Adan Ramie's Blog, page 39

Word a Week | Week 23

Welcome to the 23rdinstallment of Word a Week. You can find the other Word a Week words here.

This week’s word is:

attenuation– (noun)1.the process by which a virus, bacterium, etc., changes under laboratory conditions to become harmless or less virulent. 2. (Physics.) a decrease in a property, as energy, per unit area of a wave or a beam of particles, occurring as the distance from the source increases as a result of absorption, scattering, spreading in three dimensions, etc.

The rules are...

John Stone Cordy | Fun Flash Fiction

Do you ever get tired of doing the same thing, set out to do something totally different, and end up with something pretty similar to what you were originally doing?

This week’s fiction piece was supposed to be free of fright. No scary elements. Nothing that could even gesture at horror. And what did I get? A story about a group of kids sitting arounda campfire… telling scary stories. Ah, well. The story is in response to WOW555, Inspiration Monday, and Color By Words. See if you can find al...

Book Review Wednesday | Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

Let me start this out with a confession: I adore Alan Cumming. He’s a great actor, and he came to my attention in no small part by his work on The Good Wife. (I didn’t want to like The Good Wife, but my own good wife sucked me into it, and now I’m pathologically hooked.) Eli Gold is a multi-faceted character that I love, and sometimes love to hate. And, honestly? Alan Cumming is precious.

So it came as no great surprise when Mr. Cumming’s memoir, Not My Father’s Son, was recommended to me on...

Word a Week | Week 22

Welcome to the 22ndinstallment of Word a Week. You can find the other Word a Week words here.

This week’s word is:

matriculate– (verb)1.to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree. 2. to register (a coat of arms), used especially in Scottish heraldry.

I like how last week went, so the rules stay.

You have one week to write and post your 1,000 words or less at your online space and link back here.

Filed under: Challenge, Word a Week, Writing, Writing Craft Tagged: challeng...

Picking Through the Dark Meat (Or, How I Didn’t Know I Wrote an Anthology)

Writing is hard.

To sit down at keyboard or notepad and write a book, screenplay, short story, or poem is to open up a secret part of oneself and spill it all over the table in front of you. It grinds at the soul and gnaws at your innards. It ACHES. But it can be a salve on old wounds, a weightless flight, or a torturous journey at the end of which you are a better person for having lived it.

I didn’t set out to write an anthology. (The same goesthe anthology before it.) So why am I now relea...

The Fight to Be Heard | “Why I Write” Essay Challenge

This week, Terrible Minds’ Chuck Wendig changed tactics on us. Instead of fiction, he asked us to write an essay on the topic, “Why I Write.” Honestly, it floored me. I almost just deleted the e-mail and moved on, because it was a daunting request. How could I explain the compulsion that drives mein 1,000 words or less?

The written word is something that I have loved for as long as I can remember. In my darkest days, literature helped me power through. And when I needed it most, the act of w...

Book Review Wednesday | Herself When She’s Missing by Sarah Terez Rosenblum

This was one of those books that my wife bought based on a recommendation, tossed in a box, and forgot to read for years. I found it while I was going through the hoard of books she and I have amassed in our collective and separate lifetimes, and decided to read it. (One of us had to!) I’m not sure what I expected when I picked it up, but I definitely enjoyed it.

From the back of the book:

Meet Andrea: tightly wound, mid-20s, teacher, hotter than she gives herself credit for, maybe not as cl...

Word a Week | Week 21

Welcome to the 21stinstallment of Word a Week. You can find the other Word a Week words here.

This week’s word is:

croupier – (noun) 1.an attendant in a gambling casino who rakes in money or chips and pays winners at a gaming table. 2. an assistant chairperson at a public dinner.

This week, I think I’ll change things up a little bit. Here are the rules:

You have one week to write and post your 1,000 words or less at your online space and link back here.

Filed under: Challenge, Word a Week, Wr...

Personal Monsters | Weekly Flash Fiction

Ah, Friday. Since summer began, my Fridays have turned from Weekend Celebration Time into the beginning of what feels like another week in miniature. Kids will do that to you. But, as July starts to pull in her nets and pour her bounty out on the deck, I am reminded that I only have one month left until school is back in session. Children will be scrubbed and dressed, their cowlicks pressed down with gel, and sent off to learn something new, leaving me to breathe a sigh of relief before getti...

Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial | Blogging for Books Review #4

Those of youwho follow my blog and social media accounts probably know that I’m a die-hard supporter of civil rights and equality.For as long as I can remember, Iknew that I was different: I didn’t subscribe to the rigid gender roles and relationship ideals that my elders and peers held on high. If anything, I actively rebelled against them from a very young age.

As an adult, I came to understand that there were others like me out there, and most of us fall somewhere in the LGBT+ spectrum. (I...