Pamela Schloesser Canepa's Blog, page 76
March 10, 2017
A Date to Remember, A Tale of Love in 2063
He’s going to love his Valentine’s gift, I thought, almost running back home under gray skies that could not cloud my mood. I had just been to see Roy, who was helping me with this effort.
Tom and I had discussed this, the possibility of a child. We saw Roy and Mavis with their child, Randy, who could not hear but communicated quite well with his hands at four. It was just a pity there was no official education for a child like him. Since the “system” had decided not to fund or make available any health insurance for those who procreate without a permit, the government believed it could rightly do away with any such education. Those operating outside of the laws of society would do so without any help from society or the government.
Roy and Mavis were actually doing quite well. Mavis was researching and hoarding all the books and video uploads she could find to educate her child on her own. Health insurance? Roy was already a holistic healer (a profession that implied living on the fringes), and his self-studies made him an awfully good unofficial nurse/ sometimes doctor for children who were born to families on the fringes. His own child included. In fact, if I ever gave birth, he’d have to be the one to deliver it. Not to mention, no doctor would help me now…..
Read the rest here at Niume: Source: A Date to Remember, Ch. 2. A Tale of Love in 2063. https://niume.com/post/261271
Photo courtesy of Pixabay (Creative Commons)
**"A Date to Remember" is a series of stories I am publishing for free at https://niume.com/profile/111217#!/posts The characters are moving toward an undetermined finish. I plan to merge these characters with those from one of my published works when the time is right. Please read other installments of this dystopian love story at the Niume profile listed above!
March 5, 2017
#weekendcoffeeshare Can’t Stop the Time
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Good morning, everyone! The Weekend Coffee Share is a blogger’s community post where we share with each other our goals, our projects and progress, thoughts and musings. As T.S. Eliot would say, the “butt-ends of our days and ways.” Sounds negative, I guess, but it gets to the nitty gritty. What is the end product of our goals and aspirations? Well, I suppose I could share just about dreams, but I’ll give some reality too.
If we were having coffee this weekend, I’d tell you some good things. Coffee makes me feel positive, unless I am already in an anxious mode, which I’m managing lately, but still, I limit myself to one cup to avoid a problem. Lately, I’ve been posting on the new Niume site, working hard to share and get those views. Maybe I’m working too hard. I posted a prayer for Lent, which is, I suppose, a free verse poem. It is posted here on my WordPress and on my Niume site. I haven’t been doing much with my “works” in progress as a result of the new site (which needs to change), but there is a positive.
On my Niume site, I dedicated myself to writing every third post about a futuristic story of love in an age of government over-reach and neglect. Yes, it sounds paradoxical, but it’s really not. It started here on WordPress with a Valentine’s Day entry for a Flash fiction post, so they are all titled “A Date to Remember,” and things are happening on various dates in the future. At any rate, these characters will meet up with Norrie in the future; she is the warrior/heroine in my Made for Me and Seeing Through Sampson’s Eyes series. And boy, is she ever going to prove a valiant warrior. By the way, I mean “warrior” metaphorically. In that sense, sometimes I am a warrior. So, out of the Niume posts grew another fiction idea for my future writing. I have so many, it’s like spinning plates on my hands and feet. I’m a moody sort, so I can pick up whichever one fits my fancy on a given day. The key will be, finishing one, then another. Only then will I have met my goal. Perhaps I should write out my goals and give myself deadlines.
Here is my Niume site if you are interested in the posts: https://niume.com/profile/111217#!/posts You can also read my WordPress post explaining how you and I can get referrals and gather revenue from it: https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/use-niume-to-promote-your-writing/
Two weeks (or one week) ago, I started a GoFundMe for my old friend from high school, Wendy. She has Lupus, RA, MS, and a few other illnesses and the treatments, even with co-pays are outrageously high cost. Well, there have been 11 donors and 80 plus shares on social media. I feel like it is thriving and so far there has been a helpful amount donated. However, it’s not enough to get her and her husband out of the hole. I am still circulating it on social media. It was one of my promises for Lent to set this up and give it, up front and center, a place on my social media. Please visit it if you feel so moved! https://www.gofundme.com/sxfp7s-wendys-medical-fund
Yesterday, after being on the computer for too long, I took a walk on some trails with my son and my dog. My twenty-year-old son is a little non-verbal at times. I feel he is going through a difficult time but keeps it all in. However, these walks are quite a positive note in our lives, and research agrees that outdoor exercise keeps a brain healthy. He and our dog are right at about the same pace. I love it!
[image error] A brief pause.
Sometimes I get writing ideas while out on the trail or during yoga. None lately, though. I seem to have the ideas and I need to just flesh them out, make them work. I have Spring Break coming up. That should prove to be a fruitful time!
Speaking of writing, I was invited to speak at my mother’s church at one of their weekly dinners about writing and the books I’ve published. I’ve known some of these people, as I attended there in the past. It was heartwarming, and a few told me afterward, “You had the attention of everyone.” This was such a positive, and since my book is now in paperback and many of them don’t read on Kindle, I was able to sell many of them my book in paperback. Four of five, but still, that’s more books than I’ve ever sold in one day. I need to seek out libraries next for these talks while working on my new material. So, I have enough to keep me busy until, I don’t know, maybe 2062. 
March 2, 2017
A Prayer for Lent. #poetry
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by Pamela Schloesser Canepa
(c) 2017
Lord, I have been broken.
My thoughts are, at times, dark.
Although I bear a fracture line, you’ve pieced me together, whole. I can be petty, petulant, self-centered, and obsessed,
but you tell me I’m still good enough. A selfless, loving being as you, tells me I am good enough. You reach out for me to follow, and you tell me I belong….
*Read the rest, here at my Niume site:
Source: A Prayer for Lent
February 25, 2017
#weekendcoffeeshare Ushering in Lent
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Welcome to the #weekendcoffeeshare, created by parttimemonsterblog.com. If we were having coffee this morning of February 25, I’d tell you:
It’s past noon and I’m still in my pajamas (t-shirt and sweatpant shorts). If you do come over for coffee, don’t worry, I’ll quickly put on a robe before answering the door. I’ve lately been obsessing over my writing in a new blogging community and sharing my posts everywhere! Maybe, instead, I should have been obsessing over the state test and my teacher observation occurring in this next week. Nah. I surpassed the 500 view mark on Niume today! Yay! Since I am learning how to promote, promote, promote, I may as well do something with it that can help others. In a conversation on a friend’s Facebook wall, I volunteered to set up a GoFundMe account for a friend, and it is a worthy cause.
You see, my high school friend, Wendy, has Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Osteoporosis. She also has a 1-year-old grandbaby whom she loves spending time with, but she is frequently in pain and undergoing a lot of treatments. There is more detail in this link, and you may feel moved to donate or share it on your social media. https://www.gofundme.com/sxfp7s-wendys-medical-fund She skipped a needed treatment last month because of the cost. 
February 20, 2017
A Date to Remember, Ch. 2. A Tale of Love in 2063. #amwriting #shortstories
[image error] 2-14-2063
A Date to Remember, Ch. 1 Find the first installment, a Flash Fiction piece, here on my Niume profile. (If you haven’t discovered it yet on WordPress). http://niume.com/post/251559
A Date to Remember, Ch. 2 © 2017. By Pamela Schloesser Canepa. All rights reserved.
He’s going to love his Valentine’s gift, I thought, almost running back home under gray skies that could not cloud my mood. I had just been to see Roy, who was helping me with this effort.
Tom and I had discussed this, the possibility of a child. We saw Roy and Mavis with their child, Randy, who could not hear but communicated quite well with his hands at four. It was just a pity there was no official education for a child like him. Since the “system” had decided not to fund or make available any health insurance for those who procreate without a permit, the government believed it could rightly do away with any such education. Those operating outside of the laws of society would do so without any help from society or the government.
Roy and Mavis were actually doing quite well. Mavis was researching and hoarding all the books and video uploads she could find to educate her child on her own. Health insurance? Roy was already a holistic healer (a profession that implied living on the fringes), and his self-studies made him an awfully good unofficial nurse/ sometimes doctor for children who were born to families on the fringes. His own child included. In fact, if I ever gave birth, he’d have to be the one to deliver it. Not to mention, no doctor would help me now…..
Read the rest here at Niume: Source: A Date to Remember, Ch. 2. A Tale of Love in 2063.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay (Creative Commons)
Want to know how you can use Niume to promote your writing and earn revenue? Please see my post at https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/use-niume-to-promote-your-writing/
Thank you for reading!
February 18, 2017
#weekendcoffeeshare Do the Hustle!
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Welcome to the #weekendcoffeeshare, created by parttimemonsterblog.com. If we were having coffee this morning of February 18, I’d tell you:
I’m really hustling to get my work and my name in the public “reader’s sphere.” I recently joined a new website called Niume which is a blogging and social media site that will start paying when I reach a certain number of views. See my post about it here: https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/use-niume-to-promote-your-writing/ It includes a referral link if you want to sign up there, publish some posts, and give me credit. That’s how I got signed up, by reading about a fellow WordPress blogger’s experience!
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You needed a visual interruption, right? This is from back in the day when I took ballroom and contemporary dance lessons and was practicing at home. One of the dances was the hustle, though I can’t guarantee that’s what I was doing here! Alas, dance lessons are not as important these days as stretch and yoga to undo all the typing and stressing I do lately.
Speaking of social media and doing new things, I’ve been trying to share my work and even the work of others to Reddit.com. Evidently, they are not too keen on sharing. Is anyone here using Reddit to promote your work or just to write in general? If so, please tell me what is working for you and I will give it a shot. It just doesn’t work the way I’ve been using it lately. They tell me I don’t have enough karma, so evidently, karma means more than just upvoting other people’s posts. I do share their posts occasionally on Facebook, but do they have to all be from the subreddit where I want to post? I mainly want to post short stories there, and I don’t want to re-write them on Reddit if I publish them in a blog already. If you’re successful there, please let me know how! I’d appreciate it.
I have been writing, of course, to tame my brain and to share and get my name “out there.” I’ve been pretty reclusive and introverted lately, yet I’ll share my thoughts anywhere. This is because I’ve grown comfortable with them. I also like to stay close to home. Too much has happened in my family, as I’ve posted previously. I’ve had some dark thoughts and posted one story titled, “Her Beef with Death.” Read it at https://niume.com/post/256429. You don’t have to subscribe to read it. I did post it on WordPress, but I don’t get the way a shared post shows words all scrunched together as if I don’t know how to type. So, I shortened it and tidied up the sample you see on WordPress. No big deal. What shows on WordPress is about half of the story. It is not dreadfully long but is longer than a flash fiction piece.
My last Flash fiction offering was on 2-11, “Upon Her Throne She Waits.” It, too, was dark and mysterious. Read it at https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/02/11/fridayfictioneers-on-her-throne-she-waits/ I love participating in the Flash Fiction challenges, because sometimes I get the best ideas in quick spurts. I may add to “A Date to Remember” (posted here over a week ago) on my other blog in installments. I hear writers do it all the time. Why not?
In the meantime, there are works in progress. One is going through editing; much like a good steak should not be served raw, it will truly be done when I publish it. I am also handwriting a story with an animal character. Yes, that’s different for me, but I’m enjoying it and will start typing soon.
What else is new? My family situation is about the same. My work life is about the same. I stress over them both. There is not much drama in my family right now; the dust has settled since the accident on Jan. 1, however, it’s hard, when you want what is best for someone but can’t force them to go out and reclaim their life. Work is hard because it is a constant pressure-cooker full of drama. Pre-teens and middle-schoolers surround me all day, and they don’t always pay attention. One of the first and foremost reasons I write is to escape these things. Therefore, be glad if most of my post is centered around writing.
February 13, 2017
Her Beef With Death…
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(c) Pamela Schloesser Canepa, 2017 All rights reserved
Photo credit, Pixabay
“I want to sue death,” the young lady whispered. “Death has stolen from me my brother, my parents, my best friend, and now, my beloved dog.”
This young woman will be etched upon my memory. No, not because of her beauty or her dark seductive style. There was truly a deep sadness in her, and I know sometimes that makes a young man either want to break her heart so easily or to sweep up her troubles and attempt to make them all better. I had no plans to do either of those. I simply wanted to go along for the ride. What she was proposing was unheard of and unprecedented, and, yes, she was a lovely young woman. I was a new lawyer, and I had nothing to lose.
“How are you, in light of all these events? Are you okay?” It seemed a legitimate question to ask.
A chuckle escaped her, surprising me. “Of course I’m okay. I’m not depressed or disturbed, if that’s what you mean.” She sat across from me in my new office, looking self-assured, yet poised in her somber attire.
I may have been wet behind the ears, but I knew a client such as this required some triage, a little digging into her background and motives.“What happened to your parents?”
“Our house burned down when I was fourteen. My brother and I were the only survivors. A year ago, he overdosed on pills. I am the only one left of our family.” She looked down in abject regret.
“What do you hope to get from all this? It won’t bring them back,” I said softly. Sure, I was probably stating the obvious to her.
She looked back at me defiantly. “I’ve already run an ad. And if you won’t represent me, I’ll find someone that will. I thought you’d be interested because you’re new to this. There are plenty of desperate, publicity-hungry lawyers. Because, you know, exposure eventually means money.”
She handed me the newspaper ad.It was odd that I hadn’t seen it yet. Well, it was small. It would be easy to miss in the classified section. It read: I, Marissa Clay, am going to sue Death. Death has robbed me of all that I love. There is but little left. I challenge Death to face me. If an agreement can be worked out, this can be kept out of court. I am looking for a suitable place for an initial meeting. Yes, I have legal representation. The ambiance should be dramatic, dark, and somewhat private. There will be one reporter present to record this event. Your establishment will earn a long-time fame for such an honor. I encourage Death to reach out to me at this address: P.O. Box 21111111, Baltimore, MD 32206. Any interested restaurant owner may contact me by posting your own response here.
“You already have legal representation?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Either you’ll say yes, or the guy I’m seeing tomorrow will,” she responded confidently.
“Why would you want to be known for this?”
“That matters nothing to me. I am already a model, already in the public eye, you could say.” She handed me a magazine clipping of herself in a two-piece swimsuit, wearing much less makeup, hair straight and hanging in waves, looking almost innocent.
“You must be very successful. That’s a lovely photo.”She shrugged nonchalantly.
“Yes, the money’s good. The jobs are there for me. This also will bring publicity. It will help you. It will even help the restaurant owner. But, honestly, despite the publicity I may get from this, it is not my primary motivation. I just want to see what happens. I am angry and unafraid. You could say I have a beef with death.”
Against my better judgment, I chose to represent this young woman. I could not turn down the publicity, and my curiosity would not let me be. Offers poured in from several restaurants……
Read the rest here at niume.com: Source: Her Beef With Death…
February 11, 2017
#fridayfictioneers. “On Her Throne, She Waits.”
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Photo credit, (c) Ted Strutz
Ever the skeptic, Billy was only there to prove Roma wrong.
“What drunk left that there,” he’d asked, laughing.
“You haven’t heard the legend of the Lady of Larson’s Lake?” Roma spoke in a mysterious tone.
“Um, no, but I guess you’ll tell me?”
“She sits there at midnight, waiting for her husband who drowned here when the lake was full and deep. They say she’s beautiful.”
Billy shivered now, as a woman in a soiled ball gown with shimmering hair down to her mid-back walked out in the ankle-deep water and took her seat at the “throne.” Waiting.
(c) Pamela Schloesser Canepa, 2017
Friday Fictioneers opens up every Friday with a Photo prompt to which you may write any sort of Fiction response. It is flash fiction, so your response must be less than 100 words. Check out other entries and more specifics at https://rochellewisoff.com/2017/02/08/10-february-2017/
February 10, 2017
Using Niume to Promote your Writing and Generate Revenue
[image error] My current Niume profile photo.
I’ve joined a blogging/writer’s community called Niume. I first heard of this site through Jacqueline, another WordPress blogger at acookingpotandtwistedtales.com! Not only can you use Niume to promote your writing, but you can earn money from having your posts read and viewed! Niume is a social network for writers, artists, photographers, and other types of creators to share their art and generate a little income as well.
Users on niume.com generate $1 for every 1,000 views. Niume pays out at the end of the month after you’ve reached $10. They use Paypal for their payout. Viewers, however, do not have to subscribe or pay to read the material. The visuals are great, and the format of the posts looks appealing, with a user-friendly layout. Creators at Niume also get paid $1 for every creator they refer who joins up on Niume and creates at least one post. If you are so moved, please use my referral link:
It is greatly appreciated! But first, a little more explanation:
All this promise of earning a few bucks really makes me want to write more! To be honest, I just started, but I am so pleased about the amount of views I’m receiving. You must choose three spheres of interest and write articles, stories, features, etc. that fit within one of those chosen spheres. My spheres are lifestyle, literature, and photography. Art, Travel, and “Interesting” were pretty eye-catching as well. Each post also has to be five lines of text (no sweat), and you may attach a photo to a post. You can attach videos, too.
What does this mean for my WordPress account? I don’t plan to leave. I love the WordPress blogging community! I plan to continue to post for the #weekendcoffeeshare and one of the Flash Fiction challenges (almost) weekly. I may, at times, post certain other articles there first and then share them here, or such is the plan, anyhow, as I can say I have tried and it’s totally possible. Any post I put in Niume can be shared here and on social media that includes Flipboard and Stumbleupon. Which, in turn, means more exposure as a writer! Users can subscribe to other content creators on Niume for free. You can share a Niume creator’s posts and give it a thumbs-up like, also known as hype, to help their status. Sometimes, Niume will choose a creator’s article to feature (imagine the exposure)!
There’s even a Facebook group called Niume Writer’s Community, which I’ve just joined. I am still learning a few things, but after 70 views in one day, I am excited by this new adventure! If you’re wondering whether the site looks busy with ads or terribly spammy, please visit my most recent post, a poem about sisterly love as friends grow and change: https://niume.com/post/252998
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February 9, 2017
Sisterly Love, Stated. A Poem.
Sisterly Love, Stated. A Poem(c) Pamela Schloesser Canepa
Here’s to the girl who pulled me out of my hard shell cocoon in the corner of the classroom, and dared me to break out and find another side of me. I love you.Don’t forget my friend from our old church school, who still prays for me to this day, though our lives have gone such separate ways.We are still some kind of sisters.And the one whose identity was a mystery to me. Oh, the questions I asked, ……….Please view the rest at Source: Sisterly Love, Stated. A Poem.
*Photo credit, Pixabay (Creative Commons)[image error]
