Writing prompt: "For a moment today,time stands still — but you can tweak one thing while it’s stopped. What do you do?"
"Tweak"
looks likew such a small word, representing such a small change to be
made in something, but it is a deceptive word. A tweak is only small in
the first moment it is done. After that moment, the impact of a teak
grows and spreads. It has the power to impact total strangers in
another part of the world, given time.
Keeping that
in mind, what small, insignificant change would I make in my life, or in
my immediate environment? Honestly, despite the problems and flaws in
my life, I would tweak nothing. I would not want to risk losing sources
of happiness and joy in my life, and in the lives of others, by
second-guessing the things that have happened in my past. Do I have
regrets? A few, certainly, but they have been instrumental in making me
the person I am today. Would I tweak the past so that I did not wash
out of Basic Training? So my first marriage did not happen, or did not
end in divorce? So I made better choices in jobs and schooling?
Somehow, impossibly, to keep from going blind? These would all be
tempting, if a moment in time gave me the power to change one of them,
but yielding to that temptation would change too many things, and erase
too many priceless memories.
If time stopped for a
moment, and I had the power, in that moment, to tweak just one thing, I
would use it to add that moment to the string of moments I spend in
prayer each day, and I would give thanks for one extra moment to spend
worshiping my Lord, and thanking him for all the past moments that have
made me who I am in this moment.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Writing Prompt: Practice makes perfect
Writing Prompt: Practice makes perfect:
"Tell us about a talent you'd love to have ... but don't."
I have always wished I could play a musical instrument. After trying a few, I have discovered that I have plenty of enthusiasm for the concept of music, but little actual ability to produce more than a simple melody.
It started in Mrs. O'Neil's second grade class. bEvery student had to learn to play the recorder. Anyone with lips and lungs can get a sound out of a recorder, and having fingers lets the player change the sounds. The principle of it sounds easy enough. I made the recorder make noise. I am not sure anyone could say I made music. I managed to play a melody or two, at least enough so I did not fail second grade music, but I did not do well enough to make me stay with it.
I tried again in Ms. Gibbons' fourth grade -- this time, with the violin. I tried with all my might to learn to make sounds that resembled music more nearly than they resembled the complaints of cats being bathed. I was second violin in the school orchestra that year, only because there was no third seat for the instrument. I managed to scrape out a reasonable rendition of "Turkey in the Straw," but my success was distinctly dim.
Once again, in Mr. Nolan's sixth grade, I trioed to make music. I gave up the bow, and took up the guitar. I practiced until my fingers bled, but I had no luck with my "real six-string."
Not ready to give up completely, I tried some after school piano lessons in high school. That was better. We had a small electrict organ at home, and an upright piano t my dad's house, and I managed to acquire a decent repertoire of songs with my right hand. My left hand and my feet did not seem to understand that they were also expected to participate in the activity. To make it worse, my instructor objected tomy involuntary memorization of the music. After several months, I gave up the lessons, but I continues to bombard my family with repetition after repetition of my favorite songs from a book of popular folk music for the rest of my teen years.
I have tried various percussion, wind, and string instruments over the years, as well as the rasped sounds of the frog, and various bells and jingly things, but I have striven in vain. I love music, and rejoice in hearing good music played well, but I have to live with the knowledge that I cannot play music.
"Tell us about a talent you'd love to have ... but don't."
I have always wished I could play a musical instrument. After trying a few, I have discovered that I have plenty of enthusiasm for the concept of music, but little actual ability to produce more than a simple melody.
It started in Mrs. O'Neil's second grade class. bEvery student had to learn to play the recorder. Anyone with lips and lungs can get a sound out of a recorder, and having fingers lets the player change the sounds. The principle of it sounds easy enough. I made the recorder make noise. I am not sure anyone could say I made music. I managed to play a melody or two, at least enough so I did not fail second grade music, but I did not do well enough to make me stay with it.
I tried again in Ms. Gibbons' fourth grade -- this time, with the violin. I tried with all my might to learn to make sounds that resembled music more nearly than they resembled the complaints of cats being bathed. I was second violin in the school orchestra that year, only because there was no third seat for the instrument. I managed to scrape out a reasonable rendition of "Turkey in the Straw," but my success was distinctly dim.
Once again, in Mr. Nolan's sixth grade, I trioed to make music. I gave up the bow, and took up the guitar. I practiced until my fingers bled, but I had no luck with my "real six-string."
Not ready to give up completely, I tried some after school piano lessons in high school. That was better. We had a small electrict organ at home, and an upright piano t my dad's house, and I managed to acquire a decent repertoire of songs with my right hand. My left hand and my feet did not seem to understand that they were also expected to participate in the activity. To make it worse, my instructor objected tomy involuntary memorization of the music. After several months, I gave up the lessons, but I continues to bombard my family with repetition after repetition of my favorite songs from a book of popular folk music for the rest of my teen years.
I have tried various percussion, wind, and string instruments over the years, as well as the rasped sounds of the frog, and various bells and jingly things, but I have striven in vain. I love music, and rejoice in hearing good music played well, but I have to live with the knowledge that I cannot play music.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
New Book: A Rainbow in the Garden
I'm pleased to announce a colorful new book for children:
http://a.co/9Jz9A1u
It has bright, colorful illustrations of some flowers and plants, along with cartoonishly cute garden bugs, all intended to help children learn the colors of the rainbow, and several colors found in boxes of crayons or markers, but not on the rainbow.
http://a.co/9Jz9A1u
It has bright, colorful illustrations of some flowers and plants, along with cartoonishly cute garden bugs, all intended to help children learn the colors of the rainbow, and several colors found in boxes of crayons or markers, but not on the rainbow.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
The House that Jack Built -- adapted and illustrated!
I'm happy to announce another new, illustrated children's book!
This is the House that Jack Built
http://a.co/ilYvufo
I've adapted the text of the traditional Mother Goose nursery rhyme a bit, and added a verse. All of the illustrations were drawn and colored with markers on paper, and are intentionally child-like, to ppeal to young children.
This is the House that Jack Built
http://a.co/ilYvufo
I've adapted the text of the traditional Mother Goose nursery rhyme a bit, and added a verse. All of the illustrations were drawn and colored with markers on paper, and are intentionally child-like, to ppeal to young children.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
One of my dearest friends is writing her first novel: Quinn's Faith. You can find a sneak-peek preview at https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1225760
I've had the priviledge of reading several chapters of the book, and it's going to be wonderful! Please visit her preview, leave her a rating, and watch for Quinn's Faith, expected to be out on Amazon bu Summer of 2018!
I've had the priviledge of reading several chapters of the book, and it's going to be wonderful! Please visit her preview, leave her a rating, and watch for Quinn's Faith, expected to be out on Amazon bu Summer of 2018!
Monday, September 4, 2017
What Does the Animal Say?
Just out this morning on Amazon! It's another new illustrated book for children: What Does the Animal Say?
http://a.co/a4uSNN8
The animals in this book are intentionalls cartoonish, drawn with a black Sharpie marker, and colored with a set of ten wide-tipped Crayola markers, supplemented with several highlighters for lighter colors. There are 23 animals, most of them common, but a few that may be new to many young children.
http://a.co/a4uSNN8
The animals in this book are intentionalls cartoonish, drawn with a black Sharpie marker, and colored with a set of ten wide-tipped Crayola markers, supplemented with several highlighters for lighter colors. There are 23 animals, most of them common, but a few that may be new to many young children.
Shapes We Eat!
My newest illustrated children's book is now available on Amazon!
http://a.co/8qH9zaJ
This is the final set of the drawings I made while I was in the hospital lst month, using just a Sharpie marker for outlines, and a set of ten Crayola markers for coloring.
This one is an activity book, with pages that invite children to interact with learning about food shapes, how to draw basic shapes, and identifying shapes in a crowd.
I discovered, while drawing the pictures for this book, that a remarkable number of foods are round, rectangular, or oddly shaped, but that we don't eat all that many ovals or triangles. At least, I had some trouble thinking of them. Most of the rectangles were because the foods come in boxes, not because trhey are, in themselves, rectangular. I decided that crescents (bananas), sem-circles (tacos), and other irregular shapes will have to wait for another book.
Meanwhile, the animal book from last week's "Sneak Peek" should be available tomorrow, if not today. Progress continues on More What Mother Goose Meant. I'll be offline the latter half of this week, as I need some minor corrective surgery for the shunt that reduces my spinal fluid pressure (Check out Thirteen Days to Darkness on my Amazon Author Page for the full story of how that was part of my going blind.) I'm taking markers and drawing books, though, and have several new books in mind for young children. Watch for those in the weeks ahead!
http://a.co/8qH9zaJ
This is the final set of the drawings I made while I was in the hospital lst month, using just a Sharpie marker for outlines, and a set of ten Crayola markers for coloring.
This one is an activity book, with pages that invite children to interact with learning about food shapes, how to draw basic shapes, and identifying shapes in a crowd.
I discovered, while drawing the pictures for this book, that a remarkable number of foods are round, rectangular, or oddly shaped, but that we don't eat all that many ovals or triangles. At least, I had some trouble thinking of them. Most of the rectangles were because the foods come in boxes, not because trhey are, in themselves, rectangular. I decided that crescents (bananas), sem-circles (tacos), and other irregular shapes will have to wait for another book.
Meanwhile, the animal book from last week's "Sneak Peek" should be available tomorrow, if not today. Progress continues on More What Mother Goose Meant. I'll be offline the latter half of this week, as I need some minor corrective surgery for the shunt that reduces my spinal fluid pressure (Check out Thirteen Days to Darkness on my Amazon Author Page for the full story of how that was part of my going blind.) I'm taking markers and drawing books, though, and have several new books in mind for young children. Watch for those in the weeks ahead!
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