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The Hodge-Podge Writing Challenge

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

HAND WRITING - PINK BCKGD
What is a “hodge-podge”?  According to the dictionary, it is a mixture of dissimilar ingredients.  So let’s mix up some dissimilar things today and write about them. Here’s your challenge:

Choose a book — any book, as long as it has at least 100 pages. Pick up a pencil or pen. (If you’re using a pencil, use the eraser tip. If you’re using a pen, make sure the ink point is retracted.) Open the book to page 1, and, without looking over the text first, close your eyes and swirl the pencil around over the page so as to lose any sense of the placement of words you may have inadvertently read. Then drop the eraser end of the pencil down onto the page. Look at the word the pencil is touching, and write the word down.

Now, turn to page 50 of the same book and do the same thing.  Write the word down.

Finally, go to page 100 and follow the same instructions.

Once you have your three words, your challenge is to write a sentence using all three words, in any order,  in the SAME SENTENCE.

Then write an entirely different sentence also using all three of the words.

And, lastly, write a third sentence using all three words.

It’s just a little exercise in discipline and creativity that is good for the brain and for the soul. It forces us to look at words from totally different perspectives, and we’ll sometimes find they have unexpected things to say to us. Another added incentive: you just might find the seeds of your next novel in one of these sentences. It’s been known to happen.

Post your 3 sentences (with a link to this challenge) on your own site.
Then come back here, and, in the “Comments” section, tell us your three words, and paste the link to your article where you wrote your sentences.

Remember, you don’t write a separate sentence for each word. You have to use all three words in all three sentences.  Also, please remember that my blog is for general audiences.

I’ll start things off with my own three words: curls, lifted, eternity.

Sentence # 1: The breeze lifted her golden curls away from her face and neck, and he caught his breath, knowing he would remember her beauty for eternity.

Sentence # 2:  Watching the smoke being lifted by the wind as it curls toward his face,  Howard feels as though he has been waiting an eternity for help to arrive.

Sentence # 3:  She curls her fingers around his as he’s lifted into the ambulance, knowing that he is about to leave her to go into eternity.

 

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The Only Beauty

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I just had to share this piece by Scott Thomas Summers. It’s one of the most beautiful poems I’ve read in years. In fact, it has inspired me to write a whole article relating to the theme. I’m working on it now, but I don’t want to say anything else about it because I don’t want to interfere with the power of the poem itself.

Share Your World, 2015 — Week # 3

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

SMILEY -- NO CIRCLEI missed participating in Cee’s Share Your World Challenge last week, so I’m going to get on the ball and try to post my answers on the first day this week.

Question # 1: Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

This question was a serious challenge for me — mainly because when you think about the opportunity to invite anyone in the whole world, you naturally turn your mind toward someone you’d never have the chance to invite except in this rare situation. You don’t consider the ordinary, everyday people.  Not that they are not just as important, but because you can invite them anytime — right? — so you don’t want to waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on someone you can call on the spur of the moment anyway.

Several people came to mind — people who are my favorites in their various fields of endeavors — but, alas, they all seem to be gone from the earth. My favorite authors, my favorite preachers, my favorite world leaders, my favorite musicians, my favorite artists, and my favorite teachers. They have moved on to greater rewards than having dinner with me.

But the more I thought about the question, I decided that I’d probably most enjoy having the wonderful friends I’ve made through blogging these past three years. Those people who have interacted with me online in a caring, encouraging, loving manner, and whom I have grown to genuinely care about in a very personal way. Every one of those people is bright, creative, interesting, encouraging, and stimulating to me personally — and to my own creativity. So, without further ado, I’d like to issue the invitation. Every single one of you who genuinely considers that you and I have become firm friends and family through the amazing technology made available by WordPress, would you please come to my house for dinner?

Question # 2: When did you last sing to yourself?  To someone else?

Yesterday and yesterday.

 Question # 3: If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

The ability to make decisions without looking at the situation from every possible, conceivable direction and without envisioning myriads of scenarios and asking pounds of questions concerning possible outcomes, both positive and negative. Sometimes I stop and chastise myself with words like, “For heaven’s sake, stop thinking so much and just make a decision!!! Yes/no; black/white; do/don’t: Just pick one!”

Question # 4: What, if anything is too serious to be joked about?

People losing their memory and their mental faculties is a deadly serious thing as far as I’m concerned. I cared for two different family members who lost their ability to think and reason and eventually their ability to communicate. I know other people who went through the same experiences. It was a horrifying, humiliating, debasing experience for them, and it is a far too serious and painful thing to be joked about.

I am astounded and angered at all the people in this world who seem to love to make jokes about having what they term “senior moments,” or about how elderly people say and do ridiculous things because of mental failures. I have seen scores and scores of those kinds of jokes on social media throughout the world. I delete every one of them when I see them because they don’t deserve to be left online as far as I can control it. And I’m totally fed up with people in my own personal life who find the subject an excuse for comedy. I can guarantee that if they ever truly had a memory loss or a malfunction of their minds, they would not laugh at all.

Moreover, words have power. Even medical science has proven time and time again that the words we speak affect our physical bodies. People may think they are joking, but the more they say their memory is bad — “I can’t remember things anymore,” or “I have a terrible memory now that I’m older,” or “I have senior moments all the time now.” — the more their memory will deteriorate. And the more people say “I can’t think straight anymore”  — or worse yet — “I’m going crazy” — the more their physical brain will begin to comply with their own words. And pretty soon, they won’t be laughing either.

Mental failures are absolutely nothing to joke about, and people with good minds should appreciate and be so grateful for them that they speak about being blessed with a good mind instead of saying every negative thing they can think of to try to get a laugh out of somebody.

Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m very grateful for having the opportunity this last week to spend a little time with some truly great friends whom I had not seen in years.

This next week, my spring term of creative writing classes begins, and I am very excited to meet my new students and help them on their way to a more disciplined and more expanded use of their gifts and talents.

 

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What? Valentine’s Day Just Around the Corner???

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Oh my word!!!  Look at that calendar.  Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and here I am without a valentine to call my own.

The truth is that I’d like to fall in love again, but I’m just not sure I want to have to deal with all the responsibility that comes with it. Life is so much more complicated when you’re in love, but then it doesn’t shine quite as brightly when you’re not.  I may need to do some soul-searching during this “season of love.”

Well, in the meantime, let me be the first to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day!  Here’s a little poem from my archives to get you in the mood.

HEART WITH WINGS - PINK W. BUBBLES

LOVE’S FREEDOM

I turned to Love and said, “I must be free.”
And Love said, “Surely. Take your liberty.”

I asked, “In truth? You set me free to roam?”
Then Love replied, “Just please remember home.”

And so I flew to north, south, east, and west.
And, finally, back to home I came to rest.

Then turned to Love and said, “You were so brave,
To let me try my wings.  So much you gave.”

Love smiled and said, “Refusal to set you free
Would mean I loved — not you — but only me.”

♥

Friday Fictioneers, January 16, 2015 — The Havisham Curse

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

With a nod of appreciation to the master, Charles Dickens, for the seed I borrowed to grow my story, I offer my contribution to this week’s Friday Fictioneers. Hop over to the host site and find out how to contribute your own 100-word story and take part in the fun. The photo prompt was provided by Jan Wayne Fields.

DINING TABLE WINDOW SCENE - JAN WAYNE FIELDS

 

THE HAVISHAM CURSE

The priceless, ornate table wear was arranged in perfect symmetry, awaiting the wedding breakfast. Each piece of tarnished silver lay untouched beside the once royal blue linen napkins, now faded to dusty gray. They matched the layers of dust that veiled the sparkle of crystal goblets and smothered the plates and bowls at each setting. Alicia stood at the dingy window, looking out. It no longer reflected her once white gown, fraying now at its yellowed edges. Her rose bouquet lay on the table, virtually petrified. Still, she waited. Edgar had promised to marry her.  She mustn’t lose hope yet.

 

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Of bachelors, spinsters, and wasting time on ridiculous questions . . .

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

For some reason — and I have no idea what that reason is — my mind has been grappling this morning with a bemusing question.

WOMAN SILHOUETTE, PONYTAILThe dictionary definition of the word spinster is as follows: An unmarried woman of gentle family; a woman who has never married, especially one past the “usual” age of marrying.

MAN PROFILEThe dictionary definition of a bachelor is as follows: A man who has never been married; a man who is not married or cohabiting, but who lives independently.

So let me get this straight: A bachelor is a man who has never married, and by the use of the word “never” one understands that he is well along in years and has passed the “usual” time of marrying. A spinster is a woman who has done the same. Yet the term bachelor carries absolutely no negative connotations with it — and in fact, some people even consider it a mark of distinction. Yet the term spinster — at least here in the U.S. — carries a very decidedly negative connotation. In fact most dictionaries give the term “old maid” as a synonym for the word spinster.

Now for the question: WHY THE DIFFERENCE???

Anyway, while cogitating on this bemusing question, I also got to thinking about a poem that was written by a great friend of mine, Lila Colloton. Lila is now a perky little lady of 82, a widow, a mother, a grandmother, and still an active poet and reporter for a local newspaper. She wrote the following poem when she was 16. I’ve shared it once before on this site, but not for a very long time. Thought you might enjoy it today.

AN OLD MAID

Being an old maid would be fun I guess:
No diapers to wash or children to dress;
You may go shopping whenever you can;
Don’t have to sit home and wait for your man.
Yes, being an old maid would be fun I suppose:
Just one person’s dishes and your very own clothes.

But just stop to think before you continue:
Don’t you feel sort of funny within you?
Kind of an empty feeling I bet.
Just suppose Mom and Dad hadn’t met.
Where would you be?
Nobody knows:
Probably just part of the breeze that blows.

So stop debating before it’s too late;
When he calls up, don’t break that date!

© Lila Colloton


(By the way, if anyone can answer my question, be sure to let me know.)

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Share Your World, 2015 – Week # 1

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

It’s a brand new year of Share Your World. Why not participate if you have the time. It’s easy, and it’s a great way to get to know fellow bloggers better. Cee Neuner  is the hostess, so just hop over to her blog and check out the details.

Question # 1: How do you get rid of pesky telemarketers?BLUE TELEPHONE

To begin with, now that I have Caller ID, if the number looks suspiciously like a telemarketer, I don’t even answer the phone, and they seldom leave a message. If I do answer, and I learn that it’s someone marketing anything I’m not interested in, I politely interrupt them and say, “Let me save you and me both a lot of time. I’m not at all interested in your product/service.”

If they are polite, they say “Okay” and terminate the call. If they are not polite and try to get pushy and argue with me or try to put pressure on me to listen to them anyway, I then — also politely — say, “I’m hanging up now. Thank you. Good-bye.” And I hang up. I understand that they are just doing their job, but once I’ve made it clear that I’m not interested, they owe it to me to stop tying up my phone and accept my refusal. If they will not, then I feel I’m totally within the realm of good manners to sign off and terminate the call myself.

COFFEE MANQuestion # 2: What are you a natural at doing?

Two things: Eating and Talking — sometimes doing both at the same time, although doing both simultaneously can get a little messy if I’m not careful.

 

 

BARBER CARTOON - BLUEQuestion # 3: How often do you get a haircut?

Depends on the mood I’m in. I’ve always been a person who liked to change my hair — sort of like with my blog. I get bored easily. So when I get my hair cut short, I generally go for a trim every couple months until I’m tired of that style, and then I let it grow out. Once it’s longer, I don’t get it cut until I feel the style is sagging because of not having attention, and then I go for a trim. I guess you could say I’m pretty laid back about haircuts. But I do trim my bangs and the top section myself almost every month because I don’t like the bangs hanging on my eyebrows. And I’ve also noticed that when I’m feeling blah or just out of sorts with myself, getting a haircut gives me a new lease on life, so I have been known to get a new cut just because I needed a change.

APE WITH BANANA - WP CLIPARTQuestion # 4: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Writing and Playing Word Games, like Bananagrams.   (If you’re not familiar with Bananagrams, I’ll tell you that it is a word game similar to Scrabble, in that each player works with letter tiles to create words.) I also love teaching, and 90% of the time it is total fun for me as well. But, honestly, if I had to choose just one single thing that gives me pure pleasure, I would have to say writing.

CARTOON WRITER CLOTHED - editedBonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for all the wonderful Christmas gifts I received. I was so blessed by people who generously put great thought and effort into my gifts. This next week, I am looking forward to spending some extra time writing on my newest novel Prissy On The Prowl.

 

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The Daffodil Principle!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This article, “The Daffodil Principle,” is such a powerful and encouraging message — especially at the beginning of a new year.

Thanks to the folks at Pure Glory, we now know the original author of the article is Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards. She has passed on, but if you’d like to know more about her, one of her daughters is a blogger and wrote her mother’s obituary, which she has posted on her blog.

morningstoryanddilbert's avatarMorning Story and Dilbert

Morning Story and Dilbert Vintage Dilbert
January 8, 1998

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. “I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.” “Well, you won’t get me back on…

View original post 586 more words

100-Word Challenge for Grownups — Week #162 – ‘The Secret Gift’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Julia’s 100-Word Challenge for Grownups has reached its 162nd week as we begin 2015. Her prompt this week for the story is the following phrase:

“… as I put the decorations away, I …”

Check out her site and get the simple rules for participating in the challenge.

My story is below:

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS -- 2THE SECRET GIFT

My saddest Christmas ever. Jobless now; no money for food or rent; no family to help. I’d cried myself bleary-eyed for days. Government assistance was unthinkable. As I put Grandmother’s decorations away, I thought of how much I missed her – courageous woman, widowed, raising six children on her meager seamstress income. I missed her sorely and wished I weren’t such a failure in comparison.

The tiny envelope bearing my name was taped inside the bottom of an ornament box. I’d never noticed it before. It held a diamond necklace and a note from Grandmother: “I prayed you’d discover this when you need it most. It’s worth $25,000. Use it wisely. Merry Christmas.”

 

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LOOKING BACK: DIGGING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES OF ‘IN LOVE WITH WORDS’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I’ve posted a ton of articles/stories/poems/photos on here the past 3 years. And as I’ve progressed into 2015, I realize that there are a few of those “old” posts that keep pushing their way back into my thoughts even though I’ve moved on. They were the ones I enjoyed writing and sharing so much that they keep drawing me back to read them myself — even though I already know what they say. But every writer has that experience from time to time, and I have to admit that I enjoy looking back.

WOMAN AT WINDOW LOOKING BACK
As a result, I got to thinking that there may be some of my readers — especially those who have come on board the past few months — who may not have had an opportunity to read some of those oldies from previous years, and they might enjoy them as well. So I’ve put together a list of 13 (certainly not all) of my own favorites from the past, and I’ve included the links — with a tiny blurb of explanation. That way, if any of them sound interesting to you, they’ll be easy to find, and you can travel back in time with me.   ENJOY!

 

LOVE WILL FIND A WAY — a modern-day short story that borrows some of its plot from the legend of Kaw-Liga, the wooden Indian who fell in love but never made his move. Don’t know why I like this story so much, but it’s been one of my favorites ever since I originally wrote it in May of last year.

BIRD ON MY TREE AT SUNSET — a photograph that is a special treasure to me — mainly because I can almost never get a good picture of birds. They move too much.  But this particular evening, I captured this bird with the light just right, and it will always be one of my favorites.

2014: THE YEAR OF THE AUTHOR – PART 2 – the second installment in a 4-part series about writing. I enjoyed writing this whole series, and I use this material all the time in my creative writing classes, but this particular post was about publishing in today’s writing market, and it has some very helpful information and advice, especially for new writers. It’s my favorite article of the series.

THE TRIAL OF MARYBELL WESTMORELAND – a short, short story that didn’t come from a plan to write. I just started writing, and, next thing I knew, Marybell was on trial — and with a surprise testimony to offer.

TELL ME A STORY WRITING CHALLENGE: ‘THROUGH GEOFFREY’S WINDOW‘ – a short story based on a totally unique picture by my Portland Oregan friend Bob Mielke. The reason this is one of my favorite posts is that the story was literally born out of the picture — which is an original graphic creation of Bob’s, using his own photos. I couldn’t seem to stay away from that photo. It kept calling me to write it’s story, and I loved doing it.

WHERE DID I MISS YOU? –– a searching look at how simple choices can affect our entire life and how “finding” a person at the “wrong” time can be frustrating yet rewarding at the same time.

SNOWCHILD – a poem about my terribly ambivalent feelings concerning snow.

TRIBUTE TO AN ORDINARY POET –  a personal tribute to my mother and her poetry.

LOVE ON THE LINE – a light-hearted poem based on the true story of a WWII sailor and his very, VERY difficult task of proposing to his girlfriend while home on leave.

AZALEAS ABOUNDING – a slideshow of my glorious azaleas from the spring of 2012. The original slideshow was created using a different theme for this blog, and unfortunately, now that I’ve changed to this current theme, the pictures don’t show up as large. I’m just too busy with other things to take time to re-make the whole gallery to fit this theme correctly. However, I still enjoy going back to look at them again and again.

SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN (‘I AM A RAINDROP’) — a post containing my original poem, “I Am A Raindrop,” and a video. This was one of the most fun poems I’ve ever written, and I often re-read it just to re-live the fun.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A CHRISTIAN TO CALL ON JESUS – an encouraging look at Jesus and His commitment to loving, forgiving, and restoring every human being who will come to Him for help.

A QUIVER FULL OF ARROWS – an entire novel — one of three of my novels that I have offered for free reading online. I am a fan of every novel I’ve ever written, of course, but I have to say that A Quiver Full of Arrows is one of my favorite favorites. I originally posted the story one chapter a day until it was complete, and readers commented on it one chapter at a time. However, this link takes the reader to the page that hosts the novel in its entirety.

 

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Ever Wondered What You’re Worth?

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Exif JPEG
You can find a hint in the words of this Christmas Carol:

“Long lay the world,
In sin and error pining,
‘Til He appeared,
AND THE SOUL FELT ITS WORTH.”

The most significant carols of the Christmas season have something important to say that goes beyond the adoration of a baby in a manger. Jesus Christ came to earth as a babe, but He did not come to remain so. His whole purpose in being born a man was to be able to live a life of perfect obedience on our behalf and then take the punishment that we deserved for not living that life ourselves.

Christmas is not a season that lasts a week — or 12 days — or for the month of December.  Christmas is about the life-long celebration of our salvation from our sinful nature and our free admittance back into right relationship with our Creator so that we can live with Him forever.

This lovely carol, “Oh Holy Night,” by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, explains the situation so well.  We (the human race) had degraded ourselves by rebellion, selfishness, hatred, greed, and all manner of immorality. We had become weak and insignificant – without power to give ourselves value. As a result, we were without worth and without any hope for this world or the next. We sat in darkness and in bondage, enchained by our own sin and error and by the death that resulted from that sin.

It took a God who was, in and of Himself, beautiful, valuable, and unutterably holy to offer Himself in our stead – paying the ultimate price for our degradation and sin – transposing us from a mass of worthless matter into a priceless treasure. And with that one merciful act of God, the human race became worth more than all that lay in the storehouses of Heaven.

Jehovah is God – all by Himself. And, in the person of Jesus Christ, He gave all of Himself for you and me.

Our souls now recognize our worth because we were bought with the life of Him who is worthy of all honor, praise, and glory forever.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold … but with the precious blood of Christ ….”  (Holy Bible, 1 Peter 1:18-19)

 

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