Saturday, March 25, 2017

I can hear your yowls of protest even before this is posted

Clearly some of you have been nipping into the cooking sherry at breakfast; many suggestions have the whiff of spent decorum and what-the-hell, do-your-worst bravado. In other words, laying the gauntlet for  #100 to be the craziest contest EVER:

To wit:
Casey Karp 11:45am
But if you really wanted to make contest #100 special for the participants, "anthropomorphic" wouldn't be a bad choice.
Kate Higgins 11:56am
Can't do Hooptedoodle huh???
Oh, well something more mundane then;

I'll choose Casey Karp's "kippled"

(Oh geez, I just sounded like the sorting hat in "Harry Potter"!)


Timothy Lowe 6:21pm
Course, I think janet should throw us all a curveball and scramble the words. I know too many of you devious mo fos have already worked out half an entry.

There were some really good suggestions:
feral
plant 
fix
slim
bleat

But the winner has to be: Megan V 8:50am
My vote goes with syndrome(from Hank's entry), if only because 1. I want to see how Reider's try to Forti that one and 2. Syndrome is the villain in The Incredibles.

You'll notice NONE of those good suggestion words appear in her comment. So, guess which word I picked and post it in the comment column here.)

PS And don't for a second think I didn't consider using this lovely comment as the prompt and asking "what happens next?":

IJ has decided sleep is for those who can't use milk like an upper. She's the infant equivalent of the college kid with a coffee IV and too-big ambitions. More milk, more Yertle, more snuggles. She looks like she's napping but I know better. She's just resting her jaw.


Did someone call fo yowling?

89 comments:

AJ Blythe said...

Villain (isn't that how all sharks are cast?)

And is everyone else finding this fun in a rather terrifying way?

Amy Schaefer said...

Guess? No, no. We had an old friend from overseas arrive unexpectedly last night. Not just on the stroke of midnight, but in the pouring rain. So I am up cooking bacon at 7 o'clock on a Saturday. Rerouted planes - they lead to ridiculous situations you would never accept in fiction.

...and yet I can't leave without putting my oar in somehow. I'm going to pretend that I saw "incredulous" in the comment trail somewhere, and vote for that.

E.M. Goldsmith said...

Syndrome? Yes, we all have a syndrome. It's true. Shark bite syndrome. And it looks like contest 100 will fall amid the A-Z Challenge days. So we'll be writing.

Amy Johnson said...

I'm guessing that from the list of good suggestion words, Janet picked bleat. And she chose that word for several reasons, including that Brigid's comment was about Ilaria Jacqueline's bleats, and Ilaria Jacqueline makes Janet happy. I noticed that Brigid's post said bleats, but the good suggestion word list said bleat (without the s). Does that matter?

Lisa Bodenheim said...

Clever, clever, diabolically clever. Is it Forti?

Colin Smith said...

Thanks for all the birthday well-wishes yesterday, everyone. I had a lovely time with the family. :)

As for which word from Megan's comment... I'm torn between villain and Incredibles. Given Janet's dark little sharkly heart, I'm inclined toward villain. Though Forti is a good choice, too. :)

french sojourn said...


I have this sinking feeling we haven't seen the last of...dare I say it...hooptedoodle? (But maybe kipling may rear it's head...try anything once...right?)

Kitty said...

Colin, your Forti guess is a good one. Although, I'm still working on hooptedoodle -- y'know, just in case.

Melanie Sue Bowles said...

Guess? I can't guess. My brain is muddled (and not from cooking sherry). You know it's bad when you forget to put the pot under that little opening where the coffee drips out. Hank, Thank you for your kind words over on FB. It meant a lot.

I will say that the prelude to #100 is making me deliriously happy. I almost don't want the actual contest to commence. And then I wonder... is it pathetic commentary on your life when reading a certain sharky blog is the most exciting part of your day?

I'm off to spend 5 or 6 mind-numbing hours on the tractor. So, yeah.

Theresa said...

Forti would be fabulous. As would bleat.

french sojourn said...


Melanie Sue Bowles, our Corgi was my wifes dog, and the Corgi never let me forget it. Although she ( the Corgi) was a female dog...on so many levels, she was loved dearly by my wife.

I just wanted to again pass on my condolences for the loss of your Corgi after 15 years. (a purebred Corgi...vs the rat / rat terrier / Corgi mix, we had.) Posting this so that fellow Reiders knew the reason of your heartbroken funk. Hopefully I haven't overstepped my boundaries (work to your strengths, Hank)

Be well, and coincidently, I'm off to my tractor to load up a bale of hay to donate for a couple abandoned horses. Small world. The horses are being rescued, so don't stress.

Cecilia Ortiz Luna said...

Methinks it's Forti - it lends itself to good, err. Forti-fying? Forti-ficating?

It would also be a tribute to the master of the dark arts that is the Shark flash fiction. If I'm not mistaken, Steve had been participating since FF#1.

Amy Johnson said...

Janet, I was a little confused about whether we're supposed to guess which word you chose from the good suggested word list, or guess which word you chose from Megan's post. I went with the former. But now I'm wondering. Could you please straighten me out? Thanks!

Melanie, I'm so sorry for your loss. I've lost a dear pet before, too. I enjoyed visiting your website not long ago and seeing the beautiful dogs and horses and pigs. What a blessing for an animal to be one of yours!

BJ Muntain said...

I think Janet is saying that the word she chose IS in Megan's winning entry, but isn't one of the five 'really good suggestions'...

I'm guessing the word 'hank'...

Melanie: I'm so sorry about your pupper. I know how hard it is, and I know you know, because in your work, it's impossible not to know this sort of sadness. (((hugs))) And no, it's not a pathetic commentary. Just a commentary. And I doubt, with your passion, that Janet's blog is the most exciting part of the day. Maybe a very entertaining part, but not the most exciting, or even the most pleasurable.

Completely off-topic: Yesterday, my mum and I went to the cemetery to visit my dad, since it was the first anniversary of his passing. The Canada geese were taking over the place, wandering here and there, honking to each other, preparing for spring, and Mum and I started making up stories for what they were saying. I wouldn't doubt Dad was there, being funny in his own way, trying to keep us from getting too maudlin.

Donnaeve said...

I'm with Amy J, as in I'm cornfused - as someone I know used to say.

QOTKU said, "But the winner has to be: Megan V 8:50am"

And Megan V's comment is:

"My vote goes with syndrome(from Hank's entry), if only because 1. I want to see how Reider's try to Forti that one and 2. Syndrome is the villain in The Incredibles."

So, I'm thinking okay, "syndrome," is the 4th word.

BUT THEN, QOTKU says this!

"You'll notice NONE of those good suggestion words appear in her comment. So, guess which word I picked and post it in the comment column here.)"

I have the same "gaze" as DoY at this moment. Backatcha QOTKU, am I extra dense this a.m.?

Donnaeve said...

Oh. I bet it's...vote.

(Now I think I get it. See? It does help to type things out!)

Melanie, So sorry for your loss! I haven't been on FB since about 8:00 p.m. last night. (might have...a stalker, and I'm sort of dreading going out there. I've never blocked anybody, but I might have to in this case)

Anyway, (((((hugs))))) galore.

BJ Muntain said...

Donna: Do block them. For your own sanity and safety, even if it turns out they're not a stalker. You can always unblock them if you find out differently later. But block this person now.

Claire Bobrow said...

I'm guessing...Forti.

Melanie: I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. It's tough to lose a faithful companion and friend. Sending warm thoughts your way.

Donna: yikes! Block!

Craig F said...

Must be some kind of feral syndrome that needs to be Fortified because it has too big of ambitions on becoming a Yertle.

If you want that in other terms, here they are:

I am all kinds of confused here.

Dena Pawling said...


Confused doesn't even begin to describe how I read this blog post. But channeling kdjames, I do notice the word "the" in Megan's post, so I'll go with that.

Julie Weathers said...

Melanie,

I'm very sorry about your loss. This is always such a tough thing to go through.

I was messing with chapter nine and missed the deadline. Lorena, my MC, sold her horse herd to try to save the farm and I murdered a mother of six. It was a busy day.

Then I got into two discussions about description and evoking emotion in the reader on Books and Writers. Someone linked previous discussions and Diana's outlines from workshops she's given. Now Herself is involved in the discussions.

I foresee an extensive rewrite coming up.

Anyway, I missed the fun, and I'm sorry. Contest #100 is important, but syndrome is a perfect word either in its entirety or dissected.

Totally off topic. I haven't had a chance to watch all of the Gorsuch hearings, but I did catch a few of the highlights. One was when Justice Gorsuch mentioned John Hancock and said the main reason people remember him is because he signed the Declaration of Independence so bigly. He, of course, used the word correctly. Bigly means in a rough, haughty, or strong manner. Sen Sasse laughed and said he just won five bucks as he had a bet going with Gorsush's nephew about him using the word. It amused me.

Anyway, congratulations on syndrome. It's a lovely word. I can see Steve having all kinds of fun with it. I'm going to get back to my description rabbit hole before I start trying to tear it asunder.




Janet Reid said...

Confusion and terror reigns.
My work here is done.

Except of course for offering condolences to Melanie Sue for the loss of your corgi. There's just not much to say when a good dog leaves this world for the next. I'm so sorry.

And Donnaeve, do trust your instincts. That's one of the big lessons I have to teach our young interns, some of them here in NYC for the first time. Don't be afraid to be rude: if someone scares you, leave, get out of the elevetor, cross the street, get away from them. Your instincts are there for a reason.

RosannaM said...

Cooking sherry? Oh, no I fear some of us have been hitting the Irish coffee.

So if we are supposed to guess Janet's choice, I tried to think like a shark.

1. She has to read every entry, so she can't want them all weirdly obscure, necessitating a second and third pass to try to understand.

2. She tells writers to be persistent, so I think she wants more of us to try the contest and post an entry.

3. I think the word has to be ENTRY. (or try, but since entry has the word try in it, I still guess entry.)

So now I'm going to get some more coffee (unadulterated) and read all the other comments. Such fun!

CynthiaMc said...

Feeling too mellow and content to exert myself today. Gizmo (our Pomeranian) has recovered from his back injury (just getting old) so we celebrated with a walk along the creek (pics on my blog and Twitter). Discovered it's my 5th blogiversary!

Melanie - hugs. We lost our min pin suddenly last fall.

BJ - I often get things from my dad when I need them even though he's been gone for many years. I have no doubt he was there.

Happy Saturday, y'all!

Colin Smith said...

OK, evidently I have to clear things up here. It's like this:

Janet selected a winner. But the winner is actually the one who selects the winning word from the winning post. Those winners will then battle to the death with light sabers and ice cream to determine who the real winner is. Which of course will be Janet, since she gets to mop up all the blood and ice cream afterwards. :)

RosannaM said...

So now that I am caught up.

Melanie, Virtual hugs to you. It's such a heartbreak that our pets do not live as long as we do.

BJ I love the imaginary conversation of the Canadian geese that you and your Mom (and certainly your Dad) had today.

Donna block. Crazy or not, it's causing you stress.

lamandarin said...

Going with Reiders. :)

Donnaeve said...

All, I've blocked her. (yes, her)

Colin, belated happy birthday!

Now seriously - Colin - you've had an overload of mushy Coco poos. I mean puffs. I don't get that at all from what she wrote in this driving us crazy post.

Ashes said...

Forti! It's actually a great prompt word, short, not a swear, and it can be broken up or extended into other words. It already has my gears spinning.

If Forti is indeed the word, I'm going to need clarification on whether the capital F is mandatory.

Megan V said...

I'm not even going to try to guess! This is chaos. QOTKU, clearly you win the devious shark award for tormenting writers.

Melanie: I'm so sorry for your loss. I know your Corgi was lucky to have you. (and the many wonderful corgis and horses at your sanctuary.)

Donna: Definitely block.

Casey Karp said...

Completely uncaffeinated, so I'm not even going to try to figure out the word. I've done enough damage with kippled, anyway.

So, I'll just say the important thing:

Melanie, all my sympathy.

Kregger said...

I love the idea that "Forti" is a verb in our lexicon.
Losing a pet is heartbreaking. I'm like Bob Dylan's Bojangles. After twenty years I still grieve.
Off topic and not in any post, I suggest redunkulous as a prompt word. As in, the bonnet of my car only fits a twelve pack or two bottles of bourbon, depending on my mood.

Lennon Faris said...

This just gets weirder and better all the time. I hope more than is rational that it's Forti.

And, Ashes, what the Forti do you mean it's not a Forti-forting swear word?! Have I been misusing it all this time??

Melanie -so very sad to hear about your Kirby. I feel like I knew him through your stories. Can't describe though how uplifting it is to know there are creatures in this world who have yours for their family. hugs

Steve Forti said...

Wow. Like, seriously, wow. If this is what happens when I'm not reading for a day while tending to a sick child, I should do that more often. No, definitely scratch that!

Honored to have my name become a verb! (And in a good way, not like "Britta'd" or "Munson-ed".) This is hilarious, and is seriously making my day. You guys and gals are awesome, and always make me smile.

Julie Weathers said...

Well, see what happens when you haven't had your coffee? She didn't pick syndrome. *heavy sigh*

Janet is trying to drive us crazy, yes, like the proverbial peach orchard boar.

Manu forti used to be used in writs of trespass. Maybe it still is. It refers to strong hand. Forti, syndrome, or villain would be my guesses. Though I have now had my coffee, I am still working on my oatmeal. I'm not very happy about this particular gruel as the store didn't have banana nut flavor, which is cruel. A pox on them. I will not be saying, "Please, sir, may I have another?"

I was reading Anton Chekhov this morning to prime the pump. Such lovely writing.

Casey Karp said...

Julie, yes, banana nut flavor is cruel. Why would you want to inflict it on yourself?

Bananas belong in banana splits. Nuts do not belong in breakfast (unless said breakfast is granola).

It's possible that I'm still grieving over Trader Joe's decision to drop their triple-ginger oatmeal. Almost certain, in fact.

RosannaM said...

Julie, you crack me up. I fell in love with Mark Lester as Oliver years ago for that one line, delivered with such heartfelt desire. I am sorry your oatmeal fails to offer up more than rib-sticking sustenance.

Steve, I sure hope the ministrations to your sick child Forti-fied him/her back to great health.

Megan V said...

Casey Bananas do not belong in anything. Nuts belong in everything. (except for those things that you give to people with nut allergies) :)

Megan V said...

And Steve: Hope your young'un is feeling better!

Julie Weathers said...

Casey,

I love banana nut flavor! It's the only reason I started eating oatmeal again. Someday I shall write a story about the oatmeal cookies and the monster in the darkened hallway.

Colin Smith said...

While we're on the subject of cereal, may I take this opportunity to clear up a little misunderstanding that seems to have crept into some earlier comments? Thank you.

Coco Pops: These may go under the name "Coco Pebbles" or some other variation on that theme. Basically, chocolate flavored Rice Krispies. They are the best of the chocolate cereals.

Coco Puffs: Again, these may have an alternative name under some other brand, but they are essentially chocolate flavored corn puff balls. They are good, but not quite as good as Coco Pops.

Coco Poos: There is no better way to describe these. They are the aftermath of eating mass quantities of the above.

Soggy/Mushy Cereal: This is when you take a bowl of Coco Pops or Coco Puffs, and leave them soaking in milk for at least a few hours, preferably overnight. They turn into a pudding which tastes like chocolate heaven. Pops are better for this than Puffs. It really doesn't work with Poos, as Soggy/Mushy Pops/Puffs are not at all like Coco Poos. My wife begs to differ. :)

angie Brooksby-Arcangioli said...

Gee, I blanked out a day. Friday slipped past. I wasn't sitting on the divan.

I was listening to Iceberg Slim's 'Pimp' (audio book performed by Cary Hite) when I saw Pablo and Henry. Since I discovred Urban fiction last year I'm hooked and am now tracking back to the origins. If I could write like Donald Goines I'd quit painting. Urban fiction once called ghetto fiction makes the hours in the studio fly.

...

Forti yes that's good. Siete tutti quanti scrittori forti, tutti quanti. Ma Steve è un fuori classe.

Still I say divan because that's where I think Djanet was when she needed that Irish Coffee and those books.

Corgi love in heaven.

Steve Forti said...

Yes, the young one is finally on the mend. It's day seven, but the end is in sight. Except the 3 year old may be just starting now. Woo.

And thanks, Angie. For the compliment as well as making me dip back in time more than 20 years to translate that :)

Janet Reid said...

I bet I'm not the only one who scampered over to Googletranslate to find out what Angie wrote!

And "ghaH lugh"

french sojourn said...


Questo è quello che ho pensato volesse dire, pure.

and Colin, over here I can't get Fruit Loops, but I can get Fruit Hoops...an English product, sold in Lidl. (A German store, I believe.)

Angie...I'm now looking up Iceberg Slim.

Kate Higgins said...

"Forti" is a good word. And in the only language I took in school – Latin.

We are all "scrittori forti"!

I think QOTKU's words in Megan's comment are:
The obvious:
• syndrome
• villian

And the not-so-obvious words:
(and yes, they are in Megan's comment)
• sentry
• erst
• atone
• credible
• ego

Kate Higgins said...

... and I still like "kippled"...

Claire Bobrow said...

I love Google Translate :-)

"You are all of them stronger writers, all of them. But Steve is an outside classroom."

John Davis Frain said...

If y'all think you're confused now (and delighting the heck out of an unnamed shark), just wait till 100 rolls around. I'm pretty sure there's gonna be some more trickery. Like every time you open the blog, the 5 words will change. They'll change into different homonyms so you'll be questioning your own sanity.

I'm long past questioning my own sanity, so I'll be safe for that part of the confusion. But when there are suddenly six words - none of them "gaze" - and that old psychedelic home page shows up, I'm gonna know I've finally discovered time travel where I'll skip up to 101 and get my life back on track.

I'm so confused, I don't know what I've just written. Who'dve guessed I'm editing today?!

John Davis Frain said...

Oh, also, my pick was Rome.

Julie Weathers said...

Janet,

No, I didn't go to translate. I did translate Faugh a Ballagh the other day.

I was researching Irish race horses in the 1800's for Rain Crow and ran across a stallion named Faugh-a-Ballagh, which is an Irish battle cry for Clear The Way. The pronunciation of Faugh is Fawhk, which works in nicely to someone misunderstanding what was said in a Civil War era story.

Kate,

I still like Kippled also.

I'm sticking with Forti, though.

Honestly, I think Reid ought to be the last word. Are we up to the last word? There's so much we could do with that.

Scott G said...

I'm with Donnaeve, it's "vote." The impetus of so many lively discussions these past few months.

Michael Seese said...

Reider.

Since it's not actually a word.

Anonymous said...

Forti would be good, as would Hank. Which is why she probably won't pick either. I'm not going to guess. I'm feeling too mellow (my daughter arrived safely back in Boston yesterday after two weeks in Europe-- yes, they let her back in) (you all can imagine how fast my hamster wheel was spinning, imagining all the things that could go wrong).

Melanie, I'm so sorry for your loss. May you have many happy memories to help fill the empty spaces. Hugs.

Kate Higgins said...

Claire: I love Google translate too. I originally got about 1/3 of the words from Angie's quote (10th grade Latin:) I do like the "outside classroom" however!

I use Babelfish.com, it's more accurate than Goggle:

"You are all strong writers, all of 'you' (as in many), but Steve is a world-class"

I once had a client who spoke Arabic (from Egypt) and we used Google translate to try and understand some weird translations from each other. We eventually decided he would write in english as he knew it and let me ask the questions. Sometimes it got a little hilarious!

Julie said...

We *are* going feral over the vote... so perhaps it's feral. I like the idea of hooptedoodle syndrome, but I wonder if Herself's focus on confusion and terror might make one of *those* the words of the day (WotD).

Oh, dear, I'm getting sucked in again...

John Davis Frain said...

I'm back to vote a second time, because that's encouraged in my part of the world. (I don't think that eliminates very many parts of the world, so no more people should be able to stalk me from that description.)

This time I read between the lines of Megan's missive. Oh, there was so much there! And the answer became obvious.

GAZE.

Yes, we'll have to use gaze twice in #100, which come to think of it, further serves the definition.

Julie Weathers said...

"we'll have to use gaze twice in #100, which come to think of it, further serves the definition."

Just for that suggestion, John Davis Frain, I am killing off Dr. Frain in Rain Crow. I'm in a murderous mood lately. While relaxing in the tub a bit ago and realizing with no small dismay I am molting like a snake thanks to some recent medication, I decided to kill off a traitorous banker's advisor. It won't save my poor skin, but it makes me feel better. I'm just working out the details now. It's no step for a stepper to kill off another man.

Amy Johnson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amy Johnson said...

Yo, Frain! What the heck are you talking about?! Where between the lines?

Am I a simpleton?

Wait--what if a particular shark put him up to writing that comment? What if she's taken control of the comments and is writing as us? She's trying to turn us all against each other!

Janet, Eerrrgaaarrrrrlgeeerrschmaarrrb.

John Davis Frain said...

Julie, It pains me to report that I've beaten you to the punch. For the A to Z Challenge, I'm flash fictioning myself to death every day in April. Different weapon for each day. So feel free to borrow any of my murder scenes for your brilliant WIP.

On the other hand, if you've already offed the good doctor, I'm hoping your weapon of choice is a zither or some other Z word.

Amy, I'm not sure Megan even realized all that's between the lines of her comment. I know I never do, but that's where most of my typos usually reside. Even if I graze at them, I somehow miss 'em.

Sorry, I can't stop myself sometimes.

Colin Smith said...

Oh, John, you've been smoking kale again. That's not it at all. Look carefully between the lines. Janet's going to make us incorporate the last word of the previous story into our story. Which means it could change if you're slow writing your entry. And each of the other words will need to be used both forwards and backwards. So not only GAZE, but EZAG. And ECARGEPACS. As well as MARCS. :)

Donnaeve said...

Google translate: I got Ye are all strong writers, all of them. But Steve is a class out.

Well, gee Steve. Be that way! You class out you.

Colin - your cereal habits are...(and I do remember this lesson from before...the leaving of them in the fridge in milk so they get...mushy) are...are...détrempé.

Timothy Lowe said...

Ok, anyone else get the weird urge to go back through and pick 1 word from each of the previous 99 contests to string together into an entry? I thought about it, but the amount of research it would require was pretty daunting. Not to mention, it would require overlap from some of the words from #100, and though it's probable that at least a few would overlap, maybe not enough to...

(Ok, Janet. Mission accomplished. You've clearly got us all hooked at this point. I'm hoping everyone who reads the blog participates.)

Julie Weathers said...

John,

Gads, A-Z is coming up again, isn't it? I need to get my blog back in order.

It got attacked and deleted and had to be rebuilt.

Well, I have thought about it and Dr. Frain has to stay because he's about the only doctor who can be trusted not to dope up Lorena's hypochondriac mother on opium or laudanum. Plus, you know, he's the Cardinal, my Baltimore spy.

You could go down to Louisiana and have some sweet young Cajun fille zydeco him to death. OR, you could have the zephyr blow him off course, never to be seen again.

Megan V said...

Frain I'm afraid you've got it all wrong. My typos are in my in my lines, never between them. And of them I'm sure you'd never catch a glimpse, let alone find them warranting a gaze.

Kate Higgins said...

Stock·holm syn·drome:
noun
Feelings of trust or affection felt in certain cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor.

See: Janet Reid aka Her Sharkiness, QOTKU,

Kate Higgins said...

Stockholm Syndrome:
Used in sentence,
After many failed attempts to escape, the woman quit trying because she had developed Stockholm Syndrome for her captor.

Claire Bobrow said...

Funny we're talking about Stockholm Syndrome. I just finished reading Season of the Witch, about San Francisco in the 60s and 70s. Patty Hearst!

Kate: I forgot about Babelfish. Thanks for the reminder! Glad to see it has a sense of humor, too :-)
"Steve is a world class." Indeed he is!


Lennon Faris said...

"Like every time you open the blog, the 5 words will change. They'll change into different homonyms so you'll be questioning your own sanity."

John (mss) Frain, only a writer could think up an affliction so horrific.

Colin -"take a bowl of Coco Pops or Coco Puffs, and leave them soaking in milk for at least a few hours, preferably overnight" - sick! :D

RosannaM said...

Well. Leave for an hour (or so) and have a glass of wine (or two) and come back to all sorts of shenanigans and mayhem!

Folks! Don't encourage her to torment, torture and tickle-tease us into insanity. Don't, I beg you!

Stockholm syndrome--it is real. My Dad worked the Patty Hearst case in LA as an FBI agent.

Claire Bobrow said...

Rosanna!! Oh my goodness. I knew about the Patty Hearst case in a general way since it took place when I was a kid, but I had no clue about the details until I read the book. What a prolonged, awful situation!

E.M. Goldsmith said...

The lot of you have made for an excellent day's worth of entertainment. Even as I revise and revise and then revise some more. I think Forti is a great word, but I am already out of my league for contest 100 regardless of the words. I am fervently hoping QOTKU is not feeling so prickly as to take Colin's suggestions seriously. Eh gadz! Backwards and forward words... why tempt a shark like that?

OT: Does writing the ending of your books make any of you melancholy? I have arrived at the end of my WIP and I am sad it is over and I feel all empty and mushy inside. Is that normal?

RosannaM said...

Claire. Yes, it is such an interesting subject. Of course, we didn't learn any of this until well after the fact.

Colin Smith said...

Lennon: Is that good sick or bad sick? :)

Unknown said...

E.M. I think it is normal. I felt that way too. I loved all my characters, felt like I lived with them for a year. But now, now I'm trying to revise and they are too many guests staying in my brain for too long, reeking like rancid fish. I just want them to get their act together and get out already!

No comment on the contest from me, for time is late.

So many wishes to extend. I'll just wish you all what you need most right now.

Kate Higgins said...

RosannaM: I met the guy who illustrated the courtroom pictures for that case. He lived in Bolinas, CA and had a tiny studio on the bay (ever see "The Birds"?) I don't remember his name but he showed me most his work on that case and I met his roomates; 3 big Blue Macaw Parrots.

EM: I understand you can miss your characters when they leave your world. Some people even talk to them but I'd worry if they start talking back. Rest your brain; the 100th could fry all of our brains.

'night all

RosannaM said...

Um, Colin, bad sick. Buy a box of pudding, or those little plastic cuppy things. Cereal that turns into pudding is, I'm afraid---GOOP. Try a big carton of Jamocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream. I hear it was your birthday. We are still well within the statute of limitations for birthday goodness. Try it. And then bury your GOOP.

Craig F said...

Kale, Kale, holy shit its Kale.

Julie Weathers said...

Elise,

I did with Dancing Horses because I had really fallen in love with my crazy Cajun cowboys twins. So odd to feel complete and satisfied with the MC, but that I wanted to go on with the secondary idiots.

Far Rider was a relief, but I also knew the story would continue.

Rain Crow, I'll be ready to take a break and focus more on Cowgirls.

However, what a great accomplishment! Congratulations.

Marty Weiss said...

I have now read about 80 clever, sometimes funny comments (except for those regarding the beloved Corgi), and I am confused as hell.
The Shark Lady is playing with our minds.

PS The current issue of National Geographic has a section on wild small cats. I think IJ posed for one of the NG pictures.

AJ Blythe said...

Sunday afternoon and thought I'll quickly check in with the Reiders and... wowzers. You guys have been having fun! JR must be rubbing her fins together in delight at the imaginations going on here. I wonder if the word is actually TORMENT?

Melanie, (((hugs))) on your loss. Losing a fur-child is tough.

angie Brooksby-Arcangioli said...

Djanet, I apologize for tormenting you.

Hank, "Pimp" is Iceberg Slim's autobiography. It's in ghetto slang from the 1960's. For example scratch is money. Funnily if you write sci fic it could be an interesting approach to world building.

Donald Goines is much easier to understand. His stories are powerful, focused. Both of these writers are translated in French. I've been tweeting to Gallimard that they need translate K'Wan, next time I'll mention Goines.

french sojourn said...


Thanks Angie, I did some research last night and yeah, it sounds really interesting. Thanks for the 411.

CynthiaMc said...

John - My vote for Z is trampled by a rabid zebra.

Elise - I'm always working on 6 things at once, so no. I'm usually more like "Wahoo! It's done!"

We just changed cable service and the guy didn't leave us any newbie help. I figured it out anyway - HA!

I also discovered original I Love Lucy reruns. Well-written. I had forgotten what a genius of physical comedy and timing Lucille Ball was. That's what I want to write - stuff that makes people laugh, relax, grab their partner and read pages aloud to them, forget hard times and just enjoy the moment.

Steve Forti said...

Yes, the young one is finally on the mend. It's day seven, but the end is in sight. Except the 3 year old may be just starting now. Woo.

And thanks, Angie. For the compliment as well as making me dip back in time more than 20 years to translate that :)

E.M. Goldsmith said...

My we are a chatty bunch. The expectations for contest 100 will be high. Oh help.

Kathy Joyce I think it will be the same with me. I spent years with some of these characters and so felt sad to part from them. After months of revision, I am certain they will begin to stink of rotten fish and I will be glad to send them adrift in the query trenches.

I did not feel like this with my last book as I never felt satisfied with the ending. This book is different. The ending is awful for my MC although victorious for his world. But it is the right ending. It resolves everything so book can stand alone even though it is first in 12 book series.

Julie I want to read all your books. Please finish and send them out into the world. Twin Cajun cowboys? How cool is that!

Cynthia I feel a repressed wahoo, it's done. I will get there once revision, editing, beta readers, and final revision is done. Geez, writing is not for sissies or the impatient, is it?

Julie Weathers said...

Elise,

"Julie I want to read all your books. Please finish and send them out into the world. Twin Cajun cowboys? How cool is that!"

Omgosh no. You never met them. In a a bout of extreme fever I played with them opening a detective agency after they helped save the world from the horse and cowboy-killing mobsters. It was too odd even for me and I deal in odd.

Unknown said...

I thought of three perfect words for the contest as I fell asleep last night. Perfect. Words. Now I can't remember any of them! *sigh*