Tag: #AtoZChallenge

Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 2

The April version of the November write-a-thon is upon us, well, me actually.  I’m not sure hope many others are trying to resurrect an old piece of writing.

The truth is, I’ve been at this story off and on over the past three years, and every time I get a head of steam, something else comes along.

Now I’ve decided to use the April version of NANOWRIMO to get this thing finished, or at least in a first draft state.

The old way I used to write stories was to have a separate file for each chapter, and with some of the books, there are upwards of 100 separate files, and recently I have been combining these into single files.

So much easier to work with, create indexes, and create a synopsis of the story, as well as a character list.

Yes, some of my stories had the main protagonist change name halfway through, and yes, it’s embarrassing.

Today’s word count takes me to the end of Chapter 5 and adds another 4,552 words to the total.

Like falling off a ten-story building, so far, so good.

 

A to Z Challenge – B is for: Bloody hell…

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The cell phones insistent and shrill ring dragged my mind away from the crossword, and after a fairly mild curse, I picked it up.

Sidney, my brother.  Odd he was calling me at this hour of the night.

“What,” I barked into the speaker.

“That’s no way to speak to your baby brother.”  His smooth tones rarely reached a screaming point, which was often the reason why mine did.

And who called the younger brother ‘baby’ brother these days?

“What do you want?”

A hesitation.  He was in trouble again, I could feel it.

“Can you come down to the bar.  I seem to have left my wallet at home.”  Sheepish, and just enough to stop me from yelling at him.  It was not the first time, nor would it be the last.

“I told you the last time was the last time.”

“Just this once, please?”

I shook my head.  That was probably my biggest fault, giving in to him.  After our mother had died, and our father had to work, it was left to me to bring him up.  He was going to be the death of me yet.  “Where?”

“The usual place.”

I was surprised because the last I’d heard they’d banned him from going in there.  It was only a twenty-minute walk from my apartment, but, late at night, and winter, there was snow in the air.  And the odd snowflake falling, a prelude to much worse.

About a hundred yards from the bar I had a shiver go down my spine.  I’d not had that for a long time, not since school, and the trouble with Wiley, the school bully.  Wiley had graduated to the local thug, done a few stints in jail, and last I heard he had been sent down for a few years for an assault.

I stopped and took a moment.  Perhaps karma was trying to tell me something.

I shrugged.  Just in my imagination.  I reached the door, took a moment then went in.  He was standing by the bat looking a little apprehensive.  He was in more trouble than just not paying his bar bill.

Close up I could see the fear in his expression.  “Bloody hell, Sid, what have you done now?”

“A problem that he insists his older brother would be happy to pay for.”

I knew that voice and felt instant dread.

Wiley.

In the flesh, and not looking very happy at all.

 

© Charles Heath 2020

Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 1

The April version of the November write-a-thon is upon us, well, me actually.  I’m not sure hope many others are trying to resurrect an old piece of writing.

The truth is, I’ve been at this story off and on over the past three years, and every time I get a head of steam, something else comes along.

Well, five other somethings, that is.

Now I’ve decided to use the April version of NANOWRIMO to get this thing finished, or at least in a first draft state.

But, dithering, and doing everything else, I managed to miss day one’s update on the website, which like the early days of last November, the web site had a similar problem/.

So day one has gone into day two and will stay there till the update is available.

Today’s effort is the reading, amending and getting into the gist of the story, processing a total of  3,698 words out of a target I’ve set at 75,000.

As I add the draft chapters to the first draft, the word count will increase.

I’ll try not to miss tomorrow’s update!

A to Z Challenge 2020 – A is for: A funny thing happened…

A2020

There was no doubt the morning was going to end badly.

After all, it started with a bang, yes, a bang. That was the power meter blowing up. The sixty-year-old electrical wiring had finally given out. Or was it the three power boards running out of the single outlet attach to twelve different appliances?

It didn’t matter. No hot water, so no shower. No kettle or toaster, so no breakfast, unless you call a so-called power bar breakfast.

No phone, for that matter, to ring the electrician, and, yes, I forgot to charge my mobile phone, and now the power is out…

1% battery left. I try to dial the number and it dies.

So, on my way to work, a funny thing happened…

I ran into an old school friend I hadn’t seen for years, and probably never would, living just up the road. I’d left a half-hour earlier than usual, and I discovered she always left at that time. Came home later, too.  That’s why I’d never seen her.

Perhaps there is such a thing as a ‘silver lining’.

 

© Charles Heath 2020

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

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For the A to Z Challenge this year my theme is going to be:

Taking a phrase, and turning it into a mini-story.

The first, as a small hint for the coming days, starting with A is:

A funny thing happened…

in which I have to use the phrase within the story.

 

In a word: Bark

Here’s the thing, a bark is the sound made by a dog.  Isn’t it?  Apparently, it can also be from a fox or a seal

Not necessarily.  A man or woman can bark orders, especially if they are in the army.

And then, their bark might be worse than their bite, this usually refers to newspaper editors and school teachers.

You can theoretically be barking up the wrong tree, and believe me, I’ve done that a few times myself.

People can be barking mad.  Just go to any old spooky hospital that is named Belleview, and has a basement.  How do I know this, I’ve seen a lot of old black and white movies.

Then there’s that other type of bark, the outer layer of a lot of trees, and can be very useful as a top layer of a garden to keep the moisture in.

It can be thin sheets of chocolate with a thin layer of nuts or other confectionaries.

You can bark your shins, that is, scrape the skin off when you trip over a tree with bark.

Or just to complicate matters, there is also a barque, usually a three-masted sailing ship, though you don’t get to see many of them these days.

In a word: Bark

Here’s the thing, a bark is the sound made by a dog.  Isn’t it?  Apparently, it can also be from a fox or a seal

Not necessarily.  A man or woman can bark orders, especially if they are in the army.

And then, their bark might be worse than their bite, this usually refers to newspaper editors and school teachers.

You can theoretically be barking up the wrong tree, and believe me, I’ve done that a few times myself.

People can be barking mad.  Just go to any old spooky hospital that is named Belleview, and has a basement.  How do I know this, I’ve seen a lot of old black and white movies.

Then there’s that other type of bark, the outer layer of a lot of trees, and can be very useful as a top layer of a garden to keep the moisture in.

It can be thin sheets of chocolate with a thin layer of nuts or other confectionaries.

You can bark your shins, that is, scrape the skin off when you trip over a tree with bark.

Or just to complicate matters, there is also a barque, usually a three-masted sailing ship, though you don’t get to see many of them these days.

Conversations with my cat – 46

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This is Chester.  I just told him it’s Dog Appreciation Day.

And it got the expected response, you don’t have a dog.

Ahh.

Then I tell him that a neighbour had a dog just like the one we’re thinking of getting, and they’re going to lend him to us for a few hours.

You can’t do that.  This is not a dog-friendly environment.  Remember the last time you had a dog.  Fleas in the carpet, stains on the wall, and as for toilet training…

Yes, he has a point.  The last dog we had was almost a disaster, besides the fact it was ten times larger than Chester.  Friendly though, when Chester didn’t hiss at him.

This dog, I say, is smaller, not much bigger than you.  A jovial chap who doesn’t bark much, just when recalcitrant cats annoy him, so I’m told.

Who are you calling recalcitrant?

No mistaking that distinct look of displeasure, almost recalcitrant I thought.

It’s going to happen, get over it.

Was that a cat shrug I saw?  Another icy stare just to chill the atmosphere in the room, and he leaves.

Yes, I do like stirring the pot.  You think he’d know by now.

 

 

#AtoZChallenge — Z is for Zip

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Which, unfortunately, I do not have a lot of in my step.

At last, we have reached the end of the alphabet because I’m running out of zip to write these blogs.

So…

Zip is the sing, the energy, the spring we have in our step, that usually gets us from a to b quickly.  Without this zest, we would need to take a bus, train, or cab.

Then comes the variations like …

Zip code, we all have one of these, though in some countries it is called a postcode.

Zip it up, meaning do not speak, especially if you’re about to spill a secret.

A zip, which is a part of some types of clothing, usually in trousers, jeans, and skirts to name a few.  Some dresses have long zips, some short, all seem to get tangled at one time or another, or, in the most embarrassing of situations, split.

Then there is a colloquial use of the word zip, meaning nothing, zilch, zero, in other words, a basis for of z words.

And that’s about as much zeal I’m going to show for writing this last blog, and I’m going to close the book on it.

Thank you, and goodnight.

#AtoZChallenge — Y is for Yellow

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It was an easy choice from the start, yellow is a colour, in any number of shades from very pale to very dark.

We have yellow egg yolks, yet another y word, and depending on whether the eggs are farmed in cages or free range can dictate the shade of yellow.  Free-range gives the brightest yellow, by the way.

We have yellow cabs, but oddly enough these cabs are orange, not yellow as in this country, though the same may not be the case overseas, particularly in New York.  Good thing they are bright yellow so you can see them coming if you are crossing the road, perhaps illegally.

We have yellow bananas and lemons, probably the most common answers when asked, what is yellow?  That, and perhaps the yellow rose of Texas.

Then there is a more sinister meaning of the word, and it is associated with cowardice, and cowards are said to have a yellow streak down their backs.

If you have yellow fever then you are in a whole world of pain.

You can sometimes have what appears to be yellow skin, a sign of jaundice.

There is a yellow sea, and then there are the yellow pages, sometimes a substitute name for a telephone directory of businesses.

And lastly, an expression that comes out of the past, and not used so much these days, but people from Asia were thought to have yellow skin.