VJWC: Shift

Since this is my idea, and since I’ve had a head start, I thought I’d go first. I have decided to alter my posting routine.  Typically, I post once a day, six days a week, per blog.  I schedule both posts to be published at the same time – early morning. I also have a […]

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The Coach Learns a Lesson

“Whatever you do, we have to beat this team!” Eight eager heads nod, mouth consent.  We all hate this coach. Two of my girls are injured but have come along to support their teammates.  Our center, a tall blonde, new to basketball waits for the ball drop.  She easily catches the ball and dribbles towards […]

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A Writing Process

Sleep beckons, but the mire of anxiety and issues that surround me right now threaten.  I push them aside and think of the positive – visualizing our new home, and imagining how I will furnish each room.  The power of the mind to shift focus amazes me and I jot down these words: We keep […]

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Eavesdropping

We are full of the excitement of making plans, and after signing more papers, decide to go out for lunch.  Both of our minds are going in different directions, so when the hostess seats us, I barely notice the couple sitting next to us, except that they are young – she a striking chestnut-haired beauty, […]

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“Half of a Yellow Sun”: Review

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves an intricate tale, with well-developed characters and relationships, and just when the reader wonders where it is all headed, the unthinkable happens. “Half of a Yellow Sun” is not a symbol I would have recognized before reading Adichie’s work.  Now I know that it is integral to the Biafran war, and […]

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Writing Class #4

(As a final prompt for the writing class I am enrolled in, we are asked to think about signposts along the way.  This is my entry.) The Tour Guide I take a seat at the back of the open wagon, and wait with a handful of others for the tour to begin. The country air […]

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Writing Class #3

The prompt for this week is to consider the vulnerability of new growth and what it takes to protect it, tying it into nature.  Here is the edited version, after the instructor’s suggestions. Rebirthing It came in the peak of summer that most optimistic time, when sunshine equates with health and bodies glow with exertion […]

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Writing Lessons #2: Sparrows

(The prompt for this week is surroundings and we were encouraged to focus on one aspect of nature as it relates to the story.  I chose sparrows.) Out the back gate, across the farmer’s field and into the woods I go in search of the child, knowing that she comes here frequently, alone, despite the […]

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Brush Strokes (Fiction)

The brush felt awkward in Kate’s hand and she could feel her frustration mounting. The last time she had painted had been the twin’s room more than a year ago and that was because the boys had outgrown the pastels of the nursery. Now, here she sat, legs crossed on the floor with four other […]

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