Porthole

We'll see...

11 p.m. It's 26 degrees but it's warm inside.

I was the first to sign up for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  but that doesn't seem to have scared others away!

I'm going to try a different approach. We'll see... nothing has worked well in the past.

Needless to say, I'm not a groupie and definitely not popular. My given/received comment ratio is probably way over 3 to 1. It's too much like my family. I have to make the effort; they do not. That triggers traumas even when the prompts don't (and many do).

Perhaps I'm being way too harsh. I hate 'reviewing'. One WDC member made an old-school comment about reviewing that reminded me of writing a book report. A published book is one thing but a poem that sucks is another. I give critiques like a cranky editor.

So maybe it's balanced out. I get 'reviews' on items but give comments in blogs.

Today will be a day of editing and posting.

I now need to write or read.

1 a.m. and I'm very tired. Just wrote over 600 words. If I'm diligent I could get my narwhal narrative done before Sunday's deadline. Is it worth it? The only answer is that I doubt that anyone will steal my idea or come up with it on their own. As one of the master-class-writers put it (and I paraphrase), "Know what your character wants, then make them work for it."

On that note, I'm yawning.

1 p.m. 31 degrees and flaky.

Two sites to help with people stealing from you.

https://www.talkwalker.com/free-social-media-monitoring-analytics-tools?fbclid=I...

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?fbclid=IwAR3p4EzFEDg-8KpJSQL3kKZzao0EMkadReXtVB...

This was our first month of trying something different in "Blogging Circle of Friends " . How did you do? What keeps you blogging or not blogging? What do you see your blog as... is it a writing warmup, a place to store memories, poems, prayers, daily events?

My blogs are 'whatever'. I find daily prompts to be annoying more than helpful. There are great prompts that lead me to rant or write 500 words but basically they are a distraction from what I need to journal.

1. I have blogs for opinions, rants, poems, prose, news, nature, travel. This is my main blog.
2. I do fine if I just write what inspires me to write. Approaching it as an English Class task seldom works for me.
3. I tend not to blog when I travel. My photos tend to replace my hand-written journal and my blog.
4. All blogs are for writing warm-ups... as in jotting down thoughts. Two blogs I use to work on contest pieces before deciding to post as a static item.
5. Memories? Absolutely. It's why this entry has time and temp. My old blog entries from 15 years ago are priceless as they contain names, events, smells, thoughts, sounds, tastes... I read them and sometimes I'm back there. An intellectual or emotional rant seldom does that if it's not grounded in time and place.

I don't know that any changes at BCoF impacted me as Blogville as I once knew it is dead. I suspect that March's "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  will confirm that.

7 p.m. 28 and clearing which is nice but I'm yawning? Gimme a break.

My narwhals nudged me to 1700 words... more or less... I'll need to make an item, do the usual edits and spell-check, review the contest's requirements ... and write some more before dozing off. I really need to get as close to 2,500 as possible by noon tomorrow. More dialogue? More nuances, senses, action? Maybe a storm would help set the mood ... after-all the verge of war is unsettling to those in the know. I have 5 groups, a total of 10 character trying to negotiate. More tension? A skirmish? More ending maybe as they disperse. I don't want to muddle the beginning. Make the impending threat clearer? I had to create a mini-world to clear my mind earlier and I since I don't bother with that for flash fiction it took up precious time. I painfully understand why few folks here write 2,500 - 5,000 words for the category Short Story (2). Lots of work no glory. I'm far too lyrical and not a great story teller, so feel my pain!

In other news, "Roses blush red / your heart bleeds black. In your pants, Stu / pid. put it back." Still not bad enough imho.

Rhymes with Cupid: stupid, purtrid, id, cue, tepid, muted, rooted, suited ...
Rhymes with love: glove, dove, above, guv, covet, 'nuff, puff, rough, wuv ...
Rhymes with heart: fart, not-so-smart, dart, hart, mart, narc, park, part, tart ...

I need to focus elsewhere for a bit then back to the grind.

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