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Journal entries of my life as a writer. |
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This is a journal of my writing life since I joined the Writing.com community of writers. This is such a different place for me, I think it's a good idea to document my new writing adventures. |
July 25 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  Wardrobe malfunction: How can this topic not be funny? From nip slips to unexpected wind gusts, share your best/worst wardrobe malfunctions or those you have witnessed. I wasn't around for my mom's first wedding, but I planned her second wedding. She picked yellow for the color for the wedding, so I made a yellow dress to be her matron of honor. I worked on the dress at a friend's house and she suggested I put slits in the sides of the dress. I decided to do it. The wedding was on a boat in Lake Tahoe in Northern California. It can get windy on the lake and I really didn't think about it. Every time I went down the outside stairs, my dress flew up. I kept thinking how embarrassing this was, but someone else at the wedding said he didn't notice. I think the family was all mad at me for the way I planned the wedding. I don't think any of them even cared that I was working a bunch of part time jobs and doing my student teaching at the time. I actually lost out on a job opportunity because I was so exhausted from the work to get ready for the wedding. Somehow another job came along just in the nick of time. I think the jobs I had at charter schools were better suited to me than the regular high school in town. It's hard for an outsider to get a fair shake in that town. They have small town small mindedness there. Maybe I just wasn't meant to live in that forest town. |
| July 25 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" We blog every day with each other, read other's thoughts and form this visual image in our mind... like I really thought Charlie would be blonde. Tell us what images you have formed. Yes, what image do you have in your mind? Please try to not be hurtful, but give us an inkling... I have trouble with this prompt because I think of the bloggers I blog with in terms of their personality, rather than their looks. I seem to know the bloggers in "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" best because we comment on each other's blogs more often than the other groups, so I hope no one is bothered by only mentioning some of those bloggers.Prosperous Snow celebrating   seems to like to make sure people get comments on their blogs and thanks me for responding to prompts.Charlie ~  has admitted to having issues that are very difficult to handle. I think it's cool that he got married. He likes to comment on blogs, so that's cool.💙 Carly  seems like an upbeat person who is really into writing. It's fun to read her comments.Mitchopolis  is a man living with women. He's a dad and a husband and he seems to have a temper. I feel like I should watch over him and try to keep him safe, even though he can take care of himself.Noyoki is interesting. She likes to comment, but I feel like she can be too judgemental at times. I hope she doesn't take offense to that.ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy seems like a really fun grandma who is busy and likes to write. I like a lot of her entries.amy-Has a great future ahead seems like a shy little one with a lot of talent. I like having her in the group. Fivesixer  is the last blogger I'll include here today. People probably already know I have a crush on him. He doesn't want a relationship and he hurt my feelings pretty bad. I think he's a tough New Yorker who seems to have a big heart, but he sounds like he's been hurt too much by women, so I guess that's why he doesn't want a relationship. I wish I could figure out how to be friends with him. I don't know how. |
| July 25 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " We are all bloggers... have you ever wondered what it takes to get a comment? Do you think you get "enough" comments? What constitutes "enough?" Getting comments is a tricky proposition. Some of my entries get comments and others get none. I hardly ever get comments with the "Blogging Circle of Friends " group. So it's weird to get this prompt in this group. "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" says everyone will get at least one comment. "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" has comments as part of the competition. So the best bet for me to get comments is with either "Blogging Circle of Friends " or "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" , but there is no guarantee that I will get comments. I think it's important to have something substantial to say in order to get comments. The blogger has to compel people to comment. That's very difficult to do. Oh well... If I keep trying hard enough, maybe I'll get more comments. |
| July 24 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Write about the rainbows in your clouds. This makes me think about looking for the silver lining in the clouds. But rainbows are much more colorful, so this is a little different than just looking for the upside to a negative situation. Even though I say my life and career have been destroyed, I have found much more time to write and create educational materials now that I'm not working multiple jobs simultaneously. This has allowed me to blossom and grow with my educational website at https://www.edonyourown.com. This is an interesting way of looking at things, but I am more able to help more people in the world of education now, than before my stalkers exploded into a frenzy of trying to torture and murder me on a more full time basis. It's sad to say this, but I have risked my life to build my educational website. My stalkers want to convince people I'm useless, so it's no big deal to murder me. Every single thing I do on my websites proves I'm useful. So my stalkers try to prevent me from being able to do anything at all. They don't believe human beings have the right to be alive if someone can prove they are useless. It's a sad commentary and some people earn their execution and do have to prove their usefulness in order to hold off the execution. So the rainbow in my cloud is that I have individual educational resources and workbooks for the world of education. I have other books as well. I heard a rumor that one of my books is so intetesting to kids that they want to learn to read so they can read it faster than the teacher reads it. I hope that rumor is true. Being an inspiration for people to want to learn how to read is more than I ever could have hoped for in this life. I thought I was going to cry when I heard that rumor. That's a rainbow in my cloud. |
| July 24 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " In Aesop's fable about the crow and the pitcher, a thirsty bird happens upon a vessel of water, but when he tries to drink from it, he finds the water level out of his reach. Not strong enough to knock over the pitcher, the bird drops pebbles into it - - one at a time - - until the water level rises enough for him to drink his fill. What do you think? Can a crow actually do this or is it really a fable? Let's hear what your theory is... First of all, I consider this a teaching story and could be used to get someone out of a wide enough well if done correctly. I do believe a crow has the type of beak that could carry a smal pebble. So in theory, this could be possible. The other lesson in this story is the level of intelligence required to even think of this strategy in the first place. Maybe Aesop is trying to let people know that some animals are very intelligent. |
| July 24 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Opinion Thursday: Are Bloggers Better Than US Spies? This prompt is a little odd. What if a blogger is a US spy? Is that spy better than him or herself? It's strange looking at it from that perspective. So if you pretend that the bloggers and the US spies are different groups of people and there is no crossover, then you can kind of do a compare and contrast based on what we think we know about the two types of people. Bloggers look at their own lives and the world in general. They comment on their beliefs and opinions and even get creative with stories and poems. Basically bloggers are all around writers who write in multiple genres. US spies surely write or communicate in some way. I'm sure they comment on the world in general. They could even comment on their own lives because that could be pertinent to the issue at hand. It is possible for a spy to also get creative and write stories or poems. There could be a scenario where a spy might have to sing out the report without being obvious about it. They might have to put sensitive information out in the public as their means of submitting their report. So disguising their report as something creative could be very useful. A high level spy needs to be very flexible and quick on his or her feet. They need to know how to dance. So a US spy could very easily use blogging as an alternative way to turn in his or her report of what's happening. As for who is better? A spy might have a more specific or targeted goal, so his or her writing could seem more targeted and more in focus due to underlying objectives. So a US spy could actually be better than just a normal average everyday kind of blogger. What if a journalist used a blog to report out the news? Could the journalist be a US spy? That sounds like an outstanding cover for an undercover agent. So based on the objectives of a blogger versus a US spy, I would have to say a US spy could possibly be a better blogger than an ordinary blogger. I think the blogging means more to the US spy than a regular blogger. |
| July 23 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " It's Wacky Wednesday. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, wacky refers to something "amusing and very strange" or "absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational." Write something wacky. I am in a really bad mood right now. I'm working on a workbook called Flash Fiction Ideas. I feel really weird about being a high school and college math teacher teaching English teachers how to teach English. I also taught English, so I guess it's okay. It just feels really bizarre. If you get right down to it, flash fiction is a math teacher's version of English because it has to do with counting words and being specific and logical. So maybe a math teacher should teach English teachers how to write math English. This is about as wacky as it gets for now. I'll keep you posted on my upcoming textbook to help English teachers. Up with education. Lets get people writing. |
| July 23 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Have you ever had a red carpet moment? Not like an actor, but a wedding, prom or somethin that made you feel important or special? I would love to hear about it. I had a wedding. I was the bride and the center of attention. I planned my own wedding. I took care of making sure the flute choir was paid. I made sure the religious person who presided over the ceremony did his duty with the paperwork and made sure he was paid after he did not pronounce my name properly and mentioned God when I told him not to do that. I felt like I was making a huge mistake as I walked down the aisle. I found out on my wedding night that my husband didn't love me. The wedding was the beginning of the end of my relationship with my husband. It's going to be difficult to find a man to convince me to marry him, since some men change once they're married. Some women change, too. I'm not sure I want to get married again and I think I'm still technically considered married in the country of France. I don't think they recognize divorce. Maybe it's good I keep tabs on my ex husband and still have a way to get in touch with him if I ever needed to do so. I guess we both did better apart than together. At least we both became math teachers like we both wanted to when we first met. We seemed like a pretty good match for a while. Divorcing him was the right thing to do. It was too painful to stay in that marriage. Maybe I will find someone else who is a better match. |
| July 23 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" What huge gathering you had reluctantly attended? How were you motivated to attend? Did you enjoy it? How was it? I went to a family gathering in Santa Monica. My cousins from Virginia were visiting, so I wanted to see them because it had been so long since I had seen them. The kids were so much bigger than they were the last time I had seen them. It's difficult for me to deal with my family. I tried to impress them with my artwork and my published books. I forced them to look at my accomplishments and then had to endure my family not appreciating my gifts of art and not even wanting to read my books. I showed them the pictures in the children's book so they could see how beautiful the artwork was. I wanted to show them the beautiful art others had created for me with my name on some of them. I wanted to impress my family. I had to work hard for my mom and grandma to finally say they would buy my books. My cousin didn't want to buy my kid book for her kids. My mom and grandma didn't like my artwork. At least the kids thought my art and books were cool. So someone appreciated what I did. The oldest child thought my yellow website was cool. I told my cousin that she could use resources from my website if they ran out of ideas for things to do with the kids. I dedicated the kid book to my niece and nephew and my brother won't even buy it for them. I guess I'll have to play Santa and buy it for them as their Christmas presents. I'll just have to send my books to my family so they will be forced to own my works of art. I am so hurt by the cruelty of my family. |
| July 22 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " Write a letter to the personality trait you like least, convincing it to shape up or ship out. Be as threatening, theatrical, or thoroughly charming as is necessary to get the job done. This prompt bothers me, because I like my personality traits. I like who I am. I expect people to take me as I am and accept who I am. People who want to change my personality or other things about me can take a flying leap. There are ways to handle things and trying to convince me I'm a terrible, awful person for being good isn't going to work. Only a fool would do that. Dear Stubborness, Are you doing your best? Are you only stubborn at the right time and for the right things? Are you fighting for what's right? Are you taking a back seat when you should? You better stay in line. My life could depend on it. Please be good. Pretty please with sugar on top. I really need you to do your best. That's all I ask of you. Just do your best. What else can I ask of you? Love, Me |
| July 22 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Family History - Rip out a page from yours and share some, a story or two. My grandparents took my brother and me to an amusement park one day and I was using my own money to pay for my ticket to get into the park. My grandma told the ticket person that she wanted two adult tickets and two child tickets. I was reading the sign and it said twelve year olds were supposed to pay the adult price. So I thought my grandma had made a mistake and I piped up and said I was twelve. So I had to pay the extra money for the adult ticket. My grandma thought being honest and paying the correct entrance fee was a joke. She believed lying to pay a lower price was the right thing to do. She laghed about it for years, telling anyone who would listen just how stupid I was for wanting to pay the correct fee. I think she would still tell the tale today if she were asked. I think she still thinks it's funny that I wanted to do right. There were people who came to visit my grandparents, so we went over for the big dinner. Our family always played cards or dice after meals whenever we all got together. But this time we didn't. I kept waiting and waiting for when we would play. Finally people got up to leave and I asked why we weren't playing cards. My grandpa told me these people didn't play cards. I blurted out, "How boring." I felt bad after saying that. I thought I must have hurt their feelings by calling them boring. So I learned to do my best not to hurt people's feelings by saying things like that. I learned there are all sorts of people and all sorts of ways to live a life. In my adult years, I am still learning about different ways people live their lives. I do let some people know when I don't approve of their destructive lifestyle. So, sometimes I hold my tongue and sometimes I let people know my feelings on the subject. I'm entitled to my opinion. Sometimes I voice it and sometimes I don't. |
| July 22 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Why are athletes on drugs worse than writers on drugs? Athletes that use performance enhancing drugs are condemned while artists who do the same thing are not. Why is that? Does this double standard make sense? I have heard of both athletes and writers taking drugs to enhance their performance. I believe athletes feel they are under pressure to be better and better and many feel drugs are the answer. This is frowned on because athletes are supposed to only show what they have naturally. People feel it's an unfair competition if some of the athletes are using performance enhancing drugs. As far as writers on drugs goes, I have heard that some writers feel they do their best and most creative work after taking the drug of their choosing. I believe many people think of writers as oddities. A writer's writing stands on its own. Each writer has his or her own unique voice and people don't really think about if the writer was on drugs or not while they did the writing. I believe in keeping the body as pure as possible and as healthy as possible for an overall better quality of life. My health has been destroyed by me being illegally drugged against my will with a variety of prescription drugs and other poisons. I don't think I am a better writer because of the toxins in my blood. I believe I am less of a writer because of it. Many drugs and poisons destroy brain cells. Why would destroying brain cells make me a better writer? I feel lucky I can write at all after what I've been through in my life. I wish there were a way to get these drugs out of my system. Maybe then my writing would be better than it is now. I don't know if my liver can function well enough to filter everything out and I've heard I have some substances the liver can't filter out, even at full health. So, when a full tox screen is done, my blood tests will always prove I'm a crime victim. This is very sad. I will continue to do my very best under these extreme circumstances. That's what I believe in - doing my best at all times, the best I can do with my situation. Sometimes this means backpeddaling a bit. I still continue moving forward to the best of my ability. |
 I'm working on getting back to my educational blogs. I have a group of blogs that are for different categories or subjects. I actually reference them back and forth. So I can write an educational article on one blog and then write a homework assignment about it on another blog. I was working very hard on these blogs for a while, then I changed back to working on the specially formatted assignments on my yellow HTML website https://www.edonyourown.com. The assignments help teachers, parents and students in blog form or in the pdf files on my HTML website. I think different people like different forms and find them useful. I actually have a lot of fun writing the educational articles on https://janinecb99.LiveJournal.com and then writing homework assignments for them on https://janinecb99.edublogs.org. I just get a kick out of it. The article I wrote today was a trip down memory lane, talking about my work with at risk students and how I was able to get them to succeed at a higher level than they used to achieve. It's interesting referencing my own work in homework assignments. It gives students a look at different material available on the internet. The students might not be aware of how much educational material is available on the World Wide Web, which is the internet for the most part. The internet feels like a huge encyclopedia to me. I want to make sure students know about that. https://www.edonyourown.com - pdf files for school https://janinecb99.edublogs.org - homework assignments https://janinecb99.LiveJournal.com - educational articles https://gswriting.LiveJournal.com - writing exercises https://gspoetry.LiveJournal.com - poetry exercises https://gscooking.LiveJournal.com - notes for future easy cookbook https://gsart.LiveJournal.com - some art instruction https://gsphotos.LiveJournal.com - some cell phone photos https://gssewing.LiveJournal.com - some sewing and crafts There are a few others, but this list is pretty long. |
| July 21 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Pick a headline from your local newspaper or favorite on-line news source and share your feelings about it. Be sure to include the headline somewhere in your blog. The Verge - Here's why your Comcast rep is yelling at you by Adrianne Jeffries July 16, 2014 This article seems to explain human resource issues in telecommunications companies. The telephone representatives are not supposed to lose customers, so when you try to cancel, they are very customer unfriendly. People seem to feel they are being pushed into giving really bad customer service. It's very interesting. Giving bad customer service is how you drive away customers. There is something wrong in the workplace. There are a lot of people who do not understand the value of high quality customer service. I like to go back to places again and again when they have high quality to offer. Sometimes you have to put up with rude customer service to get high quality goods. I don't understand what the problem is or how to fix it. People are clueless as to how rude they are. |
| July 21 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " It is Blue Monday. Write a story or poem about a Blue Monday. If you don't like the color blue, then write a story about Monday being your favorite color. Blue Monday Color me Monday Monday colors the week Are you ready for Monday? Are you recovered from the weekend? Are you puting your best foot forward? Are you ready for the rat race? Begin your assault on the work week Knock out another week of work Every day is more money in the paycheck Why not do your best? Why not be your best? Why not be the best you can be? Are you ready for Monday? I am |
| July 21 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Find another example of a modern storytelling song you think is better and convince me you're right. Please include the link so I can hear it while I read your blog. This is an interesting prompt because I believe most songs tell a story. I know there are some songs that are all about the music, but most songs tell some sort of tale. That's part of the appeal. That's why it's nice to be able to read the lyrics, so you can understand the song. Sometimes it's hard to hear the lyrics over the music. I'm sorry, but I'm not tech savvy enough to know where to get the link to the song. I'm sure I could figure it out, but I'm not in the mood. Oops... The song that comes to my mind right now is The Wall by Pink Floyd. I love the beat in this song. The music is outstanding. As fas as the lyrics are concerned, I believe the story is about teachers who are unfair or cruel. Why not rage on about that injustice? As far as another brick in the wall goes, it always reminded me about the Berlin Wall. I always felt like the song was pointing at bad teachers building a wall of hatred. As far as what was really meant by the song goes, you will have to talk to the songwriter about it. Only the songwriter really knows what was intended by the lyrics. |
| July 20 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" 1. What one blog from your peers really caught your attention this past week. Why? Tell us about it. 2. Plus, I would like you to choose one of your own blog entries this week and tell us why it totally rocks! This is your chance to blow your own horn. 3. Finally, I would like to know which prompt you found the most challenging to respond to in your blog in the past week. "Invalid Entry" by ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy caught my eye. I really like how she carried a youth group idea into adulthood. She believes in being the best she can be. What's wrong with that?"Invalid Entry" by {suser_id:} has meaning for me. I feel like I put my best foot forward and showed people who I am."Invalid Entry" by {suser_id:} shows I know how best to live my own life. Teaching is so very important in this world. Go ahead and show someone how to be a teacher. Watch them glow with the positive side of teaching. |
 I just closed down week 15 of my daily prompts contest. I feel like such a winner. Fifteen weeks is a long time to keep things going on a weekly basis. Mostly newbies enter my contest and the ones who enter over and over again win eventually. I really like posting the prompts each week. I have the old ones available for people to use. I think writing prompts are great ways to get creativity flowing. It's fun to see the poems and stories based on my prompts. I get to be proud to know I helped people build their writing portfolios. That's so cool. The contest is optional and anyone can use the prompts. I have a high hit rate on the contest, so people are looking. Maybe I'm helping beginning writers get started by giving them interesting ideas for their writing. Maybe people like my prompts. Maybe people want me to continue. Maybe I'm making a positive difference for people. Maybe I'm supporting a daily writing habit for people. I feel good about my contest.
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 I'm collecting merit badges... I have Blogging, Writing, Poetry and Short Story. I have others, too. But it's fun to have certain ones. I'm working on it. I don't feel like I put in enough time earning badges in Girl Scouts, so I'm making up for it now. I loved getting badges and awards in Girl Scouts. I made it all the way to First Class Scout. That's supposed to be equal to Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, but no one knows what it is. It just sounds like I was a good Girl Scout, not an outstanding award winner with a letter from the President. I wonder what my mom did with the letter. Oh well. I only did one thing in the new program. I got the Silver Leadership award for planning a weekend camping trip for about 150 people. I was in charge of site and busses. I had to present to the leaders and find out they didn't believe in girl planning. Oh well. That's an experience I won't forget. Talk about public speaking in front of a hostile audience... Girl Scouting isn't all about selling cookies. |
| July 19 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" The English Alphabet has 26 letters... using all 26 letters, write a poem that describes you. If you would rather write a short story describing yourself to us, then highlight each word that begins with the 26 letters. Only highlight one word for each letter, instead of every single word. Let's see what ya got. Me, Myself And I Alone Beautiful Caring Delightful Encoraging Fun-loving Genuine Helpful Ingenious Joyful Kite flyer Lustful Merry Nice Outstanding Picky Questioning Rambler Steady True Useful Victorious Willing Xylophone player Youthful Zestful |
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