Roll up! Roll up! The last WWBH for the summer!

Happy prevening all! Welcome to the latest edition of the Writer Wednesday blog hop, and this week we're in the lovely hands of Debb at Stanton Sunshine. 

There was one story from last week's prompt, so why not follow in Scott's footsteps and knock-up something from this weeks prompts. Don't be shy!!!

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Hello all, A Happy Wednesday to you story lovers and writers!

Here is the great story that sprung forth from last week's hop:

Cap't Monkey & Tooele Boy & The Unusual Contraption by Scott Taylor 

Are you new to the Hop and thinking about participating? We love to find new-to-our-hop writers -- the more, the merrier!

Here are the rules:

◾ There is either one picture and five random words or two pictures given out each Wednesday, which are to be used in the story.

◾ The word count must be 500 words or less.

◾ The deadline to link up is Tuesday of the following week.

◾ Don’t forget to link up to the little froggy below and with one of the hop hostesses:

Tena Carr at Jottings and Writings 

Leanne Sype at Writings and Ruminations 

Heather Musk at Reading, Writing and Everything in Between 

Debb Stanton at Stanton Sunshine   

SOOooooo...[cue drum roll]

Here are the new prompts:

   

A new week, a new Wednesday, a new prompt!

What's up folks? Everybody ready for a new prompt on the Writer Wednesday blog hop?

 

Then grab your laptop, netbook, tablet or a good old fashioned pen and paper, settle into your favourite writing spot and close off the world. That's what I have to do to get in my writing zone.

Whether you're comfortable in your writing routine, or just starting out and looking for something to get you going, the WWBH is here to serve.

Simply use the prompts to inspire a piece of flash fiction, and upload so we can share it with the blogosphere and help get you out there.

To help get you motivated, here are the stories sparked from last weeks two photo prompt:

Dream Come True by Karen Knapp

M is for Magical Wedding by The Netherworld

The Exhibition by Sally Scribbles

The Artist  by Morgan

Undercover  by Heather Musk

There are a couple of new contributors here this week, so a big welcome to you guys! I hope you enjoy the prompts and make it part of your writing exercises.

For those who may need a reminder, here are the golden rules of the hop:

• There is either one picture and five random words or two pictures given out each Wednesday, which are to be used in the story.

• The word count must be 500 words or less.

• The deadline to link up is Tuesday of the following week.

• Don't forget to link up with one of the lovely hostesses:

Myself

Leanne Sype at Writings and Ruminations

Tena Carr at Jottings and Writings

Debb Stanton at Stanton Sunshine

 

• Most importantly, have fun!

This week the prompt is one picture and five random words, all of which should be incorporated somewhere in your story:

Random words:                             magician, system, tour, mint, birthday

Good luck! And don't forget to link up when you're done:

 

Celebrating the summer holidays - week three of six

It's Friday again, believe it or not, so time to celebrate all that's lovely and nice in the world. It doesn't matter how small or how big the celebration, if you've got something good to shout about you should be on the linky list for this hop to share it with the world. It never hurts to spread the happiness.

As always, the wonderful VikLit at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author is presiding over events, along with her co-hosts. Head over to see who else is celebrating this week.

Diana Wilder ... about myself, by myself ...

LG Keltner at Writing of the Edge

Katie at The Cyborg Mom

CaffeMaggieato at mscoffeehouse

Today, I'm celebrating:

• Enjoying time to myself to get back into some swimming. I've finally taken the plunge (ha ha!!!) and have started trying to get my body back into some kind of shape. I was lucky after this baby not to retain much of the weight, but I could still benefit from shifting some of it.

• I've lost 3lbs since starting to lose weight. Not much in a week but slow and steady does it, I want to keep it off once it's gone :-)

• We're half way through the summer holidays! Yippee!!!

How about you lovely people? Anything good to celebrate? Have a great weekend!

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Writer Wednesday blog hop - but on a Thursday ;-)

Hi there folks! I had such a hectic and tiring day yesterday I didn't get around to posting this weeks WWBH photo reveal. Thankfully I'm not in charge this week, that pleasure falls to Tena, but I'll be up next week for your weekly writing prompt!

The lovely co-hosts and myself are on hand to help where needed and offer words of encouragement, as well as giving you the stories from last week. Check them out if you get the chance:

Leanne Sype at Writings and Ruminations

Tena Carr at Jottings and Writings

Debb Stanton at Stanton Sunshine

Oyyyy and Double Oyyyy.

Checked my email this morning to find a message from one of Blog Hop ladies asking who was on for hosting this week's "Hop" followed a second later with the "Ohh Shit, it's me" thought on my part.

In the midst of everything that had happened yesterday (including one broken down truck) - I won't go into details, I had completely forgotten to put together the code for this week. No biggy, "give me a little bit to get a few things off my plate and I can throw something up.".....

Ummmmm.... right.

Finally, several hours after I had originally (though already late) planned to get the Hop Kick-Off for this week posted, I finally have it done and ready to go. So first, let's look at last week's stories:

• Julie's Letter by Scott Taylor
• The Bouquet by our very own Leanne Sype
• Gerald's Promise by Debb Stanton

And since I was the one hosting the hop this week, I sort of cheated and added my own story at the last minute (okay, I downright cheated ;-P).

• Just A Note

And now, for this week's hop; The rules are simple:

1. Keep it to about 500 words (no worries, not like we're counting just be fair to the readers)
2. You must use both pictures in your story
3. Link to the froggy thing below when you're done (or comment to your host: Leanne, Debb, Heather, or myself).
4. Most Important: HAVE FUN!!! and Let those Creative Juices flow.

The pictures you must use are:

 

 

 

Celebrating summer holidays- week two of six

Hello lovely bloggers! I'm a bit late getting to my celebration post today but I'm here and it's still Friday, so it still counts right?

We're now at the end of the second full week of the summer holidays, which means we're not far from half way. This week has been a bit more chilled out, and I haven't spent as much money as last week. Good job really, the holidays are expensive!

Anyway, time to celebrate the small things with VikLit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author and her co-hosts. Head over to these lovely gals to check out who else is celebrating this week.

Diana Wilder ... about myself, by myself ...

LG Keltner at Writing of the Edge

Katie at The Cyborg Mom

CaffeMaggieato at mscoffeehouse

Today, I'm celebrating: 
 

• My husbands new car. Even though it's three years old it drives like it's new, so huge thanks to the previous owner for looking after it so well. I'm not allowed to have a new car this year so I have to drive around in his and pretend it's mine :-)

• Making a dent in all of the old blog posts I'm trying to catch up with. I finally feel like I'm getting back into it all now.

• The arrival of my new Galaxy tablet. It's made it a lot easier to access all the things I like to on the internet, and is largely the reason why I'm so caught up now. I can sit in the living room in more comfort while I browse through all my bloggy stuff. Wonderful!

 

Have a great weekend everyone! I hope the weather is better for you than it's supposed to be for us!

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Blog hop time!!!

It's the first Wednesday in August, so if you'd like to check out my insecurities this month you can find them in my IWSG post.

And seeing as it's Wednesday, let's have another WWBH post as well!

 

The lovely co-hosts and myself will be revealing this weeks prompt, as well as giving you the stories from last week. Check them out too if you get the chance:

Leanne Sype at Writings and Ruminations

Tena Carr at Jottings and Writings

Debb Stanton at Stanton Sunshine

Leanne has taken the lead for us this week, and she has a great message about using your writing as therapy. I, for one, know how important this practice is for dealing with those troubles life throws our way ...

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"What doesn't kill you only makes for a good story." ~Tony Roberts 

I love this take on the old phrase, don't you? I can't think of a better way to process life than to write about it, and every time we write we grow stronger in both skill and insight. I encourage you this week to be inspired by the tough stuff life throws at you and write a good story.

And since today is also the Writer Wednesday blog hop photo reveal, I'll throw in a couple of pictures for you to work into your piece. How about that? :)

Before I get to the prompt, first I want to do two things:

1) Show you the stories that birthed from last week's prompt. Thanks to all our authors who took the challenge; be sure to read through these and leave some comment love to the writers

She Waited by Leanne Sype  

Wake Up and Smell the Hasenpfeffer by Scott Taylor  

Terry & Dora by Sally Stackhouse  

Mistaken Identity? by Heather Musk  

To Love Again by Tena Carr 

2) Introduce this week's Blog Hop Featured Author winner, which is our very own hostess Tena Carr! Congrats, dear friend!

Here is her button to display on your blog to help promote her blog. (We choose a new winner each month, so keep your stories coming in and you could be next!)

 

Here are the instructions for how the blog hop works:

 1) Use the two photos provided to craft a 500(ish)-word story; both photos must be featured in the brief story you create.

2) Stay with the 500(ish)-word limit.

3) Write and link your post by next Tuesday using the inLinkz frog at the bottom of the prompt. Simply click on the frog and fill in your information. If you need help, just leave a note in the comment section and we'll help you. :)

4) We were going to tell you to not take this too seriously, but reconsidered it because we know full well that asking writers to write something means that they will take it seriously. So, take it seriously, but don’t fret/panic/pass out/hyperventilate/lose sleep/run in fear over it.

Here are your photos (courtesy of Leanne Sype):



Have fun!


 

Is it ever enough? - an IWSG post

 

Is it really that time again? IWSG time? The last month has just whizzed by and I feel like I haven't achieved anything.

In actual fact though, when I think about it properly I've managed to get more done than the previous couple of months. I never seem to be satisfied with my progress though, however much time I manage to spend on something.

I've read two books in the last month, having not picked up a single one for weeks beforehand. I've got myself back into blogging and managed a couple of flash fiction stories for the Writers Wednesday blog hop (which is on later today by the way! ;-) ).

And still I feel like I should, or could, be doing more. Like every other writer out there, I have family commitments that keep me busy, and finding time for reading and writing is definitely a challenge. But lately it's been getting easier to find time to fit these things in, and I'm enjoying it again. 

I just need to adjust my mindset to feel pleased with what I have managed to do, rather than fretting about what I haven't managed to do. I'll get there I'm sure, after all it's all about baby steps.

How about you? Are you ever satisfied with what you've managed to get done? Is this just part of being a writer, always feeling like you should be giving that little bit more?

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For more information on the amazing entity that is the Insecure Writers Support Group, click on the link and head over. Here you will find everyone else participating and it's well worth a browse to see what everyone's insecurities are. Trust me, you're not alone, there are plenty of us on the same wavelength.

 Happy IWSG Day!

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A crush on the man who does not exist ... - Express Yourself

Hi there folks! How are we all doing on this sunny Monday afternoon? After a rather hectic and tiring weekend away with the kiddiwinks, we're having a few days now just to chill out and relax a little bit.

With that in mind, I'm making the most of this quiet(ish) time to take part in this weeks Express Yourself meme.



Hosted by Dani at Entertaining Interests and Jackie at Bouquet of Books, each week they present us with a question that they would like answered. 

The topics cover anything and everything, and give us the opportunity to learn a little more about our fellow bloggers.

Hop over to see them and check out who else is expressing themselves.

This weeks topic is: Who were your celebrity crushes when you were a teen?

knight-rider.wikia.com

 I remember my very first crush was on Michael Knight. I'm not sure if it was really him that interested me though, or if it was more KITT, his talking black Pontiac Trans Am.






Later on I had a bit of a thing for the Bros boys and Luke Perry may also have adorned my bedroom walls.

My eldest daughter is only 6, but I wonder who she'll have on her bedroom walls and what she'll make of my Luke Perry, Johnny Depp, Will Smith appreciations.


How about you? Who were your teenage crushes on?

Happy Monday all!!!

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Celebrating the summer holidays - Week one of six

I'm grabbing a few minutes to write this post while the grandparents keep the children entertained for half an hour. We're only one week in to the six week summer holiday and I'm already finding little-to-no time for blogging, writing or even reading very much.




It's Friday though, so time to celebrate what we can from the last week. Our wonderful host for this is VikLit at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author, and her fabulous team of co-hosts all help spread the word of this hop and the celebrations that are making us all happy.

Please check them out as well as others on the linky list who are taking part.

Diana Wilder ... about myself, by myself ...

LG Keltner at Writing of the Edge

Katie at The Cyborg Mom

CaffeMaggieato at mscoffeehouse

Today, I'm celebrating:

 

• Our second wedding anniversary at the beginning of the week. We couldn't get out to the pub by ourselves so I cooked us a nice steak dinner at home instead, yum yum!!!

• Using three of the hobs and the fan oven all at once on my lovely range cooker for the anniversary meal. The first proper meal I've cooked on it since we moved in!

• Getting away to the coast with the girls for a few days. The sun is shining, there's no housework to do, just chill out time. Well, as much as you can chill out with a six year old and a two month old, haha!

I hope you are all celebrating something fabulous this week too!

Have a great weekend! xxx