Tag Archives: Writing

Poems, stories, challenges, flash fiction, and whatever else I feel like writing.

Writing Prompts

#JusJoJan 1-31-23 Let’s Write!

It’s the last day of Just Jot it January and here is today’s prompt: Your prompt for JusJoJan January 31st 2023, is “write.” Use the word “write” any way you’d like. Have fun!

First, a limerick!

There once was a girl who could write 

But she suffered a terrible fright 

If she lost her thoughts

They’d employ the robots

Her job would be gone out of sight!


This limerick is my homage to my fears about the newest technology ChatGPT. Will our jobs as writers and creators be replaced by robots? What are your thoughts?

Arizona is experiencing the coldest winter they have had in awhile, according to the locals and snowbirds that visit yearly. Still, we don’t have sleet and ice like my family and friends in Ft Worth do right now. I’ve been up since 4:30 due to rain making some god-awful racket that sounded like banging at the back of the bus. I thought something had come loose and was rattling around, or that the supports holding the slide outs were snapping and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I came into the living room and finished my book, and started another when Dave came in to check on me. I shared my concerns and he laughed and said it was rain drops falling from the top of the bus landing hard on the rear engine cowling. In the bedroom, it sounded much worse than that. I couldn’t hear it at all from the living area.

I just finished Stephen King’s book-Billy Summers and started The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand. Her writing style is different than King’s but nevertheless excellent. I’m already through with the first chapter and her writing is so descriptive! I wish I could write like that. I’ll make it my mission for this year. My writing is too close to the way I speak, I need to stop and think about how each sentence sounds and try to make the reader feel like she or he is there, truly experiencing it. Instead of saying it’s cold and windy today, I need to say something like “The cold wind whipped through my hair as I walked, making my eyes water and causing me to hunch down into my jacket.” Doesn’t that sound a little bit better?

I just need to slow down and think, and practice, practice, practice! And I need to learn to make stuff up instead of always relying on real life experiences.

With all that said, it’s time for me to hustle off again into the wind and join the others at the community center to play Mexican Train. We will see you on the flip side!

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Writing Prompts

Bloganuary 10-23-23 Arriving at Rancho El Mirage

No photos to commemorate our arrival in the new park today, because they seem to be having a dust storm and visibility is bad. I might have a picture from the road to illustrate. Once we got parked, we got comfortable and decided to just hang out inside until it all passes. Tomorrow promises to be nice.

I’m sure the wide open night sky will burst alive with stars and sunsets will look like God’s paintbrush colored them magnificently. We are surrounded by mountain ranges, but none as close as Picacho was. The neatest looking town on the map of the surrounding area is called The Foothills. Stores, restaurants, and medical facilities can all be located here. Wellton,-where we are currently staying- is a small town outside the resort, and then Yuma is about 30 miles from here. About the same as Tucson from where we were in Picacho.

Mountain range is hardly visible due to dust and windy conditions.

I was advised by Julie and Wes (my friends in Ft Worth) to get a date shake in Dateland on our way here, so we stopped and I got a chocolate date shake. Super yummy and sweet, with chewy bits of dates. Muy delicioso! I don’t like dates alone, but in other things, they are sweet and delicious. When I followed a Paleo diet, I used to use them as sweetener in lots of dishes.

A nice lady preparing my shake.

The taste and mouth feel was more like a malt. Next time, I’ll try pineapple, I bet it’s really good with the dates.

Our site is very sandy, so add in the wild wind today and you’ll understand us wanting to keep the windows closed for now. Plus it’s chilly and when the sun goes down, it’s going to get downright cold! I’m looking forward to exploring as soon as it’s nice. The welcome was warm and helpful, Dave was escorted to his site after Gail, the manager, checked us in and told us about all the fun activities. She said it’s a very fun group here and invited me to join their Facebook group.

Bloganuary prompt.

Who is your favorite author and why?

My current read.

My favorite author is and always has been Stephen King, yet I have not read his books in a long time, until lately. About a month ago, I downloaded Billy Summers by Stephen King to my Libby app and I’ve had to recheck it out once already. They think you have all the time in the world to read! I only read at night before bed. I can’t finish a book in 2 weeks.

Anyway, I started reading King when I was young…in my teens, the first being the best; The Shining. I read everything I could get my hands on after that, but The Stand was by far the hardest one to get into and stick with, but it paid off. It was an epic novel, one of his best in my opinion. I love Stephen King because of his wit and humor, and his ability to scare the heck out of you and inject a heft dose of humor as well. I have my periods of reading his books for months and then I switch around and read other favorites. King just keeps cranking them out though, and I’ve been a loyal fan all these years. Currently, Fairytail is his top book -I think Billy Summers was written just prior to that. It isn’t scary, it’s just a good story. Like all good mysteries, he keeps you guessing til the very end.

Billy is a very likable character, even if he doubts it himself. His job as a hired killer and his haunted past as an infantry solder in the suck, as well as his sad childhood make his story compelling and fascinating. I cannot wait to find out how everything turns out!

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Writing Prompts

Movin On

As seasonal as the weather is our wanderlust, so it’s time for a change.

Tomorrow we move to Rancho El Mirage Golf RV Resort and hopefully, warmer temperatures. As in every RV Park, there are pros and cons…one of the pros is more activities and nicer dog parks, but the cons may be our location in the park. We will soon see!

I took some pretty shots of the sunset tonight, but they are slow to load. Hopefully, they will befor I finish this post.

They loaded, yea! Our last night here sending us off in a beautiful way!

You know, I hate toxicity in any form, wether it’s my water or my friendships, and that being said, I hope the folks at the new place are friendlier to us Texans. Sometimes, although nice enough folks here, most are snowbirds and I feel a little left out of the conversation. I feel I’ve tried my best to make friends and be involved in activities and game nights, yet I still feel somewhat shunned because I’m from Texas, and these people here have their own groups they are close to. Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but everything I read about welcoming RV parks and how wonderful the people are, to me, everyone has kind of kept to themselves or their cliques. Maybe it’s campers that get close, you know, the boondocking crowd. We’ll see the more parks we visit.

With that off my chest, we will be back here after our month in the new place. We just need a change of scenery for a while, and Dave wants to play golf without having to drive 30 minutes to do it! Well, he will get his fill! This place literally sits on a golf course! And, I’ll get to do the same activities plus some new ones, like bowling!

There will be new things to photograph, a new schedule of activities, and a totally different layout to the park. I even read there’s fishing and boating opportunities, but that is yet to be seen. They might have meant if you drive into San Diego. But maybe the place is aptly named, a mirage in the desert! Stay tuned for news from a new location.

Word of the Day Challenge
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Writing Prompts

New Digs for Four Days

What a beautiful trip it was from Arizona to San Diego today!

How much the topography changed as well as the elevation and the views! From the desert and scrub to sand dunes, changing quickly to super tall, very rocky mountains. From there we descended into the valley and finally ended up in the very narrow, but super pretty streets of San Diego. Our Airbnb for four days is on Pescadero street, just a few blocks from the ocean. No beach area here, and no way to get down to the water, but maybe when we visit the naval base, we will find a beach we can visit. I’ll share some pics I took along the way, but I’m tired, hungry, and the allergies I’ve suddenly developed are in high gear right now. I can barely see to type this! I’ve recently figured out that it’s the Juniper trees that are most likely the culprit. I’ve always been allergic to gin. Guess what that is made from? Juniper berries! So it only makes sense. However, after walking along the rocky, windy coastline today and being in a different climate with all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants I’ve never seen, who knows what’s got me teary eyed and feeling whipped? Anyway, here is the gallery.

Sand dunes
Cliff view of the ocean
Pretty shot of the ocean
Atop the cliff watching surfers
Self explanatory
Driving toward the beach
Populated hills of San Diego
A winery coming down this slope
Living room
Dining nook
Kitchen
Bedroom
Patio
Mountains made of rocks and boulders

I don’t know why all my mountain pics didn’t load, but here’s what I can post now. So sorry they did not load in order. I put explanation on each of them.

Hopefully my brain will be more engaged tomorrow! 🤣🤪

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Writing Prompts

RV Life Isn’t Always Sweet

After a night of no sleep, I might be a bit on the hanchy side this morning, but I’m going to join in Ritu’s prompt today for JusJoJan

Ahhhh, life on the open road! It’s a dream many have but not all are fond of as I read earlier in an article about some YouTubers that couldn’t hack it. Well, to be fair, they made every rookie mistake!

  1. Buying the wrong RV for their needs
  2. Not planning their trips.
  3. They didn’t look into RV Discount Clubs, so consequently, they ended up spending too much money for RV parks.
  4. They were not ready for the life away from friends and family.
  5. They did not learn any RV maintenance and got stuck paying for expensive repairs.

These mistakes and others can have a negative impact on the whole RVing experience.

But even when you do all the above right, there are times when life in an RV is not so sweet. Take, for instance, sleeping with pets. It’s a habit we started at home, so we can’t very well kick them out now. Also, my husband is a snorer. No place to get away from that in an RV, even with the doors separating the rooms closed. My sleep gummies that I’ve been using lately ( no THC, just CBD +CBN & valerian) only work if you stay asleep. If you’ve awakened for whatever reason, that’s it!

So there I was at about 1:30 am, tossing and turning. Dave and Whiskey both snoring like a couple of freight trains, along with the actual freight trains, so I got up and went to the living room with my pillow, glasses, and iPad. I figured I would read until I got sleepy. But I was freezing in there. I thought I could stick it out without turning on the heat or stealing the electric space heater, but nope. Even with a sweater on wrapped up like a burrito in my blanket, sleep would not come. So I read off and on between bouts of attempts to sleep and finally dozed off sometime after 5am. Only to be awakened by my stupid alarm (why is that still set??) at 6am!

Ugh! More tossing and turning, more reading. On top of all that, I had this ridiculous ear worm running through my head non-stop; I’m Not Lisa- remember that one?? Only because we’d heard it earlier on the radio. 😩 Finally I grabbed the heater because I figured they were roasting in there, and turned on the central heat. Now the lights started peeking through the blinds and every electronic thing we own has lights that shine or blink on and off all night. Top that with my super sensitive ears, and it’s hopeless. I dozed off again and then the space heater started beeping at me because it had been set on high and got too hot. Oy vey! Throw in the fact that I had to get up and pee three different times and you can imagine how I’m feeling right about now. Tired and grouchy.

Even when we’ve prepared and taken the dogs to use the bathroom before bed, they sometimes wake us up in the night. Maybe they get hot, or restless. Who knows, but it’s no fun. Someone has to get partially dressed and deal with them. So we usually take turns. Not to mention, it’s hell on one’s sex life. I know, TMI! Sorry! Just telling it like it is!

These and other problems like boredom, the close space you have to share isn’t all wine and roses, but we still like it enough so far to hang in there and see what else this life has to offer. We still have so many places we want to see and experiences we want to have and share! I’m sure I’m not the only one in the relationship that has a gripe btw, Dave is just too nice to spill his guts like I am. But you all are such good friends and listeners, I just have to be honest and tell it like it is. If you’re considering this lifestyle, do your research and take all these things I’ve mentioned into account. I’ll tell you what though, I’m ready for San Diego where I can move around in a real house for 4 days! ☺️😘

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