Tales from the Raven

A movie depicting the desperation of a frantic mother, Kyle Pratt (played by Jodie Foster), and her determination to find her missing daughter.  The majority of the film takes place on a transatlantic flight just after the death of Mrs. Pratt’s husband.  Pros:  The mother is creative in her search and uses her expertise in plane layout to good advantage.  [...]

10 - Enamel coat each piece and use them as gag gifts. 9 - Take it to a business competitors office and leave it in the staff lounge. 8 - Give it to your dentist as contraband. 7 - Host a game night and make the losers eat candy. 6 - Wait ’til your kids aren’t looking, then put it all away for next Halloween. 5 - Take it to a clothing store and fill [...]

I have a ritual for cutting my hair.  I start by letting it grow too long, until all the ends are broken and frayed and even the men in my life can see I’m overdue. I set the appointment and start fretting over what cut to get.  Should I go for a new look?  Should I just [...]

Remember when I blogged about food colors, and what colors are appetizing?  Well, apparently tomatoes will now be served up in a new color.  They’re aiming at blue, but it looks closer to a rotten purple.  Still, they’re supposed to deliver the great phytochemicals found in blueberries, and who knows, they may aesthetically replace the red onion on [...]

We’ve had several days of gray and rain rain rain, but today the sun is shining from a clear blue sky.  The trees are blazing in reds and yellows, looking like miniature suns themselves, and I’m thinking about sun worship. Days like this, it’s easy to see how and why it came to be.  The sun [...]

When I drive by a major accident on the freeway, or hear of storms raging and people dying in some other part of the world, I am always struck by how oddly connected yet seperate people are.  That someone’s brother can be shot overseas, that a mother’s child can die in the womb, that a [...]

A writing friend got an inside tip that the editor of Weird Tales was looking for short cat stories.  I said “Aha!” and pulled out my (mostly unwritten) tiger goddess story, thinking that might be a perfect fit.  I finished it yesterday and threw it up for my group to rip apart, but I was feeling pretty good about it.  It had [...]

When I started blogging writer friends questioned my inclusion of free ‘flash stories’ in the form of crafting pieces.  The tone was definitly, “Oh–Didn’t you know?  That’s considered published.  Oh well.” Their logic was that paid publication is the goal, and flash pieces are widely accepted amongst the semi-pro markets, so I should be submitting them, [...]

Bildungsroman >n. a novel dealing with one person’s formative years or spiritual education. –Origin German, from Bildung ‘education’ + Roman ‘a novel.’ Fusain >n. a crumbly, porous type of coal resembling wood charcoal, used in drawing. –Origin late 19th cent.: from French, literally ‘spindle tree,’ also ‘fine charcoal’ (made from the spindle tree).  Kaffiyeh >n. a [...]

Here’s a bonus Friday funny list.  Ginger Churchill, from my writing group, has posted Why forks are better than men. My favorite is #3 – You don’t care if your roommate uses the same one the next day.  I might quibble over #8 – They do whatever you want and don’t expect a kiss in return.  Some people may take [...]