Category Archives: Random Thoughts and Musings

October 31, 2017

Twittering Tale #56 – 31 October 2017

By Kat Myrman

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About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a photo prompt. Your mission, if you choose to accept the challenge, is to tell a story based on that prompt in 140 characters or less. Be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale.

A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.

I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing a new prompt. And if for some reason I missed your entry in the Roundup, as I have occasionally done, please let me know. I want to be sure to include your tale.

Finally, have fun! I know it can be a challenge squashing an entire tale into 140 characters (spaces and punctuation included), but it feels so good when you are able to make it work…just ask some of these awesome writers below. They’re expert Tweeters!

Twittering Tale #55 – The Roundup

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Photo by GuillermoEstrada at Pixabay.com

Starting us off:

“Charly? Come on buddy!”
“Woof! Yelp!” Charly whizzed past, obviously terrorized.
“Charly!? Silly dog!”
“Not silly…LOOK!”
“What?”
“BATS!”
“AAH!”
(140 Characters)

From Reena at ReInventions:
“We stand on the edge of history, as we enter a new world.”
“You stand the risk of being knocked over. Pedestrians are not allowed here.”
(136 characters)

From Lady Lee at Lady Lee Manila
Is it the end of life as we know it?
When perversity wins and we accept?
When equality loses and we bow?
And the king of the throne is a twit?
(139 characters)

From Leena at Soul Connection:
PERFECT CLICK!
Chck Our Face Is Hidden
Dbl Chckd,Its Tunnel
U Rly Think Fun Sndng Pic 2Police Aftr Crime Or Smthng Else,Aftrall U Nowhr In Pic.

From Di at Pensitivity101:
They were told to ‘Follow the light’.
Freezing them to the spot, it came straight towards them.
Soon they were gone, and darkness resumed.
136 characters.

From Sandi at Flip Flops Every Day:
No closer to exit
ground slowly moving backward
Every step taken
they were staying in place!

Levers opened beneath them
found themselves falling
140 characters

From Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
I told them that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel, and there it was, bright, white, almost blinding. Is this how it all ends?
(140 characters)

From Francine at Woman Walks Dog:
The Tunnel and the Antique Lift
Hotels proud of their antique lift down to the beach
You’re kidding it stopped halfway down
Can’t ride in it again
5 mile walk back then?
Heads the lift   tails we walk
Its heads

From Willow at WillowDot21:
They walked towards the light,  the last of their kind.
Fear filled their bodies. Unknown to them the female carried another being inside her.

From Kathryn at AnotherFoodieBlogger:
I tore open the envelope of photos quickly, eager to see us three buddies smiling ear to ear. Doh! “Geez Jimmy, ever hear of backlighting?”

From Vivian at Smell the Coffee:
My heels echo in the tunnel.
The 3 figures before me stop.
NOT SAFE!
With whoops of laughter, they charge!
My fangs elongate. Dinner time!
140 characters

From Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
This is part 3, and the happy ending. Part 1 can be found here, and part 2 here.
Fancy going hunting with Mum and me?
Yea!
Come on then. I know a short cut to the woods.
So, off they set, the three of them together, forever!
(140 characters)

Wow! Alien babies, a prequel to a murder story, vampires, bats, faulty lifts, bad photography, death, the future, the end, the light, a spiraling matrix…you all outdid yourselves with this week’s challenge photo. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your stories. Believe me, I know how hard it can be to limit oneself to 140 characters. As I have said before, you all a masters at it!

This week…today is Halloween, so of course, I had to find a proper Halloween photograph for our challenge. Actually, I’m giving you a few. Harvest Fest Scene by PaulBR75, Halloween Decorated House by Noupload, and Woman in Red by Smokefish, all from pixabay.com. Choose one or all. Have fun! I’ll see you next week…muhahahaha!

Twittering Tale #56 – 31 October 2017

“Are you a witch?”

She never let on that her toothless grin and scary appearance was not a costume. On this one night, she could be herself.

~kat
(139 Characters)

25 Comments | posted in Random Thoughts and Musings

October 30, 2017

Magnetic Poetry Monday

By Kat Myrman

fools devour dirt
and dark secrets
as if it is delicious,
but it is poison
like fire in one’s
belly…smoke and
mirrors

~kat

Magnetic Poetry – Poet Kit

7 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Magnetic Poetry, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

October 29, 2017

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 29 October 2017

By Kat Myrman

When…I’m old enough…I get that promotion…I’ve saved a bit more money…I lose weight…the kids finish school…the stars align…the light turns green…the time is right…I get that job…I retire…I finally get that degree…I’ve proven myself…the coast is clear…I’ve got nothing to lose…I have more time…I get lucky…I’m ready…tomorrow comes…

Excuses, excuses! Dreams have a way of slipping away. Because life…and excuses. Life scribbles nonsense on our beautiful clean slate when we are young. We forget, we give up, we settle.

But dreams don’t die generally. They’re still in there. It’s never too late. Dreams realized don’t necessarily need to come with the fame and fortune of our youthful idealized aspirations.

Sometimes all it takes is a willingness to just do that thing you dreamed of. Sing if you’ve always wanted to sing…alone…in the shower..in the car. Take that class, not with that piece of paper at the end in mind, but for the joy of learning. Cook like a gourmet. Travel…even if it’s to the town next door. Experience it’s hidden treasures. Every place has them. Paint, take beautiful photographs, learn to fly! And if you’re like me be a writer. Fill journals, notebooks or a blog, with beautiful words; even if no one reads them but you. It will change your life. It is life…beautiful…hovering…waiting to be lived!

Have a wonderful week of dreams realized. You deserve it!

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 29 October 2017

she’s in there somewhere

breath of life, thick

not silly…look
rouged red, lipstick-stained teeth,
longing to be touched
impenetrable
so tell me, who’s smarter?
when will this end?
this dark night of souls
embracing all of life
beautiful life hovering

~kat

A shi sai or ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the shi sai features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai, Week in Review

October 28, 2017

Preta & Guisard – Friday’s AND Saturday’s Words of the Day

By Kat Myrman

I missed posting yesterday’s word of the day, but as a bonus, today you shall have two lovely words to wrap your brain around! Friday’s word, Preta, a noun from Hindu Mythology meaning a wandering or disturbed ghost. And Saturday’s word, Guisard, a noun the means a person who wears a mask; mummer.

Given the season and impending dark night of all souls hallow, I thought it would be fitting to combine the two in a Haiku. Here’s a bit of history on the two from Dictionary.com:


Preta finds its origins In Sanskrit where e is a long vowel ( it is also transliterated as ē). Hindi grammarians correctly analyzed e as a monophthong replacing an earlier dipthong ai; thus the Sanskrit adjective preta, “gone before, deceased” is from an earlier form, ‘praita’, formed from the adverb and prefix ‘pra’ – “forth” and ‘ita’ – “gone”. Pra- is cognate with the Latin and Greek prepositions and prefixes, ‘prō’/‘pró’ (Greek) and ‘prae’, all of them meaning “before; in front of”. The Sanskrit participle ‘ita’ corresponds exactly with the Latin ‘itum’, past participle is the verb ‘īre’, “to go” and the Greek verbal adjective ‘itós’ “passable”, all from the Proto-Indi-European root ‘ei’, ‘i’ -“to go”. Preta entered English in the early 19th century. From wictionary we learn that: a Preta is a hungry ghost (a supernatural being in Buddhist folklore, the spirit of a greedy person whose divine retribution is to never be sated). How many a weary folk has woken to the first day of November the victim of mischievous antics of Pretas whose quest for sweets was not sated, in the form of TP garlands and raw egg peltings?!


And then there is Guisard, a Scottish and North English word. The first part of the word, guise, in Scotland and northern England means “to appear or go in disguise.” The suffix -ard, occasionally spelled -art, is now used mostly in a pejorative sense for someone who does something habitually or excessively, e.g., drunkard, braggart. Guisard entered English in the 17th century. Soon comes Halloween, when greedy, giddy guisards roam the streets, banging on doors, declaring their mantra, “trick or treat”. A wise somebody will appease these mummers by offering them the sweets they crave lest they transform into scary pretas with a vendetta to settle!

It’s all in good fun of course! An annual ritual that hearkens to an age when the veil between the living and the dead was not quite as pronounced. Our ancestors solemnly remembered and honored the dead more formally; gone but definitely not forgotten. Today we passingly engage this annual ritual in sport, sending our costumed children to the streets for a night of innocent begging. But the thinness of the veil is still there, souls lurking in the shadows, which adds to the drama of this dark, dark time.

These days, I must admit I turn my porch light out, not because I don’t enjoy the onslaught of tiny ghouls and gremlins, but because they terrify my fury housemates. We sit in darkness to the sound of potter-pattering feet outside our door…and entertain the lore of my ancestors, setting a place of honor at my table for loved ones passed. Sometimes I light a candle…or two or three to let them know I remember. I feel their presence ever so near. It could very well be my imagination, but there is something to this ancient dark night of all souls. Something indeed!

this dark night of souls
comes guisards begging for treats
pretas in the mist

~kat

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Essays, Haibun, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

October 26, 2017

Smart as a…

By Kat Myrman

‘Good boy…bad boy…come…sit…lay down…stay’. Humans are so adorable. They think they’re in control when I roll over, fetch, or give them a “high four”…five, if you count my dew claw.

While they’re working to ensure my comfortable lifestyle, I nap. This is the life!

So tell me, who’s smarter? Man or beast?

~kat

52 Words for Sacha’s Writespiration 52 Weeks, 52 Words Challenge. The Prompt: Write your 52 words from the perspective of an animal.

19 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 52 Words, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Flash Fiction, Random Thoughts and Musings