Soap Bubble Rhetoric

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While going through some old writing files, I came across this meandering essay and thought I’d share.

Soap Bubble Rhetoric

Reading my latest copy of a writer’s magazine reminds me I haven’t written anything for quite a while. Anything does not include bill paying, completing rebate forms and make grocery lists.

            Oh, I have lots of ideas. That’s why I’m writing on top of the washer instead of folding clothes. Regardless of the fact I punched the hot button for a load of bright colors, when an idea bubbles forth, I grab a pen.

            As an educator, I have developed numerous ideas and activities that mu students love, so I have been sending queries to educational publishing companies and periodicals. But alas, I can decorate the laundry room with rejections slips. The most ingenious states, “due to a paper shortage, we must return your manuscript.”

            Why is there never a laundry shortage?

            While I may run out of stain remover, I always have another publishing company on my list. So I begin again. Some of my articles have been accepted, but I haven’t gotten paid in the traditional cash method. Many educational journals are forums for professional advancement and writers contribute articles in return for a byline and a few contributors’ copies. While that is fine up to a point, I’ve found it difficult, if not embarrassing, to pay my grocery bill with a copy of my latest published article:

            “Oh, you got published (finally). That will be $41.50 please.”

            Now I shouldn’t be wishy-washy. In addition to contributor’s copies, some educational publications do pay contributors in merchandise. But have you ever tried to use an apron that says, “Teachers are neat” to barter for bleach?

            I pour fabric softener in for the next load and a fantastic idea materializes. I realize I’m writing for the wrong market. Instead of submitting to educational publications, perhaps I can interest soap manufacturers in putting little activities on the sides of their soapboxes to keep kids busy at the Laundromat. Little Bobby can help mom pour soap into the washer and get fun games like “How many words can you make out of Proctor & Gamble?” or a word search for items of clothing washed only in cold water.

            I could create entertaining stories as inserts for detergent boxes with titles like “Soap Bubbles Whisk Grass Stains in Water Polo Finals,” or “Detergent Detectives Collar the Dirt Ring.”

            My hands negligently fold socks as I mentally assemble my next dirt fighting, biodegradable creative effort. The washer gyrates in the background, unaware of my neglect as my mind floats away on a soap bubble.

Barbara Baldwin

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

http://www.bookswelove.com/romance-authors/baldwin-barbara/

Don’t forget to visit the Books We Love website at http://www.bookswelove.com/ for their March contest. Find 4 leprechauns on the authors’ pages, submit their names and win some great prizes! Contest is open until March 17.

Catching and holding attention by J. S. Marlo

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

Last weekend, I visited the Police Museum in Calgary. There was an helicopter hanging from the ceiling, a motorcycle, a police cruiser, a jail cell, uniforms, weapons, forensic evidence, the canine unit, and so much more for FREE (https://youthlinkcalgary.com/)

I was chasing a five-year-old who enjoyed locking her uncle, auntie, and grandma in the  jail cell and the police cruiser, so I didn't get to read about the exhibits, programs, and history as much I would have liked, but it was fun. I will go back.

Let me tell you about the bench in the jail cell. It wasn't kind to my bottom. No cushion at all! Sitting in the back of the police cruiser was a big more comfy, but not roomy. There was no legroom, and I'm not a tall woman. It struck me as funny what the police in movies say when they push a beefy 300lbs suspect into the back seat. First, I can't imagine a man that size fitting on the back seat, and second, they should warn him to watch his knees and legs, not his head LOL  They were bars in the windows and the doors didn't open from the inside, so we were at the mercy of a very mischievous little girl.

Before we left, I bought earrings from the museum.  They have a gun attached to a pair of handcuffs. The perfect earrings for a writer who can't help but kill at least one person per book. In all honesty, I'm not sure I will wear them on a daily basis, but I will wear them at my next book signing later in March.


Book signings are interesting events. I get to meet people, but after the initial greeting, something aside from books needs to hold their attention to move the conversation along. At my first book signing, the manager of the book store suggested I mingled with the customers. I thought great idea so I got sticky nametags.

Well, lots of people talked to me...to ask where they could find a certain book. Needless to say, the "nametag" idea didn't work as planned. Most people saw me as another employee.

At the following book signing, I stayed closer to my book display, I still wore a nametag, but I also colored my hair purple and blue. My hair was a great ice breaker, so I've kept coloring it ever since. Now I'm eager to see if these earrings will catch anyone's eyes.

Happy reading...and don't get arrested reading and driving!
JS

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

Thinking Ahead by Eileen O'Finlan

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Click here for Eileen O'Finlan's website

One hundred years ago women won the right to vote in the United States. It’s hard to believe we couldn’t vote until 1920, but that’s the fact. It was a long, hard fought battle, one for which American women owe gratitude to the suffragettes who made it happen.

For several years an idea has been simmering in my brain for a novel set during the struggle for American women’s voting rights. As with many of the yet-to-be-written multitude of novels floating around in my head, scenes from this one play themselves out in my mind every so often. I don’t think this will be the next novel I write (after Erin’s Children, my novel in progress, and sequel to Kelegeen), but certainly it is in the top three currently germinating in my imagination.

As with all good historical fiction, there will be lots of research before and during the writing. Though I may not start the actual writing for a while, when a research opportunity pops up I’m certainly not going to ignore it.

This afternoon I will be attending an event at the Worcester Historical Museum entitled “Suffragist Tea with History At Play”. The play, “How Long Must We Wait?” is a “multi-modal performance art piece detailing the struggle for women’s right to vote and equality” according to the Worcester Historical Museum’s website.

Despite being way ahead of my schedule regarding research for my future novel, I’m not about to pass it up. Something like this might not be available when I’m “officially” ready to start my research. Notes can be kept, memories held, videos replayed (History At Play’s website appears to have videos of many past performances). As an author of historical fiction, research is a high priority. When an opportunity comes my way, I’ll grab it while I can. No need to wait!

March Musings by Rosemary Morris

To learn more about Rosemary's work please click on the cover above.

March

“March brings breezes sharp and shrill,
Shakes the dancing daffodil.”

3rd and 4th lines of a nursery rhyme. Anonymous.

Hertfordshire. S.East England. 2019



2nd February.
This the day on which it is thought Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day
Shrove Tuesday is on the first Tuesday before Lent. During the two previous days, known as shrove tide, people confessed their sins. On this day pancakes were made with eggs, which symbolise, creation, flour, the staff of life salt considered wholesome and milk for purity. This day was one of revelry and pancakes are still served in many homes.
Ash Wednesday the Beginning of lent
Ash Wednesday lasts for forty days which represent the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. At church the priest or minister might use ashes from palms burnt in the previous year after Palm Sunday to mark Christians’ foreheads with the sign of the Cross. This is a sign of mourning and repentance. It also represents the cross Jesus sacrificed his life on. As a child during Lent, I was encouraged to renounce sweets, which made chocolate Easter eggs very welcome.
14th February - St Valentine’s Day
There are several saints called Valentine but the martyrdom of two falls on this day. In times past it was believed birds mate on this day and sweethearts were chosen. The custom of sending anonymous cards developed from that belief.

Classic Historical Fiction by Rosemary Morris

Early 18th Century novels: Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess

Regency Novels False Pretences. Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week Books One to Six, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child, Thursday’s Child, and Friday’s Child. (The novels in the series are not dependent on each other, although events in previous novels are sometimes referred to and characters reappear.) Saturday’s Child will be published in July 2020.

Mediaeval Novel Yvonne Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

https;//bwlpublishing.net/authors/rosemary-morris-rosemary-historical-uk/

The Carrot by Katherine Pym

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Colorful Carrots

The other day I watched a historical documentary on the Stuarts (are you surprised?) when a lady marched through a market and stopped at boxes of carrots. She said the carrot started out purple, but if you match it with another color, the new crop is yellow. You match it with another color, and that crop of carrots is orange. This was done in honor of William of Orange. I thought, “What?” But intrigued, I went in search of the carrot. 

Purple Carrot

The Greeks and Romans cooked with white carrots. Asia Minor peoples threw purple and yellow carrots in their pots. They were used in medicines, and carrot seeds have been found in these areas from as long ago as 5000 years.

They think carrots originated in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush and were transported across the mountains via the Silk Road. A popular item, merchants stored them on ships and transported the root all over the world.

They were once very bitter but with our technology, we’ve made them into a fat and tasty vegetable. I’d wager they don’t taste anything like what the original peoples ate. I even heard those beautiful, succulent carrots you buy in bags, have been whittled down from unseemly, unsaleable roots. I can imagine all the carrot debris everywhere. What do the manufacturers do with all that waste? Probably something we don’t want to know. On a positive note, maybe they crush it into carrot juice.

Okay, now I’ll confuse you.

Asiatic carrots are often purple/black, although some are yellow.

Western carrots are generally orange, red or white, some of which may have developed from mutations, which cooks seem to prefer because the darker pigments do not leech into the broth.

White & Red Carrots

I don’t understand how the carrot became so popular when the original roots were long and thin, tough as nails to eat, and bitter as the day is long. It is not something I would take in hand and say, “I’ll make this better.” But man as a species is quite amazing. There’s a lot out there that may or may not have been a good idea to cultivate and expand, but we have them and we eat them, anyway.

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Many thanks to the carrot museum, http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html

and wikicommons, public domain.