Picture Short Story

Goal: Take a picture and tell the story behind it. (And No, not the actual story. That I don't know.)

Today's picture and story.

THE RING OF FIRE

Aree crept closer to the men gathered in the woods. She knew their secrets, their thoughts, their desires--everything anyone would ever want to know about Micia, Arwin, and Sirus.

"The ring is nearly complete," Arwin said, as he clasped arms with his companions.

Micia stood two hands taller than the other men, and held the most power. His head fell forward, in an almost reverent bow. Had Aree not known better, she would have sworn his prayer went to the God of Death. But his thoughts gave him away.

Dear God of Plenty, the turmoil I have fallen into is great. I need thy guidance to show me the way out. How do I defeat these two men without destroying their good families?

Love swelled in Aree's heart as she listened to her brother cry out for help. He had loved Arwin and Sirus like brothers, and they had betrayed the village, and all who loved them. If the sixth ring of fire completed its rotation, the waters of Favon would dry up and their village would be forced to move.

Micia, I am here, Aree whispered in his mind. I have the words.

Without a movement, Micia responded, send them to me.

Waters of life, bind fires of death.

Thank you, Aree.

Aree repeated the words in her mind, as Micia said them in his. Just as the last ring should have reached completion, a hand of water rose from the great lake and swiped it into oblivion.

Arwin cried out in anguish. He had failed. Aree knew that this would cost him his life. The pact he had made with Queen Lavina demanded the destruction of the village of Valuor, or of Arwin.

It is done. Our role is finished. We must leave them. Queen Lavina will poison their blood through her magic. We can not stay nearby, Aree told her brother. We must keep them here.

Micia prayed again, Dear God of Plenty, keep my fallen friends so they will not harm others, and have mercy on their souls.

I won a contest!

Okay, I have a site that I love! Book, Boys, Buzz...
They had contest all week, and I won Saturday's. :)
I'm excited to start reading these books, and I'll write a review.

SHRINK TO FIT is by Dona Sarkar-Mishra

PERFECT CHEMISTRY is by Simone Elkeles








Thanks ladies at Books, Boys, and Buzz... for making Valentine's more fun!

Video Fun

Buy a Book!

Snow flutters in the breeze trying to decide if it wants to stick to anything. Chill seeps in through the windows.
I’m ready for Spring!
But I give the cold one point of good. I have no desire to go outside and so I write.
I’m always trying to look for silver linings to dark clouds, and so even with losing over six chapters of edits Sunday, I’ve found one. The new edits are better, and I found a few things I’d missed before.
Now, of course, I will email myself every night, regardless of how tired I am. Lesson learned.
I’ve also enjoyed other great writing blogs and have learned much there. The publishing world is in turmoil, go figure, along with the rest of the world, but I do not despair. I have faith in books. I love books and buy them as often as I can, just ask my husband.  And I know many out there how share my love of the written word.
So do something good today. Go buy a book. Paper or ebook. Just spread the love that way.

I Need HELP!

Okay, every night I email myself my revisions of my MS. Except last night. I accidentally saved an earlier copy over my latest one from last night today. Can I undo it?
I've lost 6 chapters of edits from yesterday.
Please, someone tell me I can fix this! And how!

Art work by Michael Broadway

My friend Michael not only writes beautifully, he's a brilliant artist!

In my novel, LEGEND OF THE PROTECTORS, wolves play a large roll, hence the beautiful wolf painting. :)

Here is the link to Michael Broadway's art gallery. Please, go visit it.

http://www.wildheartgallery.net/

Also go here and see his artwork as stamps.

God Bless Our Military, and Our Freedom

This is an email I received, and it says it all. God bless the men and women who fight for all our freedoms!

The average age of the military man is 19 years.
He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who,
under normal circumstances is considered by
society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind
the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old
enough to die for his country. He never really
cared much for work and he would rather wax
his own car than wash his father's, but he has
never collected unemployment either.
He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport
activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a
steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when
he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he
was at home because he is working or fighting
from before dawn to well after dusk. He has
trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him,
but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and
reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite
to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop,
or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation,
but he is not without spirit or individual dignity.
He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never
to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend
his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you
are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition
with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons
and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.
He has wept in public and in private, for friends
who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.

He feels every note of the National Anthem
vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away ' those around him who haven't bothered to stand,
remove their hat, or even stop talking.

In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from
home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy.
He is the American Fighting Man that has
kept this country free for over 200 years.
He has asked nothing in return, except
our friendship and understanding.
Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have women over there in
danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. . .

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of
loved ones in their helmets.

An 8th grade education

This is an email from a friend on mine. How many of us would pass the 8th grade? And what has happened to the education system?

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time,1 hou r 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this is??]
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals& nbsp;
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, f ain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! NO, I don't have the answers! :o)

Confidence

I love the blog The Alchemy of Writing and read it often.
Today the post was: Confidence: A Scam?

I wanted to share just a small part of what Ink said.

"Studies have shown that people suffering mild depression actually see themselves more accurately than those who aren't (though they also rate others higher than they should). It's interesting, and not a little disturbing: most of us are deluding ourselves, at least a little. But to me it's also confirming. Human endeavor is about moving forward, about what might be rather than simply what is. Human advancement is often based on a sort of blind faith, even if only in ourselves, in what we migth do or become. It's a matter of self-belief."

I couldn't agree more. This is the comment I left:

Beautifully written.

I have to say, that when I started writing, I loved my story. I thought it was good. A friend read it and cut out chapter upon chapter of throat-clearing drivel. Instead of taking offense, I listened to what she had to say. I learned from the knowledge she had gained from others.

In writing, as with life, if you can't learn and grow watching others, taking advice, you are destined to the mistakes others have faced.

I love to learn. That is a part of writing. It is also a part of where my confidence comes in. Am I any better than the other writers of Nathan's blog, who knows? Did I say that I thought I was? Yep. :)

And I believe for the same reasons you expressed so eloquently here. Because of faith and belief.
My husband often tells me that I don't live in reality. That my head is stuck in the clouds. I understand that bad things happen. I just chose to not focus on them. At least not for long. If belief in myself means living in the clouds, then I don't mind.

Come join me, the air is clean on fluffy Cloud 9.
:)

Here's hoping some dreams don't come true...

Excerpt from my novel LEGEND OF THE PROTECTORS.

My lungs tightened as I wheezed. Snarls echoed all around me. I pushed myself to keep running. The growls were closing in and my legs protested against moving any more. Still, I ran.
Out of nowhere, something swooped over my head, bee-lining to the animals behind me. As fast as possible, I scaled a tree. Didn’t even care if I ever got down again. Once settled, I notice wolves had chased me. Lots of them. At least twenty. What the hell? Wolves? In Oklahoma?
On another pass, I realized the swooshing creature that had saved my butt was a bald eagle. And a massive one at that. I’d never seen anything so majestic. So beautiful. It landed on the branch next to me. And when it turned into Officer Andrew, I fell off the branch backward.


And yeah, it's a dream. And no, not opening the book. :)