By the Light of the Moon – Part One

Seeing as tomorrow night is a full moon, I thought this might be a good time to talk about the moon a bit.

Called Luna by the Romans, and Selene or Artemis by the Greeks, it was likely created more than 4.5 billion years ago when a large object collided with the Earth. The impact would have blasted out rocks to orbit around the Earth, which were drawn together and over time melted into one another. As they cooled down, they became the moon.

A Few Interesting Facts About The Moon:

It is 384,400 kilometres from Earth.
Its diameter is 3,476 kilometres.
Its gravitational force causes the rise and fall of the tides of Earth’s oceans.
The moon is moving away from the Earth at the rate of 3.8 cm a year.
You weigh 16.5% less on the moon than you do on Earth.
A total of 382 kilograms of rock samples have been taken from the moon by the Apollo and Luna space programs.
The phases of the moon are caused by the relative positions of the moon, sun, and Earth and occur on a 29.5 day cycle. These phases are:
New Moon
Waxing Crescent Moon
First Quarter Moon
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous Moon
Last Quarter Moon
Waning Crescent Moon
Crescent is when the moon is less than half illuminated.
Gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated.
Waxing is "growing" or expanding in illumination
Waning is "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination. .

The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (which September 21). This moon can occur either in September or October. This marks the time of year when crops such as corn, pumpkins, squash, and wild rice are ready to be gathered.

A Blue moon occurs when there are two full moons in a month. The first full moon goes by the name normally assigned to that month’s full moon, but the second one is commonly called a Blue Moon. Blue Moons occur about every 2 ½ years. This year, September’s full moon is the Corn Moon with the first full moon in October being the Harvest Moon and the second full moon being both the Blue Moon and the Hunter’s Moon.

A month is considered to have a Black Moon when there is no full moon at all. This can only occur in the month of February because the month only has 28 (or 29 on a leap year) days. By this definition it only happens once every 19 years. The last Black Moon was in 2014 and the next one is due to occur in 2033.

However, it is also accepted that a Black Moon occurs in a month that has two new moons. These occur approximately every 29 months and the last once was in July, 2019. Rarer still, if you divide the year into seasons there are three new moons to a season, but if there is fourth one, then the third one is considered a Black Moon. This occurs once every 33 months.

Come back next week when I’ll share a bit about the individual months and what their full moon is called.

The End Is Nigh!

That’s right folks, the end of Blood Ties is close at hand. It seems like the closer I get, the faster I write. I put on a burst of words of NaNo proportions this week and all that’s left is the smack down between Jessica and Anakaron, and the denouement.

Well, and the editing of course, but I’m actually looking forward to that. To start the editing process I’ll probably re-read the other two, just to get the same feel. After all, it’s been four years since the last Jessica book and I think in this one I’ve kind of got away from the essence of her personality.

The words for last week are kind of a bittersweet victory. In order to accomplish it I kind of let a couple of other things slide. I cheated on my Wednesday post and I skipped Friday altogether. I did take a look at my prompt, but I was on a roll with Blood Ties and I didn’t think taking time out for the prompt was in anyone’s best interest.

It seems like forever ago that I started this series. Magical Misfire was published in 2013 and I probably started it at least a couple of years before that. It started out as a serial on one of my blogs (now defunct), and let me tell you, if you need a way to force yourself to write, that’s the way to do it. Nothing like a weekly deadline to get the creative juices going.

Jessica’s come a long way since I first thought her up while I was in highschool, and she’s been through more perils than Pauline. I’m almost going to be sad to see her go.

The basement is coming along nicely, but that really had little to do with me, other than helping to pick out the new flooring. The old furniture has been carted away and the new flooring has been laid. All that’s left it to re-furnish it and enjoy.

I made a couple of forays out in to the big scary world last week. I actually walked down to the waterfront to meet up with an old friend where we sat in the shade and had a nice chat. The following night I was down there again, this time to meet up with my poetry group. Seeing as I had to take a chair with me, I did not walk for that one.

I’m sure we made a curious sight, sitting in a circle in the dark, flashlights going on and off as we took turns reading. All that was missing was a camp fire and s’mores.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
This might be a whole different story in the week to come

Research – 2.20 hours

Blood Ties – 7,356 words!
Woot!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
590 (regular blog)+ 906 + 583 = 2,079 words total

Weekly Prompt – 0 words

Total Words – 9,435

New Prompt
Use this as your first line: He looked at his phone, turned pale, then quickly left the room. She watched him, smiling.

Goals From Last Week:
Blood Ties is almost at 100,000 words! Can you believe it? That light at the end of the tunnel keeps shining brighter and brighter. Now that Jessica is actually inside the mountain, having failed in her attempt to rescue Howard, she’s going to face the big, bad dark lord. And even if she wins, will that be enough? Only the author knows for sure. Mwahahahaha

I looked at this week’s prompt, seriously I did, but it didn’t really do anything for me and I didn’t want to take the time away from Blood Ties to look for something else.

No editing this week, and no guilt over it either. Maybe I’ll have myself an editing NaNo this year. I can track changes and put all the new words I add to stuff into a separate document to use as my NaNo novel. LOL

So . . . I was actually planning on doing my Wednesday post, but when I looked at my research for the new series I was going to start I got cold feet – there was a lot of information I need to distil and I just didn’t want to take the time away from Blood Ties to do it. So then I did some research on a different topic, thinking it would be easier, but it turned out there wasn’t as much out there as I thought there’d be for it so I just plain gave up.

Goals For This Week:
1. Blood Ties, Blood Ties, Blood Ties! Jessica is about to have her big smack down with Anakaron, but that’s not necessarily the end. There’ll be some serious fall-out to deal with that I’m hoping will give the ending a bit of a twist.
2. New prompt story will depend on how it goes with Blood Ties. And I’ll probably be picking a new prompt, too.
3. Despite the fact the editing is piling up, it too will depend on my progress with Blood Ties. Maybe I should put my editing pile on the front of my desk instead of on the bookcase behind it.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

A Little Levity

Seeing as I wasn’t prepared to start my new non-fiction series, I was just going skip today’s post altogether. But then I got this in my email and decided to share. We could all use a laugh these days, right?

CANADIAN JOKE #1

After the North American Beer Festival, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, 'Hey Senor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona .' The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him.

The guy from Budweiser says, 'I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser.' The bartender gives him one.

The guy from Coors says, 'I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors.' He gets it.

The guy from Molson Canadian sits down and says, 'Give me a Coke.' The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, 'Why aren't you drinking a Molson's?'

The Molson Canadian president replies, 'Well, I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I.'

CANADIAN JOKE #2

A Canadian is walking down the street with a case of beer under his arm. His friend Doug stops him and asks, 'Hey Bob! Whacha get the case of beer for?'

'I got it for my wife, eh.' answers Bob.

'Oh!' exclaims Doug, 'Good trade.'

CANADIAN JOKE #3

An American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived.. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

'Well,' said the American, 'I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and said that for a donation of $50, we could return to earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here'

'That's amazing!' said the one of the doctors, 'But what happened to the other two?'

'Last I saw them,' replied the American, 'the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay his.'

CANADIAN JOKE #4

Did you hear about the war between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia ?

The Newfies were lobbing hand grenades; the Nova Scotians were pulling the pins and throwing them back.

CANADIAN JOKE #5

In Canada , we have two seasons...six months of winter and six months of poor snowmobiling.

CANADIAN JOKE #6

One day an Englishman, an American, and a Canadian walked into a pub together. They proceeded to each buy a pint of Labatt Blue. Just as they were about to enjoy their beverages, three flies landed in each of their pints.

The Englishman pushed his beer away from him in disgust. The American fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing happened. The Canadian picked the fly out of his drink and started shaking it over the pint, yelling, 'SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT!'

This ‘N That

It’s late Saturday afternoon as I type this. I’ve been sitting here for the last half hour, staring at the half blank screen (the other half is filled with the actual wordage report) and I feel like I have nothing to say. We had a lot of grey/overcast weather this week which always drains my energy/brain power. But it was offset by the fact it’s turned cool enough for a jacket in the early morning, which I actually enjoy. Fall is my favourite time of year – the sun is still (mostly) shining, but the temperature is bearable.

Anyway, I still don’t feel like I have much to say. When I haven’t been writing I’ve mostly been reading. Nora Roberts has temporarily been replaced by Charles de Lint but you don’t want to read his books too fast or you might miss something so I’m not zipping along like I was.

Blogger pretty much forced me to start using their new version for my posts last week, but they made a couple of changes since the last time and while I’m still not enthusiastic about it, neither do I hate it like I did before. At least I can do what I need to on it.

Facebook, however . . . they keep forcing their new format on me and I keep opting for the old version for 48 hours, but to do that they want to know why I don’t want to embrace the new one so I tell them. In all caps. I know we’ll all be forced to use it eventually, but I’ll whine about it to the bitter end.

In other news . . . we’ve decided to redo the kitchen and the rec room. At the same time. So far the hubby has ripped up the carpet from the rec room and is arranging to have all the garbage/old furniture taken away. And we’ve met with a designer at Home Depot who is unable to use a shoehorn to give us more space in the kitchen, but he did have some good ideas of what/where the new cupboards will work.

It should make for some interesting times ahead, especially since the bulk of the work in the kitchen is slated for November. You know, during NaNo. God help us all.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
I accidentally exited the file without saving the changes I’d made, so I have no clue how much I did. Forgot to time myself too.

Research – 4.15 hours

Blood Ties – 2,712 words
Woot!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
450 (regular blog)+ 1,096 + 400 = 1,946 words total

Weekly Prompt – 514 words

Total Words – 5,172

New Prompt
Use this as your first line: He looked at his phone, turned pale, then quickly left the room. She watched him, smiling.

Goals From Last Week:
I set myself a goal last week that (starting Monday) I’d write a minimum of 500 words a day on Blood Ties. I didn’t add any words yesterday because I was busy doing other stuff, but I reached my goal the rest of the week. Which means, my friends, I’m over 2500 words closer to the end!

Once again I waited until Thursday to work on my prompt story and to be quite honest, I don’t know what I think about the story itself. It met all of the requirements from the prompt, other than being over by around 150 words, but it’s a weird little slice of life, even for me.

Man oh man I’m going to have to get my editing rear in gear if I’m going to get my book flood anthology done in time for Christmas and my two books edited by the end of the year. Especially if I’m doing NaNo this year. I hate to mess up my NaNo winning streak, but I didn’t like the changes they made to the website last year and I haven’t been back since so I don’t know what else they’ve done to it. Maybe I’ll do an editing version of NaNo on my own.

Most of the research I did last week was on stuff for the new non-fiction series I’ll be starting this week. It’s a toss-up between two different subjects, both of which I’ll be doing, I just can’t decide which one to do first. Guess you’ll have to come back Wednesday to see which one wins.

Goals For This Week:
1. Blood Ties, Blood Ties, Blood Ties! I’m on the verge of rescuing Howard – Jessica just has to implement her devious plan of action – and then there’s just the goodbyes and we’re done. I had a really good week words-wise last week (knock on wood), let’s see if I can make this one even better.
2. New prompt story. I wanted to get away from The Story Shack so I’m trying one from Writing Exercises and Prompts.
3. I think I might skip the editing this week because it’s time consuming and I want to focus on Blood Ties. Also, I just plain keep forgetting about editing.
4. Same goes for the research this week. I mean, I’ll probably have to do some anyway, but I’m not going to make it a priority.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

All For Love

Prompt: Write a 300 word story in the epic genre. It's about an old man in love and should include a poster. Also use the sentence 'Thanks for nothing.' Bonus prompt: Civilization has come to an end.

“So then I tell him, I did, "Thanks for nothing." And you know what he did?” Warren didn’t wait for an answer as he picked his way carefully over the rubble, dragging the sled behind him. “He told me it was the least he could do. That’s when I slugged him with the pipe.”

He worked his way over to a likely looking pile of debris, poking at it with the steel rod that doubled as a cane. “I don’t know, Lizzie,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m thinking it might be time to start working a new section. It’s been pretty slim pickings lately.”

Using the rod as a poker, he moved some of the detritus aside. His eyes lit up. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

He grasped the aluminum sheet and worked it out from under the wreckage piled on top of it. It was easily three feet by three feet, and hardly dented at all. One side had a poster with the slogan, “Kindness Matters” stuck to it. Warren grinned, it would add a decorative touch to the shelter.

“Couple more like this and I can finish the shelter, Lizzie.”

He spent the rest of the day moving back and forth across the debris field and though he found several pieces worthy of collection, none was as good as his first find of the day.

“I tell you, Lizzie, this sure isn’t the way I expected to spend my retirement,” Warren said as he headed back to the shelter.

The shelter was a work in progress, the third such shelter he’d built since the end of the world. The first had been a pitiful attempt and simply fallen apart. The second had been much more solid, but hadn’t been able to withstand the hurricane force winds that had swept through what was left of the city.

“I promise you, Lizzie. This shelter will be built to last. And it’s only until you’re feeling better. Then we’ll try our luck in the farmlands, just like I promised.”

Warren unloaded the sled and swiped a hand across his forehead. “Looks like it’s going to be another hot one today, Lizzie. What do you say I scrounge us up something to eat?”

He rummaged through the old metal strong box they used for their valuables. “Look what I found,” he said, triumphantly holding up a chocolate bar. “It just happens to be your favourite too. Wanna share?”

Securing the lock again he chuckled. “I didn’t think so. Oh, the things I do for love.”

He tossed the bar to Lizzie where she lay under the half built shelter. It landed on her mummified chest where it teetered for a second before sliding off.

“Don’t eat it all at once,” he advised her, and imagined her smiling at him in return.

Astrology Part Twelve - Pisces

Quick facts for Pisces:
You were born between February 20 and March 20
Your sign is the fishes
Your planet is Neptune
Your element is water
Your metal is tin
Your birthstone is the aquamarine
Your flower is the water lily
Your color is dark purple
Your body part is the feet
Your Tarot card is the Moon.

Strengths:
Compassionate, artistic, intuitive, gentle, wise, musical

Weaknesses:
Fearful, overly trusting, sad, desire to escape reality, can be a victim or a martyr

Likes:
Being alone, sleeping, music, romance, visual media, swimming, spiritual themes

Dislikes:
Know-it-all, being criticized, the past coming back to haunt, cruelty of any kind

Your best matches are those born under the sign of Cancer or Scorpio and to a lesser degree those born to Capricorn and Taurus.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Like the fish that symbolizes them, Pisces dislikes making waves and often prefers to ‘go with the flow.’ They’re the most sensitive of the signs, selfless, spiritual, and intuitive. You’ll often find them helping others without thought of getting anything back. They’re very friendly and popular and get along well with all kinds of people. Compassionate and charitable, they need to watch out or they’ll be taken advantage of by others.

Pisces is symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions. This represents the constant division of their attention between what is real and what is not. They’re kind and good natured, often generous, but are also somewhat weak-willed. They’re capable of hard work and dedicated service, but they also often take the role of a martyr. Pisces is compassionate, faithful, and caring and make pleasant companions, but they also tend to be very fond of gossip which makes them indiscreet in their conversations.

With Neptune as their ruling planet, Pisces are often intuitive and have an artistic talent. Neptune is the planet that rules creativity and dreams, and it encourages Pisces to explore their boundless imagination. They have a genial, pleasure-loving disposition and often succeed as journalists or actors. But they also tend to wear rose-colored glasses instead of addressing their problems, which gives them a reputation for being flaky or delusional.

Famous Pisces include: Albert Einstein, Victor Hugo, Daniel Craig, Elizabeth Taylor, Sidney Poitier, Bruce Willis, Dr. Seuss, Jon Bon Jovi, Drew Barrymore, Rue McClanahan, Michael Cain, Liza Minnelli, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Looking Back and Moving Forward

It was about this time last year I was gearing up to go to the Kingston Writersfest. *sigh*

Man, what a great idea! It spans five seminar and class filled days, with a few evening events thrown in for good measure. With offerings from such luminaries as Jane Urquhart, Linwood Barclay, Catherine Bush, and Helen Humphreys (to name just a few), there’s something for everyone.

There were a couple package deals offered where you could stay for all five days, or just for the weekend, but they included not only your hotel stay but all the classes/seminars for those days. My friend and I picked the weekend package and went up for Friday evening through Sunday.

Kingston is a beautiful city, and the hotel was right on the waterfront. Most of the activities were either in our hotel or a short walk away. The classes were interesting and while I might not have taken as many notes as some, I still feel like I learned a lot.

The only downside of the experience was that I lost my friend – not literally, just when we started out we were friends but when we were done we were . . . not. To this day I have no idea what happened. In hindsight I suspect she’d been trying to end our friendship for a long time, I was just too dim to realize it.

But life goes on and I guess it’s just going to have to remain one of life’s mysteries. In any case, I was really, really looking forward to going for the whole five days this year. Five days in a cushy hotel while I immersed myself in the writing experience. Only I hadn’t counted on the pandemic.

Oh, you can still go to Kingston and stay in a hotel (not the one I was in last year) but the classes and seminars are through Zoom – the online video chat service. Sorry, not my cup of tea. Half the beauty of Writersfest was the energy of the group gathered to hear the speakers.

I’m getting a little fed up with COVID-19 and the way it’s messing with everything. Social distancing is one thing, but even Word on the Street (the annual street book festival) has gone virtual. I don’t do virtual and I don’t handle change well.

Yeah, I know. Take a deep breath. There’s no point in looking back, all we can do is look forward, and what I’m looking forward to is finishing Blood Ties so I can get back to work on Knightsong.

Knightsong is the novel I started, then abandoned several NaNos ago. It’s a little bit of a departure for me, being a romantic suspense – nothing paranormal or fantasy about it. This is the novel I was going to take to the Spring Thaw retreat to work on, only Covid-19 forced it to move to the fall and then again to next spring.

Oh, well. At least it gives me something to look forward to in 2021. And hey, maybe I’ll even have the novel finished by then and I can edit it during the retreat.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 2 hours, -5 pages
Since it was just sitting there, I started editing An Elemental Spirit, and as you can see I started off with cutting. There’s a lot more to be cut before I can start adding words.

Research – 3.25 hours

Blood Ties – 2,055 words
Slightly under last week, but it was a short week.

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
427 (regular blog)+ 883 + 403 = 1,713 words total

Weekly Prompt – 1044 words

Total Words – 4,812

New Prompt
Write a 300 word story in the epic genre. It's about an old man in love and should include a poster. Also use the sentence 'Thanks for nothing.' Bonus prompt: Civilization has come to an end.

Goals From Last Week:
I have to say, I’m pleased with the progress I’m making on Blood Ties. I’ve been switching back and forth between Jessica and Howard, and the Howard scenes aren’t as difficult to write as I thought they’d be. Despite last week being a short one, I still managed a goodly amount of words, plus I’ve been making notes of things I’ll have to change/add during revisions. I kind of wish I’d dedicated a notebook to the series when I first started but . . . hindsight.

I didn’t get the prompt story written as early as the one from the week before, but at least I had it up in time. I was only a few words over the limit set by the prompt, and that was after cutting 500 words from it. And you know what? I think it was a better story for the cuts.

Man oh man I’m going to have to get my editing rear in gear if I’m going to get my book flood anthology done in time for Christmas and my two books edited by the end of the year. Especially if I’m doing NaNo this year. I hate to mess up my NaNo winning streak, but I didn’t like the changes they made to the website last year and I haven’t been back since so I don’t know what else they’ve done to it. Maybe I’ll do an editing version of NaNo on my own.

That being said, I did do a little research on my NaNo idea, but it’s slow going and there’s a heck of a lot more to be done.

Goals For This Week:
1. As many words on Blood Ties as I can manage – I want it done so I can do something else without feeling guilty about it.
2. New prompt story. I’m not too sure about this week’s prompt, but we’ll see what comes of it.
3. If I’m not going to edit my book flood stories then I will edit Elemental Spirit. No reason I can’t switch back and forth between the two.
4. Continue the research for my NaNo idea. Even if I don’t do it this year there’s always next year.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

Life On the Beach of Faery

Prompt: Write a 1,000 word story in the fairy tale genre. It’s about a penniless writer and should include expired food. Also, use the sentence ‘Life was better on the other side.’ Bonus prompt: Your character is shipwrecked.


A gentle rocking motion awakened George. He’d been having the most interesting dream. In it he’d won a free passage on a cruise ship into the land of Faery, all expenses paid. Of course he jumped at the chance. What writer wouldn’t? He was down to his last penny and had just been told again that his stories lacked originality. A trip into Faery would create enough fuel for stories to last a lifetime.

The rocking continued and with a frown he struggled to open his eyes, and immediately wished he hadn’t. It hadn’t been a dream at all. He was half in, half out of the water on some beach, clutching a white and red life preserver ring.

“In or out,” a squeaky voice told him.

George peered blearily around. “What?”

“Either go back into the water or come all the way out. You can’t just hang about like this.”

“Who—who are you?”

“I’m Tilly.” The owner of the voice stepped close enough for him to see her. She was tiny and green and naked, with gossamer wings fluttering behind her. “This is my section of beach and I don’t tolerate in-betweeners.”

“I apologize,” George told her. “I didn’t mean to trespass. I guess I’m shipwrecked.”

“Makes no difference,” Tilly said with a sniff. “You can’t stay here, go find your own section of beach.”

With a great effort of will, George managed to lever himself up out of the water. He stood, swaying slightly, and looked around.

The white sand beach stretched in both directions, sometimes wide sometimes narrow, sometimes strewn with black rock. It was bordered by the deep aqua ocean on one side, and a variety of trees on the other. Aware of Tilly’s glare as she stood, hands fisted on her hips, George stumbled away along the shore, leaving the ring behind.

“Humans!” she snorted derisively after him.

He passed a goblin, a troll, and two dwarves before he saw another human.

“Hey!” the man called, waving from the tree line. Dropping his armload of coconuts he started towards George.

George halted, too tired and discouraged to even meet him halfway. No amount of stories was worth what he was going through. All he wanted was a good cup of tea before he curled up for a nap.

“You must be new here,” the man said. He extended his hand. “I’m Tim.”

“George, George Beaumont.”

“It’s a real pleasure to meet you George,” Tim said as they shook hands. “C’mon up and join me for breakfast.”

With nothing better to do, George followed him into the trees to the camp set up there. They feasted on coconut meat washed down with coconut milk.

“How long have you been here?” George asked.

Tim shrugged. “A year, two maybe. I fell through a magic portal. How about you?”

“I won a cruise to Faery. We’d hardly passed through the barrier when the storm hit. I got swept overboard and ended up here. I’ve got a vague recollection of some mermaids . . .”

“You got lucky. I try and stay away from the merfolk – they’re as likely to drown you as to help you.”

George looked around, taking in the crude shelter, the canopy of trees sheltering them from the sun, the sound of water – a creek or a waterfall – coming from nearby.

“So this is it?” he asked. “Just find a place to hunker down and wait to be rescued?”

“Don’t hold your breath waiting for rescue,” Tim advised. “Getting into Faery is easy, getting out again? Not so much.”

George stared at him. “But the cruise…”

Tim shrugged. “Maybe if you’d stayed on the ship you might have had a chance, but they’re not going to search for a mere human.”

George had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach but he didn’t think Tim was lying.

“I’m sorry,” Tim said sincerely. “You can stay here with me if you like, at least we’ll have each other to talk to.”

“Thank you,” George said numbly. “I appreciate it.”

“Life was better on the other side,” Tim told him, “A lot better. I can tell you that.”

Over the next few weeks Tim showed George the ins and outs of life on the beach of Faery. George learned how to tell a ripe coconut from an unripe one, and how to shimmy up a tree to knock them down. He learned how to avoid the nymphs when he went to fetch water from the small waterfall nearby. And he spent a great deal of time searching their small section of beach for useful flotsam.

One morning George wandered down to the beach in time to see one of the dwarves from the next section trying to drag a crate off.

“Hey! Get away from that!” George shouted, running towards him. “That’s ours!”

Dropping the end of the crate, the dwarf waddled away as fast as he could, muttering obscenities. The crate was unmarked, but heavy. George carried it up to the campsite and pried off the lid. Tim came up to find him staring worshipfully at the contents.

“Must have been another storm at sea,” Tim said. “What’ve you got there?”

“Food,” George said. “Glorious food!”

Tim was a little less excited. “I don’t want to burst your bubble, but if this food came from Faery there’s probably a price attached, or a trick to it. The Faery love to play pranks.”

“Just look at this,” George said, holding out a can of peaches.

Taking the can from him, Tim looked at the label and then sent George a pitying glance. “Did you read this?”

George shook his head.

“This can expired more than a year ago,” Tim said gently.

“I don’t care,” George said mutinously. “I’m willing to take a chance for a taste of something that’s not coconut!”

“Sure, buddy, sure. Just calm down. Only one problem,” Tim told him.

George just looked at him.

“We don’t have a can opener.”

Astrology Part Eleven - Aquarius

Quick facts for Aquarius:
You were born between January 21 and February 19
Your sign is the water bearer
Your planet is Uranus
Your element is air
Your metal is lead
Your birthstone is the amethyst
Your flower is violet
Your color is light blue
Your body part is the calves
Your Tarot card is the Star

Strengths:
Progressive, original, independent, humanitarian

Weaknesses:
Runs from emotional expression, temperamental, uncompromising, aloof

Likes:
Fun with friends, helping others, fighting for causes, intellectual conversation, a good listener

Dislikes:
Limitations, broken promises, being lonely, dull or boring situations, people who disagree with them

Your best matches are those born under the sign of Libra or Gemini, and to a lesser degree those born to Aries and Sagittarius.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Those born under the sign of Aquarius often have many friends and acquaintances, and feel their best when surrounded by other people in a group or community. While they’re normally sympathetic and compassionate, they’re also rigid in their opinions and tend to exaggerate grievances. Being somewhat impatient and a little temperamental, they have difficulty expressing their appreciation which leads them to be often thought of as cold and uncaring.

Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, the planet governing innovation, technology, and unexpected events. It is the most humanitarian astrological sign, and is the sign of philanthropists. They’re deep thinkers, often scholarly, and are interested in making the world a better place by helping others. However, they can become so focused on their plans for helping others that they often neglect their family and friends, which gives them the reputation of being distant and unapproachable in relationships.

Although Aquarians are often shy and quiet, they can also be eccentric and energetic with more humor than most people realize. Often physically large and somewhat slow, they’re gentle rather than forceful, not inclined to insist or demand their own way. They hate to be criticized and can have a bit of a stubborn streak. Their most exasperating character trait is their inability to explain themselves, but the know what they want from the future and can visualize exactly what they want to be doing five or ten years from now.

Famous Aquarius include: Abraham Lincoln, Eddie Van Halen, Bob Marley, Lewis Carroll, James Dean, Alice Cooper, Sheryl Crow, Don Cherry, Neil Diamond, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Degeneres, and Johnny Winter.

Something in the Air Besides Pollen

I have a stack of five, count ‘em, FIVE unread Nora Roberts books sitting in my office. I have been reading the sixth one over the course of last week and I might even get it to stretch to the end of this week.

But wait, there’s more! Not only has my reading slowed down, my mindless gaming has too. I don’t dare tempt fate by saying I appear to be straightening out of my slump, but there’s something in the air besides the pollen.

Oddly enough, I don’t feel like I’m getting more accomplished, but I was early with my posts last week. And I mean way early, as in I wrote most of them on the weekend, including the prompt story. I was smart enough to pick a prompt I thought I could do something with, and then I proceeded to do so on Sunday.

I have to say, it made for a much more relaxing week. And because I wasn’t scrambling to get blog posts done I made some real progress on Blood Ties, including two difficult scenes featuring Howard. Is that a light at the end of the tunnel I see? I sure hope so!

However, as I said before, I don’t want to get my hopes up that I’m out of my slump. The new television season is starting with all its shiny distractions. For instance, I was timing my lunch to coincide with one of the channels rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We were just getting into the good part of the final season, right before Nathan Fillion shows up, and all of a sudden it starts showing Riverdale in its place. I was a little ticked . . . until I watched the first episode. Now I’m hooked.

And let’s not forget the new shows starting, like Raised by Wolves. This is a strange show with runaway androids and religious fanatics and other worlds airing on the Sy Fy channel via HBO. First I was rooting for one side, then the other, now I don’t like either side and I hope the kids are able to rise above the adults/androids.

The hubby and I are both looking forward to Skinwalker Ranch. It’s by the creators of the Curse of Oak Island – hopefully it won’t be as disappointing. There’s also Brave New World that looks pretty interesting. And have you seen the previews for Why Women Kill?

Of course we can’t forget old favourites that are coming back, like Star Trek: Discovery, due to start in October. And there’s also all of the NCISs, and don’t forget Stumptown.

Other than that, I won’t be watching much TV at all. LOL

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

Blood Ties – 2,157 words
Woot! Best week in a long time!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
466 (regular blog)+ 913 + 337 = 1,716 words total

Weekly Prompt – 629 words

Total Words – 4,502

New Prompt
Write a 1,000 word story in the fairy tale genre. It’s about a penniless writer and should include expired food. Also, use the sentence ‘Life was better on the other side.’ Bonus prompt: Your character is shipwrecked.

Goals From Last Week:
I already talked about getting my blog posts done and how less stressful it made the rest of the week. I think it also helped (mentally) that the weather was decent all week.

I’m really happy with the progress I made on Blood Ties last week. Sometimes I feel like I’m just writing filler so I can have something to show for my week, but not this time. This time the story moved forward and I’m actually looking forward to moving it some more.

Not only was I not late with my prompt story last week, I actually had the bulk of it written last Sunday. This gave me time to kind of spiff it up before Friday. The trick was, I picked a prompt I was sure I could work with – it really paid off!

I’m almost ready to call it quits on the whole inclusion of my editing thing, but once I’m done the draft of Blood Ties I’ll be letting it cool and while it’s doing that I’ll be editing An Elemental Spirit. So, the editing stays. If I can’t edit a flash story a week, how am I supposed to edit a whole novel?

Goals For This Week:
1. Keep picking up steam on Blood Ties. If I start back sliding now the book will never get done.
2. New prompt story. I’m applying the same method I had last week – I’m picking a prompt I’m sure I can work with and hopefully I’ll get the story done early.
3. Give the editing thing a good old college try. It’s gotta be done sooner or later, right?
4. Research. We’re into September now, only a few more weeks until NaNo. I’m going to have to get serious on my research if I’m going to have a prayer of reaching my 50,000 word goal.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

Help From Beyond

Prompt: One morning in a restaurant, an old widow and a priest summon a zombie using only a clay tablet.

Gertie eased down onto the cracked vinyl of one of the seats surrounding the table in the center of the empty restaurant. She was a little early, but she’d always subscribed to the belief that better too early than too late.

The whisper of noise from the back didn’t worry her, she’d been expecting it. Father Theo shuffled into the room, looking around nervously.

“Don’t worry, Father,” Gertie told him. “We’re quite alone. The man who owns this place owed me a favour. All he asks is that we clean up any mess.”

“You know I’m not a priest in the traditional sense,” he reminded her.

She shrugged. “But you’re still a priest, even if it is of the old ways.”

He took the seat opposite her. “I have to ask, why here?”

“Here is where Henry died.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “Very well. We should get started. Do you have the tablet?”

Wordlessly she pulled a clay tablet from the cloth bag she used as a purse, setting it on the table before him. It was a very special tablet, made from ash and graveyard dirt, blood and tears, and good red clay like the kind God made man out of.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, Father, very sure. If my arthritis wasn’t getting so bad I’d never consider it, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“You understand it will not be like it was?”

“I understand.”

“Very well. We shall begin.”

Father Theo pulled the clay tablet a little closer and rested his fingertips lightly on it. He chanted quietly while Gertie watched with rapt attention. Keeping one hand on the tablet, he reached into his robes with the other and pulled out a small glass vial.

At his nod, Gertie took it from him, unstoppered it, then handed it back. Without breaking the chant, he sprinkled the contents on the tablet. There was a flare, a puff of smoke, and the tablet turned to dust.

“It is done,” the priest said solemnly.

“Thank you, Father,” Gertie said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but he shook his head.

“Just remember, if things do not turn out as you wish you have only yourself to blame.” He left the way he’d come, through the back door.

Gertie sat for a moment longer, the impact of what she’d undertaken finally hitting her. It was the way it had to be, she told herself. It was the right thing to do.

Slowly she pushed herself up from the table. Time to go home and see what this morning’s work had wrought.

Everything seemed normal when she reached her tiny house in a row of similar tiny houses. She climbed the steps slowly, pausing a moment at the top to turn and search the quiet street. With a faint shrug, she went inside.

Gertie was almost disappointed when there was nothing unusual to greet her. But then there was a sound from the kitchen that had her head raising up. Gertie smiled.

She made her way to the kitchen and stood in the doorway. “There you are, Henry. A little worse for wear, aren’t you?”

Henry swayed slightly in place where he stood in the pristine kitchen. He was covered with graveyard dirt, his clothes wrinkled. There were rough patches on his bald head, but his hands appeared to be intact.

“Well, you’ll have to do as you are,” Gertie told him. “Now come along, I have a whole list of chores I need you to do.”

The zombie that used to be Henry just moaned, and turned to follow her.

Astrology Part Ten - Capricorn

Quick facts for Capricorn:
You were born between December 23 and January 20
Your sign is the seagoat
Your planet is Saturn
Your element is earth
Your metal is lead
Your birthstone is the garnet
Your flower is the carnation
Your color is deep blue, black, and brown
Your body part is the knees
Your Tarot card is the Devil

Strengths:
Responsible, disciplined, self-control, good managers

Weaknesses:
Know-it-all, unforgiving, condescending, pessimistic

Likes:
Family, tradition, music, understated status, quality craftsmanship

Dislikes:
Almost everything at some point

Your best matches are those born under the sign of Virgo and Taurus and to a lesser degree those born to Pisces and Scorpio.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Those born under the sign of Capricorn are all about hard work. They’re ambitious and determined as well as practical and realistic. Shrewd and to the point, they’re meticulous with details and produce the maximum effect with the minimum of effort and energy. They’re masters of self-control, able to learn from their mistakes, and are first-class people to have in charge.

Saturn’s influence makes Capricorn practical and responsible. They can be a tad materialistic bordering on greedy, but never carried away by it. They often have an economical streak, especially with words – they say what they have to say in the fewest words possible. This way with brevity can make them appear domineering, cold, distant, and unforgiving.

Capricorn represents time and responsibility. They set high standards for themselves and are usually clear headed and self-critical. They tend to be over serious, pessimistic and emotionally inhibited. They’re often serious by nature and prone to guilt feelings and focusing too much on the past. However, they’re also said to age backward, becoming increasingly youthful, optimistic, and playful as they mature.

Famous Capricorn include: Mozart, Schubert, Martin Luther King Jr., Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Hopkins, Elvis Presley, Al Capone, Howard Hughes, Robert W. Service, Isaac Asimov, A.A. Milne, Rod Steward, Orlando Bloom, Diane Keaton, and Dolly Parton.