Day 102: Can cats talk

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 102: Can cats talk

Many years ago, I considered adopting a Ragdoll and asked a friend if her Ragdolls talked. Her response was …”Do they talk? The question is, do they ever shut up!”

This pleased me immensely because while I’ve had cats all my life, all of them were quiet cats. They never said anything.

The exception was Chanel. Chanel was a mixed breed (Maine Coon with something else) and she was a rather vocal kitty. From the day we adopted her she prattled on in her little kitten voice and over the years she developed quite the vocabulary.

   

In our current cat family, there are a few talkers. Gabriel usually starts around 6:00 a.m. when it’s time for Dieter to get up. Monday to Friday his babbling is fine, endearing even, but come Saturday and Sunday when Dieter wants to sleep in, Gabriel doesn’t know it’s weekend and does his very best to get Dieter up and about. Not that he puts all that much effort into it, because when Dieter doesn’t get up Gabriel gives up and seems of the opinion … I did my best, if you going to be late you have no one but yourself to blame.

Charlotte … well, she doesn’t say much at all. If and when Charlotte says something she sounds like a sheep with a case of laryngitis.

As for Holly … yes, Holly talks. Holly is part Ragdoll, part something else and one can actually have a conversation with her. As long as you talk to her, she’ll answer.

As for our latest edition, Halley … ever since we adopted her in January, she was a very quiet kitten. Never said anything. That changed yesterday. On a wall in the living room hangs a bird ornament. 

So far this ornament was ignored, but yesterday it got switched on and we got to hear this songbird’s voice loud and clear. Halley went bananas! In an effort to get to the bird she walked up and down, jumped on the chair, jumped on the cabinet, all the while producing cute little kitten noises. It was too funny.

But speaking of Halley … let me give you an update on our little girl.

For the longest time, she was perfectly happy with a selection of balls, soft rubber balls, hard plastic balls, ping-pong balls, you name it she rolled it around. Of course, sooner or later those balls would end up under a chair and then she would put on quite the show for Dieter or me to retrieve her toy.

That is until one day we didn’t feel like lifting up the sofa again and we gave her a spring to play with. 

OMG, and did she have fun with that. She played with it for hours, literally. That first night, Gabriel, Charlotte, and Holly had long gone to bed, but Halley was still playing with her spring. Rolling it, batting it, picking it up between her teeth and carrying it around.

Now, since last night to be exact, she found something else to play with … toilet paper. Just take a look ….

             

And I give you one guess who thaught her to be this naughty ... that's right, uncle Gabriel.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 101: At times, we have to be cruel to be kind

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 101: At times, we have to be cruel to be kind

I was recently criticized for pointing out spelling mistakes in a Facebook post. One person said “Not everyone is raised in the English language, many are foreigners and had to learn the English language as adults. Little do they know that I’m one of them.

Many years ago, I immigrated to South Africa. Easy it was not. Not only did I have to look for a house, furniture, and a job, I had to learn two languages: English and Afrikaans. While I found Afrikaans similar to my home language (Flemish) it was still an adjustment and as for English … that was a whole different kettle of fish.

What little English I knew I had learned from watching TV back home: movies and shows such as Dallas and Dynasty, which were English spoken but carried Flemish subtitles. Knowing what English words meant, and actually speaking them were two very different things thought and my vocabulary was rather limited.

To learn to read and write English, I relied on newspapers, magazines, and books, which I not only read slowly but studied them, paying attention to how words were spelled.

As to be expected, while I was learning, I made a ton of mistakes and my colleague Jenny had a ball with me. She said as much, stating that immigrants were such easy targets. I had a choice, I could either be offended or laugh along. I choose the latter.

These days, people are different, they seem to have lost their sense of humor and are so easily offended. Earlier today, a girl posted the following message on Facebook:

‘I want to be writer. I dont know why but I feeling good when writing. I have recieved lots of praise and am sure my book will top best sellers list.’

Seeing so many spelling mistakes made my skin crawl. Not only that, when people tried to help her with spelling, she became verbally abusive. Of course, others told her not to pay attention to the advice givers and told her that her English was wonderful. It actually went as far as that the advice givers were attacked as being cruel.

This made me wonder … why do people who struggle with the English language want to write an English book? Why not write a story in their own language? And why, when someone is clearly making mistakes, are there people who compliment them? Sure, supporting someone is nice, but it won’t help them. Telling someone their English is wonderful when it clearly isn’t won’t do them any favors.

At times, we have to be cruel to be kind.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 100: What is your favorite season

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 100: What is your favorite season

Today’s creative writing prompt is … 'What is your favorite season?' Well, let’s see …

While for many people summer is their favorite season, I’m not one of them. I’m fine with a temperature of up to 26 degrees C (78.8 degrees F) but anything more than that makes me extremely uncomfortable. As someone once said, “For winter you can dress warm, but what do you do in summer … there’s only so much you can take off.” All I can say is ... thank goodness for A/C. Whoever invented air-conditioning deserves a medal the size of Texas.

As much as I dislike the heat, I absolutely hate fall. While it’s true that fall displays a magnificent array of colors in foliage, I find it a depressing season. Trees, shrubs, and flowers die, their remains lying on the ground to rot. I do like the rain that the fall brings though. Not surprising since I’m originally from Belgium where it rains nine months out of the year. Why do you think Belgium is known as frog land …

As for winter … while winter is not exactly my favorite season, but it does have its perks. There's nothing like a snow-covered landscape and along with snow and ice comes skiing and skating entertainment. Cold dark cloudy days are perfect for enjoying thick soup, cuddling up by the fireplace with a good book, or watching old movies. Winter is also the time for Christmas when the house gets decorated and we go shopping for presents for loved ones.

So that leaves us with spring. Yes, spring is my favorite season. A time when nature comes alive, when trees sprout delicate green leaves, daffodils bob their bright yellow heads, and when people shed their dark winter clothes and boots in favor of pastel colors and sandals.

Along with spring comes nest building for the birds, which is something a couple of finches are busy with right now on my balcony. I for one will be very happy when their construction work is finished, because their constant twittering at the crack of dawn interferes with my beauty sleep.

The cats on the other hand are delighted with the finches’ presence. Now that the temperature has hit double digits, they’re allowed to go out on the balcony and they never tire of seeing the finches in action. “They’re just to look at,” I told them, “not to eat. If you catch one, you’re grounded for a week.”

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

Joe, a Facebook member, posted this question today … ‘What do you guys think about an aspiring writer going to college to become a fiction writer? Good or bad idea?’

Rather than giving him a direct answer, his question became the inspiration for today’s blog post.

Many years ago, I had a pen pal called Nadia. This was before the Internet became popular and people exchanged letters instead of emails. Our letters were no ordinary letters, but pages and pages of stories that resembled a small newspaper. We started out writing with pen and paper, later used a typewriter and ultimately switched to a computer.

Nadia’s letters were fluid, interesting and funny. She wrote from the heart and I could tell that rather than writing, she was talking to me.

A few years later, Nadia told me that she planned on writing a short story for a national competition. As it turned out, her submission was not only accepted, but she won 1^st prize and gained television, radio and newspaper exposure.

Rather than this victory building up her confidence, it destroyed it. Nadia couldn’t write anything anymore because all her creations fell short compared her winning story.

She decided to enroll in a creative writing class. Three years later she graduated with distinction. During these three years, I had noticed a change in Nadia’s letters. They were no longer fluid but mechanical.

When as tactfully mentioned this to Nadia, she wholeheartedly agreed. She said ever since she took the course, writing was no longer a labor of love but torture. She agonized over word choice and sentence structure, often rewriting the same sentence over and over again until it was as perfect as possible.

When I remarked that this was probably advisable for story writing, she didn’t have to go through such trouble while writing a letter to me. Her response was ‘I can’t help it. I’ve become so aware of being grammar perfect that nothing but the best will do.’

Ultimately, the book that Nadia intended on writing never materialized and she couldn’t even produce another short story. In her quest for perfection, she had lost her creativity.

To answer Joe’s question … Go to college to improve your language skills, but where it comes to your creative spirit … nobody can teach you that.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 98: A day in the life of a TTC commuter

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 98: A day in the life of a TTC commuter

What a day, what a day, what a day I had yesterday.

Over the weekend we had two days of freezing rain. If you wonder what freezing rain feels like, let someone take a handful of uncooked rice and from a distance throw it in your face, hard.

Not only does freezing rain feel painful, I also find it painful to look it. I mean really, yesterday it was April 16, but nature looks and feels like it’s January 16. It’s cold, the sky is grey and instead of nature awakening in a variety of color, everything is white. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, they were taken from the safety and the warmth of a bedroom window.

Before going out yesterday morning, I wondered what to wear … snow boots or regular boots. “Wear regular boots,” Dieter advised, “if it’s a little slippery you can hold on to me.” A little slippery???

As soon as we left the building where we live, I knew I was in trouble. There was so much melting ice that we either had to trudge through the slush or step into ankle-deep puddles. And that wasn’t even the worst of it, oh no, the worst was yet to come. Once out of the garden, the street was no longer a street but an ice rink. We were no longer walking, but slipping and sliding and desperately trying to stay upright.

Moments later we faced another problem … going down the steps to the train station. I wasn’t sure whether to hold on to Dieter or to let go. After all, if he fell, he would take me with him and vice versa.

To make a long story short, we made it the station in one piece.

More bad luck awaited us though. The trains weren’t running due to a power failure and everyone had to take a shuttle bus to the nearest station where they did have power.

Don’t imagine this as simple. Along with hundreds and hundreds of people, we stood in the cold, in the freezing rain, waiting for a bus. When the third bus came along, we finally got on.

At Victoria Park station we all got off and made our way to the subway station, only to find out that now that station was out of power. So, everybody back outside and back onto the bus. Eventually, at Woodbine, we managed to get on the train.

We arrived at work cold and wet and very late, but we had made it. Lots of others didn’t, they either didn’t bother coming out or ended up in hospital. I can well imagine that quite a few people fell and broke something or their car skidded and hit something. Good business for the doctors, nurses and panel beaters.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, have a look what we had to deal with.

Don't forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 97: 5 Writing Tips

My Project: 365 Writing Prompts

Day 97: 5 Writing Tips

The other day I read a blog post entitled “The 5 Worst Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received.” I didn’t agree with the information and posted a reply. I was promptly challenged by the blogger to explain my criticism. Always happy to oblige I agreed and promised to explain criticism in a blog post of my own. Make yourself comfortable as this could take w while.

According to the blogger, the five worst writing tips she received were:

1. Outline your stories before you write them

I wouldn’t say that’s bad advice, that is very good advice. While there’s no need to go into great detail, a writer should have some idea of what the story will be about. Let’s say that the story is about John and Jane. Who are John and Jane? Where do they live? What did they do that’s worth telling others about? What hurdles did they have to overcome to make the story interesting?

While I agree that a writer should be flexible in his ideas and go with the flow, there has to be a basic plot. If not on paper, then at least in the writer’s mind.

Having something on paper helps as the story develops. John can’t have black, curly hair on page 5 and blond floppy hair on page 83. Jane can’t celebrate her birthday on July 15^th on page 3 and shiver in a freezing temperature on her way to her birthday party on page 90.

2. Set a writing schedule and stick to it

Absolutely. Writers are notorious procrastinators. They want to write, they feel the need to write, but … oh yes, there are a whole lot of obstacles.

Many writers shave a full-time job and feel tired at the end of the day. They’d much rather veg out in front of the TV than sitting in front of a computer. At work they decide to write ‘tonight’, but when they get home they think ‘I’ll write something between lunchtime tomorrow.’ When that doesn’t happen they promise themselves to start writing ‘over the weekend.’

3. Unemployed writers face other challenges. They’re going to write as soon as:

·      They’ve checked their emails and replied to those that need a response

·      They’ve checked Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites and responded to the posts or comments of their friends

·      Played one or several games online (they can be so addictive)

·      Done the house chores

·      Went shopping for groceries

·      Had a nap

·      Played with their pets

Take it from any writer … getting something on paper (hard copy or electronic) takes discipline.

4. Show don’t tell

I agree with that too.

It’s not enough to say that John or Jane were angry, show the reader how angry they were. Did they scream and stomp their feet in frustration? Did they grab a plate and hurl it against the wall?

Neither is it enough to say that the island was beautiful. Show the reader its beauty by describing the scenery in detail. Make it so accurate that they can smell the flowers and hear the birds in the trees.

If you’re not depressed, alcoholic, or somewhat clinically insane, you can’t create a good story

Plenty of writers are in a pleasant state of mind, stick to non-alcoholic drinks, are perfectly sane and still manage to write a gripping story. Then again, the most beautiful poetry and heartwarming stories were written when a writer feels depressed. Depression heightens emotions.

5. Write about what you know

Definitely. It’s the first thing experienced authors will tell any aspiring writer.

Take Dan Brown for instance. Dan Brown is a highly educated author with a fascination for the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. His books are so well researched that there’s no doubt in my mind that he knows the location of his stories like the back of his hand.

Equally knowledgeable about what she writers is Deborah Harkness. For the past 28 years, Deborah has been a student and scholar of history, with numerous degrees to her name from the University of California, Northwestern University and Mount Holyoke College. She has done extensive research on the history of science and magic between the years 1500 and 1700.

Personally, I’m in favor of writers writing about what they know because they obviously have knowledge of the subject and can give details.

A few weeks ago, I read part of a story that was set in Africa. Having lived in Africa for 15 years, I managed to get to page 5, after which I abandoned the story. There were so many inaccuracies that the story infuriated me. I subsequently wrote to the author and asked where she got her information? In which part of Africa has she lived? She admitted that she had never set foot outside of Minnesota.

So, all in all, I think what the blogger describes as bad advice is in actual fact good advice. Feel welcome to share your thoughts.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

 http://connymanero.weebly.com/

Day 96: Shoppers Beware of Packaged Produce

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 96: Shoppers Beware of Packaged Produce

Every Saturday morning, I walk past a supermarket. Most of the time I don’t have money or any other means of payment on me, so I just look and keep walking. Well, strictly speaking, I don’t keep walking, I stop and admire all the fruit and veggies that are on display in outside bins and crates. All at unbelievable prices.

Last Saturday I came prepared. I had my debit card with me and I was going to do some serious fruit and veggie shopping. As I walked along I picked up a tray of nine neatly wrapped tomatoes, a tray of kiwis, a tray of Brussels sprouts, a box of strawberries, a bunch of bananas, a bag of mandarins, a bunch of leeks, and a bag of green beans.

Back home I stuffed everything in the fridge and felt every so pleased with my shopping. That good feeling didn’t last long. When dinner time came around and I wanted to prepare a tomato salad, I noticed that every single one of the nine wrapped tomatoes were rotten. Whoever had packaged the tomatoes had placed the rotten spot face down and once packaged nobody would be the wiser. The same with the Brussels sprouts and the kiwis, some of them were in good condition, but the rotten ones were strategically placed so no one would notice.

I feared the worst as I reached for the mandarins and the strawberries, would it be the same? Yep, as I rolled the tiny fruits out of their container most of them showed black marks covered with grey fuzz.

The first time I wanted to unwrap a banana I got another bad surprise there. The first one was rotten, so was the second and the third. I found it unbelievable. On the outside, the bananas looked perfectly normal, but on the inside the fruit was black.

Now I understood why the fruit and veggies had been packaged … once wrapped in cellophane, nobody could check the condition of the produce. As for the price … yeah, it was cheap, but who wants rotten produce? Now I had to go to my regular supermarket and buy everything again. So, what started out as cheap actually turned out to be expensive.

For me, it’s a lesson learned. Even though my regular supermarket charges considerably more for their goods, I’m willing to pay those extra dollars.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/