Of Wrong Numbers And Strange Ones by Konnie Enos

I recently came across something asking people about their unusual experiences with receiving a wrong number call. I have gotten a few, but most of them are rather mundane.

“You have the wrong number.”

“Oh, sorry.” Click.

Or some variation thereof. Even the lady who called for years because my number is one digit off that of her friends/family members.

However, a couple of them stand out.

One came only hours after I’d gotten my brand-new cell phone. The young lady asked for Tony. I, understandably, asked who she was and why she was calling Tony. She told me she was his girlfriend. I told her I was his mother. She told me she had the wrong number. I agreed with her since Tony was only in kindergarten at the time. She hung up.

But really, the most unusual phone call I ever received wasn’t technically a wrong number. The gentleman in question had taken the right steps of calling information and getting a phone number listed for the person he was trying to contact. He was even calling that landline number. Completely right number. Just not me.

The only thing I knew about the caller was a guy and drunk, plus he seemed to think I knew him. Without even considering that I’d just moved and very few of my family or friends had my number yet, I could not think of a soul I knew who would have been drinking, let alone calling me in that condition.

I was seriously beginning to think this stranger was one of those perverts who got off on calling strange women and breathing heavily. Though he wasn’t doing any of that or even really talking dirty. He was, however, still rambling about life and stuff and seemed to think he knew me.

I assure you, he did not.

He also did not stop rambling about things I knew nothing about, nor did it give me any clue as to who he was or who he might be calling. He must have rambled for five minutes at least before he finally paused and said something along the lines of, “you don’t recognize me do you?”

I suggested he might have the wrong number.

He told me his name.

I started to tell him I knew nobody by that name only to have it ring a bell. I’d heard it several times in the five or so years I’d been married at that point. Having never met the man, I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t lying. I was unsure what to say next.

Then he asked me if I was SIL.

I had to tell him that she no longer lived there (remember this was in the age of landlines). I was still not positive he was their cousin so I got a phone number and told him I’d let her know he was looking for her.

He did. I got off and called my SIL. Several hours later, she called me back and told me that yes, it was their cousin. And yes, he was rarely not soused or high. Generally both.

He even called me back and thanked me for getting him in touch with his cousin and asked about my husband since SIL had told him I was Jerry’s wife. (He hadn’t known Jerry was married, let alone had two little girls.) Oh, I’ve talked to him on the phone a couple of other times and seen him in person on one occasion since then.

How did we end up with a number that was listed under SIL’s name?

Well, it was her phone number. At that point, I don’t think we even switched it into our name.

This is what happened.

Since there was more work available closer to where Jerry’s sister’s lived, than where we were, we decided to move. His sister, Jackie, let us stay with her while we were house hunting.

We ran into one big problem. We could not find a place to rent. We already had two kids and were expecting a third (one of my miscarriages, unfortunately) and would have preferred a three-bedroom place. Those were all well outside our budget.

We found some reasonable two-bedrooms but the landlords were not enthusiastic about renting to a family with two kids under 5, let alone expecting another one.

After a couple of months of that futile effort, she decided to move in with her brand-new (only a couple of weeks) boyfriend and leave her apartment to us. (Yes, we cleared the change in occupancy with the landlord first.) Their cousin called after she’d moved out and before we’d gotten the phone changed into our name.

Anyway, that’s my unusual phone call story.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day. 

Christmas Musings by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Merry Christmas! I hope your family is prepared since at this point the holiday is just days away. I know Konnie is. But Konnie is ready for Christmas by the first week of December. I’m not as organized as her.

I know her system, I just never get my act together enough to utilize it, and this year I’ve had the added issues with car problems hindering my shopping. I’d normally be done with Christmas shopping by the first week of December too, just not as leisurely as Konnie manages it.

You see, Konnie only shops for like her oldest son in December. That’s her system. Each month of the year she checks who has birthdays coming up and buys both birthday and Christmas present for those who are on her list that month! She ships me both my birthday and Christmas present before our July birthday. Can you believe that?

I’m not that organized. Actually, I’m not organized at all.

In fact, I found several gifts hiding in my spare room the other day that I bought one to two years ago! And the weird part is that I didn’t forget to send those few people a gift for Christmas the last couple of years, so wow. I need to get better organized.

And, on top of being disorganized, I’ve been having car problems making it hard to get any shopping done, ergo, I am not ready for Christmas yet. Hopefully, I can get ready in the few days remaining but going shopping this late in the year is going to be horrendous. For one, electric carts will be scarce, and the stores will be crowded.

If I could I’d avoid the stores from Thanksgiving to December 26^th (you know the day with all the lines of people returning gifts they didn’t like). Yeah, I avoid Black Friday and the day after Christmas at all costs.

And what am I supposed to get?

My supervisor got me a new Nativity. I wasn’t even thinking about getting her something, now what? And I have a friend who also got me a Nativity, but I didn’t get her anything. I usually do, because I know she will get me something, but I haven’t had the means to do any extended shopping.

I wouldn’t be surprised if my neighbors get me something, they’ve surprised me with Nativities a few times. But what I do get them, and their three kids? No clue. And I really should have done that by now, but not only have I had car issues, but I just spent over a week sick. Which certainly isn’t helping the money issues any.

Did I mention my car registration is due this month?

And now it looks like my car battery needs replaced. I don’t have that kind of money. Great.

I’ve honestly thought about starting a GoFundMe page, but I doubt that would help. Who has money to spare? And why would they give it to me, even if they did?

So, I’m short on money right now and will remain short on money for the foreseeable future, which makes fixing my car all the harder.

On top of that, I haven’t been writing or editing. I did get some critiques on my chapter I submitted to a “First Chapter” contest, but I’ve read the first page of critiques, and well one of them essentially wants me to put back all the info dumps I already took out.

Not her words, but that seems to be the gist of what she is saying. She says she’s confused about the time and place of the story, which to me means she wants the time and place spelled out upfront instead of shown in the story. Either that or she missed the part about it being contemporary speculative fiction.

Not sure how I can make it even more explicit about the time and place without an info dump, which isn’t a good thing to have in a novel.

Another lady complained about how many characters were introduced in the first chapter and questioned the title character using first and last names of his family and friends. She has a point, I’m just not sure how to solve that issue.

And, yeah, I know I can’t please everyone but why can’t they at least agree on something. If they agreed on just one thing, I would know I need to fix it, but three critiques and none of them brought up the same issue. NONE! Now, what do I do?

Anyway, what are your Christmas plans? Are you ready?

If you are going to be traveling for Christmas, stay safe out there.

And Happy writing everyone!

How Time Flies by Konnie Enos

Time flies.

Just yesterday I was writing down an appointment date and I had to remember it was not in 2022 but rather in 2023 and it’s only about three months away.

So I’m sitting here astonished, yet again, at how fast the time does go by. Looking back on my life and the memories I have and realizing they weren’t yesterday, last week, last month, or even last year.

The pandemic hit over two years ago and 911 was 21 years ago. Other major events that I can remember are things like Regan being elected and the time he was shot at. Or Nixon resigning. I can still remember what I was feeling and thinking when all my classmates were cheering President Carter getting elected and I was off to the side thinking that President Ford was given a short shift simply because he was associated with Nixon, yet he was a good man.

And yes, I admire President Carter too. I probably would not own my home without him. If not for his friendship with the Fullers Habitat for Humanity might not be the worldwide organization that it is today and I therefore would probably not have my home.

And then it wasn’t long ago (of course that could mean two years ago) that I was looking at a picture depicting the long movie lines waiting to go see the brand-new release of STAR WARS. While the picture was not taken in my hometown it still clearly represented the era and I could just envision the line I stood in as a teenager myself so that I could get my first chance to see that spectacular movie. It boggles my mind that was 45 years ago. Not to mention, the Bicentennial was 46 years ago and I can remember that celebration too.

I can also remember the joy I got watching Star Trek back when I was in grade school. And those were repeats because I was eight by then and it went off the air when I was seven. And yes, I’m still a fan. It’s possible to love both a Star Trek fan and a Star Wars fan.

Then there are more personal events that seem like yesterday and they aren’t.

Things like I finally finished my bachelor's degree five months ago. The last time I had to drive any of my kids to school was three and a half years ago. My oldest grandbaby will be four soon which means my daughter has already celebrated her fifth anniversary. My mother has been gone for 15 years and my Dad for 20. My youngest is not only 21 now, but he’ll be 22 in less than six months. Of course, my oldest child is now 31, has been married for over 5 years, and has two daughters. Which just reminds me I’ve been married for 32 years. Seriously, it flies so fast that I have to calculate it.

But what I’m thinking about today is those specific events that happened well yesterday, just 23 years ago. I can remember getting dropped off at my doctor’s and expecting it to be just an hour or so. It was after all just a check-up on my baby who was due sometime between Christmas and New Year’s. What ended up happening is the doctor admitted me so he could induce me the next morning (as in today, 23 years ago). (I still say there was nothing wrong with my baby, he just didn’t want to be called in over his Christmas break.)

So yea, I’m thinking about that precious baby born 23 years ago today, my oldest son, Tony. Oh and the fact that brat doesn’t want to me to celebrate it with him, after all, he’s not a baby anymore.

Happy birthday anyway, Tony.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Opposites by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Being mirror twins means that Konnie and I are mirror opposites; basically, she’s a left-dominant, and I’m a right-dominant. But yesterday as I was freezing driving to work, I thought about Konnie and how warm Vegas must be this time of year.

Yeah, I know people in Vegas don’t think it's warm. I still remember my last Christmas visit to Konnie’s and how I borrowed one of her jackets because it had dipped to like 60 degrees and all I had was my winter coat (which was decidedly too heavy for 60-degree weather). Come Sunday, I’m wearing one of Konnie’s jackets, and I see people enter the chapel wearing parkas that are all done up, and they are shivering all over the place complaining about how dreadfully cold it was!

I repeat it was around 60 degrees, yesterday morning it got up to a balmy 34 degrees (Sunday morning when I went to Church is 24 degrees and freezing rain), and down in Vegas they complain 60 degrees is too cold! I look forward to 60 degrees, but it won’t arrive here in Idaho until about May, if not later.

Of course, when we get up into the 80s and 90s around here, Vegas is sweltering in temperatures that could make a sidewalk melt.

This is why a few years ago when we talked about getting together for our birthday, I told Konnie, if you want to see me on our birthday, you’re coming to me, period.

This still holds, I plan on never going to Vegas in July.

If I can manage it, I’ll go down there for Christmas, but not for our birthday, ever.

She’s more than welcome to come up here for our birthday.

And what does all this have to do with being mirror twins? Well, only that the climate each of us lives in is the opposite of the climate where the other one lives.

Opposites.

Which is what has been on my mind lately.

Of course, we are not vastly different. We are members of the same church, and we both write (just not all the same genres). I could add something about being married, except these days I’m a widow, she isn’t. Then again, when my husband was alive, we were married and our husbands, well about all they had in common was being members of our church and they married twins.

Tom once said he had nothing to talk about with Jerry. They had no shared interests.

And yes folks, I did note the Tom and Jerry part.

It’s kind of hard not to note that especially when you consider that Tom was as close to six foot as I am to five foot and quite a well-built man (no six-pack, but he did have muscle definition), while Jerry is so short, he’s lucky he found a wife shorter than him. He’s a small guy. And I’m guessing Jerry isn’t quite as hairy as Tom was, considering Konnie’s aversion to hairy men.

So yeah, our husbands are Tom and Jerry, literally and figuratively.

Another thing is of course, that I live alone with one cat. Konnie still has three kids in the house, and they have a whole menagerie of animals under their roof.

My house is quiet except when I have the TV on, am watching YouTube, or something on my phone. Konnie’s house is rarely quiet. There are too many animals and people for that. And they rarely watch TV. I’ve been known to turn my TV on just for the noise.

When Konnie last visited here for our birthday, one day I left a few hours to do my volunteer work, she stayed home, and when I returned, I found she had a video on, but she was also writing. I was surprised at that. Konnie looked at me and said, “It was too quiet, I couldn’t concentrate.”

Yeah, well, I have the opposite problem at your house.

It's true. If I’m visiting her house, the likelihood of me getting any writing done is slim. And yet Konnie is so used to all that racket that she has trouble concentrating on her writing in my quiet house.

Though all of this has to do with what we’ve gotten used to. Even when Tom and I had upwards of thirteen cats and kittens in the house, it was never noisy in the place. And, if I wanted to write while he wanted to watch TV, I’d just close the bedroom door so I couldn’t hear the TV.

At Konnie’s house, you can’t get away from the noise.

And another difference is I do NaNo and she doesn’t. By the way, I had to really buckle down and concentrate for that last week or so, but I did it!

Happy writing everyone!

Of Immune Systems and Sickness by Konnie Enos

 In the last few weeks, we discovered that Tony has a pretty strong immune system but Royce’s isn’t that strong.

You see it’s flu season and apparently not only is covid and the flu going around again but RSV is too. On top of that Royce started earlier this month as an Amazon seasonal employee.

Now Amazon can be a great place to work and one of the first things Royce found out when he started there was they have rooms set aside for their employees with Autism to go to have time to calm down from a meltdown.

Yes, you read that right. Amazon understands people with Autism enough to accommodate their needs. Royce had at least two fellow employees tell him that they were personally close to someone with Autism, as in a family member or close friend.

So Royce is feeling pretty good about the job, right up until he comes down with a cold. At that point, he’d only been working a week and was too sick to go in. And figuring out how to report that and get the time off was stressing him so bad he actually went and applied for a different job. (Unfortunately, they turned him down.) But, Royce is figuring out how to navigate the system. Mostly he has learned that they have people hired to help employees navigate the time off system. Still stressful, but he’s handling it, even though he’s had to get time off a second time in the less than a month he’s worked there.

But all that brings us to the main issue.

I don’t know why, but every time Royce gets sick I get it from him and only sometimes does anyone else in the family get it.

The first time he got sick. I got it, though not as bad.

Now this time? So far Jerry and Tony are the only ones not affected.

Which is bad.

Melinda and I do most of the housework and we both are so sick we both saw doctors yesterday.

Yes, both of us were prescribed antibiotics.

This brings me to my issue.

It’s my turn to post and I’ve been under the weather since at least Saturday. I’ve even been crashing for the night before, or very shortly after, 10 p.m. I finally let Bonnie know that I hadn’t written my post yet and I wasn’t going to be able to write it any time soon. Like possibly not at all.

Due to taking Melinda to quick care and making sure Tony got to and from work, Jerry couldn’t take me to quick care until later in the day. (I have slightly different insurance than my kids and the nearest quick care won’t take my primary insurance.) Needless to say, both places were pretty busy and it wasn’t quick at all.

The only reason I didn’t go straight to bed when I got back from the quick care last night was that I hadn’t had dinner yet. And the only other thing I managed was to let Bonnie know I was sick before I crashed for the night.

Needless to say, my post did not get written. And Bonnie wasn’t able to get one done because, unlike me, she has a job and other responsibilities.

I’d rather still be asleep, but the sun is coming up and I’m somehow awake at this hour, and since there was nothing posted yet, I thought I’d at least attempt to get something written as to why I didn’t do this sooner.

Oh, and Royce has decided that whether or not he likes them, he will wear his mask at work from now on. He even said he was going to get him a hazmat suit. Though for now, he’s making full use of all the hand sanitizer Amazon has available for their employees to use. That and wearing his mask of course.

So that is my week so far.

I’m also falling back to sleep so I’m going to end this post.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Distracting Research by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Time is running out, and I am way behind in my writing this month. I’d like to say my transportation issues are what is causing me to be so far behind on Nano but the truth is it's still social media. Really need to stop scrolling through the stories on Facebook.

I’ve read so much about rude people, entitled people, and dumb people and it totally surprises there are so many stories like this.

I was just reading a story about a guy who helpfully raised his hand so the witness could identify him! And that wasn’t even the dumbest story in the post. And some of the "rude people" stories were so outrageous I wondered how they could keep their jobs, but then in some of those the employees did lose their jobs, just not all, in most of them, they only lost a customer.

And that doesn’t even come to the entitled people.

I mean I’ve read stories where these insane people think they can claim to know the owner of some business to get away with all sorts of shenanigans, but the funniest ones are when they claim to know the owner and they are speaking to the owner! Though I read one where the business was owned by three siblings, and one customer claimed to know the oldest of the three and even used his first name in the claim, but the next second one of the sibling owners walk past and the customer says hi to him calling him by the younger brother’s name – it was the elder brother.

I read some were about the customers claiming to be a wife, or some other family of the owner while talking to an actual relative to the owner, but the best one was when a guy tried to claim to be the owner’s favorite grandnephew, he knew the name and everything.

Only two problems. The owner’s oldest (and favorite) grandnephew was in his late teens but the guy making the claim was clearly closer to thirty. And the second problem? That idiot was talking to the owner of the identity he'd claimed as his. The kid had a name tag on and everything.

One story had a woman claiming to be the wife of the owner. The so-called “mere” employee she claimed she was going to get fired stared at her and said, “That’s funny; you don’t look like Mom.”

I mean really, how can dumb can you get? Claiming to know people you don’t know! Things like that can be proven.

I read one where the customer wreaked some havoc and then claimed the owner would believe him, a supposed best bud, over some mere employee and the employee was going get fired. The so-called employee turned and called into the next room and said, “Hey, Dad, you want to come out here and hear this customer’s complaint?”

That’s even better than all the various stories I’ve read where disgruntled customers go into a tirade demanding to speak to the manager, only to have the person they are ranting at, give the fool some version of, “You’re speaking to him.”

But the one I really liked was the kid who, in response to a request for the manager, said, “Sure, I’ll go get the manager on duty,” then walked into the other room, turned around, and came back out and asked the ranting customer, “How can I help you?”

Cute.

The best part was the customer had been calling the kid all sorts of names, mostly deriding her about being female, and that manager would put her in her place. Yeah, right.

Like the grandmother arguing with the manager (name tag indicating that and all) and asking a nearby employee to please go get her boss. The said employee pointed to the person she was railing at. The grandmother refused to believe a person of color could be the manager and demanded to speak to another manager in the place.

The only other manager on duty that day was also a person of color.

I admit I got hooked on these stories a few months ago when I was doing some research to be sure the antics of the “Karyn” in one of my stories weren’t unbelievably over the top. Folks, I had to amp it up, because I wasn’t even close! Not by a long shot!

But I keep reading to find more fodder for my story. Except it's not the one I’m working on!

I really need to work on this new one. And I hate the idea of not finishing but it looks like I may not finish this year. I’ll keep plugging away, though I clearly will not be done by Thanksgiving, not a prayer.

Happy writing everyone!

Of Coincidence and Memories by Konnie Enos

 

I’m sure most people have heard stories of people looking through old pictures and finding out that at some point in their past they’d crossed paths with someone they’d met much more recently. Recently I was reading some of these types of stories and it got me thinking.

I remember when we were about fourteen and Jacki’s then-boyfriend came around and talked about crashing a birthday party for some girls he did not know. The friend that told him about it did not know them.

Somehow, I was talked into going with them. (Bonnie may have gone too.)

The birthday girls were in fact twins and the party was in their large front yard. And yes, no one kicked us out though after a while I had to use the bathroom. Someone tracked down one of the hosts for me and got me permission to go inside and use the bathroom, but I was told to come straight back out.

I hurried in, did my business, and went to dash back out but was stopped by a display of family pictures. One in particular. I stayed long enough that one of the hosts came in to find me. I asked her if she knew who was in the one picture or where it was taken.

She told me where she and her twin sister were in the picture and what she knew of the others in the picture, then mentioned she was told one of her cousins took it and she thought the two youngest girls were his kids.

They were.

I remember Dad taking the picture in Grandma’s living room.

Yep. We unknowingly crashed the birthday party for Dad’s cousins.

Well, all this got me thinking about the Bicentennial.

Why?

Because it was chock full of these weird crossed-path incidents.

First, there was the young man (eighteen to be exact) who was in the color guard leading the parade in our hometown that day. Not only was Bonnie also marching in that parade, but it wasn’t the first, or last time our paths would cross his. And apparently, the first time was while we were still in our Mom’s belly. The second was just two years previously when Bonnie declared she would never have anything to do with any man who felt that way about boys playing with dolls, even if those dolls were meant for boys. (Our brother had some action figures similar to G.I. Joes', but closer to what Barbies are.)

The next time Bonnie crossed paths with him they ended up dating and then happily married.

But the eeriness of the events from that one parade doesn’t end there.

To this day I can still remember a small group of people riding and prancing their ponies around the street as they passed where I stood watching the parade. One of those ladies came right up to me and I’ve never forgotten what that young cowgirl looked like.

Fast forward almost thirty years and I’m in Nevada and I just moved into my house. When we attend the new ward (congregation) I spot a lady who for some reason immediately had me flashing back to that cowgirl even though she was not so much as wearing a cowboy hat. Yet, every single time I saw her, I flashed back to that cowgirl.

I did ask her if our paths had crossed somewhere but we had never so much as lived in the same city.

A few years later I was talking to her and she brought up the Bicentennial and mentioned her uncle roping her into riding with them in that parade as a last-minute replacement for someone else. I asked what city it was that she’d ridden in the parade for.

You guessed it!

Pocatello, Idaho.

That’s right, I flashback to that cowgirl because she WAS that cowgirl.

And reading those stories has me wondering if someday we’ll come across an old picture of mine or Jerry’s that somehow has the other one of us in the background long before we met and got married.

I mean, I know we both lived in the Salt Lake City area when we were toddlers/preschool age so it makes me wonder. Of course, that’s the only time we even lived in the same state until we met and eventually married in our late twenties.

Now I’m writing a story where the hero and heroine have their paths cross several times in their lives before the story starts. What is even funnier, while others find the earliest connection in their lives, I don’t think they ever do.

Have you ever written characters that have any of these “our paths have crossed before” moments?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Social Media and Other Distractions by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Nano has started, and I’m not doing so hot. On days when I could have been writing for more extended periods, I didn’t because I was on my phone. I need to ignore my social media, at least for this month. It doesn’t help that I have several projects (knitting, crocheting, etc.) I am trying to finish before Christmas either.

Plus, I have this post to write and get up, cutting into my writing time.

I don’t know why I’m having so much more trouble concentrating on my story this time around. All I do know is I’m spending time doing other things instead of writing.

Yeah, I know I’m a turtle when it comes to writing, but I can usually keep up with the minimum words per day and write every day. Not this year. And I have no good excuse for it.

I have been doing National Novel Writer’s Month for a long time, and there really is no excuse for letting myself get distracted like this. This is becoming a huge problem for me.

Then there is my lack of participation in write-ins, which really isn’t my fault.

First, on Halloween night, I noticed my porch light wasn’t working. Getting my aide to change the bulb didn’t work so I had to call my landlord. Until then, I’m not leaving the house, if I’ll be coming back after dark, just not. It's way too hard to see the locks on the door without light. Let alone that it’s not safe.

Don’t worry it should be fixed today.

Of course, the Saturday write-ins are during the day at the library, but I missed that first one because of my car issues, which is ongoing because honestly, I don’t have the money to fix it. Which also means I don’t have the money to replace it either.

It does work. Sort of. The A/C/Heater/defroster doesn’t work, and my car overheats if I drive around too much. Which basically means short trips only and bundle up!

I’m still not sure how I can get all the work it needs done.

Worry isn’t helping my writing either.

And I’m supposed to avoid stress!

On a lighter note, some of my colleagues at work and I got into a discussion the other day about accents, which devolved into two of them talking about how many times they’ve had people ask them where they are from, then proceed to ask where Idaho is or mix Idaho up with several other states that begin with the letter I.

Of everyone there, there were only the three of us who are actually from Idaho, as in born and raised. We’ve all lived elsewhere, but I’ve never had that happen to me.

I did have an incident when I was living in Tacoma when a young man said he was from a small town in Idaho, that I would have never heard of.

Now the background for this is that I’d gone to a young adult dance with a friend of mine and we met a couple of young men who were in town for the summer, for their jobs. We’d all introduced ourselves, and my friend and I pointed out that we lived in the area. Not a lie, she was born and raised in the area, and, at that point, I’d lived in Tacoma for almost two and half years.

We then asked these two guys where they were from, and one said he was from LA while the other said he was from a small Idaho town that I would never have heard of.

My friend kind of smirked in my direction, knowing full well I grew up in Idaho. I folded my arms, looked straight at that guy, and said, “Try me.”

And he said, “A little place called Oakley, I told you, you’ve never heard of it.”

I thought that over a second or two and responded. “My uncle lives there.”

Now you could have scrapped this guy’s jaw off the payment!

He honestly thought neither of us would have ever heard of it, let alone I actually knew, was related to, people who lived there. But the funniest part was, I’d given him my first and last name, he knew it, and it never dawned on him that I might know his high school math teacher, even though we have the same last name. Or rather did, that was three years before I got married.

I still don’t know how he didn’t even consider I might be related to my uncle when our name is not anywhere as common as say, Smith or Jones.

And how are all of you doing on your writing? You can find me on the NaNo site listed as FaithfullSpirit2.

Happy writing everyone!

Of Funny quips by Konnie Enos

I woke up at nearly seven this morning and realized that I needed to have my post written and up, within about an hour. Cue panic. I had not been feeling well yesterday and completely spaced even writing it.

I again have no idea what to write, but I have, over the last couple of months, gathered a few funny incidents so I’ll start there.

First I’ll start with this one I heard for Melinda.

From Melinda while she is starting the washing machine to do a load.: “I got molasses on my shirt.”

Me: “Sorry.” Then after a moment of thought. “Well, actually, you’re the one who requested gingersnaps.

Melinda: “Well, I didn’t request molasses on my shirt.”

Then this one I encountered at church.

I’m talking to one senior lady who is moving rather slowly. She said she’d broken a bone in her foot and was still taking it easy on it.

I indicated my walker, which I did have with me, and said, “My current mobility issues are also because of a broken bone, but I broke mine over 50 years ago.

Another senior lady is at this point close enough to hear my comment and responds, “How is that possible if you’re not even 50 yet?”

“I’m 60.”

Now the stunned looked. “Oh!”

Since I hadn’t said which bone I’d broken before I was 10 years old, I assume she was astonished at my age. I think if she’d known it was my back she would have found it even more astonishing.

Then from Royce, and the first one is also about my age.

Royce: Gripping about me always having some issue with technology, like pushing buttons when I shouldn’t be and wondering when I’ll ever remember not to do that.

Me: “I’m sixty.”

After I’d responded that way on several occasions He finally retorted: You can’t use that excuse forever you know.”

Me: “I can until my next birthday.”

This next one is also from Royce and had me laughing because it’s so typically a Royce response.

Royce was in my room talking to me when he paused, looking at our closet. “Why is Xavier sleeping there?

I glance in that direction and happen to be able to pick out where Xavier’s nose is. He is, after all, mostly black and he was in a dark corner of our closet, sort of behind Jerry’s nightstand.

“Oh, he likes to sleep in that corner.”

“Does he think he’s a cat?”

“Well, Tiger thinks he’s a dog.” Tiger being a yellow tabby.

“Fair point.”

And yet one more from my lovely son. This is one I overheard, as I was in my bedroom and they were in the front of the house.

I heard Royce say, “Argh.” I’m assuming pain of some sort.

Melinda clearly says something to him but they are too far away for me to hear what it is.

Royce: “I’m still alive. My foot might not be through.”

So yeah, he stubbed his toe.

And this one, literally happened yesterday morning. I’m in the middle of updating my planner/calendar for the new month and I realize it’s now November, another year has passed. Since my husband is on the other side of the room, I get his attention.

Me: “What are we going to do for our anniversary?”

Jerry: “I don’t know. When is it?”

Me: “When is our anniversary? Seriously?”

Jerry: “Is it October?”

(Remember, this was YESTERDAY.)

Me: “When do you think it is? We got married the day after Thanksgiving.”

Jerry: “So what day is that? Friday?”

Me: “The day changes every year.” I, of course, roll my eyes. I mean who doesn’t know that the date Thanksgiving falls on changes every year so that it always falls on the last Thursday of November? And, of course, the date of our anniversary doesn’t change, but the day does, though it’s always close to Thanksgiving.

The same can be said for the birthday of our middle brother. He was born the day after Thanksgiving too, just on a different date than our anniversary. And yes, sometimes we do end up celebrating our anniversary, or his birthday, on Thanksgiving because they fell on the last Thursday of November. This year, neither of them does.

Oh, and for our anniversary this year, we probably won’t do much mostly because I’ll probably be busy helping Melinda with preparing our Thanksgiving meal and it’s not going to be a huge feast. It just takes time to prepare all that from scratch.

Which reminds me. Time to start preparing the bread for the dressing.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 .

Nano and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Here it is October 26 and Nano is less than a week away, and I have no idea what I’m going write this year.

Oh, I have a character, but that’s about all. I have no idea what sort of story this will be, and I don’t have an outline. Okay, I usually don’t have an outline, but I also usually have more than just a character in my head by this time too.

Actually, I usually have a bit of an outline in my head but not written down before I start any project. I mean I do know things likes and dislikes of the characters, what in general is going to happen. I can think of lots of times I’ve asked for help brainstorming and told the person helping me their ideas won’t work because of some reason I already had in the story that I hadn’t written down yet. So, in essence, I outline in my mind and rarely write it down.

But this year, I think I’ve spent far too much time editing my epic sci-fi to be thinking about something new. And then there is the issue of how many novels I’ve started and never finished. Some I just can’t seem to think of something more to add, others I have ideas right up until I open the manuscript to start writing then my mind goes blank.

I’m thinking that the ones I can’t think of more to add to I need to scrap. Though I am not sure about even that. A few might even count as novellas if I just had a satisfying ending. Some others have clear skips in the storyline that need filling in, and I keep drawing a blank on just how to write those scenes.

Actually, I have trouble with any story where I skipped around. If I manage to write sequentially, I am more likely to finish it. This really bothers me because I know of writers who do skip around during the rough draft. They write what scene comes to mind at the moment then when they edit, they move the scenes around.

I can’t seem to master that. I am trying. I actually have two stories that I can think of where I have been adding scenes into the middle of them during edits.

Actually, on both of them my rough draft was more like an exceptionally long synopsis: boring and telling. I have been going back and not just adding detail but showing the story.

If I think about it, all my rough drafts fall into that category. I have to work pretty hard to show the story. Show don’t Tell is something I have always had issues with, so maybe I need more practice on that.

On another note, this will be my 21^st Nano. I can hardly believe it’s been that long, but my first Nano was in 2001 and here it is 2022. I am officially the old pro in my group.

In fact, back on the 15^th, my group had their Preptober meeting, and one of the ladies who attended mentioned this was her first official Nano, and that she wasn’t sure if she could manage it, which prompted a brief discussion on who had done it the longest, which ended up being me. Everyone else, including our two leaders, started participating after me.

There wasn’t even a local group when I first started. I did the first couple of Nanos without a single write-in or group get-together. And even then, the lady who organized our first write-ins has since dropped out because she was too busy.

And I know one writer who only participated a few times, even though she still writes, during the winter, when there isn’t a whole lot to do around her farm. She’s one busy lady.

Actually, not too long ago, I was talking to a friend and happened to mention I know a local published author, and even mentioned that her first book was “A Monster Like Me” and the person I was talking to freaked at the idea I knew the author. She loves the book, and she asked me if I could manage to get her copy autographed. I mentioned the author’s connection to a locally well-known farm.

The person I was talking to hadn’t realized she’d met the author at the farmer’s market! It had never dawned on her that the author was even local let alone that I might know the woman.

And for those of you who don’t know, the author is Wendy Swore.

Anyway, are any of you doing Nano this year? If so let me know. I’d like to know what you are writing and how you are doing on it.

Happy writing everyone, and good luck on Nano!

Of Writing, Sleep and Other Distractions by Konnie Enos

 

Last night, as it was getting later in the evening and a good time to go to bed, I was moaning because I didn’t have an idea for a post, and I seriously didn’t feel well which made thinking about something to write even harder. I was seriously thinking about just writing, “I’m sick and can’t think.” And leaving my post at that.

About then, Jerry decides he’s going to bed and talks me into doing the same, even though I haven’t written my post yet. He said that you think better when you’re well-rested and the ideas always come after a good night’s sleep.

Well, I did lie down, but laying down doesn’t mean I’ll get a good night's sleep. Most of the time, I’m never quite comfortable and I wake up two or three times a night. Then when I do finally give up in the morning, it’s because I’m so uncomfortable a change in position is necessary. Which is usually what prompts me to go to bed in the first place.

Yes, that’s right. I go to bed at night because I get so uncomfortable sitting here that I simply have to change positions and the only one left is laying down. Then I get up in the morning because I am again that uncomfortable and I need to sit up again.

But being uncomfortable doesn’t help you get the best sleep.

So last night, I’m trying to get in as comfortable a position as possible and Jerry in all his sweetness does everything he can to help me, even to the point of making him less than comfortable.

I slept pretty well last night. I didn’t even have to change my position a bunch of times. I only did it once. Then when my alarm went off this morning I was already awake. I’d been lying there for a few minutes trying to decide if I wanted to get up yet. The only reason I hadn’t gotten up yet, was that I still had no clue what I was going to write about.

 Of course, when my alarm went off, I had to get up. I had to get my computer out and I had to get writing or I wouldn’t have anything to post this morning. But opening my computer up and starting Word doesn’t mean the ideas will come.

So I’m sitting at my computer, attempting to write something when I happen to notice what time it is.

I look around me and listen.

No one is moving about and no dogs are barking.

Jerry is still curled up in bed beside me.

I look at the time and then look around again. Nothing has changed.

I attempt to wake Jerry up. He does a “hmm,” thing and goes back to sleep.

I look at the time again.

Okay fine. I have less than an hour to get my as-yet-unwritten post up but it’s apparently more important that I take the time to feed some fur babies (and make sure Mabel gets her pills) than write my post.

Normally when it’s time to feed our fur babies, I’m alerted to the fact because Melinda heads to the cat food bin, which I can see from my bed, and the dogs start barking, a lot, to ensure I wake up and or move (depending on if it’s morning or evening).

I don’t even see Melinda until I’m already heading out of my bedroom. Our dogs start barking.

“I thought you weren’t getting up.”

“Of course, I’m getting up. It’s barely seven now.”

I head up the hallway to feed the dogs and they stop barking, though Xavier is whining about getting into Tina’s old bedroom. “It’s been seven long enough for me to notice.”

So this morning, we didn’t have the cacophony of dog barking because I was already heading for their bowls.

 But that just means I had already run out of time to write my half-written post.

So I get back to my computer and type words as quickly as they come to me, hoping I can finish in time only to get distracted from my task yet again.

This time by a text message.

“Yes, Bonnie. I know. I’m working on it.”

At least I got some good sleep last night, and I’m feeling a bit better this morning. I haven’t even wheezed yet, so no nebulizing treatments yet to keep the wheezing from distracting me from my writing.

Maybe I’ll get through today without that distraction.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Writing and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

I have no idea how much I’m going to write today; I had another of what I term a “bad night.” Though this time it wasn’t the usual aches and pains causing me trouble. Last night I fixed myself a cup of tea and I overfilled the mug so as I walked from my kitchen to the living room (only a few steps) I sloshed some of that boiling hot water onto my foot.

I immediately put burn ointment on it; it feels better this morning, but I didn’t sleep all that great. It was hard to get comfortable when I couldn’t let anything beyond air touch my foot. And I have issues with getting comfortable at night anyway.

I always have to find a position that doesn't bother my back, accounts for my bad knee, and doesn’t set off my carpal tunnel, which is easy to do. And I should have worn my brace last night, but I didn’t, so I am paying the price this morning. Namely, I’m wearing said brace while I try to type.

I have also been trying to edit more of my sci-fi, only trouble is I didn’t get as far as I wanted to this last week; mostly because on Monday while I was at work, I came up with an idea to tweak the first chapter, so I was doing that Monday after work instead of getting further with my edits or doing something productive like maybe start this post.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute, especially when you didn’t sleep well the night before.

Anyway, my sci-fi seems to be getting better by the day (but who am I to judge? I like it). Konnie’s sci-fi is getting closer to polished by the day.

Konnie and I had a conversation this past week about how far along our respective sci-fi’s are. I had to point out to Konnie that she had a completed rough draft long before I started mine, so hers is clearly closer to “done” than mine is; especially since I don’t have a completed rough draft of even the first book in the series and she has a completed rough of her whole series.

I might also point out that while both stories are sci-fi, and both even have war as a central part of it, they are nothing alike. For one, hers centers around the relationships of the characters in her story while they deal with the issues of war, mine centers around the cause of the war. At least that is my central theme. Of course, I do have relationship issues in mine, but the underlying driving force is the character who caused all this conflict whereas in Konnie’s the cause of the conflict isn’t discussed, the war is only mentioned on how it affects the characters’ lives.

I think if I thought about it a little longer, I could think of other differences. Well, for one, she has more POVs than I have.

So far, I only have two POVs, with a possible third later in the series when he finally enters the picture. Konnie has, I believe, seven POV characters in the whole series. I don’t think I can produce that many.

There is a whole lot of difference between having a large cast of characters and having a lot of POV characters. Large casts I can manage. I’ve done that, but I’ve never had more than two POVs in any story. Seven seems astronomical to me.

Not that Konnie doesn’t see it that way too. Keep in mind that we both generally write romance, and those usually only have two POVs; the couple the story centers around. Even my speculative fiction centers around just one couple even if there are more couples in it. And, like I said, the majority of our work is romance.

In fact, for the longest time, I categorized my spec fiction as romance, or paranormal romance, with a hint of sci-fi, but none of those genres really fit. Then I discovered the genre called speculative fiction and that fits! Up until that point, I was worried that the story didn’t really fit anywhere, which was making it hard to sell. I am so glad I finally found a niche for it. Now just to sell it.

Finally having the right genre might actually help with selling it. Does anyone know a good speculative fiction publisher or agent?

Yeah, I have to work on my query and possibly my synopsis for that one as well, but I don’t know if I will have time with Nano right around the corner.

And that’s another thing; what do I write this year?

Anyway, happy writing everyone!

Of Birthdays and Holidays by Konnie Enos

 

Recently I saw a post where someone asked us to “imagine having a birthday within 2 weeks of Christmas.” Just think about having a birthday anywhere from December 11^th to January 8^th.

Well, that got me thinking.

I know a lot of people with birthdays in that period. I even know some people with birthdays in the first half of December who had complained about having their birthdays overshadowed by Christmas. The most common complaints were getting birthday gifts in Christmas-themed wrapping paper and or receiving just one gift to represent both events. This was particularly bad when it was relatives who gave their siblings two gifts a year, one for each event.

When I learned the due date for my fourth child (oldest son, Tony) all the information I had about December birthdays came back to me. But I had one as yet untapped resource, My cousin was born three days after Christmas, hence the same week my baby was due.

I had an enlightening conversation with my favorite aunt (said cousin’s mother).

She mentioned not only the two complaints mentioned above but also some family and friends who completely ignored that my cousin had a birthday. Yes, he experienced this, and yes, he noticed.

I took note. I even put my foot down. I told my family members they had to treat all my kids equally. Either they gave all of them both a birthday and Christmas gift or gave them one or none. But they could not give my other kids gifts and not my December baby. I wasn’t going to tolerate them overlooking one kid’s birthday just because it was close to Christmas.

I also told them I preferred that birthday gift not be in Christmas-themed wrapping paper. This meant that I could not use Christmas wrapping paper for birthday gifts. Now, as a rule, I could not afford a lot of wrapping paper so I wrapped most of my children’s birthday gifts in groceries bags.

However, one year I did find some birthday-themed wrapping paper and started using that. I ran out just before I needed to wrap my December child’s gift. I kid you not. Even the store where I’d found it before only had Christmas-themed paper in December.

I believe I resorted to using some plain red Christmas wrapping paper. He does like the color red. Now I plan to make sure I still have some birthday-themed wrapping paper when it’s time to wrap birthday presents for my December baby, and also for those people I give birthday gifts to who have birthdays in the above-mentioned period.

And yes, I have more than just that one cousin or my son, Tony, with a birthday so close to Christmas. Looking at my calendar I also have two nieces, another cousin, my son-in-law, my husband, and a sister-in-law and her late husband with birthdays between December 11^th and January 8^th. And those are just the ones I know about.

Then again, I also thought of all the people who have birthdays on, or extremely near, major holidays. Imagine people overlooking your birthday because it is within days of Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year’s, Labor Day, or national independence days (like July 4^th).

Try planning a birthday party on or near your birthday when it happens to be on or near a major holiday. All your friends ended up declining the invitation because their parents said, “that’s family time.”

Growing up, Bonnie and I had the best attendance at our birthday parties when we planned them for at least a week after the actual event. I think our biggest birthday party was when our big day was on a Monday, though just the one year, which happened to be 1976. With the fourth on Sunday, our town had a huge celebration on Monday. So it felt like the whole town was celebrating with us.

There are also our two youngest brothers. One was born on Labor day and the other on the last Friday of November. I’m not sure Labor Day had as much of an effect on my baby brother, but my other brother felt it. Far too often his friends weren’t available to celebrate with him because they were celebrating Thanksgiving with extended family.

So, as the Christmas season quickly approaches, I think not only about those numerous family members who deal with birthdays far too close to the event but also everyone whose birthday gets overshadowed by a major holiday.

As the holidays approach, think about the people you know who have birthdays on or near that major event. They want others to recognize their birthday the same way they do everybody else’s.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Bad Days and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 I hate bad days; a bad week is worse!

First, my car overheated to the point of alarms going off and I had to pull into a parking lot and turn it off for several minutes before I could return home, but it was to the point of the alarms going off again before I returned home. And I hadn’t gone that far!

I was about halfway home from a trip to Walmart when it went off, so from that parking lot to my place was half the distance, a couple of minutes' drive. Not good. I called a friend whose husband and even sons are known to work on cars all the time at their house. I had witnessed it myself on several occasions.

I was waiting for her to call me back when her husband just showed up. All good.

He also tried to fix it, but it turns out the issue is something not in his ability to repair. For one, I have a newer car than he is used to working on, and for another the part he thinks needs replaced would require a lift to get at it. So, my car, while drivable, can’t go very far until I can get the issue fixed. I’m broke.

Grand. This may be a while before I can get it fixed. So, I’m limiting how often I drive, and where I go, it’s too risky otherwise.

But that isn’t the only issue. I mean why would it be? Doesn’t trouble come in threes? And I hope not, because that means it isn’t over yet!

Anyway, my fridge went on the fritz. In fact, I first noticed a problem before my friend’s husband showed up to fix my car. The thing is, it didn’t seem that big of a deal until turning the thing up didn’t work.

Worse still, I didn’t realize how bad it was until my milk spoiled only days after I mixed it up.

And the big worry was my insulin, which has to be kept in the fridge.

My landlord promised to replace it on Tuesday, and I was late to work waiting for him to come, but guess what, the replacement isn’t working! I still have no working fridge.

This means I’m going to be late for work again, waiting for the landlord.

And that is on top of being sick last week for two of the four days I do work. Missing hours I can’t afford to miss especially when I have a car to get fixed.

But that isn’t even all of it!

Late Sunday night/early Monday morning I was woken up by my good ankle throbbing. I had to get pain meds, and when that didn’t work, I had to get an ice pack. Thankfully, I do have a freezer separate from the defunct fridge.

And I did wake up Monday morning feeling fine, so I went to work as usual and nothing seemed amiss, right up until I dozed off while I was typing! Yeah, I wasn’t getting much work done that way. I went home early.

So, to be clear, I went home early on Monday and arrived at work late on Tuesday, today is Wednesday and it looks like another late day while I wait for my landlord again.

On top of that, I woke up this morning with my arthritis acting is up in my left pointer finger, so typing is painful today. I’m a data entry clerk, let alone a writer.

Okay, maybe I am past the trouble in three’s situation. At least my ankle isn’t throbbing anymore, though I also don’t know what caused that, and it was my good ankle! It’s the other one I injured severely decades ago and then broke a few years back. That’s the one that usually gives me trouble.

And let's not forget that I have a “trick” knee for which I keep forgetting I can’t stand and turn at the same time. Two Sundays in a row I ended up in bed waiting for the pain to go down from that thing yet again going out because of a stupid move I made. EDS is no fun, and I don’t have it as bad as other members of my family.

Anyway, it hasn’t been a fun week.

Though I might add while I wasn’t feeling well, it sure was nice to be able to read through Konnie’s sci-fi manuscript again. She’d sent it to me because she thought she was done editing the first book of that series. She’s done a great job, by the way, just needed a few more tweaks, but the file she sent me had all five books and I kept reading mostly because she sent a newer version than what I already read.

Anyway, happy writing everyone!

Of Quiet Muses and Low Blood Sugar by Konnie Enos

Okay, it’s Wednesday morning again, and my turn to post something. What am I doing? Staring at a blank page wondering what to write about. Any ideas that I have produced aren’t sufficient to write more than a handful of lines. So I’m stuck again.

I’ve even attempted to work on my stories.

As a rule, all I manage is to read through what I have without any ideas to finish the unfinished ones or improve the ones that are all but finished. Though I suppose my fantasy is ready for some critics, and beta reads. And I have made some improvements to my sci-fi, which I am still tweaking.

Everything else, I can read them but can’t seem to figure out how to finish them. Similar to what I’m experiencing with writing my posts. I have some rough ideas but I have no idea how to flesh them out.

If I do manage to start typing something, someone will come along and talk to me and say or do something to distract me from what I’m attempting to do. Every time this happens and I go back to my screen only to find I’ve completely lost my train of thought.

This leaves me wishing I could type uninterrupted but that never happens.

If I type during daylight hours, my kids will come up with some reason to distract me. If I type at either end of the day, first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, Jerry is bound to find some reason to talk to me about something. Like this morning when he asked me where his clean clothes were.

How am I supposed to know that? The last time I saw his clothes were when I put them in the washer two days ago. I even told him if they were still there then they needed to be rewashed.

Fortunately for him, he’d remembered to get them in the dryer and turn it on but had forgotten to retrieve them, and amazingly no one else had tried to do laundry since then.

If you’re wondering why I hadn’t put them in the dryer, the answer is I can’t.

When we went and bought our new machine I’d focused on getting a large capacity one to accommodate the loads our boys tend to have. The issue we’ve discovered with it is that I cannot reach anything in the bottom of the washer unless you want me to climb on my stool and dive head first into it.

So while I can sort laundry and put loads into the machine, I cannot switch the loads without help. Since the last load I’d put in was Jerry’s, I’d simply told him to transfer it to the dryer when the washing machine finished.

I’d even done multiple loads on Monday and Royce grumbled when he had to switch them for me. I reminded him that he did not want to see me head first in the machine trying to get them out myself.

And of course, I’m distracted again and end up just staring at the screen without any ideas on what to write about now.

Then disaster struck. Not only did the dogs need to be fed, and Jerry wasn’t home to do it, but my blood sugar tanked. I had to not only feed three dogs but find me something to eat and fast. Which, of course, left me with no time remaining to finish writing a post. Though the blood sugar issues may explain why I couldn’t think.

So here is my poor attempt at writing. Sorry, it’s shorter than usual.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.