Category: daily prompt

Only One?
chick lit · daily prompt · favorite author · fiction · Humor · Jane Austen · Love · prose · Women’s literature · Writing · Zora Neale Hurston

Only One?

Amy26 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What book could you read over and over again?
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It isn’t possible for me to answer this question with just one book, so I’m going to list them all. There may be a few that I have forgotten, but these are the ones I have in my bookcase.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This is my favorite novel. Ever. It was required reading in American literature class, and I’m so pleased to have been introduced to this amazing wordsmith Ms. Hurston.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Any and all titles by Bill Bryson.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club by Jessica Morrison. This is a fantastic novel. I’m not sure if it’s still in print, and I don’t believe the author ever published another novel, which upsets me to this day.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles.

The General’s Mistress by Jo Graham.

The next three novels are a series by author Diana Norman. Sadly, she has passed away and there will be no more novels in the series. The first book is A Catch of Consequence, followed by Taking Liberties, and last but not least is The Sparks Fly Upward. This author also wrote under the pen name Ariana Franklin. I was today years old when I found that out, so I am excited and will try to get my hands on the novels she wrote under that name.

The next one is the first book in the “Undead” series by Mary Janice Davidson. I thought the first book was the best: “Undead and Unwed.”

Next up is author Katie McAllister (a pen name), with Men in Kilts and Improper English being my favorite titles from her.

Jane Austen – the whole catalogue.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Villette by Charlotte Brontë.

Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence.

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George.

Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor (this is a particular favorite of mine, though it is rather sordid, especially for the time period in which it was written.)

And the last one is Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner. Just kidding. I despise this book. I had to write a paper on it and I hated every second of it. I don’t particularly like Faulkner nor his writing style, and that’s being polite. Faulkner perfected the run-on sentence, and that’s being polite.

That’s my list. What are some novels that you can’t get enough of and read over and over again? Let me know in the comments!

Curling
daily prompt · Rafa Nadal · tennis

Curling

Amy16 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
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Just kidding. Watching curling is like watching paint dry. I don’t watch the Olympics. But since they are being held in Paris this year, I just might start. I recall in years past I watched the Winter Olympics’ skiing and ice-skating competitions, but that was a long time ago, and I was a kid.

Anyone who’s been reading my blog since the beginning knows what I’m going to say I will most likely watch present day: tennis. The Summer Olympics are being held in Paris this year from July 27-August 4, Rafa Nadal is probably playing his last season of professional tennis, and Roland Garros (The French Open) is his jam (he’s not called the King of Clay for nothing), so I am deducing he’s going to aim for the double play: Roland Garros and the Olympics – which will be played on the red clay, the same courts as Roland Garros. There are current rules in place, however, that may be a bit of a hurdle for him to be able to do this. Without getting too complicated, he will have to appeal to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) to be able to be allowed to play in the Olympics. Fingers crossed.

Rafa Nadal hoists La Coupe des Mousquetaires, in his first of 14 French Open victories (to date), 2005
Rafa Nadal won men’s singles gold at the Beijing Olympics, 2008

I suppose you know where I’ll be for Summer Olympics Paris 2024. I will not be in Paris. But I will be watching from my couch at home, wearing a beret, eating croissant and sipping un Café. 

©️2024, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved.

Back In The Day
daily prompt · Writing

Back In The Day

Amy9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
How would you improve your community?
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The community that is now filled with people who don’t know each other and don’t care to know each other, used to be one filled with block parties and neighborhood watch patrols. People would come sit on your porch and have a cup of coffee or a beer and chill. Santa Claus came every year on the local fire company’s biggest firetruck. Everyone knew everyone else, and stopping your car to chat with your neighbor was common. No one behind you would honk their horn to hurry you on your way.

Last week I witnessed a minivan with no tags drive around a tow truck into someone else’s front lawn to get past what must’ve been an annoying situation for the minivan. I couldn’t believe what I had seen. Couldn’t the guy have waited a few minutes, or turned around in my driveway and gone around the block? No. Too impatient. About 15 minutes later, he came back and did it again from the opposite direction. Yes, it was all a bit suspect, but without a license plate, I couldn’t call the police. See the other thing, back in the day, neighbors looked out for each other and would call the police or investigate a strange situation if they saw it. They would also look after each other’s houses and pets when one or the other went on vacation.

This doesn’t happen anymore.

I only know a few of the original people in my neighborhood, and the new ones are not from the back in the day mentality. Everyone is huddled inside of their homes, doing whatever. It’s the antithesis of community.

I’d be willing to bring back block parties and neighborhood watches, but the sad truth is one person doesn’t make a community – it takes a group of like-minded people to foster a sense of community.

The question is the answer and the answer is the question. And I don’t think the definition of community will ever be as understood as it was back in the day.

Is That The Alarm? Ew.
daily prompt · Humor

Is That The Alarm? Ew.

Amy15 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
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The first hour of my day depends on what day of the week it is. Mondays look a lot like:

I meant to do that. Once I get up off the ground, I meander with one eye open and several bruises (and maybe some broken bones) to my computer and fire it up. I contemplate Monday, and always come to this conclusion:

After I eat my gummy vitamins, I feel a little bit more awake. It’s usually at about this time that my computer has updated over the weekend and will insist on a restart after I’ve connected to the Internet and have opened all of the apps I need.

On especially chaotic Mondays, which is really all of them, sometimes my Internet will disconnect for no reason at all. And then what happens? You guessed it – another restart.

Some days it happens more than once, and I want to unalive my computer. I don’t, of course (because it’s not alive…or is it?), but I wish I could.

And that brings us to 9 AM – my second hour of work. That’s when things get a little weird and I start to get a bit hungry. I have a small lick of my laptop, and I’m ready for hour two of my day.

Happy Monday everyone!

Everything and Nothing
daily prompt · Humor

Everything and Nothing

Amy13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What makes you laugh?
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On a bad day, nothing is funny.

But I rarely have a day where it’s so bad that I can’t laugh at something.

Last night, I had a really bizarre dream. it was totally out there, unrelated to anything I had done all day yesterday. I remembered it this morning, which is not common for me. My mind remembered every detail. I can’t say much about this dream because it was really over the top, but I am still laughing about it, and adding my real time commentary as I think about it out loud.

I can find humor in almost anything. It’s one of my coping mechanisms, and I developed it early. It truly is a lifesaver.

Happy Fri-yay everyone.