Rachael's Third Challenge

Rachael's third challenge for the campaign has come round, and once again it's quite a challenge. Here are the rules:

             Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it’s morning, 
• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
• that the MC (main character) is bored
• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

So here goes: It's a flash fiction, exactly 300 words, using all 5 senses, all 3 made-up words, showing instead of telling. Whew!

Cry of the Synbatec  

Opal finger-combs her straggly gray hair, wriggling her toes in the sand. She stares at the rose and golden clouds, trying to imagine faces in them the way she did as a girl. No luck. She turns her head and watches Ralph wading in the dawn-flecked waves. A scene meant to recapture earlier days, along with last night’s bonfire and roasted hotdogs, along with sleeping under the star-powdered sky. 

“Opal!” Ralph waves a flabby arm. Opal sighs and looks farther up the shore, where a young couple in tank suits and flippers stride toward the waves. The salt in the air has a sulfurous undertone, probably from seaweed strewn along the sand, although it seems behind her as well. Behind her, too, a shrill cry cuts through the rumbling surf and lapping waves. 

Damn seagulls. Last night they kept pacing around their hot-dog roast, and Ralph would throw pieces of bun! 

Frankly, Opal would like to go home and shower off all the sand. She swallows, thinking of buckwheat pancakes drenched with sweet, viscous honey, topped with foamy Cool Whip. Then she’d stretch out on the sofa and watch re-runs of Tacise. Morning after morning, criminals prove no match for Tacise. No thief is wily enough. No drug lord’s hideaway secure. The actor who plays Tacise is a Republican, too. Opal nods to herself. She has read his biography on Wikipedia.

“Opal!” Ralph calls, louder this time, hands cupped around his mouth. His face crinkles with worry. A breeze swallows his next word. It sounds like wastopaneer! Or maybe, what’s it near? But that makes no sense.

“Watch out! It’s nearer!” he almost screams. 

The shrill cry behind her comes again. Opal turns in time to see the Synbatec’s wings billow wide before enfolding her.

If you like this, it's #35 on the linky list.

Belated Award Passes

We are back from Galica -- got in late, late Saturday night -- and now I'm playing "catch up". Just after arrival in Galicia I received two nice awards from Michele Helene at A Wanderer in Paris . My apologies for dragging my heels on passing them on, but I didn't spend a lot of time on the Internet this trip.

Here are the awards:

 

The 1st Award (Liebster Blog) is for someone who has less than 200 followers. This award has five rules:

1. Show your appreciation to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. That's Michele Helene (see link above). 
2. Reveal five picks more pics, let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. (Done; see below.)
3. Post the award on your blog. (Done; see above.)
4. Bask in the camaraderie of the most supportive people on the internet. (So true. Bloggers ARE supportive.)

5. Have bloggity fun and spread the love. (Siempre!)

The Second Blog Award (One Lovely Blog Award) has only two rules.

1. Thank and link to the person who nominates you: Michelle Helene, merci and gracias! (See link above.)

2. Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it! (Done. See below.)  

The Liebster Blog Award goes to:

1.  J. A. Bennett at A Book, A Girl, A Journey 

2.  Jess at Write. Skate. Dream

3.  Gail Shepherd at Paradoxy

4.  M. G. Higgins at M. G. Higgins

5.  Máire Rua at Máire Rua Writes

The One Lovely Blog Award goes to these recently discovered sites:

1.  First and foremost is Rachael Harrie's blog, Rach Writes, a super blog designed to help other bloggers discover each other. It's through her blog I've discovered so many of the sites below.

2.   Ashley Nixon

3.   Ali Cross

4.   Eve.E at Clueless Eve

5.   Jessica Therrien

6.   Theresa Milstein

7.   K. T. Hanna

8.   A. E. Martin

9.   The Old Geezer

10. Kelley at Between the Bookends

11.  Lauren Boyd at My Path to Publication

12.  Brooke Rousseau

13.  F. E. Sewell

14.  Sheril Swift   

15. Jennifer Burke at Jen's Bookshelf

And there you have it. These are all good sites to visit, do go and enjoy the reads and information these bloggers share.

Meanwhile, I am eagerly looking forward to Rachael's third challenge which is supposed to be posted sometime today.

From Imagos to Vendimias and Burras

The Campaign and a cold have bumped my blogging a little on this trip. (So many entries, so little time to read them!) It’s been quite a pleasure clicking around, seeing the various takes on Rachael’s challenge. The stories and poems have been truly impressive. (I will never look at any of those challenge words the same way again!) And one good thing about a cold is that it gives you permission to loll around and read books loaned by friends. 

Meanwhile, life moves on in Galicia. Our neighbors finished their vendimia (grape harvest) Saturday. It was a two day process, as the grapes have been plentiful this year. Friends and relatives pitch in with one person's harvest, and then it's reciprocal. After Saturday's vendimia, quite a few gathered at the bench at day’s end, pleased to be done with the picking. I could understand some of what they said, but we are learning Castiliano. When our neighbors get together, they lapse into Gallego, a language similar to both Castiliano and Portuguese. I could pick up bits of vocabulary I knew: “grapes”, “yet”, “field”, “town”,  "tractor", etc. But it’s always a pleasure just to listen to the musical rise and fall of their voices, their good-hearted laughter; to watch their mobile expressions, their gesticulations. And they have a way of making you part of the gathering from time to time with a sweeping glance, an arm pat, or by throwing out a question they know you can answer.

This has been one of our warmest trips. (We come in spring and fall.) Evenings and mornings are temperate, when normally they would be quite cool during this season. Days are downright hot. We’ve had to use a floor fan for long periods. There was only one day when we had a bit of rain. And the flies and mosquitoes, alas, are plentiful. I have a fly swatter on a hook in every room, and at night we leave a small lamp on to keep the mosquitos away.

Earlier last week we went with friends to a beautiful coastal town called Baiona, a bay town on the Atlantic coast (farther south than Fisterra, where we went during our spring trip.) Baiona has an interesting “old town” with stone columns supporting walkways under 2nd stories, colorful tiled walls, a stone church full of carved saints, narrow cobbled streets at angles. Cafés overlook the sandy beach and tde wall across the road and the colorful fishing boats beyond. Several islands dot the pale blue waters. On the southern curve of the bay an old castle has been transformed into a parador with a hotel and restaurants. The main building, the part with hotel rooms, looks modern, but there is still the ancient tower and a crenelated wall surrounding gardens lush with red and orange lantana and angel trumpet bushes. It was an all day trip and we finished up with a late dinner at our friends’ house, getting home around 2:00 a.m.

Usually we rise around 6:30 or 7:00 (when it’s still dark then in these parts). But after late nights, we sleep later and are wakened by Miguel’s burra from one of his outbuildings across the lane, hee-hawing for her breakfast. When we first started coming here, Miguel kept his sheep in the building and we would wake to their pitiful bleating. This year he’s moved them to another outbuilding to make room for the donkey. She’s a beautiful creature; deep gray with a black mane, a thin black line down her spine, and a black stripe down each shoulder. And, I must say, a sweet expression on her long face.  

Meanwhile, we've been visiting friends and having friends over for Indian food, and a week and a half ago we took in the local fiesta in Toiriz:: I’ll write about that later, as well as another fiesta we are going to in Lugo this Sunday, since fiestas deserve their own posts.

I am sorry to say we haven't downloaded any pictures from this trip yet. The two pictures above are from previous trips, one of the burra, and one of an early stage of our neighbors' winemaking process a couple of years ago, after the grapes were all picked. Meanwhile, today they are all pruning the vines to get ready for next year. 

More to come, so stay tuned.  Hasta entonces, and ciao for now.

Campaign Challenge #2 -- The Imago

So here goes for the 2nd Campaign Challenge Rachael Harrie gave us at Rach Writes. The challenge was to write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title, that includes the word "imago" in the title and in the body of the post includes the following 4 random words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity". For an added challenge make reference to a mirror in the post. For an even greater challenge, make the post 200 words exactly. All criteria are met (after much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.)

The Imago  (Picture courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

                                                     The Imago

Arms folded, Nyla stares through the beveled glass door into the galería. Somehow, the glass is both mirror and window. Superimposed on the polished floors of the sunlit galeria beyond, her reflection stares back, as if bemused. 

When Nyla was younger, in the miasma of grief that pervaded her home, she sometimes caught mental glimpses of who she might become away from her family’s confused dynamics. These glimpses led her on, in hopes of escaping the pain that oscitated inside her, as one family member after another went down dubious roads to disaster. Now, through some synchronicity, her decision to teach English in Spain has allowed her to catch up the person she hoped to be. 

Or has it? When Nyla raises a hand to brush a wisp of hair back from her face, her reflection remains motionless, arms folded. How can that be? 

Uneasily, Nyla forces a smile—a smile that isn’t returned. Is the woman in the glass not a reflection after all? Is the beveled glass in the door some lacuna opening into another dimension? Nyla’s thoughts whirl and scatter, reaching for an explanation.

The imago beckons, then reaches a hand through the glass, and Nyla screams.


This is linky entry # 128.

We’re Here in the Land of Mist and Mañana

We left Sacramento Sunday morning, and already the week is drifting by. How can Saturday have come so soon? 

It’s a long flight from Sacramento to Santiago. We changed at Dallas and again at Madrid, with generous wait times between flights to make sure any delayed flight would not make us miss the next. Our friends met us in Santiago. By the time we picked up our baggage, it was 6:30 in the evening. They drove us to Monforte, a drive of about an hour and a half, where we shopped for basic groceries. Then we all had dinner around 8:30 at a cafe-bar-restaurant called O Pincho. (Dinner at 8:30 or later . . . . That’s when you know you are in Spain.) 

After trudging through airports and lugging carry-ons around for close to 26 hours, we practically fell into bed Monday night and had a good long sleep. One of our last, I might add, because jet lag kicked in the next day and is only starting to fade: we become sleepy or wide awake at very odd hours. 

It’s wonderful to be here, taking short walks with our neighbors in the village, driving into Escairon for café con leche, or into Monforte to sit at an outdoor table in the big plaza, enjoying a glass of wine. Or going to Adega do Carlos for raciones at lunchtime (which is between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. in these parts.) Or meeting our neighbors again, late in the day, at the bench down the lane, sitting and talking with them until clouds turn pink and the air turns suddenly cool. Already these lovely friends have loaded us up with potatoes, figs, tomatoes, peppers, and home-made wine. In addition, we’ve been setting up lunch and dinner dates with friends we haven’t seen since our last trip, and tomorrow night is the Fiesta in Tuiriz (a village/town within walking distance, although we will drive, since we won’t go until around 9:30 or so.)

Meanwhile, the mist rises each morning in the lowlands beyond the pastures below our gate—rises and disperses in wispy curls before a new misty layer forms below. It’s a procedure that repeats with variation for much of the morning. I watch it from the galería window as I study my Spanish.

But I have other homework on this trip, thanks to Rachael Harrie at Rach Writes and her Challenge #2 for the Platform Building Campaign. I have to figure out how to come up with 200 words, using miasma, lacuna, oscitate, synchronicity, sneaking in a reference to a mirror, and including the word imago in the title. It certainly is an interesting and fun assignment, but thank goodness she is giving us a week-and-a-half for this particular challenge!  

Hopefully I’ll have come up with something in a couple of days, so keep tuning in. In addition, you can connect at Rachel's site to the versions all the other writers come up with, and it's really wonderful to see the creativity in the different responses to the same challenge. 

Ciao for now.

WHAT WAS I THINKING????

What was I thinking when I said I would post again Monday? Argh! Saturday we went out of town to visit old friends, right after I posted that. Then Sunday I met with my two writing groups, and, as always, I left with homework, because my beta readers always have such insightful suggestions. Monday I had book reviews to turn in to Sacramento Book Review -- and I was working on some of those suggestions. Then yesterday (Tuesday) I had a radio interview with Renee Hand. So. Now. A moment to catch my breath. And post.


First, I want to mention how much I enjoyed being interviewed by Renee Hand on her new radio show, http://www.Blogtalkradio.com/storiesfromunknownauthors . She has an easy style that relaxes you and gets rid of your nervousness. You can still hear the interview if you click on that site and then scroll down. You can also hear an earlier interview with Nicole Weaver, author of My Birthday Is September 11, and you can read about the coming interview September 19th with Britt Menzies, author of The Stinky Kid Series.


As a follow-up to the interview, Renee is holding a new give-away of my book, The Fourth Wish, ending on October 15th. If you go to her site, you can read the rules in full in a coming post. But, basically, if you follow both of us, your name goes on the list that will be submitted to random.org. So, if you are following me, and want new chance at a free copy, please go to The Crypo-Capers Review and follow her blog.


Second, I was pleasantly suprised to find that I received The Versatile Blogger Award from Elizabeth at elizabethannewrites. Elizabeth is a cool blogger I met on the Platform Building Campaign hosted by Rachel Harrie . Rachel will be hosting another one in January, and I would really advise getting in on it. For one thing, it's fun. She gives you some writing challenges. (The first one was to write a flash fiction. I'm eagerly awaiting the next two.) For another, you increase your circle of good blogging and writing friends. 


The rules for award recipients are as follows:
1. Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to them. (done)
2. Tell seven things about yourself. (See below. Way below.)
3. Pass the award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let the bloggers know.  (Doing that one before #2, and it's a chance for you to meet some new bloggers, too, so do go visit them. Here they are:


1. Shallee McArthur                                           10. Brenda Sills 
2. Gary Gauthier at Literary Snippets                   11. Susan Kaye Quinn 
3. M. G. Higgins                                                 12. Joanna Marple
4. Ron Smith at Prince Balthazar                          13. Gail Shepherd at Paradoxy
5. JR-Williams                                                    14. Rebecca Bany at 
6. J. A. Bennett                                                       Memoirs of Me and Mine
7. Katharina Gerlach                                            15. Donna K. Weaver at
8. Robyn Campbell at Putting Pen to Paper               Weaving a Tale or Two      
9. David Powers King 


As for Seven Things About Me . . . . 
1. My husband and I met through a cat named Meathead. Meathead (who is no more) has   
         a very special place in our hearts.
2. I am not sporty at all, but I used to love to rollerskate. (Forget ice-skating!)
3. I love the Greek Festival, and I love Greek circle dancing.
4. I have attempted several times to learn Tamil (the language spoken in the part of India 
         where my husband is from.) Attempts at this finally joined attempts at ice-skating.
5. Neither my husband nor I are campers. We tried to be, but everytime we went, it rained.   
         Camping friends learned not to ask us to go with them. We cook Indian food for 
         them instead. Everyone is much happier.
6. To my surprise, I am becoming absolutely enamoured of technology. Adept at it? Well, 
         that needs work . . . .
7. I have read so many good books by good writers in recent months (years?), that I can no 
         longer say I have a favorite author. I have too many favorites! And what a pleasant
         problem to have.


Everyone have a nice week. I'll try to post before Sunday, but Sunday we are on a plane to Galicia again, so the next post may be next week from Galicia.


Meanwhile, enjoy the new sites; please follow Renee's blog, and October 15th (okay, probaby the 16th), we'll announce the winners of the give-away.

And The Winner Is . . . .

Good morning everyone. The winner of The Fourth Wish give-away is Jess at  Falling Leaflets. Congratulations, Jess.



And thanks to all of you who participated in the contest. It was certainly fun for me.


I'll keep this short, because we are going out of town to visit old friends. But I'll be blogging again Monday.


Everyone have a good week-end.