Velvet Verbosity

Well dear readers, formatting is still a problem.  I can’t even get the blog to separate paragraphs.  I’ve downloaded a back up and will be trying to update and hoping not to lose any data.  I’m a little suspicious and worried that my blog has actually been hacked.  Anyway, let’s keep the ball rolling in the meantime.  This week’s word, from The Seagull Reader Essays — HIDDEN.

Hello my lovely readers.  I hate when life goes into so much over drive that I can’t even get over here to give you an update.  100 Words will be back up and running next week, so look for the round up and challenge on Sunday.   Last weekend I had a sudden request to write an article for a major online magazine in my industry and I had to “seize the day”, but it meant I spent the weekend doing some hardcore investigative reporting and I was up all night Sunday putting it all together.  Then Monday I was dealing with the editing process while still trying to work my day job and get my kids all the places they needed to go.  By Tuesday I was behind in my regular work and have been playing catch up for the rest of the week.And I STILL haven’t had time to figure out what’s wrong with Velvet Verbosity on the back end.  So…I apologize for not being here with your challenge.  I do love what we’ve got going here, but the hard reality is that it’s a luxury not a necessity and in the great scheme of things I just couldn’t get it all done this week.

Just a quick note to tell you that I punched my blog in the face, and now we’re both pouting in our respective corners.  Something has gone very wrong behind the scenes over here, and I can’t get a post to format to save my life.  I think it’s an upgrade issue, but not sure.  Hang tight while the wordpress luddite tries to patch things back together.  If you want to get started on the new word, it’s

Fortune 

I‘ve been a little scarce these past two weeks.  I wouldn’t even know where to begin telling you all that is going on in my life presently.  Lots and lots of mostly good stuff all converging at once, and I can barely catch my breath.  I keep thinking it’s going to slow down, but this week is already off to an overwhelming start.  I feel a little like my head might implode, but I can’t honestly complain about a lot of what is going on, since it’s mostly productive and good.  Just too much all at the same time, and yeah, it’s stressing me out.

Not enough time for my own writing, for blogging, for fun.  But the 100 words will go on.  (With or without me I’m beginning to suspect!)  My pick of the week is Mike, because BANG ZIP POW, this entry hit me right in the face with its power.

You can’t see it, but it’s there. It’s doubt. Fear. Loneliness. Anger. It’s cynicism. It’s snark, and spite, and denial of the rationality of those who oppose you. It’s rage, and violence, and destruction. It’s separation from light, goodness, trust, hope. You can see it in the path you’ve chosen, and you can see it reflected in the embryonic psyche of your child. You never wanted them to find it, but they know it now, and they will learn the contours of the insides of the fog soon enough. It’s there, and it’s growing, and it pulls at your ankles.

Wow.

In other words:

• Sarah’s Smile by Titanium 
• Darkness by Tara
• A Turn at the End of the Road by Patti
• Not in Shadow by Chloe (aka Gadgical)
• Darkness by LouCeel
• Darkness by newcomer Snowshoe
• Mommycosm is back with her entry on Darkness.
• Another newcomer Vera!

By the way, thanks to Tara for the “Darkness” challenge.  It was clearly very inspiring; lots of really moving pieces this last week!This week’s challenge (for details on how to play, go here), is again from Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change, by S.M. Stirling.  Still lots of death and mayhem, makeshift armor and weapons, leaders emerging, and wars a-brewing. And the word is:

Overall

Write 100 words on it, post to your blog, and leave a comment here so we can find you.  Challenge closes on Saturday-ish. Don’t forget TITLES!  Happy writing!

With love,

Just a super quick post because I know you’re all checking back and you’re all, “Where in the world is VV?”.  Buried under a mountain of deadlines and caught in the cogwheels of a huge family scheduling transition.  I’ll be back later today with your new word, and then I’ll edit this post on Wednesday or Thursday with the roundup.  Hey, I have an idea!  Is anyone currently reading something they would like to pull a word from?  If so, leave it in the comments and I’ll check back this evening.  Muah!  Gotta run, bye!Update: Ok, new challenge from Tara:

Darkness

This post is going to have to get straight to it since it is past my bad time, and my upcoming week is going to be fierce.  FIERCE!

My pick of the week is Scetches with her piece, Breakfast: Last Night.  Delicious imagery that made me feel like I was there:

I warm the hot chocolate between my thighs and look out on to the Thames as we pull closer to Borough Market. Last night hangs between us as the sun, like an excited toddler, scribbles orange on the river’s calm surface. Abbey Lincoln sings:

And it’s supposed to be love.

We pretend we have no use for irony.

In the morning light my puffy eyes adore the freshly caught fish and fancy aged cheese that you buy because I stared long enough. As we walk and eat spicy sausage sandwiches for breakfast I relax, but the night tauntingly hangs on.

In other words:

• 100 Words on Breakfast by Michael 
• It’s Only Breakfast by If Mom Says Ok
• Breakfast in 100 Words by Popping Bubbles
• Quiet Breakfast by Irish Storm (You’ll have to scroll to find it…I can’t link to the post itself for some reason.)
• Feast or Famine by Titanium 
• Stark Light of Day at Life in Balance Sort of
• Conversation Over Toast by Patti
• I Don’t Want to go to School by LouCeel
• Breakfast by AuroraLee
• Alley Breakfast by Rhoni Renee
• Scrambled, Not Fried by Slouchy
• Baby Bird by Texan Mama
• Yankee Doodle Grapefruit by Von Cookie

I also received two email entries this week from folks without blogs.  This one is from Mae:

Both dogs were underfoot, whining impatiently for breakfast, reaching for the food before she could even place the bowls on the floor. It was then she noticed a few remaining shards of glass glittering on the linoleum. It had been her favorite vase. She knew about his temper even before they married. Lately their fights had become more vicious, but last night was the first time he was violent. She was neither surprised last night when he left in anger, nor this morning when she woke alone. Sometimes things look different over morning coffee. Sometimes one action can change everything.

And from the owner of Cardinal Cardz:

I’m excited for Mother’s Day this year.  Our children will be five and eight and I will finally get breakfast in bed, WITH the messy kitchen.  I know, it sounds weird.  If you’re a Mom of an infant, or a two year old, you’ll understand.  Hollywoodmakes family life all sexy.  THAT IS SUCH A LIE!  Having kids is so FREAKING hard it hurts.  This year my husband won’t have to help make breakfast and I can bask in the wonderment that after spit up, life doesn’t totally suck all the time. At some point, it resembles a new normal.

That wraps up last week’s challenge.  A few reminders:

• Remember to give your post a title.
• Remember your blog manners and link back to either this post, or the 100 Word page in your post so that your readers can pop over and find more 100 words, and see what we’re up to over here.
• Remember to leave a comment here with a link to your post to make the round up easier, and so that others can find you!

This week’s challenge (for details on how to play, go here), is from an interesting book I’ve just started, and recommended to me, Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change, by S.M. Stirling.  Here’s the quick synopsis:  All technology stops for an unknown reason, huge fall out, chaos and death, and then how the remaining survive and how they band together in peace or for war.  In other words, what would happen if civilization got almost wiped out and we had to start from scratch.  And the word is:

Thirty

Write 100 words on it, post to your blog, and leave a comment here so we can find you.  Challenge closes on Saturday-ish.  Happy writing!

With love,

Another week has slipped by, sucked into the vortex of “past”.  This past week for me was heavy, in a good way, like moving a box of beloved books and then reveling in that sore muscle haze while blowing the dust off the bindings, and rediscovering cherished stories and philosophical truths.

This week also brought a handful, or two, of new readers and writers, and it’s been delightful to read all of your 100 word stories on NERVOUS.  My pick of the week is Slouchy.  I just loved this short little piece of fiction:

She waited in the wardrobe, the spot her oldest brother favored. The air smelled musty. Her grandmother’s coats brushed against her cheeks and made her nose itch. She grew impatient. Really, this game had lasted far too long. She moved to let herself out and frowned to find no handle on the inside of the wardrobe. Why would there be? She banged on the wood, shouted for her sister, for anyone, but heard only silence, thick and oppressive. Clutching at coat hems, she slumped down and inhaled mightily, as if through scent she might summon their owner, and her release.

In other words:

• “An unrelenting wind chills…” by Element 22
• The future can make you nervous by Michael
• The envelope by Aurora Lee
• 10-60 by Northern Zazu
• “Nervous son?” by Angelgal
• Nervous No More by Secret Agent Mama
• Buying love by LouCeel
• It’s Defective Typewriter’s first time
• The Blind Date by Patti
• Hidden by That’s Live 2.0
• The Gauntlet by Gabriel Gadfly

That wraps up last week’s challenge, and going through that reminds me that it would be helpful to me if you all gave a title to your pieces so I don’t have to make one up.  Sometimes that’s awfully fun, but sometimes I’m rushed.

This week’s challenge (for details on how to play, go here), comes from a book I picked up off someone’s shelf to pass some time, The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case (Michael Ohayon Mysteries, No. 1) by Batay Gur.  The word is:

Breakfast

Write 100 words on it, post to your blog, and leave a comment here so we can find you.  Challenge closes on Saturday-ish.  Happy writing!

With love,

Two days left before the door closes on the 100 Word Challenge for Nervous.  Here’s a little, uh, inspiration.  Or entertainment.  One of those.

With love,

Apparently today is national blog delurker day.  I saw it on Twitter, and while I rarely, RARELY, participate in memes, I like this one.  I always wonder who YOU are, you who reads here often but never comments.  I don’t care about the comments, I’m just, you know, curious.

So, today is the day to introduce yourself, even if only to say, “Hey!”.

With love,

I have very good reasons to not make the 100 Word Challenge a contest.  The goal of the prompt, and the challenge to keep to exactly 100 words, is to stretch you, to share little digestible bits of your writing with a group, to have fun, and to practice the craft.  I don’t want to lose sight of that.  Another very good reason, is because I don’t like having to choose “winners”.  My pick of the week has never been about who did that week’s challenge better than anyone else, but rather a completely subjective selection of what moved me that week.  Some day, I may even do away with that practice and install a Mr. Linky widget on here.

With that said, I did say I was going to pick a winner who could choose a coffee or tea from Esselon and I’m sticking to that.  I KNEW I was going to have a hard time with this.  I spent the weekend wringing my hands, and reading each of your posts very carefully, looking for that one special piece that just screamed, “PICK ME”!   Didn’t happen.  I liked LouCeel’s witty and funny dialogue, and Mommy is Moody’s sober yet hilarious twist at the end, and so on.

Finally, I narrowed it down to two contenders, and as I went back and forth rereading the two, I finally came to my decision.  I CAN’T DECIDE, so CheekyWench and Patti, you both get to choose a coffee or tea from Esselon (email or DM me).  Simon Cowell, I am not.

The dark, bitter, and delicious entry from Cheeky Wench:

She tucked a stray strand of inky black hair behind her ear as she stared out the café window into the snow drifts. The flakes fell silently like a blanket being laid over a sleeping infant. Taking a deep breath, she took a sip of the bitter brew she held; the hazelnut flavoring tickling her nose. Her hands shook slightly as she glanced to see blood caking under her fingernails. Putting the cup down, she picked up a nearby napkin to try and clean them. She kicked the body lying at her feet. He should’ve known she preferred black coffee.

“I Swan”, by Patti:

Swaying soundlessly on the porch swing, sipping her sweet tea, she watched the sun slowly slip below the horizon.  She hoped it would bring some relief from the scorching summer heat she’d felt stalking her all day. 

 

“I swan,” she declared, delicately peeling the bodice from her damp bosom and fanning herself with the wedding program she’d picked up at the ceremony.  “I might just melt right here!  How could a sane person even consider an outdoor wedding this time of year?”

 “Perhaps you’d prefer a funeral,” Miles smirked, raising an eyebrow. “At least then, you wouldn’t have to dance.”

In other words:

• Preference, a poem by Gabriel Gadfly
• Mommy is Moody shares her revelations on punctuation
• Aurora-Lee defines her own success
• 100 Words on Andre Dawson by Michael
• Bach meets Gen Y by LCeel
• A little piece of heartbreak by Angelgal

I noticed comment participation was down this week.  Not that it’s a rule or anything (pay no attention to the big dudes with knee cap breakers behind me), but I think it’s a good practice to drop some comment love/critique for fellow 100 worders.

I saw Sherlock Holmes this weekend (for the second time), and after decided to grab my copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and reread.  Quite delightful those Holmes and Watson are.  Jude Law as Watson was brilliant, even if a large margin deviation from the original Watson.  This week’s prompt from Sherlock Holmes is:

Nervous

Write 100 words on it, post to your blog, and leave a comment here so we can find you.  Challenge closes on Saturday.  Happy writing!

With love,