Need to write

I’m in a writing group and I hand write stories and poems. But our latest challenge has me worried. It calls for us to write a piece 2000 words long! I suddenly feel like I’m back at school or college writing essays.

You need to understand that my computer is bust and I type all my blogs on my phone. My Parkinsons makes my hands and arms shake and my hands cramp up, so my jottings are usually brief, maybe too brief. But I like to be concise.

I find hand writing suits me more because I can place a note book on the arm of my chair and write things down as I think of them. But 2000 words? I can’t do a word count unless I add up say every 20 or 50 or so of them. Then total up the numbers at the end.

The other thing is reading out. I stutter now. My speaking voice is affected by Parkinsons, it’s frustrating when I want to get a good delivery of my words.

Oh well, I must keep going. X

Esther’s 55 word challenge

Every week Esther Chilton gives us a challenge to use a list of words and write a set number of words..

This week’s is 55 words including :

  • WHEEL
  • CRUEL
  • SOAK
  • LABYRINTH
  • YELLOW
  • CRAB

Morning on the reef. A yellow crab skittered through the labyrinth of coral. It was headed to its feeding ground on the other side of the bay. But the cruel sea washed over and soaked everything in a deluge. Waves like great wheels curved up and back. In a moment the crab was washed away.

Playing Mahjong

I’m well and truly addicted  to this game. First it was Spider Solitaire, then Wordle, now this. I seem to be able to do it quite well and quickly, sometimes matching 3  pairs of tiles  in 1.51 seconds. I’ve won a few games because I keep going for too long, but the competitivness inside me makes me want to win. Although I feel guilty leaving other players behind. I guess I’m slightly obsessed by this at the moment! And because I can play by just using a finger it’s not physically difficult to do. My shake is mainly in the left hand and arm so I rest my phone on the chair arm to play.

Moving about

What are your biggest challenges?

My biggest challenge seems to be movement inside and outside the house.

Inside I’m unsteady, I use my stick because my feet get muddled sometimes. They twist round each other and trip me up. Going up and down stairs is fun, especially when the cats decide to sleep on the stairs it’s a good job they have white patches so I can see them in the dark.

Outside is a challenge too. Just getting down the steps, hanging on to handrails, then walk a few steps to get to the car. But I get nervous driving, in the past I had hubby with me. Now? I get lifts with people if I can if I’m going any distance. I imagine myself stuck with a flat tyre, or out of petrol, or lost, or too tired to carry on. What happens if the person I’m going to see is out? I think I drove less that 500 miles last year. Memory is of driving all over the country, no longer. My challenge is to get better? I wish.

Esther’s limerick challenge. Luck

Every week Esther Chilton posts a limerick challenge. This week’s Monday limerick word was “luck”.

Sometimes these are easy, other times hard. This week’s wasn’t bad.

Basically a limerick has two rhyming lines of a longish length, then two shorter ones that rhyme using a different pattern and then finally the last line is longer and goes back to the first type of rhyme. Have a go yourself on Esthers page?

My limerick is :

Finally I have had some good luck,

I found lots of gold in a truck,

it was hidden away,

in an old parking bay,

at the home of the Pirate called “Hook”!

In memory

I saw a prompt on Esther Chilton’s page “dreams” and decided to write a poem about loss to respond to it. Here it is.

In my dreams you are still here


I grasp your hand to pull you near


To say “goodnight” to you my sweet,


As my heart trips and skips a beat,


To have you here, to hear you speak,


That is the dream I really seek.


I know that you have gone away,


Will never see another day.


I’m in a dream now, holding on


To memories of you though you’ve gone.

An art school?

If you could have something named after you, what would it be?

I’d like to be able to open an art school for anyone that wants to be involved. If I had the money to open it, it would be free to artists and art enthusiasts.

Would I name it after me? Possibly. Or call it the CMB art school. I would like to think that it would encourage creativity in all aspects of art. I have an idea of saving a derelict building for perpetuity and the school would be housed within it.

I would also try and involve local schools to seed the idea of arts and crafts in the children’s minds. It’s a pipe dream. But I like it.

Esther’s challenge: New beginnings

A new world?

Esther Chiltons blog has writing challenges every week, I’ve started trying to do some. New beginnings was an interesting one.

This is what I wrote :

New beginning?
I hope so.
My life has changed in so many ways. I’m having to reassess what I can do, can afford, can maintain.
New beginnings means the garden is starting to flower, I hope to get outside and maybe paint if I feel up to it. I need help to keep the garden tidy.
My main wish is that my health improves and I can have some real new beginnings….

Esther does other challenges, like on Mondays we try and write a limerick with a certain word in it, or on Thursdays a set of words and a limited number of words to use. It’s fun. Why not look her blog up?