blood on the floor
knife on the bed
where he lay with her last
but now, he lies dead
never knowing what she’d do
the moment he said,
I love you
What is a microprompt? Perfect for Twitter, it’s just like the Daily Prompt or any writing prompt, but it’s in 140 characters.
You know what makes me ridiculously happy? It’s when readers tweet my story to their followers like this
All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!
We live in a world were we are judged
by the number of letters we can squeeze
on a screen
that’s as big as the palm of one’s hand
if not smaller, so many words lost,
unseen.
Where 140 characters is all that we have
to tell each other how we feel
what we see, what we hear
no one has time to hear the other out
140 characters is all that you have
to make yourself clear
And books have gotten smaller,
for their the pages are now numbered in screens
and the page flips of one’s thumb –
too many flips and you lose your dear reader,
so be vigilant,
be dumb.
Simplify your message, just forget all flowery prose.
If you want to be heard, remember –
theres no dignity in wordiness,
for the Prousts of this world,
have long ago
been blurred
So I count my words carefully,
willing them to fit inside
this new age box,
and as I toss them out into the world, I fail –
for they only sink like leaden
rocks.
Have I ever told you how much I love Neil Gaiman?
Today, Audible.com asked the question, “If you could read only one author’s work for the rest of your life, who would it be?” They also said that it could “easily be the toughest question of the day.”
Probably, if one had many authors to choose from – Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens all the way to the contemporaries like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, and so many more. However, it didn’t take me long to pick one author I wouldn’t mind reading for the rest of my life.
Elizabeth Gaskell.
In November 1865, when reporting her death, The Athenaeum rated Gaskell as “if not the most popular, with small question, the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists.” Today Gaskell is generally considered a lesser figure in English letters remembered chiefly for her minor classics “Cranford” and “Wives and Daughters: An Every-day Story.”
Gaskell’s early fame as a social novelist began with the 1848 publication of “Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life,” in which she pricked the conscience of industrial England through her depiction and analysis of the working classes. Many critics were hostile to the novel because of its open sympathy for the workers in their relations with the masters, but the high quality of writing and characterization were undeniable, and critics have compared “Mary Barton” to the work of Friedrich Engels and other contemporaries in terms of its accuracy in social observation.
The later publication of “North and South,” also dealing with the relationship of workers and masters, strengthened Gaskell’s status as a leader in social fiction.
I bought the complete works of Gaskell for my e-reader and I’m taking my time reading her stories, beginning with the obscure ones. I’ve already read North and South, but I can’t wait to read Mary Barton, as well as Cranford. I loved how astute she was about the social changes around her, the plight of the poor workers, even if it put her at odds with the general thinking of the time.
So, yes, for the rest of my life, Elizabeth Gaskell would be perfect.
Who would you pick?
If I didn’t know who Morrighansmuse was and I stumbled upon her blog (this one), I’d probably think she’s one depressed chick behind a sad blog. I mean, look at her poetry – most of them so awfully sad.
But before you think that the person behind MM is one depressed, sad chick, here’s something that I hope will make you change your mind. This is not a sad blog. Really, it isn’t.
Look.
https://twitter.com/AnimaIReaction/status/517233940646862848
Can I have The Good King Snugglewumps?
The things we learn from reading other writers’ works…
We all procrastinate. Website, magazine, knitting project, TV show, something else — what’s your favorite procrastination destination?
Yesterday I took another step away from my fangirl Twitter account. I’ve been slowly distancing myself the last few weeks, ever since someone told me that maybe I should think twice about which journalists to read if I wanted to maintain certain fandom friendships. You know – drama.
Anyway, it was alarming to see how often I checked my TL (timeline to you, folks not well-versed in Twitter). It was the first place I visited when I turned on my laptop, my iPad, and even my phone. And it was the last thing I’d check before I went to bed.
I mean, there was still writing – but even Twitter was keeping me away from writing. What’s the use of hashtags when you’re not really doing what the hashtag purports you to be doing? #amwriting when it’s really #amdoingeverythingBUTwriting
Unless I was using Twitter as a social media platform to convey a message, a service, or a product, there was no longer any reason rational enough for me to justify my addiction because a) I hadn’t finished my book to begin with and b) the fandom aspect was over and done with. It also wasn’t fun anymore. So why still do it?
While quitting Twitter hasn’t exactly been that easy – as in, no dying need to see what everyone is up to all the time – it did get me to focus on a secret project I needed to finish for a friend. And even go to the beach two days in a row and get bad sunburn.
Who knows? If this is 100% successful, who’s to say that maybe the next step will be for me to quit…Tumblr!
Morrighan's Muse 