October Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Collections” — The Mistakes Of Life Made Manifest. Well Mary Chang you really had me thinking. Collections…from me? What collections? As someone who has quite recently embraced, a not-quite-minimalist form of minimalism, what on earth could I offer that would satisfy such a title? And then it came to me. It’s always the wine. As I drained the…

All was instantly hushed, as she slowly descended to take her place at the head of her table. Eyes met eyes, and the dinner chat, now changed somewhat, tentatively resumed — Please note: Though this is basically a true story, about a friend’s marriage, the names and location have been changed for obvious reasons. There was nothing particularly different about the invitation. Dinner parties were Charles’ forte, sometimes formal, but mostly not.

Why not check out this new kid…Gumroad? — I’ve written a few books, and they’re up on Amazon, via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Peacefully languishing…. Trouble is, no one checks them out. KDP has a promotional system (KDP Select), whereby every three months, Amazon will, at your direction, market your books as being free, for a short period of time. …

Lies travel quickly, so daringly bold — So it’s Sunday today, a day of rest, so what better to do than spend a few minutes engaging in a challenge passed onto me by Carole Olsen? I vaguely recall this as being something that was played many years ago, so I hope I don’t trip myself up on…

It was much about building trust, but the result was pure love — The challenge: Write a poem about the experience of trusting or being trusted by another (human, animal, object, potted plant), reflecting on it or telling a tale about it. or the idea of mistrusting them (or not being trusted yourself). About Mr Shaughnessy… Mr Shaughnessy was my nephew’s cat, living with my sister and her…

My superpower is me. Yes, ’tis truer than true…. — “Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.” So I have loved Dr Seuss’ books for a very long time. …

Task 2 — Develop and manage a Story-wide Index by Category or Topic — Introduction Facing a characterless, chronological list of my articles when I click on “Stories”, has spurred me to formulate and implement a layer of structure over this lifeless list. Organizing my articles into separately identifiable categories or topics, that are relatively easy to maintain, has been a huge boon to my…

Set up your Most Popular Stories and a Story-wide topic index — Introduction Facing a characterless, chronological list of my articles when I click on “Stories”, has spurred me to formulate and implement a layer of structure over this lifeless list. Organizing my articles into separately identifiable categories or topics, that are relatively easy to maintain, has been a huge boon to my…

Like when Penny Grubb noticed a spelling mistake in a piece of 3D street art. What De Bono Thinking Hat was she wearing? — “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” Penny was admiring a fine piece of street art when she noticed the spelling mistake. Should she just have ignored it, or did the teacher in her, compel her to make comment. It’s funny that…

Remember that many a good tune is played on an old violin — There is much to look forward to if you choose to follow Helen Cassidy Page. She’s bold, humorous, and downright daring. She won’t waste your time…as long as you don’t waste hers! Oh, and by the way, the above image is not of Helen, and I have no idea if…

A Dr Seuss Style poem to celebrate a friend’s special day — Are you a fan of Dr Seuss? His style is unique. It’s also quite easy to emulate. Dr Seuss never gets stuck in terms of making things rhyme. Instead he flouts the rules and stylishly escapes if he find ourselves in a rhyming pickle. For example: And so, so so…

Today, 18th March, James Frank Sanders turns a whopping 96 years of age. Let’s each of us give him a thunderous 96 claps… — What an achievement! Hands up anyone reading this who seriously thinks they will reach 96? I’ll wait… Just as I thought! Not too many of us. But James Frank Sanders is lucky. He comes from a family where everyone enjoys longevity. I have a feeling that he will outlive them…

Just how soon should he resign? — The time has come, and I for one must say, The hiccups in your ranks are surely bold. When British folks were stuck in homes each day, Few of you were doing as you were told. The parties that took place at Number Ten While all of Britain hid themselves…

You just can’t get lost. The signposts are all there, clearly marked — I walk this restored railway line, (now a walking track), each and every day. The street signs are super-clear and you know which street to turn right on to get to a certain part of the city, and which to turn left on to reach the hills. You can’t get lost! But this morning…

Just a little elegy written on a super- hot Ozland day — ‘Classical elegiac poetry was generally structured in couplets. Since the eighteenth century, stanzas within elegy poems typically feature a quatrain, written in iambic pentameter with an ABAB rhyme scheme. However, this structure is only suggestive, as many poets compose elegies with different meter and rhyme scheme An Escapist Elegy Written In My Back Yard

Consider the pros and cons of how things really work behind the scenes — Search Engine Optimization. Read that phrase again. It means what it says. Optimizing your creations to make it easy for Search Engine robots (‘bots’) and crawlers to analyze your content. Medium is not a search engine. The likes of Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo are. So how much effort should you expend on it? What’s your ROI?

Will it be the red pill, or the blue? Go on! Choose. Thank You. Now the future is in your hands. Or can it possibly be that simple? — I was talking to my husband about the butterfly effect (chaos theory) only today. On the night we met, I almost didn’t go out. I had something more pressing to do. But my friend urged me to go to a musical event, where he just happened to be singing. I…

Its actual meaning and origin? Be prepared… — Did you know that we Scots are bilingual, trilingual if you count our high-school, text-book French? After my mother passed away, my life was full of regret for the things I had not asked her about. Walks down Memory Lane just didn’t seem to happen. I have very little idea…

WOMEN…JUST for today… — Whadya say, Medium readers. Are you ready to channel your inner warrior and see how these fabulous writers hit the Medium road with inspiring stories that will have your heart sing? Now, before I go on, as go on I can, please male readers, don’t click away. …

A First belated shoutout for some of my inspirational Medium friends — I know I am too late for the worthy shoutout competition, inspired by Winston but still I am writing this, hopefully to shout out people who have become such great friends to me here on Medium. But first, I have to say, Winston it’s all your fault. …