Thursday, December 7, 2017

Ready, Set, Write...

Let the writing begin:

Writing about writing is a circle of writing, don't you think?

What does one write about writing?

I took a songwriter's class this summer and it was fun sitting in a room with a bunch of folks like me trying to come up with ideas about pencils and horses and stars.

Writing comes from an innate desire to.....

WRITE!!!

It is that simple.

Every day, I have to write something. Let me say that again:

Every day, I HAVE to WRITE SOMETHING....

No, it needs to read

EVERY DAY, I HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING!!!!

aww....that's better. Had to jot that down.

T:)

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Magic of People in a Crowded Room

I saw him.

I was standing in line to order a chicken salad sandwich, garden salad, and a Coke for my mother in law and order a taco soup, wildberry smoothie, ice tea, and coffee for me and I saw him.

He was sitting next to another guy, a friend perhaps. He was talking to his friend but eye contacting me. I looked away quickly so he wouldn't notice that I noticed him or perhaps it was an accidental glance that connected us for a millisecond moment. I was next in line to place my order. The man and woman in front of me were taking their time, which was fine with me as I wasn't in a hurry.

DANG! I glanced over at stare guy in hopes that our eyes wouldn't meet again and that our moment in time was mere happenstance and I'll be darned if the invisible line of vision didn't take place AGAIN! Two times now! Do I go for three strikes? I'm too inquisitive NOT to look again...stupid Pandora's Box!

I place my order, pay the lady with my debit card, and glance over one more time. The guy was a nice looking man. Probably around 40 years of age. I'm feeling flattered that this eye contact type of game is still played in our type of world that we live in now and I am glad that I'm still found worthy enough to be included as a player. As I get older, I wonder when this will sadly come to an end and a "different" type of look will replace the flirty gazes of strangers...you know, the look that changes to concern from people that you don't know because they wonder if you need help carrying boxes or walking up stairs. Not yet for me! I'm sure when I get to that point in my life, fraternization will be a long gone memory and a non existent desire, which makes me sad.

Was the mysterious, lost connection, good looking man looking at me a THIRD time?

I'll hold the answer to that question in my heart for a while as I merrily skip on down the road and glance at a reflection of myself in a nearby window...noticing that I'm not as old as my age because my heart, soul, and mind still sees and captures the magic of people in a crowded room.

btw, I'm 19,024 day old....

T:)

Thursday, November 30, 2017

My Poetry Book....A Never Ending Project

Took my book to the publisher and she came up with a BRILLIANT idea to add 60 more pages of written words to my completed manuscript....."It will make it better...." I should be typing up the words that I have written so far, but I am blogging instead.

There are three elements to each poem that I have written:

1. The poems themselves
2. The illustrations that I drew (special note: I am NOT an illustrator, but now that I have illustrated this book, I guess I am....what exactly determines what an illustrator is? Is it anyone that draws with a pen or pencil? In my case, YES...that is what it means.)
3. A bible verse that compliments the poem and/or picture drawn (found out that you cannot pull just any old bible verse out of any old bible and use it as a quote in any old book a person writes because the dern things are copyright protected and you have to get permission or heaven forbid PAY to use the words. I pulled all of the verses from my NIV 1984 edition bible. Who knew? Every word ever written in the lifetime of mankind is COPYRIGHTED......it should be called copywronged.......because how can you take the words from an old bible, change up a few passages, copyright the new thing and claim them as your own when the words are Holy Spirit inspired.....CrAzY!! Where is the first addition? Does anyone know GREEK?

4. THE NEW IDEA: write about where the idea for each poem came from. A few of the poems came from some very dark places and I am not sure if I will write down where they came from or pull them from the book. I came to one of them yesterday to write about and I skipped over it to write about the next poem on my list, a poem about Maggie our weiner dog eating a frog. Guess where I got the idea for THAT poem?

I thought that THREE was the magic number, but I was given a fourth task to complete so now FOUR is the magic number although I think that only uneven numbers can be magic numbers so I guess I will have to come up with a FIFTH element to this book to keep it odd. (The numbers, not the book, although the book is odd in some places.)

I can't WAIT to get this project DONE!! My banjo is calling me to learn it every day and I have an amazing picture that I have to draw with oil pastel crayons!! I also have two more books to write and one of them scares the britches off of me because of the depth that I have to dig into myself to write it. I am also scared of who I will be AFTER I write it. I know that I will NOT be the same person...is that a bad thing? If we live on this earth, we need to be changing and exploring and adventuring every day. It's OK to change. It IS!!! I give whoever is reading these words PERMISSION to CHANGE your life!! You have the permission of an illustrator that writes books now. Does that mean anything?

I have also asked three people so far to endorse my book and they have all said yes. A preacher, a dentist, and a bank CEO. I have several more people to ask from all walks of life and from different parts of the world! This book will be GLOBAL in scale....minutely global in scale. I'll take that! Sounds good to me. I give myself a homemade award for almost finishing this thing. I'll give myself a better reward when I have a printed copy in my hands! I'll give myself the BEST reward when 50,000 copies have been read. What is 50K in a world of 7 BILLION folks? Does anyone know math? What percentage is that? I would figure it up if I had a 10 key because my phone just won't do it.

That is my spiel for the day....

The End

T:)

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Short and Sweet

Trying to write in a blog on your phone is like......trying to swim laps in your bathtub....pitiful. Hopefully, I can write on a regular basis after my book is punlished. Should be finished in ONE WEEk!

From the phone of me...
T:)

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Creative Drunks. Is there such a thing?

Hello Yonder Hearts peeps! I have not been blogging much these days because:

*It seems to be fading away (blogging that is/not my brain...??).
*I haven't had a computer, laptop, ipad at my house for the past two plus years and I type on the computer at our local library and at work. This is totally by choice as we moved to the country and quite frankly, there is a plethora of things to do there that does not include using a computer. I am enjoying the break from it in my domain and I may continue that for a few more months.
*Working on my book (the Great American Poetry book) Hard to do without a computer at the house. The library folks know me by name.
*Trying to learn banjo stuff now....how to play it...

...a countless LIST of reasons why. Short spurts of witty comments and one liners are used daily in the Facebook world and in YouTube. Sometimes though, I feel the need to get back on Blogtime and log some type of lengthier one liner. SOMETIMES, I want to write something deeper than:

"Have a good day"
"Happy Birthday"
"So sorry for your loss"
"I'll be praying for you"
"That's a good one"
"You're an idiot...LOL"
"I need coffee"
"I need more sleep and less stress"
"I love cats"
"I hate cats"
"Dogs and cats go to Heaven when they die"

You know, stuff like that.

Sometimes, I want to write stuff like:

WHENCE And from which hour thou mightst findeth thyself sullied by the temper of thine epoch (abashed or abraded, bemused, befuddled, chastened or downtrodden, disconsolate, dispirited, enfeebled or exasperated), thou shalt at each moment speaketh to thyself....

I don't even know what that means. Someone I know wrote that one time and I thought it poetic. He was probably drunk. WHY does a person have to be drunk or stoned to be creative????? That totally STINKS if that is the case. A lot of creative people are drunks and stoners. Hence, another list:

Alas, I tried to research (and by research I mean Google) "creative drunks" and the dang computer almost blew up. Does that mean that there are too many to list, does it mean there is no such thing as creative drunks, or does it mean that I have infected my computer with a nasty virus? What does it mean???

I saw a supposed quote from a famous writer (I think his last name was Hemingway or something) that said, "Write drunk, edit sober." Who was that guy? Of course a man wrote that quote. I guess a woman could have written it as well....but she didn't. Probably because she wasn't drunk enough to creatively come up with that philosophy. Maybe alcohol affects a man's brain differently than it does a woman's brain. I don't often see creative drunk women. I'm trying to think of the last time that I saw ANY creative drunk. I'm not around a lot of inebriates, so I may be missing out on some juicy type of insight.

ANYWAY.......

That was a ramble on for sure. My point? I need to write more in depthly and use words that are not made up (like in depthly).

I think that is all for now.
BTW, I bought a laptop a few days ago. Gotta get it out, plug it in, and see if it works. Currently, I am typing at the library again!


T:)


Thursday, May 18, 2017

The Battle's Long (a poem about FAT!) by Theresa Arnold

Me fight fat
Ten pounds stat!
 
Battle’s tough
Daily rough!
 
Food is hell
Tempting smell
 
Spirit strife
Healthy life
 
Morning wins
Evening sins
 
Stomach’s poke’n
Zippers broken
 
Nighttime chunk
Sleeping hunk
 
Morning comes
Workout runs
 
Pray for HELP
Hear my yelp!
 
Make me strong
Fat is wrong
 
Hurts my heart
Other parts
 
Spirit FIGHT
Lard, take flight!
 
Ten pounds…Drop
I WON’T STOP!
 
Constant prayer
If I dare
 
Make me strong
Battle’s LONG!!
 
As I have somehow managed to age over the years, I have discovered that it truly IS harder to lose belly fat when we get older. That sure is pitiful, isn't it? Must we deplete our daily intake of calories just so our britches will fit better and we won't have wrinkles and bumps on our legs? I refuse to get on crack just to lose weight. Ain't gonna do it!! I refuse to drink my meals too. Surely, there is a way to eat normal food and keep off weight. I was reading in Galatians 5 about the fruit of the spirit today. One of the fruits is SELF CONTROL!! That fruit must have fallen off the tree and rolled down the hill from me a few years ago. I guess I will need to walk on down the hill and pick that sucker up and eat it!!
 
Later Tators!
T:)
 
 

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Tulips de' Stink...a poem as promised

Tulips de’ Stink
By Theresa Arnold
 
Six white tulips
Float in a vase
Their beauty and charm
Are delectable
 
But what is that stench?
My nose wrinkles up
I cannot escape
It’s detestable!
 
I lift up my arms
And smell my own pits
It’s not me, oh good
I sniff harder
 
I turn my head left
My upper lip raised
And ask “Is that you?”
To my daughter.
 
She says, “It’s not me,
I showered this morn.
How dare you accuse me
Today!
 
We looked at the flowers
I held in my hand
“Oh no, couldn’t be,
There’s NO way!”
 
I lowered my head
Took air in my lungs
My tulips
TOO pretty to stink
 
I jerked back my head
And coughed 1-2-3
“Aroma de’ armpit”
I think.
 
Where in the HECK
Did these flowers acquire
The smell of a
Road worker’s Feet?
 
My Goodness, they stunk
But beauty is stronger
Than odor…also,
They were cheap!
 
So I bought the flowers
And I took them home
And emptied a can
Of Febreze
 
The very next day
The smell lingered on
Like some type of
Rancid disease.
 
“But beauty is stronger”
Again I did argue
This smell comes from God
Up above
 
I’ll NEVER throw out
My “tulips de’ stink”
Because everything
Deserves LOVE!!
 
I decided to post the poem....because I care:)
Have a GREAT stinky Spring!
T:)
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Springtime and Cool Names

I walked out of the building that I work in today at lunch and thought...."It's going to be a long summer". The first day of spring was yesterday and the temperature is already pushing 90 degrees on the thermometer. Winter was short, spring was shorter.

Short winter+shorter spring=LONG Summer!!

Mathematically speaking of course.

Two doves almost flew into my head as I walked to my car to take a break. I almost stepped on a crawling caterpillar on the side walk, and the baby bunnies were taking over the front yard in the morning when I let the dogs out to pee. The coyotes were close to the house and it sounded like a million laughing girls were ready to run from the trees, surround us, and eat us alive.....they were CLOSE y'all! I have major boob sweat too early in the day and year for my liking and I looked at portable fans the other day to place strategically in my house as I basically do EVERYTHING. I need one in the bathroom by the toilet, one by the bathroom sink while I brush my teeth, one in the dressing area when I do my hair, one by the sink in the kitchen as I do the dishes, one in the laundry room while I pretend to fold the clothes, 3 upstairs in my workout/art/music room (treadmill/drawing board/workout mirror), one going up the stairs because the heat hits me in the face half way up the stairs, living room is OK as my husband keeps the temperature in there about 65 degrees, one on my side of the bed while I sleep, one by the ironing board as I iron.....I think that is it. How many is that? Let me count......10. I counted 10 fans. I like air. What can I say? I LOVE air!! Can't live without it. I like the kind of air that blows around, not the kind that sits still and does nothing. Kind of like life and living. Do you like life to sit still or move? I still like life to move around. I'm not old enough yet to enjoy a good SIT! Not yet!!! I'm partial to the saying, "I'll have enough time to sleep when I'm dead" from that classic movie "Roadhouse" starring Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott.

Short post today. I tried to pull up my tulip poem, but the net was dead so I could not. I do not like to depend on the internet for memory and recall!! Drives me NUTS!

The title of this post is called "Springtime and Cool Names". I have quite a list of cool names that I have collected throughout the years. I was telling a few to a young man that I work with. He LOVED them! I'll give y'all one of them as I may write a book about the extraordinary unusual TRUE names I have encountered in my lifetime thus far:

Jr. Godi (pronounced Joon-yer Goat-eye).

Say it outloud....Junior Godi!!

Real name.....one of my husband's relatives....likes to eat sticks of butter.....(who doesn't?)

Later,
T:)

Friday, February 17, 2017

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Armpits and Tulips

I started drawing pictures for my poetry book in mid December. It has been two months and I am going strong. I draw EVERY day. I wake up before every country animal in our forest does to begin a very long day. Today, I was working on a drawing of some tulips in a clear glass vase. The problem is, I don't have a poem to go with this picture....so........I now have to write a poem to go along with the picture that I drew. These flowers are not real. I bought them at TJ MAX. My husband does NOT like TJ MAX (he hates it) because he says that everything there smells like armpits and feet. This store is a place that you can buy name brand goods for next to nothing in price! Me and my youngest daughter were shopping and I saw these beautiful artificial tulips in a small glass container with the fake water in the bottom of it. The tulips were white and looked REAL. I picked up the flowers that were a steal for $7.99 because of how real they looked. I am an artificial flower super snob. The flowers have to look authentic when I pay nothing for them, none of that cheesy cheap stuff for me. Anyway, we were standing in line with armfuls of cheap stuff and all of a sudden I started smelling armpit stink. "What the HECK?" I thought it was me, so I smelled my pits, and then I asked my daughter if she smelled it and she said she did. I asked her to check her pits as well. It wasn't her. THEN.......I smelled the lovely, cheap priced expensive looking tulips and sure enough............THEY SMELLED LIKE ARMPITS! DANG if my husband wasn't right again!!

I bought them!

I sprayed some Febreeze on them and they still stink.

How did these flowers get armpit stink on them???? Was someone unloading them from the delivery truck and just tucked them under their arms when they carried them in the store?

Anyway, they make for a good model for drawing. I wonder if nude models smell like armpits too?
HMMMM.....?

Friday, January 13, 2017

Happy 2017!! Cheap and/or Broke?

Wanted to say HELLO to the world today!

HELLO!!

My writing has been taking a backseat because I have been drawing pictures to go along with the poems that I have written for a book that I want to publish. All of the poems are written but then I decided that I wanted illustrations. DERN IT! Below is a sample of some of the stuff I have been working on. I only started drawing in December. Well, that is not totally true. I have been drawing since I was old enough to pick up a crayon. But, drawing stuff to put in a book that is going to get published????.......this is a FIRST for me. I checked on other folks illustrating for me, and to be quite frank, I am too cheap to pay someone and also too broke to pay them. Broke and cheap go hand in hand nicely. I personally don't think necessity is the mother of invention, I think it is being cheap and/or broke!

Sample of what being cheap/broke does to a person:


All of the pictures that I am drawing are from photographs that I or someone else have taken. Over half of the poems I have written are about wildlife and, alas, I don't have a lot of wildlife pics to my credit. I have asked permission from two wonderful guys I know to use some of their wildlife photography and they said, "SURE!!"

So, 2017 should put a new book out in the world, someday in the next 300+ days, as a contribution to literature and art. A penny or a million dollars can be a contribution!

Later Taters,
T:)