Oh Nuts

  The other day at my job, a coworker taped a note to the office door with " 3 boxes of pink lemonade, had wrong attachment to the hose" written on it. I don't know if anyone figured out what it was supposed to mean, but I thought it sounded like a funny short story prompt. Since I sporadically poke around at the AI stuff, I decided to put it through ChatGPT to write a story and what I was given is below. Photo by Jarritos Mexican Soda on Unsplash Once upon a summer afternoon in a small town, a cheerful lemonade stand was set up by Lily and her little brother Sam. They had three large boxes of pink lemonade ready to quench the thirst of their neighborhood. The stand was brightly decorated, and the lemonade was chilled and ready for customers. However, an unexpected hiccup occurred: the hose meant to dispense the lemonade had been accidentally attached to the wrong boxes. Instead of connecting to the lemonade boxes, it was attached to a couple of old water tanks that had ...

As of the beginning of last week, I am now participating in Camp NaNoWriMo next month. Why? Because I can and I have an idea that I want to try out. And because every book needs a cover that attracts attention I decided to go into Canva the other night and play around with some pictures and title ideas that I have for the novel that I plan on writing. If you haven't heard me talk about Camp NaNo before, I will briefly explain what it is. It is like the regular NaNoWriMo that happens during the month of November. But with Camp NaNo, more often then not, it happens during the months of April and July. With the new website that NaNo released you can join in different groups, instead of staying in one 'cabin.' I find that having smaller groups like this makes it easier to get to know some of your fellow writers a little bit better.  Anyhow, here are some covers that I made to go with the story idea that I have and am planning on doing for Camp NaNo next month. Since I haven...

I want to start off by saying that I am not the best at being organized. Whether it’s with blogging, writing a story, or in life. Sometimes I can be organized, but that doesn’t happen very often. taken by me in 2017 Normally when I blog, I am sitting at one end of my dining room table since I don’t have my own desk space. But over the holidays my laptop and everything that normally sits on the table has been in my backpack since two of my siblings came home for several weeks and then we had two parties at our house. So I have been a little bit more organized than I normally am. Though when it’s not the holidays and we aren’t hosting what feels like a million events at our house, my laptop is out on the table. And I typically have a notebook or two, some pens and other items, like mail and my car keys sitting next to my laptop. Of course, I do try to keep things organized when I am camped out at the table for a while either writing a novel/story or working on a blog pos...

And just like that, it has been a week since NaNoWriMo has ended! This year I ended the month with 50, 168 words, but my story is far from over. Today was my region's TGIO party and the first time that I was able to make it. And I had a nice time with my  fellow writers As an ice breaker to get to know other people from the region, one of the ML's gave each person a certificate with their username on it and then we had to talk with someone that we hadn't met/talked with before and share a goal that we reach or something that wasn't related to our word count. Once we had talked with someone about the goals or whatever it was that we did then we had to sign each other's certificate and hand them back to the ML (Municipal Liason) who was handing them out. Once we finished with the ice breaker we did lunch and then the ML's started handing out the certificates back to everyone. As we got the certificates we got to pick from pencils, red pens or purple pens an...

Every great once in a while a fun name/book title generator will show up on my Facebook feed from one of the writing groups I am in. Sometimes the names that I get from these aren't the greatest. But I actually liked the name that I got from this Fantasy book title generator and it is something that I would want to read if it was a real book. My generated Fantasy Book Title is "War of Evil Destiny." Not mine. I found it on Facebook.

Normally when I share anything that I have written in one of my stories, I usually try to keep it as current. But this is something that I o riginally wrote back at the beginning of March 2012. And it is from the Fairy Tale Novels Fan Forum that I was a part of for a long time and I only found this again because I decided to log on again and poke around. Title: All The World's A Zoo Characters: Freddy and Caleb the Unicorns, Edgar the llama, Frank the Alligator, Phillip the Frog, Jane the Tiger and Ned the Labrador Synopsis: After the arrival of Jane and Phillip, some of the animals at Cair Paravel are feeling a bit left out and soon things start getting a bit out of hand with the animals and only they can fix it *not long after Jane and Phillip show up* Frank: I don't think how a frog and I tiger are special they aren't fun to be with anyhow Caleb:*does a horsey sigh* I wish Sulwen would stop forgetting about me Freddy:*snorts* ...

A while back I discovered the editing site Canva and I have been dabbling in it on and off since then. Since I don't have a Pro account and just use the free version, I am a little limited in what I can do with it. But I still enjoy using it and I have been able to create quite a few things for Instagram as well as covers for the novels that I write during NaNo. And since I really haven't given you much of an update on how I am doing with NaNo I decided to share a few covers that I made with Canva. The cover with the mountains on it includes the original title for my novel and the other two covers include the current title which fits better.

This is another result of another picture prompt that I used. While this isn't the picture that was used as the prompt, I like what I wrote from it. Photo by  Markus Spiske  on  Unsplash As they neared the end of the race, the entire group of cyclists suddenly became tired. Unsure of what was happening to them they all stopped riding and got off their bikes. Before they could properly stand them up all the cyclists passed out on the ground where they had stopped, with their bikes laying on their feet. The people around them watching and directing the traffic seemed unfazed by what was happening with the cyclists. They continued with what they had been doing as if nothing had happened. A short time later the cyclists woke up and continued the race to the finish line. Shortly after the group had ridden away, another group of cyclists in the race came through the area and were affected by the mysterious drowsiness. These cyclists also dismounted and fell to the grou...

This is another Picture Prompt that the writing support group I am in did the other week and it made me think of the movie The Greatest Showman  that came out last year, and it is partially what inspired me to write this prompt. I included the picture we used as the prompt at the bottom of the post. Photo by  Becky Phan  on  Unsplash Walking along the dusty road the trio of weary travelers came across a small but strange sign placed in the ground. On the sign it said Magic Circle – Clothing Optional Area. ¼ Mile. Placed in between the words “Magic Circle” and “Clothing Optional Area” was a drawing of what looked like clothing laid out on the ground beside a cactus, the sun, and a mountain. A red arrow pointed them in the direction that they needed to head in. Curious as to what a Magic Circle with an optional clothing area was, the trio set off in the direction that the arrow pointed. After walking the quarter of a mile the trio came to a large red and whi...

This is from the same writing group video chat that I was a part of the other week. For this picture prompt, I have the actual picture that we used, though I don't know where it originally comes from. And the paragraph and a quarter that I wrote for this prompt is something that I liked and might possibly use for something in the future. But I could change my mind by then, I don't know. Anyhow, I wanted to share it with you all, like I did with the last two paragraphs that I wrote. Unknown The old house stood alone surrounded by dying trees and browning grass. No one had lived in it since the owner, a woman by the name of Miss Whitman had passed away several years before. Since she had no living relatives that people could find the house stood alone and forgotten. Until one day when a strange young woman appeared at the office of the only lawyer in town. Placing a small stack of papers on the surprised man’s desk, the young woman informed the lawyer that she was Miss Whi...

I don't remember if I mentioned this in my last post or not, but in a support group I am in for NaNoWriMo has been doing video chat groups and the other night we had another one where we did word sprints and talked in. And the first sprint that we did was a picture prompt. In the picture was a metal table with two chairs and what looked like an ashtray and a couple drink coasters on it. When it comes to writing prompts and sprints like this I tend to start writing without thinking about specific characters. Which is how I came up with this paragraph. Photo by  Henry & Co.  on  Unsplash "Sitting on the unoccupied table the ashtray felt the ambiance of the sidewalk as people strolled past minding their own business. It had made friends with the drink coasters that rested on the table with it. Emblazoned with the logo of a neighboring restaurant the coasters didn’t make a sound when patrons of the restaurant used them for their drinks. When no one was sitting at...

Typically I am not someone who readily shares stories that I have written with other people. This is mostly because I don't like the way that it turns out so I don't want to let other people read it because of that.  But today I have decided to share a short paragraph that I wrote last night while I was taking part in a video chat with other writers. The prompt for this was a picture of a loaf of bread (different than the one pictured here) and in the background was a banana or two. And since the story idea that I have for this year's NaNoWriMo is based on the Greek gods and mythology I decided to use one of the characters that I am slowly creating for this idea. So this is what would happen if the Greek god Zeus was a high school football player in the kitchen and trying to make banana bread for the first time. Photo by  Taylor Kiser  on  Unsplash "Standing in the kitchen Zeus looked at the piece of paper in his hand. Having never baked anything before in ...

Here is the last few days of NaNoWriMo's Prep Time Instagram challenge!!! Day 26: Paradox I was a little lazy on this one and just found a quote with a paradox in it. Day 27: Where/When in the World Some of the characters in my story for NaNo are from Greece. Day 28: Fresh Air Again I cheated a little on this one because this is a picture that I took back  on my family's vacation last month. Day 29: Suddenly... For this one, I was having a hard time coming up with something until I found this song called "Suddenly" on YouTube the other night. And the section of lyrics that I took a picture  of goes with the last day's prompt. Day 30: Time To Write While @nanowrimo doesn't officially start for another month I will be taking this time  to write an outline and organize my thoughts for the story that I want to write.

Here is the next round of pictures for NaNoWriMo's Prep Time Instagram Challenge.  Day 15: Plot Twist  Since anything can become a plot twist, these kids number and shape cards make a great plot twist by organizing them into a pile and then pulling one or more off the top and incorporating the number(s) and object(s) into the scene that you are writing. Day 16: Novelist Music  These are two of my writing playlists and there is a variety of music on both of these as well as my other playlists so that I don't get tired of listening to the same songs. Day 17: Main Character  Since I am still in the early stages of planning out my novel for @nanowrimo this is what I currently imagine my main character to look like. Day 18: Cast Your Villain In my head, the villain for the idea I am doing is more of a mean girl rather than a villain.  But that could change.   Day 19: Cast a Supporting Character A supporting characte...

I am slowly catching up with the next round of pictures for NaNoWrimo's Prep Time Instagram challenge. You can follow my writing Instagram account at @megan_writes3294. Day 9: Oops! - For this, I just used the Shamrock plant that is in my house because this is something that it does throughout the year. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Day 10: Outline/Novel sketch - Since I am bad at planning/outlining my novels here is a picture of the word doc that I started to collect reference for my story. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Day 11: Fur Baby - Because Sully is the only pet in the house he gets to be featured again! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Day 12: New nanowrimo.org profile screenshot - Although this is a screenshot I am counting it. I was also at a writing event that my home region for NaNo was hosting.  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Day 13: Time Piece - Since I wasn't entirely sure what to do for this prompt. Here is a picture of a clock that I found on Google. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Day 14: Cover Art - I am still in the early planning for my NaNo story so t...

It's that time of year again where I slowly start talking about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again. While I might not reach the target word goal of 50,00 words each year I still enjoy doing it. Because it challenges me to write something that I don't think is that great. And while I am a little behind in sharing the pictures to my writing Instagram, I decided to share the pictures from the first eight days that I did for NaNoWriMo's Instagram challenge. NaNoWriMo.org Day 1: Past/Future - When I first read this prompt I wasn't sure what to do for it. But then I decided to use the book I was reading at that moment. Especially because "The Alice Network" goes between two different time periods for two fo the characters. So it is the past for one person and the future for another. Day 2: Shelfie - This one was easy to do since there are numerous bookshelves in the house. But the one pictured is the one in my room, which I am slowly...

Now you are probably scratching your heads and wondering what I mean by that very random title that I used for this post. Well, if you have seen some of my posts, then you know that I have participated in what is called National Novel Writing Month , or NaNoWriMo for short, for a while in November. Since July 2011, the same people who put on NaNoWriMo during November started what is called Camp NaNoWriMo . The first two years that they did Camp NaNo they had them back to back in July and August of 2011 and 2012. Now they do it in April and July so that people can participate in both if they want while still having time to plan everything. Since Camp NaNo started I have been participating on and off since April 2013 and hadn't ever won any of them. Now back in November, I mentioned that I won the regular NaNoWriMo and I am happy to announce that I have won the July 2019 Camp NaNo. While the story that I have been working on for the past month isn't finished yet, and I migh...

The day I first started blogging was November 8, 2009. Yes, that long ago, though it doesn't feel like it some times. My first blog, which has since been closed and deleted, was called "Shieldmaiden of God." Some of what I have shared here has been similar to what I had written there. taken by me in Panera Bread Part of the reason why I got into blogging was that my sister and a long time family friend both had blogs at the time and I enjoyed reading what they wrote. In the 4 years that I had my first blog, I had fun learning about creating a blog as well as finding a niche of sorts to write it. I believe credit for the name of my first blog goes to my older sister, but I don't remember if she came up with the exact wording or of she suggested some ideas and I created the wording. Either way, my first blog was called "Shieldmaiden of God." When I first created this blog my original plan was to mainly share writing-related things. And while I still ...

Back in January, during one of the many snow storms that we had, I was sitting on the couch scrolling through my phone when the name Sybil popped into my head. Besides the name, the only other information that this character gave me is that she is an orphan/in foster care. Photo by  Álvaro Serrano  on  Unsplash While I haven't done much with this character yet, I plan on figuring out the details so that I can begin writing the story. One thing that I had started doing, shortly after the character idea came to me, was to start writing down the names to instrumental songs that I was listening to on Spotify. The idea that I had for that was to incorporate the titles as the names of the chapters and then base the scenes, etc. off of that. Whether it will work or not I don't know since I want to do research into different settings and such before I begin writing the story. And I may save this idea for November and NaNoWriMo so that I can have time to prepare and gather ...