New Schedule
As of Next Wednesday, this space will be used for the weekly Serialist post and also Suzie’s House. I was finding my Friday’s a little too full between Fiction Friday 55, Suzie’s House, and the new meme too. I’m afraid we are going to have to say good bye to Mr. Al’s history posts. He’s gotten so busy writing fiction that he’s not even looking at the book I bought for his next series. I’m not sure what I’ll do if he ever gets around to it, but keeping Wednesdays open for him no longer seems like a good idea.
Thank you for putting up with all the From the Mailbag posts I’ve been doing lately. I find them entertaining, but they really are kind of cheating. Mind you, I still intend to do some on Mondays over the next few weeks.
I’m going to be starting another new meme on Monday, but it will have to wait until I get back from the Galapagos toward the end of July. I’ve got my hands full with Serialist right now anyway.
Come on back next Wednesday to see what the Serialist and Suzie have been up to.
160 – Planted
Given a warm sun, water, and soil, a plant will grow anywhere. Given love, it will even grow well.
Monkey Man hosts the 160 Character Challenge. See what you can write in 160 characters or less, spaces included.
Lover’s Triangle
Jill: So now you only like Gin? And Gin mostly likes Tonic, but Tonic still prefers you. Why don’t just get along like you used to?
Jack: The dog tried to pee on me, Jill. A man’s got to take something like that serious.
Today’s theme is Triangle
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 216 : How to Alter a Fond and Tranquil Moment
“Hey, Babe.” Vin settled on the lawn chair next to Miranda. With a beer in one hand, and the grill’s special, long-handled spatula in the other. He stared cross the backyard at the same row of trees and hulking Victorian house’s backside that Miranda had been staring at. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
He waited for a few minutes to see what she said. Miranda wasn’t really the kind to wax rhapsodic over the turning of Autumn leaves. She probably hadn’t noticed the way this last hurrah of Summer made the heat feel odd, as if it could turn to cold in a flash. Whatever happened to be buzzing around the back of her mind now was all-consuming, just like all the rest of the bee hive of thought she carried around.
He smiled a little. The way her dysfunctional mind worked was an endless source of fascination for him. He loved it.
Serialists as of June 10th
This week’s featured contributor is Shanae Branham who has been posting some intriguing snippets from her science fiction novel.
Serialists is moving to a new day! This post will have to serve all the way until Wednesday, June 22nd. If you’ve written anything in the last week that fits or post anything between now and then, please add your link to the specific post in the linky below. If you are new to Serialists, then link to any active series you are posting. I’ll be by to read and comment as soon as I can.
Check back here all week long to see what other’s are up to. When I pick who I feature each week, I keep an eye on how many comments a Serialist makes.
Wondering if your work fits? It needs to be fiction or at least fiction like, and to be part of more than one post that includes the same characters and/or setting. That’s it. It does not have to be part of a novel, to be sequential, to be long, or follow prose rules. I have accepted autobiographical material that had dialogue, and something that was the first post in a series. What does not fit? One-shot fiction, and straight non-fiction.
So, if you have anything, link up, then go visit!
55 – Summer Vacation
The back yard was full of glass. Every summer she walked around barefoot, letting the calluses thicken, baking herself brown in the long, hot days, and plucking bottles shaped by the minds of the 1930’s – bits of glass in blue and green and brown – and thinking of snake oil and salesmen.
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Steps to a Purchase from Lowe’s
We bought a fixer-upper recently, and have to do a lot of work to make it habitable. So naturally I’m down at the lumber yard a lot. I go to Lowe’s most of the time because they are reasonably priced (mostly) and don’t look down on me for wandering the aisles in my skirt and clogs. This is my most recent experience.
1. Movers can get a special discount from Lowe’s – 10% off. It’s good for up to a $5,000 purchase, but it has to be done all in one shot. I knew this from the last time I moved when their coupon fell out of the change of address card package at the post office. I really, really wanted that discount. I was pretty busy will closing activities and such, and considering it will be about a month before we can start moving in, I wasn’t all over the idea of getting the address changed just yet, so I tried to apply for the discount on line. AFTER going through the rigamarole of applying, I learn it will be about a week before I am sent the coupon. I went ahead and bought some buckets of paint in the meanwhile anyway.
2. After a week there was still no sign of the coupon and I’ve been chomping at the bit to get some stuff and putting it off over and over, so I got my butt down to the post office and got the change of address package. The coupons inside had already expired. I didn’t know this until I’d already left and had to make a return trip to the post office.
3. The nice guy behind the counter gave me a new one. The coupon inside was good. Yay!
4. Since I needed to get everything I could at a whack and didn’t want to spend literally all day at the store collecting it all, I went online and ordered what I could that way. I ran up a thousand dollar order.
5. The next day I went to pick it all up. I think under normal circumstances this would be a remarkably easy thing, and hope in the future my orders work out well. (How’s that for foreshadowing?)
6. I went straight to their customer service desk to ask how I was supposed to do this. Apparently, that’s the first step anyway. Their computer system had recently undergone some glitches, which resulted in my order appearing on one screen, but not another, so that at first they didn’t know I’d ordered, and already given my credit card on line. It took about half an hour for the clerk to clear me for my pickup and sent me to the lumber section check out.
7. My order had already been assembled for me. Too cool! Unluckily, it wasn’t assembled correctly. The highest priced item wasn’t there, nor a couple of little things. I asked that the paint be tinted, so they took it down to the paint center for me. Despite the continuing computer glitches, they got everything they could and let me load it all.
8. Turned out I totally messed up on the paint order. They had me down for 7 PINTS of one and 1 PINT of another when I thought I’d ordered 8 gallons of all one thing. That explains the price that I thought was fantastic. They mistakenly only pulled two pints. Two pints for $60? I don’t think so. Anyway, they couldn’t take it off the order because in order to do so it had to be on the other screen. They called Tech Service.
9. Meanwhile I picked my colors and had the correct paint mixed up. We were still waiting for a faucet, which turned out to be on special order. It’s really hard to tell what’s what on the email confirmation which I had printed out. We rang up the paint, but they couldn’t give the the 10% discount because they couldn’t get in to the original order. The clerk tried to force it and created a random number which shocked me – $300. The discount didn’t show because she had to override it to ring it up. I didn’t see the prices on the paint cans or frankly, I’d have gone somewhere else, discount or not. I was out of time, so I just grabbed the stuff and went.
10. Oh, I forgot to mention, at first they mixed up a five gallon bucket in the wrong color. Mr. Al was insistent on the color. I declined the $10 discount and had it remixed. Sigh.
11. So I got home and looked over the receipt and couldn’t find the discount and got all stupid and decided to go back the next day to see if they ever got the first bunch of paint – which I did not take – taken off the original order and to see if I could get the discount. They reversed out the paint sale and rang it up again and I ended up paying and extra $16 for the privilege.
12. They said the paint portion of the charge was being held in reserve by the credit card company but that I wouldn’t have to pay for it, but it wasn’t taken out of the order, which was finally appearing on the correct screen, but which they still couldn’t reverse charges out of.
13. After I got home they said the whole order was being held in reserve and took my card information again because they said NONE of the original order had actually been paid for. If I end up double charged for this I’m going to do some serious screaming down at their customer service desk when I go back to pick up the faucet.
And after all this, the online coupon arrived.
For more lists of Thirteen, visit Thursday Thirteen
Fwd: Did I read that sign right
Did I read that sign right?
TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW
In a Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT
In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS
In an office:
WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN
In an office:
AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD
Outside a secondhand shop:
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING – BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?
Notice in health food shop window:
CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS
Spotted in a safari park:(I sure hope so)
ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR
Seen during a conference:
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN’T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR
Notice in a farmer’s field:
THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES.
Message on a leaflet:
IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS
On a repair shop door:
WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN’T WORK)
Summer is Finally Here
We actually hit 80 degrees yesterday (Sunday). For weeks now we’ve been getting rain and highs in the 60’s. I’ve had to run the furnace as recently as Saturday. It’s so nice to warm up a bit.
I’m sorry I missed a couple of days posting. I’ve been busy painting a house. I’ve got paint splatters on my hands and arms. My arms are so tired they are shaky. Still have one room to do the primer on, then we can start in on the top coats. I’m so glad I don’t have to do it alone.
Suzie’s House 215 : But Mom, It’s My Flashdrive
“Mom!” Ben just about flipped out when he saw what she was doing. “How’d you get that?”
“What? This flashdrive? It was sitting on my desk.”
“But… but…” Ben swallowed hard, trying to think and not doing a good job of it.
Serialists as of June 3rd
It’s time for another round of The Serialists!
We had some great entries last week with Leiffy V’s Science Fiction, and Susan and Julia’s entries. Kkrige’s travelogue is skating the edge, but has a mainstream novel feel, so I let it fly. This week I’m featuring Whitesnake’s blend of autobiography and fiction called King of Dreams. He’s just starting this one. I hope he keeps going.
If you are new to The Serialists, then link to any serial you’ve posted. Index pages are good. Otherwise, link to whatever serial fiction you posted this week. Serial fiction is anything that includes the same characters, or setting. I’m taking a loose definition of fiction, too, but please, don’t link to anything that is clearly and solely non fiction.
I’ll be around to read and comment as soon as I can. If you are kind enough to comment on other people’s entries, I’m much more likely to feature you next week.
Thanks for playing, and I’ll see you again next week.
