Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 49
September 9, 2015
Hump Day Kick Start – Down and Dirty Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
Let’s get dirty.
Tell me about today’s prompt. Who are they and what are they doing? Is she an undercover agent whose cover was blown, causing her to chase down and tackle her perp? Are they lovers right at the moment frolicking by the water turned into something more sensual? Did the guy wash up on the beach and she resuscitated him? Maybe they are fugitives who swam to shore after their boat exploded. Or maybe this is the sinful tale of Ursula and Prince Eric. Anything goes.
What’s your take? Or caption the photo. Let’s hear from you.
September 8, 2015
Link Of The Week- How Can I Say That Better?
I’ve been stuck on one scene for the last two days. It feels stilted and doesn’t convey the emotion or flow that I like my writing to have on the page. Here’s a site that is meant for students in school, but has wonderful applications for writers who swim with words daily. Check it out and see if you can find a better way to say it!
September 2, 2015
Hump Day Kick Start – Tree House Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
Sometimes it’s just nice to get back to nature, don’t ya think? And what a view!
Tell me about today’s prompt. Who is he and what’s he doing? Is he a modern day Tarzan who has spotted his Jane hiking below? Could he be an apocalypse survivor on watch for infected zombies? Had he had enough of society, shunning the decaying cities, taxes, and his Facebook account? What is he thinking? Contemplating the girl he left behind? Trimming the trees? Doing chin ups?
You tell me. I’d love to hear your take, or just caption the photo.
September 1, 2015
Link of the Week – Shakespearean English Quiz
Here’s a fun link for you. How well do you know your Shakespearean English? Take the quiz to see. Will you make Shakespear proud? Or will you be a tragedy?
http://www.earlymodernengland.com/2015/04/how-well-dost-ye-know-shakespeares-english/
August 26, 2015
Hump Day Kick Start – Back To School Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
It’s back to school time! And I have a cutie to help carry your books.
Tell me about today’s prompt with the adorable up-to-no-good smile. Who is he and what’s with all the books? Exchange student not sure of his class schedule? Book store employee on a scavenger hunt? Slacker with barely passing scores and something to prove to his sexy tutor? Eager young professor out to impress the beautiful, elusive dean? Is he about to pull a modern day Ferris Bueller stunt?
I’d love to hear your take. Or just caption the photo.
August 25, 2015
Link Of The Week- Need A Cliche?
Do you need a cliche in your book? What about a cliche using the word cock? (This word has come up 81 times in the past few days…….don’t ask.) :-)
Our find would generate a list of cliches using that very word: John Hancock
warms the cockles of your heart
go off half-cocked
cock of the walk
a cock and bull story
proud as a peacock
“A cliche is not just something that lots of people say; It’s something that lots of people say and it conveys some sort of idea or message. A cliche is, in other words, a metaphor characterized by its overuse.”
http://www.westegg.com/cliche/
August 21, 2015
Friday Fun Facts- Our Hallowed Halls Of Learning
This is my last day as a full time mom. My son, and the last of our children, will leave tomorrow for college. I’m not sure where my emotions are because they swing the gamut with every passing minute. Since this was weighing heavy on my mind, I decided to research facts on colleges. Go figure.
Books. They need a lot of them. The price tag has risen 812% over the last 30 years. Sheesh! That’s more than health care, housing and tuition!
Almost 60% of students are female. Only Utah has more men than women going on to higher education.
I know I posted this fact when we looked at the KKK, but I thought it awesome enough to put it out there one more time. The KKK planned on burning a cross at a college that had just integrated. The only problem was that when they did it, it was finals week. All of the students were in their rooms so they armed themselves with bats and golf clubs and forced them to retreat. Timing is everything.
The first guest to enter Disneyland was a college student named Dave. He couldn’t ride on a single attraction because he had to get back to class. Disney gave him a lifelong ticket along with 3 others. It also includes all the parks around the world!
14 of the world’s largest 25 stadiums belong to American universities.
In 2005, a student couldn’t afford to go to college so he created a million pixel web page and sold each pixel for $1. He sold out in less than 6 months!
Wow! In 1980, twins separated at birth ended up at the same college. The news went viral and then something almost unbelievable happened. They weren’t twins! They were triplets separated at birth and their sibling was also at that school!!!!
An anonymous donor pays for every single student going to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
A condom ambulance will deliver condoms to your dorm for a small fee at the College of New Jersey.
If you are a Star Trek fan, you can get a $500 scholarship from an organization called Starfleet.
Theodor Geisel was caught drinking gin as an undergrad at Dartmouth. He was kick off writing for the college humor magazine. What did he do? He started contributing under the name Dr. Seuss.
In 2011, California spent more on prisoners than it did on colleges.
August 19, 2015
Hump Day Kick Start – Gangster Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
In keeping with the lawbreaking theme, I present you with today’s prompt.
Tell me about our bad boy. Who is he? (High-five if you know his real name.) Who is the girl? Are they a version of Bonnie and Clyde? Does he have a revolver hidden under his jacket? A tommy gun in the car? Could he be daring her dad to say no to him taking her out? Or intimidating the bloke who owes him money? Are they posing for an antique photo at the amusement park?
Love to hear your take. Or just caption the photo.
August 18, 2015
Link of the Week – Dumb Laws
Here is a gem for you. Did you know it is illegal to sell your eye in Texas? Or to drink more than 3 sips of beer while standing? How about not being able to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel? Or that it is a felony—a FELONY—to own more than six dildos? (I hear orange is the new black.)
It Galveston, you must get permission from Parks and Recreation to get drunk in any city park. No obnoxious smells can be emitted in an elevator in Port Arthur. No flirting or responding to flirting using eyes and/or hands in San Antonio (guess other body parts is okay…). No riding horses at night without tail lights in Texarkana. The sale of Limburger cheese is not permitted on Sundays in Houston. And you better not carry wire cutters in your pocket in Austin, for Pete’s sake!
See what idiotic laws there are in your state or country.
August 14, 2015
Friday Fun Facts- Git Yer Gun And Head West Young Man
Good Morning! I am in Dallas this morning. It has been one more trip in a summer filled with trips all across the United States, but mostly in the great state of Texas. Seeing the miles drift by my car window inspired this week’s Friday Fun Facts. I bet I know some things about the Wild West you don’t! Come see-
Cowboys, in silhouette, against a dawn sky in Montana
The Wild West was found in the lands to the west of the Mississippi River. The time frame was between the last part of the 19th century and the early bit of the 20th.
Manifest Destiny was the birth of this interesting time. It said that it was inevitable and divinely ordained that the lands be claimed and settled. Folks set out on horses, wagons and even on foot! A terrible number never made it, but those that did made history.
While this time helped create what we know as the United States of America, it came at a terrible price. This expansion resulted in brutal times between the people heading west and the Native Americans. Blood ran freely on both sides. Sigh. Thinking about this breaks my heart.
A philosophy that we still see in many of the Western states is the right to bear arms and defend their property to the death. Hence, the Wild part.
The Southwest used to home hundreds of feral camels! Maybe John Wayne could have ridden one. He would have been historically accurate. Our government thought they’d fare better in the extreme temperatures of that area, then the Civil War happened. Chaos ensued and the camels got out. For over a hundred years, it wasn’t unusual to see camels roaming about in Texas!
Hollywood shows the Wild West as a bunch of white guys with a few token Native Americans, African Americans and maybe a couple of Chinese. WRONG! The Wild West was a huge bowl of multiculturalism!Rock Springs, Wyoming sported over 56 nationalities in a town of only 10,000. Shockers, Hollywood is not always accurate.
Here’s a hot topic. Gun control. One might assume there was no gun control back in those wild times, but you’d be wrong. In fact, the gunfight at the OK corral broke out because Wyatt Earp was trying to enforce a no carry law. Wichita and Tombstone also had laws making it illegal to carry a firearm and they were harsh in maintaining it. At the moment, Tombstone have less-restrictive carry laws than they did back in the Wild Wild West days.
Hollywood strikes again. We think of the Wild West as a time and place full of bank robberies, shoot outs, brutality, and all round lawlessness. WRONG! Geez, they just didn’t get it. While there were the occasional bad guys, most problems were worked out without bloodshed. Life was harsh enough without killing everybody over some slight. Bank robberies were not nearly as frequent as we think. One historian writes that there were only around a dozen during this whole period. The highest annual death rate in Tombstone? Five.
Shootout at the OK Corral didn’t even take place at the corral. It happened in a back alley. Only three guys died. Most ran away like little girls.
Wyatt and Doc Holliday were arrested for murder. Wyatt Earp lost his job as sheriff and one of the dead guys was shown to be unarmed. Oops. The charges were thrown out but over 300 mourners showed up and over 2000 lined the road for the funerals of the dead men.
Billy the Kid wasn’t left handed.
The Long Branch saloon shown in Gunsmoke really existed. The original served milk, tea, lemonade, sarsaparilla, alcohol, and beer. Hmmmmm
Cowboys wore cowboy hats. Nope. They wore pretty much everything but the iconic hat we all associate with cowboys. Wild Bill Hickok wore a woman’s “flat-pancake” hat. Billy the Kid wore some kind of messed up top hat. Most common was the bowler hat.
No historical value- just really nice to look at.
