D is for Dreams, Dilemmas, Drama and Discussion

Dilemmas, Distractions, Driving the Daughter, Doctor and Delight/

All those D's occurred today.

I just voted for some blogs in the  People's Choice Award for the Best Australian Blogs 2014 competition.I am supposed to tell people I  voted on Twitter with the #bestblogs14 hashtag which I will pop over to do

RhyBiBoMo.
my rhyming picture book for the day is : Lively Elizabeth

Author: Mara Bergman
Illustrator: Cassia Thomas
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
How this book might help: By showing how our actions effect others and being responsible for our actions.
Meet lively Elizabeth who has lots of fun and is very energetic. One day she pushes a friend, which sets off a trail of accidents and disasters affecting all the other children. All the children are upset and turn to blame the person before them right back to the first boy who is very very cross with Elizabeth She see’s the trouble she has caused and says sorry. The book ends on a positive note with her firends accepting her apology then all the children have a lovely time playing outside.

Positive things about this book: The  sub-title is “A Tale of what Happens if you Push and Shove“, a cautionary tale about the consequences of our actions but is also about being responsible for those actions both the shoving and the consequent anger and how to accept an apology gracefully.
The illustrations are very cute. The book is aimed at 2+

Character driven story with Elizabeth causing  the action and  learning from the outcomes of those reaction. She then acts differently after the apology moment.

In terms of rhyming.  I read this out loud several times and found the rhyme a bit forced and I tripped in several places. The font size changes, in some places for no seeming reason. The triple repetition of the child's name in the beginning seems a waste of text in a tight PB setting.

Overall it is a cute book and the message is a good one which I am sure children will enjoy but I would only borrow it once from the library.

following on from my Flu shot yesterday I ended up with a lot of pain in my arm and a numb hand. This was not pleasant but I said ouch or ow too many times and the boys insisted I go see the Doctor again. So off I went in my hectic day and had them check and apparently I had a mild localised reaction which has put some pressure on nerves and will probably be all good in a few days. So some pain relief and a cold pack if I need it and plenty of reassurance for my caring boys. I much rather a little elbow pain than a dose of 'flu.
I have had some intersting and heated discussions of late about immunise or not? Then I saw a man who recently contracted whooping cough and he was a wreck. A healthy, fit and active man reduced to shuffling. Not a good look and of course my cousin who contracted polio and it in a chair. A baby with whooping cough is a dreadful thing to watch and nothing to do but hope they can catch their next breath. There always needs to be open minded discussion and rarely is. It is a very controversial and heated subject.

Now Distractions come in all sizes. Daughter dear rang and frantically desired her laptop which she was taking to her friend's place for the weekend but had forgotten in the morning school rush. I took her to the music shop to pay some money off her saxophone then off to school and came home to the call so returned to the school and then picked her up to take her to the shopping complex where I purchased some drinking chocolate, caught up with an old acquaintance, popped to the library for some books and then oh bliss, the best distraction of them all...I don't know how I will cope.

I have 36 Copic markers on loan for two weeks. SQUEAAAAAAAAL! Can you see me jumping with excitement. I want some of these for my very own  but here is a photo just to see.  Squeal squeal(fan girling here). The owl image is not my original design it is in a preprinted canvas art pad and I used it as my very first play with Copic marker, colouring in. BIG DISTRACTION>



Decisions... now I had to make a decision about m book.

I decided that the original 11k of words need to be ditched and I will start again. I thought about this long and hard after looking around and seeing what else has been written and if there are films and tv shows with genies. There is 'I dream of Genie" and 'Genie from down under' as TV shows, 'Aladdin' of course in many book and film versions. There are a number of works with genies and a new release film coming out this year called 'Jinn'. Each has their niche and I think my novel will find plenty of room on the book shelves. I do think that my initial story needs to ramp up somewhat so I will go and ramp.




38 Week flash fiction FB group Week 5 Fish

Almost caught.

He was an expert, he knew his lures and bait and I was everything an easy catch should be. He had studied me for some time. He started small, not too much movement, not too fast, flashing a bit of bright bauble past me. It tweaked my interest and I circled in. Then he loaded the hook with things he knew would appeal to me, appeal to some deep need I have and I circled closer. I wanted it so badly and I wasn’t being cautious. I didn’t have any experience then. I didn’t know the danger I was swimming into. I took the bait but even then I didn’t know, I felt the tug and it was gentle at first. I was a bit puzzled by its grip on me and I was alright if I didn’t fight it but the tug became stronger and I started to panic. I began to fight, I wanted to get away. He let the line go slack for a brief respite I let the fear go and I relaxed. I should never have relaxed. It made the fight that much harder, more exhausting and bitter. I was terrified. I lashed about trying to get free but I was snagged solidly and I could not even see my attacker. I called out to my offspring to help me. They came at once but they didn’t have the skills. In their fear for me they berated me for my stupidity. I agreed later that they were correct about my naïve ignorance but right then I was desperate and frightened and  I lashed out at their attitude.

I needed bigger help than my offspring but I was ashamed, frightened of what my attacker would do, fearful if I tried to pull away too soon or too hard I would sink to the depths. I needed to come up for air. I was drowning and I had no strength left.

I had pulled that line taut but I could feel myself being dragged inexorably toward him, I had given it my all and was about to give up. Unexpectedly help arrived and  they extricated me from the net, loosened the knots he had woven around me but I had lost so much in that epic battle. The scales had been torn from my eyes and I would never be the same again. I had lost my home, my treasures, my name but at least I was alive.

The tide turned against my attacker and they caught him instead. He had been phishing in the wrong waters and I was the only one who got away.  439

time to go do more writing. I have mid week blues buster flash fiction to write tonight but I will share that with you tomorrow, plus my sonnet and sestina.  Happy day. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD