Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I haven’t drunk coffee all week, so today I’m having my half-caff hazelnut. What’s your favorite beverage for a chat with a friend?
Due to a temporary issue with focus ( yes, despite the coffee), I want to do some wordplay. I am a middle school English teacher, after all . So, using today’s prompt from Ragtag Community, here is what I have, using the word ‘plate’:
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Antoinette at
This is the last Coffee Share of 2019! I am so looking forward to 2020, and instead of a resolution, I decided to choose a word: Limitless. I have had so many limits this year and put so many limits on my life. It has almost gotten me down at some points. I have also accomplished a few things: I encouraged my son to get a low level job in a new field, and he loves it! I published/produced two books into audio. I celebrated my boyfriend’s 57th birthday, my 51st, and my mom’s 78th. I actively sought to deal with my back and pain issues and sought help with it; as a result, I am now doing squats (among other things) several times a week. Squats! It is a shocker. However, I draw the line at Burpees. 🙂 My family are in on my new health kick, well, at least on supporting me. My boyfriend got me a vertical mouse which is ergonomic and more comfortable for the hand and arm. I am really getting the hang of it! (Google it and check it out). So maybe I can write even more, pain-free. Mom got me an upright desk, it just isn’t assembled yet….
I did not feel much Christmas spirit due to the loss of a few dear people, but I did find opportunities to help others and the community, which made it feel more like Christmas. Now I get to greet a New Year, and live out my personal goal of a being more of a limitless person.
Since it is Winter Break, and I have time off, I have been writing some short and flash-fiction. I am proud of this piece here, which involves aliens: https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/popular-opinion-fiction-fowc/ and was written in response to the Fandango One Word Challenge; the word was ‘popular.’ I personally love those one-word challenges and have tried them with some of my students who like writing.
These are two books I have read lately. One, very traumatic, yet hopeful. The other, just all out bawdy humor by one of my favorite humorous authors, and I loved it as well! I needed that after a Holocaust novel, and I loved both of them equally.
I also was able to meet up with an old friend who lives out of town. She lost her husband of three years to an illness. I read recently about the healing power of laughter. She and I laughed a lot this time, as always. It was wonderful to see her and her daughter. The Insomnniac’s Diary is still in progress, but I think it is more of a personal thing now; in other words, I believe I am accepting a new normal. As long as I can fall asleep at night and get at least four hours of sleep, I can handle it. I am still logging the basics, though. I mean, I was on 5 hours when I met my friend for dinner. We had a great time for about two hours, and then I went home to relax and get ready for bed. No problem!
I hope you have enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and will have a safe, fun New Year with many pleasant surprises.
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com. I feel like I’m neglecting my blog lately, I’ve been so busy. Yesterday, I volunteered as a teacher sponsor with kids in our National Junior Honor Society. I have to say, their youthful bounce and jump right in attitudes kind of warmed my own holiday spirit and the hearts of many patrons. I only needed one cup of java to get me through the day. It seems the spirit of youth was in the air and influenced even my energy!
At one point, a Salvation Army rep came by and fixed our sign. It’s supposed to go at the top of the stand. Oops! At any rate, it was a day well-spent with several interludes of Jingle Bells and a few other songs! I think the kids did a great job and learned more about what it’s like to set a goal and raise money for a good cause.
Work has kept me quite busy as well. I’m a teacher, so I guess that’s just what is expected. I do find time now and then to work on my current work-in-progress, which is now just a little above 15,000 words. I am proud of that, as I have brought it up just in the last 3 weeks. I’m also part of a read/review group, and they have an Online Holiday Popup Book Shop until 12/16. Please visit the link and browse, because if you buy a book from their online shop, which links you to Amazon by the way, you just have to follow their instructions in order to be entered for an Amazon gift card. We all could use one of those! While you’re there, visit the author reading room to see authors reading excerpts from their books. I even have a video of myself reading a portion of my sci-fi novel, Detours in Time. Go to this site and navigate through the links at the top of the page. Enjoy! https://booksbudzpopup.wordpress.com
On a side note, damp weather does interesting things to my hair! Thank you for reading, and have a great week!
My available paperbacks, also can be found in Kindle edition; onlyUndercurrents is not shown here. I am working on adding to the collection!
Weclome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali WordPress. I have so much going on in my head I can’t type prose right now! Nor can I churn out an emotional poem. Perhaps I am using the other side of my brain more this week? Grades are due in the next week, and I have been pulling my hair coming up with personalized plans for my students to make strides in the reading standards for English Language Arts. Yes, it’s a little analytical for me. But I’ll get it done! Add to that the online course I am taking. Ugh…
There is good news, though: a Book signing is scheduled for my first full-length novel, Detours in Time, and I will also have some of the sequel, Undercurrents in Time at the book signing on Sat., Nov. 3rd, 10 am to 2 pm at San Marco Bookstore in Jacksonville, FL, in case any of you are in town! I’m excited, and I’m planning, thinking about marketable tactics, planning a good night’s sleep the night before. (Hope it works)!
So, this weekend is that of an introvert’s lifestyle. Analyzing data, working on personalized plans, and grading while sitting in the living room with my son watching “Logan,” a tale of the aging Wolverine. I love to nerd out. Luckily, I’d seen it before, or I’d have to put the work down! I suppose this counts as quality family time with my twenty-two year old son? After he went to bed, I chilled out with Netflix’s “Maniac,” a truly weird, yet engaging tale. Last weekend, my boyfriend and I discovered “Unbreakable” from 2000, and now I want to watch all the others in the series!
In all this, I have been feeling the aches of arthritis pain this week, and I skipped yoga again! Big mistake. A little walk this morning made me feel better though. Yeah, it’s truly an introverting weekend, but don’t read me wrong. I am planning a lot of socializing in November and will have my conversation face on for the book signing! I love talking about my books! Overall, I am still going. I can’t stop. My big break may be just around the corner, or, I may be working on the side hustle until retirement allows me to write full-time. Either way, I can do this!
Thank you for the visit. My coffee really energized me this morning, and I am well-rested after last night! I hope you feel fueled this morning as well. Have a great week!
Bixby contemplates my morning coffee. What is so magical about it, and what will she do if I sneak a few sips?
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Allison athttps://eclecticali.wordpress.com. I am trying to keep it short, but just to forewarn you, I have the attention span of a gnat this weekend. Work was frustrating yesterday, and I am so tired of the national news dividing our nation even more.
At any rate, I have done my stretches this morning, and I plan to get a walk soon. This is all part of my intention for this year to help me stay healthy and of a positive mindset.
My writing has been coming in spurts this week, unplanned, by the seat of my pants. A pantser, that I am, at times. I’m working on a new idea that is a spin-off of a character in my sequel that is in beta-reading mode, also known as waiting mode. I also wrote a flash- fiction piece in one of the blog challenges this week. It is a nice escape based on characters who got away from their daily grind to live in a luxurious, non-stop vacation world. Only, they have to somehow afford that life. Interested? Read it here: Swindled, 1/07/18. #flashfiction
Sometimes writing is a great escape for me and nothing but. It is its own means to an end. It would be great if I made enough money from it to take grand vacations, but it doesn’t matter. I love what writing does for my mind. This brings me another of the key factors in my focus on seeking or harnessing energy in this new year: music. My mind can race at times with thoughts, ideas, negation of my ideas, lack of ideas, ruminations of my day, etc., etc. It starts when I wake. I have to calm it or tame the run-away train when I need to focus on getting one thing done (writing, cleaning…) or focus on getting myself ready for work and out the door on a workday morning. Music helps. It can also inspire me to get some writing done. Here is my latest discovery that I am dying to share, and I hope you will go check out the video, Taro by alt-J.
The video visuals and the music together are just divine perfection, a comment on the human experience, our beautiful world, an understanding of those around us. I found out this is a tribute to a war-time photographer named Taro, and all of the footage here is of peaceful images. I found this when searching another song by alt-j with psychedelic undertones, because I love them; they take me away, and so does this song and its video. Sometimes I need an escape from my mental chatter. Writing can do that, my favorite out-of-this-world, creepy shows or movies do that (Haven, Haven) , books do that, and music does that, some music more than others. Please enjoy this video. It will surely provide a brief escape for your weekend.
Visit other coffee shares or add yours at https://eclecticali.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/weekendcoffeeshare-birthday-weekend/ by clicking the blue InLinkz button! Have a great week!
My available paperbacks, also can be found in Kindle edition; only Undercurrents is not shown here. I am working on adding to the collection!
pamelascanepa 