish Celtic spiritualism, and the core themes of YA fiction to which readers are drawn: the need to belong, self discovery, and overcoming obstacles.   The story begins with a tragic accident that kills Norie’s father and leaves her mother injured and emotionally fragile, after which Norie vows never to draw again. With the help of a mother/daughter duo in Burren Bay and the spiritual world that’s more easily accessed in such a hallowed place, Norie and her mother rebuild their relationship and Norie learns to deal with her grief and guilt through the power of art.  With powerful female characters and a fascinating look at spiritualism in Canada, The Stones of Burren Bay is YA fiction that’s fresh and compulsively readable.  Praise for De Angelis: The Stones of Burren Bay harkens back to the glorious, endless summers when anything (and everything)  is ...

Preparing for a Crop Crops can be a wonderful chance for you to get caught up on pages, catch up with friends, and enjoy your hobby with other Scrapbookers who understand your obsession. But planning ahead is very important to your success – it is a proven fact that the less you bring to a crop, the more you’ll actually get done. Here are a few tips to help you prepare: Mission Statement: A crop is a rare chunk of time to spend on yourself. How long will the crop last? What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to socialize? Do you want to set a goal for completed pages? Would you like to complete a mini-album? Do you want to try to master a new technique? Do you want to organize your photos? Knowing what you want to get out of it and how much time you’ll have to do it is crucial to your planning, and helps to avoid frustration at the end of the day if you don’t achieve what you set out to do. Note: I would personally pick...

Putting on a good party or other fun event is a lot of work if done correctly.  You want the venue to be perfect, the guest list to be conducive to an enjoyable and convivial time, the food to be delicious and plentiful as well as meeting the dietary needs of all of your guests, and entertainment in whatever form appropriate whether it is music, a baby shower game or even a craft. You make your plans and send out the invitations, whether by phone, mail, email, in person, or on social media.  And then you wait.  Three days before the event one or two people say they are coming but the other 30 or 200 say maybe or don't reply at all.  What do you do? At one time I would prepare for what I hoped was a good estimate of guests and sit back and hope it all worked out.   When did the RSVP stop being "normal"? Definition of RSVP:  An abbreviation often included in invitations to request that the invitee let the host know if he or she will ...

  Happy Publication Day to In Sickness and In Health & Yom Kippur in a Gym , the new set of novellas by award-winning author, Nora Gold!  This phenomenal book was published by Guernica Editions and is now available anywhere books are sold.  Dr. Nora Gold is the author of four acclaimed books and the winner of two Canadian Jewish Book/Literary awards, as well as praise from Alice Munro. A former professor and an activist, Gold is the editor-in-chief of the prestigious literary journal Jewish Fiction .net, which has readers in 140 countries. About In Sickness and In Health . Lily had epilepsy as a child, so her most cherished goal has always been to be “normal”. By age 45 she has a “normal” life, including a family, friends, and an artistic career, and no one, not even her husband, knows the truth about her past. But now some cartoons she drew threaten to reveal her childhood secret, and destroy her marriage and everything she has worked so hard for. A moving novella a...