Birthday Bash Blogfest

J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer, is having a Birthday Bash Blogfest! Here are the rules:

Write a story (or a personal account) that begins with the phrase:

“A lot can happen in a year…”

The catch? It must be a drabble, i.e. exactly 100 words long, no more, no less. The starter phrase will not be included in your word count.

Some guidelines:

• Proper nouns (names, etc.) count as just one word, e.g. ‘New Mexico’ is one word
• Hyphenated phrases count as one word, e.g. ‘self-defence’ is one word
• I shall be lax with conjunctions: you may count them as one word!

And here’s my dribble drabble:

A lot can happen in a year; birth and death. Fortunately, the deaths led to the renewal of life.

Two cats and a dog provided the excitement in my life before the year began. Koko (cat) died and Oreo (cat) was lonely. With the birth and adoption of MeiMei (kitten), a revised family unit was recognized. Comet (dog) joins the dearly departed just as daughter moves on to college.

Oreo succumbed to cancer. MeiMei was lonely, so with another birth and adoption, Sunni (kitten) joins the family. It’s life and death for the year. Three deaths, two births, one off to college, and then I turned 60!

Poetry Schmoetry Blogfest

And here is my little entry into this blogfest.

Blog Confessions

Writing, typing, or tapping,
My thoughts are quite the mess.
Once twinkly and nimble fingers
Are long gone, I must confess.

But I can’t stop the thoughts
So I write a blog to share.
And when no one reads them
I lie and say, “I don’t care.”

Do I care or do I not?
The answer is in my head.
No matter what I think today,
Enough has already been said.

Favorite Book Challenge

This Favorite Book Challenge is being organised by A Writer’s Journey.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to:

1. Pick your top five favorite books.
2. Between June 20 and 22, write one line of what each book is about and then write one line of why you liked it. Think of it like a twitter pitch for other people’s work. Semi-colons are cheating, but you can use them anyway.
3. Go to other blogs and discuss the books.
4. If you do not keep a blog, put your challenge in the comments on the day of the event.

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Here are my favs:

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

• Stephanie Plum works (sort of) as a bail bond enforcer, but with a good heart, wacky friends, and hot men, she always gets in and out of trouble faster than you can flip the pages in the book.
• This is the first of a series of 17 chuckle out loud books, with a can do attitude that I wish I had.

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

• A riveting story of twin brothers and how their lives affect each other; one is schizophrenic and the other one works hard to deal with it, past, present, and future.
• I loved the details about the brotherly relationship and how the illness of one forces the other brother to grow and learn about himself.

Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash

• A suberb telling of the background, marriage, and strength of Eleanor Roosevelt, and how she inspired a nation and women across the world.
• I loved reading about Eleanor growing up and how her life shaped her to be a strong role model for all women.

Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

• A journey of good vs. evil in the land of Middle Earth, where some things/people are familiar, but others are beyond your wildest thoughts of fantasy.
• For over 25 years, the trilogy was at the top of my summer reading list; a chance to live in another world and cheer for good to triumph again.

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

• The true story of Ted Bundy, his evil life, and how he fooled the world; told though the eyes of a perceptive woman who tries to understand the makings of evil.
• The first true crime book I ever read, which started me on a deep love/hate for the genre.