Word Association Game

Wednesday is about writing – all aspects of it. This week, I thought I’d present to you a word association game.

How to Play

1. I’ll give you a list of words, and you write down the first word that comes to mind for each word.

2. Have fun, there is no right or wrong to this game

Word List

Rainbow
Brick
Flower
Washing
Sea
House
Extreme
Effortless
Flow
Heat
Elephant
Hat
Puddle
Eccentric
Boots

My Answers – Can’t use mine!

Rain
Red
Daisy
Folding
Breeze
Den
Weather
Easy
Ebb
Cold
Large
Sombrero
Mud
Crazy
Shoes

Please, put your answers in the comments below!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

YouTube Tuesday: Bentley House Minis Beetlejuice House!!

This is the next installment in this build, and I had to show you this fantastic “glass” wall Ara made for the house!

Everybody from the 80s will remember the iconic Beetlejuice House, and Ara is doing a bang up job of creating it from scratch!! I am just floored by her talent. I also love how she doesn’t gloss over or try to cover up her mistakes. She shows them to you and tells you what happened. She also shows you ways to fix the mistakes, if they can be fixed. Her honesty is very refreshing!!

I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do and if you do, let her know, please!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

More Mimi Queen of Fluff

This is Mimi in the wild. Lol

Actually, it’s part of the backyard. There’s a runoff that creates a small creek running from the property behind us across the upper third of the back yard to the main runoff between the neighbor on the right(facing the house) and our place. Mimi has taken to drinking out of it right after a good rain before the water has gotten muddy.

Yes, I know it looks muddy, but it’s the angle of the picture and all the shade. The water is actually clear and has nothing like mosquito eggs/larvae in it yet, The water continues to flow for several days after it rains though not as fast, of course. Once the water from the other property is completely drained, the run off will run itself dry as well.

Just thought I’d give you guys a new pic of Mimi is all. Happy Mimi Monday! 😀

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Genre: Romance

As I mentioned in my first article about the genres in fiction writing, Genre:Horror, the first proper novel was a Romance novel written by a man in 1740, Samuel Richardson, the subject of another article I wrote.

Pamela, the very first Romance novel ever written, was about a young servant girl who is the subject of her master’s affections. She doesn’t return his advances at the first but eventually, she does. The novel is a bit controversial now because of the behavior of the master being a bit scandalous, but in the era it was written in, his actions weren’t considered wrong at all. It was a male dominated world after all.

Mr. Richardson’s contemporary, Jane Austen, was greatly influenced by his work and was moved to write her own romance novels, Sense and Sensibility being the first of her small body of work. Both she, and Mr. Richardson, were quite disapproving of the “Cult of Sensibility” as it has been called. This idea of the senses, and the emotions elicited by them, being fully explored and expressed was widely accepted in many aspects of society, not just in writing. Romantic works written in this manner were referred to as Sentimental.

Richardson and Austen both poked fun at this cultural movement in their own novels, preferring a more realistic and sensible approach to romance.

Like the Horror Genre, Romance started out as being just about romance, the wooing and pursuit of a loved one with all that this entailed, and it grew to encompass a great many subgenres as novel writing developed.

Romance – the original and eldest of the genre. It’s hard to find a book that is pure romance now, focusing only on romance and little else.

Examples: Pamela and Sense and Sensibility

Historical – Georgette Heyer wrote the first of this subgenre in 1921 , and it pays strict attention to historical detail including dress and etiquette. Harlequin Books, the most famous series of romance books, began with this subgenre in 1949.

Examples: The Black Moth and The Outlander

Regency – this is possibly a sub sub genre of Historical though many think it’s a sub genre of Romance itself. All novels take place specifically between 1795 and 1837 with no deviation.

Examples: Slightly Dangerous and Arabella

Contemporary – this encompasses novels written after the 1970s. It’s a modern, realistically written genre dealing with modern issues of dating, love and romance.

Examples: The Notebook and Something Borrowed

Erotic(NOT Erotica) – this is a subgenre that has a more sexual element to it but it’s not erotica. It leaves the chaste, young adult venue and enters into full rated X adult only novels. Sex becomes part of the plot, of the character development and of the source of tension in the story so much so, romance is more physical than emotional.

Examples: His to Possess and Master of the Opera

Paranormal/Supernatural – this genre is all about ghosts, werewolves, demons and angels and the people who love them. This is a very popular sub genre at the moment.

Examples: Danse Macabre and Twilight

Suspense – Non Paranormal/Supernatural – this sub genre blends elements of the thriller and detective novel genres to add flavor to the romance. Think innocent murder suspect falling in love with police detective trying to clear her name….. that sort of thing.

Examples: Twisted Shadows and Don’t Tell

There are a great many more but not being a great fan of the genre, I didn’t do more than cursory research into the topic. If you are a lover of Romance and want to know more, there are plenty of places to look – you could fall down a virtual rabbit hole of sub genres and sub sub genres of Romance. I wish you well on your journey.

As for me, I’ll stick to my Horror and Fantasy. I hope you enjoyed this article which is by no means definitive or all encompassing. it was just a short piece to provide information you may not have otherwise known.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

YouTube Tuesday – Your New Zealand Family

There are a lot of “Reaction” videos on YouTube now, and they’re from people all around the globe. People reacting to music, to history, to food – you get the idea. I found a family of four who started their channel in January of this year and already, they have 46k subscribers!!

I found them quite by accident when they were “reacting” to bull riding videos – American bull riding. This is a family of four from New Zealand, and they don’t have bull riding there apparently. They were all impressed with the sport, but I was tickled when they apparently couldn’t figure out why the bulls were bucking almost from the moment they were released from the shoot.

Several of their viewers helped them out telling them in the comments. I have since watched other videos, and I like how they try to compare what they’re seeing to their own lives and country. They’re very open minded, or seem to be, and I was impressed with them enough to want to share them with you.

Below is a video of them reacting to a countdown of beautiful places in the United States. The parents fully include their two children in this video, asking for their opinions and discussing things with them which I applaud.

As always, Like, Subscribe and Comment to show how you feel about this video and the creators of it. 🙂

If you have a channel on YouTube or Twitch you want me to check out and possibly share, let me know in the comments below.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Learning Experiences

We all have learning experiences from things we did wrong as well as things we did well. It’s hope we learn and grow as people, as humans. These experiences can be small or grand, seemingly inconsequential or life changing. Sometimes, they are all the above. It’s a matter of perspective.

The pandemic that is slowly being brought under control has reminded me of a great many learning experiences I’ve had in my five decades of life as I’m sure it has to many older people all over the world. It’s been a wake up call to many in the younger generations and sadly, a large majority, it hasn’t been more than an inconvenience.

In addition to reminding me of past learning experiences, it has also presented me with new ones. I have been trying out new hobbies and new interests as my supplies in my preferred hobbies and interests have either run low or run out altogether. I have been successful at some and a failure, so far, at others. Still, I have learned new things about these new things as well as about myself.

My growing older and my advancing health condition have also brought me new learning experiences. I have changed the way I cook my food as well as learned new recipes for many things I already like to eat. I learned how to make flatbread, and I found I really enjoyed it though the kneading part did make my wrists ache a little. I am determined to make more in the future.

Being content, and making do, with what I have has presented me with reminders as well as new learning experiences, and I think I have grown with them – all of them. I am more appreciative of my life experiences, of my friendships and with my family.

Many people don’t like the learning experiences that come from something bad happening – such as the pandemic, but these are the ones you’re supposed to notice. Not all of them come on such a grand scale thankfully, but they’re the ones you really need to pay attention to. A near accident, an accident, a job loss, even a death – they’re all meant to teach us something even if it’s how to cope with grief.

All learning experiences, good and bad, are how we grow and become better people, but only if we accept the lessons being taught, if we actually learn from them. If we don’t, they will come again, in another form, but they will come again. Personally, I tend to need repeats, and reminders, because I don’t always recognize what I’m supposed to learn. We all do, I think.

No matter what, the biggest lesson I have learned to date is I have to keep moving forward. No matter what happens, I have to keep moving forward, keep growing and learning as a person. I can’t let life get me down, I can’t give up. If I give up, I might as well shuffle off this mortal coil because I won’t be of use to anyone, not even myself.

Just something to think about, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to comment below.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Writing Prompt – Emotion, Show or Tell?

I’m listening to a very interesting audio book about writing emotion in fiction. The author looks at both the Show, Don’t Tell camp and the Just Tell camp. Both sides have interesting views on emotion.

Show, Don’t Tell

Use visual cues to show emotion ie crying, sobbing, wretchedness etc.

Just Tell

Inner dialogue is best for this, but outer dialogue is used as well.

Both camps agree emotion should be discussed, it helps the reader relate(hopefully) to the character and ideally, to feel something themselves.

The author also recognizes there are a great many authors(myself included) who straddle both camps when writing, and emotion is just one more thing for us to either show, or tell, according to what we think suits the scene,

What are your thoughts about this? Do you think emotions should be Shown or Told or are you a fence sitter too who likes both according to the situation?

Personally, I have trouble writing emotions because of how I was raised. I feel emotions just fine, you can see that in my writing in Crimson Knight. Harsh emotions such as anger aren’t that hard to show or tell. Softer emotions such as sorrow are harder to express.

I use the terms “hard” and “soft” as generalizations. There is nothing soft about sorrow or grief, they can actually be physically damaging whereas as anger or fear can be fleeting leaving nothing behind to show they were there.

The author of the book whose name I can’t remember – book and author both – is of the opinion in order to write emotions, an author must not be afraid of them. They must be willing to feel the emotions themselves. I get immersed in my writing so I do end up feeling the emotions of the characters even when I don’t mean to.

Again, what are your thoughts on this? Readers. I’d like to hear what you have to say as well.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

YouTube Tuesday: Epic Build from Real Terrain Hobbies – Heads Up LOTR Fans!!!

Neil at Real Terrain Hobbies is doing his most massive build yet, and Woodland Scenics is helping him do it! So, what is this epic build?? It’s The Shire!! Yep, on a huge 24 square foot board cut into 3 sections, Neil is building a playable diorama of The Shire complete with lights and so much MORE!!

Check out the link to the first video and then hop over to the second video!!

As always Like, Subscribe and Leave a Comment – Neil enjoys the attention!!

Enjoy!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Mermaid Purses

This made me think

Duri Rolvsson

Sitting in the cockpit of a small white-and-green sloop, I waited huddled in muted agony beneath a leaden blanket.

The sloop was tethered in an improvised way to a busy pier used by working vessels of all sizes and condition; sailors of a fishing boat gliding past shouted their annoyances and insults to persuade me to relocate the puny leisure vessel to allow real seamen to work.

I paid them little mind. Their words couldn’t touch me.

Around dusk the night prior, a sturdy passenger ship called The Maribel had gone down in a violent tempest with all hands except for me. Despite being strong swimmer, I had struggled to keep my head above water for hour after hour until, for the first time in my life, my limbs reached the edge of my endurance and begun to fail; even as the storm abated I was sure I would drown…

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