Special Day Today!

Surprisingly I’m not talking about Kate and William. 22 years ago, I started a new chapter in my life. I married my best friend! Since then we have made a life together, fought and loved, brought 2 children home from the hospital, … It’s been one hell of a ride, and I’m ready for a least 22 years more!

I love this song! Yes it’s true! I am a big sap. (I can’t turn in my “guy” card because it would seem that I was never issued one.) By Peter Gabriel and from the movie “Shall We Dance?” I present a special Musical Thoughts.

P.S. – Kate and Will. You guys picked a pretty good day.

For my friend and Love (AKA The Wife of Awesomeness)

When the Lights Went Out

Mystery. This genre has been on my mind a lot the last few weeks. You have to admire a writer that can have you thinking in one direction, while all the time the real answer is there in plain sight for those who are paying attention. Fun to both read and write, the Mystery is fast becoming a favorite type of story for me.

When I thought of songs that would fall into this genre, this was the first one to come to mind. I can still remember hearing this song on the radio during my childhood. If you listen to the lyrics, you will see that it is a mystery story set to music. And like all good mysteries it has a neat little twist at the end.

So for this weeks Musical Thoughts, I offer you “The Night The Lights When Out In Georgia” by Reba McEntire.

Week of April 24th to 30th

Guest Storyteller – Kelsey G. (via Fictional Campfire)

I have a guest storyteller over at the Fictional Campfire today!

I am very proud to present my first guest storyteller here at the Campfire. Of course, I’m also proud because she is my niece. Because Kelsey loves to write stories so much, I knew that I had to ask her if she would like to write one for the “Fictional Campfire”, so I did that yesterday. In the true spirit of flash fiction, Kelsey immediately grabbed pen and paper and got to work. Soon afterwards, she returned to where the “big” kids were talking … Read More

via Fictional Campfire

100 Cats

After the events of last week, both the C of C and myself have agreed to put the past behind us. (See last week) So no more poking fun at felines for me (at least while the cat is watching!). I saw these videos a while back and thought I would share them with you now.

Leave it to IKEA to answer the age-old question: What do you get when you release 100 cats into a IKEA store? I’m sure many of you out there have lost countless hours of sleep trying to figure that question out! (I for one will sleep better tonight now that I’ve watched these videos!) Of course this now brings up a new question: Are IKEA cats as easy to put together as they no doubt will claim? I guess time will time on that score!

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve included the commercial, as well as the making of the commercial too. Have fun!

Stories, Stories, Stories.

Over the past few weeks I have read quite a few really great pieces of short fiction. Back at the beginning of April, Haley Whitehall offered her readers a Flash Fiction Challenge. This really got the ball rolling for me writing wise. What is Flash Fiction you ask? First you take a prompt like “It was a dark and stormy night” and challenge writers to produce a short story of a set length.

The result has been some of the most fun, twisted, surprising, clever, shocking pieces of fiction that I have read. Currently I have taken part in 3 challenges so far (include my own) this month. It gets a bit hard to find all the stories, so I figured that I would dig them all out and put them in one post. Keep in mind that this is not all the stories out there (there are so many) just some of the ones that I enjoyed.

Haley Whitehall’s April Flash Fiction Challenge - rules as follows; You must start your story with the sentence:”She had been warned, but now it was too late.” The story must be 500 words or less. Challenge ends May 1st.

• “The Well” by Selena Wolff
• “She had been warned, but now it was too late…” by Sandra Bell Kirchman
• “Message Waiting…” by me from Other Side Of 40
• “There is no place like home” by Billie Jo Woods
• “To love and to cherish” by badluckfairy
• “She Had Been Warned” by Mike
•  Untitled by Michael Pallante
• “Glitched” by Elle Rohan
• “Double Spaz” by Pia Newman
• “The Gun on the Desk” by me from Fictional Campfire
• “213 (A Story)” by Sonia G Medeiros

Other Side Of 40 Flash Fiction Challenge - rules as follows; Must start with the sentence “I cared what she thought, so when she dared me I knew I was in trouble”. Story must be 500 words or less. Challenge ends May 1st.

• “Fly” by me from Fictional Campfire
• “Dare to Live” by Haley Whitehall
• Untitled by Selena Wolff

A second Challenge from Haley Whitehall  Write a Historical Flash Fiction Story - rules as follows; create a piece of Historical Fiction of a length of your choosing.

• “Flax” by Knittingknots
• “Journey by Train” by Billie Jo Woods
• “Barrage” by me from Fictional Campfire
• “A Demise of my Own Doing” by Yikici

I hope that you take some time to read these wonderful stories. I can tell you that they are well worth the time to do so! To all the above writers, thank you for crafting such wonderful tales!

Photo “287.365″ by rbbaird (Flickr)

Voice of a Muse

My Friend Selena over at Solitary Words was writing today about Muses. As writers (or other types of artists) we often speak of our Muse, and how it inspires us to create. Selena asked for her readers to share what their Muse’s voice sounds like to them.

So here goes. My Muse just happens to sound like the 80′s pop-star, Olivia Newton-John. And Olivia, by a happy coincidence, just happened to play the role of – wait for it – a Muse. (Bet you didn’t see that one coming)

So this is for you Selena, and for all the Muses out there too. I present from the 1980 movie of the same name, this weeks Musical Thought – Xanadu! I’m not going to even look for puns or try make clever remarks. So just sit back and enjoy the dream girl of most 14-year-old boys during the 80′s & ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) as they spin a bit of roller/disco/funky magic.

I hope you find it amusing!