Charli’s Carrot Ranch 99 word fiction prompt this week:
January 9, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a carried wife. Why is she being carried? Who is carrying? Pick a genre if you’d like and craft a memorable character. Go where the prompt leads!
Nina giggled as Rakesh swept her up into his arms.
“Come on, Wifey, let’s get you inside.”
“Stop it!” She jumped down as soon as they stepped over the threshold, and turned towards him. “Why did you carry me over? We’re not English, you know!”
“Oh, I thought that’s what people do when they get married.”
“Have you never been to an Indian wedding before? Come on. I know you were born in the US, but surely you know some of the traditions,” she took his hand. “I know. If your parents were alive, it would have been different…”
Happy Monday to you all! Can you believe it? The first Monday of 2020, and of a new decade! (Unless you are involved in the debates as to whether 2020 is the start, or 2021)
If we were sipping chai together I’d clink cups with you and say Happy New Year! It’s been quite a start, globally, and not necessarily in a positive way for many, what with the awful Australian bush fires, and what on earth is Trump up to? It upset me to the core on Sunday, when Lil Man said that it looks like WW3 was starting, and that as he’s nearly 15, there’s a chance he’d be called up. No. just no.
If we were sipping chai together I’d sit back and try and shake that thought from my mind before telling you that I had a good clean up of the house before the new year was ushered in. It’s always good to start afresh, isn’t it? I know every day is a new day, but I always feel that there is something symbolic about doing all the things you intend to do, on that first day of the year. And that your environment should reflect those intentions too. If the house was a mess, and I had not washed my hair on New Year’s Day, God help me the rest of the year!
If we were sipping chai together I’d excitedly jump up and down to tell you that I received my proof copy of the book on New Year’s Eve. What a way to finish up the year. I had sent copies for review to the bloggers who are helping me with my blog tour, and one got in touch with me to mention that while she was loving the story, she had spotted a couple of silly grammatical errors, and missed punctuation marks. Rather than not mention it, and leave me with a product that is not as perfect as I would want it, she told me what to look for, and I spent a long time on Friday, and Saturday, combing through the script for any more silly mistakes (which I did find a few of, so thank you that lady for telling me!) and another FB group friend, who is a proof reader, offered to give it a look over too, in exchange for a testimonial. So, hopefully, come next week, I will have a polished manuscript which I can resubmit, and I hope any changes don’t mess up the cover measurements! (That was a nightmare with KDP that I don’t want to relive again, plus, the cover designer is on holiday now!) But for now, look below, isn’t she beautiful, my book baby?
If we were sipping chai together I’d let you know that we ushered in 2020 with the in-laws, quietly, at their house, before getting back home, with a couple of hyperactive kids, who loved being able to stay up late! But it was a peaceful start to the year.
If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that I managed to read a couple of books, so that is two already ticked off on my Goodreads challenge!
If we were sipping chai together I’d have to mention that I was back in school on Friday for teacher training day. Two weeks flew by fast, and now it’s time for the second third of the year to start! Christmas is all packed away. Time to usher in Traditional Tales for the term, and hopefully, the roaring new child will be calmer too!
If we were sipping chai together I’d have to admit that I managed three separate visits to Costa this week, too! Once, on the Monday, whilst Lil Princess was meeting friends. I had intentions of writing, over a peaceful cuppa, but ended up chatting to a random older lady for one and a half hours! Then on Thursday, we popped in to grab a croissant and drink, before a nail appointment, then finally on Saturday, when I managed that quiet, leisurely lunch with my Kindle!
If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d say that right now, I just want to get through the week, and settle back into school!
Right, that’s me done Peeps! Let me how your first week of 2020 has been!
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Henry Ford
Firstly, welcome back to Spidey and his wisdom on this first Sunday of 2020!
Today he brings with him a quote full of insight.
Often, we complete a task, then find out we didn’t quite get there. The first feeling is failure. time to lament how rubbish we are, and wallow in self pity.
What if i told you that was poppycock?
Fail is not negative.
Fail is this:
F - First
A - Attempt
I - In
L - Learning
You see, this is where you have to embrace the power of YET.
Just because you didn’t get it now, doesn’t mean you’ll never get it. It just means you need a little (or lot) more practice, and you can get there.
It’s all in the power of the mind, and your perseverence.
I nearly succumbed to the whole “I am cr@p” thing this week, after being elated at getting the proof copy of my book, Marriage Unarranged. I have read, reread, tweaked, edited, submitted for feedback, changed and reread this manuscript so many times, I was sure there would be no errors…
Then a dear friend who is reading for review purposes came back to me with a note to say she was enjoying it, but there were a couple of niggles, with silly punctuation errors (only a few) and a couple of spelling slip ups, and that she knew how hard I had been working on this, so to make it better, to check it one more time, with a fine tooth comb.
I was, initially, devastated. How could there be any more errors? I have worked my backside off to get this baby perfect!
But she gave me a couple of examples, and when I checked, lo and behold, she was right.
Drat!
Now I really did have to go through it again, not reading the story, but looking at the mechanics. That is one of the toughest things to do. I can’t even read aloud in a monotone voice, because I am one of life’s storytellers, and as I read words, the emotions and accents come out naturally. (Ask my class and colleagues… they love me reading Rastamouse – Irie, man!)
After posting in one of the extremely supportive groups I am a member of, on Facebook, I got lots of ideas, and started looking through the book with a ruler, pen and my Post-its. Then, I pulled up the word document, and the formatted Vellum version, and corrected the errors I had been told about. And went on from there, finding a few missing full stops, or speech marks, and a couple of spelling errors that I wouldn’t have picked up easily via spell check, or grammer check, as they were real words, but not the right ones.
And one of the members offered to proof read the document again for free, in exchange for a testimonial for her business website.
Note to all wannabe writers out there: publishing a book is an expensive business at the best of times. You can get sucked in by vanity publishers, or stuck in a vicious circle of finding the best editors/cover designers/formatters etc. and find that money can leak through your pockets so fast, if you aren’t savvy. I have had to spend some, but I have to say, compared to what I have seen others mention about their spend for a book, I haven’t done badly at all. I have relied upon word of mouth, and recommendation for many services, and by being open to helping others, I have found many people willing to help me with a lot of the services that you would usually pay for. Looking it up, the average self published author will spend between $2-4000 for a book. I think my spend, once I order my author copies, including editing, cover design and some promotion, will be $1200. So, if you find anyone offering, genuinely, to help, from beta readers to covers, consider the offer carefully. It can help you cut your costs, but make sure you trust them, and are confident of their recommendations and work too.
So, now I await the feedback from my proofreader friend, then I can resubmit the files, (hoping page count doesn’t change – that affects the cover size, and my designer is on holiday, and of there are any alterations, it might mean that the paperback is delayed) and hope my version of perfection is acheived, finally!
Here’s hoping the next time Spidey visits, there will be a much improved version of my book available! It’s just not quite there, yet!
So… tell me, is there anything you can’t do, quite, YET, but are persevering over?
And, if you did want to preorder the Kindle version of my soon-to-be released book, just click on the following link – getbook.at/Marriage.Unarranged
January 2, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about something found in a hutch. It can be any kind of hutch — a box for critters or a chest for dishes. Go where the prompt leads!
Milly peaked inside the room again, hoping the scene had changed since she checked a few minutes ago.
Nope. Nothing.
She sighed.
So, everyone really had forgotten.
She looked again a few moments later to find her family stood there.
“What’s happening?” Confused, Milly’s eyes darted from person to person.
“Get your coat, Midge,” her brother ruffled her hair and smiled, and beckoned her to follow them into the garden.
But I Smile Anyway... 