One-Liner Wednesday

This is somewhat true for me. I’m still missing my mom 11 years on, and she was definitely someone I “had,” a huge part of my life, but otherwise… yeah. It’s pretty easy for me to dump material possessions as I downsize (again) for moving. But it was difficult for me to let the “soul mate” dream go. I’ve never had a soul mate, which may seem ironic for a romance writer, so when my 20-year marriage ended, I became more determined than ever to find this person. It took 5 years of increasingly frustrating and depressing situations for me to realize I had to let the dream go for my own mental and emotional health. I talk about this a lot because it helps me reinforce it to myself. I just today posted in comments to 2 blogs how much happier I am without the wings of this dream beating in my brain.

But it was a struggle to lug the thing to the trash bin and leave it there.

~*~

One-Liner Wednesday

Image found on Google

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Hello, It’s Me

As Rory continues to amass his dossiers on us, I for one am happy to provide loads of juicy info for his future blackmail schemes. How about you?

1. What makes you laugh, as in really laugh hard?

Unexpected humor is the best. I love to be caught off-guard by someone making a wordplay in the middle of a conversation. That just cracks me up, especially if it pulls in a layered reference to a past event. I can be moved to tears by verbal silliness. One thing I particularly enjoy (though it isn’t spontaneous) is parody. When I watched this video the other day for the first time, I was literally LMAO!

2. What makes you really angry?

What doesn’t? That would be a shorter list. Idiots who blow through red lights and go way over the speed limit. Tailgaters. People who abuse children and pets. Racism and antisemitism. Leaf blowers. Litterbugs. Any repetitive beeping sound wtfff shut up!!!

People who refuse to take responsibility for their own feelings. Blamers, whiners, and bullies. Sulkers and pouters. But also those who scream endlessly. Stalkers. Narcissists. Compulsive liars. Yes, I could have just said men on dating sites. 🙄

3. Who knows you the best?

My daughters probably know me best of all, but no one knows the real me. There’s a blogger (inactive now) whom I’ve never met in person, but when we were hanging out online she was great at understanding what I meant. I sometimes write obscurely and she would translate for the masses. (I’m better at writing clearly than I used to be.) My ex-husband also could translate my thoughts for me way back when. It’s nice to feel understood, without having to explain 27 different ways before someone goes “oh I see,” and then you wonder if they’re just being polite. These two somehow tapped into the way my mind worked regarding conceptual thought, and that was very cool.

But that’s just one aspect of a person, how they think about concepts. It’s important, granted, but there are other things, needs, values, dreams, goals, humor, etc. I used to be more “branded” with stuff like cupcakes and shoes and favorite novels and ways of expressing myself, so that it was easier for people to predict what I might say. But I became too bored with all that, even if it’s ideal for an online presence. Some people know a few facets of me well, and a few (my daughters) know many… but there are some no one knows, maybe not even me.

~*~

Rory’s Question Fun Directory

Rory’s Really You S1G3

Images from Happy Color and Pixabay

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Blogging and Licorice

Dr Tanya continues her series of blogging about blogging by asking today:

“How do you write fresh content when everything that is worth saying has already been said?”

First, I would like to note that Dr. Tanya asks us to leave a link in her comments when we respond to this question, but her comments appear to be disabled (again).

Second, my specific answer to the question is that it’s easy to write fresh content when we stay in the realms of fiction, poetry, and personal experiences. As we respond to the prompts using our imagination to create a piece of flash fiction or a poem, we will end up with something new. That’s what I love about the prompts ~ the various ways we each react to the same picture. Fascinating! Personal stories are fun to read too; usually we can relate to some element in another blogger’s peeve or smile.

Where we get in trouble imo, where things slide into boringness, is when people turn their blogs into link machines. I don’t want to see posts full of clicks to CNN or to items to purchase, nor do I want to read yawny advice on finance or health or any other thing. Am I telling people what to write? Of course not. Write whatever the hell you want! I’m simply answering the question: what’s fresh content vs dull content in my opinion. (In another blog’s comments, I was accused of telling people what to write when giving this opinion.)

Third, what happens when you write the kind of stuff someone doesn’t care for? Say you’re a person who loves to post product reviews on your blog… and you read this post of mine. What happens now? Should you get infuriated and crab at me? Well, that is one option. Or you could think hmm she doesn’t want to read blogs that are mainly product reviews, oh well… I guess I’ll go focus on people who do.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve read/heard someone saying they hate romance novels or poetry. I get it. It’s not your cup of tea. That’s not a problem for me… I will continue writing romance and poetry just the same because I enjoy it. And I don’t crab at the folks who think poetry is boring or romance writing is stupid; they have every right to their tastes. I’m not sure why there’s this persistent percentage of peeps who think it’s important that nothing ever be criticized.

It’s okay to have preferences. It really is. And there’s nothing more annoying than someone trying to talk you out of them. I ran into this guy once who seemed upset that I didn’t like black licorice and wanted to prove to me that I had never actually tasted “real” licorice. But what if it’s true that I go my whole life believing I don’t like licorice without actually knowing the real taste of real licorice…

What difference does it make?

~*~

Images from the Bitmoji app.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 10

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

I don’t even know where to start with this peeve… it’s not really a single peeve but more like a peeve cascade. Buckle up! 😮

First, I noticed that my Amazon Prime movies were doing an annoying thing: I’d click on one to watch but get a message it wasn’t available. Sometimes I’d have to click 5 times before the movie would start and it’s not like any of these flicks are masterpieces. I googled this issue and it said to restart my whole Roku dealio, so I did and nothing has changed. This was not and is not happening on Netflix, btw.

Second, a few days later I received an email from Roku telling me that my Roku was old and might quit working properly. Well, great news there. They had a special offer for me, natch. For a mere $15 (plus T&S), I could upgrade to Roku Express and stay in the loop with software updates and such.

Third, last night (Wednesday) I decided to order the stupid thing. I had to create a new Roku password because I forgot mine and also had to change my credit card because the one on file had expired. But the Roku website wouldn’t accept my new card. I entered it like 27 times and nope. It wouldn’t take it.

Fine. I figured I’d buy the damn thing on my phone. But this was one of those times, and there are many, when the new chained password failed to actually chain to my linked device. Okay, I decided to request a new NEW password on my phone and chain it back to my laptop (for whatever reason the chain always works in that direction). But Roku said no, you can’t. I logged out on my laptop. Still no. 😡

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD LET ME SPEND SOME MONEY WOULD YOU PLEASE!!!!!

Then I had a brainflash. I turned on my TV, went to Roku settings, and changed my credit card info there.

I ran right back to the Roku website on my laptop, logged in, saw that my CC had been automagically updated, and bought the whatsit Express. Whoop de farkin’ doo!

Then, then my friends, Roku says to me…

“Hey girl. We see you don’t have a Roku TV. Would you like to buy some speakers for it? Remember, they only work with a Roku TV!” 🤯🤯🤯

I mean… I mean… I’m already out $22 for this Express nonsense, when I thought the original Roku would last the rest of my life. I don’t trust these peeps at all now, and I assume I’ll have to buy more dumbassery upgrades in the future to keep using my TV for streaming channels if I even want to… have I mentioned that most movies are crap? But then every once in a while there comes along a Sopranos or a Breaking Bad or a Game of Thrones… 💖

Anyway, sure, let me get right on that special speaker deal just as soon as I jump on this sail sale… I hear they only work with boats…

~*~

Images from Pixabay, Google, Pexels.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Doggie Dreams

Once I had a dream of dogs and they were frightening, a whole pack, about to attack and kill me, circling around. It was mixed in with driving and my ex… I posted about it, I think, but we aren’t supposed to go look things up in our SOCS. Yesterday or the day before I dreamt of dogs again. It’s not a theme that recurs (npi) frequently, so it’s significant, imo. I don’t dream about cats either. Animals simply don’t inhabit much real estate in my dreamland. Anyway, I did look up the meaning of doggie dreams, not that I necessarily believe in any of that woo. Supposedly, dogs represent fidelity, loyalty, protection, and self-defense. But those would be nice dogs… my old dream wasn’t about nice dogs and my recent dream was about two huge, scary dogs jumping on me, one at a time, putting their paws on my shoulders, and staring into my eyes. Each time, I was sure I would die. Their owner, a mean horrible man I don’t know, stood to the side and did nothing. But the dogs didn’t hurt me, despite the fact that he didn’t call them off. I was terrified though.

The dream interpretation site said that a dog in a dream could be a self-protective emotional barrier, so maybe the doggies that put their paws on my shoulders weren’t dangerous. They could have been guarding me from something. The man may have been irrelevant. There were two dogs. One was brown, which may mean I feel out of control wrt to a relationship or may be starting a new one. And the other doggo was white, symbolizing friendship and happiness. I guess this doggie dream was a much better dream than the first one, where the dogs were aggressive and chasing me ~ symbolizing anger with my ex. Even though these last two doggos were huge and put their paws on me, there was no actual threat.

Sometimes a dog is just a dog. 💖

~*~

Images credits Shelley Krupa and Diane K.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Sun in the Fun

A lovely new follower I suggest you check out, Chaotic Blonde (what a fabulous name!), has gifted me the Sunshine Award! Thank you so much, CB! 😍

These days, I’m not much into posting awards and tagging others, but I will still answer questions people have taken the time to compose (when I have the time).

1. What made you want to create a blog?

This blog was created in March 2011 as an outlet to post song lyrics, poetry, etc. that related to my emotional distress at the time. It changed as my circumstances did.

2. Do you prefer writing at night, or in the day?

Whenever the mood strikes, but mostly at home, at night. 🌙

3. What was the last film that made you cry?

Hmm, I can’t remember. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything good/moving.

4. What’s an interest that not many people know you have?

People were surprised recently when I expressed interest in going to a reptile farm, but snakes are fascinating. 🐍

5. Describe yourself in three words.

Funny, reliable, neat.

6. If you were a cocktail, what would you be?

Irish coffee. ☘️

7. Do you believe in astrology?

No.

8. Name three things on your bucket list.

Travel by train; finish all my WIPs; learn to crochet.

9. Do you think happiness comes from within, or that it’s something to be shared?

Within.

10. To you, what is love?

Chemicals.

11. What’s changed the most about your writing style since you first started out?

I quit writing “poast” because it annoyed Fandango.

~*~

Image credit to the Bitmoji app.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

More About Meeee

Rory continues his Really You game with a second round of questions today…

1. Do you hoard clutter or constantly de-clutter?

As Melanie noted, clutter and hoarding are two separate things, though of course one can be a hoarder with a cluttered house. My mother, forex, was extremely neat and clean, and her homes were always free of dust and clutter, but she did hoard some weird stuff in the back of the closets. Some men I’ve known have been messy with a lot of clutter around, but I wouldn’t call them hoarders. They’re just too busy or lazy to clean up. I’ve also known messy hoarders who would literally freak out at the idea of tossing away any of their precious garbage. Ughhh. Impossible to date these people. Can’t even imagine what would happen if two of ’em ended up together… 😱

As far as me, I am neither a clutterer nor a hoarder ~ in fact, I’m notorious for throwing things away. That’s how I relieve stress. Delete delete delete! Ahhhh… Right now, I’m in the process of moving and have tossed a ton of things away and also have donated some stuff to Goodwill. It makes me feel fantastic to lighten up! I only wish I could afford to dump everything and start over completely! Well, not everything. I do have some sentimental attachment to photo albums and books, etc. But clothing and furniture and useless knickknacks bought on a whim? Meh.

Love empty clean space…

2. Do you enjoy cooking – if so what is your ‘special dish’  and if not what is the dish you wish you could create?

This is a complicated question. I loved cooking when I was young, but it was also a form of control for me. I wanted to know exactly what I was eating and how much in order to count calories. Later, I lightened up about that, but at the same time became more adept in estimating the calories in restaurant foods (pro-tip: always higher than you imagine), plus there are a zillion guides and charts now. I was happy to cook for my family and figure out ways to create meals we could all enjoy. I never forced anyone to eat anything they disliked cuz I hate when people do that to me.

But now I’m alone. It’s not fun to cook for myself and have to clean up a sink full of dishes after. I dislike buying in quantities I know will go to waste, eat the same meal 5 times, or freeze it in blobs. Occasionally, I’ll make something for a potluck, but with so many people now vegan or gluten-free or paleo… meh. It’s just easier to stop at the store for a fruit bowl or whatever. I keep careful track of my finances, and I’m not spending more now that I’ve quit bothering to cook for myself.

When I was dating (barf), I thought it would be romantic to cook with someone, but things never progressed to that point. I kept running into these man-babies who were looking to be coddled and nurtured by having someone prepare hot meals for them when they came over. Welp… I work full-time same as they do. I am totally not into slaving away over a stove for some dude while he watches the game. It’s not 1950, hello!

3. What are we likely to find in your condiment cupboard?

I just threw everything away! 🤣🤣🤣

~*~

Rory’s Question Fun Directory

Image credit to the Bitmoji app, Google, and Amazon.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

My Bad

Bloggers have been discussing plagiarism as it relates to images. While I have strong opinions about “regular” plagiarism, I’ve been sloppy with respect to pics. For the ones on Pixabay, they say no attribution is necessary, so I’ve been taking them at their word there. I also don’t bother crediting the ones from Pexels which are right here on the WordPress tab ~ it literally says “free photo library.” However… I can see that people might get confused and believe they are my photos when they aren’t. 🤯

Obviously the pictures from the Happy Color app are not mine, since the HC logo appears in the image itself. I see no need to be redundant and state it again, though I was doing so at first. And bitmojis are from their own app, even if not marked (not my problem ~ I’ve been putting “bitmoji” in the alt text lately). But my own photos (or ones I’m using with permission from family) should be noted, just to discourage others from believing they were found on a free site. I probably should put a mark on them, not that it couldn’t be chopped off. Such a pain. I’ll get right on it…

The main problem is google images. I have some on here, uncredited. I think I used to say I found an image on google, but then figured eh why bother. Google doesn’t need my help in promotion, plus saying you found an image by grabbing it off google doesn’t really give credit to the copyright holder if there is one. That’s like saying hey thanks big box store where I stole a little piece of candy! I’m sure the big boxers are grateful for the mention. 🙄

Think about it. If you take a photo of your lunch today and plop it on your blog, after a while it will end up in the great googly image warehouse. Next year, someone googles “bagel sandwich” and finds your photo, saves it, and plops it on their blog. They state: “found on google.” How does this give you any credit for your photo? It doesn’t. But at least this other blogger isn’t saying she took the photo herself. I guess that’s something.

Anyway, henceforth and forthwith I vow to be clearer with image crediting until I forget again. When I do inevitably forget, here’s a rule of thumb: bad photos are mine; good photos are someone else’s. Hope that helps! 🤣

~*~

Images from the Bitmoji app and Paula Light’s personal collection.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Worth A Thousand Words?

In her series of posts about posts, Dr Tanya @ Salted Caramel asks about using images.

1. How important are images to a blog post?

I didn’t use to place importance on images, unless a post was about travel or a recipe. To me, blogging is writing, not comics. And I feel the same about twitter. But I am in the minority ~ people are visual, even on these alleged written media. To grow an audience, you have to give the people what they want. At first, I didn’t care about that, but when I began to care (around the time I published my first Kindle book), I started using more images. Now, I wouldn’t dream of posting without an image (if I don’t, my pink cupcake icon will still show up with my post in readers), though I’m fine with bloggers who don’t bother with images. In fact, I have to respect them for that.

2. What is tbe role of images in blog traffic and reader engagement?

I don’t know. I assume they help drive it up because I read this when I looked for tips. But I don’t have a direct comparison of my own before/after, since at the same time I began using more images I also began posting more frequently and commenting more often on new blogs.

3. How many images on average do you use in a blog post?

For a prompt post like this with a few questions I use one image only, and the same goes for a poem or a piece of flash fiction. I also generally use a single image for my own prompts: The Monday Peeve, Thursday Inspiration, Flashback Friday. When a post is longer, I may use more images. In my series fiction, I’ve been up to 3 or 4 in an 800 word post.

I’ve become stressed out over images for the series fiction, and I wish I’d just stuck with the same one from the beginning all the way through. First, it’s super hard to find what I want. Sometimes I spend longer looking for the damn images than writing the story… and even then they’re not right. Second, I can’t get the same person in the images, which bugs the hell out of me. So, Kevin grew a beard? Ugh. Third, the free sites that allow you to use unattributed images are so limited, and often their stuff is ridiculous, so I’m forced to google and hope I haven’t stolen something. It’s really stressful! I won’t write this way again. One image, straight through. That way also, people will know it’s the same story coming up.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Me Myself and I

[post title stolen from Beckie]

Rory has a new game happening, which is all about me.

Now, I realize I’ve been saying that I’m gonna avoid these kinds of rambling personal posts and focus more on fiction and poetry, but the first thing you need to understand about me is… I’m a liar. Okay then.

1. What is your favourite sweet treat?

I have lots of favorite sweet treats. But first, let me announce that I’m not a chocoholic. I can happily leave the choccy treats to others… and while I enjoy a chocolate chip cookie like any normal human, it’s not at the top of my list. What is? Coconut cake, lemon bars, thick homemade peanut butter cookies, and crumbly cinnamon coffee cake (like the kind Starbucks used to sell before they made it “healthy”). I also love pie, but am super picky about it ~ if it’s not exactly right, I don’t like it at all. Forex, pumpkin pie is awesome but only if it has a graham cracker crust and whipped cream on top. Otherwise, meh.

2. If you want to really relax – what is your go to?

I have a hard time totally relaxing. There’s always something (usually several things) bothering me somewhat. Idk how people can forget about all that’s wrong with this world… even if you’re personally cocooned against financial horrors, what about other people and animals? You must know of the vast suffering that goes on day in and day out, unabated. I just trudge along, I guess. There are things that temporarily distract me like movies, games, poetry. But I know the other stuff is there while I divert myself with trivia. I spend too much time on news sites, which is depressing, and I know I should stop. What’s the point? I can’t do anything about all this outrage… it just boils in my brain, keeping me from being able to relax. Soon, I’ll be moving to a place where it’ll be easier to exercise; maybe that will help.

3. What is your guiltiest pleasure?

This is a weird question for me now. I don’t feel I even have “guilty pleasures” these days. I hardly indulge in anything because of fear of consequences. And after a while, not indulging becomes as much of a habit as indulging, you know? It’s like I’m too lazy to do anything wrong. Drinking? Nah. That’ll give me a migraine. Sex? No thanks. Too stressful to deal with another person. Overeating? Ick, tummy ache! The only self-indulgent thing I might do is not get dressed on a Sunday and watch movies or read all day instead of finishing any chores. But this isn’t even that pleasurable… I only do it when I’m really tired. And I’ll feel bad when the unproductive day is done.

So, there you have it, Rory. Super boring personal jabber. I warned you. 😜

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.