Bronwyn Green

The Corner of Quirky & Kinky

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I’m not sure is this is other bloggers in general or the Wednesday Random bloggers, so I’m going with the Wednesday Random bloggers since they’re some of my very best friends. I’m not using descriptors like kind or caring or supportive or any of those things, because if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be my friends. 🙂

 

Jess – Angst Lover, Obsessor, Procrastinator, Cussy

Kayleigh – Sardonic, Sassy, Funny, Honest, Insightful

Kris – Fitness Fanatic, Determined, Driven, Loyal

Jessica – Quirky, Unexpected, Film Lover, Deadpan

Kellie – Superhero, Knitting Master, Artistic, Journaler

Jen – Brave, Whovian, Joelist, Hilarious, Opinionated

Paige – Strong, Sweet, Excitable, Doctor Stalker

Gwen – Southern, Cat Lady, Craftoholic, Witchy

These are my friends, and I love them.

 

Here are Gwen and Kellie’s posts. It’s another week of deadline hell for everyone else, and also new baby sleepiness for one of our members.

Today’s flash fiction was inspired by Damien Rice’s song, Rootless Tree. No one appreciates my love for depressing music except Jess Jarman, and sadly, she’s on deadline this month. As busy as everyone is with traveling, new babies, and deadline hell, it might just be me this month.

But here’s the song if you want to give it a listen. And hey…if you like depressing music, too, let me know your favorites. Jarman and I can’t be the only ones.

 

The lyrics are here.

And, on to the flash fiction.

I worked my fingers through the cold, clotted earth—the spring-wet dirt caking beneath my fingernails as dug, heedless of the fact that it was probably far too early to begin planting. But I had to do something. I couldn’t stand sitting in the house anymore. Mostly, I couldn’t stand looking at him anymore.

Shifting on my now damp and sore knees, I reached farther into the vegetable bed and loosened the dead stalks of last summer’s plants, yanking them from the ground to free up the space for new seeds. They should have been pulled in the fall, but I’d been distracted by other things.

I tried to ignore the thoughts that constantly floated above my head like low-hanging storm clouds and focus on this moment. Just the feel of the thick cold dankness against my skin and the scent of wet earth in my nostrils.

I’m not even sure why I was bothering getting the garden ready to plant. I wouldn’t be here when the plants ripened. At the rate we were going, I might not even be here when they sprouted.

The backdoor rattled in the frame then banged once as he came outside. I didn’t bother looking up from what I was doing. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been seeing the same expression for months. It looked a lot like hangdog guilt with a pinch of suppressed anger. Of course, that suppressed anger seemed to grow by the day. Or maybe it was just not quite as suppressed as it had been. Maybe that was the difference.

His ratty, red Chucks came into my line of vision followed by his knees and thighs in his worn jeans as he knelt across from me and and started pulling out last season’s dried stalks. Instead of removing them, he only managed to break them off at the base.

“You need to loosen the dirt around the roots so you can get the entire plant out. Busting them isn’t going to help.”

“Sorry.”

His apology barely registered. Nearly every sentence he spoke lately either started or ended with that word.

We dug in silence. I could almost pretend I was alone. Almost. But I heard all the things he didn’t say. I could practically feel the conversations he attempted to start but ultimately abandoned. It’s true, I hadn’t given him a lot of openings. Well, I had, but at the time, he’d been uninterested. Now, that I’d finally made my peace with everything, he suddenly wanted to try.

Leaning forward, I tried to loosen the dirt around the clump of roots he’d left in the ground, and my fingers tangled with his beneath the soil. He clung to them.

“Cora…”

I finally raised my eyes and looked at his face. “Let go, please.”

“We need to talk.”

I sighed. I wasn’t even sad anymore. Now, I just felt empty. “Correction: We did need to talk. It’s a little late for that, at this point.”

He held more tightly to my hands. “I can fix this.”

“There’s nothing to fix. Not with us. Not anymore, anyway.”

“Goddamn it.” The words burst from his lips as if he’s been able to keep them trapped any longer. “I fucked up. It won’t happen again. I made a mistake.”

“Mistakes tend not to last for three or for months at a time.”

“Fuck you. I can’t believe…after everything we’ve been through…just, fuck you.” His blue eyes hardened, then glossed over with a sheen of tears—almost as if he just now heard the words he’d spoken.

I pulled from his grasp, not caring that my ring stayed behind in the vegetable bed.

“I’m sorry. I love you, Cora. I do.”

“I wish it were enough.”

 

Not sure if any of my blogging cohorts are participating, but if they do, I’ll put their links in.

Yay! Norris is writing a story, too! Her post is here.

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So, this week’s blog post prompt was a kind of fill in the blank thing. Then, I thought about going with writer or knitter or sewer, or cross stitcher…but I was having trouble narrowing it down. So, I finally decided on…

You might be pathologically creative, if…

…if you call various family members to the bathroom door while you’re in the shower to take notes on your latest story ideas.

…if you regularly buy fabric or yarn that you have no clue what you’ll use it for, just that you’ll eventually use it. (Sometimes, the emphasis falls heavily on the “eventually”.)

…if you can identify DMC floss colors by number just by seeing the color or by color just by seeing the number.

…if you routinely save random bits and pieces of things because you know you’ll eventually be able to use them in an art project of some kind.

…if you have an overabundance of tote bags because each knitting/cross stitch project needs its own bag.

…if you have more knitting, sewing and cross stitch patterns than you can conceivably use in this lifetime even if you crafted 24 hours a day for the rest of your life. And never slept again. And lived to be 703.

…if you keep acquiring more patterns despite the previous realization.

…if you have a large bucket full of dried out clay because you know that if you can just find someone with a kiln who’s willing to rent it to you, you can reconstitute that dried out clay and make stuff.

…if you don’t know what kind of clay projects you want to make, but you also know that lack of knowledge won’t stop you if you can get your hands on that kiln.

…if you can accurately calculate the yardage needed (down to the quarter yard) for nearly any garment by eyeballing said garment, but basic math terrifies you.

…if you regularly make up cross stitch patterns because what you’re looking for does not exist.

…if you wake up in the middle of the night with a story idea and you can’t sleep until you write it down. (Bonus points if you can actually read the handwriting in the morning.)

…if your crafting boards on Pinterest are utterly out of control.

…if you keep adding to said crafting boards.

…if you have have more characters and stories than you know what to do with, and more keep showing up in your head.

…if you bring your knitting everywhere you go and knit at doctor’s appointments, meetings, lunches with friends, stoplights…

…if you’re still finding glitter from that time you made your niece a child size Swan Princess Barbie costume eleven years ago.

Sooooooooooo…I feel like I could pretty much keep this list going forever, but I’m going to stop it here, because I’ve got a chapter due tonight if I’m going to keep on schedule.

Most of the other bloggers won’t be joining me this week since everyone seems to be in deadline and day job hell. But, check out KellieGwen, and Kris‘ posts.

 

 

It’s time for another of our favorite things posts, and this month it’s favorite photos and art, so bear with me, there will probably be quite a few.

This is a print that that’s been hanging in my living room for years. It’s concept art for the movie, Labyrinth, (which, if you’ve been paying attention, is my favorite movie) and the concept art was done by one of my favorite artists, Brian Froud. It’s also signed by him and his son Toby who was the baby in the movie Labyrinth. Interesting fun fact, this concept art was created before Toby was ever even conceived, and the actual baby completely resembled the art baby.

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But, as much as I adore this print for its artistic value, I adore it even more because of a conversation I had with my son, Corwin, about it.

Once, when Corwin was about 4, he suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked up at the print, then looked at me and said, “Oh…so that’s what a human child looks like.”

I said, “Aren’t you a human child?”

He just smiled the creepiest smile I’ve ever seen on a kid and turned back to what he was doing and didn’t say anything else.

Here’s another favorite Froud piece.

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So, let’s see…what other art do I like? I’m a big fan of Arthur Rackham’s fairy tale illustrations. This is from The Goose Girl which is one of my favorite fairy tales.

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I’m also fond of Arthurian art. (I’m sure everyone is surprised.) This first picture has a special place in my heart because a million years ago, when Alex Kourvo and I were in college, she stole a copy (it was on an ad for something) for me from her university’s English department’s bulletin board because she knew I’d love it. And of course, she was right. I framed it, and it hangs in my office.

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Interestingly enough, this print of The Lady of Shalott, hangs in my dining room and it was given to me by Alex’s younger sister several years later. My people…they know me.

 

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What kind of art do you like? Got any faves? Only one of my blogging buddies will be joining me this week – there are lots of deadlines and a possible childbirth, so… here’s Kris’ post.

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“So that’s it? I just write down all the stuff I want to get rid of and throw the list in the fire?”

The woman standing on the other side of the flames from me nodded. “That’s it.”

I watched her for a second longer, discomfort swirling in my gut. The whole thing sounded like some sort of crunchy granola bullshit—something you’d find in one of those new age, hippie enrichment classes taught at that ridiculous crystal shop that had opened up in the dying strip mall on the edge of town.

But whatever. I’d play her little negativity releasing game. Maybe it would get me laid. She was gorgeous, and she had that free spirit vibe that screamed sex. The flickering light of the fire glinted off her long, blue-black hair and shimmered in her huge brown eyes. Granted, I usually preferred blonde and tan with big tits…but she’d do. Pussy was pussy.

“Use this.” She glided around the fire and handed me some kind of rolled up piece of parchment that looked like a scroll you’d find with a Harry Potter costume. Courtesy of the ridiculous crystal store, I was sure.

I sat on a log in front of the fire and unrolled the paper. “Um…do you have—?” Before I could finish my question, she handed me an ornate looking fountain pen. Removing the cap, I put the nib to the paper as I thought about the shit in my life I wanted to ditch.

Bullshit job

Grades from the last three semesters

Clingy girlfriend

The syphilis I picked up from clingy girlfriend’s BFF

Huge credit card balances

Who thought it was a good idea to give college students credit cards, anyway!?

The woman meandered in a counterclockwise circle around the fire as the waves lapped at the shore. “Remember to dig deep,” she said. “Don’t just focus on the external issues in your life. Think about the things you’d like to change about yourself.”

Tapping the pen against my lips, I stared into the dancing flames. What internal things did I want to change about myself? Nothing, really. Sure, I had exes accuse me of being selfish and heartless, but knowing you deserve the best and expecting people to understand that’s the way you were meant to be treated didn’t necessarily make me a bad person. It just meant that I just wanted what I had coming to me.

But, I reasoned, if I tossed a few of those so-called negative traits out there, it might up my chances of fucking her. Chicks dug it when you seemed all wounded and broken. There was nothing they liked better than taking care of people. I glanced up at her, feeling her gaze on me, watching her long black maxi dress swirl around her ankles. Why the fuck did women wear those anyway? They were ugly as fuck, but easy access, I supposed.

I quickly wrote: selfishness, jealousy, and loneliness. That should tug her heartstrings hard enough to open her legs.

“Okay,” I said. “All finished. Now what?”

She smiled. “Now, you sign your full name.”

I scrawled, Jason Charles Chambers then handed her pen back to her.

“Go ahead and toss it in the fire and say, ‘I release all negativity from my life.’”

I feel like a douche, but I repeated the phrase and tossed the scroll into the crackling flames. The edges curled and blackened and heat licked my feet and ankles. Had I stepped too close? I glanced down, horrified to see that my shoes were both on fire.

I tried to kick sand over them to douse the flames, but they crept up my legs searing my skin. “Get me some water!” I screamed.

The woman jut stood there and watched, that same smile curving her lips.

“Did you hear me, you stupid bitch? Get me some fucking water!”

She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare.

Desperate, I dropped to the ground and tried to smother the flames by rolling in the sand, but by now, my shorts had caught, and my legs stopped working as fire engulfed my chest. It was getting harder to breathe and the pain was unbearable. Words had abandoned me and all I had left were screams.

She took a step toward me but made no move to help. “I thought this might be the result.” She shrugged. “By banishing all negativity from your life, you had nothing left. But, I guess that’s what happens when you’re a selfish dickbag.”

 

Click the names to check out the other bloggers’ takes on this photo.

Kris

Kellie

Last week, I was in the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for our annual family vacation which involves my fam, my dad and stepmom, one of my brothers and his family and my two stepbrothers and their families.

It also involved zero wifi and cell coverage that was so bad that I had to drive over 30 miles to make a phone call. #PureMichigan

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the highlights of the trip.

We stayed at a little resort on on South Manistique Lake which is in the middle of nowhere. There were a ton of ducks on the lake and several mama ducks with their broods. They were super friendly and came right up on shore. It was a pretty quiet lake – very peaceful and relaxing. The sunsets were all gorgeous.

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One of the highlights of the trip was taking the Pictured Rocks sunset cruise. Pictured Rocks is a stretch of protected Lake Superior shoreline. There are amazing sandstone cliffs and caves and they’re colored by the various minerals and tannins that seep through the rock like manganese, copper, iron and calcium.

If you’re new to this blog, I love rocks. A lot. If you’re not new to this blog, you know this and are probably rolling your eyes. I loved every second of this cruise. The lake was as calm as I’ve ever seen it, and the scenery was stunning. If you’re ever in the U.P., do yourself a favor and take this boat ride (Sit on the right side of the boat for the best pictures.) I have probably hundreds of pictures from this ride, but don’t worry. I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll just post a few.

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We also visited the Shipwreck Museum and the beach at Whitefish Point (The Edmund Fitzgerald’s wreck site is nearby at a depth of about 530 feet.) The museum now houses the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald after a new one was installed on the ship, engraved with the names of the 29 sailors lost.

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And one of my favorite moments of vacation was PETTING A BEAR CUB!!! Oswald Bear Ranch is a bear sanctuary. Orphaned cubs are often brought to Oswald’s where they can live out their lives in peace and the people who run the sanctuary fund it by allowing people to come in and observe the bears and for an additional (but totally worth it) fee, pet a bear cub. But these are a couple bears I was really fond of. The little guy who thinks that sign is bullshit is named Brooks and he’s the cub we got to pet. And the other bear is named Charlie. But I call him Zen Bear. He’s so chill.

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I got a bunch of reading done on vacation and quite a bit of knitting. Oh, and my niece did my hair for me so I could be a faery like her. 🙂

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But, eventually, we had to return to the Lower Peninsula…and reality. Which translates as I need to clean my house and finish writing a couple books and get a pile of editing done. I suppose I should get to it.

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So…I admit, while I might be a rule breaker about some things, there are a bunch of writing rules I try not to break–mostly because I don’t enjoy seeing them in other people’s writing, so I don’t want it in my own.

1.) Info dumps. Giant piles of background story have no place in my books – not in the beginning or anywhere else. I don’t believe the reader needs to have all the background info about characters, the world they live in and their past trauma or emotional baggage. It’s boring and it takes away from the characterization that can be revealed by the plot. Is it okay that the reader know something important about the character on the first page? Absolutely. Does the reader need to know everything that happened in this character’s life prior to the beginning of the story? Nope.

2.) Using conversation between characters that already know the information to convey said information to readers.

Example:

“As you know, Albert, if we don’t get the virus sample to Dr. HotNTots, the cells will die, and we’ll have no way to stop The Precious Moments Apocalypse.”

“You’re so right, Dr. Milquetoast. And without the samples we’ll all be shambling about on oversized feet looking like creepy, soulless children, with hydrocephalus and a penchant for pastels.”

I prefer to find some other method of conveying the necessary info to readers.

(On a personal note, I just googled Precious Moments Zombies in hopes that there was something out there I could use for an image, and LOOK WHAT I FOUND! Someone else hates Precious Moments as much as I do!)

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(Seriously…I love whoever made this.)

3.) Conflict – there must be conflict, and it absolutely needs to matter. Without conflict, there’s no story. As the imminently wise Alex Kourvo once told me, “It doesn’t matter how much you love your characters, you need to grab them by the back of the heads and shove their faces into the meat grinder.”

It doesn’t matter how delightful the banter, how hot the sex, how amazing the world building, without conflict, there is no story. Conflict is your friend – internal and external conflict. Stories really should have both.

4.) Chapter hooks. I always try to end my chapters with a hook. I want the reader to have to turn the next page even if it’s just to catch a little peek of what happens next.

Sometimes, the last line of a chapter can be something completely innocuous, like this line of dialogue. “You forgot your coffee.” See completely innocuous, but it ends up being a page turner because of what’s led up to that line.

5.) Head. Hopping. Makes. Me. Nuts. I try to stick to one point of view per chapter for books with shorter chapters or one point of view per scene with longer chapters. I also stay in the heads of the main characters. No one needs to know what my character’s mother, sister, boss, dry cleaner, dentist, cab driver, BFF, barista, teacher, etc is thinking – even if it would reveal something interesting about your main characters. There are other ways of conveying that information to the readers. Besides, I’m sure the dentist’s thoughts are all pure evil, anyway.

I’m sure there are more…but this is what I’ve got right now. Anyway, check out the other Wednesday Random Bloggers and see which rules they’re following and which they’re breaking.

Jessica

Gwen

Kellie

 

 

Today, it’s another Wordless Wednesday post for the Wednesday Random bloggers. I’m going to cheat and use a few words because…It’s my blog. I do what I want.  Also, I feel like some photos need a little explanation.

I do the vast majority of my reading on my tablet. It’s backlit, supremely portable, and I can carry thousands of books with me at any given time. But, I still love print books, and I always will. I have several collections I thought I’d share today.

I think I’ve probably mentioned that I collect fairy tales, Arthurian literature and Brian Froud art books.  This is the book shelf where my fairy tales and Froud books live. And also my comfy reading chair that Morrighan is systematically destroying.

(My house is super cluttered. It’s just the way of things here.)

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One summer, I was lucky enough to meet Brian and Wendy Froud, and I got my whole (at the time) collection signed. Also…I might have frightened them a little bit with my collection, but…worth it. He also did a little doodle in every book he signed!

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This is the bookcase that holds the Arthurian collection. It was my husband’s grandfather’s who was a lawyer in the late 1800s. There used to be another shelf, but it got destroyed when this beauty got tossed in his family’s attic. We rescued it and it lives with us now. As you can see by all the books shoved in front, I’m rapidly running out of space. There are copies of the complete works of Shakespeare and Chaucer in here. I think I may need to find them new homes. 

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This is another cluttered bookshelf in my office.

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These are copies of anthologies that I’m in and/or my own print copies. They’re usually on another shelf in my office, but I thought I’d take unbury them and take a nice picture of them. IMG_6060

And I can’t not share my young adult novel.

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And you’ll notice that one of these books isn’t mine, but it’s a story I love and part of the series I’m doing with Jess Jarman.

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We’re not even going to talk about the other bookshelf in my office or any of the ones upstairs. This is plenty.

Now…what’s on your shelves? Check out what’s on the other bloggers’ shelves by clicking on their names.

Jess

Jessica

Kayleigh

Gwen

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This month, Jess chose “Love at First Sight” by Kylie Minogue for the song inspired flash fiction piece. As usual, I hadn’t heard it, but this is what I came up with.  Also, I’ll be gone this week for a family vacation to the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We’re staying at a new place, and I have no idea if there will be any kind of wifi or even cell coverage, so responding to comments may have to wait until I get back. 🙂

 

I looked at the the girl in the passenger seat of my car, and she stared back at me, trembling with fear, her green eyes wide and wary.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I know you’re a nervous, but I promise you’ll grow to like it there. I mean, the house isn’t much,” I hurried to add. “But it’s big enough. And you’ll have your own space.”

She turned away from me and stared out the window, crying without making much sound at all.

“Look,” I tried to reason with her. “It’s a lot better than where you have been staying. And at least here,  you’ll have plenty of food.”

She didn’t respond, but to be honest, I didn’t really expect her to.

I sighed, rounding the corner. “I’m not going to lie. I feel a little guilty about taking you away from your family–your brothers and sisters. But this really is for the best.”

She shifted uncomfortably in the seat. I placed my hand on her back in an effort to calm her, but her muscles tensed beneath my palm.  It was probably too soon to expect that she might find comfort with me. Hopefully, someday she would.

“I couldn’t just leave you there, you know. I had to have you. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.”

My profession of love did nothing.  We pulled into the driveway, and I shut off the engine. She slowly turned her head to look at me. Terror had shrunken her pupils to pinpoints.

“Look, I should warn you. My husband is probably going to be a little upset when he sees you.”

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

“But,” I continued, “he’ll come around.” I smiled grimly. “He always does.”

Getting out the car, I scooted around to the passenger side, opened her door and quickly scooped her into my arms. I was afraid she might try to run if I didn’t. She struggled far more than I anticipated she would, to given her relatively docile behavior in the car. I hoped the neighbors wouldn’t notice. I’d already had more Neighborhood Association complaints lodged against me than I cared for.

Keeping a tight hold on her struggling body, I twisted the door handle, grateful that Michael hadn’t locked it, and scooted inside the house, pushing the door shut behind me.

Heading for the living room, I stopped dead when I caught sight of Michael, his jaw hinging open for a moment.

“For fuck’s sake, Simon! Did you seriously bring home another cat!?”

 

Click the names below to see the other Wednesday Random bloggers’ take on this song.

Jess

Kayleigh

Gwen

 

This week, the Wednesday Random Bloggers are blogging about their perfect weekend.

My perfect weekend is quiet.

Really quiet.

I like to wake up at about 8 on Saturday.  That’s the perfect time because no one else in this house will be up for hours. (Bonus if it’s raining and I can have the windows open.) Usually, I have several lovely cups of coffee or tea or both while I sort through email, fart around on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter for a bit and work on upcoming blog posts.

After that it’s usually a nice leisurely shower and if it’s nice, maybe a little reading in the backyard swing or some writing. Lately, it’s been writing since there a lot of projects to finish.

Eventually, the fam gets up, we all hang out a bit then wander off to do our own thing until suppertime. And, since this is my perfect weekend, I’m not cooking. We either go out to eat or order in Greek food. Let’s go with Greek food. It’s my favorite.

After supper, there’s the usual chatting with friends online (thank you, iMessage), possibly a movie and more writing.

Rinse and repeat the next day. If I’m feeling especially productive, I might paint my nails and go for a walk if the weather is nice.

I have a feeling the other bloggers probably have way more exciting weekends. Click their names to find out.

Jessica

Kellie

Gwen