“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Month: May 2017
Quote For The Day 5-29-2017
“You’ve always been what you are. That’s not new. What you’ll get used to is knowing it.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
Quote For The Day 5-28-2017
“I think that we are like stars. Something happens to burst us open; but when we burst open and think we are dying; we’re actually turning into a supernova.”
― C. JoyBell C.
Sunday Photo Fiction 5-27-2017
Each week a photo is used, donated by one of the participants of Sunday Photo Fiction, and the idea is to write a story with the photo as a prompt in around 200 words.
He stood outside Traitor’s Gate, waiting, watching, thinking ‘traitor’ wasn’t necessary the best name for the place. Upsetting-the-King Gate might be the better title. Either way meant death.
The stink from the river rose up around him, a smell he’d known every day of his life, but had never grown accustomed to smelling. The river, the heat and the stink of unwashed bodies defined his world.
The sound of the boat coming down the river came to him, sharp and clear. Wood on wood. Water on wood. Oar by oar by oar.
The Prince sat quiet in the center of the boat, hooded, head bowed, resigned to his fate. Once he was dead, nothing would stand in the way of the Pretender. And that would be the end of Britain as they now knew it.
The Gate creaked upwards. The Prince’s body shivered. The Gate closed.
He stood for another moment then turned away. Just because Britain would be different didn’t mean it would be bad.
Word Of The Day 5-27-2017
noyade
no·yade \(ˈ)nwä¦yäd, (ˈ)nwī¦äd\
Popularity: Bottom 10% of words
Definition
an execution by drowning : a mass drowning
Example
- ‘Perhaps 1,800 perished altogether in the noyades, and their bodies were washed up on the tidal banks of the Loire for weeks afterwards.’
- ‘Although absent from the novel’s descriptive chain of images, the noyade makes itself known to the reader by scattered traces throughout the text.’
Did You Know?
The Drownings at Nantes (French: Noyades de Nantes) were a series of mass executions by drowning during the Reign of Terror in Nantes, France, that occurred between November 1793 and February 1794. During this period, anyone arrested and jailed for not consistently supporting the Revolution, or suspected of being a royalist sympathizer, especially Catholic priests and nuns, was cast into the Loire and drowned on the orders of Jean-Baptiste Carrier, the representative-on-mission in Nantes. Before the murders ceased, as many as four thousand or more people, including innocent families with women and children, died in what Carrier himself called “the national bathtub”.[1]
Origin
French, from noyer to drown, from Late Latin necare, from Latin, to kill, from nec-, nex violent death
Saturday Grammar Goof 5-27-2017
I wouldn’t recommend getting your sign done here.
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Quote For The Day 5-27-2017
“The ripples of the kind heart are the highest blessings of the Universe.”
― Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style
Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers 5-27-2017
This week’s photo prompt is provided by Louise with The Storyteller’s Abode.
Guide for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers
1. A prompt photo will be provided each Tuesday to be used as a base to your story. Please include photo prompt with your story.
2. Linking for this challenge begins on Tuesday and runs to the following Monday evening.
3. Please credit photo to photographer.
4. The story word limit is 100 – 150 words (+ – 25 words). Please try to stay within this limit.
“This,” he said, opening the french doors and taking in a deep breath of sea air, “is the life.”
She came up behind, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I thought I was the life.”
“That’s a different kind of life altogether. So…beach or question mark?” Wiggled his eyebrows.
With a laugh, she moved away. “Mother always said you were a bad influence.”
“Me?”
“Every day.”
“Good thing you never listened to your mother.”
She smirked. “You corrupted me.”
“You made me.”
Ten minutes later, they were out of the hotel and onto the beach, chasing each other into the water.
FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER- 2017 5-26-2017
FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER
The challenge for Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner will open early Wednesday morning, May 17th. Allow the prompt to take you anywhere you want to go! (Limit your stories to 200 words.)
This challenge is open until 11:00 pm Friday night, May 26th, 2017.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-kliemt-excavator-on-brown-soil-162515/
The bulldozer sat abandoned. He’d meant to arrive earlier, watch the end of shift, but want and reality often diverged. Not that it made any difference at this point.
Climbing into the cab, he thought about his family. He’d never known his father; had always thought that was why he’d grown up as he did. He’d needed something in which to believe.
Man had made a mess of his world. Everything green had been destroyed, leaving nothing but man-made concrete and steel in its place. Why didn’t they understand? They were killing the world, killing themselves. But then man wasn’t the smartest of species.
Now or never.
Unscrewing the gas can, he poured the liquid over the cab, soaking the seat, splashing the controls and floor.
Mankind just didn’t understand.
It was time to make them understand.
Sitting, he pulled out his matches and struck a spark.
Word Of The Day 5-26-2017
selcouth
sel·couth \ˈsel-ˌküth\
Popularity: Bottom 30% of words
Definition
Strange, unusual, a rare; unfamiliar, marvellous, wondrous.
Example
I love to travel to selcouth places and learn about them.
Origin
Middle English, from Old English seldcūth, from seldan seldom + cūth known
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/selcouth
A Writer's Life 
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