In April the Challenge is A-Z other writing takes a back seat writing my blog fills my head and for this year I double dipped two A-Z themes I interbred – I wrote about Commodities and with a poem drove home what I said but now the challenge is complete it’s normal service in my head…
II
Back to the novel and down to the pub – the dVerse Poets Pub that is to virtual friends, poets all like me it’s not, however, all about the likes but novels, blogging or poems we certainly desire to be well-read but truly I must write for me the itch induces constant scratches – if that is you too please comment and like me…
Written for Grace in Poetry Forms over at dVerse Poets Pub who today invites us to use the Magic 9 poetic form whose rhyme scheme is derived from the word abracadabra – I have taken the liberty of using the form as a stanza form as I wasn’t done after a mere nine lines…
You can find my A-Z on Commodities with 26 poetry forms via the button at the top of the page and more of my poems via the Poems button.
For a list of all my A-Z posts click the A-Z 2024 Menu Button at top or go back in time with 2020 – 2023…
I already began the process of reflection on my 2024 A-Z Challenge in my X is for eXigesis post – that being my way around the lack of an X commodity so I will cover slightly different ground here. To my mind, there would be no point in setting out on the journey which is A- Z, if I were to pick a theme about which I was so well versed that there was nothing to be learned by me too! If that were the case then I doubt whether the writing would be as compelling as I hope it has been for each of the years I have participated -five now… I like to learn new things and I feel that my excitement informs the writing. For example, I learned at school, about the theft of rubber plants that broke the Brasilian monopoly on Rubber and I had read a book called “Genocide” about the Belgian atrocities in the Congo, but somehow it all came together in a more insightful way in my “R” post – and those insights into the history of empires, geo-politics, and the drivers of economics were repeated time after time with the story of different commodities.
Talking of “well versed” – I made it a double challenge this year by writing a poem – also with an alphabetically matching form following a plunge into poetry after the 2023 A-Z which saw a lot of poets visiting my site and I have certainly had my poetic mind stretched by this exercise. I feel I can understand what it might be like to be a Poet Laureate and to have to deliver poems on demand on unlikely or difficult sources of inspiration – Royal Weddings, Openings and Deaths… Many poets online write to all sorts of prompts every day (and I know some who write to several each day) but if the muse don’t move you – you don’t have to do it – this poetic challenge on the other hand, was determined by the intersection of the commodity and the poetry form of the day and so included a Haiku about Heating Oil, an Ideogramme about Investment and a Pylon Poem poem about Palladium!
Each year since my 2020 pantsing it debut in A-Z (I only discovered it on April 1st) I have vowed to have all my posts pre-prepared and this year I was halfway there at the start of the month and had the last post finished two days ahead of time with only finishing touches like links to other posts to be done the night before – but one thing I simply forgot to do this year, was to use the daily letters at the top of the page which is a shame because Ronel did an excellent job of creating them and indeed all the graphics this year – I will do better next year and I see that the graphic for the 2025 Theme Reveal is already designed! So yes I will be back – all being well, and I already have a theme planned for 2025…
I enjoyed the visits of the team who were supportive as always and of course it was a joy to visit and be visited by others on the Challenge and I will be reviewing them and others I intend to visit now that the madness of April is over – in Roadtrip posts. One thing that surprises me (each year) is how few people Comment and take the chance of posting the link to their daily post, on the official April Blogging from A to Z Challenge #AtoZChallenge daily post – after all – is this not the perfect gathering place at which to check in and start your daily promotion. I start each morning by promoting my post both at the official site and on my Facebook page (which then shows up on Instagram). I’m not sure that they bring in many visits but then the best and most enjoyable method of self-promotion is via visiting and commenting on the blogs of fellow travellers…
Favourite comment: “I think you’ve got the weirdest theme out there for this A to Z. Congrats. This is brilliant. And I’m rolling my eyes at the poem.” by Liz A of lawsofgravity.blogspot.com on Soybeans and a Solage.
Lastly, I like to illustrate my posts copiously, either with photos gleaned from the web or generated by my prompts in Midjourney – so here is a small selection of my favourite Midjourney pictures from this year.
Borne up and drawn in by fast becoming friends’ web of writing prompts
Writing is a unique space for me and increasingly so. My dear departed sister encouraged me to go to a writing group in Sligo, Ireland – a place full of writers and artists and all in the shadow of the poet WB Yeats. Indeed, when I first moved there in 1995, one of my early commissions as a signwriter and, it turns out, a muralist, was to paint a mural of WB Yeats on a new secondhand bookshop – The Winding Stair – named for the title poem of one of Yeats’ books of poetry – you can see me painting it here. I had studied Yeatss at school in English (Literature) which replaces the English (Creative) of earlier school years – why do they do that? I also painted a little but didn’t want to go down the road of fine art because I perceived that artists are so often groomed by galleries encouraging them to produce more of what sells rather than following their own creative wanderings. And so I became a signwriter (painted not computer-cut vinyl) where the creative input is much smaller and constrained by a brief but, I felt, more honest and more sure as a means of making a living. Moving to Ireland gave me a new burst of creative freedom as a signwriter – especially after doing the Yeats mural although some years later, The Winding Stair closed down and the subsequent occupiers of the shop painted over my “masterwork” – a lesson in the zen of attachment to earthly achievement…
Going back to the writing group, it was such a pleasure to rediscover the joy of putting words on the blank canvas of the page – I produced a slim volume of the group’s writings including a CD of the members reading their pieces – and then I discovered blogging… By now it was 2005 and my partner and I moved back to England to see more of our growing grandchildren, and as we waited to complete our stable-to-house conversion, there was no time to make friends in the community and so blogging remained my virtual circle of friendship. I belonged to a blog -site called Mo’time run by an American living in Italy, who created Mo’time as a test bed for ideas for the larger site which was his job. Sadly, the larger site was sold and Mo’time terminated and though we made several attempts to kindle a new space – it was never the same – however I still see quite a few Mo’timers on Facebook.
Then in 2020, on April 1st – I stumbled across the A to ZX Challenge and as the pandemic was taking hold, I plunged in! Each year has been differently themed and I have encountered new fellow writers as well as old friends. This year, however, writing was even more central – my theme was on the etymology of phrases and so was like honey to writing bees and I have joined another writing group – not in the flesh, but by Zoom and our facilitator is also an A to Z-er. What has been different though, is that through the new writing friends I have made (and reviewed here on my Roadtrip) I have encountered a world of other blogging challenges, written, photographic and especially poetry. Since my writing group is prompted by poems and much of what I have written has been (Free) Verse, it was like an alignment of the planets – instead of tailing off into silence after the A to Z finished, I am being tempted and indeed succumbing to all sorts of new challenges as well as writing in my group. I created the picture at the top of this post using Midjourney – another takeaway from this year’s A to Z (thanks to Misky and Vidya) to convey the sense of both support and crazy fear of falling out of control and spending my whole time writing challenge posts! So far I have engaged with Six Degrees of Separation, the Poet’s Pub and Sadje’s WDYS (What Do You See) and in the interests of Life/Work/life balance, I think that may be enough for now – things should be a pleasure and not a pressure… And then there are two novels to get back to, one finished to first draft and the other, a more serious work, with a lot of writing to go! And I used to spend a lot of time keeping abreast of the news! And then there’s the allotment – water and weed it or lose it! And then there is my partner, children and grandchildren not to mention two and a half days at work…
Here’s the thing though, within reason, the more you do, the more you fit in because what goes is the dross, the stuff that didn’t really matter, write poetry not protest seems to be where I am right now…
P. S. I have been told that I am not great at communicating, say, enthusiastic responses, that I may even be on the spectrum, but when I write, even though I may not feel the feelings whilst in the act of writing, be it poetry, prose or fiction, when I read back emotional content, I emote with the best of them, tear up – the works. So I guess writing is my medium of expression…
Thank you Jamie of uniquely maladjusted but fun for this nomination – I “met” Jamie through the 2021 A2Z Challenge this year where she wrote an intriguing story in instalments following a double date with a twist at the end – give it a whirl… Challenging questions Jamie!
1. Thank the person who has nominated you and provide a link back to their blog.
2. Answer their questions.
3. Nominate up to 9 other bloggers and ask them 5 new questions.
4. Notify the nominees through their blog by visiting and commenting on their blog.
5. List the rules and display the “Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award” logo.
Jamie’s Questions…
1. If an employee under extreme stress says (verbally or written) something that is construed as insensitive to a group of people (age, gender, religion, orientation, etc), should that employee be terminated/ not have their contract renewed, or should they be given one more chance if they agree to some sort of approved sensitivity training reeducation program?
There are two issues to be addressed here – “If an employee (were) under extreme stress…” such that it is implicated in anti-social behaviour, then the nature of that stress needs to be examined and if it is in the remit or ability of the employer to ameliorate that stress then that should be done anyways. As for the insenstive comments, then certainly a second chance should be given but surely subject to that person satifactorily undertaking ” approved sensitivity training reeducation program”. It’s not just a “give a second chance” principle but with the exception of a few gross misdemeanors, employment rights – certainly here in the UK – mean there are a whole progression of warnings which have to be applied before you can fire someone.
2. At what age is it no longer appropriate to Trick-or-Treat for yourself? (Meaning exceptions are in place if accompanying a younger child, such as taking a younger sibling ToT so parents can stay at the house and give out candy.)
I think that the age at which children stop believing in Father Christmas should be the guide here! After that you only get to Trick or Treat when you have children of your own (below the age of Santa disbelief) then again when you become a Grandparent you get another bite of the cherry. Stealing other people’s children (Kidnapping – Ho! Ho! Ho!) to go Trick or Treating is not to be recommended!
3. Would you support or oppose a mandate that 75% of the human population be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2 including variants and mutations)? Would your answer change if this mandate were global, your country only, or your local area only? Is there a number or percent of deaths that would influence your support or opposition of such as mandate?
I would consider myself to be Libertarian, but the thing which which many objectors to vaccination (and certainly mandatory vaccination) forget, is that Libertarian means you should be allowed to do whatever you want but only if it doesn’t hurt other people! If we didn’t have vaccinations, we would still have Smallpox. The anti-vaxxers have been responsible for an unwelcome return of measles and mumps – diseases which some doctors had never encountered, so successful had immunisation become and these are serious diseases for pregnant women and for causing infertility respectively. I blame Trump and the unrestrained spreading of misinformation on social media, but I also think we have missed an opportunity during Covid, to spread some positive social behaviour. In China and Japan, wearing a mask whenever you have the “Common” Cold (which can be another form of coronavirus) – is quite normal behaviour so that you don’t spread it to your fellow human beings – that’s just the kind of societies they are! People who think they haven’t got Covid 19 don’t know – that is the whole reason why it has inevitably become a pandemic – and wearing a mask to protect others (and hoping they do the same) is at one end of the scale and at the other is an even better example of the “selfish” benfits of altruism. The UK government crows about how successful it’s vaccination programme has been, but until they, and all the other first world countries make sure the whole world is vaccinated, then variants will multiply and we shall never be free of the disease. So I am happy to have 100% mandatory vaccination but few governments will go there let alone the right wing idiots who tout it as an issue of right-to-choose…
4. Should celebrities be given exceptions to laws, rules, and terms of service? If so, how famous does one have to be to get that exception?
Get away! If anything – celebrities should be held to a higher standard of account since what they do influences lots of other people so – its tough love, or just say no to being made into a celebrity…
5. What is your favorite recipe to use with leftover cooked turkey? Or, what is your favorite summer pasta salad recipe?
I love to make a good stock from the carcass and then make a Christmas Dinner Soup with all the tiny bits of tukey but also leftover potatoes, gravy, sprouts, stuffing – Yayyy!!!
Nominations
All of my nominees commented on my blog during the April A to Z Challenge 2021. So in no particular order and many nationalities…
Have you ever met anyone online (blogs, dating sites – whatever) and then taken it from the virtual to the “Real” World and what happened?
If you could meet anyone – Historical or Present Day – who would it be and why?
Who would you want as a Creative Writing Coach?
What is the Blog Post of which you were most proud but which got less of a response than you hoped – (please link to the post)?
Do you agree with the idea that we make a choice as to how we are going to die at quite an early age and do you think that choice influences whether that death will come to pass oh, and if you have made such a choice – care to share?
PLEASE let me know if you make a post with your answers! I don’t want to miss reading it.
