Category: #AtoZchallenge

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#AtoZchallenge

My #AtoZchallenge theme for 2018…

Tongue-twisters! Who doesn’t enjoy a good tongue-twister, huh?

So, get set for 26 of them; one for each letter of the alphabet. And yes, I’m anticipating that certain letters of the alphabet might indeed get rather tricky (here’s looking at you, ‘x’!) but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens at day 22/23 or so…

Anyway, wish me luck! And have a great week, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

[The #AtoZchallenge is a daily blogging challenge which has been running for quite a few years now, with hundreds of participants worldwide. Blogging happens each day in April except Sundays, and on each letter of the alphabet, starting at A and finishing with Z.]

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Life my novel-in-progress Scribblings Writing

… and the new word is: FOCUS

Hello again, dear Reader 🙂

If you’ve visited recently, you’d have noticed that my last 26 posts were alphabetical, in order to meet the requirements of the #AtoZchallenge, where bloggers post daily using sequential letters of the alphabet, every day in April except Sundays.

Well, I failed that challenge in my time zone. I was fine up until ‘p’, but then school holidays finished and work got crazy-busy… and it wasn’t until late last night I realised that today was May 1st. And the challenge deadline was over!

Hence a massive amount of blog posting this morning. Q through to Z, and before April finished worldwide. So I *can* kinda still say that ‘I made it’… but not really.

Oh well.

My new thought is: focus. It’s what I need to do. I gave myself a deadline of Mother’s Day to finish Book 5 in my children’s adventure fantasy series – and I believe that’s less than two weeks away. 13 days, 21 chapters. I can do this…

If I focus!

So it’s back to weekly blogposts, and hopefully this time next Monday I’ll be closer to finishing JUSTINE BROWNING AND THE MEDDLING MERMAN than I am right now 🙂

See you next week, dear Reader! And have a lovely one until then!

— KRidwyn

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Random thoughts

Z is for ‘zany’

Lucky I choose this word ahead of time, before Hubby wanted help in the garden. Because I’m outta time and need to get this post written!

Zany. I love, love, LOVE this word! I think it describes me… although it probably doesn’t, unless you know me really, really well. And that’s only a couple of you.

I *can*be zany. Extremely comical, clownish; slightly crazy, fantastic or ludicrous.

Yup… that’s me. But only if I’m comfortable around you. And not when I’m in my ‘I’m a responsible mother / teacher / person’ mindset.

Just out of curiosity… is it just me, or is everyone kinda like this to some extent?

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges

Y is for ‘yelp’

Two posts to go, with just an hour or so left til it’s no longer April 30 anywhere in the world, and Hubby comes in from where he’s been working in the garden and say he needs my help.

I yelped. Deadline! [Self-imposed, but whatever…]

Yelp. To give a quick, sharp, shrill cry. (often as dogs, foxes etc)

What a beautiful verb. An expression of a vocal utterance that perfectly encapsulates the sound, the surprise, the emotion.

And now I’d better get going! One more post to go…

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Random thoughts

X is for ‘xeric’

Okay, so I got stuck with this letter. Seriously – how many choices are there for ‘x’? Really?

And so I opened my dictionary, and discovered the word ‘xeric’.

It’s an adjective from the ecological world, meaning ‘pertaining to an environment containing or characterised by little moisture’ (comparative more xeric, superlative most xeric). A xeric environment or habitat is extremely dry, lacking humidity and water. A xeric organism is one which has adapted to live in a very dry habitat.

Cool, hey!

To me, it conjures thoughts of a ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ style cleric who looks like John the Baptist. Powerful, with a dry, sardonic sense of humour.

Hmm… a new character for a new story, perhaps?

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

 

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges random scribblings Scribblings Writing

W is for ‘wavelet’

I was writing a short story one day a year or so ago, and I needed the word for one of those small waves that washes into shore. You know, the ones that squealing toddlers get lifted over, that little children run backwards from, that bring the flotsam and jetsam of an uncaring world to deposit on the beach?

“Wave” was too big. Too much power for what I wanted. So I made up ‘wavelet’. Or so I thought…

Wasn’t I surprised to find it in my dictionary, the following day!

Wavelet. Noun. A small wave, a ripple.

Exactly what I had wanted! Don’t you just love the English language?

I do.

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

PS If you’re interested in the story I was writing, sorry. It was about a woman’s murder at the hands of her drunk ex. It was a pretty intense story. Far too ‘dark’ for this blog. *shrugs shoulders*

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Random thoughts Work

V is for ‘volition’

“He did it of his own volition.”

Volition. Noun. The act of willing; exercise of choice to determine action. A determination by the will. The power of willing.

In my trusty thesaurus, the phrase ‘of one’s own volition’ is synonymous with:

of one’s own free will; of one’s own accord; of one’s own choice; of one’s own choosing; by choice; by preference; by one’s own preference; voluntarily; willingly; readily; freely; intentionally; consciously; deliberately; on purpose; purposely; spontaneously; without being asked; without hesitation; without reluctance; gladly; with pleasure; with good grace; eagerly; enthusiastically.

Them’s pretty powerful words, methinks.

And it’s all about the attitude. What we will to do; what we decide to do and then act upon.

I have chosen to finish this #AtoZchallenge today… of my own volition. In spite of it being May 1 in my time zone; it’s still April 30 elsewhere in the world. And I have four more posts after this one.

I’m determined! It’s going to happen… just watch me 😀

And have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges More about me random scribblings Random thoughts Scribblings Writing

U is for ‘unknown’

Jan 1, 2016, saw me decide I needed to ‘practise’ my writing. I realised that I’d never get anywhere if I just started a story, get stuck, get frustrated, start another story, and repeat the same process.

Mentally, I compared this to my chess game. Okay in the opening, wobbly in the middle, and pretty woeful at the ending. I decided practise was in order. Practise of ‘end-game’ stuff; then recourse to the middle, and finish at the beginning.

“Smiling nervously at each, they started walking into an uncertain future.”

So: I worked out the final sentence (above) and worked backwards. Ended up with a 1500 word short Sci-Fi story about two teenagers crash-landing their spaceship onto an unknown planet.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I related this story to the members at Beerwah Writers Group. Inspired, they used my final sentence, and produced their own stories. I joined them, and ended up with a 500 word story about a Greek God who’d been cast out from Mount Olympus. Prophemius, I called him. God of the Future… except his powers were stripped from him, meaning he couldn’t see the future anymore.

I wrestle, regularly, with the fact I can’t see the future. I want to know what will happen before it does, so I can prepare for it. Part of my control-freak-ishness, probably. (Yeh, I know. Not a word.)

But I always come back to the fact that it’s good I don’t know. I’m glad, deep down, that I’m in the same boat as everyone else. That the future – for all of us – is an unknown. I like that. We’re all on the same playing field, as it were.

And there’s so much freedom in that!

Have a lovely day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

 

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Random thoughts Writing

T is for ‘tepefy’

‘Tepefy’ is a verb, which means ‘to make or become tepid or lukewarm’.

And it’s a transitive verb, which means it can’t exist by itself but needs a noun to complete the action, just like ‘kick’ (the ball), ‘paint’ (the portrait) or ‘clean’ (the kitchen – ha!). So you’d ‘tepefy’ the bathwater on a frozen winter’s morning.

And its related noun is ‘tepefaction’. Which makes sense, when you think about it.

We need this word in more regular use in everyday life, don’t we.

Yes? Because the word ‘warm’, which seems to have replaced it, both as the transitive verb and as its related noun, seems too simple. Too quick, too easy.

Yes?

Any takers? Anyone out there agree with me? Yes? Anyone? Going… going…

gone.

Ergo, the disappearance of so many words…

Here’s to your day, dear Reader.

— KRidwyn

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#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Christianity Life Random thoughts

S is for ‘scamper’

I love this word. I smile every time I see it. In my mind’s eye, I picture a child of 5 or 6, enthusiasm exuding from every pore, beaming widely as they run about exploring, delighting in their discoveries and keen to squeeze as much as possible into every single moment.

I remember that age… I think. I remember the excitement, the feeling of life extending forever, the knowledge of my own invincibility, convinced I could go anywhere, be anyone, do anything.

Where did that feeling go?

And why?

I’m reminded of that verse in the gospels, where Jesus said, “Unless you become like a little child, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Honestly, I can’t actually remember the last time *I* felt that excited. That eager to squeeze the joy out of every single moment.

I should probably try that again…

Here’s to a ‘scamper’-ing day today! And have a ‘scamper’-ing one for yourself too, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

[PS That Bible verse was Matthew 18:3, by the way…]