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Fri, Jan 23, 2026

4:05am EST

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La Bene Vita

by Brandiwyn🎶 v.2026

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #1411600

The Good Life.

The (Tentative*) Topic Rotation
Self Sundays: Personal blogging days about family, leisure, work, and health. May be boring.
Music Mondays: Commentary, articles, and links highlighting music, theory, and ed topics.
Writing Wednesdays: Discussion on the art and business of writing.
"The Bradbury"

Thursdays: A weekly original short story submission.
Friday Reviews**: Every Friday, I will review a minimum of one short story on WDC.

* I reserve the right to change the topic of the day at any time, at least until I acquire a million followers and gain official "influencer" status, at which point I shall be more consistent in order to meet the expectations of my adoring public.
** I can only commit to one review per week. If you would like your short story to be in my reviewing queue, please send me a WDC review request.

Check out my public reviews

to get a sense of what to expect.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Storm Machine

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

I love a good turn of phrase, and even novels have poetic pieces within them. I'm excited to hear you're getting into poetry and hope we can explore that more.

it's now on the list!

Brandiwyn🎶 v.2026

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

Anni Pon

- having to plan or edit poetry seems a little antithetical to it's nature.
This is an excellent point, and something I didn't think of. I also agree with your other comments.

1 Like

Anni Pon

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

I agree with what you've said about poetry. It's very easy to write a poem, just about anyone can do it. But it's hard to do it well. Most people have an innate sense of story telling, so amateur prose usually isn't as cringe. A lot of people seem to think that if you just add line breaks to your current stream of consciousness, or put together a series of lines that rhyme, that's a poem. But poetry has rules -- it requires meter and imagery and abstraction. It should have layers. Those things don't usually come naturally; they require intentional effort and planning. However, most people have the impression you can just sit down and poetry will flow out of you without even trying or having to edit after. In fact, having to plan or edit poetry seems a little antithetical to it's nature.

To be fair, mediocre poetry still serves a purpose. It's writing practice, catharsis, bonding, etc. I've definitely seen some on here that have a lot of potential, as well as some really good "amateur" poetry.

2 Like

Brandiwyn🎶 v.2026

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

Charlèaux

- I agree and love WDC too! I've personally posted a lot of less-than-brilliant works of all varieties and learned from feedback. I actually feel like reviewing the work of others teaches me just as much, if not more. Nineteen years is a lot of learning! I should have a PhD by now.

I certainly don't mean to discourage anyone, beginner or otherwise. It's just how I learned to recognize good poetry and what makes it good, that ability to compare/contrast. I appreciate the variety that allowed me to learn. So I'm not saying don't post your beginner poetry.

Robert Waltz

- To your point that sometimes authors just need the catharsis of writing the words, I'm with you - if I feel like it's more intended as a personal journaling experience, I don't review it. On a related note, I never really circled back about reviewing poetry as a "quick read" to meet reviewing goals. Over the years, as I've become better at noticing the layers in brilliant poetry, it can actually take much longer to read, digest, analyze, and properly review. And good point about imagery being a key element of poetry.

2 Like

Robert Waltz

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

I actually agree with you... mostly.

One thing I look for in poetry is concrete imagery. If you're just writing about your feelings, even if it rhymes and has meter, it's not what I'd call good poetry. And yes, I'm including my own efforts in that.

But.

Writing it can be a kind of release for the writer, and I can understand that. Reviewing such poetry is difficult, at least for me, especially when I can tell it's heartfelt and very personal. To be perfectly honest, most of the time, I skip such efforts when I'm on a reviewing kick.

I call such work "angsta rap," because it's all angst, and lots of words that don't really communicate anything new.

One of the most important writing lessons I've learned here is that, paradoxically, the more specific you are in your writing, the more relatable it can be. Writing something like "My parents never understood me" is boring; instead, if you wrote something like "They gave me a Playstation when I wanted an Xbox" is closer to the right track, in my opinion. This is especially important in comedy, I think, but it's also applicable to other genres.

2 Like

Charlèaux

a day ago
In response to "On Poetry"

A lot of poems on WdC leave something to be desired. So does a lot of the fiction, or really any form of writing on here.

I think the reason for that is because this is not a publishing company. This is a website for writers to share their work—first drafts, unpolished... And I think that's one of the best things of WdC.

Like you said, that's not to say that these pieces are all inherently bad. It just means that this community has become a safe space for people to not only share their finished, edited, and perfect work, but it's also a space to share those midnight thoughts, random poems that hold no meaning, or maybe a piece that they know they'll never go back to edit but they share it anyway.

Because that's what WdC is: Unedited, clumsy, non-published writing from mostly amateurs. That's why I love WdC. Sure, I get to read a lot of crappy pieces. But if those people stick around, I also get to watch them get better and improve their work.

This is also a great site because it's one of the few places where you get to come across published authors as well as the 14 year old who just wrote their very first poem and had the guts the post it.

This isn't me disagreeing with you. Really it's me agreeing with you. But that's why I love WdC. Some pieces melt my brain with emotions, and others make me cringe while trying to read through grammatical errors. It's like Russian roulette but with words.

4 Like

Storm Machine

Jan 16, 2026 at 7:39am
In response to "Productivity!"

if you're curious, she made it in time for my lesson.
I'm learning a lot and apparently she's allowing my muse to lead us.
I swear this isn't some kind of rookie mistake...

1 Like

Storm Machine

Jan 13, 2026 at 5:58pm
In response to "Musical Symbolism"

Happy. I am thinking like the opposite of a waterfall, like when you see videos of LEGOs assembling by themselves.

Storm Machine

Jan 13, 2026 at 5:58pm
In response to "Musical Symbolism"

Happy. I am thinking like the opposite of a waterfall, like when you see videos of LEGOs assembling by themselves.

Brandiwyn🎶 v.2026

Jan 12, 2026 at 10:36pm
In response to "Musical Symbolism"

Storm Machine

- before the vocals come in, it makes me think of a happy little robot putzing around on the surface of a desolate planet. 🤖

You?

January 18, 2026 at 8:29pm

#1106294

Sophisticated Procrastination

Is it me, or are Sundays a little emptier around here than the other days?

First, my progress against writing goals. Then I'll tackle the "Self Sundays" list: Family, Leisure, Work, and Health.

Writing Goals

Blogged 5 of 7 days on WDC, but missed the topic "Writing Wednesdays"

Novel progress - wrote a little earlier in the week, but I do seem to be avoiding* it

Blogged Music Mondays topic at michelletuesday.com/blog

Wrote and submitted short story for "The Bradbury"

- submitted to "The Writer's Cramp 24th Birthday"

Completed "26 Paychecks "

2nd biweekly assignment

Wrote and submitted a public short story review

Extra Credit: Cleaned up my portfolio for several hours over three days

Extra Credit: Randomly* wrote and submitted two poems for "PromptMaster !"

and "The Contest Challenge"

, so I guess I'm playing those games now, too

"Arctic Wind"

"Respite"

* I suspect these two things might be related...? I'm calling this "sophisticated procrastination" - I make it look like I'm doing fancy things to avoid grunt work.

Family
- Keith starts a new job in a week. It's an internal lateral move with hopefully less stress.

Leisure
- Played entirely too much solitaire on my new Windows laptop. I don't even like solitaire. What wizardry is this? It's just another algorithm optimized to induce addiction. I have three of the five books I checked out at the library two extensions ago, but I'm too busy with writing projects and solitaire to read them.

Work
- It's January. We're working on taxes and enrolling like crazy, due to all the New Year's resolutions to "learn piano this year" and guitars received as holiday gifts that the recipients don't know how to play.

- Our Winter Benefit Concert for GRIN (the local food pantry) is next Saturday afternoon, so we're busy with planning and extra rehearsals.

- Just hired a new music theory teacher, so, resumes, interviews, and orientations happened.

- The Bureau of Workers Comp has notifies us of their intention to audit us. We changed payroll companies last June, and initially our employees were set up with the wrong BWC job codes. The codes are important because they indicate the risk level, and therefore, workers' comp insurance premiums. My employees are all receptionists and teachers (code 8868, for "College/Schools - Professors/Teacher/Clerical Professional & Clerical"), but they were incorrectly set up with higher-risk job codes. I caught it because we were over budget, and the payroll company fixed the codes. I'm guessing that triggered an audit. So, that's fun.

Health
- Exercise: I have not stepped on the recumbent bike or treadmill at all this week. Exercise is the one and only thing that stymies Parkinson's. PD and Type 1 diabetes generally don't play nice with each other - Parkinson's causes tremor, which can disguise low blood sugar symptoms; low carb is ideal for diabetes, while protein interferes with levadopa (a key PD drug) absorption; and have you ever tried injecting yourself with a needle with shaky hands and uncontrolled tension in your muscles? Yet, for all that, PD and T1D both love exercise.

- Diabetes: Had an endocrinologist (diabetes doc) appointment (virtual - I'm a big fan of "televisits") on Monday. I needed to get my A1C tested. I asked the doc to fax over the order. Meanwhile, I also had an array of blood and urine tests for my PCP in the form of a paper order, which I don't need for a month, but I'm not one to waste a trip. So I get to the lab, hand them my paper order and tell them I have an order from another doc on the fax machine. Reception desk says, "Make sure you tell them at the window that you have a fax order, too." I take the paper to the window, tell her I have a fax order, too, and she gives me a number. I wait to be called. Then I go in, get stuck, the phlebotemist draws three vials and give me a cup to pee in. Then I go home and wait as the results start pouring in - urinalysis results, cholesterol... but guess what result I did NOT receive?

That's right: A1C. The one I went there for. The good news is, the doc didn't have my result and couldn't yell at me for being over 7.0 again.

- Parkinson's Disease: Had Botox in my larynx on Wednesday for vocal dystonia. Today I can't speak above a whisper, and that will last hopefully no more than a week. Yes, it's ironic, but here's what's happening: Dystonia is a neuromuscular disorder that cause involuntary muscle tension. Ask any voice teacher: tension is a singer's enemy. Botox paralyzes the target muscle, forcing it to relax. As you can see in my nerdy graph, the Botox paralyzes the crap out of my voice for a few days (where the graph spikes up in a sharp, skinny point), then it settles down and lasts for a few months before it starts wearing off. Hence, I get the injections quarterly.

That's what's up, y'all. Catch you tomorrow for Music Mondays. Hope to see you then!

Comment

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