# Coffee and Poetry Make the World Go Round-Introducing Myself



## BabesJJ (Jan 31, 2021)

Hi Everyone, I need writer friends. I got my first Twitter today under LouiseVoillemin. The first thing I wrote as a test was Coffee and Poetry make the world go round. Someone screamed that at me once while I sat outside of a coffee shot. It always stuck in my head. I am thinking of writing a book of poems about my sister who is in prison. Called "Poems to My Sister in Prison". I was petting our cat Thomas yesterday and told my husband that I was so sad my sister couldn't pet a cat for years. And my husband told me well if you go to prison I could send you a cat furr to pet. I mean I would never allow that but it was a funny thought. And it got me thinking of a poem. And I have started a novel about a man who is an ice fisherman and wears a hat with ear flaps. And searched for a mermaid he saw once as a child. On the novel front I am writing it with it being a detective series. It is the last book in the series which is a strange way to start but its the most clear to me. I am focused on high school math for my 14 year old son which is like the worst task in the universe but he needs homeschooling as online he is not working. So we picked 2 topics to follow until school becomes normal. Anyway, so you know a lot about me. I have a husband, a son, a cat, (we also have an aging deaf Corgi), a sister in prison, hobbies tutoring high school algebra (save me) and writing.


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## Kent_Jacobs (Jan 31, 2021)

Welcome to the forum and you've already contributed a short story! An ice fisherman searching for a mermaid sounds very much like a metaphor to me. A cold hearted man who longs for the warmth and love of a good hearted woman. But it's the pursuit itself that stops him ever attaining that love. Perfection, the subconscious self sabotaging him.

ice wisherman: cold hearted man
mermaid: warm hearted woman but one he's never destined to find.


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## BabesJJ (Jan 31, 2021)

TheMightyAz said:


> Welcome to the forum and you've already contributed a short story! An ice fisherman searching for a mermaid sounds very much like a metaphor to me. A cold hearted man who longs for the warmth and love of a good hearted woman. But it's the pursuit itself that stops him ever attaining that love. Perfection, the subconscious self sabotaging him.
> 
> ice wisherman: cold hearted man
> mermaid: warm hearted woman but one he's never destined to find.


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## BabesJJ (Jan 31, 2021)

Hi Az,
I keep meaning to look up some meanings for a man that searches for a Mermaid. I saw the book the Little Mermaid the other day when we all went to the local library and meant to pick it up. The story by Hans Christian Anderson. I remember there was a girl in a class I took once who had gone to a city I think it was someplace in Denmark were she was famous and there was a statue. It is strange to begin with the last book in a series. And he dies in the first page. And all the books I plan to write come before this. So its like whatever I write from now on are fatefully meeting his inglorious demise. For some reason that reminds me of John F Kennedy Jrs life. We didn't know at the time well he died before I was born. But how his life could be seen from the lens of what was coming. Anyway, I am truly rambling. Thanks for the welcome. And like a dream we are somehow all the characters in our book. Wasn't my husband funny about the comment about our cat. Sending me his furr to pet if I went to prison. Although of course we would never do that in real life. It was very sick and sweet at the same time. I am fact a vegetarian. Anyhoo, what are you writing at the moment. LV


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## Kent_Jacobs (Jan 31, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi Az,
> I keep meaning to look up some meanings for a man that searches for a Mermaid. I saw the book the Little Mermaid the other day when we all went to the local library and meant to pick it up. The story by Hans Christian Anderson. I remember there was a girl in a class I took once who had gone to a city I think it was someplace in Denmark were she was famous and there was a statue. It is strange to begin with the last book in a series. And he dies in the first page. And all the books I plan to write come before this. So its like whatever I write from now on are fatefully meeting his inglorious demise. For some reason that reminds me of John F Kennedy Jrs life. We didn't know at the time well he died before I was born. But how his life could be seen from the lens of what was coming. Anyway, I am truly rambling. Thanks for the welcome. And like a dream we are somehow all the characters in our book. Wasn't my husband funny about the comment about our cat. Sending me his furr to pet if I went to prison. Although of course we would never do that in real life. It was very sick and sweet at the same time. I am fact a vegetarian. Anyhoo, what are you writing at the moment. LV



I'm writing The Glass Tulip:  https://www.writingforums.com/threads/191523-The-Glass-Tulip?p=2327656&viewfull=1#post2327656

On the surface it's about a young boy (Tommy) who sees the world as a dark place. He has only two places left he can truly find happiness: Ashton Woods and Candy Land. One day love comes into his life, the lemon girl, and his life begins to change ...

It's not finished but there's a sizeable chunk done. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce. Just know that the Writing Showcase section is open to everyone, including passersby. The Writing Workshop is only available to members, so your work is relatively safe there. To access that, and other sections, all you have to do is have 10 posts.


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## druid12000 (Jan 31, 2021)

Welcome! 
Pleased to meet you and hope to see you around on the boards :eagerness:


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

druid12000 said:


> Welcome!
> Pleased to meet you and hope to see you around on the boards :eagerness:


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Druid does that mean your a druid. Do you believe trees have spirits. Follow all the rituals of the sun and seasons? I read one Druid custom that I am not sure it is even true. That the wedding ring was a druid custom that we had a vein from our left finger that went to our heart. And druids wore wedding rings to show this heart connections. Although my guess is most marriages were very practical in that time. Bread baker families only married other bread maker families. So what did love have to do with it. Anyway, what are you writing and why druid1. That sounds like a young person to me.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Sounds like a great story. My book is called Unspoken Mermaid. I am from Wisconsin and my book is set in my home town. I live in France as my husband is French and we are long married and have a son together and he just retired. We are middle aged. So I suddenly don't really need to work and can write consistently and my son needs extra tutoring because of online school. So the plan is for me to write and tutor and take a job in September when hopefully the world is back to normal. Whatever that is. Why Glass Tulip?  The title of my book is Unspoken Mermaid.


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Sounds like a great story. My book is called Unspoken Mermaid. I am from Wisconsin and my book is set in my home town. I live in France as my husband is French and we are long married and have a son together and he just retired. We are middle aged. So I suddenly don't really need to work and can write consistently and my son needs extra tutoring because of online school. So the plan is for me to write and tutor and take a job in September when hopefully the world is back to normal. Whatever that is. Why *Glass Tulip?*  The title of my book is Unspoken Mermaid.



I cannot tell you that! 

Two more posts and you'll be able to read it for yourself. You'll see why I've called it The Glass Tulip but not necessarily why I've called it The Glass Tulip ...


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

I will stay tuned. It is 745 here in France. Our kiddo starts school at 905 or something on Mondays. My husband will drive him and then he goes after he drops our son off and gets his feet massaged on Monday. GAWD. And I will write undisturbed. It is a man masuesse sp. And then I have to hear a full report of how it went. I am planning my sons Algebra I lesson. (save me my worst subject) but I did take all those classes and pass them. And for science I am looking at this really beautiful documentary series My Blue Planet but the one on the ocean. Just so while he is adapting to France he continues in math and science. He is French but the French system is like 6 months of mindless French classes. Sorry French people. In the USA they give you English classes but then you just go off to all the other classes and suffer. Anyway writing and tutoring today. Hearing about my husbands foot massage. Are you in Australia? Do you have a pet wallabee? sp. LV


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> I will stay tuned. It is 745 here in France. Our kiddo starts school at 905 or something on Mondays. My husband will drive him and then he goes after he drops our son off and gets his feet massaged on Monday. GAWD. And I will write undisturbed. It is a man masuesse sp. And then I have to hear a full report of how it went. I am planning my sons Algebra I lesson. (save me my worst subject) but I did take all those classes and pass them. And for science I am looking at this really beautiful documentary series My Blue Planet but the one on the ocean. Just so while he is adapting to France he continues in math and science. He is French but the French system is like 6 months of mindless French classes. Sorry French people. In the USA they give you English classes but then you just go off to all the other classes and suffer. Anyway writing and tutoring today. Hearing about my husbands foot massage. Are you in Australia? Do you have a pet wallabee? sp. LV



Only one more post and you can hit my link and take a look  Every single post you've posted so far is brimming with story potential lol. You live an interesting life.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

I have to get a full report on my husbands foot massage in a few hours and tutor Algebra I this afternoon. Please have mercy on my soul. I just read that April is poetry month. That is interesting to me. This is a random thought. I live in an old farmhouse outside of Paris. It is large very large and freezing. During the day I will scream "I'm cold". My family has become used to it. I mention my living situation because of what I wanted to say was about the 2 roosters I hear every morning if I am careful to hear them. As the walls are so thick and the shutters to tight we can't hear anything really. I leave one bedroom window a crack open at night. And around 0540 off in the far distance maybe miles kilometers here a rooster crows around 0540. He sounds old. His crows are croaky and distant and forlorne. He has great minutes between each crow. And the get weaker and weaker I usually count 7 and sometimes one last strangled 8. Meanwhile a medevil farm with a moat not far has a rooster. This rooster crows at 710ish. This is a younger stronger sounding rooster. Also on a different time schedule. His crows are closer together more robust even bossy. Funny that he crows so late after 7AM, many crows sometimes as many as 15. Fast together. Like a traffic jam. The other rooster more forelorne in the far distance struggling to get out half as many. And so much earlier. Makes me think of premordial time when lizards woke up and were warmed by the sun. As birds look so lizardy without feathers. I imagine when these reptiles learned to crow with the sun. My husband and son are about to leave for school and foot massage. The deaf Corgi is snoring very loudly and our cat that my husband offered to skin to send me his fur to keep me happy so i should have something to pet in prison as not cats are allowed there. although we would never do that and I am a vegetarian. Thomas is here. Oh and this is my 10th post. I think I misspelled forlorn medeivil and premorial. and too lazy to google.


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## Gumby (Feb 1, 2021)

Welcome to the site, Louise.  Your title grabbed me as coffee and poetry are both dear to my heart.


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## Foxee (Feb 1, 2021)

Hi, Louise, I'd venture to say that now you are among friends. Your novel sounds delightful and starting at the end of a series does make sense! Not sure how often it has been done but it sure beats having to search for an elusive ending for a series.

I have to say, your slice-of-life paragraphs are fun to read. You observe your surroundings beautifully and with a kind of whimsy that is wonderful.

Recently I saw a meme that said, "Name a book that made you cry" and the answer was "Algebra". So I completely understand the pain you're going through! I was terrible at algebra and helping my oldest daughter was painful, too. Thankfully my son (15) is okay and doesn't need help with it. What a relief. If the Kahn Academy videos on You Tube are available in France, try looking up the algebra concept that your son needs help with and "kahn" in you tube. These are really good explanations.

In any case, I'm glad you've found WF!


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Gumby, The actual quote screamed at me while I was sitting outside a coffee shop was "coffee HOUSES and poetry make the world go round". It was a guy driving fast around a corner going away from me so i never saw his face. A drive by coffee shops and poetry anonymous scream. Due to Covid-19 closings of many coffee shops I changed it to a mere coffee and poetry. And my first husband (ex), he was a big fat hippie I met in university. He loved Milton. Can you imagine anyone who loves Milton. Anyway, he loved poetry and got me enjoying it. Strangely he died about 2 weeks ago and I have been mourning him by watching music videos of 90s singers. Like that song your gonna be the one who saves me. after all, and such videos. We were married 10 years and long divorced and have not spoken for years and years. We were not on bad terms but I am remarried with a son and you don't try and chat up your exes in Texas or anything. Anyway, my ex who was an English major got me appreciating poetry. I wish they didn't admonish people for randomly posting poetry. But maybe we would all go nutz and overpost. Why do you appreciate poetry. How did it start?

Foxee, the Algebra comment was very funny, but my life is a hell because of both having to listen about my husbands foot massage and Algebra. We got a book called the turn key series. I will look at the Kahn Academy series. I will do some light math tutoring this semester and augment it with science videos. I found this great article about beautiful science series and videos mostly ocean and climate stuff. I don't think we can watch too much biology stuff as a family its like watching a tampon commercial with your father in the room I guess. My book is giving me the ideas for these two detectives. I re read the first 2 chapters and its not so bad I couldnt publish it on amazon and send it to my friends. I read someplace that if you write 4 novels and still have not published you might quit. This is my second novel. My first was a weird experience. What have your written and what was the experience like?


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi Everyone, I need writer friends. I got my first Twitter today under LouiseVoillemin. The first thing I wrote as a test was Coffee and Poetry make the world go round. Someone screamed that at me once while I sat outside of a coffee shot. It always stuck in my head. I am thinking of writing a book of poems about my sister who is in prison. Called "Poems to My Sister in Prison". I was petting our cat Thomas yesterday and told my husband that I was so sad my sister couldn't pet a cat for years. And my husband told me well if you go to prison I could send you a cat furr to pet. I mean I would never allow that but it was a funny thought. And it got me thinking of a poem. And I have started a novel about a man who is an ice fisherman and wears a hat with ear flaps. And searched for a mermaid he saw once as a child. On the novel front I am writing it with it being a detective series. It is the last book in the series which is a strange way to start but its the most clear to me. I am focused on high school math for my 14 year old son which is like the worst task in the universe but he needs homeschooling as online he is not working. So we picked 2 topics to follow until school becomes normal. Anyway, so you know a lot about me. I have a husband, a son, a cat, (we also have an aging deaf Corgi), a sister in prison, hobbies tutoring high school algebra (save me) and writing.



Welcome , lovely story by the way. 

Do you know what is funny and so true about coffee and poetry, coffee naturally increases adrenaline our fight or flight hormone. 
I feel when I’ve had too much coffee my brain won’t shut up with words to write. 

Thank you for sharing and welcome [emoji4][emoji3590]


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Hi JK_SL, I have gone through terrible coffee years where I would drink 4 pots a day. I went a few years were I drank pretty much non-stop diet pepsi. Now I am middle aged and drink like 2 cups in the morning. I become poetic spontaneously now.  Every time me or my husband get out of chairs we groan now. I remember when we could get out of a chair without groaning. Its sad to sit and watch each other fall apart. Anyhoo, nice to hear from you. LV


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## Foxee (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Foxee, the Algebra comment was very funny, but my life is a hell because of both having to listen about my husbands foot massage and Algebra. We got a book called the turn key series. I will look at the Kahn Academy series. I will do some light math tutoring this semester and augment it with science videos. I found this great article about beautiful science series and videos mostly ocean and climate stuff. I don't think we can watch too much biology stuff as a family its like watching a tampon commercial with your father in the room I guess. My book is giving me the ideas for these two detectives. I re read the first 2 chapters and its not so bad I couldnt publish it on amazon and send it to my friends. I read someplace that if you write 4 novels and still have not published you might quit. This is my second novel. My first was a weird experience. What have your written and what was the experience like?


Algebra I understand wanting to scream about but what is the deal with your husband's foot massage? Is there a story there? I've never had a foot massage (other than a half-hearted one) so I have no idea what he has to talk about there.
Just reading some of this stuff in your intro thread it sounds like I just might enjoy your writing. 
I have mostly written short stories and flash fiction. Any novels I've tried so far have ended up as gently moaning sheeted wreckage in the dungeon. But I keep learning and I'll keep trying. 

Keep notes about your weird experiences, you might want to put that into a memoir someday.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Foxee said:


> Algebra I understand wanting to scream about but what is the deal with your husband's foot massage? Is there a story there? I've never had a foot massage (other than a half-hearted one) so I have no idea what he has to talk about there.
> Just reading some of this stuff in your intro thread it sounds like I just might enjoy your writing.
> I have mostly written short stories and flash fiction. Any novels I've tried so far have ended up as gently moaning sheeted wreckage in the dungeon. But I keep learning and I'll keep trying.
> 
> Keep notes about your weird experiences, you might want to put that into a memoir someday.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Hi Foxee, R U married? Men and their boring stories is my point. A foot massage. And every week you would think it is soooooo different. Anyway, he has them every Monday. It is my life. Anyway, I am going to post a photo of my window where I heard the old barely can crow rooster and the younger stronger later in the morning with more crowappeal one. With my cat Thomas in the window. The cat my husband said to me if I was in prison and could not pet a cat as they are not allowed to pet a cat in prison. He would send me a cat skin. Although I am not going to prison and it is unlikely they would allow me to walk around with a at skin. And of course we would never do that in real life. Anyway husband about to put up photo. LV


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi JK_SL, I have gone through terrible coffee years where I would drink 4 pots a day. I went a few years were I drank pretty much non-stop diet pepsi. Now I am middle aged and drink like 2 cups in the morning. I become poetic spontaneously now.  Every time me or my husband get out of chairs we groan now. I remember when we could get out of a chair without groaning. Its sad to sit and watch each other fall apart. Anyhoo, nice to hear from you. LV



Hi Louise , thank you,
Caffeine and middle aged [emoji108] perfect companions. Ah I’m sure you both aren’t falling apart, you’re doing a pretty amazing job of your poetry. 
Thank you. 

J.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Test trying to get my photo up. Maybe if I put a new post.


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

Have you been having issues uploading them.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

No the first photograph was to big to put in the avatar and my husband shrunk it and now it works. That is our cat Thomas and the window I crack at night a bit to let the sounds in otherwise if you notice that shutter on the side. All the windows have those shutters. Anyhoo, photo up. LV


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

Crisis averted [emoji108] Beautiful cat by the way,
Makes for a lovely portrait. 

J.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Hi back JK_SL, and I am being silly about all our middle aged groaning and marital conversations about boring things. It is a pretty day and I am happy to be writing and able to tutor my kid. I will even throw in I was happy to hear about my husband foot massage appointment today. Thank you and talk more soon, LV


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## Foxee (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi Foxee, R U married? Men and their boring stories is my point. A foot massage. And every week you would think it is soooooo different. Anyway, he has them every Monday. It is my life. Anyway, I am going to post a photo of my window where I heard the old barely can crow rooster and the younger stronger later in the morning with more crowappeal one. With my cat Thomas in the window. The cat my husband said to me if I was in prison and could not pet a cat as they are not allowed to pet a cat in prison. He would send me a cat skin. Although I am not going to prison and it is unlikely they would allow me to walk around with a at skin. And of course we would never do that in real life. Anyway husband about to put up photo. LV


Yep, married, and my husband doesn't usually tell me much unless I ask. 
I love the view out of your window and your pretty cat.
Also love "crowappeal" and the whole rooster story. I knew the cat pelt for prison was a joke but I have a weird sense of humor so to me it's pretty funny.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Foxee said:


> Yep, married, and my husband doesn't usually tell me much unless I ask.
> I love the view out of your window and your pretty cat.
> Also love "crowappeal" and the whole rooster story. I knew the cat pelt for prison was a joke but I have a weird sense of humor so to me it's pretty funny.



I just screamed I am cold. My son is home from school. We have a whole program for him of homeschooling this semester. You see H---- was born here and we all went to the USA for a while and my husband worked internationally for not big wages but he did it. Meanwhile our kid could learn English and the American system and now we are back. H----- speaks and understands French pretty well and is half French but the French system is pretty much all French classes until you meet a certain standard. Just the grammar and writing part. So I got worried he wouldnt get his normal math and Science. And I will work on my book. My book is kind of matter of fact. Although the 2 characters Iggy and Izzy will be the inglorious death detectives. I am not confident of this book I am writing but I feel a need to finish it. Although my goal is that they are a detective team. A series. Iggy is a hat man. Izzy I can't decide his bent. Thomas is 8 years old this year and he is from Wisconsin. It helps to hear from other writers whatever that means. LV


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> *I just screamed I am cold.* My son is home from school. We have a whole program for him of homeschooling this semester. You see H---- was born here and we all went to the USA for a while and my husband worked internationally for not big wages but he did it. Meanwhile our kid could learn English and the American system and now we are back. H----- speaks and understands French pretty well and is half French but the French system is pretty much all French classes until you meet a certain standard. Just the grammar and writing part. So I got worried he wouldnt get his normal math and Science. And I will work on my book. My book is kind of matter of fact. Although the 2 characters Iggy and Izzy will be the inglorious death detectives. I am not confident of this book I am writing but I feel a need to finish it. Although my goal is that they are a detective team. A series. Iggy is a hat man. Izzy I can't decide his bent. Thomas is 8 years old this year and he is from Wisconsin. It helps to hear from other writers whatever that means. LV



Now there's a good opening sentence! One thing I am certain of, your stories will never be short of words or ideas.


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi back JK_SL, and I am being silly about all our middle aged groaning and marital conversations about boring things. It is a pretty day and I am happy to be writing and able to tutor my kid. I will even throw in I was happy to hear about my husband foot massage appointment today. Thank you and talk more soon, LV



It’s beautiful, the fun complaining. I used to love that type of situation where someone would mock me or vice versa. 
I can see you’re so grateful to be able to do what you love and have your family support you. It’s a gorgeous feeling. Speak soon. 

J.


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Hi back JK_SL, and I am being silly about all our middle aged groaning and marital conversations about boring things. It is a pretty day and I am happy to be writing and able to tutor my kid. I will even throw in I was happy to hear about my husband foot massage appointment today. Thank you and talk more soon, LV



[video=youtube;zTJyDe7a2bo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTJyDe7a2bo&amp;ab_channel=FastCompany[/video]


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Az, That was nice to post that. So I am a professional Rooster Rooter each morning. For that miserable dying aged Rooster who crows very early. It is making me want to hunt the hills for the poor guy. It reminds me many years ago I read some how to writing books. In this one comment about writing what you know. She said something to the effect of this. This man has taken a year off to go to Paris. His wife and children are with him. He is sitting in a wonderful window looking at the street. In the street are beautiful women walking their small well kept dogs. There are manicured trees and the sun is shining. And the writer is noting this scene down. And suddenly he writes "DAMN DAMN DAMN I HATE THAT BITCH". Talking about his wife whom he hates. So his internal life was very interesting. The Paris scene was very boring.  And sorry for writing damn damn damn i hate that bitch. it is paraphrasing. I think the writer was called Caroline See.  Anyway I get your point. And it was very kind of you to think of me. I like that actor. I am not necessarily trying to find stories in my blatherings. I think Caroline talked about writing about things that are important to her too. Like I think she had some sort of ongoing battle with a parking guy or maintenance guy or something. I get it. For instance there is a woman who walks her pet goat in our town. It is a pretty goat I can see why she picked her. She is white with dark brown markings. Rather large goaty looking horns. Nice collar and leash ensemble. And there is a store security guard who seem bent on catching me shoplifting. Although I have no need or intention of that. Do I channel shoplifter? So I get it. I blogged once for 2 years and I am prolific. I could blog forever. And it gets me zero pay and takes up time. Anyhoo your sweet to think of me and I will keep you informed of the rooster on its last legs someplace and the woman who walks her goat and the grocery store security guard who follows me all over the store. And we just had an Algebra I lesson and it was fine. This week we are mostly doing short lessons using PBS learning series until the book I ordered comes. I just saw a movie with that actor. Just a bit of it. I forgot all of it except he was in it. Thanks to anybody who was nice about my complaining. Overall I am quite in good spirits. And hope the same for all of you.

OK it is official you are all invited to my house for coffee tomorrow and its settled.


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## Jk_Sl (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Az, That was nice to post that. So I am a professional Rooster Rooter each morning. For that miserable dying aged Rooster who crows very early. It is making me want to hunt the hills for the poor guy. It reminds me many years ago I read some how to writing books. In this one comment about writing what you know. She said something to the effect of this. This man has taken a year off to go to Paris. His wife and children are with him. He is sitting in a wonderful window looking at the street. In the street are beautiful women walking their small well kept dogs. There are manicured trees and the sun is shining. And the writer is noting this scene down. And suddenly he writes "DAMN DAMN DAMN I HATE THAT BITCH". Talking about his wife whom he hates. So his internal life was very interesting. The Paris scene was very boring.  And sorry for writing damn damn damn i hate that bitch. it is paraphrasing. I think the writer was called Caroline See.  Anyway I get your point. And it was very kind of you to think of me. I like that actor. I am not necessarily trying to find stories in my blatherings. I think Caroline talked about writing about things that are important to her too. Like I think she had some sort of ongoing battle with a parking guy or maintenance guy or something. I get it. For instance there is a woman who walks her pet goat in our town. It is a pretty goat I can see why she picked her. She is white with dark brown markings. Rather large goaty looking horns. Nice collar and leash ensemble. And there is a store security guard who seem bent on catching me shoplifting. Although I have no need or intention of that. Do I channel shoplifter? So I get it. I blogged once for 2 years and I am prolific. I could blog forever. And it gets me zero pay and takes up time. Anyhoo your sweet to think of me and I will keep you informed of the rooster on its last legs someplace and the woman who walks her goat and the grocery store security guard who follows me all over the store. And we just had an Algebra I lesson and it was fine. This week we are mostly doing short lessons using PBS learning series until the book I ordered comes. I just saw a movie with that actor. Just a bit of it. I forgot all of it except he was in it. Thanks to anybody who was nice about my complaining. Overall I am quite in good spirits. And hope the same for all of you.
> 
> OK it is official you are all invited to my house for coffee tomorrow and its settled.



Long story short, the coffee better be good [emoji4][emoji108][emoji8]


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Az, That was nice to post that. So I am a professional Rooster Rooter each morning. For that miserable dying aged Rooster who crows very early. It is making me want to hunt the hills for the poor guy. It reminds me many years ago I read some how to writing books. In this one comment about writing what you know. She said something to the effect of this. This man has taken a year off to go to Paris. His wife and children are with him. He is sitting in a wonderful window looking at the street. In the street are beautiful women walking their small well kept dogs. There are manicured trees and the sun is shining. And the writer is noting this scene down. And suddenly he writes "DAMN DAMN DAMN I HATE THAT BITCH". Talking about his wife whom he hates. So his internal life was very interesting. The Paris scene was very boring.  And sorry for writing damn damn damn i hate that bitch. it is paraphrasing. I think the writer was called Caroline See.  Anyway I get your point. And it was very kind of you to think of me. I like that actor. I am not necessarily trying to find stories in my blatherings. I think Caroline talked about writing about things that are important to her too. Like I think she had some sort of ongoing battle with a parking guy or maintenance guy or something. I get it. For instance there is a woman who walks her pet goat in our town. It is a pretty goat I can see why she picked her. She is white with dark brown markings. Rather large goaty looking horns. Nice collar and leash ensemble. And there is a store security guard who seem bent on catching me shoplifting. Although I have no need or intention of that. Do I channel shoplifter? So I get it. I blogged once for 2 years and I am prolific. I could blog forever. And it gets me zero pay and takes up time. Anyhoo your sweet to think of me and I will keep you informed of the rooster on its last legs someplace and the woman who walks her goat and the grocery store security guard who follows me all over the store. And we just had an Algebra I lesson and it was fine. This week we are mostly doing short lessons using PBS learning series until the book I ordered comes. I just saw a movie with that actor. Just a bit of it. I forgot all of it except he was in it. Thanks to anybody who was nice about my complaining. Overall I am quite in good spirits. And hope the same for all of you.
> 
> OK it is official you are all invited to my house for coffee tomorrow and its settled.



... and breath. 

I prefer tea though.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

I can keyboard 100 words a minute and my family has threatened an intervention on me if I don't start paragraphing. I always promise ot start tomorrow. See I am starting tomorrow.


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 1, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> I can keyboard 100 words a minute and my family has threatened an intervention on me if I don't start paragraphing. I always promise ot start tomorrow. See I am starting tomorrow.



Here's a story for you. There's this young woman who has so much to do, so much she wants to do, but can never find the time to do it. Her life is filled with wonderful things, and she needs to tell people all about it. She looks through her window, as she strokes the cat, and shouts 'I'm flipper here you know!' So, she's taken to stealing things from the local store, deliberately doing it badly to get arrested. The police department know her better than anyone else. They often sit her down with a cup of coffee, and all gather round to hear her stories.

Short story anthology


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## Foxee (Feb 1, 2021)

Louise, you're so fun. This might be the best intro thread I've ever read.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

Foxee your are fun too. I am from Wisconsin. We are known to take wrong turns in life. i have this friend we are always laughing ah she took a wrong turn in life and now she is living in her exes attic.  Anyway, after writing so much about that damn rooster i am tempted to get up one morning follow his straggled overly early crow and just see how he is doing. Sorry for saying damn, It is about 7 hours in the future from Wisconsin to France. It is about 8PM. And the house if warm for a change. I don't have to do my normal scream of "I'm cold". I realized that Louise Voillemin is a writers name or a pen name not a user name here. I feel kind of bad. If I could pick a name now realizing my mistake I remember an old joke. Take the name of one of your first pets. (mine was Babes) and the name of one of the first streets you lived on as a child. (JJ) so maybe if I could change my user name I would go as Babes JJ. Although it is to late now. Good night for now. God bless.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 1, 2021)

edited to add AZ. so you know it was to you. To be honest I am totally fascinate with shoplifting. Good night. I will put my first couple of paragraphs of Unspoken Mermaid which I am very under confident about but its a revenge book so I need to write it. And you never mentioned if you had a walabee? sp. LV


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

I am replying to myself. This is fun. I just realized something important about writing what you know. Which I agree with. The major problem about writing what one knows is MY LIFE DOES NOT HAVE A PLOT! In fact that should be the title of my life. My life does not have a plot. Or an neat ending. So writing about my life needs form. And I realized that my book I am working on now is sort of a revenge and a letter to someone. To many people. And maybe that is why it makes me very under confident about it. Yet reading the first two chapters I can see some merit. Anyway Life doesnt have a plot. Off to the races. LV


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 2, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> I am replying to myself. This is fun. I just realized something important about writing what you know. Which I agree with. The major problem about writing what one knows is MY LIFE DOES NOT HAVE A PLOT! In fact that should be the title of my life. My life does not have a plot. Or an neat ending. So writing about my life needs form. And I realized that my book I am working on now is sort of a revenge and a letter to someone. To many people. And maybe that is why it makes me very under confident about it. Yet reading the first two chapters I can see some merit. Anyway Life doesnt have a plot. Off to the races. LV



That Ricky Gervais video is a little bit deceiving. I posted it because it was relevant to your post. Writing what you know or writing from your own experience (which I prefer), doesn't really mean write what you yourself have done, it means draw on your own experiences of love, hate, angst, fear, grief, passion etc, and apply that to the characters you create. It will ring true then, and because we've all got different views on the above, it will fell unique.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

I like that actor. And the writer Caroline See I read a long time ago said something to the same effect. I wanted to mention in that Caroline See book I think the paraphrased quote of the man who was sitting in Paris writing boring stuff not writing about what he knew. The quote was DAMN DAMN DAMN THE BITCH IS KILLING ME, not I hate the bitch. anyway we are going out for a minute.

Edited to add my grocery shopping trip to Auchun. So, we needed a new laundry basket. And if you can look closely you can see the dead or dying old laundry basket under the right corner of the window in my photo. Of my cat Thomas who if I go to prison where you can not pet cats he promises to send me a cat fur to pet. Although I am a vegetarian and would never allow that and I doubt they would let me straggle around with a cat furr anyway. And I am not going to prison. I think of my sister who is in prison and that what brought the idea up. So we went to the big grocery shopping center far from our house. And there where 2 kinds of laundry baskets. The cheap basket and the deluxe basket. I thought of many things why we should take the cheap laundry basket. Finally we took the white whicker basket with the lid that will go in the same place. It made me think of my 20s when you get the cheapest basket and dont think of tomorrow. I struggled with paying so much money on a laundry basket although it is white whicker and nice. i thought in my 20s I would never consider such an expensive laundry basket. And in fact it makes me think it is the kind of basket that my son if we die will have to send to charity. It is a death laundry basket. It is my last laundry basket that I will ever buy because it is too nice to need a cheap one again. Maybe I can ask my son to haul around our ashes in the death laundry basket. It is the last laundry basket I may ever buy. And dont get me going about how I copy old ladies grocery carts. I see a flat crate of oranges i must have it. I see a sprig of fresh parsely I must have it. I can't trail around the grocery store copying old French ladies grocery carts with my death laundry basket. And on the way to the grocery store an old Audi rolled back into us and I reached over and pressed on the horn. And my husband didnt are Paris drivers are getting little dings. But right by our side was a cop. And if i hadnt laid on the horn the guy would have really rammed us and one of his lights were out. the guy was lanky and looked like he was from an African country. I didnt mind he rolled into us jsut that he was so out of it it was a long time to do it and my honk stopped a full bump. and the cops sittign right by our side one was french arab and he had died blond hair and i knew he would give that driver pure shit. We talked to the flic throuth the window and we could care less about the bump. And we also saw a large beet truck on its side in a neighborhood. We live near a farming area where they make sugar from sugar beets. Sad some poor truck driver had a very bad day. And I heard a song that I thought was sung by Melody at first if your an old enough american you will remembrer her. She sang light a candle in the wind i think. wrote a great album called small towns. it was called  its a heart ache. but it was sang by bonnie tyler same raspy voice. made my think of my ex husband who recently died. oh i foudn a twist for my book the ice fisherman is going to come out. he is not really a fisherman and never has he just needed an excuse to hunt the mermaid. 

i love caroline sees comment damn damn damn that bitch is killing me. And this is not in answer to az. he actually inserted the comment when i was talking to myself. 

sorry for writing damn damn damn that bitch is killing me


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## River Rose (Feb 2, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Foxee your are fun too. I am from Wisconsin. We are known to take wrong turns in life. i have this friend we are always laughing ah she took a wrong turn in life and now she is living in her exes attic.  Anyway, after writing so much about that damn rooster i am tempted to get up one morning follow his straggled overly early crow and just see how he is doing. Sorry for saying damn, It is about 7 hours in the future from Wisconsin to France. It is about 8PM. And the house if warm for a change. I don't have to do my normal scream of "I'm cold". I realized that Louise Voillemin is a writers name or a pen name not a user name here. I feel kind of bad. If I could pick a name now realizing my mistake I remember an old joke. Take the name of one of your first pets. (mine was Babes) and the name of one of the first streets you lived on as a child. (JJ) so maybe if I could change my user name I would go as Babes JJ. Although it is to late now. Good night for now. God bless.



Hi there. Nice to meet you. Where in Wisconsin are u located? I am from the Frozen Tundra as well. Born and raised and still here. I live in Hartford Wisconsin. So nice to meet someone from Wisco here!!!!!!!


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

I most recently lived in northern Wisconsin although I was born in a small town that I NEVER tell anyone. I live about an hour from Paris in an old farm house right now. I also lived 25 years in the Southwestern USA from 14-39. Anyhoo, i like Wisconsin. Sad to leave it. I know how Wisconsin works for pluses and minuses. And living in France has pluses and minuses as well. Southwest USA plus and minuses also. And I traveled a lot. I visited other places in my youth which was fun. I have only lived in France northern USA and southern USA. Oh and 1 summer on the mediteranean sea sp.


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## Gofa (Feb 2, 2021)

Hi lovely to meet you 
to pick upon a statement you made
my life does have a plot  and to quote a song I am working on mysteries with out any clues 
im sure my plot is convoluted and i only see it if i stand back far enough and am looking back 
im pretty sure of the ending too  along the lines of fade to black


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

Gofa said:


> Hi lovely to meet you
> to pick upon a statement you made
> my life does have a plot  and to quote a song I am working on mysteries with out any clues
> im sure my plot is convoluted and i only see it if i stand back far enough and am looking back
> im pretty sure of the ending too  along the lines of fade to black




Very funny. There is always that guy that wears shorts all winter and acts like its not cold.
I am from Wisconsin I get it. Anyhoo, i put the white whicker (death is near) laundry basket in the bedroom. Notes about the comment above. Thank you for the nice welcome. Look forward to read more 
writing. I am going to take a nap. I will post the first paragraphs for my novel Unspoken Mermaid
soon. LV


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

Unspoken Mermaid

Chapter 1 Iced Iggy

Iggy died ice fishing. It was an inglorious death. He claimed to have seen a mermaid as a child.  Some people thought he was searching for her, when he fell  head-first in the ice hole. Being overweight and narrow shouldered he fit like a cork. It was over in minutes. A silent scream to the sturgeons who warily eyed him from below. Two fellow ice fishermen passing by saw him from afar, first impression was they thought he was kneeling. Iggy was butt up in the air. One of the men, it crossed his mind to take a joke photo for prosperity. Thought better of it at the last minute and stopped himself. Both men tugged at Iggy’s body which was stuck head and shoulders in the ice hole. His clothes had become partially frozen. When he was finally extricated and the emergency medical people had tiptoed gingerly across the ice to get him, no further life saving measures were taken. 

As Iggy was drowning. Iggy was in the same situation a fish is when he out of water. Just a few minutes of life. He saw a large sturgeon wiggle closer and nose bump him. Iggy with a look of wanton longing, immediately had some remorse for all the fish he had caught. I He wanted to think of something that inspired him. His mind turned to the time as a child he saw the mermaid. He told Oz immediately at school that day when they were 7 years old. He had gone down to his morning fishing spot to cast a line on his way to school. It was a beautiful place, with large stone rocks steps leading down to the lake. Near a cliff to the right was a flat rock at the waters’ edge.


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## Darren White (Feb 2, 2021)

Hi Louise, welcome 
The Introduction forum is not the place to post your story. The other members won't find it in here, between all the other introductions.
It's far better to put it here:
https://www.writingforums.com/forums/11-Fiction-Workshop
That way you will receive opinions from others.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

Darren White said:


> Hi Louise, welcome
> The Introduction forum is not the place to post your story. The other members won't find it in here, between all the other introductions.
> It's far better to put it here:
> https://www.writingforums.com/forums/11-Fiction-Workshop
> That way you will receive opinions from others.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

Dear Darren,
I don't want many people to see my first 2 paragraphs. So I on purpose posted it here. Love that name Darren. LV


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## BabesJJ (Feb 2, 2021)

If it is a problem please delete my post. I don't want it reposted. LV


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## Kent_Jacobs (Feb 2, 2021)

All he's pointing out is this section is for introductions only. This section CAN be seen by anyone, including passersby, so your work will be seen by everyone. If you want it to be seen only by members of this forum, you post it in the Writers Workshop.

Nobody will give you feedback here. It's not that they don't want to, it's that they know this isn't the place. It's to keep the forum tidy and easy to follow.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 3, 2021)

TheMightyAz said:


> All he's pointing out is this section is for introductions only. This section CAN be seen by anyone, including passersby, so your work will be seen by everyone. If you want it to be seen only by members of this forum, you post it in the Writers Workshop.
> 
> Nobody will give you feedback here. It's not that they don't want to, it's that they know this isn't the place. It's to keep the forum tidy and easy to follow.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 3, 2021)

TheMightyAz, Oh I agree and I was trying to hide out somehow. And I will need some help at some points. So yes I will post it at the right spot. And not grumble. 

RoseRiver Are you the one from Wisconsin if I remember correctly as I haven't gone back and re-read the posts. I thought of a funny way to describe where I am from in Wisconsin. Prefaced by all of my beloved grandparents are buried there. Anyway I am from the place in Wisconsin. If you hypothetically took the DaVinci man drawing and
put it over the state of Wisconsin I am from the place he would go wee wee on. About there. Does that help? I thought that was funny and it came to me this morning. 

Darren, I love that name. I will post on the correct site that you guided me. 

General meandering thoughts this morning. Yesterday after picking our kid up from school. He gets out at a weird 5PM on Tuesday. And he is in a special class for foreign students half the day and there is no bus. On our way home H------- says Oh there is my teacher riding her bike. She was far ahead of us and I only got a glimpse of her. And by the time we caught up to her she had taken a left to the train station and so we only saw her back up close. And H--------- our son said don't follow her dad or let mom do anything weird. Anyway she had a beautiful dark blond hair very full and it was half way down her back and she had a stocking cap on her head. Her bike had saddle bags so she might take the bike with her on the train back to Paris or carry them and lock her bike. My guess if I had to guess was she brought her bike. She was pretty. H------ told me she has an English accent and lived in England 20 years but is French. Anyway it was nice to see her back. 

On the writing front I am extremely under confident and not that I don't want to improve and get feed back. It is I just think I am terrible. And I am experienced at critique and have had a creative writing class once in college. I loved it of course. And I have a bachelors in painting and understand the critique process. I have no objection to it at all. I just have very little confidence. Anyhoo, we like to try new recipes. We are trying this odd specialty called Cozette. It is a pasta that is cut into tiny little squares. And you put it in a cassarole with a special cheese from the north of France and put what they call lardons here but are small bits of bacon. And we got all the ingredients at the store yesterday And I love my last before death new whicker laundry basket. I was looking at it this morning. I laughed at H------ our son he took one look at it last night and said it looks like a garbage can. I was like its white whicker. Oh one last thing. Its the sales in France for clothes until mid Feb. Feb 16th to be exact and I got a new light winter coat yesterday, 70% off. the new kind that you can scrunch up into a small ball but its a full coat. its a muted french blue with a hood and very thing but made of that material it feels like wearing a giant garbage bag but its very stylish and was steeply discounted. I will wait until next year to wear it as my normal black light coat is fine and i feel more icognito wearing it. 

toodles poodles


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## BabesJJ (Feb 3, 2021)

Note to self will write for 2 hours tomorrow morning although the Corgi will be loudly bathed in the shower by the home visiting groomer. LV


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## BabesJJ (Feb 4, 2021)

Note to self. Working on Henry reflecting on his fathers death as a child and his great uncles death. While sitting in his great uncles recliner. I actually wrote today.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 4, 2021)

Besides the books I’ve already mentioned, Walter Tevis brought out one more science fiction novel, “The Steps to the Sun” (1983), which I’m saving for another day. He died in 1984 of lung cancer at age 56 — a cruel loss for readers and American literature. I was just reading the Washington Post and saw this writer high lighted. He wrote the Queens Gambit.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 5, 2021)

Corgi was loudly bathed yesterday and Walter Tevis is on my mind a lot. Starting to write.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 5, 2021)

LouiseVoillemin said:


> Corgi was loudly bathed yesterday and Walter Tevis is on my mind a lot. Starting to write.



Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis

[FONT=&quot]I did and here they are:

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Beth learned of her mother’s death from a woman with a clipboard.”

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In the Methuen Home in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, Beth was given a tranquilizer twice a day.”

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Horberg then said, “For the next 243 pages, the most important thing in your life is hoping she is going to be OK. So, you go back and look. How the hell did he do that? I’m still looking.”

[/FONT]


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## indianroads (Feb 9, 2021)

Writers are machines that convert caffeine into beautiful words.


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## BabesJJ (Feb 9, 2021)

your fan BabesJJ totally


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## John C. Denton (Mar 3, 2021)

The first time I remember taking a serious crack at poetry was in grade 13 English. Mr. Rice had a student teacher in that day. A pretty red head. She took over teaching us
about a kind of poem called a "Septet" that had a complex and difficult rhyme scheme. I was the only one in class who could figure out how to rhyme it properly. Before setting us to the task, she said points would not be taken off if we opted to cut corners and make it rhyme the cheap/easy way, because it was so difficult.
I ended up writing about a particularly poignant Autumn day in the forest along the Nith River in Paris, Ontario, near where I live. Something about trees and sunlight and
the different colours of leaves, and either love or danger. I wrote this a very long time ago, and unfortunately the poem was lost during a house cleaning.
I wish I had it back.


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